Our office is expanding once again and eventually we will occupy all the remaining space on the third floor. Before that could happen we had to listen as some construction workers tore down the wall that used to separate where I sit now and where our future space will be. I thought once the wall was down the noise would cease, but this is not the case.

We are now forced to listen to these construction workers and their constant loud country music. I think I speak for everyone else who currently has their office door closed when I say that these guys have got to go. Occasionally after lunch they’ll mix it up and throw on some good old class rock and I’m hoping that today is one of those days. If not, I may have to watermelon crawl over there and turn down that stupid radio! I’ve heard enough about Johnny and his dad going fishing. Enough!

It’s not that I don’t like country music. It’s that I hate everything about it. :) Although I have become a little more understanding since it seems every time I’m back in Cincinnati all my family listens to is country, well that and a little O.A.R. My dad used to be hater, like me, but somehow my brother convinced him to give it a try. One thing led to another and now no family gathering is complete without some guy complaining about his wife, dog, or pickup.

Big news for Pig-Fest, as I finally lined up a musical act for this year. Joining us for the first time will be MER! Caution: merplay.com does not like Firefox. The designer of the site is a friend of mine, so I’ll have to let him know. He may even show up to Pig-Fest this time around. Anyway, I first met MER more than three years ago and have only had the opportunity to see them a few times since, but I have never been disappointed. I think they will fit in perfectly at Pig-Fest, treating us to a mix of original songs and crowd favorite cover songs.

Head over to MER’s page on myspace.com to check out a few tunes.

Last night we booked our flights for the Pig-Fest weekend, so I know that I’ll be there, will you? We also booked flights to Seattle for the previously mentioned weekend at The Gorge featuring DMB and O.A.R. My dream has come true and I will finally see some shows at this magnificent venue!

One week and counting until we close on our new home and our neighborhood just got even better. Eddie Delahunt, a local Irish musician, has announced he is opening a cafe at 45th and State Line in the antique district. This is literally less than a block from our house. The site was formerly home to Balsano’s, which just closed a few months ago. When we put our offer in on the house we were saddened when we realized that this shop was closed, but now I’m happy that Eddie Delahunt’s “Cafe &” will be opened in its place. I’m even more excited to learn that the cafe will also have live music!

According to Irish KC and the Irish Fest Blog, Eddie says “Cafe &” will be open before June 1st.

I added some pictures to the site from our weed picking event at the nature center along with a few from the Royals game later that night. That’s about the most productive thing I did last night. I was hit with a little “stomach bug” about halfway through my work day and I never really recovered. I’m still feeling a little bit off today, but hopefully that will change soon.

While navigating through a newly opened route in the Triangle this morning an Elton John song came on my Sirius radio. After that song was over my “artist alert” immediately indicated that a different Elton John song was on another station. I tuned into that one as well and it finished up just as I was pulling into work.

What’s my point? Well I also have Billy Joel saved into my radio and I receive an alert every time one of his songs is on any channel. Typically I get more alerts for Billy Joel than I do for Elton John, at least at the times when I’m in the car. Does Sirius favor Billy Joel over Sir Elton or is it just coincidence? This led me to a little debate with myself over whom I thought was better. I know that Kim would obviously say Billy Joel, since he’s her favorite performer of all time. Although I enjoy various songs from each of them, I give a slight advantage to Billy Joel. It seems that he has created more songs that I enjoy than Elton John has. Regardless I’d love to see either one (preferably both) of them live someday.

Sorry for the delay, but a busy weekend has fed right into a busy work week…

We flew into Cincinnati and arrived about dinner time on Friday night. My dad and Tim picked us up and we drove downtown to our hotel for the night. My mom is/was on a cruise with her sisters, but she kindly reserved a couple rooms for us. The first stop with Ed Sr. and Tim was for some food at RockBottom Brewery. It seems like I always end up here for dinner when downtown, but who can go wrong with good beer and good food!

We then made the nearly two mile walk over to the Beer Sellar. Originally we were going to take a cab over but since we ended up walking there we arrived at the bar a little later than we wanted to. Weeks earlier we had sent out an evite to friends and family to join us at the bar to celebrate my dad’s 50th birthday. We kept it a secret from him, and when we walked into the bar about 50 people we had invited stood up and shouted, “Surprise!” In the end I was glad that we were late, the surprise was great.

We spent the rest of the night at the Beer Sellar and it was a great time. Our friends in the band Greenstreet were there to provide some great music and of course the 60 beers on tap did not disappoint. Be sure to head there throughout the summer when Greenstreet is playing again. I know I will if I’m in town.

Saturday was spent out at my parents’ house relaxing and recovering from the night before. Later in the day I took a couple of rides in my dad’s new Mazda 3. I even rode on the highway in the car! Remember that my last car was an almost identical Mazda 3 and that I no longer have the car because it was totaled on the highway just outside of St. Louis. Anyway, my dad and I hung out at the Hais’ house for a few hours after dinner and from there I headed to bed knowing that Sunday would be an early morning.

I awoke to the sounds of banging pots and pans on Sunday. I guess that Kim had convinced some of her family that this was the best way to wake me up. I then began searching their house for my Easter basket and found it a half hour or so later. The Easter Bunny gave me all sorts of weapons (aka tools) that airport security would have loved. Everyone then got ready and before too long many of Kim’s aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. started showing up for their annual Easter party. The good thing about west side Cincinnati Easter parties is that you can still play cornhole! The party was a great time and it was good to see all of Kim’s family again. Just as things were wrapping up, we got a ride down to the airport and flew back to KC. I’m still a little exhausted from the weekend’s events, but I have my first full week of work in while to rest up.

Today’s entry comes from a soon to be homeowner. This weekend Kim and I spent a bunch of time working out the details to buy the house I mentioned last week. If all goes as planned we will be moving all of our stuff in just over a month, the weekend of May 12th. Overall I would say that it has been very nerve racking, but at the same time also very exciting!

Besides all of the time spent on the phone and signing our names on the dotted lines, we had a pretty busy weekend. On Friday night we went to a Shaking Tree concert. Saturday we played nine holes of golf (although Kim was on the phone most of the time) and then hung out at the Brooksider for the night. Sunday we ran some errands (including faxing in our official offer for the house), hung out with Bianca, and I even got in a game of hockey.

This week is definitely going to be a busy one. Heck, the next month or so is probably going to be jam packed. That should give me plenty to write about, I just hope that I still have the time to do it.

I dropped Kim off at the airport before work yesterday. She spent the day in Iowa for work and is flying into Cincinnati today. That means I’m all alone for the rest of the week, on a bachelor week if you will. So, what have I done so far?

Last night I made the drive over to Lawrence, Kansas to see the band Zox * who were previously included on Now That’s What Ed Calls Music 2004. That was the year that I first heard of these guys, and although I only saw a song or two of their set at the Feeling Better Than Everfine Festival, I knew they were capable of putting on a very good show. I’m happy to report that they did not disappoint, even though the “venue” they played left a lot to be desired.

The Gaslight Tavern is one of the few places I had yet to see a show at in Lawrence. I had often heard from friends that it was small, but this didn’t prepare me for how tiny the place truly is. I didn’t see a sign on the wall indicating the maximum capacity, but if I were in charge of these signs I would give this place a maximum of 20 people. That’s the approximate number of people who were in attendance last night and I don’t think anyone else could have fit comfortably. The bar is very nice and clean. And although I was not drinking last night, they appear to have a great selection of drinks. The room is just not conducive to bands playing. I think a solo singer/songwriter is the perfect fit for the Gaslight. Despite these problems, Zox played a great show and I look forward to seeing them again in April when they are back in Lawrence at the Bottleneck.

* The link to Zox’s website is now correct. Sorry about that.

Last night we made the adventurous weekday drive to Lawrence, Kansas to see Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers at the Bottleneck. There was however one small problem, Stephen Kellogg is sick and has left the tour to return home for now. We didn’t know this before leaving Kansas City otherwise we probably would have skipped the show. I guess we don’t have much room to complain because we got in free after all, thanks to our friends Brett and Emily.

I helped Brett with his first live taping experience and hopefully I didn’t tell or show him anything too incorrect. He bought microphones very similar to the ones that I use, so we decided to set them up next to each other and run the rest of our gear identically. This should give us very similar recordings that we can compare to see what the difference is, if any at all.

The Sixers (along with Kyle Riabko) attempted to put on the show, even without the front man. Some of the songs were pretty good, while others were just hilarious to watch. Often times they were reading the lyrics off a sheet of paper while trying to play their instruments. I give them credit though, because many bands would not have done this. It was definitely one of those shows that will likely never happen again, although it doesn’t really compare to the Virginia Coalition show @ Earlham College. Pat McGee played afterward, and like usual I stuck around only long enough to hear two songs.

We headed up to The Levee last night for a little Fat Tuesday celebrating. The regular Wednesday night group from work was meeting up there instead of the standard, Hooper’s. They were having a pub crawl that prevented us from going downstairs (unless we wanted to pay $15) so we enjoyed the comforts of the upstairs bar while still somewhat hearing what the band was playing downstairs. Sure it doesn’t compare to the action down in New Orleans but it doesn’t hurt to get out for awhile.

Today the DMB summer tour dates were announced, and once again O.A.R. is opening a few of the shows. They aren’t doing Alpine this year but are instead heading to The Gorge! This could finally be the year that I take a trip all the way to George, Washington. Who’s in???

I finally got to another show on Friday night, Robert Randolph & The Family Band. Mike, Maria, Joel and Amanda all met us at our apartment before the show, and after a couple of drinks we headed up to the show. They played one of the longest sets I have seen in awhile, it must have been over two and a half hours. I started my recording a little early, before they started playing, but they were still playing when I reached the three hour recording maximum. Oh well, there were a few other tapers there. I think everyone had a good time, although I did hear Mike comment on the length of some of their songs. He swears that one song was 45 minutes long!

Saturday we had to get up early to prepare for the Barstool Open, a pub crawl involving a miniature golf hole in each of the nine bars. Team “Hole In Juan” starred Mike as Jose, Christie as Rosa, Kim as Zita, and myself as Juan. We started the morning off at the Levee and then moved on to Mike’s, Charlie Hooper’s, the Brooksider, Lew’s, Tanner’s, Dark Horse, and finally Kelly’s. You might have noticed that the list is only eight bars long. The crawl was so popular, and the bars were so crowded, that we didn’t have time to make it to all of them. In fact, we only putted at six of these eight bars. Luckily, they only count your top six holes, so we made it to enough bars to qualify for the prizes. I think we only really have a chance at winning the “best dress” though, since our putting wasn’t that good. Wait until you see these pictures…

Speaking of pictures, I added Kim’s San Antonio pictures to the site over the weekend. Sunday was a relaxing day. I caught up on some Olympics action and messed around with the computers while Kim ran some errands and hung out with Bianca. Later in the night, I finally got to play hockey again. I think the last time I played was about a month ago, so it felt really good to be out there again. I’m happy to report that our team is still undefeated this session!