A guy that I’ve emailed with quite a few times started The Live Music Podcast a couple of weeks ago and I’m loving it! So far there are four different podcasts which each highlight a live recording of various bands and artists. So far the podcasts have showcased music from Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Jack Johnson, and the John Butler Trio. So needless to say, the content is right up my alley. The website also features a list of featured streams and now includes even more suggested downloads. I’m really digging this site and format and hopefully you will too.

You know what I love? Hockey. You know what I don’t love? Losing. Unfortunately, these two things have become a common theme for my latest hockey team. We have played seven games, and we have lost seven games. It is really getting frustrating for me, especially since I finally feel like I am contributing to the team. The first few games I played I had some ankle problems. One game I had to quit after only playing half of the first period because it hurt so bad. Lately I have been focusing on strengthening my ankle and restoring the full range of motion by doing lots of exercises. I can almost say that I am getting close to 100%. Now if only I could say the same for my team. I am starting to feel like I’m a member of the Mighty Ducks. If only Gordon Bombay could come save the day for us…

I’ve been meaning to write about our weekend but the events of the past couple of days have kept me a little preoccupied. So, this past weekend we headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the wedding of our friends Gabe and Brad. I think the last time I wrote about these two, was way back in the days of Hurricane Katrina and their experiences living down in New Orleans (links to these entires:1|2|3|4). Well they are now living in Michigan and decided to have their wedding ceremony at Wellerss Carriage House in Ann Arbor.

The actual ceremony was fairly quick and simple and took place outside in a beautiful garden. This was a nice change when most of the weddings I go to are inside a large Catholic church. After the ceremony we had cocktails in the garden for a little while, and then were seated inside the carriage house for dinner, which was excellent! After eating our meals and having a couple of toasts some of the tables were cleared out while the band setup on the stage. It’s always great when there is a live band at the wedding, at least in my opinion. The rest of the night was filled with dancing, conversation, and many vodka tonics. It was a very nice wedding and reception, one of the tops in my book. Congrats Gabe and Brad!

PS I would post pictures but we only took a couple. Besides, I’m waiting for Amy to put together a slide show.

Late yesterday I heard that a friend of mine from OARfans.com had passed away due to injuries suffered in a car accident. I am still in as much shock as I was when I first found out and am finding myself pretty speechless about the whole thing. Jordan was truly a great person and it’s sad that his life was cut so short. There are so many times that I can recall him being the life of the party, bringing smiles to so many faces, and just living his life to the fullest. He had done so much in such a short time and will truly be missed by so many people. The messages that are being left on his myspace page are truly touching and show just how many lives he touched. Here is a news article from a Chicago newspaper that details the story of his passing. We’ll miss you JordanWho, the breakdancing ninja.

Most of Kim’s family members are currently up in Estes Park, Colorado which is near the eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. So while I’m sitting at my desk logging into work, Kim is out with them enjoying all of the wonderful things to do in and around the park and the rocky mountains. So far they’ve done a biking trip and I believe they plan to go white water rafting tomorrow. Needless to say, I am extremely jealous. However, I am going to meet up with tonight to grab some dinner and hang out for a little bit. If only I had more vacation days…

I’m not a big gamer at all, especially when compared to some of the people I work with who will play World of Warcraft for hours at a time. But I’ve discovered an insanely addictive online game that is very simple graphically but so much fun to play called Desktop Tower Defense. I’m trying not to play it until work is over and it is very hard to do. I’m warning you, only click this link if you can spare quite a bit of your time because I’m betting that you will get sucked in too. If you do decided to play, let me know your scores. I’ve played the medium level and average around 2,000 points, I think.

I forgot to mention earlier that Kim and I played some golf after work this past Friday once again at Littleton Golf & Tennis Club. We last played there just over a month ago and both played pretty well on the back nine holes. This time was no different, we played the back nine once again, and both of us actually beat our scores from the time before! Kim even had her first ever par!

I wasn’t so lucky. I didn’t get par or under on any of the nine holes, I got a bogey on seven of the holes and a double bogey on the other two. I ended with a score of 43, which is much better than the 49 that I had the last time. What was really not going well for me on Friday was my putting. I know that I had multiple three putts, so that is something that I definitely need to work on.

In just over an hour I am going to get the brake light switch replaced in the Jetta, which I hope will be the last time. As I mentioned earlier, there is a recall out to replace the part and we finally got our recall notice in the mail. I had to schedule an appointment with a local dealer to get the part installed. When I did this the guy at the counter told me it would take around an hour. An hour?!?! I can replace the part myself in less than 15 minutes. I know because I’ve done it twice already. I asked if I could just get the part and do it myself. His response was that I would have to pay for the part since it is only done for free by the service technicians. At least the recall notice can with a form to fill out for reimbursement of expenses related to the recall. I am definitely going to attempt to get the money for the parts reimbursed, and maybe I can figure out how to bill them for my time and labor.

I was supposed to go to a concert last night at the Soiled Dove featuring Jon McLaughlin. Everything was going fine before the show started. Kim and I headed toward the show early and had dinner at the restaurant upstairs. There was a pretty good line to get in when we arrived shortly before seven, but that quickly disappeared when the doors opened at seven. The music was scheduled to start at eight, so after we finished our meals we headed downstairs just in time to catch the opener. I give the bouncer my ID and ask how much it costs to get in since there was a sign saying the tickets were cash only. He replied that the show was sold out! Apparently I didn’t learn my lesson from the John Butler Trio show a few months back, otherwise I would have sucked it up and bought tickets ahead of time. In my mind there was no way that a venue with a capacity of a few hundred would fill up for this show, but I totally underestimated the music scene around here. From now on I am no longer going to wait on tickets for the shows that I really want to see.

On a happier note, how about another song of the moment? This one is from, you guessed it, Jon McLaughlin. This song may sound familiar to those of you who already have NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music 2006, as a version of the song “Industry” is on the compilation. However the one from before is from an older release of his, and you can now download it from his latest CD titled Indiana, which is one of my favorite CDs of this year.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a baseball game at Coors Field between the Cincinnati Reds and the Colorado Rockies. Naturally I wore a red Cincinnati shirt (it was actually a Bearcats shirt and not a Reds shirt) to the game and was rooting for the Reds, as were many of the others in our group. This must have helped us stand out in the crowd and towards the end of the game my scruffy face was actually on TV. Multiple people that I know saw my appearance, and my brother even taped it on their DVR. I was hoping to get the recording off of the DVR somehow, but the best that could be done was a video from my mom’s digital camera. And now after a little editing, everyone can relive the moment…