Another Weekend In Paradise

I hope everyone's Memorial Day weekend went well. As I wrote before Jackie, Aaron and I went up to The Northern Estate in Paradise for the holiday. We had a good time although we did more relaxing than anything.

Saturday we took Aaron to see the OK Corral which is a highlight of any visit to the Paradise area. We also went to the Point to see the lighthouse and to visit the giftshop where I bought yet another book of ghost stories and Jackie bought a Whitefish Point baseball hat and shirt set. For dinner Saturday night we took Aaron to the Bear Butt bar in Eckerton.

Sunday we mainly relaxed although we did go to the Yukon for lunch. Aaron and Jackie took advantage of the quiet to get some sleep while I devised a couple of new recording equiptment configurations for an upcoming musical collaboration with a certain someone from my musical past.

I had my shortwave radio with me and I received a couple of stations up there that I don't usually get down here. I logged my first ever reception of Radio Cairo Egypt, a station that has been high on my "must hear" list for a long time. I also received Radio Japan with amazing clarity. I will never again take any kind of trip without bringing a shortwave radio.

On Sunday afternoon while we were out on our Yukon run we stopped at an abandoned cottage that Jackie and I discovered about two years ago while exploring the area. I had always wanted to check out the inside of it but never got around to it. When we pulled up we noticed that the front door had been broken open so we decided to check out the inside. Upon entering and smelling that familiar "abandoned house" smell we noticed that someone had bolted a steering wheel from a car to the living room wall. I guess kids who had explored the inside in the past could have bolted the steering wheel to the wall but I really don't think so. Who would take the time to do something like that? Why would someone do that? Whoever bolted it to the wall made sure they found a stud to bolt it to. It was very solid with absolutely no movement of the wheel. My guess is that the original owners of the cottage placed it there. But why? I have explored probably close to 50 abandoned houses in my lifetime but I have never seen anything like that in one.

All in all it was a good weekend. Even better was the fact that didn't have to mess with loading and unloading recording equiptment and instruments. Other than working out the aforementioned recording equiptment schematics I didn't think about music at all which was nice.

I post below some of the "abandoned cottage" pictures.

This is the abandoned cottage that Jackie, Aaron and I explored while up in Paradise this weekend. 

Inside the abandoned cottage. 

The bathroom of the abandoned cottage. 

Inside of the cottage we found this steering wheel bolted to the wall. Why this was is anybody's guess. It looks like it was done by the original owners of the cottage. 

A closeup of the steering wheel afixed to the wall. 

Happy Holiday

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Enjoy some hamburgers and hot dogs but if you are eating the weiners be careful that you dont take too much and choke on them.

Preparing For The Holiday

Jackie, Aaron, and myself are going up north to the Northern Estate for the holiday weekend. I am so looking forward to getting up there. There are a couple things that we want to show Aaron but other than that we will just be relaxing. He has been up there before so he has seen a lot of what the area has to offer but we will be showing him some of our favorite spots such as the OK Corral and the creepy cemetary on Wildcat Road. I initially thought that I would bring some recording equiptment or instruments up with us but I have decided against it. It is just more stuff to bring up and to worry about when packing. Today I have to start getting some music together for the ride up. I usually stick to the 1920's and 30's country blues that I love so much.

Speaking of which. Does anybody out there reading this have any favorite albums to listen to while taking longer drives? Long drive music?

The Weekend

Twas a good weekend. I did my "House Music" thing Friday night.

Yesterday was my grandparents 80th birthday party at my parents house. Both Jack and I had a really good time. You couldn't ask for more cooperative weather. My aunt and uncle came in from Seattle and my other aunt and uncle were in from Grand Rapids. There was a ton of great food there as well as my dad grilled pork tenderloin, hot dogs, stadium kielbasa, and hamburgers. There was a ton of fruit dips, chips, pasta salad, cheesy potatoes, ect. as well. Jack and I got the cake from the same woman who made our wedding cake.

I have been getting into the shortwave radio again lately. This morning I heard a couple new stations for the first time. I heard Ecuador HCJB on 12,005 khz and Radio Korea Intl. broadcast from South Korea on 9,650 khz. Shortwave radio rocks.

This is the ARP 2500. It came out in 1970 and it is the synthesizer that I want the most. 

My Mistress

Although I am a married man I have a mistress. Jackie knows about my relationship with her and is suprisingly incredibly supportive of the time we spend together.

I have known her all of my life. She is wonderful, beautiful, and intelligent and makes me feel so great that I cannot imagine that anyone has ever felt better. When I am down she cheers me up. When I am mad she soothes me. If I feel worthless she gives me hope.

When I was a little boy she took me into her confidence and told me that someday I would find myself in her. I didn't know if she was lying but I wanted to believe her. Deep down inside I knew she was telling me the truth. I did find myself within her eventually and in her, I feel that my talent is unlimited and that I can accomplish anything that I want to.

It's taken me years to understand her and although I have made great strides in comprehending what she tells me I sometimes feel that she is speaking a language foreign to my own.

Sometimes I feel bad about the time I spend with her when I know I should be spending that time with Jackie but I feel helpless about needing to be with her.

She can be difficult sometimes. When I try to communicate with her she is silent. When I need her for inspiration she gives me none but I know that it will always pass and that we will be together forever.

She has been with me all of my life. Her name is Music.

Music Download Page Update

I updated the download webpage today.

http://www.ic-musicmedia.com/artist_pages/artistpage.php?id=102893

I posted the first 10 pieces from "The Paradise Tapes - Volume 1" for whoever is interested in checking it out. I will post the 11th and final piece from the album next time I update the page.

The Urge To Lose

I think I am ready to make a serious commitment to lose some weight. I would love to lose about 50 pounds or so. I realize that even if I lost the 50 pounds I would still be a large man because for some reason God saw fit to give me this massive bone structure that I carry around daily.

Keeping on a schedule of working out and exercising has never really been an issue for me. That is the easy part. My problem is cutting out the sweets. I have always been a chronic sweets binge eater. It is part of the very fabric of my being.

I like the thought of weighing 50 pounds less than I do right now but then I think what if I do it all in vain. I could lose the weight and look really good for a month and then get hit by a car driven by some distracted teenager. Then I would have to lie there on the sidewalk thinking "Goddamnit Life, You Son Of Bitch. You Screwed Me" as I slowly died. Or I could fall off of a roof at work and as I fell everything would go into slow motion and I would think of all the precious Take 5 candy bars I turned away from just to look good to the ground as I hit it.

If I did lose weight I'm sure it would prolong my life in someway but wouldn't that make me a procrastinator. Wouldn't I just be putting off the inevitable?

End Of The Week (a.k.a. Sweet Freedom)

It is finally Friday afternoon. There is no sweeter time of the week. There really isn't. I need this weekend. My arms are sore, my ribs are sore, everything is hurting.

I'm really looking forward to creating some beautiful music with my "House Music" cohorts tonight. I dearly love my Friday night "House Music" recording sessions although tonight I am being threatened with having to be the bass player unless Aaron comes through for me.

Jack and I are going to her cousin Leo's wedding tommorrow so I have to get out my dress clothes tonight and make sure I can still fit into them. Although I have been known to drink a beer or two at her families get togethers I am not sure how much drinking I will be doing. Terrie and Ryan will not be there and I am guessing that Norm will not be coming either.

In other news I am hopelessly addicted to Hershey's "Take 5" candy bars. I have taken to buying 4 or 5 at a time and eating about 2 a day. I have always been a whore for chocolate but this is bad. I also have tried "Peanut Butter Toast Crunch" which is a different version of "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" and I see the potential for another addiction.

Message To Microsoft Front Page

Message From Jeff Archer To Microsoft Front Page:

Victory Is Mine, BITCH.

Microsoft Front Page Sucks

Microsoft Front Page blows so hard. It really does. Don't think for a moment that it doesn't. Please don't let it trick you into thinking that it is some really nice easy program to use where all you have to do is type some things on the screen and post a picture and then you press a button and it all magically goes onto the web.

I have redone my main website again. It's all ready to go except I can't get Front Page to transfer it over correctly. It does this to me everytime. There is always a problem. This program uses no lube on me. NO LUBE and I'm raw and I'm bleeding now.

Eat me Front Page.