This one is dedicated to Amanda

October 15, 2004

    On September 29th, I got the happiest Dear John letter a guy could ever receive. My good friend Amanda has fallen in love and her future husband has moved up to Albany to be with her and to start the rest of their life together. I met her the summer before I left for Virginia and we dated, but more importantly we have remained friends and would console one another between breakups. Many months would go by without conversation, but when it was needed she was there for me, and I think I was there for her. Once upon time we discussed the probability that we would one day meet our spouse and that our friendship would only be an impediment for our new loves. That day has arrived for her and she sent me a heartfelt goodbye entitled "My weepy goodbye message". I've never read a sadder note with such a smile on my face. I am extremely happy for her and hope that I get to find happiness in the same way that she has.

    It's hard for me to get maudlin about this, it's easy for me to be dramatic when it's traumatic, but it's harder to do when I'm happy with how things have turned out. I will try to take a few steps down memory lane as a salute to my dear friend Amanda. Well, I met you in dirty clothes, and little did I know that we would one day be doing laundry at the college laundromat together, killing time with a friend while our darks tumbled dry. Little did I know that a 2nd baseman would become such a good friend. Little did I know that we would picnic during the 4th of July with the kids and Fritz. That Honey would probably still hop into your lap if you just gave her a chance. Little did I suspect that our friendship would last even though I have moved, and you have moved away. I won't forget the U2 concert, Denny's, Twister, McGeary's, The Passion of the Christ, The Green Mile and the old apartment in Albany. I can't say goodbye without smiling. Best of luck. All of my love dear friend.

    Speaking of U2 concerts... I have discovered a web hub that is allowing me to download U2 concerts for free. These are non-copyrighted material. U2 performed, some Cat recorded it, and in most cases, someone sold it. Now with music trading, you don't have to pay for it anymore. In this respect, at least the band will not be ripped off by concert bootleggers anymore. The cool thing is that I am currently downloading all of the U2 shows that I've ever seen! This is pretty much the first time that I've heard the shows after I went to them. It's so cool to hear some bits of conversation that Bono has with the crowd, and for a split-second a fragment of my memory sparks anew and reminds me of when I was there. How cool is that? U2 played at the Top of The Pops tonight and the U2 community is just bubbling over with anticipation. The new album is called "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" The website has a running countdown for when the album is to be released. 37 days and counting!!!

    More U2. The album boasts 11 tracks and then some according to some reports.

 

1. Vertigo

2. Miracle Drug

3. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
4. Love And Peace Or Else
5. City Of Blinding Lights
6. All Because Of You
7. A Man And A Woman
8. Crumbs From Your Table
9. One Step Closer
10. Original Of The Species
11. Yahweh

 

The possible extra or hidden tracks are named "Fast Cars" and possibly "Mercy" as a B-Side or Instrumental track. All will be revealed on November 23rd. At the Top of the Pops, they performed 5 songs. They did Vertigo their first single (which I love BTW), All Because Of You, Desire (an oldie but goodie), She's A Mystery To Me, and City Of Blinding Lights. For most U2 fans, All Because Of You and Blinding Lights are brand new and eagerly awaited. I'm not clear whether or not I want to wait for the album, or listen to these live tracks to get a feel for the album. In a way I hope that some wonderful life thing happens that makes this album the backdrop to remember. Achtung Baby was the anthem in the aftermath of my High School Graduation and All That You Can't Leave Behind was the anthem of my return to Virginia, I hope this will make for another memorable backdrop. It's good to be a U2 fan right now. The Buzz around this album is very strong. 

 

Now Playing: Kite (Live 2-Jun-01 in Albany, NY) - U2

Who's to say where the wind will take you
Who's to say what it is will break you
I don't know which way the wind will blow
Who's to know when the time has come around
Don't want to see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

 

Another year chipped off of the end

October 20, 2004

    My birthday passed with little fanfare. Last year at this time, I was in Texas with K, on the cusp of my future. It's been strange these past few weeks leading up to my birthday. I began to think of K for the first time in many months. I wonder if she thinks of me too. *shrugs* This topic will go nowhere fast. I just wanted to acknowledge that I wonder how she's doing. Hmm, want to hear something stupid? Of course you do. Anyway, I've been know to Google people from time to time. (Normally girls), and I did one for K a few weeks ago. This one page came up advertising an estate sale in North Dakota, well K is originally from South Dakota and her father has been sick, so for a few minutes I thought that her Dad had passed away. My heart sped up as I thought about sending condolences or some such thing. I was at work at the time, and I thought, "wait a second, go home and do it after work." Well, in the intervening 10 minutes of thought, I realized that she wasn't from North Dakota, and this probably wasn't her. Well, I was right. It wasn't her and I nearly gave her a shock by sending my condolences to a woman whose father is probably still alive. That would have been wicked creepy. I guess you might say that Googling someone is creepy. I do it periodically, maybe once or twice a year, I even Google myself!

    My birthday wasn't bad though. I went over to my brother's house for dinner and cake and ended up staying a while to play the X-Box game that the kids gave me. It's a Star Wars game and a lot of fun! I was extremely grateful at their generosity. The next day we drove down to Fort Valley, Virginia. My friend C owns a farm down there, which can be misleading. It's more an estate, but not quite a mansion. He has a number of ATV's, motorcycles and go-carts. It's a way to get out of town, have some good dirty fun in the mud and rain, and then grilling, topped off by a bon-fire. It got pretty chilly later, but it was a lot of fun.

    Last week, I went to Oklahoma again. This one was mercifully short. I hopped into town, did the job and flew back out. On the way home, I paid $35 to upgrade to first class. Not too shabby. Man, I can't wait until the time flips. It's only 8:20 PM and I'm already yawning. Crazy. It's raining tonight. I decided to order takeout from this local Italian restaurant. They have a pretty good Stromboli Calzone. Now I'm listening to the Red Sox / Yankees game on television and the Yankees just gave up a grand slam home run and the Red Sox lead 6-0!!! Amanda must be going nuts up in NY. I'm still happy for her. I would love to see the Red Sox beat the Yankees and face the Astros in the world series. It would be cool to see Roger Clemens beat the Red Sox in the World Series. It would then be the curse of "The Rocket" and not the curse of "The Bambino". Quick history. Roger Clemens pitched for the Red Sox for 13 seasons compiling 192 wins for an average of 14.7 wins per season. The Red Sox thought he was done and got rid of him. Since that time, he has won an additional 136 times for an average of 17 wins per season. He was 40 this year and won 18 games. He's a sure fire Hall-Of-Famer. I think I have a half dozen of his rookie cards. Nice!

    This past weekend I went to King's Dominion an amusement park near Richmond, VA. It was a little brisk out, but it was fun. The best roller coaster was "The Volcano" It was pretty cool! While I was there I also saw a concert with 4 bands. The last time I went to a concert there, I saw The Beach Boys. I discovered a band there called "The David Crowder Band". It's like "The Dave Matthews Band" for Christians. A pleasant surprise.

    On Sunday, I continued my ritual of watching the Redskins on TV with Joe Gibbs. This season has been disappointing thus far. They are only 2 and 4, and I'm hoping for a better finish. I've started a football pool using my Excel skills to put together a spreadsheet. If any of you folks are interested, let me know. The more the merrier. After 5 weeks of play, we've had 5 different winners and 3 of them are girls! How about that? This is in addition to the Survivor pool that I run. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that one of the Survivor contestants was cheating. He found the results of this season on the internet. He confessed and most of the contestants don't know. I'll tell them after it's all over. It kind of sucks that he did that, but you never can tell what people will do. It couldn't be for the money, and it couldn't be for the pleasure of winning. Oh well.

    Well, after my car problems this summer, I've been nursing a fat credit card bill that will take too long to pay off. So, I've decided to refinance the house which will combine both of my housing loans into one at a lower interest rate, and then I'm going to pull out some cash to pay off the credit card and then take a chunk of money and put it into mutual funds in the hopes that I'll beat the market over the next umpteenth years. Since I'm not going to be making six figures anytime soon, I might as well invest well. I have a feeling that right after the election, the stock market is going to take off, no matter who is in office, but I do hope that it's Bush. For every possible reason. I can't wait for the Election to happen though. It's been drawn on long enough and it's time to vote. Night all! I'm glad I chance to get this out before I procrastinate for too long.

 

Now Playing: Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World (Live 16-Aug-92 in Washington D.C.) - U2

Sunrise like a nosebleed
Your head hurts and you can't breathe
You've been tryin' to throw your arms around the world
How far you gonna go before you lose your way back home
You've been trying to throw your arms around the world