BrewBlog

Trail of Dead - So Divided

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (Trail of Dead for short) is a little bummed about the less than great sales of "Worlds Apart" and were considering hanging it up.  They didn't (whew) and are back with "So Divided".  At first listen I wasn't thrilled with "So Divided".  Older TOD would kick my ass right off the bat but their most recent two efforts took a little time to grow on me.  You expect that with some bands and others you worry when it isn't great right away.  Never judge without putting in some time. 

"So Divided" brings forth more change and growth with TOD, some of which I like and some not so much.  When certain things you like about a band slowly change there is always a risk that much of what you like fades over time.  Then again, there is a good chance that you like the changes and direction.  This is true for me with TOD lately.  I really like the old stuff but I welcome the new as well.  "So Divided", so far, has three songs I like very much.  The rest is good but not great.  Again, I expect my opinion to improve in the coming weeks.  I do like "So Divided" and TOD is still high on my list.  I'll always want more from TOD and really hope they stay together. 

53 in a 30

While we were on vacation recently I was busted by the Highway Patrol for speeding.  They clocked me doing 53 in a 30.  In my defense, the part of Highway 1 where I was speeding has numerous speed limit changes.  It's 55, then it's 40, then it's 25, then it's 55 again.  But I have no excuse and I was going way to fast coming into a 30 zone.   This was going to be a very expensive ticket but my wife saved the day.  While the officer was waiting for me to dig out my registration and insurance, Allison brought up the fact that her father is a retired CHP officer, which is true.  Then she started dropping IQ points regarding badge numbers.  Next thing I know I was being let off with a warning.  Whew.  The officer said that I owed my wife a nice dinner for saving me a lot of money.  Thanks babe!!

Unisex Bathrooms

Last week, while we were on vacation, I used the bathroom at a restaurant.  The bathroom was a "Men/Women" bathroom.  That's fine.  When I walked in I was expecting to see a single toilet.  Isn't that how a uni-sex bathroom typically work?  This one had two stalls.  At first I didn't think about it much.  Sad that there was no urinal, I went into a stall.  Upon leaving the stall the other stall door opened and a little girl came out.  Uhhhhh.  OK, no big deal I guess.  But that struck me as odd and made me a little uncomfortable.  I can't recall seeing a bathroom set up like this (not counting the "family" bathroom at the mall, that doesn't count.  Is it just me or is that idea of a bathroom odd.  One at a time makes sense but this was not good.  Wouldn't women find this odd even more so? 

Strange Noises

California Family Fitness is a nice club.  Allison and I have had a membership for a few years now and we really like it.  Something struck me as very funny a while back and seeing it today made me chuckle again so I thought I'd share.  A set of rules are posted throughout and #11 says "No loud or strange noises..."  What is a strange noise?  I'm assuming it's a catch-all rule directed at all the meat-heads that insist of grunting or screaming while lifting a ridiculous amount of weight.   "Yyyeeeaahhhhhhhh...aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.... ugghgggaaaarhaaagguuuuuhhhhhhhh". 

It's hilarious that we have to resort to rules because people are so inconsiderate with their crazy yelps and grunts. 

Anybody else sick of political advertisements?

I swear it's worse this year than any previous election.  The mailers are out of hand.  We've received so many of those one pager, color brochures hyping one candidate or pooping on another.  We've had dozens of these pass through our mailbox, collect in our little mail basket we keep on our kitchen table, filling the trash that I have to take outside daily because of the junk mail, piled into the big black trashcan outside and laid to rest at the landfill.  Oh, and some are now hung on my front door, always a favorite use of my front door.  Next, thank goodness for our DVR.  The commercials on TV are relentless.  Let's not forget radio; fortunately I rarely listen to the radio because it sucks.  Yard signs are just on par and not any more visible than in past from what I've seen.  Still though, they are everywhere.  We'll be seeing them past election day as well.  It's eye pollution.  How about the recordings?  Good lord we've had so many calls and recordings.  At first it was kind of funny to have an Arnold recording call.  Then it was someone else and then someone else and so on and so on.  "Hello, my name is Randy Rooderbaker on behalf of the voter's commission for voting populations concerned citizen's beauro of the organizational blah blah"....I don't care.  Please stop calling.  Local politicians send people door to door.  I've even had a few invade my inbox.  Did I miss anything?

It would be nice if we could opt out of all of it.  You can't take any of the messages as is since it's all a certain degree of propaganda, which makes 99% of it just noise.  How about a Proposition 1234 - No More Political Advertisements At All.  I'd vote "Yes", although we would probably be taxed for it. 

Time to Blog

I wish I had more time to blog.  My life is busier than ever and not looking to let up any time soon.  This is a good thing because what I spend my time doing is worthwhile.  The exception would be sitting in traffic for hours every week.  The downside to being so busy is that I don't get as much time to do things like post on my blog.  Now even lunch time is taken up by working out so I don't have that little bit of time.  Oh well, I will make the time.