We're on vacation! And music. Yes, music.

We're on vacation. 'Nuff said.

We are sitting here watching U2 on Good Morning America. Which brings me to a discussion of music. Next week we are going to be doing a road trip with Bob and Judy. I have burned a couple of CDs of driving music but I am not sure exactly what kind of music Bob and Judy like. Other than Amy McDonald (and a Sequim radio station that plays fifties-sixties stuff) we have never discussed music.

Kathleen and I have somewhat similar tastes. She likes stuff that's a little slower than I do. More folksy than I like. We both like Los Lonely Boys, Chris Isaak, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt and U2. Her tastes run more to the quieter, more lyric driven music and mine more to the horns and fun stuff that I can listen to while I work out.

When we first met I have to say that my music taste was kind of dead. I was still listening to stuff that I had listened to in high school and college. I hadn't progressed past that. Still listened (and I still love) James Taylor, Jackson Browne, CSNY and a few others but pretty much I was not into music. I had been in high school and college. I actually ran a concert house at Cal State Fullerton for two years and I got pretty deep into music. But over the years the only people we really listened to around the house were people my first wife liked...John Denver or Garth Brooks (and other country musicians).

When Kathleen and I first started corresponding, she listed a bunch of radio stations she listened to. Hers were all music stations. Mine were all talk radio. I guess at that point in my life I had no reason to feel very musical. That all changed with Kathleen. Now I listen to music all the time. During meals (especially weekend breakfasts), when I work out, when I drive. I would say that when I met her I would listen to talk radio about 99% of the time in the car and now only about 20%. The rest of the time I listen to music.

I am still listening to some of the same old stuff but I have broaden my horizons thanks to...Craig Fergusson. Yup, Craig Fergusson. Since we watch him every night (on TiVo the next day) he often has a band on at the end of the show. We always watch a few minutes of the band to see if they might be a new one for me to listen to. So far I have found Phantom Planet, Scarlett Crush and my favorite band, The Cat Empire. If you have never heard of Cat Empire, they are Australia's hottest group and their last album is my favorite, maybe of all time. Great vocals, cool lyrics, horns...all the things I love to listen to. And their music can only be defined as fun. With a capital F.

And recently I have kind of gone back to my roots, music-wise. When I was in high school all my best friends were in a rock band. Now don't get me wrong, they weren't that great a friends but they let me be their roady (because my parents had a station wagon) and I got really into rock music, especially guitar. Never learned how to play but I am quite a fan. Recently through Digg I came across a really excellent article on Guitar.com about the 50 greatest guitar solos of all time. From the moment I read it, I knew I had to have them all. Happily, we already owned about 20 of them and I invested another $30 in iTunes (thank God you can buy one song at a time) and I have them all. And I am loving listening to them. The best one is someone I had never heard of, Eric Johnson. This guy (who I can't believe is 54--how could I have not heard of him before) is a guitar god. He is amazing. I have found video of him and the only people I have ever seen that can play as fast as him are Albert Lee and maybe John McLaughlin. Check him out at his website here. If you have never heard of him it is probably because his music is instrumental--no lyrics. I think you have to have lyrics to become a major force in rock music. But when it comes to guitar, this guy ROCKS!

So, I guess I will take all kinds of music with us and hope that they like at least some of it. And I can't believe it took me almost 30 years to reconnect with music. And I owe it all to my sweetie. She has opened up so much for me. Brought me back to so much and gotten me into so many new things. That's why I love her.

BTW: If this post seemed to ramble a bit, you can blame Kathleen for that as well. She made our margaritas doubles tonight. YUMMY!

A bad afternoon

What a fun afternoon (or day) we both had. Actually I had kind of a "fun" (see sarcasm here) day. As mentioned on the previous post we are off on vacation in 10 days (actually as of right now 10 days, 13 hours and 14 minutes) and this is one of the most stressful times for me.

We knew the day was going to be screwy when we woke up to snow. SNOW!!! Damn snow. I really hate snow. It got Kathleen out the door more than an hour late and that was just the start of the fun.

Let me see if I can explain the work problem. I have a newsletter I need to get to press before we can leave. This is my annual premier issue. It happens every April. That's when I showcase all the new products and services from the company I write about. It's a very big deal for my customers who use my newsletter. It is the biggest issue I do all year. And I have to get it to press before I leave.

Most months, getting my newsletter out to press is just about me getting the work done but this month is different. I have to depend on people in our marketing department to get me the info so I can write about it. Today I spent all day trying to get some of our new software installed (in a very beta version) so I could do screen shots for publication. Nothing we did (tech support and me) could get it to work the right way. That's the way a bunch of my day went. If it doesn't work tomorrow I don't know what I will do. It still has to be proofed and then I need a full day to get it to press.

Then Kathleen called about three minutes before she came home and said she had stopped at the mailbox to get our mail and "the woman with the dog" is out walking it without a leash again. Explanation here: I am on the board of our condo association. Probably the president now that the current president is gone. We have a rule about dogs. They have to be on a leash. HAVE TO BE ON A LEASH. This couple who lives in the complex has two dogs. They walk them in the complex. One is always on a leash and the other is NEVER on a leash. We have sent them letters. We have fined them under our house rules. Our fines double every time you break one of the house rules. Their current fine is well over $1000. We have talked to them in person and they still walk this dog off a leash. When we have talked to them they act like they just don't care.

One of the problems is that when we fine them, they just don't pay. We can lien their property (and we will) but we don't get their money until they sell their unit. Our only other option is to foreclose on them. We may be doing that now.

Which brings us to this afternoon. Kathleen stopped to get the mail and saw the woman of the couple out walking the dog--of the leash. She gave Kathleen a really dirty look and after Kathleen had the mail she said to her that they were going to get fined again. The woman waited until Kathleen was back in her car and she threw her bag of dog poop at her car. When Kathleen stopped the car she ran up to the driver's side window and slammed the window with her open palms. Kathleen did the smart thing and came home. We called the police to file a complaint.

While we were waiting for the police to come I was reaching for my coffee cup to go upstairs and I dropped it on my keyboard. Thus the keyboard disaster. Not sure if it is going to work tomorrow morning but I cleaned it out and I hopefully got it all.

The police came and looked at the hand prints on Kathleen's car, took her statement and left to speak to the woman. What a thrill.

So that's been our day. We had a really good time. Can you tell?

I can say that every time that couple takes their dog out without a leash I will be not only fining them but calling King County Animal Control and bugging them until they fine these people as well. And I am going to deal with the board about starting foreclosure proceedings unless they pay their fines.

If they don't pay attention to the rules pretty soon, no one will. And their will just be anarchy in the complex.

Frustration and guilt

Oh boy, two of my favorite topics. 

I am frustrated today. Why, because the person I love the most in the world is sick and there is nothing I can do about it. As mentioned before, Kathleen has shingles. And they are painful and making her tired and worse. I want to do something to help her besides putting gas in her car or cooking dinner but since I am not a doctor there is nothing I can do beyond what I am doing. Frustration! 

Kathleen says that I am a typical "man" that has to solve every problem that comes his way. And that is pretty much true. When we have disagreements or arguments, I don't want to discuss things. I just want to know what I need to do to fix something and then to fix it. Cut to the core of the thing. You get sick, let's fix it. Maybe that's why I love my new dermatologist. His attitude is, you have psoriasis? Let's cure it. And he just keeps trying until he does. And he has. I am just about 99% psoriasis free.

Now to the guilt. I grew up Catholic. More Catholic than my brothers and sister. I went to 9 years of Catholic school. I was an altar boy, sang in the choir and was taught by nuns in 6 of those 9 years. Nothing instills guilt like a Catholic upbringing. And this coming week the guilt is going to set in. On Sunday I have to fly to Orlando to attend Jostens annual National Sales School. And it's bad enough when I go and leave Kathleen when she is well (OK, I admit it, we hate being away from each other) but when she is sick it will drive me nuts. I have already offered to cancel but she is adamant that she will be OK and that I am just being foolish. Of course she has always said that about my "stupid guilt" and she is probably right. She usually is, on most things. That's why I love her so much.

Romantic Comedies can come true...

This afternoon we saw a romantic comedy, Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. It was excellent. Not one of the great romantic comedies but certainly a good one. I love both of them (a little less love for Dustin and I think Emma is hot!) Which brings me to this post about romantic comedies in general. 

First I want to state that I LOVE romantic comedies. If that makes me a "girlie man," so be it. Some of my favorite films are romantic comedies. In fact I would say my favorite movie of all time (Love Actually)  is a romantic comedy and my top five favorite films are all romances of some sort. (Dave, Amelie, Princess Bride and Casablanca.)

So recently I was dismayed when I saw that a recent study of people who go to romantic films said that those people are less likely to achieve happiness romantically. But I kind of understand what the study means. The theory was that the romance in movies is unrealistic and sets too high a standard for people in real life. That was certainly true for me until I met Kathleen. My relationships before meeting her were more about friendship, companionship and common financial responsibilities.

But I think that I can honestly say that the relationship I am in right now with my partner, soul mate, best friend and wife, Kathleen is as good as any romantic relationship I have ever seen on the screen. So when we go to those films I just love them because I now know and have known for more than ten years, that you can live happily ever after in a wonderful romantic relationship. We both admit that we can't believe that after this long we can still be this happy and have the relationship seem this new for so long. 

So I guess, romantic comedies can come true. At least they have for us.