the tonedef blog

Sunday Pooh got up early and drove herself to work. Before leaving she woke me up and I jumped in the shower. After Band Mom and I were ready we headed out. I dropped Band Mom at the hotel. She wanted to make sure we’d get a table for the Sunday brunch. I then went to my parents’ and picked up Things 1 & 2 who spent the night. We then headed up to the hotel. They had a nice brunch set up with live jazz. We all ate a good bit and Band Mom did a little “work” while she was there. Then we headed home.

Pooh got home from work a little after 2. Shortly after that Band Mom and I headed out again to help a friend move. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. With the folks that showed up we were able to make 2 runs and be done. Then we headed home.

We ordered pizza for dinner since Band Mom forgot to throw dinner in the crock pot before we left. After dinner I got the girls showered and in bed then settled in for some DVR for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, I got together for a new band project. A buddy of Scooters plays guitar and has a place to practice. Scooter and He have gotten together a couple of times over the last couple of months and wanted to start a new original writing project. Scooter asked Trav and I if we would be interested in coming on board. Well seeing as how we both are just sitting around not playing we both said sure.

So Scooter offered me a ride and Trav met up with us at my place a little after 2. I loaded my little PA into Scooter’s truck and we headed out. We took a short detour and dropped Pooh at work then headed out. Scooter and Jer had already worked out a partial song so that’s where we started after everyone was set up. After a couple of hours we had a solid structure down and I was already working on lyrics. Things were pretty smooth. I tried to sing a little, but my voice still isn’t all the way back so that was kinda disappointing. We all decided to get together again, so it looks like this will keep going for a while.

After practice, I had Scooter drop me at the hotel. Band Mom was already there. I got the PA set up and then helped Band Mom with some computer stuff. Finally we sat down and ordered some dinner. Then it was time for karaoke. We didn’t have too many singers all night so it was mostly DJ and drinking. At close I tore down and packed everything up and we headed home.

Friday Pooh took Band Mom’s Mom to the store after she got home from school. When I got home from work, Band Mom and the kids and I sat around waiting for a call from Pooh. After she called we all got in the car and headed to Band Mom’s Mom’s. We picked up Pooh and Band Mom’s Mom and headed out to dinner. After dinner we dropped Band Mom’s Mom off and headed home. I sat around watching some DVR. Later on Band Mom and Pooh headed out to Wal Mart to do the grocery shopping. They got home and we unloaded everything. Then we all just hung out until we headed to bed.

Thursday, Pooh passed her driving test.

Monday I took the day off. In past years it was needed to recoup from the long festival weekend. This year I didn’t do much at the festival and I wasn’t involved in tear down. So it was just a bonus day. I got up and got the girls ready for school and took them to school. Then I came back home and crawled back into bed. And slept in good and late.

Band Mom and I spent most of the day just sitting around doing as little as possible. Both Thing 1 & Thing 2 were signed up for an after-school program that started today, so we didn’t have to pick them up until 5 at the school. So at 4 is to our great surprise that Thing 2 walked in the door…alone. Band Mom was pissed and started making phone calls and sending emails. There was some kind of mix up and her teacher didn’t know she was supposed to attend the after school program so put her on the bus instead. No harm. No foul. Luckily we were home and not at the store or something though…

At 5 I picked up Thing 1. She starts asking where Thing 2 was. I explained. We headed home. A little later I headed to Wal Mart to get my lunches for the week and some other stuff and a little bit of stuff for Band Mom’s Mom. I dropped her stuff off and then headed home. Band Mom cooked some dinner and we all ate. After the kids were tucked in, Band Mom and I sat down to watch the premier of Season 3 of Heroes. This season is going to be awesome!

Sunday I got up and showered early. Then I took Pooh to church. While I was gone Band Mom got herself and Things 1 & 2 ready to go. When I got back we got everything ready and headed to Canonsburg for the final day of the festival. The kids had been wanting to go all weekend and today they could. We got there almost an hour before the festival even opened.

We kicked around for a bit, then Band Mom had to get to work. The food booths finally started opening, so we got the girls some food. They settled on a hot dog and chips for Thing 1 and fresh fruit for Thing 2. Then we walked around. First I got the kids tickets for the Euro bungee. They ride it every year and love it. Then we stopped at a cool vendor that let you “pan” for gems. It was actually a kind of cool thing where you buy a bag of mining ore and then sift it and you get to keep anything you find (all bags will have something). The girls had a blast with that. Finding the gems and trying to match what they found to the pictures. That was well worth the money and time spent.

After that they were starting to get hot and wanted to sit in the shade for a while, so I got some lunch for myself and we sat for a while listening to some button boxers. Then we visited Band Mom again. Then I got the girls each a ride all day pass and we headed to the rides. You wouldn’t think they would get their money’s worth out of a ride all day pass in a couple of hours on a Sunday, but they surely did!

After a while Juju showed up and and they all rode together. Then they took a break from riding to get a drink and walk around for a bit. I took the opportunity to visit with Band Mom at the beer booth. When I met back up with the girls we headed to the rides so they could get a last couple of rides in so we could get going.

We left the festival a little after 3 to head to the hotel for an employee recognition party. We got there a little before four. They really did a nice job. There was plenty of grub and we all got tickets for some free drinks. We ate and hung out there while watching the Steelers get smacked around by the Eagles. Once the game was over the party started to break up. We all won some prizes. Band Mom won a pick Steelers hat, Thing 1 won a big container of party mix, Thing 2 got a pair of Steelers socks and I got a hat (maybe…I don’t know if I just ended up with it on my head or if I was supposed to have it…we’ll see). Anyway we eventually got all gathered up and headed home.

We kicked around for a bit before dropping Things 1 & 2 in the shower. While I was bathing them Band Mom fell asleep. If she’d have drank more I’d say she passed out. See Band Mom doesn’t drink normally. Every now and then she may have a shot or a glass of wine. Well she ended up having 2 drinks, a strawberry daquari, and a Cosmo or something. It was kinda funny. She wasn’t drunk per say, but a little giggly and chatty (not much different from normal actually)

Saturday, Pooh got up early and her dad took her to a college fair. Band Mom and I got up soon after and it was early enough for me to head to McDonald’s and pick up breakfast for the rest of us. We ate and then Band Mom got ready. Around noon I took Band Mom and dropped her off at Oktoberfest. I then stopped at Wal Mart on my way home to pick up some supplies for the kids for the day.

I got home and hung with Things 1 & 2 for a little bit then I got ready to go. I then loaded the PA in the car and took Pooh to the hotel for work at 3. I dropped her off and stayed long enough to set up the PA for karaoke later. Then I headed to the festival.

I got there around 3:30 and met up with Band Mom. I then got some stuffed cabbage and potato pancakes for dinner. Around 4:30 I set up the poker table. Tonight I was dealing instead of playing. I got the first table going around 5 o’clock. I had some people that I was playing with/against on Friday show up again on Saturday. It was a pretty good time. I would rather play than deal, but I still had a good time. We played a ton of poker. I finished my final game after 10:30.

Band Mom had already left the festival to go host karaoke at the hotel, so I got a ride there from some friends. We did the karaoke/DJ thing until close. We ended up leaving the PA in case it may be needed on Sunday. Then we headed home and to bed to get ready for Day 3 of the festival.

Friday I took the day off work so that Band Mom could do the all day Oktoberfest thing and I cold get the girls all taken care of. The day started with me getting up at the same time I would have if I had to go to work. I got a shower and then got the girls ready for school. I took them to the bus stop. After the bus came, I headed to the lab to have my blood drawn.

See, about a month ago, I went to the doctors for a check up. He then wanted me to have blood work done and gave me a script for it. Well, today I finally went.

After the lab I headed home and got some grub. Then I spent the afternoon getting my computer kinda running and working on some client work.

Band Mom headed to Canonsburg for Oktoberfest. I watched the girls for a while. Then Juju was dropped off to babysit. I ran to McDonald’s and picked up dinner for the 3 of them. Then I headed to Canonsburg to check out the festival for myself.

I didn’t have any responsibilities for the evening so I actually got to enjoy the festival. I got some bratwurst for my dinner and then headed right to the poker tent. In the first round I got down to heads up play (with a slight chip lead) and the two of us decided to split the pot and get another round started.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to get in the next round as I was asked to help with sound for my pals in Southern Discomfort. So I headed to the stage and did that for a while. After they were up and running I hung out for about 6 or 8 songs, then headed back to the poker table.

I got in on the last game, but didn’t play as well as I did in the first and got knocked out somewhere around the middle of the pack. No biggie, I still ended the night on the + side. I was then planning on hanging out with Band Mom for a little but she was already gone.

She got called in to the hotel to be the night manager. Turns out the person that was going to work called off. Band Mom wasn’t thrilled, but went ahead and headed there. So after playing cards I headed to the hotel. I checked up on Band Mom, and had a quick beer. She was good so at midnight I headed home to let our babysitter go home.

Band Mom got home after the bar closed and we headed to bed to get some sleep for Day 2…

After finding out on Monday night that Pooh and my phones were different than Band Mom, I called Best Buy on Tuesday morning. They said just bring in the 915s and they will exchange them for 920s. But they only have 1 in stock.

So after work I gathered up Things 1 & 2 and we headed back to Best Buy. I switched my phone and they ordered another 920 from another store that will be in in a couple of days for Pooh. She’s probably going through withdrawal worse than a heroin junkie right now. Her phone was shut off on Monday because we activated the new one, but she’s at her Dad’s and we haven’t gotten her the new one. Now there’s really no point in getting it to her until the new one comes in. Oh well…

After we got all of that straight. The girls and I headed back to town. We stopped at Wal Mart to get some stuff. Then we ran through McDonald’s to get some dinner. We headed home and ate then I got them showered and ready for bed.

When they were in bed I sat around goofing with my new phone and watching some DVR, before heading to bed myself.

Monday, Band Mom finally had had enough and decided it was time to get new phones. So she decided we were going to make a trip to Best Buy to look at what they had. After much research on line, Best Buy had the best selection/price ratio out there. Band Mom had figured she was going to get an LG Vu but wanted to see one in action. She didn’t like the iPhone‘s touch screen since she has long nails and wanted to make sure the Vu would work with her nails.

So right after work I headed home and rounded up the fam and we headed out. We got to the store and looked at what they had to offer. Band Mom was sold on the Vu after trying it. She said I could get an iPhone if I wanted one. Then we found out that on top of what we’re paying the iPhone would add another $30 to our monthly bill. She was having none of that. So I decided to also get a Vu. We also got one for Pooh.

After we got them we headed across the street to Olive Garden for some dinner. After dinner we loaned our new phones to the kids so they could check out the coolest feature of these new phones the Cellular Video. They loved it. Thing 1 watched a full episode of Hanna Montana and Thing 2 watched a full episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Well they would have if the batteries hadn’t started to die.

When we got home we started toying with our phones and personalizing them. That’s when we found out that although we thought we got 3 identical phones, we actually didn’t. Band Mom had a different model than the other 2 phones. I was kinda pissed. Nobody told us that. And Band Mom’s LG Vu CU920 had the Mobile TV antenna and came with a set of ear buds, whereas Pooh and my LG Vu CU915s didn’t have those 2 things. Although the cost was identical. So Tuesday, I’m calling Best Buy to find out if we can exchange the 915s for a couple of 920s.