Johnny Rockstar

I worked on my super-secret picture project for two hours last night and made significant progress, though it’s going to be many more hours before I’m even close to done. Still, it felt good to make a dent. It’s also fun to look at all the old pictures of my family, especially the ones of my parents when they were teenagers. After that I rode my bike peddles while slaying zombies for half an hour. Then I played a round of virtual golf before reading for a while. All in all, it was a nice evening.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I opened the window above my bed last night to let a cool breeze in and fell asleep to the sound rain and the smell of fresh cut grass. Sometimes it really is the simple things in life.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The vacation is over. Kathryn had much more of a vacation that I did, as I was working at least a little every day. But we both had a lot of fun, and ate mountains of good food. Oysters on the half shell (twice), Cuban coffee, fried plantains, mojitos, gourmet pizza, baba ganoush, smoked salmon and cream cheese, lots of fresh fruit and more and more. While I was working, Kathryn did a lot of exploring the downtown Miami area. When we had time together we flew kites, saw South Beach and wandered around the bay front near the hotel. If only I hadn’t sideswiped a pole with the rental van, it would have been a perfect work trip/vacation.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We flew into Miami early this afternoon and we’ll be here until next Saturday. I’m the second person from the office to arrive and the only one at this hotel for a few days. I’ll be working on and off all week but during the off times, I’ll sightseeing with Kathryn, since she’s here with me on her spring break. Museums, zoos, galleries, and oyster bars ahoy!

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It’s Kathryn’s birthday today, and she’s stuck at work late tonight for a PTA meeting. So wish her a happy birthday or suffer the wrath of Khan. I’m taking her out for sushi tomorrow, where I will inevitably get the Philly Roll and the Crunchy Shrimp Roll because that’s all I ever order. Not the most traditional choices, but hey, I know what I like.

Also, I just realized I forgot to put my belt on this morning. I guess I was distracted with the ice and snow. As soon as I put my pants on, I went out and started my jeep so it could warm up and defrost some of the ice before I got to scraping. Then I went back inside to finish getting ready and apparently forgot to put my belt on. How embarrassing! See that? An exclamation point. That’s how embarrassing it is. I look like an Ell Seven. What’s more, I have to swing by the bank before I can go home for lunch to put one on, so I have to look this way in front of the bank people. At least I’ll have by coat on to partially hide my shame.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don’t try to wake up at five in the morning and drive three hours before going to work the day after we “spring forward” for daylight savings. It’s not going to end well. Save that trip for when we “fall back” or you’ll be like me, three cups deep into a coffee fueled day and already looking forward to bedtime before the ten a.m. mark.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In exchange for helping Kathryn’s friend get ready for a massive yard sale, we got first pick through the stuff and a friend’s discount. Kathryn picked up a nifty vase and some cool old shirts, but I think I came away the real winner. I grabbed a handful of awesome records including David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. Too bad we’re in Memphis this weekend because I can’t listen to my new treasures until I get back to Batesville where my record player is. Here’s what I found:

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Symphonion Dream
Steve Miller Band - Anthology
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen
Jimmy Buffett – Living and Dying in ¾ Time
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
Heart – Dreamboat Annie

I also grabbed a 45 of BTO featuring You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet and Takin' Care of Business, but it slipped out of its sleeve somewhere in the darkness from the house to the car and I don’t think I’ll be seeing it again. What a shame.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The new site is about 99 percent done. I just have to hit the rebuild button one last time, but I keep forgetting to do that at home and I don't want to do it at work. Maybe tonight I'll finally think to do it.

In celebration of the new site, I made this word cloud from all my posts in 2008. If you're not familiar with how a word cloud works, the most often repeated words are the largest. As the frequency of use goes down, the words are smaller. I'm a little disappointed that "just" seems to be the word I used the most, but judging by how this turned out, there are some interesting trends in what I say. Click to see a bigger version.

ps
Thanks to my mom for showing me the nifty online program that made the cloud.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)