CheezyOranges

An Amazing Evening!

The day started out fairly normal. I got up, went to work, lunch, but I came home at 3:15 so that Greg and I could leave early to head to Titusville and then Melbourne. We stopped in Titusville first because there’s a restaurant there called Dixie Crossroads that Greg has been raving about. So we headed down 50 and made our way there.

Firstly, the place was decorated with murals and they had a fish pond out front filled with big, dull eyed fish who wanted food. And pigeons. There were lots of pigeons there too.

Inside, it was really friendly and happy - very coastal. We sat in a big booth and ordered our food. Greg had crab legs and scallops and some shrimp (they had a multitude of combo plates) and I had fish and veggies on the side. It was yummy, and their “corn fritters” were more like corn doughnuts. They served them covered in powdered sugar. Except for eating too many fritters, the whole meal was really good for my diet. So good! When we’re done eating, Greg says there’s a really awesome Indian restaurant out there too. So, if we’re out that way any time we’ll probably stop there, if we can find it.

After dinner, we made our way towards Melbourne. Unfortunately, when we got to Dixie Crossroads, it started raining, and it was spitting at us all night off and on. The 45 minutes or so straight down 95 to Melbourne were quick and easy. We got to the King Center, and after a little bit of a fun time parking (I missed the first driveway), we got a spot and got in. Earlier in the day, I had pulled some cash from my account for dinner/gas, etc. I completely FORGOT they’d be selling merchandise at the concert. Luckily I had enough to get a shirt. I got the CD cover, because the others were cool, but I liked the tour dates on the back, as well. Its too bad my other Weird Al shirt doesn’t fit anymore (too big). If I found it, though I could give it to Greg. He’d probably get a kick out of it. Anyway, we had about an hour to kill, so we milled around, watched the people and Greg bought drinks. The awesome thing is that I knew my friend FDR (filthy drunken Rebecca, even though she doesn’t drink) was going to be there. She was in the same row as us (front row balcony) but in seats far away. I waited for her to show up, we talked a bit, and then the concert started…

Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed was the sound was weird, but other than a few balance problems here and there, the whole concert was amazing. He showed lots of funny clips between numbers and was really full of energy. Some songs, you could hear the whole place singing along. At one point, he either forgot a line or just needed to take a breath, because he stopped singing, and the audience took it up and kept going. It was great. The most amazing thing the whole evening during the concert was that he performed ALBUQUERQUE! Its a 12 minute song, and I swore he said he’d never do it in concert. He did it on the Running With Scissors tour in Albuquerque and that was it. Amazing, absolutely amazing. That was a great encore. Afterwards, I was bound and determined to wait as long as I could to see if I could get an autograph. We went down to front row and waited. A security guard told us to leave rather unceremoniously. On the way out, I even begged some of the people with passes going back stage to get my cd cover signed, but they looked at me and didn’t say a word.

While we were headed towards the car, I saw a group of people waiting near the back, and I headed that way, much to Greg’s annoyance - he was tired and wanted to go home, and was sure the Security Guard meant business. I know that Al tries to come out for his fans if you wait long enough and the other guards seemed to be more cooperative. I ran to my car and grabbed another CD. Greg had the case for “Straight outta Lynnwood” to get signed, and I had the “Running With Scissors” CD.

We waited for a long time, and little by little we got more and more hope that he’d come out to see us. Finally, the guard told us to move to a different location. Excited, we all followed him. After about another 5 minutes, he told us to get in line and follow him. WE GOT IN!

I was elated. They walked us through some hallways and into a room, and there he was!!! Reuben, Steve and John, too. I think I even saw their producer, as well. Greg and I were only 5th or so in line so it wasn’t long before Greg met him and got his autograph. A very very nice lady agreed to take our pictures because I stupidly had left my camera in the car when I went to get the cd. I gave her my e-mail, and Greg offered her a card so she’ll get in contact with us soon I hope. Greg and Al spoke for a while and then it was my turn. I shook his hand, told him the concert was great, that it was my 3rd one and they’d all been amazing. He said it was the first night with a new sound guy and I told him it was awesome, and it sounded great. Overall, he looked really tired, but he was nice, soft spoken - a really great guy. I said thanks again and let the next group have their turn. I made my way around the room with my sharpie and CD and got Reuben, Steve (who spelled my name right on the FIRST TRY!!!), and John “Bermuda” to sign it. I was ecstatic.

While we were waiting outside to get in, I called my friend FDR, who is a bigger Al fan than I, but I got her voicemail. Unfortunately she headed home before listening to it because she never turned up, and I called her afterwards on the way home and told her what had happened. At least we know it’s possible. Amazing. From being kicked out to actually meeting him, it was a great night.
Then we drove home. Greg fell asleep, and I got us home safe with the help of Diet Coke!

That’s what I sound like when I walk today. My legs are soo sore and tired.
I’ve been trying to go to the gym every day, and if I don’t go to the gym then I walk to the Target at the corner and back - according to Google, exactly 2 miles. I’m alternating very vigorous days with not so vigorous days. One day I run, which is what I did yesterday and why I’m so exhausted today, and the next I either walk or bike a bit. I was going by a “Couch to 5k running plan” I found here. I’m impatient, though. I’ve kinda glommed the first 2 weeks together because I already had endurance to do that and was getting bored. The last 2 days I’ve run, I’ve alternated 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off for 25 minutes, after a 5 minute warmup walk. By the last run, I’m completely exhausted. Good thing, I think, is that my *body* isn’t the part getting tired anymore - I’m not winded when I’m done - its just my legs hurt. That’s good. It means my heart/lungs are keeping up with my workout, I just need to build up the endurance in my leg muscles a bit more.
I can bike for a good long time, and once I can pace myself running, I need to try running off a treadmill too. Then I could do a Bi-athalon!

I’m never buying a Foxconn Motherboard again. EVER EVER. Why on earth would they create a motherboard, package it with a Video-out header, and then not allow the stupid thing to work. AUGH.

I’ve been working on this all weekend, trying to build a HTPC as a suprise for when Greg gets back. “Guess what? I built a TIVO while you were out!” happy, right? Not quite. I got the packages on Friday, and was excited to get started. Everything fit (tightly) into the case, and it booted up beautifully. The initial setup went like a breeze - props to the tutorial folks over at Ubuntu.
Then, I thought, “I can connect it to the TV now and see if it works.” and Lo, it doesn’t work. Needless to say, after multiple times of having to open the case and reset the CMOS because I have no video from either source, I’ve given up. What’s the use of having this if it doesn’t show up on the TV? Ugh.

Newegg is still an amazing place to buy stuff from, and I’m pleased that their returns process is so simple. However, the manufacturer shouldn’t have led-on its customers like this. I shouldn’t HAVE to return this board and buy a different one. But, this is the simplest solution. Return this and get a new board with an AGP slot and a video card. That’s the only solution.

But, now I know. I should’ve opted for a tad larger case, though cooling on this one hasn’t been a problem, its a tight fit for everything in there. Plus, I had to replace the power supply because it was just too damn loud. And i know never to touch foxconn anything.

There is no such thing. At least, not one that is verbose enough to do what we need it to do. At work, we’re re-designing the Faculty Center homepage. Since I’ve got some long term projects in my lap I haven’t been delegated to it, but I’d like to help out. What we need is a system that allows us to use various types of pages without having people going directly into the html code. Too may people don’t or won’t know how to edit it and will end up messing stuff up. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.
Dreamweaver Templates is what we’re using now and its just gotten so tedious and complicated, especially with all the subsites going on inside our main site.
We’re probably going to have to write something from scratch, which is going to suck.