Planet Stahl

Don was kind enough to get me a autographed copy of Roger Clyne’s live CD when he went to the show the other night…  VERY COOL!  Now I am regretting missing him even more!

Above: A rightfully smug Roger Clyne.

Man, I have been nursing this summer cold the last few days…  Its frigg’n killing my drive this week.  I just want to go to bed early!

I got off early on Friday last week.  We blazed a trail to Galena via the scenic river drive from Savannah on up.  Very cool.  I totally enjoyed seeing parts of Illinois (And Iowa across the way) that I have never seen before.  Its completely different from this flatland that we get used to around here.  Especially when I think about Fairbury.

Ang and I talked about this fact.  Rocky slopes and rolling forests make it hard to clear everything out to plant corn or beans.  You get so used to seeing fields where we live, that you almost think its a waste of land not to be using it for some sort of crop!  Ahhhhhh, 35 years of being a hick!

Back to the trip!  We stopped at a Dam north of Hennepin for the kids to stretch their legs…  Then proceeded to a covered bridge from the 1860’s somewhere. (Its a historic marker on the map, I just dont remember where it was!)  The kids where starting to freak out about food so we new that finding lodging as soon as we got to town was a priority.  (Yeah, we don’t make reservations on a road-trip!)  The first hotel into town, and I mean FIRST, was the Irish Cottage.  I went “Oooooh”, and passed it by.  Ang knew that I would not be satisfied until we checked the Cottage out.  So, we turned around and checked occupancy.  While she was doing that, I was checking out the faux Obliques in the front yard of the hotel.  Yeah, its a theme hotel with lots of cheesy things that refer to Ireland…  But I always wanted to go there, so it worked!

We had the front desk clerk show us the pool before we bought the room.  The kids were hooked!  Big indoor pool, and nobody in it!

We did family swim time, went to the “Authentic Irish Pub” for dinner and were entertained by a troop of Irish dancers and an Irish folk singer. (The only song he played that I knew was King of the Road).

The next day:

More swimming in the AM.  A big Irish breakfast.  Checked out….  Oh, the kids were crying when we checked out!  They loved the place!

We headed to a giant cart slide at a local ski slope.  They charge 5 bucks a ride down the slopes on these sleds during the non-snow months, but its worth it.  (I have pictures, I just forgot my memory stick reader at work) We opted for a second ride.  Ang was ready to stay at this lodge for the rest of the day… I had to be the bad Dad and say no!

After that, it was all downtown Galena.  Shops, Park, Shops, Jewelry, Park again, candy kitchens….  You name it.  Aiden was dragging but suddenly perked up when he heard a train whistle.  The local train route goes right through the park, and under a foot bridge!  He ran like his little legs have never run before.  We got there just in time to see the engines go underneath us.  5 Engines!  You know what that means?  A SERIOUSLY LONG TRAIN!!!  We waited and waited… And waited… And waited for him to let us leave, but he stayed until the last freight car passed underneath. 

After that, we headed North to the highest spot in Illinois.  It was not easy to fine, its not like they have a marker…  I think we found it! It was pretty tall, and right on the Wisconsin border.  We went to Wisconsin for gas thinking it was be cheaper…  No luck…  Should have stayed in Illinois.  Then headed to the town of Elizabeth IL.  Checked out a real working fort, Fort Apple to be exact.  We left there just before a gale came in.  I felt sorry for those people where their thatched roof’s and candles…  But I am sure they are prepared for worse.  We then checked out a local artists pottery shop and headed out of town.

Tomi and Jeff called to say that if we did not see them this weekend, we would not see them for a month, so, we headed home for a late night with them.

Lets just say the kids were tired on Sunday!  So were the adults.

And that is the my Birthday weekend!  Good night!

35 today.  Man does time fly!  Its cool though.

I coerced Ang into escaping with me for a an out of town weekend.  More info later, but tonight was a blast.  The kids had a great time too!

It was a big day for the Big Man…  He woke to “Happy Birthday”, fought with Summer all day over the one gifts he was given this morning, and then went to Chuck’E Cheese’s for a party.

That was fun.  Until the cops showed up to break a fight with some adolescents….  That place scares me anymore!  The one kid was bleeding all over, and the cops had to be called.  Thankfully the kids had no idea what was going on.

Once we got home, the kids were quickly disinfected from crawling around the “tubes” at Cheese’s.

If you are not neurotic when you start parenting… You become that way with good reason!

Bill Carter… The forgotten frontman from the Screaming Blue Messiahs has turned up on MySpace with new music!!!  Huh?  Can it Be?  I seriously believe this may be a sign of the rapture.  I gave up hope on Bill coming back to music years ago!

Check it out!  http://www.myspace.com/screamingbillcarter

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers were in St. Louis this past Tuesday…  I MISSED THEM!!!  It was a 9PM show on a Tuesday!  I am tying to stay in touch with my irresponsible youth, but sometimes its really hard!

For those who dont know them… These guys are a favorite of all 3 Brothers.  Check’em out!

I got a mySpace invite from “Julie”…  I became immediately confused and scared that my Mother had somehow got the urge to create a MySpace account!  Horrible thoughts started streaming through my head…  Would creepy guys be stalking her?

To my relief, it was just some skanky chick.  Not my Mother.

Although, Mom did send me pics of the kids from her digital camera via email today…  She is certainly one step closer to a MySpace account!

Friday… I don’t remember Friday…  That’s the danger of posting a few days late… You forget everything!

Now I remember.  Tomi, Jeff and Abbey came over for a cookout.  Jeff brought steaks and I supplied beer!  Everything was going fine with my choice of Hefeweizen until we ran out, and I slipped him some India Pale Ale.  I must make a mental note to never let that happen again!

Saturday, we ran down to Missouri for Angela’s extended cousin (or Uncles) estate sale.  We took the kids (They were VERY good considering the conditions) and Linda.  There was not a lot to his estate, and we were afraid that being 15 minutes late to the sale would have us missing any family heirlooms.  Not so.  We missed out on a lot of nick-knack items.  Once they started auctioning off the furniture, we bid and won on a truck load of stuff.  So, I think everyone was satisfied.  Ang and Linda were initially concerned that people may have pillaged cousin Delmar’s house, and that nothing would be left for the sale (Proceeds went to the local cemetery fund). 

On a sidebar.  Demar smoked.  And I when I say smoked, I cannot exaggerate enough the smell that has been burned into this furniture.  I went out to the truck today, and could not believe that the barn was starting to smell more like Delmar’s house than horse poop.  NO LIE!  Good thing we did not bring it into the house yet!

Today, I started setting up all those IKEA shelving units in the basement.  The “Coal Room” is not shelving central!  I have not moved everything.  But its getting there.  No pictures of this anytime soon.

After that, we took the kids to Peoria Art Guilds exposition at the East Peoria waterfront.  It was great.  I think the turnout was low for the artists because the weather was dreary.  But honestly.  It was perfect for us to get out and walk with the kids.  Not terribly hot and humid as one might expect from this time of year. 

Still later, we went to the Tremont Turkey Festival.  Ang rode a horse in the big parade.  (It was a big parade!  Much longer than one would expect from such a small town!)  The kids were fascinated with all of the old tractors.  They look exactly like the toy ones that Aiden has.  So he watched intently.  Oh, another thing about parades these days.  Do we need soooooo much candy?  I swear my kids brought home a full grocery store plastic bag full of candy.  That was ridulous!  They should just throw one piece from ever float….  Man, am I the Grinch or what?  After the parade, we went over to the festival and road the Ferris Wheel as a family.  That’s when I found out why this is the first time I have ever seen Ang in a Ferris Wheel.  She hates  them.  She was scrunching down lower and lower into her seat as the ride progressed!  The kids liked it.  They also liked the “Whiplash style” race cars, Almost-like Dumbo flying elephant ride, carousel and train.  I sprung an extra 4 bucks and let the kids pull up ducks from that classic scam.  They walked away with horns that are sure to satisfy Mom tomorrow!

Now, on to Media for the weekend. 

Movies:

• Iron Giant, great kids movie, maybe a little older than mine!
• Stepford Wives, Terrible Terrible Terrible (I think I should concede and admit that Matthew Broderick may never have another decent movie)

Music:

• World Party.  Goodbye Jumbo and Private Revolution probably need to be reassessed from my all time top 12 cds.  Wow.  What great storytelling!
• Robyn Hitchcock.  Live from Archive.org.  Been listening to the Portland show with the Minus 5.  Phenomenal!  Queen Elvis never sounded sooooo good!

Ang called from Southern Illinois tonight to tell me that she finished off a deer that another car had hit.  She was feeling really bad until she got to her hotel (She is at a conference) and heard on the Western Kentucky news that someone had hit a black bear on the same stretch of road.

Not much else going on.  I am trying to figure out a way to place my “Media” info on here.  On the old blog, I just posted it beside the posts…. Not so easy here.  Same thing with images…  Hmmmm.  Its a learning curve right?

Watched Trump crown someone his new apprentice tonight…  Wow…  I honestly have no opinion of someone wanting that job.  Certainly no envy here.  Ooooh, I read a great quote from Dave Sim (creator of Cerebus) last night… I have to share it.  Its about second guessing your life.  I am not trying to be motivational by any means, but I found it inspirational in Dave’s sick and twisted way…

• I’m afraid that one of my core beliefs is to never traffic in the hypothetical which I suspect is one of the reasons that it was possible to finish Cerebus. If you make a choice and then live with the consequences of that choice you are always moving forward. If you make a choice and then spend all of your time trying to assess the different choices you might have made and the possible outcomes of those hypothetical choices, then you just end up spending your life treading water and getting very little done. I conducted my comic-book career the way that I conducted it and it ended up the way that it ended up. I only see what happened, not what might have happened.
• Taken from http://www.collectortimes.com/2005_07/Clubhouse.html

Actually, he said a lot of things in that interview that kinda pulled me back to his side.  I had a falling out with Dave (Not that he knew!) after the end of the 300 issue run.  It was melodramatic, and as a fan I really wanted more compassion for the death of a character that I have followed since I was 15!

As a fan once said to Jim Shorts about the death of Queenie (His dog)…  All wounds heal with time.  And with that seriousness, you can be assured that I am getting over it!

Current Media:

• Oingo Boingo – Only a Lad
• Oingo Boingo - Nothing to Fear
• Oingo Boingo – Alive
• Ben Folds Five -  The unauthorized Biography of Meinhold Reisner (Or something like that!)

Went o Larry’s Bait and Family Restaurant on Saturday night…  Met up with Tomi, Jeff and Abby for my customary 1/2 chicken dinner.  Yum!  Went back to our house and let Jeff win every game of “Oh-Heck”, a new card game that Ang picked up from Shirley when they were waiting together at the hospital.

Woke up this morning and said to Ang…  “Lets got to Chicago”.  So, that’s what we did.  8:30 AM we were on the road.

First stop.  Lincoln Park Zoo.  The kids had a good time looking at some new animals that are not shown in Peoria or Bloomington.  Giraffes, Alligators, Penguins, White Lipped Reindeer…  ???  That is one that Summer managed to remember when I was quizzing here on the way out!

Next we walked over the lake Michigan and let the kids hang out on the beach for a little bit.  I am not kidding when I say the lake water had to be like 55 degrees.  But of course, there were all kinds of people jumping and swimming in it.  Yoooowza!  No Thanks!  I could barely keep my feet in it!

Next stop, Woodfield.   The whole reason for our trip…  IKEA.  I really do hate that place, but they have some great wood shelving units for my newly reconditioned basement.  So, I will be setting up a bunch of those over the next week, and hopefully make this basement usable!  It has only taken 6 years!

Also,

Linda is doing well.  Hopefully she is resting, but I am getting the impression from Ang that she should be resting more!!!

Geeky things: 

Went and saw X3 on Friday night.  Not bad.  Dan and I discussed this afterward…  Phoenix should have been unnerving the North American Continent, not just the Bay Area.  So, while we understand she had a lot of power, it did not come through with enough concern for all the potential destruction she could cause.  This the same character that flew into a planet and killed the billions of aliens living on it.  Sorry, had to get that comic geek moment out.

Superman comes out soon.  I initially had said that I did not want to see it… I have changed my mind now.  Next, I have to work on changing Ang’s mind!