The weekend Thread

[Brian Krashpad]

WoW! What scenery Spud!

+1!

Brian, aren't you a bit concerned about breaking a wrist or worse on that board? I used to rollerblade a lot mid 90's but always wore protective gear. Between working with my hands and playing guitar I was way too afraid of a mishap to go without

Naw, I prolly should get some wrist guards, but I've never worn any of that stuff. I stay out of the bowl. I go up the ramp, I come back down.

********

Sat: Too wet to do anything outside. Big cleanup inside Casa Krashpad.

Sun: Had a really good day in church yesterday. Played one song in the early service, which is unusual for us. Went off very well, despite playing to the trad people. Then my daughter (she's our bassist) and I and a couple of the rest of the band went to Mickey D's for breakfast during the remainder of the service. Then back for second service, playing 4 songs (one a repeat of the one from first service). Again, the performances were really good. The one we played in both services was an "anthem" meaning the congregation did not sing along.

After getting home for lunch, I managed to get the front yard mowed, and get a huge limb that had fallen dragged off into the side yard. Going through some drama between our daughter and Mrs. K, so I skipped band practice that evening.

Today is first day of school, both for our kids and all the kids in town going to UF.

 

[Eric]

I'll be going camping this weekend. Somewhere up north -- one of my friends recently had her 30th birthday, so this is a camping trip birthday party. It's car camping, so hopefully some beer drinking will be involved with the other outdoor activities.

Despite a downpour on Saturday night, camping went well. Packed up in the rain on Sunday morning and came home.

Had some friends over for dinner on Sunday evening, and suddenly the weekend was over. How'd that happen?

 

[NWBasser]

I am volunteering at a triathlon tomorrow morning, and then on Sunday, I am running Edmonton Marathon. It has been terrible air here though - huge forest fires in B.C. have created very thick smoke, which has drifted into Alberta and now is hanging over Edmonton... it has been very nasty actually. The authorities have advised people to stay inside. I am hoping for rain and clear air on Sunday!

Nice ride, Idahoers! Looks like a fun time!

Hey Robert, I just got back from Banff on the 21st and we had some thick smoke on one of our days up there. On the way back through Salmon Arm, BC it was really thick! Unfortunately, my car's AC which uses the cabin air filter gave up about that time and so we drove through with the windows open. By Vernon, things had cleared up considerably although I still had a rough throat from it.

On a side story, the older son of the family camping next to us at Kootenay Nat. Park is an accomplished classical guitarist. I had brought my beater camping guitar and he played several very nice classical tunes on it. He's a very talented young player and it was quite a treat to hear him play. I'll have to post a link to his Youtube vids for you guys to check out.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Nothing Friday night, apart from from crazy crap going down at the end of the day at the office-- when I was "covering" for everyone except the office manager/word processing gal. Ugh.

Saturday: more cleaning at Casa Krashpad during the day, trying to keep it from getting out of hand with the kids back at school and Mrs. K back at work. In the evening we had a last-minute Cinnamon Hill (my "hippie band") practice, moved from our usual spot at the keys player's house, to the guitarist/slide player's studio (he is a photographer and has a separate building next to his house with a nice open room. All the stringed instruments were acoustic, although in some cases also put into the PA. It was a partial practice, with the host, me, our lead singer/rhythm acoustic player, and keys player/singer. So, no rhythm section. Very mellow and a lot of fun. I played some 6, some 12, and some mandolin.

Sunday: long day. Got up early and got ready for church and made a spinach salad for the potluck after church. Then into town for church. La Familia Krashpad was all over the place at the service: my son was the crucifer, my daughter read the New Testament lesson from the lectern up front, and played bass with me up in the choir loft, and of course I played guitar with her and the rest of the band. We only had 2 songs, but both featured some rocking leads so that was fun for me. I was kind of out of breath after the second one, because they were only about 6 or 7 minutes apart in the service, and it gets hot up in the choir loft.

After the service, there was a potluck and barbecue. The church provided hamburgers, hot dogs, and pulled pork BBQ. The members all brought side dishes. Lots of good food, plus the praise band director's oldies band played. To my surprise, my spinach salad got almost entirely eaten, despite that it was relatively healthy and had neither potatoes nor macaroni nor beans in it.

Went home for a couple hours and took a short power nap, then went back into town for more fun. There was a daylong "fest" of like 14 acts in one venue, all doing short 25 minute or so sets, alternating acoustic acts and full bands. It ran pretty smoothly and there were a bunch of people there I knew. One of whom, who I've known for over a decade, didn't recognize me with the full (mostly white) beard I've grown out since our beach vacation a month or so ago. I have better pics I may post later, but in the meantime here's a couple my friend Phred shot with his cellphone:

My friend Rob's band (he played in two bands that day), Company Man (he's on lefty guitar):

My friend Tom (bass/vox) and Chuck (vox/guitar) in their band Righteous Kind:

And you?

 

[Eric]

Friday: went to the jam/band practice I've been doing the last few weeks. We played "All Right Now" by free about 25 times. Urgh. I think I've got about 90% of the solo down, which is pretty cool.

Saturday: dinked around at home in the morning, and started changing strings on my Godin, since I broke one at church music practice on Thursday. Went to help a friend move around noon; he's getting married and moved into a new apt. Moving's never too great, but it was good weather, which is about all I could ask. That evening, we went to a party hosted by someone my wife knows that night. Kind of boring, but I found a couple of interesting people there.

Sunday: went to church in the morning, played both services. Had a couple of chances to put in some solos and leads, which was cool. Unfortunately, I didn't know ahead of time, so I had to make up something while there and didn't turn on the boost as a result of my lack of confidence. Finally talked the sound guys into doing a headphone monitoring system for the bass and electric guitars, but we'll see where that goes. The one personal monitor we have (Samson S-monitor) isn't made any more, so we'll have to find some suitable substitutes.

Went over to the WL's house afterward for a lunch with the team, came home, napped, then went to real church in the evening. Went to a bar with my wife afterward and talked until it was too late, went home, went to bed.

Is it Monday already?

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Eric-- you didn't know you had solos until the service itself? Was a practice missed or something?

Also, for non-church or foreign peeps-- "WL" = "worship leader," I'm guessing.

At our church, I usually use "PBL" (Praise Band Leader) and "MD" (Music Director), since at any given moment either can be leading worship. In our church the MD does the "traditional" side: organ, choir, and hand-bell choir. The PBL does our band.

 

[Eric]

Eric-- you didn't know you had solos until the service itself? Was a practice missed or something?

It's more like we skipped through the song with the "instrumental" (i.e. repeated chorus with no vocals) during the normal practice time, so I forgot there was an empty spot in the song until Sunday morning during the run-through.

I certainly didn't have to play anything in that spot, and considering I wasn't loud enough for anyone other than the drummer to hear my quasi-pentatonic wanking, it's as though I didn't do anything.

It's a mildly frustrating part of the experience right now, in that there's very little notification of songs beforehand or time to really go through things during practice, so if you want to do something other than chord bashing, you have to guess what will be played or get really good at improvising. It's OK though. Could be better, but far from bad.

 

[deeaa]

Bedridden...runninh 102f for the fourth day and throat lungs screaming with pain...also have an ear and eye infection so life's just grand right now...just swallowing antibiotics and painkillers etc. and trying to sleep...s what u get when a baby goes to kindergarten...he'll bring home evry damned disease. But he's already 10 months can't just keep him in home cate only no more.

 

[omegadot]

Got off work for the hurricane and it never really hit. I did, however, stop up on booze, mixers and water. I plan on getting some work done and playing a lot of guitar.

And by "work". I mean booze.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Yikes, get well soon Dee!

My son is down with fever too. He stayed home yesterday with a croupy cough, but no fever. Today, cough I think has left, but now fever's in.

I gotta go run over to the doc myself presently, and get an ultrasound of this lump on my neck. They better not find no baby!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Got off work for the hurricane and it never really hit. I did, however, stop up on booze, mixers and water. I plan on getting some work done and playing a lot of guitar.

And by "work". I mean booze.

Hurricane party!

My avatar is a pic from a show I played on a night when what was left of a hurricane came through Gainesville.

It also happened to be Friday the 13th.

 

[NWBasser]

Bedridden...runninh 102f for the fourth day and throat lungs screaming with pain...also have an ear and eye infection so life's just grand right now...just swallowing antibiotics and painkillers etc. and trying to sleep...s what u get when a baby goes to kindergarten...he'll bring home evry damned disease. But he's already 10 months can't just keep him in home cate only no more.

Oh man, I feel your pain!

It's now become routine that when my wife, a teacher, and my son return to school in Sept. that they bring home some sort of cold to me. It usually then festers around a bit before becoming a sinus infection in time for my birthday in early Oct. Like clockwork every year.

 

[Mr Pants]

Bedridden...runninh 102f for the fourth day and throat lungs screaming with pain...also have an ear and eye infection so life's just grand right now...just swallowing antibiotics and painkillers etc. and trying to sleep...s what u get when a baby goes to kindergarten...he'll bring home evry damned disease. But he's already 10 months can't just keep him in home cate only no more.

Get well soon mate, I seemed to be ill all the time when our kids were small. Sorry, that's not much consolation, is it?:thwap

 

[Katastrophe]

Geez, Dee, get well soon!

Mrs. Kat is in the hospital tonight, for observation. She'd been having some abdominal pain for a while, and it got worse. Doc at the clinic she went to said to go to the hospital, and quickly. Doc said it could be a problem with either spleen, stomach or intestine.

Luckily, the tests came out fine, and the medications they prescribed her are alleviating her symptoms. Hopefully, Mrs. Kat will come home tomorrow and I can pamper her for a day or two. She surely deserves it, and I damn sure don't do enough of it!

Scared the crap out of me for a little while there, as Mrs. Kat is incredibly tough and just doesn't go to the hospital (all she required after the birth of our daughter was one Tylenol.).

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Hope Mrs. Kat gets well soon!

I was at the doc myself yesterday for the lump on my neck. Got an ultrasound. I thought that was the sound that Ultraman made.

Thyroid Doctor: "No problems, it's just bigger than most males'."

Krashpad: "You're not the first woman to have told me that."

 

[sunvalleylaw]

As I said on FB, that is great it is not more serious. I guess extra big thyroid goes with extra big guitar face! :dude

 

[Spudman]

Worked a Willie Nelson concert in Jackson Wyoming on Saturday. I thought his son would be there because he played another local resort earlier in the week but he never joined his dad on stage tonight. There were between 3 and 4 thousand in attendance for the outdoor show at the base of the ski area. Great weather and good vibes all the way. Willie still sounds like Willie. He didn't talk to the audience at all and the whole show was one song right after the other. I'm not sure if I like that or not.

An interesting fact came to mind tonight as Willie sang "Me and Paul." Paul English is his drummer and when I was a kid just learning guitar Paul's brother Oliver had a house gig in my home town. He showed me stuff on the guitar and talked about this new guitar that he was helping to develop called the Guitorgan. I rememeber seeing sparks on the neck of the guitar as we played one afternoon at the club. Oliver mentioned that he needed to do some more wiring because he was getting these little electric shocks when he played. lol Great memories.

 

[Rotor]

Remembering that this day is a special day for all Americans.
Rest in peace.

 

[Katastrophe]

Just hanging out with my daughter at the casa. Mrs. Kat (who, still on the road to recovery, but feeling better) is out of town this weekend.

Not much to report here...

 

[Katastrophe]

Well, looks like I typed too soon...

Mrs. Kat is with her mom, rushing her to the hospital. Her blood sugar is at 456, and is having chest pain.

In the last week, Mrs. Kat's sister has been in the hospital twice, and Mrs. Kat spent last weekend in the hospital, too.

This crap has to stop! It's a pretty stressful weekend in Katworld.

 

[Eric]

Sorry to hear that, Kat. Hope everyone get back into good health soon.

I went to my sister-in-law's high-school football game last night (she's in the marching band). I had forgotten how wretched high-school football can be.

Today I got up late, ran some errands, bought some more fall-time beer (yum!) and went to a friend's place to watch the PSU/Alabama game.

Church tomorrow morning. Going with in-ears for the first time, so it should be interesting.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I hope all is calming down and well Kat.

 

[Katastrophe]

Thanks Eric, SVL...

Calming down a bit already. My MIL was taken by helicopter to Austin, as she was having a heart attack. Her coronary artery was completely blocked. Mrs. Kat said that in the time that it took her to drive to Austin, her mom had already had a stent put in and was stable.

Thank God for the quick actions of a lot of people to get her to the right place and get her stabilized fast. My MIL will be in ICU for a few days, and then to a stepdown unit until she's strong enough to be released.

Until that time, we'll just keep praying.

 

[Katastrophe]

Update...

Medical technology these days is amazing. Mrs. Kat's mom, if she keeps improving, may be able to go home as soon as tomorrow!

There will be a rather lengthy recuperation time, of course, where she'll have to take it easy. But, she's walking around and doing well.

A word of caution here, folks: If you have diabetes, pay attention to the diet the docs give you. Don't stray from it at all. Exercise, take the meds, and watch your weight, keeping an eye on your blood sugar all the time. It can and will be a killer if left unchecked.

My MIL is relatively young, younger than many of the members here.

Sorry to kinda take over the weekend thread. Hope everyone is having a good one.

 

[Robert]

Amalia turned 7 yesterday! Lots of fun. Today I ran an 8k race. I was 1st in 27:20 and won $150.

 

[street music]

Congrats Robert! Good time too.
I have been cleaning guitars this morning m and washed Mrs Street Camry, my hunting buddy and I went out and played a round of golf, very nice day. The leafs are starting to turn and fall, 82 degrees and not too humid.
Kat, hope gets well soon. There is a stomach virus that has been going around alot here, lucky so far myself.

 

[deeaa]

STILL sore throat for, I dunno, a month now? One antibiotics prescription gone, will have to go see a doctor today again if it won't start to get better.

On a lighter note, got my mom finally committed to 'non-willing' care i.e. they locked her up and keep her restrained now in the local asylum - she's way too demented to be able to be let out free any more. Bit the nurse and whatnot...so now I'm gonna start liquidating her properties and cleaning up her apartment etc. but at least it's now over for that part!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Mojo to the Kats cats, and congrats Robert! Dee, I hope your mom will be happy in her new surroundings. It sounds like that is where she needs to be to be safe.

Last week I went in to a pathologist to have my neck looked at again. Well, not looked at so much as poked with a big ol' needle. She got some cells and did a culture and said it was "just a cyst" which I took to mean benign (non-cancerous). Also, she drained it, so it is much smaller now. I have a CT scan on Wednesday. Not looking forward to that but I suppose I have to.

Saturday-- was at church all day for Gator Football parking again (our church is 5 or 6 blocks from the UF football stadium, the Swamp). It was really hot, by the time I got home I was beat. At least I had an hour or so break inside for band practice.

The kids left from church in the early afternoon to go to Universal in Orlando, but my daughter got a migraine and only got halfway there. One of the adults stayed with her at a Turnpike rest stop and my wife had to drive down to get her. Son got back very late and my wife drove into town to get him.

Played the late service Sunday, daughter/bassist didn't make it as she was still recuperating. In the afternoon I mowed both the back and front yard, and replaced some aging watering hoses (our air conditioning unit is "water to air" meaning it uses well water to help cool the air, so whenever the A/C is on, we have a lawn sprinkler on).

Have been broke of late and business has been sucky. One of my partners just retired. We have a board meeting tonight. Ugh.

 

[sumitomo]

Wow Kat and deeaa,sorry to hear of those trials,I'll be praying for you guys.Sumi

 

[deeaa]

Thanks Brian and Sumi...I'm pretty relieved now, no need to worry about her getting lost or whatever. She's pretty much out of it by now, won't recognize me etc. so I don't even plan visiting her much, don't see the point.

But I'm sure she's as happy now as possible, nothing changes around her, and somebody feeds her at all times etc, so she might even enjoy some sort of a feeling of security there once she gets used to the routine.