Katchoo

Over on Terry Moore's blog he's got a picture up of a couple of actresses that have a strong resemblance to his characters, Francine and Katchoo.
I think they're pretty close but just not quite "it".

However, for whatever my two-cents are worth, I think that Portia De Rossi would make an awesome Katchoo if they were ever to cast a show (or movie) about the book.
What do you think?

Portia / Katchoo


Katchoo / Portia

Yeah? No?
Well... it's just my opinion.

13 Days In Hell

While I'm in a zombie kind of mood, here's something to kill some time with:

13 Days in Hell

Spooktober

There are two holidays that I really love:

Halloween and April Fool's

Sure Christmas is nice and getting together with friends or family can be fun at Thanksgiving, but both of them have been overtaken taken by commercialism.

You might say Halloween has gone 'commercial' as well, but you can still dress up and spook-ify your home without having to buy a lot of crap to do it.

Anyway, all this brings me to what I wanted to post about...

The Seattle Children's Theater is putting on a performance of "Night Of the Living Dead".

While not quite the topic you'd expect for children, this is (admittedly) geared more for the 13 yr. old and older crowd, complete with a zombie dance number.

It's playing Oct 3 - Nov 1.

I'm trying to talk Hotness into going, but I think it would be great to get everyone from the Comic Stop Social Club to go as a group.

What could be more fun than a group of geeks going to watch a bunch of zombies on stage?

It's almost poetic in it's beauty.

Anybody interested?

In related news:

The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) cinema is presenting some classic horror films the week before Halloween in their theater (located below the McCaw Hall).

They are playing "Frankenstein / Bride of Frankenstein", "I Walked with a Zombie", "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", "Freaks", and "Rosemary's Baby" among others.

I'd like to make these shows, but since most of them fall during a weeknight I don't think I can.

But if anybody is interested in seeing these great films, here's a good opportunity to catch them fairly inexpensively.

Music Madness Monday

Look for a cameo by a famous comic book character.

By the way, these girls are Korean.
I know the tag below says "Japanese Schoolgirls", but I didn't want to make a new tag up.
I'm lazy like that.

Adopt A Bunny

This economic crunch is really affecting all levels of society in our country.
No one is immune (except for maybe those that caused it in the first place).

Case in point:
83-year old Hugh Hefner has to lay off staff of his multi-million dollar empire as it struggles to cope during the global economic turmoil or face bankruptcy.
Hefner has already said he won't be throwing any more wild parties in an effort to cut down on costs, but now the famed bunnies will soon be looking for new homes.

So, with many of them needing a place to stay I propose an Adopt-A-Bunny plan to keep them from wandering the streets.

Who's willing to help out?

Searchwords

When I updated the layout on this blog I forgot to include the Google Analytics code to keep track of my visitors (and how they find me).

It's a fun little add-on and I realized when I went to include the code, that I hadn't checked the reports in quite a while.
So I just toodled around checking it out just now, and you know what?
I STILL don't get any referrals for porn searches.
All the cool kids get funky sex-related searches, but not me.

Looking through the keywords I had things like:
blue tarp camper
camping smell
I like the way this guy smells (for real. this was one of the searches)
giant grilled spider
sour cheese smell in or on my wall
80's j-pop
and variations of "smell" and "camping" with other words thrown in.

I must be doing something wrong.
I think my new goal is going to be throwing in a lot more "obscene" keywords into my posts, or just having post titles that can be construed as sexual references.
That ought to increase traffic to my sight.... only disappoint people when they get here.

All Tharp

Last night, Hotness and I attended the first ballet of this year's season of performances.
The night's program was titled "All Tharp" in reference to ballet and dance choreographer, Twyla Tharp, who had come up with two specially commisioned works for Pacific Northwest Ballet this year.

First up was: Opus 111
This was set to a piece of music for string quartet by Brahms, and was sort of a 'modern-classical' style. Lots of flowing movement amongst the dancers, and colorful simple costumes.
We both enjoyed this one for what it was; a simple display of grace and movement. There was no "story" behind this, so it was purely a visual treat to watch.

There was a brief intermission and then we had the next piece: Afternoon Ball
This was a complete contrast to the previous piece we just watched, in that the music was more driving and intense, the costumes were more current and the movements were very quirky and 'angular'.
Again, no real story behind this piece other than it was just a dance performed by 5 different people. However, watching it gave everyone a chance to interpret it in their own way.
As Hotness and I were talking about it afterwards, we had each percieved the performance from a different perspective.
We both really enjoyed this one and hope to see it again in future PNB seasons.

Both of these pieces were specially choreographed for Seattle's own ballet company, so nobody else in the world has seen them performed yet. They were quite a treat and highly recommended!



The last performance was one that PNB has done before: Nine Sinatra Songs
(technically, it was 8 Sinatra songs, since one of them was played twice... but who's counting, right?)
This is quite simply exactly what is sounds like. Different songs by the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.
They were ballet interpretations of 50's era dance-styles, each to a different song.

This was very well received the last time the company did this (back in '06) and was rewarded with thunderous applause again this year.
It's a fun piece and very much worth going to see.

The "All Tharp" performance plays through Oct. 5th in Seattle at the McCaw Hall.

Local reviews: Seattle P-I, KUOW 94.9 FM, Seattle Times
_______________________________________________

Afterwards, we met up with Elwood and his wife at Pomodoro for late night nibbles and coffee.
We hadn't been since our last ballet for the previous season (back in June).
It was fun to see them and although it didn't seem like it, we were there for about 3 hours eating and talking and just having a really nice time.

Thanks again for meeting us there you two, and it's definitely our turn next time!

New Look

Hmmm... something's different around here. Just can't figure out what.
Oh wait! It's a new layout, that's it!

Yeah, I'm trying out something new here.
I liked the blue theme, but I was never really happy with the way pictures were sort of transparent after I'd upload them.
Also, I didn't like how the links were hard to read sometimes.

I had another layout that I liked a lot better, but it had an issue with spacing between sentences.
Also, I couldn't tweak the Header text like I wanted (which I can't do here either but I like it better).
So I'm trying this one out for a while to see if I like it or not.

You'll notice I trimmed down the links a bit on the side.
I didn't like having a huge list of links over there, so I only kept up the ones that I use on a daily basis. I might put up some more as I continue to move things around and make more changes on here.

I noticed after switching to this layout that some of my videos I posted no longer work (or even show up at all).
That's a drag, but I'm not about to go back and fix all of them. Maybe a little later, I'll try to re-do the ones from the past couple of months.

I searched for blog layouts and came up with a ton of them, but if you have any suggestions for places to get them, let me know. I'm still in the process of changing this.
Anyway, let me know what you think.
Comments are definitely welcome.

Coming up...
Our first ballet of the season (review)

31 Years Of Awesome

On Sunday, Hotness and I joined the Comic Stop Social Club to help celebrate Technogreek's 31st birthday.

We all went bowling at the Lucky Stike Bowling lanes in Bellevue.

It was a hoot!

I haven't bowled in years, so it was fun getting together with everyone and just having fun knocking pins over.

Much alcohol was consumed and merriment ensued in the proper birthday tradition.

We bowled for a couple of hours, then we all headed north to his brother's place to have cake and watch him open presents.

We all had a good time and Technogreek was happy to spend the day with his friends.

He snagged some nice birthday gifts, including a copy of last year's ECCC program signed by all the staff & volunteers and graded by CGC.

Happy (belated) Birthday wishes dude!

News Nuggets

A fun weekend was had over the past couple of days, but I'll talk about those later.
For now, I'd like to pass along these noteworthy news items:

Woman named Bacon wins hog calling contest in Lewiston, ID.
Really now... how could she NOT win with a name like that?

Woman finds 'Goldilocks' snoring in her son's bed
... and he plead not guilty. Puh-leeeze!

Lastly, better hurry if you want to pretend to be the Lone Ranger along this stretch of road.
SoCal officials to pave over music-making asphalt

Music Madness Monday

A true legend....


This one's kind of long (almost 8 minutes) but if you're a fan, it's worth it.

Public Service Announcement

Heeeey Buddy!

Can I get What-what?


P.S. It's totally safe for work
P.P.S. Check out the related video "Texting your way to love"

Avast Matey!

Arrrrh!

It be Talk Like A Pirate Day today!
So grab your Rum, shiver yer timbers and go find ye some booty!

In fact, ye can celebrate the WHOLE weekend by dressing up and being a pirate since today be Friday and thar be nobody stopping you at work when ye git up tomorrow mornin'!

And to kick off yer piratin' mood:
Blue sky above and blue ocean below... YOU ARE A PIRATE!

Thanks to Imperfect for showing me this in the first place.
Arrrh! Yer a true chum, mate!

Fog Bubbles

Finally!

Somebody has combined two of the most respected pieces of machinery for every party goer...

the Bubble Machine and the Fog Machine.

Yes, now at last you can have have the best of BOTH worlds with the Bubble Fogger Machine!

Man! What took 'em so long?

Tom Jones. Aw Yeah!

I've mentioned my man-crush for Tom Jones before.

So today I get an email from Elwood asking me if I'd heard the good news; Tom Jones is releasing a CD of all new material in a few weeks!

It's been 15 years since he's released anything in the U.S. (although I did get his European release, RELOAD, a while back) and I'm really looking forward to this coming out.

I really hope he tours the states again to promote it. I want to see him in concert and this time not miss half of it!

If he does, you can be sure I'll be letting ya'll know.

Thanks Elwood!

Ninja Cat

Okay, enough about obnoxious people.
There's too many and I don't have enough ammo.
Hopefully they'll become too stupid to breed and die out.

In the meantime, this made me laugh out loud today:


Ninja cat gonna get you!

Embarrassed By My Species

I was at the grocery store last night picking up some stuff for dinner (chicken enchiladas verde, yum!).

Things were going just fine. I got everything I needed and then found a line that wasn't too long at the checkout.
It turned out that the cashier was new and therefore was still in training. "No big deal, " I thought, "I'm not in a hurry".

So I put my basket in the conveyor and waited my turn.
As I stood there, I started listening to what was taking place at the register in front of me.
A woman and her two kids were shuffling around stuff they had picked up to buy only to find out they didn't have enough money to pay for it.
That in and of itself isn't a big deal. I've done that myself on occasion.

But the problem was this:
She was a large woman (and I know I'm not a skinny fella, but bear with me for a bit) and quite loud.
They had purchased various food-related items (among them; chips, donuts and cookies) and were trying to pay for them with a government-issued debit card.
There wasn't enough money on the card so they were having to put stuff back. But rather than take it back to where they got it or give it to the cashier, they were stuffing it into the magazines and various other shelving located at the register line. At one point she reached across the counter and placed a handful of bagged food at the register drawer... where the money is.

Then the cashier needed a price check and tried to get the cashier next to us to help.
The women in front of me just pushed her face in the other cashier's area and said, "We need some help here!"
When she got her attention, the woman (customer) asked if the cashier wanted her (the customer) to just ring up the groceries.
"No, that'll be okay. We can take care of it," the woman was told.

So now, back to the gov't debit card they were using.
You get one of these when you need assistance from the government to cover basic needs.
I noticed that this woman was wearing as close to fashionable clothing as she could get.
Faux designer sunglasses on her head. Designer capri pants. And she had a tan (fake? real? I don't care to find out)
But here she is buying junk food with government assistance for her and her kids and stuffing what she couldn't afford into the surrounding shelves and encouraging her kids to do so as well.
They had the poor cashier all confused.

Finally, they were finished and on their way.

Sometimes I'm just ashamed to be seen with other members of the human race.

Music Madness Monday

How about some Motown to start off the week?



Ahhh... I just love Joan Osborne!
Not only is she damn sexy (in my opinion, anyway) but she has a heck of a voice.

She just released a new album, "Little Wild One", and is kicking off a tour to help promote it.
She'll be in Seattle on Oct. 13th playing two shows at the Triple Door.
I'd love to go, but since it's a Tuesday night, Hotness doesn't.
If anybody is interested in going please let me know. I'd love to have company to enjoy the show with. I'd like to see the early performance, but the later one is fine.

Here's another song she from her album "Righteous Love" (which is my favorite).
The crowd is a little noisy, but Joan's voice shines through it.

It Is Finally Finished

Last week, after getting back from camping, I started in on a project that I'd been putting off until I could spend the time doing it.

I had bought a clothesline pole set-up and wanted to put it in our backyard so we could stop using the dryer as much and thus save more money on our electric bill.

To get everything finished and ready so we could start hanging our clothes up was going to take more time than I could invest in just an evening, so I waited until I could spend the better part of a day on working on it.

So on Sunday, after I unloaded my car, I got to work on setting it all up.

I dug a couple of holes about 20 inches deep and then put a cardboard cement form in each. I filled them with some gravel (for drainage):

Then I poured in the cement and and placed the poles, making sure they were centered:

And then... I discovered that I didn't have enough cement to fill the forms.

So on Monday, I went to the hardware store and picked up some more along with the clothesline rope, clothespins, etc. 'Cause after all, I was going to be finished with it that night.

Wrong!

I poured the concrete and filled the tubes the rest of the way and then I started stringing up the clothesline. All was going well until I discovered that as I measured from one side the to other, that the poles were pivoting. So that one string from pole to pole might be the right length, but by the time I got to the last couple of strings they were too short.

Ugh! Another day and it's not finished.

The remainder of the week was taken up with things after work, so I wasn't able to get back to the project until today. A week after I started it. (This should only have been a weekend job!)

Today I re-strung the lines that were too short and got everything tightened up properly:

And within an hour I was hanging up clothes to dry in the sunshine! Finally!

Yay me for trying to lighten my carbon footprint on the planet!

------------

In other news:

Hotness killed our lawnmower today. Not the riding one, but the one we've had for 6 years since we moved out here.

It was making a weird rattling noise the other day which I attributed to needing more oil.

So today she goes outside, starts it up and it makes that same noise.

I came out and said that it sounded really bad. We changed out the old oil and gave it some brand new fresh oil. Started it back up and it still made the noise.

"Well, I guess I'll just mow and see what happens," she said.

And she mow she did. For about 5 minutes. When suddenly the mower went *CrAcK*!

I came outside and asked her what happened, and all she said was, "Don't come out here. It's dead."

Sure enough, there's a big ol' crack in the side of the engine that is irreparable.

I don't know what happened but now our mower is dead.

Folks, this is the second piece of lawn machinery that Hotness has killed.

She's at Home Depot right this minute buying a new one while I'm in mourning for our old one.

*Update!

She just returned with the new one and it is very similar to it's predecessor.

We'll see how long it has to live after Hotness 'breaks' it in.

Of Art And Absinthe

Saturday Hotness and I did errands which included taking some of my comic art over to the Redmond Comic Stop to put it on display in the new store.

Mike has been putting up a few of his personal pieces and I asked if he'd like me to bring some of mine to help fill up the walls.

"Sure," he said. So I brought my Steve Rolston TMNT comic pages that I had framed.

They are the same ones that were hanging up in the Lynnwood shop for the past year.

I thought a new home would be nice for them for a while.

If you stop into Redmond Town Center and pop into the Comic Stop while you're there, they 'll be hanging up on the wall (most likely behind the cash register).

While we were in Redmond, I stopped at the liquor store to see if they might have any Absinthe.

I saw some on sale in Montana, as it has been OK'd by the liquor control board in recent years for purchase, and have been waiting to see if I can get it here in Washington State.

Lo and behold! They did have it!

Granted it's not the hallucinogenic form that caused Vincent Van Gogh to cut his ear off and was subsequently banned by most countries for the past 90 or so years but it is still brewed in the same fashion (and there are ways to make it like it used to be).

Me so happy!

That evening, Hotness and I went over to our neighbor's place and played Redneck Life for a few hours.

We had a good time, but just so you know... Hotness is a sore loser!

I got "the finger" on many occasions and was called an 'ass-clown' on many more while she was losing.

It may have been the alcohol talking but I suspect not.

Overall, though, we had a fun.... and Hotness actually came in second, so it wasn't all that bad.

7 Years Later

My mom talks about where she was when Kennedy was assassinated, but it's something I can't relate to. It was still 7 years before I was born. (Huh. 7 years. Ironic)

But I can remember the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 very well.

I was still in bed trying to wake up. Hotness was in the bathroom down the hall drying her hair and getting ready for work.
The radio was on the jazz station and the DJ made a news announcment that "it appears that a plane has flown into one of the World Trade Center Towers, but nothing specifc about details at this time".

In my morning haze, I asked Hotness, "Did he say a PLANE hit the building?"
She poked her head into the bedroom and said, "Yeah. I think he did. Wonder what's up with that."

I got ready and was on my way to work, listening to the radio as the story developed.
I couldn't wrap my head around what I was hearing. First one plane, then another one. Panic in New York. Then a plane crashed into the Pentagon.
The Pentagon?!? Isn't that where the military is supposed to be headquartered?

Everybody on the road seemed to be listening as intently as I was, as I don't remember anything traffic-related being a problem that day.

I got to work and one of my co-wrokers asked if I'd heard the news about the towers.
"Yeah. What's going on, have you heard more?" I asked

We set up a TV in the warehouse and watched as the news replayed and commented on the events.

I don't remember being scared or angry or anything like that.
All I can remember is feeling like it was just F*ing surreal and I must still be asleep. Like it had to be the most vivid dream I've ever had.
But it wasn't.

The phones at work were pretty quiet that day. A lot of our customers and our vendors (especially the east coast ones) took the rest of the day off.
Those few who did call, were very quiet and the conversation was carefully approached about the subject of the day.

I remember all the planes across America being grounded and when they started flying again I would look up into the skies and wonder if it was supposed to be there and if it was going in the right direction.
Anyone with a turban got a cautious glance out of the corner of my eye. I didn't want to be a dick, but I also didn't want to help someone attain their promise of virgins in the next life.

------------------

It's 7 years later now.

We're at war with 'the terrorists'.
Our ecomony is sinking fast while prices continue to rise.
We've pissed off a lot of the nations we used to be friends with.
We're coming up on an election where I feel I can't trust ANY of the candidates to do what's right for the people and not the corporations that are taking advantage of everyone.

But, I'm not freaked out by seeing a plane overhead and I don't think twice when I see anyone with a turban.
I do keep my eyes open when I'm suspicious of my surroundings but I don't get all worked up about it.


I can't tell if I've woken up yet or not.

Spicy News

The original handwritten recipe by Col. Harland Sanders for his Kentucky Fried Chicken, was recently removed from it's "secure" location in locked filing cabinet and transported via armored car for safe-keeping while the company revamped security for the aging, yellowed piece of paper.

In other news:

A burglar rubs a man with spices and slaps another with a sausage before fleeing.

------------------------

I got nothing to add.

This stuff just amuses me.

Camping: Lk. Wenatchee

Over the weekend, I went camping again.

Not a whole lot to report about this trip. Our group was rather small (3 adults / 2 kids) on Friday, then shrunk even further on Saturday night (3 adults), and finally on Sunday we all left camp early in the day.

G-rod and I carpooled again after work to the campsite.

After loading up my car, we headed east on Hwy. 2 towards Leavenworth.

On the way, we were getting hungry, so we stopped at the old landmark for burgers outside Gold Bar.... Zeke's Drive In.

We both got a burger then were on our way again.

We got to camp just before it started getting dark so that setting up our tents took place during dusk.

The kids were excited to see us and we soon feasted on some hotdogs to finish off with dinner.

We sat around the fire and then went to bed around 11:00 p.m.

The camp was pretty noisy, despite not being completely full.

Luckily I had earlpugs with me, but didn't get much sleep as I couldn't get very comfortable during the night.

We woke up, stumbled around camp for a while until we got some breakfast, then G & I took the kids down to the lake to throw rocks for a bit.

Then back to our site for a little siesta.

We were joind around noontime by another member of the group who stayed until 7:00 then took the kids home for the night.

Most of the rest of the day was taken spent eating and playing Redneck Life (which I brought to try out. It was a lot of fun!)

I slept much better that night (earplugs again and I was wiped out from not sleeping the night before) and woke up around 6:15 a.m.

One of our group had to be home for a class later that day, so he was already up and packing. He left about 7:00 and G-rod & I were packed and gone an hour later.

That's probably the earliest I've gotten out of camp.

On our way back home, we drove a little further east and stopped at The Alps to pick up some of their famous 'green lizard pickles' and some BBQ sauce. They have a ton of yummy sauces, jams, and home-made candies. It's a great place to stop on your way east if you taking Hwy. 2.

Then we turned around and drove west towards home.

We were ahead of the usual weekend traffic, so we didn't run into any problems on the way.

The weather was great for camping. Chilly at night and warm and sunny during the day.

Dropped of G at his place, then I went home where I started in on a project I've been trying to get to for a while.

But that is another story for later.....

Leapin' Lizards!

Wha-what?

Fish flies out of lake, breaks Arkansas teen's jaw.
Boy was riding in inner tube when Silver Asian carp knocked him out.

Wait... for real?
That had to be one b-i-g freaking fish!

Music Madness Monday

Okay, let's slow things down a bit from all that rock 'n' roll I've been posting.

I'm sure something like this has probably happened to you at some point in life.

His Middle Name Is "Jackson"

But you can call him "Eazy Money".
8 Yr. old boy hands out counterfeit $20 bills at school.



Man, when I was 8 yrs old I was just wanted to play with my Star Wars figures and watch the Incredible Hulk on TV.

It's a changing world.

Sure-fire Way To Give The Neighbors Nightmares

Just in time for Halloween, you can hang a 'cocooned man' on your porch, complete with giant spiders. ICK!

Heh! You could put it in the closet and when the guests put their coats away.... imagine the screaming!

Sucks To Be This Guy

Stop! Recipe Time!

I'm going to share a recipe I've been using for quite a while. I'd like to say it's perfected, but that's just because I'm happy with the way it comes out. You might find adding something else will make it better.

Anyway, I apologize to my dairy and gluten-allergic friends out there. This isn't going to be one that you'll be whipping up in the kitchen anytime soon, but feel free to comment if you have a way to make it more to your particular needs.

---------------------------------------------

Tom's Tuna Noodle

You'll need:
1, 12 oz pkg of noodles (I prefer either the 'jiffy' spiral kind or the wavy, wide egg noodles)
2, 6 oz cans of tuna (I like to use the kind in spring water since I don't like it all oily)
1, 10.5 oz can of cream of mushroom soup (but feel free to substitute with cream of chicken)
Milk (I use fat-free, but whatever you have on hand. You'll want enough to fill the soup can half-way)
1, 8 oz container of sour cream
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
approx. 3 cups of shredded cheese *
1 bag of thick-cut, lightly-salted potato chips (like Kettle chips or Tim's Cascade Style)

Boil the noodles until they're done, then dump them in a colander and drain them well.
(While the noodles are boiling, you can open the tuna and drain the liquid out)

Turn the oven to 350 F and let it pre-heat while you do the following;
Put the cooked noodles into a large mixing bowl and add everything EXCEPT the cheese. Mix it up with a big wooden spoon or somesuch until everything is coated really well.
Then take a handful of the grated cheese and mix it into your noodles and sauce mixture.

Pour the mixture into a 2 qt casserole dish and top it with with the cheese, saving about another handful for later use.

Put it in the oven for 30 minutes, then take it out and crush up a bunch of the chips. (Enough to put a nice crunchy layer on the noodles.)
After adding the chips, top it with the remaining cheese (you should have just enough to put a light cover over the chips without smothering them).
Put this back in the oven for another 10 - 15 minutes, until the cheese is all melted and everything is bubbly.

It'll be really hot when it comes out of the oven, so let it sit for a bit then dig in!

Let me know if you try this out and what you think.

-----------------

* for cheese:
I generally use cheddar and mozzarella mixed. Feel free to use whatever suits you, but I'd stay away from 'strong' cheeses like bleu, gorganzola, feta, etc...
Pepper Jack might be good to give it a kick, although I've never tried using it yet.
Also, I like to toss in about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese into the noodle mixture along with the handful of shredded cheese before baking.

Options:
I don't usually put anything else in with the tuna, but if you like to add vegetables, go for it.
I sometimes add a can of mushrooms, but you can put in a cup or two of your favorite casserole veggie (peas, corn, carrots, etc...). Just keep in mind that this will add bulk to the entire mixture and you might need to use a larger baking dish (or put some into a smaller dish and freeze it for later).

A Striking Resemblance

Cylons amongst our midst?

Judge for yourselves.....

Thanks to the Presurfer for bringing this to our attention.

Monday - Bumbershoot

And to finish off the long weekend.... I went to Bumbershoot to see The Offspring in concert (and check out all the visual arts, eat more bad-for-you food and watch people).

I got up early to get ready and go meet G-rod.

I was parking my car at his place and we were going to carpool into the city together.

It worked out great, as we found a FREE parking spot just a couple of blocks up the hill from Seattle Center.

We got in line but still had an hour wait before the gates opened, so we walked to Easy Street Records and browsed around for a while to kill time.

About 11:00 a.m. we got into line again and then into the Center to experience everything Bumbershoot had to offer.

I still like going, but they've changed it a lot in the few years I've been going. I noticed a lot fewer merchants than in the past, and those few that were there were mostly new ones.

It's got a lot of corporate representation everywhere, but I guess that's the nature of the beast. Especially one that has gotten as big as this.

The weather started out overcast but there were quite a few people making their way hither and yon thorughout the place.

G & I mostly walked from one end of the event to the other grabbing as much freebie give-away crap as they were offering. The Offspring weren't scheduled to play until around 3:15, so we had a few hours to look around before we had to be at the arena.

We headed over to catch the rock poster art on display (and sale) at Flatstock. We checked out the visual art displays in the Northwest rooms, but weren't very impressed with what they were calling "art". (A clear plastic umbrella on a black raised stage is considered a "statement"? Whatever.)

It was getting to be after noon, so we got some food. I got a blackened salmon caeser salad, while G had a gyros and corn on the cob. Both our meals were really overpriced, but we got free parking so I guess it equals out.

Not a whole heck of a lot to really tell you. There was lots too look at but we never really stayed in any one place that long. We sort of milled about until it was time to go to concert.

At 2:40 p.m. we got in the line that was working it's way into the mainstage and decided to stay way in the back rather than go onto the floor to watch the concert. There were so many people down there:

At 3:15 (right on time) the band came out and started right in playing. They did a great set with a lot of the songs from their "Americana" CD being played. The ended the set by playing "Self Esteem" and challenging the fans in the front to try and break the record for most people to crowd surf at one of their concerts.

The overcast weather got better and better so that by the time we were left after the concert it was getting next to impossible to make your way through the crowds to get anywhere.

We wandered up one side and then back down the other and decided we'd seen enough and it was time to go home.

Here are more crowd pics:

That is a LOT of people!

I passed this on our way through the crowds:

Um... here's a thought.

How about for $10 we put that money towards feeding the hungry instead of wasting it by writing our name on food?

I guess I'm just old-fashioned.

And this was some impromptu art on a dumpster on our way back to the car:

When we got to the car I called a couple of friends who offered to give me some composting worms for my bin that I made. We went to their place and had dinner with them and the kids (who were VERY excited to see us).

After we ate we all went to the backyard to get the worms but the kids kept pulling me aside to feed me blueberries they'd picked (or have me pick the ones they couldn't reach).

Then it was off towards home again.

A very busy weekend spent with friends every day. I had a great time but man, I'm exhausted!