Thanksgiving in Greenville, Second Edition!

Hello everyone out in radio land! Welcome back to the coolest blog in my subdivision. I've been busy-busy gathering up some cool pictures and stories to share over the last few weeks. There's been a lot going on and I finally have some time and motivation to sit down and finish this post. (Thank goodness for long Thanksgiving weekends!) We got the Christmas decorations out on Friday and are pleased to announe that the new house has been Christmas-tised for for the first time. Erin found Sam's Christmas collar, and in spite of my protests, made him wear it. For his dignity, I insisted that it be removed after the photo was taken. Good sport.

I had to change up my outdoor decorations this year; all of our white lights are in the bushes and in the garland. That garland used to be hung in our old livingroom, but I'm NOT putting all of those holes in the walls again, so I decided to hang it all outside this year.

Erin's Christmas village has really grown, it's got a fancy new home near the kitchen counter. I rigged up a hidden switch that turns it all on and off like that! *click* 

We had an interesting Thanksgiving this year! It was the first time that we either weren't in IL with family or had family visiting, so we decided to host a dinner at church for others who also may need some company. There were about 10 people there and we cooked a 20lb turkey, plus everyone brought the other traditional components of a good Thanksgiving meal. Needless to say, we had a good time and had more than enough to eat.

I've had the opportunity to get out on the motorcycle this fall and grab some good shots with my new camera. I like the following so much, I'm thinking about making it part of a custom banner for my blog. This is Falls Park around November 1st.

A couple weeks ago, I took the fizzer up to Caesar's Head and rode up the mountain for the first time. It was a great learning experience for me, and I also had the opportunity to snap some beautiful pics along the way.

At the top, I pulled into the park and took some time to enjoy the views of Table Rock and the foothills.

It was a beautiful day, sunny about 65 degrees.

This would be a great view to wake up to every morning!

The sky was very hazy (it was nearing sunset, too) but you can see why I like to come up here so much!

 I haven't been on the motorcycle as much this past week because I've been playing on my new Wii! My parents bought us a Wii as an early Christmas gift and I'm so glad they did. It's so much fun. It might not be cutting edge visually, but the ability to get so involved in the gameplay is beyond fun for a couple of video game newbs like us. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Here's Erin, configuring her Mii. It's funny to see our characters on screen look so accurate.

I saw this outside the mall one day; It made me want to snap a picture and submit it to thereifixedit.com...

 

Last month, Erin and I and a couple friends from church attended a special presentation on piano history at the local Steinway dealer in Spartanburg. It was neat for me, because I wanted to learn more about the topic. Erin probably learned more about this stuff in college than I did, being I was a computer-major nerd and not a music-major geek.

There were at least 15 antique pianos on display, some of which were 200 years old. This was my favorite:

We were treated to a ragtime concert after the presentation. I never would have considered ragtime to be my favorite genre, but after hearing it live for the first time in my life, I have to say I really enjoyed it.

I did some major upgrades for my home computers recently. I maxed out the processor in my Dell Dimension 9150 (Pentium D, 960) I then took my Pentium D 830 and installed in my HTPC. Since the newer chip was hotter that the old celeron that powered our HTPC, I swapped out the heatsinks. Here, you can see the stock intel cooler, compared to the new Scypthe Scepter, which is not only much better, but quieter too.  

To help with the airflow in the cabinet, I sealed off the HTPC compartments and installed a couple USB powered fans to draw cool air through the cabinet. So far, it has worked like a charm!!

While doing some shoe shopping in the mall, I spotted these winners. I don't care how much better they may make my workout, I'd rather kill myself.

A friend of mine from work, who is also a Peoria native, ordered some Kitchen Cooked potato chips online and thoughtfully gave me a bag. It was a nice taste of home. Thanks!

Erin and i tried a new pizza place a couple weeks ago. This is a newer place in Simpsonville: Tony's. Not to be confused with Anthony's, which I reviewed last year and was not impressed with.

Their menu system was original...it was scrawled on the wall!

I ordered some cheese sticks and you can imagine my surprise when they brought out something that resembles a friggin' pizza! I should have just ordered these instead of a pizza. They were excellent, though.

The pizza was very good, I have to say. I liked everything about it! It's not as tasty as Bellacino's, but it comes in a close 2nd! We definitely will come back in the future.

After dinner, we stopped over at the Downtown Coffe shop in Mauldin and enjoyed some live folk music.

Last week, I tried a new Chinese restaurant in Mauldin, called.... China. Wow, original name! The interior looked like...spoiler alert.....like every other Chinese restaurant you've EVER BEEN TO IN YOUR LIFE.

Chinese restaurants get a dual tiered review: crab rangoons and General Tso's chicken. Let's try the rangoons first. They were really good!

The General Tso's chicken was pretty good, but not good enough to have again. A good G.T.C. plate has crispy chicken, some spice, and a sweet, sticky glaze. This, like Lin Garden, was kind of cold, soggy, and definitely not spicy. And what's with the giant onions? It was the first time I'd seen it served that way, so I never thought to ask for the omission of the onions! My search for the perfect Chinese place continues!

Just to give you an idea of what else is going on in my life: The first 2010 Alliance Drum & Bugle Corps practice is next weekend! We hope to see a full corps there, and we'll get more information about the 2010 show, uniforms, and more. I have my audition materials ready and I'm plumped. Not only am I excited, but I've gained a little weight since DCA finals, hence the plumped part.  With any luck, I won't be the oldest member of the hornline. When most of the instructional stuff is younger than me, that might be a challenge. The real challenge is keeping my body in corps shape... I'll do better this year, I promise. Just no more chocolate truffles, Erin, organic or not!!

My quartet is still singing, and we've been hard at work for contest, which is coming up in Greenville in March. I'm singing the lead part now, which I do enjoy more than Tenor. Erin and I are coming back to Illinois a couple days after Christmas, so look out for us. We'll have some time to sit down with friends and family and share some more of our adventures. Hope you enjoyed my pictures, here's wishing you a terrific Holiday...er... CHRISTMAS season!!! 

Blogger gets it right....it's about frackin' time!

First of all, let me just say that someone at Blogger has been listening to me complaining about the stupid editor that they make us use on here. It had to have been created by someone who doesn't even create blog posts. While perusing my preferences tonight, I discover an option to use the new editor. I am here to tell you that it is light years beyond what I used before. Inserting pictures is soooooooo much more intuitive now. I don't have to calculate in my head which order to put each batch of photos to get them to show up correctly on the blog. I can upload all of them and pick and choose...even repeatedly. So for all y'all bloggers, don't forget to start using the new editor. Nuff said. Moving right along.....

I know you haven't heard from me and I'm sure you started to panic. Now that I'm back, you may relax and prepare for a journey....a journey into all that I have been doing since the first of the month. Well, at least everything that I've been able to photograph. Since the beginning of the month, I have been in emergency mode, preparing myself to slide into the season of DCA drum & bugle corps for ALLIANCE in Atlanta. I've been spending every evening practicing my baritone, taking long runs, lifting weights, practicing drill, you name it. I've gone down there for two weekends so far and I have to tell you that I've never been happier. Everything feels so comfortable (and yet so uncomfortable at the same time, but that is the essence of drum corps. That's why it's so fun.). I've lost some weight, gained some muscle back, have a great tan, and my chops are in fantastic shape. I have to be careful when I practice though, because I'm almost positive my neighbors can hear me play, and I'm not even playing at the ffff level like I need to be. The camps are great, basically we spend Saturday and Sunday outside (we have no access into the school) working on drill and sectional rehearsals before doing a daily run through to solidify our work. I snapped a picture of our first set in the company front.

We have a trailer for equipment, no Alliance logo yet, but strangely enough, you can still make out the word ALLIED under the paint, from the original owner.

Here's our primary "field" and the tenor/mello feature they've been working on lately.

No bathrooms, but we are allowed to use the porta-potties. The local kids enjoy regularly tipping these over, but these particular ones have been chained to the fence posts.

This past Saturday, the corps competed in the DCA South show in Rockmart, GA. Phillip and I picked up the equipment truck early in the morning (the corps trailer needs repaired).

While we were there Phillip, the awesome contra player who has given me a place to stay, shows off the business card of the gentlemen who has pledged to sponsor the corps.

Late that night, after the show, you see I'm ready to head back to Braselton and get some sleep. Here, I've got my horn already on the truck.

We had to stop for some food, so a few of us stopped at Krystal at about 12:00AM. The dining room was closed, so we stayed out in the parking lot and ate.

I'd never had Krystal before....it was pretty good. Not the best burger I've had, but okay.

Guess what they have in Braselton?! Kroger! It may not be a big deal to the GA folks, but we don't have them in the Upstate. I always liked Kroger.

Why did it take so long for someone to come up with this? They are frackin' awesome.

For lunch one Saturday, the crew headed to a nicer restaurant since we had a long break from rehearsal.

As you can see (or maybe can), the interior is fab-u-lous...has a "ranchy" feel to it. It's like someplace Martin Crane would take Frasier for dinner if he could.

I had a chicken sandwich. It was very good.

Do you know what else I found down there? These are great, too.

In one Subway, I spotted the smallest sink that I have ever seen before. Clue: The faucet is really tiny to make it look more proportional.

A few weeks back, the Palmetto Statesmen sang in the opening ceremony of the championship game in the Big League World Series (On ESPN2). I wish I would have recorded it....

Here we are, coming onto the field for the National Anthem and Carolina in the Morning.

I haven't been riding my poor motorcycle much this month, but I did give her a full wash and wax recently.

I finally broke down and bought some new dress shoes, which have to be safety shoes again. My last pair lasted 2.5 years, so it was time. Since my company gives me an allowance for them, I was able to choose a very comfy pair of Redwings. They're like pillows strapped to my feet. Ahhhhhhh.

Did I tell you we got another dishwasher? It doesn't require any water or soap...and no electricity. Just kibble and kisses.

We've had a warm summer, pretty much been exactly 90 degrees every day since June 1st. Some days creep a little higher than that, though, as you can see below. I know it's not as bad as Tucson...but we had humidity to deal with, too! I know, I can't complain, I did move here for a change of climate. Well, mission accomplished.

I'm going back to Hotlanta this weekend for our last Alliance camp and then next Wednesday, we leave for Rochester, NY where we hope to place in the top ten of DCA Open Class. We are so hyped! Life will return to normalcy after that...