Think Spring!

No, this is not here.  Wherever it is, I admire their artistic optimism!      via Bits & Pieces

Valentine's Day Dinner

On Valentine's Day I went to dinner with three lovely young women, my wife Kate, her friend Terry and Terry's sister Becky.  In reality, I wasn't lucky enough to have three dates for the holiday, but I was lucky enough to tag along for a different dining experience at the Bourbon Street Grille - on the south side of Madison and located on the Yahara River - on what just happened to be the heart-y holiday evening.

Have you ever heard of a pasta board?


Me neither.  And while it was good, it was still eating spaghetti and meatballs off the table.

Actually, it is a specially treated board that covers the table and I'm sure they wash it very thoroughly.  The recipe for the sauce was supposedly bought from a local legendary Italian place that is no longer, and it was very good.  The meatballs were large and fine-tasting.  The pasta was just pasta and the salad and bread were just okay.

The whole thing about this by-reservation-only dinner is the novelty of eating off the table.  You use the pasta spoon to pull a pile in front of you and still have your sides and drinks beside it on the table.  I'm not really trying to knock it, but now that I've had the dinner for myself, it is still just eating pasta off the table.  We actually did have a good time while doing so and because Terry got a great groupon deal it was not expensive, thank you for dinner, Terry!  Overall, though, I don't really see myself needing to ever to do that again.

Sorry for the blurry pics, I hate the camera on my phone but that is for another post.

Latest Listening Pleasure 17 - Cradle Of Thorns

Wow, I haven't posted a LLP post since last June!  I have been enjoying mostly the music I always have, even thought I have been looking for and listening to what new music (to me) that I can.   I'm always open to new music but sometimes the new music is old music still waiting to be found.

1996 - Download This!

Cradle Of Thorns was first known to me as the CD my latest gal pal in the late mid 90's did not want to lose.  The 1996 CD was called Download This!, I had never heard of them, but she could not wait to play it for me, and yes, I agreed it was pretty great, just not as fanatically as she.  Okay, she'd say, I'll leave it here but you better take care of it and I want it back!  This was a girlfriend that, well, chose me.  You know, you're in a dead spot and she's kinda cute and likes you lots.  Not sure if you want all your friends to know your seeing her but she does some things very well to and for you to keep you there. That kind of thing.

Not really long story short - she wound up off in Montana and her CD was still at my place, not my fault.  It was a really good CD way back then and still is now.  It has some of that in between song annoying, inane stuff, to me anyway, but the songs were innovative and differently good to me at the time.  Plus it had a great cover of Motley Crue's 'Shout at the Devil!'

1994 - Feed-Us

Recently I had been listening to this CD again and I decided to look them up on YouTube.  There is not much to be found.  They put out three albums as Cradle Of Thorns, then a later CD as Videodrone in 1999.   I have the Videodrone CD from a prior re-interest a few years ago (I guess when I have no new music interests I tend to research my prior favorites more).  This time I went back and got their 1994 album, Feed-Us, I ordered the physical CD from my favorite place to shop, Amazon.  This CD has things on it that reverberated on 1996's Download This!, but in my opinion not quite as well.  But I would expect that, as this came before, and as of right now I've just re-added the 1999 Videodrone CD to my digital library to refresh my memory on that.  If I'm still curious later, there is a 1990 CD called Remember It Day out there somewhere, probably waiting to find its way to my collection in another 5 years or so, depending on how bored I get finding new things to listen to.

They have no real 'official' videos that I can find, so try this - the song Flesh, from my newest CD; Cradle Of Thorns, 1994, Feed-Us.


Previous LLP Posts...
LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O.
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns

Prior LLP Bands that have also turned my head recently after the break!  Including a brand new video posted only yesterday!

Kanye... I Agree With SP

Steel Panther saying what we all thought.

A Sick This And Thats

It is winter and not as much happens, thus nothing to write.  Plus, now that I have taken a step back from blogging for a bit it does get harder to make myself sit and write.  So, since I may jump around a bit we'll make it a This and Thats post!

• I've accepted my third promotion in about as many years.  Tomorrow I start in my new department, higher in rank and money though not much of either.  Still, this department has a whole lot more potential than the department I was in.  I will have adjustments to make, like I will have a later schedule and I'll be changing buildings again.  I'll be back in the building I first worked in for years, so there will be a lot of familiar faces - whether I like that or not.
• And of course on the eve of my new job I get sick.  After work on Friday, my wife and I went out for bit before coming home and ordering out dinner.  Sometime during the course of the evening the back of my sinuses gave me that feeling and sure enough, when I got up on Saturday I felt terrible and it only got worse the longer I was awake.  I only feel slightly better today, still very ill.  I can only hope for a miraculous recovery for tomorrow morning or it will probably be a difficult week in training.
• For good news, we went out a couple of weeks ago and bought a new bed and it finally got delivered yesterday.  Our old bed had been worn out for quite some time.  Nyquil, Sudafed and a new mattress helped me sleep okay last night.  We also bought a couple new comforters for the new bed and we will also have to buy some more sheets to fit, this bed us much taller than the last.
• My thoughts lately have turned to spring, and taking a week off with nicer weather.  I feel the need for a vacation very soon and I have projects I would like to work on.  But sawing and painting is best done outside in the driveway or garage.  It's way too cold for that these days.  I still have some designing to do but the final design is always just how it ends up, not always the idea I started with.  I like creating as I go so only general plans are usually needed until I start sawing things.
• We still have all the snow from a week ago, piled up everywhere.  Temps the last couple days have started it melting but we know it is not over yet.  At about 27 inches we're about six inches under our average for this date.  There's still plenty of time for mother nature to wallop us again.  I don't know what Jimmy the goundhog - the local celebrity for the holiday - told the mayor of Sun Prairie but he seemed adamant about it.  The local 'hog's bite made news around the world.

Okay, I'm tired.  Back to my lazy boy and blankie.

Snow Daze

by graphica.

Cat Spat

Basil and Hamish playing/fighting about 20 minutes ago.  Hamish, the smaller of the two, seems to have the upper hand this time around.

Badgers Mend Packer Pain

This is for my fellow Green Bay Packers fans, for my heart aches with yours.  This was written today about our Wisconsin Badgers Men's Basketball team:

"...All of which adds up to this: On Tuesday night, Wisconsin beat a ranked Big Ten team, one without a road loss yet this season, by 32 points. In the process, they committed exactly one turnover. Which came on a shot-clock violation. Thanks to a scorer's table correction. Without their starting point guard..."

Not too shabby having a team like this to root for now.  I'm not saying it takes away the hurt from the Packers overtime loss to end their season, but it is certainly a good distraction.  Go Badgers!

Happy Birthday Mrs Scoakat!

Yes I am still here, thank you.  I realize I have not posted much lately but I have not had much to say and I no longer pressure myself to post even in those droughts.  If you read back, I've been trying to be much more relaxed and manage my time better recently.  That being said, ever forward!

We celebrated my wife Kate's birthday recently.  On Saturday night we had friends over, turned the heat to 80º F, and had a 'tropical' party.  We got some cheap decorations on Amazon and my wife put out a very nice tropical spread, only partially seen here.  We made the best tropical fun out of a January birthday that one can expect (without hefty expenditure) and enjoyed a good time with our friends.

Then last night, her actual birthday, we had reservations for a local bar/restaurant, Dexter's Pub,  that was having their first beer tasting dinner event.  They call it their 'Heritage Series,' and they have them scheduled for almost every month for almost 2 years out.

Each month they bring in a different craft brewery that works with their chef to create different dinner courses that compliment various brews from that brewery.  I'm sure this type of thing has been happening for quite some time now at other places and in other areas, the craft brew market has exploded in the past decade or more.  Seating was limited to the first twenty people, cash up front.  We bought our tickets about a month ago when we were there to have dinner with friends, in fact we were the first two to sign up.

We had such a good time that we would highly consider doing it again - but the next one is all seafood and, well, I just can't do that.  But that's okay, there are many more events scheduled and it will be nice to see if it runs a bit smoother after they have a few of these under their belts.  Also, Dexter's is only probably a 20 minute walk from home so it is very nearby.  Just another reason to love our side of town in this capitol city which we live.

Note to self:  Get Bikes In Spring!

New Year Resolutions*

Someone brought up new year resolutions to me recently and my first reaction was to chuckle, then I actually stopped to think.  It has been a long time since I made a new year resolution, even longer since I made a serious one, probably as a kid.  If it works for you then go for it, I hope you get what you want.  I guess I can make life resolutions.  I know what I have to do to improve myself and I can resolve myself to it any day of the year.

However, no matter how or what kind of resolutions you make, following it through can be the hard part - no matter when you make your resolution.  Inner strength and determination are the biggest factors in changing yourself.  Do it for you.  Do it to be a better you.  Good luck, I'm pulling for ya!

*Edit, 5:05 pm: Another thought is that is what new year resolutions are - life resolutions at that specific time.  No one said a new year resolution has to start that day.  That leads me to the arbitrary choice of that particular day as a time to set those goals.  I'm sure there's something out there explaining our need of hope and change and a 'fresh start' with the new year.  Sorry, but now I've lost interest since typing that last bit.  I'd research a whole lot more odd things if there were more hours in the day.  Walking away now...