Back to the front

Yes, I was grunting the Metallica song when I wrote that title.

It's been busy since my last post so I'll bore you with some day to day details.

Wednesday found me headed out to the sunshine state for a butt-kicking at the hands of a very unhappy client. Our 4 hour flight turned into 5 1/2 hours as the flight had to be diverted around a storm between here and there. You haven't lived until you've spent 5 1/2 hours crammed into an airplane baby! A time when being tall is no fun. And knowing we were going into a situation where we were getting beat up made the delay worse, as it caused us to be about 1/2 hour late for the meeting. Ugh! All in all though, the meeting was fine, despite a few sharp words here and there and some tap dancing done by yours truly.

I was travelling with 2 colleagues from home and our initial plan was to have dinner with our client after the meeting. However, the client cancelled on us and we were on our own to hit San Fran. If I were by myself, I'm sure I would have headed up to Mendocino county, which is a couple of hours away. But, I didn't want to drag people up there with me, nor could I figure out a good way to ditch them. So, I wound up going to dinner with them on Fisherman's Wharf, a very touristy area of SF. That aside, the restaurant we went to was right on the water, a bit of a dive but the food was great! The place was called Scoma's and I highly recommend it. It's a little pricey but that's to be expected in such a touristy area.

Back home and had a fun weekend - saw Die Hard on Friday night. The movie is absolutely unbelievable (just like the others in the franchise) and a heck of a lot of fun (also like the others in the franchise). The bad guy in the movie is the dude that was the bad guy in The Girl Next Door and he's pretty good. The movie is pretty formulaic overall but it was pretty much exactly what was expected. Kevin Smith has a funny cameo and the "cool" kid from the Mac commercials, who also does a pretty good job. Fun movie.

It was a rainy weekend here so spent a lot of time indoors - including a friend's party Saturday night, a visit from some good friends who live a few hours away Sunday am, a kid's b-day party Sunday afternoon and then a concert Sunday night.

The concert was to see Crowded House, a big favorite of the better half's. She loved them growing up so I got the tix. We didn't realize there would be two opening bands plus the headliner. We also didn't realize that although the tix said showtime 7:30, that really was doors open at 7:30. First band went on at around 9. They were a group from LA called 16 Frames. They sounded a bit like a mix between Train, older Matchbox 20 and Maroon 5. Please do not ever listen to this band or buy anything of theirs. The lead singer had some strange inkling that he could murder Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and get away with it. Sick, just plain downright sick. The rhythm section was pretty good but other than that, the lead singer's annoying personality on stage was quite off-putting to me.

Second opening act was a guy named Liam Finn, he is the son of Crowded House's lead singer Neil Finn. Vocally, he sounded much like his dad. But his act was one of the most unique I've ever seen. He was on stage by himself, which doesn't seem that unusual. So, he starts playing his gee-tar and puts it down, with the rhythm he was playing still going. He apparently had some pedal or something that allowed him to record what he was playing and replay it in a loop. He puts the guitar down and picks up the bass, laying down a bassline and looping it in as well. Then he moves to the drums and plays those as well. It was quite the novelty and pretty cool. But, he did it during every song and it kind of lost it's appeal after a while. However, he is very musically talented, although lyrically challenged. Fun overall, if coming off a little full of himself.

Crowded House came out and played for nearly 2 hours, with 2 encores and encompassed their many hits. They are one of those bands that a lot of casual fans might not realize had a slew of hits in the late 80's through late 90's. Don't Dream It's Over is probably their biggest song but they had several others including Locked Out, Always Bring the Weather With You, Better Be Home Soon, Fall at Your Feet and Something So Strong. It was fun to hear all these songs and a good time overall. Only problem was getting home at 2 am on a school night, ugh! Oh, the other problem, the lead singer has Richard Marx hair - whoa, not good! But the guy has a great voice, is a talented musician and is good with interacting with the band onstage and the crowd, leading to an excellent show.

On the school front, I have 2 meetings later this week that start off the new semester, with classes starting a week from today. Wow, that 2 1/2 week break went fast!

Until next time.

Ace