Binky Thief!

Phone Moans

Hi all. Taking a break on a beautiful long weekend and managing a few minutes to post.

I am getting very stoked for our next gig (June 1st) at Four Dogs Tavern. The outside area has a great, party-friendly vibe. I've sat in with Hake & Jarema many times there, and always had a blast - meeting dozens & dozens of people, all of whom were very, very cool. Should be an awesome time.

On the home front, Baby & mom are still doing great. More & more baby pics are being taken all the time, and I cannot keep up with posting them on-line. I did manage to send a few up a week or to ago - here they are. She already looks different. Fatherhood rocks - I can't wait to see how her personality develops.

In other (totally irrelevant to almost everyone else) news, I am going through hassle of upgrading my cellphone. I say "hassle" because, despite being in IT, I am not a 'gadget guy.' I am a tinkerer. I tinker. I like to know how things work. I like to get the most value out of something that I can, which means often upgrading it, customizing the hell out ot it, and avoiding replacing it if all possible.

Case in point: My home PC is about 5 years old. Over time, it's received a new power supply, upgraded memory & video card, and external add-ons in a bout to extend its useful life. And generally, that tactic has worked for me. In the case of cell phones, I typically buy a phone that is considered "old" by market standards, and use it for 2+ years. My previous Nokia 6236i was 'old' when I got it 2.5 years ago. Nothing fancy. The camera is crap. The screen is tiny. But I knew how to work it, browse e-mail in a pinch, and - most importantly - send & receive phone calls (imagine that...). In 2.5 years, I had a grand total of 3 issues with the phone, all totally resolved by turning it off and then back on again. As far as I'm concerned, that is brilliant in terms of phone performance. It just worked.

So, how do I replace that? I ended up getting the LG enV2. This phone has 2 interfaces - an "old person" phone on the front that has large buttons and very little 'flash.' Inside, it's a bit more modern with a flip-up screen and a full (albeit tiny) keyboard. The 'old person' interface suits me fine because it's perfect for what the phone will be doing 90% of the time for me - making calls. The flip part will help for watching Elmo vids in a pinch when the baby needs to be entertained when we're traveling somewhere. And the keyboard will probably save me from becoming insane when, while traveling, I actually use it to type an SMS message or compose an e-mail.

I don't know why this crap is so difficult for me. Other people seem to replace PCs and cell phones every other month and don't complain about it (at least, not to me). Maybe I'm just cosmically cursed when it comes to gadgets - I usually end up seriously disliking the ones I own after a few months...

Anyway, hope all is well with you out there. Don't forget - only about 1 month (and counting) until Summer Solstice XVII...!

Holy cow! My wife is a hot mom!

Ker & Lorelai modeling on Philly's The 10! Show. (about 2:20 into the vid)...

Hey, how's it goin'?

Nights & Turks

Hi there. A quiet and cloudy day at home with the baby (and poor, neglected doggie) while Ker gets her hands dirty (figuratively and literally) in the flower biz.

With a successful (albeit chilly) MS Walk behind us, SL Band thoughts are now turning to the 26th Annual Turks Head Music Festival, coming up in July. This is a big deal for us, not just because of the size and reputation of the event, but also because it's our home turf and we intend to absolutely kill it on stage. So, we're planning a few special things for Turks Head, not least of which will be a three-piece horn section... stay tuned...

In other news, the baby finished her 1 month checkup and everything is tip-top. I won't tell you how much she is sleeping, in case you have kids of your own (in which case you would end up despising me). I will post more baby pics soon (we've been a bit lax in that department - sorry, not much free time, and we're sort of growing tired of taking pictures of her sleeping, so expect more shots once she is a bit more animated :-).

My other baby, the MTD BE Network, is going strong at nearly 80 members. I recently posted there about my first experience with the new MTD Z6 bass (mostly positive) which you can check out here if you like.

Cheers!