Category: General

1. It’s amazing how much relief I felt when I woke up and my first thought was “I don’t have to clean up all that cat puke.” Corollary- that was a weird dream.
2. Just because I saved up all those calories for the brother-in-law’s birthday dinner, doesn’t mean I need to use them all. Even for the mother-in-law’s cake and the wife’s deviled eggs.
3. I’m trying to remember why I thought it was a good idea to schedule a doctor appointment on my day off. Particularly when my doc is sixty miles from the house. Oh well, at least I’ll get to wear my kilt, since I’m not going there after work.

I know the blog’s been a bit quiet the last few weeks. Been busy.

Last Saturday, I trekked up to Saint Pete to catch HammerFall and Sabaton in concert.

1. Jannus Live is not my favorite venue. It’s a fucking outdoor courtyard with no seating where 2K+ people are crammed. If I go back to this place to catch a show, and it’s normal Florida weather, I’m wearing my damn kilt.
2. At least two people not in line told those of us in line, that this was the longest line they’ve seen for a concert. Not sure if it was a measure of dedication from the fans or lack of heavy-hitters at Jannus, but I’m thinking the former.
3. I need new concert ear pro. Preferably something discreet, effective, and can be worn for several hours. Particularly when the venue plays intermission music at the same fucking volume as the acts.
4. HammerFall always does a great show. Not as familiar with the songs from their new album. I will remedy that in the coming week. Especially since it’s a non-podcast week due to the work that needs doing.
5. It was interesting to see how many of the concert goers were seeing HammerFall for the first time. From the hands I saw from my corner, figure about 80%. This was my second time seeing them in concert. Rumor is that they will be returning next fall. This will be investigated.
6. Sabaton brought the fucking tank. The big, dual Gatling gun tank for their drummer. Heavy metal concert requires heavy metal. Military history themed heavy metal requires military heavy metal.
7. Sabaton’s set started with a request for donations to the construction of a WWI memorial in DC. Wasn’t expecting that, but they certainly know their audience.
8. Sabaton knows how to use their screen to display the “audience participation” parts of their songs.
9. Lots of songs off the new album. These I haven’t fully ingrained in my head, but enjoyable nonetheless.
10. Joakim learned a valuable lesson. When the Florida crowd starts singing “Swedish Pagans,” don’t threaten us with singing “YMCA” if we’re “bad.” We’ll just start singing the Village People to call your bluff.
11. It was Joakim’s birthday. We got to sing “Happy Birthday” to him while he got to wear a pink tiara and try to blow out those relighting candles. If there’s one thing I love about a Sabaton show is that they do not take themselves too seriously, and are not above fan service.
12. They didn’t bring a kid up onto the stage with them, but they did find a nine-year-old in the front. Whose parents named him Leonidas. No, I don’t know if they’re from Tarpon Springs. (Those is you outside Tampa, google it). This did lead to the crowd doing the Spartan cheer.
13. It was not a great idea to park on the seventh floor of the garage when the elevator wasn’t available. On the plus side, I may have partially worked off the Kit Kat I ate before the concert.
14. Still had a great time!

You may have noticed a new look to the blog. This was not done by choice. WordPress had this big banner having to do with an issue with my current version of PHP. Addressing it broke the theme I was using. At least The Brother got the blog back up.

Maybe it’s time to go looking for a new theme.

Track has the storm hitting the east coast as a Cat 3 and then coming across the state. This will be the first major storm since The Wife and I moved in together. My estimate is that Dorian will quickly degrade down to a Cat 1 or TS by the time it gets to us. That means bugging in instead of evacuation. Which is good because I don’t want to crate up all the cats.

My commute home is normally about an hour. Monday it was three hours. I was grumbly about how long it took me to get home all Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

Then this came across my newsfeed. If the article isn’t updated, the toddler passed away last night.

I’m going to shut the fuck up now.

We’re getting into the two busiest months at the day job. Plus, I’m competing for Toastmasters.

Blogging will be light and sporadic.

Working on Toastmasters speech.

Per Miguel’s prompting, I sat down and watched Cajun Navy. The Wife deferred due to both her hatred of storms and seeing animals in distress. She’s a soft heart, which is something I need in my life.

Watching people, regular people, travel over a thousand miles for the chance of rescuing someone, refreshes my general optimism in people. Particularly when they say “fuck you” to the authorities and still go out there. You say my certified lifeguard son can’t go save people because he’s not 18? Fine, we’ll go where you’re not.

One point made is that the people they rescue haven’t evacuated because they’re just stupid (not to say there aren’t stupid mixed in). These folks often don’t have the wherewithal to evacuate. It’s hard to leave when you don’t have a car or a place to go. Something to keep in mind when watching the news.

In my county, the local government is putting them to work.

Interesting concept, but I don’t know if we’ll ever find out if it’s truly effective. It is a government program after all.

Tam makes a comment on a post and I go from ten views to forty! Welcome everyone!