Just like old times...Dynamite Boy and Born to Lose

This weekend was awesome! We stared things off with Ben Ballards formal Birthday Dinner(tm) at Fogo De Chao, a Brazilian steak house that is all you can eat choice cuts of meat. It was amazing! Then Haymaker 3, Goodnight Goodness, Born to Lose and Dynamite Boy played at Red Eyed Fly. It was such an awesome show. BTL was ON, just great. The new stuff is awesome. Then Dynamite Boy played the 10anniversary show for Hell is Other People, their first CD. Man was it a blast. Sean wanted me to sing Knockout, one of my all time favorite songs, but I am a chicken shit, oh, and I can't sing. But I did it anyways with the help of Ben and others. Of course I totally messed up the lyrics after the looking in the mirror part..I suck. Sorry if you were there and had to hear it.

After the show we went night swimming but I didn't feel well and I vomited and went home. OH! There was a battle royal at Spiros (surprise!?) and the cops had to bust it up with tear gas, right in front of my car that I was sitting in with the top down . Man I had never wanted the top to go up faster in my life!

Then Sunday we hit the river again. It was awesome! It was for Hausen's birthday. Welcome to the dirty 30's buddy! He did get eaten by the Headcrusher Falls(Tm) and I got super bad calf cramps again...I think something is up.

On the way back, I-35 was closed for construction of another stupid ass toll plaza (Really texans, you voted for that shite?!?! WE PAY ENOUGH TAXES! STOP PASSING THE DUMN SHIT!) and we went on a 30 mile detour that put us back on 35 100 yards where we got off. Nice planning TXDoT!

Anyways, pics of the show.

Ben Ballard's Birthday Bingo

Yesterday was my good buddy Ben's birthday! Woo hoo! We went to Trudy's for his free drink then we hit up the Bingo Palace of awesomeness and good times! Even though none of us won, it was a darn good time. After that we went to Baby Blues for some more good times. It was a fun evening for sure. I cut out before things got crazy so I don't even know if these people are still kickin!

Tonight is day 2 of the Birthday celebration. We are going to Fogo De Chao! ALL YOU CAN EAT PRIME MEAT ON SWORDS!!!!!!!!

Pictures of course!

House Remodeling - Part 2

So the red on the fireplace was cool and all but the white stones were killing me with their Christmas cheer, so I repainted.

I spent more time in the paint department with this decision than with any color decision prior, but I settled on a "bitter chocolate" color. A dark brown with a touch of purple. I was going to do a faux finish with the brown rubbed on the red but it just looked like soot from the fireplace, so i did a full paint. I did leave red streaks showing through and it may work.

I like it.
With the old red...


The new "Bitter Chocolate" color








It does bring down the brightness a bit but with the stuff I am going to paint and hang I think it will be ok.

House Remodeling - Part 1

So it has been a while since I have posted anything, I have just been too busy being awesome since I have been back in Texas.

The polygamists who were renting my house decides to totally screw up everything in the house. They ruined the carpet and put down the crappiest most ugly gray tile I have ever seen, and didn't bother to line up the grout lines with the good stuff that I had previously put down. They did the worst paint job I have ever seen and well, they just suck. I wish them no awesomeness to come for many years. Also, they screwed over the neighbor next door too, at least I'm not alone...enough about those party poopers!

So I have been remodeling and repainting the entire house...slowly.

I started int he kitchen and painted the cabinets a dark brown and the walls Blue. I really like the way it turned out. Then I made a radical decision about the theater. It used to be downstairs (pictured below) and I had curtains separating it and blocking the light. I was going to wall in the theater and do all that but then it dawned on me that my master bedroom was really huge (too big really!) and I should turn that into the theatre (which is called "Our Moonlight Cinema), so I busted out the dark blue paint and went to town. Mounted a screen, got some theatre recliners and a new projector and sound system (Thanks Sony!). The results are pretty bad ass! I will post pictures later and there is still some work to be done such as the riser for the rear seats and rear seats.

I also have life size Jar Jar and Watto statues and a 6' Naboo Star Fighter for the theatre. If you have any movie props or memorabilia you want to get rid of, let me know.

Then I did my bedroom. It came out very nice if I do say so myself, and I do! Again, I'll post pictures later.

Now I am working on my living room and wall between the kitchen and said living room. I went kinda bright with the colors, but I'm a color kind of guy. The red on the fireplace is cool, but with the while fireplace face it makes it look too christmasy so I am going to repaint it a brown color and see how it plays.

The bar is next, I am going for a macabre man lounge theme with dark green walls with a skull stencil pattern and lots of fake leather and dark woods, should be cool.

Here are some random pics, Hippie Dave has my camera with the before pics still...


This is the old theatre room with the new 1080P HD Projector


This is a dark picture...


This is the old theatre room and the new projector, this will soon be the bar. I need a good name for it.


Here you see the colors I am going for in the living room. The green on the left is very bright, I like it a lot.





Here is what the kitchen walls and cabinets look like. I like the way it all came together.

The Further adventures of Captain Cornelius - Sonoma

This Saturday (November 17) was my friend Beth's birthday. To celebrate we ventured up to the Wine Country and partook in free adult beverages while Captain Cornelius explored the uncharted hills and valleys of Sonoma.

We first stopped at the Pedroncelli Winery. This place was great! The wine was delicious and Jon, our guide through the journey of flavors was really cool. By far the nicest and most welcoming of all the places we visited.

From there we went to Frick Winery. This place was the coolest traditional vinyard setting I thought. The falling water tower was awesome. The guy here loosened up after a bit, but was still pretty crotchety. The Wine here was pretty good too.

By this time we were starved so we hit up the Dry Creek General Store. It was cool and overpriced as you would expect. the sandwiches were made to order and delicious! The ordering and paying process was not interesting and very inefficient and they are cash only..WTF?! Join the 21st century people! Also, the bartender was gorgeous!

This is where we met up with McShane and Meg, they were super late. Oh McSane and Meg...

From here we headed up to Bella Winery and Caves. The place was really cool in that it was a cave dug into a hill. This was the only place that charged a tasting fee ($5) which I thought was pretty tacky and cheesy. Also, their wine was pretty crappy I thought. Way dry and gave me serious cotton mouth. The people were also not very friendly I thought. The place was cool though.

By this time it was close to 5:00 and we wanted to hit one more so we rushed around and found one that was open 'til 5 so we rushed in. The lady there was quick to quip that they were by appointment only (even thought there were dozens of signs advertising the tasting rooms and open 'til 5ness). I didn't like her attitude so I went outside and took pictures of the Captain. This resulted in the best photo of the day (IMHO). This is also where we met up with J-scram.

After the wineries we made a quick trip over to Bear Republic Brewing company for some grub and beers. I had Root Beer and Cream Soda. Good stuff.

After that we headed back to the city and went to Teppi and Laurens for birthday cake and cupcakes action.

It was a successful day for sure, and the Captain did some fantastically awesome exploration.