I just started a cooking blog! Feel free to check it out! I will post more... must start somewhere, so I started with spaghetti squash!

http://netgcooks.wordpress.com/

Current Mood: curious

So I think I'm going to start a food blog about things I cook, giving alternative ways of making them, etc. By default I'd tend to just do it on LJ. But are there other sites which are really good which I should know about?

tumblr has been suggested to me. I'm not really familiar with it. Blogger/bloggy/google blogs/other suggestions? I'm looking for pros and cons, as I highly doubt any site is perfect.

Copying this one, just because, hey, I'm actually alive, so if I don't have a horse meme, what better way to say hi y'all!

Music Meme
List 10 musical artists you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below).

1. Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta
2. Carbon Leaf
3. Calexico
4. Matt Nathanson
5. Keaton Simons
6. Nine Inch Nails
7. The Cure
8. Mostly Bears
9. Depedro
10. Foo Fighters


( Read more... )

Current Mood: exhausted

I was curious how many shows I went to in a year, so I decided to try to keep track.

I stopped keeping good track in October... but that was when I had a combination of overtime and a new horse, so I think I may have remembered all the shows I went to in the last three months of the year.  I definitely went to far fewer shows those months, and the ones I did go to tended to be big events - thus the largest three venues I went to on land except University of Phoenix Stadium.  (Tucson Arena holds thousands, though not a normal "arena show" sized crowd.  Cricket Wireless obviously holds thousands, as I saw The Police there, and Rialto is the "big" venue I regularly go to - I think it holds 1200.)

Anyway, a list of the shows I saw in 2008, maybe missing a few, but approx. 60 shows...

( 60 Concerts, give or take )

This is a music meme.  Because, well, I love music.

Comment on this post and I'll give you a band. Don't worry, I'll try to make it one you know and love. You put your ten favorite songs by that band on your LJ and challenge others to do the same.

seimaisin gave me Calexico.  I wasn't sure if she'd give me Calexico or Keaton Simons, since I'm hoping she'll see both in the near future, and neither one are on her very favorites yet.

So... Calexico.  They're from my hometown of Tucson, and I actually reviewed one of their concerts as feeling like home.  Some reviews think there's a schtick involved, or that they're putting on a front.  They live in Tucson, which is likely to have the majority of the population of Mexican descent in not too long a time.  We were part of Mexico until 1853 (Gadsden Purchase) (or 1856, if you want to talk about when the American military actually got here) and are closer to Mexico than Phoenix, so of course we feel that culture.  We also have a fair number of immigrants from other places here.  Tucson is one of the oldest settled cities in North America, as we used to have water in our rivers (but don't now... people have done that), and there were tribes living here continuously before Columbus landed on the other side of the continent.  Our first settlers, the Paleo Indians, are guessed to have been here about 12,000 years ago.

I'm cheating a little bit.  If you just look at their music page you will see 18 albums.  So I'm going to attempt to go with music I can find online, to share with you legally.  I'm a big fan of legal music sharing.  My picks, in chronological order:

</lj>( Sorry for forgetting to put this cut in earlier! )

This past weekend was pretty awesome.  I went to a completely unplugged show in Phoenix because Keaton was playing there - it was Curtis Peoples, Keaton Simons, Tony Lucca.  They were in a little coffee shop which had no PA, so it was just guitars and voices, no microphones, no amps.  The three of them sang some songs together, and their voices are FANTASTIC together.  I'll post videos once I get them online.  Youtube takes a while...

Saturday night, I was in the balcony at the RIalto, about as far from stage as I could get.  Calexico and Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World were playing a fundraiser for Gabrielle Giffords.  Jim took the stage alone with his guitar, but Calexico had seven or more people on stage at all times.  I also knew some sort of collaboration was coming.  I heard The Middle coming out the side door of the Rialto when I parked before dinner, it was definitely Jim Adkins' voice - and definitely NOT the usual Jimmy Eat World instrumentation.

This was the encore.  I wasn't sure about posting my video for it online, but apparently it's ok.  Zach Lind, drummer for Jimmy Eat World, posted my video on his blog.  I figure that means they're ok with it being online....  www.findingrhythm.com/blog/

Current Location: Not getting ready for work...
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: The Middle, of course!

I love Matt Nathanson; he reminded me why I love music when I forgot. But it doesn't compare to this: http://tinyurl.com/5zz6xv

I find it interesting that all personality quizzes I've taken recently have expressed what makes me a good systems engineer. They all mention my ability to see details, and how those details fit into the big picture. That's a HUGE part of who I am, at work and in life.

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HFPS - The Humanitarian

Humanity, Foreground, Big Picture, and Shape

From seimaisin because I am awake when I should be in bed.

What was the last concert you attended?
Matt Nathanson at the Rialto Friday night.

How many people were there?
Official count, 599.

What bands have you seen in concert the most, and how many times?
That I'm willing to count - probably between Carbon Leaf and Calexico, depending how you choose to count concerts.

Do you have any setlists? From what bands?
Yeah - I don't remember.  I've gotten them to be able to tell people what songs were played, not for the sake of having the setlist.  I accidentally rip things like that, so don't collect them.

Are there any CDs in close proximity to you? Which ones?
Many.  Tony Lucca, Fleetwood Mac, Beatles, Dylan, Amos Lee, Duke Ellington, Matt Nathanson, Corinne Bailey Rae, and others.  And I am NOT near where they get put away either.

What band are you in the mood to see live right this second?
Matt Nathanson again, because I'm still at that post-concert-giddy level.

Have you ever been on a tour bus?
Yes.

Have you ever partied with a band?
Yes.

How many states/provinces have you been to concerts in?
I think 13 states, one Canadian province and floating on international waters.

What bands did you see live the month of May?
I am keeping track of what shows I go to.  So I have the full answer... scary.
Tesoro
Salvador Duran
The Jons
Will Elliot
Marianne Dissard, Will Elliot & Clay Koweek Trio
Calexico
Mariachi Luz de Luna
Mariachi Aztlan (Pueblo High)
Salvador Duran
The Police
Elvis Costello and the Imposters
Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos
Mike Bloom
Tyrone Wells
Jason Reeves
Tony Lucca
Keaton Simons
Ike Ndolo
Kenny Chesney
Keith Urban
Sammy Hagar
Gary Allan
Unknown Chick (she won some contest to open the Kenny Chesney show, but no one had a clue who she was, and she didn't repeat her name ever)

What CD are you addicted to at the moment?
A mix of live Carbon Leaf stuff

Who is one band that you used to like, but now you can't stand?
They aren't worth mentioning, but most people reading this already know

Have you ever been on anyone's guest list? Whose?
Yes.... does this only mean if the band put me specifically on, or at all?  Through the artist and their management only: Carbon Leaf, Keaton Simons, Matt Nathanson, John Butler Trio, and others I'm not thinking of this instant.  If you're including me being on the guest list for whatever reason, there have been many others, including The Police, The Fray and Ingrid Michaelson as some of the more significant ones.

Last band person that you got a picture with?
Matt Nathanson, Friday

Do you consider yourself a groupie?
No.  Most definitely not, especially after seeing the creepy obsessive/possessive crap some people do.

How old were you when you went to your first concert?
14

Who was it?
Billy Ray Cyrus (the ticket was free - and I loved Aaron Tippin, one of his openers)

Which artists haven't you seen yet that you want to see?
Umm.... there are SO MANY I can't possibly list them all.  I would really like to get to see Maroon 5/Counting Crows together in the fall.

Are you wearing a band shirt right now?
Nope, I'm wearing a Pirates of the Caribbean shirt.

What band do you own the most merch of?
If this just means shirts, Carbon Leaf, easily.  If it includes CDs, it's close between Carbon Leaf and Calexico.

Do you ever do anything crazy at shows?
I'm curious what this means.  But definitely don't count anything I do as crazy.  Unless you count the time I was responsible for another chick hitting the floor.  All I did was back up when she leaned on me, though.

What are your favourite venues to go to shows at?
Rialto and Plush in Tucson, Launchpad in Albuquerque has great sound, and the Orpheums in Boston and Phoenix may be the two neatest theaters I've been in.  I most often go to Club Congress for the artists who play there.

What band do you have the most performance pictures of?
The Police.

Would you ever get a tattoo representing a band?
I'm too fickle to get a tattoo at all.

How many concerts do you average a year?
I went to 8 just in May.  I really can't answer this question because of how much it depends on what's happening in my life.  Between 20 and 100, maybe?

Upcoming shows?
Many.  Neko Case, Amos Lee, King Karl, Michael Franti, Great Big Sea are a few.

Current Mood: thankful

I couldn't get online to post in time yesterday, but Keaton was on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night (playing the new guitar Gibson gave him to play).  I suggest checking out the video on youtube:

Also, Calexico has a free download of the song Two Silver Trees from their new album, Carried to Dust, at their myspace page or from the Touch and Go Records site.


I kind of like the song better live...  So far my video is the only one I know of online.


Also, Matt Nathanson has a show on Friday at the Rialto Theater.  It will be awesome, because Matt is awesome.

Current Mood: excited