2026-08-15 Sunset Grooves at Snohomish Block Party

Gig 1 of 2 on this day. We were booked a few months ago after I had already had a gig booked with Planets. Luckily, it was early enough that I could do both.

Marci and I left around 12:30 and, on the way up north, drove by her new school for a minute. Then it was another 20 minutes or so to the Snohomish air field, where the Block party was held.

For the show, I brought the gold L1K and the yellow P. No rig, as they had a Fender amp and cab available for my use. We parked and walked to the "backstage" area, which was a tent behind the stage. We were the first ones there and got a chance hang for a few. We met up with the backstage manager, a guy named Tex, who hooked us up with backstage bracelets and cash for food at the food trucks.

Marci and I walked around and checked things out. As we did, the clouds started to thin out a little; it was cloudy and cool when we showed up, but it started warming up for sure. Before long, Marci was overheating a little, so we got some food (meh popcorn chicken) and headed to the backstage area to eat.

By this time, the rest of the band had showed up, so we all hung out for a bit.

Walking in with my roadie

Backstage with the bandmates

The Fender amp was failing and the Aguilar was the backup

I didn't use the Fender and chose to go direct instead. We all had IEMs, except for Eric, as usual. We gave our devices to the sound crew and sat back to wait for them to get set up. It seemed to take a minute longer than usual. The previous band went a little long, and then by the time we were ready, it was 10 minutes past our start time and the sound guys were still messing around.

They had some people announce something and then they announced us, but we weren't ready. So we stood around trying to get things going. Eventually, the guy got audio going, so we started, but our levels were all weird.

I had Marci sit by the audio tent as there was shade there and she was roasting out in the open air. She said the sound guy, Ted (ironically), was muttering that we had too many IEMs and he was "doing all he could" to get them working. Overall, it worked fine for me.

My view from the stage. Marci ended up to the right of the tent.

Before starting the show

Once we were dialed in, I felt pretty good about things. The front of the stage was in the sun, so I kept going back towards Dusty and Eric to stay cool. Luckily, there was a nice cool breeze coming from the north (stage right), so that felt pretty good.

My wireless rig worked great. I'm starting to fall in love with the freedom, and since I adjusted the input, it's been working perfectly. It's a little fussy to get the transmitter on my strap, but once it's dialed, we're good. I do wish the cord was a little shorter, there's a lot of it that just hangs when I wear it.

Had a good time playing through the songs. There were a few people dancing, plenty of people watching, and if the first band was any indicator, we should have sounded pretty good out front.

Despite the monitor issues, I think we played decent. As always, there were some vocal issues throughout, but we made it through.

Forgot to get a picture with Dusty!

The Snohomish people gave us all 2 guest passes, so I got Marci in and also Daniel from work. I got to give 5 more away as no one else had people come, so I gave them to Cy from Cupcake. She said she had a bunch of people going anyway, so I got them to her. They did come, but long after we played; they wanted to see Queen Mother. Sort of annoying, but whatever, free tix are cool. Glad to save them some cash.

I packed up, talked to Daniel for a few, said hi to Kathy, Richard and Patrick from Wild Rumours, then headed home to drop Marci off, where she made me a PBJ for dinner. After that, it was time to go to Ballard.

We bought Marci a new car!

Since I got my Ioniq 5 in November, it's been great. No gas stations, charging at home, all the benefits. Marci started asking about EVs so we drove a few in the spring. She checked out an ID.4 and a Nissan Ariya. She drove my car for the first time and that was that.

We let it go for a month or two, but then a couple things happened: gas prices went close to $6.00. Luckily the Alltrack is regular gasoline, but even so, it was costing us about $75-80 to fill that car up. Weekends we'd take the I5 out, so gas went longer, but it was still a bit of a shock. The AT was just paid off, so we were willing to ride it out.

Riley's Fiat 500 was paid off last year as well and his plan after graduating was to sell it for $2k or whatever he could get for it. It had pretty low miles, but the car was getting rough: trunk door wouldn't open, interior was a bit messy, stuff like that. We had just put new tires on it in February or something, so it was OK and maybe he could get a few bucks for it.

Until he got backed into in early May and the car was considered totaled. RIP F500.

If there was something good that came out of that, it was we got paid way more for the car than I expected, even more than if we sold it, and even a good chunk after they kept my deductible. They did us a favor by relieving us from having to sell it.

So then we had to make a decision. Do we let Marci keep driving the AT, give Riley my Jetta (also paid off) and move on with our lives? The Jetta had been at Mom's house for the past 6 months or so and needed some resurrecting. I think Riley would be happy with either, but in the end, we decided to give him the Alltrack and sit on the Jetta as a trade-in of some sort.

All during this time, Marci was researching a car for herself. She wanted an EV smaller than mine, but with AWD. Trouble was, anything crossover sized wouldn't have AWD, so she looked at the Kia Niro EV, which was just about the same size as her Alltrack. We drove a couple and she was pretty much sold on it. Price was decent and she could get the Wave trim, which was top of the line.

As she looked more, she found a Hyundai Kona EV Limited down at a small EV dealer in Renton. We ended up going there for a look and that was pretty much that. It was the chalk/cyber gray that I liked for the Ioniq. It had the Limited trim, with the 360 cameras, heated/vented seats, heated steering wheel. No HUD, which she actually liked on the Niro, but since she doesn't roll with normally, not something she'd miss.

We drove it around town and she seemed to like it. It was in really great shape and only had 7500 miles, 2024 MY. We had Genny, the salesperson/co-owner of the dealership, run financing for us and within a day or so, we were approved. I sent over pix of the Jetta and they offered me $2700 for it, before asking if the windshield had a crack, at which point they lowered it to $2500, which, considering its condition, I thought was fair, especially sight unseen.

Goodbye old friend!

We agreed to terms and picked it up last a week ago Saturday. Marci drove it around and got used to it over the next couple days, until I saw a weird thing on the rear right tire. Turns out the previous owner must have hit a nail and got the tire plugged. Problem was it was causing teh sidewall to bulge also. And since the dealership missed it, they agreed to replace it for us. So we picked it up yesterday, a week or so after getting it and now it's back.

Marci in the new car!

Driving it home!

Lots of bells and whistles on this car. Same as mine. I think she'll love it as much as I love the I5. Just need to finish setting up the Bluelink stuff so she can use her phone to cool/heat it, etc. And then when she charges, she's gonna love that! No more gas stations! And Riley's coming home tomorrow to pick up the Alltrack. Lots of changes, all for the better.

March 2026 updates

March came and went. Haley moved out with Blake. She left on the 14th and made her way to California, then across the country to Florida. It's weird not having her here, and I think she'll be back in the future, but for now, time for her to see what life has to offer.

We're adjusting to the empty nest thing. Plenty to keep us occupied and busy, the house is just a little quieter. Kody is same old, same old. I'm sure he misses her, but nothing phases this guy.

Riley just found out Hannah got accepted to grad school in Cincinnati and his plan is to follow her out there, I think. He's gonna graduate in May, so we have to figure out going to GJ to see him and celebrate the accomplishment.

Marci is still plugging away at school. Things are going there, I suppose, but it may be time to switch it up in the future. Will leave it at that for now. Hopefully having a master's degree helps.

About a month ago, as I was heading to rehearse with Greg Hoy at Dave Hill's house, Michael Paolantonio reached out to me, asking if I was interested in playing in his wife's new Cake cover band. I knew nothing about it or what she was planning, so I wanted to hear more about it. I do like the Cake hits, but beyond those, I didn't know much about the band.

I talked to Michael and found out that his wife, Cyana, via her theater contacts, had lined up some players I knew. On guitar was Justin Davis. I know him via socials and know he plays with Strong Suit, among others. My main memory of him was once Kathy Moore told me that as Stereo Embers was breaking up, that someone was gonna get a monster of a bass player.

She also had Ric Pentilla on trumpet and keys, who I have hung with at shows, as well as playing with him in Greg's band last month. He's cool and we like each other. On drums was a guy I don't know, and she recruited Jeremy Lightfoot to play bass. But she said he was super busy and she grabbed another guy named Mark. After she set lineup, she said she originally wanted me but thought I was in three bands, so didn't pursue too much.

Anyway, Brett and I went to check her band, Cupcake, out last week at their inaugural show at the Skylark. I figured with all these dudes, they'd be pretty good. I was not wrong. During soundcheck, it was clear that they were gonna be good. They played a great set and everyone was solid. Cy, however, was outstanding. Her stage chops definitely showed and she had great energy and stage presence. She could sing as well and it all just worked.

I had talked to her earlier in the week and we decided I should be on the roster, whether as a full-time member, or a rotating bass, since all the players have other bands as well. She's got some gigs booked in early June, one at Pono Ranch and one at the Blue Moon. I'll have back-to-back, as I'm booked for the Blue Moon, and then the next night at Conor Byrne.

Overall, been working on the Cake tunes and they are quirky. The parts are easy, it's the song arrangements that are what I need to remember. I've been working on them and they'll be fine. Looking forward to getting in a room with those guys and see how it goes.

*edit to add

forgot to mention that Planets had a record release scheduled at the Sleight of Hand with our friends Braly Sangster. We were all set to go for 3/13, with a surprise addition of Tim on a few Embers songs to round things out. We had a bunch of people committed to go, with about 20-25 people that I directly influenced. And then the week of the gig, Robb started feeling gross and come Thursday, he made the decision to call it, so we had to do a bunch of texting and messaging, telling people the bad news. It was a big bummer, to say the least.

As of now, April 4th, we still have not rescheduled and I don't think we're going to. It seems Trey either has better things to do or he's just super busy. I don't know at this point. It's all sort of annoying. Our next gig isn't until May 2nd at Conor Byrne, so at least there's that, but any record release is still up in the air at the moment.

10/5/25-10/6/25, Days 2 and 3 at Grand Junction

We were smart on Saturday and went to Safeway on the way back to the Airbnb. We grabbed some stuff for snacks and breakfast so we wouldn't have to head out of town every time we wanted something to eat. So we had some breakfast and some adult time before getting out to see what GJT and the Western Slope had to offer.

Riley was striking his Tartuffe stage until later so we headed east, about 10 miles out of Junction to Palisades, where they were having the last summer street fair of the year. It was a little like Snoqualmie once we got there; small town, older homes, quaint little Main street where the fair took place. The main difference would be the mesas to the north, just next to I-70, where we drove in.

We walked up and down the street and Marci wanted to get a sweatshirt, so she tried one on, but we left it there in case there were others in the fair (there weren't). There were some cool pottery places, a guy selling earplugs of all things (gun related), tons of dogs (Colorado dogs are so well behaved!) and just a lot of nice people.

We had to find something to eat, as it was past lunch time and we were getting hungry. There was a place called the 357 Bar and Grill, which Marci thought would be OK, and it might have been, but the Olde English font of the name, the name itself, and the fact that it was in a conservative little town led me to think that it might not be the best place for us.

There were a bunch of dudes wearing "We the People" shirts and things like that; nothing overly overt, but definitely signaling their beliefs. Whatever. People were nice enough.

We went to lunch at Fidel's, a Mexican restaurant, where we paid $8/taco and it was sort of a rip off. Tasted good enough, but the ones at Gracia in Ballard were the same price and twice as much food given.

After that, we walked around some more looking for dessert, but found none, so headed back to Junction, where we ended up at the Goodwill. No agenda, we just love thrifting, but aside from a couple shirts, they had nothing awesome.

By this time, Riley was done with striking the set, so we headed to his place to see it and hang out a bit. We met his roommate Corinne and chatted a bit before he and I decided to do something about his car. Since earlier this year, he's said that the trunk won't open. Also, he needed an oil change and his tires need air. So there was an O'Reillys nearby and we went to get him oil, wipers and wiper fluid. We got back to his place and I topped off the oil, he put in more fluid, we switched out his wipers and then we got to work on the trunk.

It was a family affair. He was stuffed in the trunk trying to take out the inner liner. I was coaching him up and Marci was on her phone looking for ideas and solutions. Riley finally got the liner out and Marci found a post saying how to flip a lever on the trunk locking mechanism. We finally got it open and after some more troubleshooting, found that the wire harness might have a break in a wire somewhere. Moving the door open, the electrics worked. As we closed the door, the wires would crimp and lose connection.

So at least we have an idea of what to do next and he can open the trunk if he absolutely needs to. I'll have to look at it when he comes home in the summer.

Hannah came over later and we went to Pablo's Pizza on Main Street, where we ate with Haley a few years ago. It was fun hanging there and talking to the kids. Riley and I had the M's on my phone via Youtube TV. I love technology. Pizza was good and Riley and Hannah are cute together.

Pizza ended and we said goodbye to the kids. They left and we headed back to the Airbnb where Marci did some schoolwork, and I watched the M's win with Julio driving Cal home. Then I watched the Seahawks play a great offensive but terrible defensive game, losing 38-35 on a walkoff field goal by TB. Bummer.

Today was pretty chill as we were flying out. We buttoned up the house, fed some goats, then headed to Riley's house to drop off his car. We had our pizza from last night in the house as Corinne studied in her living room. A great Lyft driver named Jose picked us up and we took the short ride to GJT where, of all things, my sea salt spray for my hair got confiscated (I still don't know why). Marci got patted down and we both got our shoes swabbed.

The walk from gate to gat e at Salt Lake City was easier, but we had more time this time, so that helped. The flight back wasn't bad except for a poor baby who pretty much cried the whole time. We both had earbuds in so no big deal.

Haley and Blake picked us up from the airport and we made it home in one piece. Now it's back to work tomorrow and to see if I'm able to sneak watch the Mariners on tv.

10/3/25-10/4/25, Travel and day 1 at Grand Junction

Notes to remember:

Super easy Uber ride to the airport during rush hour. Barely any traffic, took maybe 20 minutes. I had TSA precheck so easy to get through. Marci doesn't have it, but even if she never travels, it's worth getting for the few times she does go to visit Judy, etc.

Flight to SLC was easy and quick. We had dinner at Salty's at the airport: fish for Marci, salmon BLT for me. Because we got to the airport so fast, we had time to kill, so early dinner it was. On the plane, we were seated behind some folks that were a little smelly, so that was annoying. The guy next to me assumed the crash position (bent at the waist, head on knees) for much of the flight. That was weird but he was fine. I listened to the Planets vinyl master and dozed on and off.

At SLC airport, we taxied forever and then when we finally got off the plane, we had 15 minutes to pretty much traverse the entire length of the airport. We were at gate A-10 and we had to be at gate B-30. There were motorized walkways, but even with those, it took forever. Poor Marci had to truck as quick as she could and her legs were buggin' a little. I made it there at 9:14 and she pulled in a few seconds after me. They weren't leaving right then, but it was still a little tense. Once on the flight, we were good. A moderate amount of turbulence on the way down, but luckily it's a short flight.

Riley picked us up in Hannah's car and took us to the theater, where we hopped in the Fiat. I always think of that car as a bit of a joke, but once I got in it, it seemed to be just fine. He has some dash lights (oil change, tire air pressure) that I should be able to resolve for him, I just need to look it up.

Off to the AirBnB, which I chose because it looked cool, a bit out of the Grand Junction proper area. It was dark and poorly lit, out in the boonies a little. The house is a furnished space over a detached garage and they left no lights on for us. I ended up driving around another house's circular driveway before finding this place. After our adventure at the airport, I was bummed to see the house had a steep staircase, but Marci made it up just fine.

The place is decent enough: bedroom, attached bathroom, minisplits for the air, kitchenette, tv. But what it doesn't have is decent seating (only 2 barstool/chairs), tables (one high-top table), curtains (really sunny/bright in the living room), condiments for food/coffee (no sugar, etc). But it's a place to stay. After all, there are goats and chickens just outside.

The other problem is any food and supplies are at least a 15 minute drive back to Junction. Next time we come out for graduation, we're staying in town. Sheesh.

Saturday morning we decided to go out for breakfast as we had no food here. Into town we went and we stopped at some blandly generic coffee shop after the first one we hit, First Watch (cop owned? MAGA?) was too busy so we went back down the street to the other one. Sandwich was good enough and the coffee was nice, so there's that.

It was sunny and warm, but a bit breezy when we hit up Main Street in Junction. There was an arts fair going on and people were just getting set up. Marci and I walked up and down the street, seeing what was up. On one corner, there were some musicians setting up, but no bassist. I noticed one guy had a Mariners jersey on and asked if there was a bass. He said no, but one was on the way and they recruited me to come back (also, I offered). I had my M's hat on and he shouted out, "October baseball, baby!" to me, and I was pleased about that.

I hopped in the record store, Triple Play, and looked around. I'm kind of torn about vinyl. I like the idea but the prices ($30/record) are weird to me. Seems like that's pretty normal though. I was browsing and then found Fountains of Wayne "Welcome Interstate Managers" on discount for $34.99. I was interested but not sure. Kept on looking and then found "Traffic and Weather" so I became more interested. When I saw a mystery grab bag of 5 yacht rock records for $9.99, I had to grab those. Then I found Boston's first record so I grabbed that too. Overall, I spent $106, but had a nice convo with the guy, Eric, and he packed them up so I could bring them home. Got some stickers too!

We walked around some more and popped into the giant antique store. It was getting windier, with some big ol' gusts that had the artists nervous about their artwork. Inside the store, we saw it started dumping rain as well and after a bit, people started packing up their gear, which was a huge bummer for them, I'm sure. The good news was that the storm moved through quick and eventually the sun came back. We kept hanging around town and eventually stopped for lunch at the Rockslide brewery. I had a Philly cheesesteak, which was just fine bar-type food.

From the restaurant, we walked around a bit more and came back upon the musicians, who had stayed past the storm. One guy saw me and called me over and asked if I was gonna play. I didn't see a bass, but they said it was in the gigbag behind. Sure enough, there was an acoustic Fender bass, so I grabbed it and plugged in. The woman there was the guy's wife, she had Mariners gear on as well. They said they visited Seattle a few weeks ago and fell in love with the stadium and team. I just noodled around and played and the drums and guitar followed me. We played a few songs and that was that. We chatted with Matt and Tori for a few minutes (the Mariners couple) and then headed on our way.

We went back to the house and Riley and Hannah came by to see the place. We had met Hannah last year when her and a bunch or Riley's theater friends came to Seattle for some theater convention. I vaguely remember her, but nothing really stood out at the time. However, at the house, she was cool, alternative, and her and Riley really seem to like each other. They hung out a bit and then left to get ready for his play.

We hemmed and hawed a bit before dinner, not knowing where to go, but we finally went to the Devil's Kitchen, which is attached to the Hotel Maverick, right next to the theater where Riley would perform. Luckily I'd been saving up bucks for this trip so we splurged and had steak and fish and a nice time with the bartender Robert, especially when I chatted him up on his Seiko SKX.

Dinner was great and we walked over to the Asteria theater, where Riley basically spends all his time these days. He was in the play Tartuffe, about a swindler infiltrating a family where everyone sees through the charade but the matriarch. Riley played the dad's son, a swordsman that was overly excited about protecting his family and its reputation. His character was very over the top and Riley did a great job being just that. He shouted all his lines, jumped around a lot, and generally was quite funny. All the performers were excellent and though the play was longer than it needed to be, it was highly entertaining.

We were pretty exhausted after that so we headed home, where I stayed up watching the Huskies win and the Mariners lose in extras for the opening game of the ALDS. Pretty sad, but one game does not a series make.

Pictures from these days, in random Blogger order. :/

Cool shadows outside the Asteria

Before going into the Asteria for the show.

Outside the Airbnb.

Also outside the Airbnb.

Marci on the tarmac in GJT.

On the way to GJT!

4/12/25, 52 year in review

I literally can't remember what I did for my birthday last year, but for this year, Haley came down from Western to visit. So that's a good start. But that wasn't until afternoon.

I got up and had breakfast. Austin had brought cinnamon rolls from the bakery in Bothell, so I had a bunch to bring home. Good news is there was treats. Bad news is I'm the only one who eats gluten, so it's a bit much for one dude. Still, I'll take it.

Opened some gifts (orange OR hat that matches my green and white ones; that was returned later in the day for an REI smaller hat for running. A James pocketknife, some Marine Layer socks, cash from Judy, a weird snapback Mariners hat from Riley) and ate some food. After that, I had said I wanted to go test drive cars, but I'm sort of putting that off. Would be cool to talk to an "expert" in EVs (eg: salesperson) and learn stuff, but I didn't feel like it. Instead, I tried to super glue a small pot of Marci's I had broken. When I realized I couldn't, I looked at the maker's mark, then realized it was up in Snohomish, so off to Snohomish we went.

40 minutes or so later, we arrived at the pottery store. Haley bought the pot for Marci last year, but it wasn't from there, but one of their resellers. We browsed around and Marci got a new mug, an orchid pot and I got her a new pot to replace the one I accidentally broke.

We reparked and walked up and down the main drag in Snohomish. Pretty enough little strip, very similar to Grand Junction. Lots of antique stores and restaurants. My bro Taylor H. suggested a place called Grilla Bites, that had a lot of GF options. Marci and I both got turkey sandwiches and then walked around some more, before getting some ice cream before heading home.

I did CrossFit today

And it just about killed me.

Laurel put a post on her IG about having noobs join her at her CrossFit gym in Renton. I had talked to her earlier this week as she posted something else about self-harm and being sad from her brain injury. I realized that at the very least, I could listen and talk to her.

I was quite happy to hear that over the phone, she sounded normal, like I was talking to pre-injury Laurel. It really cheered her up to hear that as well, so it was a win/win for us. The last time I saw her was over the summer, and previous to that was for her birthday party in February, which was only about 4-5 months removed from her accident, so understandably, she was just starting to heal then.

Anyway, Marci and I headed to Renton this morning and showed up first at RCF, Renton CrossFit. New year, new us, I suppose! Laurel told us to dress for activities, bring a towel and water. All of it was clutch, for sure.

Pretty soon, others started showing up, including Josh and Laurel. Great to see them both and again, if I didn't know Lolo had an injury, I wouldn't have known. It's only physically that I can see anything is off with her and even that is slight.

We had a quick hug and catch up and before long, it was time to do the exercising.

We started with some stretching, and then it was onto the circuit. For today's circuit, it was

• Burn 12 calories on the rowing machine
• Perform 9 weighted ball "clean and jerks" and squats
• Perform 6 burpees
• Perform as many weighted ball sit-ups as possible with the time remaining

It took a minute to understand how it worked, and once I did, it made sense but and it was challenging as we went on. Josh and I paired up and we would take turns rowing. Once we hit 12 calories (about 30 seconds?), it was doing the weighted ball stunt. That was hardest for me, coordination-wise. It took a bit to figure out how to get my body to do what the exercise required. Burpees were simple enough, but after about 3, my legs started burning the first few times through. Same with the sit-ups. Josh and I were facing each other. One of us would grab the ball, lay back and touch the ball to the ground over our heads, then swing it up in a sit-up motion, then pass to the other. For most of the time, I'd do another sit-up as Josh was doing his ball turn, and then repeat.

The circuit, I seem to remember, was 7 rounds, 3 minutes each, one minute rest in between. I think through the first 3-4 rounds, I felt pretty good. But then for the last few, I started to fade. Muscles getting tired, breathing getting rough. Despite running 9-12 miles a week for the past few years, this was another animal. The cardio aspect of working all my muscles, vs mainly my legs, was such a huge difference.

Towards the end, I could barely get off the ground on my burpee jumps. And the sit-up ball was brutal. But we powered through and got our score, which was based on the number of sit-ups we'd do at the end of each circuit. Basically, getting through the first 3 tasks meant we'd have more time to do sit-ups. Oh joy!

In the end, I simply lay on the floor. I couldn't move. I couldn't catch my breath. I could hear Marci and Laurel and Josh talking, as well as everyone else, but I was finished. I don't know if it was pushing myself to keep up with Josh, or if I'm super out of shape or what, but it was rough. I think I was flat on the floor for at least 15 minutes or so, and finally had to move when the next group came in.

I shuffled over to a bench by the entrance and tried to catch my breath. I was feeling a little nauseated, so put my head between my legs to try to offset that. Marci bought me a gross recovery drink, but I could barely get that or even water down. After another 10-15 of that, I finally made my way to the car (Marci drove home) and we headed back.

About 3/4 the way home I started feeling better. I had a couple sips of that drink and right past the Shell station, I told Marci to pull over, that I was feeling sick. I got on the median and next to a retaining wall and puked up the water, drink and coffee from the morning. A couple heaves and I felt better. Didn't get my shoes too much, so that was good.

Finally we got home and I was able to get cleaned up. Overall, aside from the breathing and puking, I fell pretty good. My muscles are definitely sore and I am tired. It was great to see Lolo and Josh and we hope to be seeing them for dinner soon.

Will I do CrossFit again? Maybe? I don't know. I don't want to pay for something that I may never go do. But it was good to try and I'm proud of Marci and I for doing so. She's feeling good and stayed under control. We'll both sleep well tonight and be sore tomorrow, that's for sure.

Before the workout

Bomb Cyclone 2024 thoughts and news

Tuesday 11/19, we had a bomb cyclone. Big winds, mainly. I also have bronchitis and pneumonia currently and as a result, I got out of having to pick Mom up from the airport that night. She was scheduled to arrive at 6:00pm and luckily, Knight volunteered to pick her up as we didn't want to give her any illness.

He had a rough go due to the winds and forgetting Mom's key for the umpteenth time. Her flight got delayed, diverted and finally got in at 11:30pm. Better him than me!

Marci and I were able to make dinner and the lights flickered on/off a few times, before finally kicking the bucket around 8:30 or so. I had stopped at REI earlier to pick up camp stove and some butane. We tried to stay warm and just hung out, then went to bed pretty early.

Yesterday morning, I had to be up earlier because I had an earlier work call-time. No big deal. Just cold in the morning. Luckily we had hot water and could make coffee with the stove. I got into work and aside from some stop lights without power, it was fine. Work was warm and had power and at the end of the day, Brooke let me take home some big battery packs and the plan was to use to power the fridge and things.

I was able to get home in decent time and plug in said fridge. I used the other to see about powering a space heater as the house was 55-58°, so a little cool. And poor Kodo is stuck at home, no heat, little light, but he's doing ok.

Backyard is full of branches and tree debris. Crazy part is none of the trees are on our property. Luckily, no damage, just a giant mess.

Power is out. Comcast is out. Cell coverage is spotty. It's been pretty extensive. A bunch of neighbors have generators, but we don't, so we're at the mercy of batteries, etc.

Last night we headed into Bellevue for dinner as there is power there. Driving there was a mess, but once we got there, Marci had Just Poke and I had dumplings. No wait and not many customers at the restaurants. Afterwards, though, we tried to find some bags of ice to help with the fridge and freezer but everyone was sold out. It was a mess in Bellevue!

We got home and I went for a run in the dark. It had been a few days and what else was I going to do? Marci started packing for her trip to SoCal anyway. The run was uneventful. Dark. It's crazy how dark it is without streetlights. Even with head lamp and handheld flashlight, it was so dark!

One good thing about no power is not staying up all night goofing around. Plus, it's just too cold! We were both in bed by 10 or so reading and snuggling.

I'm on my own the next few nights. Have rehearsal and a gig tomorrow night, so it'll suck for Kodo, but oh well. I'll plug in a light for him and he will have to tough it out. :(

6/8/2024, Sunset Grooves at Beacon Arts Fair

Did a quick jaunt across the water today for a show. A small outdoor arts fair, taking place in a little courtyard off a side street in Seattle. Weather was nice: warm and overcast. I had spent a few hours in the morning doing yardwork, pruning some bushes and trees, and then it was time to jump in the car for a 20-minute drive into town. That went well, except for the 10-minute backup due to a crash on the bridge. But, I digress.

Behind the awning we didn't use. I stood close to where the PA speaker is.

I was pleasantly surprised to have some people show up to the show: Marci, Cass & Kim, Mike & Amy, and then Andi and I think Jen (?). Otherwise, it was whomever was at the fair, people walking around, and the like. There were some folks in the tent and chairs across the way, but overall, turnout was a little sparse.

For the first time in a long time, I had no G&L bass with me. In fact, since I got my SB-2 in 2007, I think I've always had a G&L at a show. The SB-2 was my main bass for close to 12 years, until I got the gold L1K in 2019. Then the Gold was #1 and pretty much still is, despite me getting a second L1K (the Hog) in 2023.

Anyway, today, I brought two Fender Precisions: a black 1999 with Custom Shop 62 pickups and a buttercream 2020 Player with Mojotone 70s Clone pickups. Over the past week or two of owning the butter bass, I have been putting it through its paces at practices and in recording to the PC. I have come to the realization that I just bought a $900 P bass, when the $400 one I had at home sounds nearly the same.

The good news is, they both sound really good. The differences are subtle, but there, and probably not noticeable to anyone but me, and even then, just barely. Regardless of that, though I dialed in the black P, I ended up taking the butter P for its maiden voyage.

The basses and the borrowed gear on the chair behind (TC Electronics > Carvin 15).

After talking to Dusty last week, we were concerned about the sound situation as we learned that the outboard mixer only could do 4 channels or something, and we need 5. After arriving and talking to the sound guy, I decided to not use my IEMs and instead use a floor wedge and earplugs, and then a borrowed TC Electronics head and Carvin 15 for bass stage monitoring. It took a bit to get set up, but we got rolling soon after our glorious 2:30pm start time.

Playing the butter bass is something of a revelation. I am usually a hard hitter on the strings (fingerstyle). I didn't realize it until someone had mentioned it to me on a video or something; I never gave it a second thought, it's just how I play. With the butter bass, the action is low, which means any super hard hitting is mega noisy, which for some of the yacht rock songs, is a no-no. With IEMs, it allows me to play lighter, but without them today, I definitely played lighter anyway. My hands aren't as tired afterward and I feel all powerful when I do it, it's hard to explain.

Additionally, those Mojotone pickups have really sharp corners to them. No rounding like the MFD G&L pups, and the Fender CS pickups seem to be a little less sharp. Something about these Mojotones is very unique and though I probably won't cut myself on the edge of the pickup (it is plastic, after all), it's a little uncomfortable to hit it too hard, so I'll be careful.

Playing without the IEMs wasn't too bad today. My earplugs allowed me to tune into my inner voice when singing, and the floor wedge helped to support that as well. Surprisingly, the Carvin 15 and the TCE were super adequate behind me. I didn't have it too loud, as I didn't want to blast it out in the crowd, so I did have to stay in certain sweet spots to have best monitoring of my bass.

And that bass sounded really great! With my Zoom B2Four on the floor, I have a different sound or amp mod dialed in for each song. Overall, I felt great about how it sounded through the Carvin into my earplugs. It was sort of a "set and forget" type scenario, which was awesome! No goofing around with knobs or anything, just play and sing and enjoy the day.

We had a few dancers and got a few tips. We will get paid in the next few days for a few hours of our time today and I think it was well worth it. It may not result in future shows, but we got great feedback and it's always super fun to debut a new bass, play some great tunes, and be outside to enjoy the fresh air.

Unbeknownst to me, the butter bass matched the yellow in my shirt perfectly!

COVID and me

Four years in, I finally got COVID. Luckily, 3 days after testing, I feel pretty good. I think it's morphed into a sinus infection, actually.

After my last two weeks of gigs and get-togethers, I guess something got to me. I played a show on Friday with Del Vox, and then on Saturday, made a last-minute decision to go to Tim's to see Craptastica and STAG with Marci.

That ended up being a lot of fun, seeing a lot of friends and musicians, feeling like part of the crowd for a change. I saw Andy, the guy I bought my P bass from a few years ago. He was there to see his guitarist playing for Craptastica. Saw a bunch of other folks as well (Steve/Salena R., Ric, Max, Andi W., Billy M., Chris/Kim, Pete N, Steve M, Stu M), which was cool.

The Mighty STAG

That night, going to bed, I felt a little bit of a sore throat. When I woke up on Sunday, I definitely wasn't feeling great, thinking I had a cold or something. Enough to keep from having adult time with Marci, which was a bummer, but in hindsight, probably the right call.

I went through my day chillin' and thinking about calling off SG practice, but ended up taking some meds and feeling OK enough to go. During practice, we played pretty well, which was good (our last show at the High Dive was not great; videos showed that we were quite rough). I felt pretty good for the most part, kept a mask on, could play and sing well enough. Finished up and headed home and took an expired COVID test and, boom. Two red lines almost immediately.

That test was way expired, though. So I took another test, which was less expired, which also came back positive. I felt like a jerk for not testing earlier and therefore keeping my bandmates from being exposed, but we pretty much stayed apart from each other (despite a quick hug from Jen as I left).

I woke Marci up and she tested at midnight and that was thankfully negative. I've been sleeping in Riley's room since then, holing up downstairs during the day. Work told me to stay at home through Thursday, so that's what I've been doing. Playing Division 2, watching Fallout, resting and trying to feel better.

My symptoms haven't been too terrible. Fever (slight), sore throat (that's gone), stuffy nose (still there). I had a tough night sleeping the first night, but it's been fine the past few nights. Occasionally I feel short of breath, which triggers some light coughing, but overall, it's been no worse than a bad cold. I've had flus that were worse.

I will take a test today and if I'm negative, one more day at home and then work on Friday, probably with a mask on. In the meantime, it's Division 2 time.

2023 year in review

It's been an interesting year. Then again, aren't they all?

Most importantly, we are all healthy and relatively happy and everyone still speaks to each other, for the most part. As I type, Marci is in the kitchen getting dinner ready; Riley is at Target, working until about 7; Haley is downstairs with her "friend" John; Kody is on his bed snoozing; I am on the couch typing this up and watching the Packers vs Vikings.

For me, it's been a meh year professionally. Job ended in January with Amazon as my contract was up. I knew that was the case as that was what I accepted. What I didn't realize was that after my job ended, the bottom fell out of the tech industry and 1000s of people lost their jobs all over the country. I figured I'd be able to find a job, but with the economy in the toilet and everyone on a hiring freeze, that became difficult.

As a result, it was back to unemployment for the second time in my life. Unless I count a week in 2019 when we were asked by Atos to take a week off for something, in which case, it would be my third time. But, I digress.

Thankfully, I got unemployment and that helped us to get by. But the trouble was, I couldn't get a callback or an interview. I had plenty of connections, but no one was hiring. I had a little thing going on the side and considered starting a business, but I didn't and I just did some odd jobs here and there to help out.

Through the job drought, I kept it up with bass in Planets and the Sunset Grooves. Kathy dialed me up, but only once for the year; her SPT seems to not be gigging out as much anymore. Planets did 7 gigs, Sunsets did 10, and then my sideman gig with Forest Ray did 12 over the span of 2 weeks through Oregon and California. Despite playing 31 gigs, I would like to do more.

Come May/June, I got a call to go back to work, but also was able to finesse that road trip with Forest Ray. Though I had a bunch of fun with those guys, I don't know if I'd do it again, at least not under those circumstances. Maybe a shorter tour, or if there were lodging and food guarantees in place, but I definitely understand the situation better now. I was hoping it would open things up network-wise, but so far, nada. Which is fine; I love the 2 bands I'm in now and hope I can get more gigs with them in 2024.

In early June, Marci and I visited Haley up in Bellingham. We basically spent one night there, having an AirBnB gift card that we used to book a place. That was a fun getaway and nice to see Haley there doing her thing. We had only seen her in Bellingham in January when we dropped her off to start school. As far as I can tell, she seems to be thriving a bit there, compared to her experience at Concordia. She lived in the dorm for the first part of the year and had a roommate that seemed pretty cool. She came home for the summer and worked at the Coal Creek Y and had some HR drama there, which was super lame, but she seemed to get through that OK enough. She's now renting a place up there with 4 or 5 other girls, and seems to get along with all of them.

Add in this John guy, and she's growing up a bit. Though Hay hasn't told us that they're dating, it sure seems like they are. He's been here 2-3 times this week and she's spent the night at his place a few times as well. But, as with all things Hay, we pretty much need to let her come to us; asking her could put us in a bad position, as lame as that is. She does come to us for help with finances, as challenging as that is for all of us, but we try our best to help her out.

Riley has gotten in his groove at Colorado Mesa. He's doing well with his double major, with Tech Drama and something else, I forget. He seems to be a guy that the professors are investing time and energy with, sort of like the teachers did at NHS. He has his car at school and though that's helpful to him, it's gonna be a pain in May when I have to fly out there and help him drive it back. Better start saving now!

He and Claire are still together and she's been over on the regular as well. They're both working at Target again. Riley gets a lot of love from Target; they appreciate his hustle and leadership. Don't think he has a career in retail but I love that he's learning so much there. He's got a few more weeks here until he goes back to CMU. Hopefully the money he's making helps to carry him through the rest of the school year. He has taken out a loan for school, which sucks, but it is what it is now.

Marci is carrying the house these days. She's teaching like a beast and picking up a couple hours here and there doing tutoring, including our backdoor neighbor's kid, George. I wish we were in a position where she didn't have to work (or at least go to work), and could just be at home and do her thing, but until I can uplevel my career, this is her lot in life, I guess. :/

With the kids out of the house most days now, I feel like Marci and I are stronger than ever. I realized that when the kids are here, I have an "audience" and do act a little differently, and sometimes joke a bit too much at her expense. At the same time, I feel like I'm the one that tries to learn and evolve, where she sort of just goes along, without trying to grow. I don't know who is right or wrong, but it doesn't matter too much. We are good most of the time and I'm happy with that.

I don't know if there's much else to add here without getting too specific about anything. I guess it boils down to my usual response when someone asks me how we are doing. I always say that I can't complain, for the reasons I mentioned above (healthy, happy, etc). If the main drama in my life is the need to find a job, well, I'll take it.

Speaking of jobs, I have a hot lead again at Microsoft, possibly for my old role. Last year at this time, I was talking to those dudes and it was positive. They all agreed they'd like to have me back, but I was a "nice to have" not a "need to have," and they had no budget to make it happen. This year, I am a business need, but it's still under discussion and seeing about budget. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and have a good feeling. Hopefully by this time in January, we are green lit and I am either working or starting work again.

And rather than make this any longer than it already is, I think I'll stop here, start different entries for other stuff. To sum it up, another year in the books, things are good, let's have more of the same.

Biking

This deserved its own post for no real reason.

Marci's been riding bikes on the weekends for a few months now. She had her old "Research Dynamics" bike that we bought for her like in 1994 or so. She'd ride that and mention things about it and I promised we'd get her a better bike sometime soon.

For Xmas, I got her a comfort seat and we put that on the RD bike and it worked, but then she tried it on Riley's Schwinn that we got from Goodwill (a surprisingly good bike, TBH) and liked it, but she always thought it was his bike and she shouldn't be riding it.

Yesterday, we took the afternoon and went on the hunt. We didn't necessarily have the budget for it, but I can always work something out. We started at a place in Issaquah called Superior Seconds, a nice, used sporting goods store, with lots of old bikes to try. A nice man saw us and gave us some tips and pointers, primarily saying that Marci should be riding a size S frame or a 15" frame. There were some good options at Superior Seconds, but we decided to continue looking.

We headed to REI and checked out bikes. They have an in-house brand, called CO-OP, which are made by Giant. They are good looking bikes, but they didn't have any in stock to even try, and started at $550 or so, which was more than I wanted to spend anyway. So we bounced and had Potbelly for lunch.

After lunch, we hit up Gregg's Cycles in Bellevue and Marci test rode a Cannondale something or other. It was a nice bike, priced at $529 or something, and it looked great. Weirdly, there is no real test ride area at Gregg's, so she had to simply ride it around downtown Bellevue. We put that back, then headed to REI again, but they didn't have any inventory either.

While we were at REI, we overheard a customer mentioning a place called Recycled Cycles, so we looked them up. The shop was on Portage Bay and D'neka and I had just walked past it last week when we met for lunch. So we jumped on the freeway and headed over.

Bummer for us, the exit to Montlake was closed on 520 so we had to go the long way to I-5, with the rest of Seattle, so what should've been a 20 minute drive took about 30 or so. Once we got there we looked at some bikes and then took a ride on a few. There was a black and red Giant and a blue and white Fuji. Both were the same price and both fit Marci fine. We rode around the area and traded back and forth. I thought either was good, but felt like the Fuji was a little lighter, despite liking the looks of the Giant more.

After riding around for 30 minutes or so, we decided to take the Fuji home. Luckily, I brought the bike rack and we put that on and, after a TJ stop, and then back to Recycled Cycles to pick up Marci's ID, we took another traffic-filled ride home.

***

This morning, we took her bike and my bike out for a ride. Last week, we tried on the trail by the V-Mac, but I couldn't go more than a mile as my rear innertube was shot. I ordered new ones and installed them, so today we were good to go.

We rode around the neighborhood and Marci did great on her new bike (which she named the Blue Shadow). I'm starting to get the "want to learn and upgrade/update my bike" bug and have watched a bunch of YT videos to try to see what's up. I have made an Amazon shopping list for parts and have already taken bits of my bike apart to see.

It looks so easy on video, and I can definitely do some of the things, but I need the experience doing it. Why not start with my 30 year old bike and see if I can modernize it a little? I took the "dork disk" off the rear wheel today and in the process, had two ball bearings fall out. I could have put them back in, but I didn't, so hopefully that's not a problem. I don't necessarily want a new bike, but I think I could have some fun teching on my bike and seeing about getting it tuned up and running.

June is here

Not sure why I've gotten lazy at blogging. I guess I just forget at times. Here are some updates, bullet-point style:

• Music
• Planets has a gig on Thursday, 6/8, our first return to the Sunset since our first show last year. With all the progress we've made, we still haven't made it over the hump yet. Robb has been prolific and we have about 12-13 songs to choose from, with more on the regular. This will be our last show until late July as Cass and fam will be in Spain for about 3 weeks after the show.
• Sunset Grooves is humming along. We got video footage from our last show and though it was decent, I'd say our weak spot is our backing vocals. We are pretty average at it and I don't know how to unlock it so that we're better. Maybe if we didn't dissect songs we already know on the regular? Is it IEM mixes? At that show, I had my vocals way up and Jen's way back, just for reference, and on my isolated channel, it still was off at times. I know for me, sometimes it's singing notes that are just at the top part of my range, so unless I'm on it, I'm usually off it. Dennis is proving to be a great guitarist and an average vocalist, like the rest of us. He is going to try leads on a couple songs, so we'll get to hear what he can do. I don't know if there are any tunes I could try, but if there is, I'd like to.
• Forest Ray is yet to get off the ground. I went to see them last week and was pleased that they are a little more animated live than on record. The drummer, Miles, also skews towards harder music, and it was clear when he played. I think it'll be fun to play with him. After the Planets show this week, it will free up Thursdays, so I hope to finally rehearse with them sometime in the next week or so. As far as the tunes go, I'm comfortable with about 8-9 tunes, which will be most nights. Though Peter did say there are a couple shows where we'll need two sets, which means I'll need to learn about 6-7 more tunes.
• Job
• Almost 2 weeks ago, Andrea from AWS reached out to me about a role. She is on the content team and I worked adjacent to her team last year. Her and I and someone else on the team, Marlee, all met on a call, and long story short, they need people to do some grunt work. Good thing I am not above grunt work! I met with their manager, Shawn, on Friday and pretty much had a job offered. As of now, nothing is official, but it is definitely on the table and I hope to know more this week. Good news is it will pay me double what I'm getting now, bad news is that it is likely over in mid to late December. But, knowing what I know now and how we can survive, I can likely put away $500-800/month until the end of the contract. And, I'll continue looking for a FTE role somewhere to get out of contract-land.
• Family
• Riley is home from CMU and enjoying his summer so far. It's weird having someone in the house now when I'm "working from home," but that's what summer is going to be now. Hay will be back next week and then they start working at the Y mid-June.
• Marci and I spent a quick 1.5 days in Bellingham last week, using up her PTO and an Airbnb gift card we had from Christmas. Stayed at a little converted garage over Bellingham Bay and slept in a crappy bed and listened to trains honk all night. Not a great night, but nice to get away.
• Anything else
• Finished Barry and Succession. Marci and I are now watching Taste the Nation on Hulu. I have one more episode to go in BCS before it's over. Do I start Breaking Bad again??
• I got 3 tickets for Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen on Wednesday. Marci and Riley are going and they both thought it was for Dial of Destiny. Oh well, sucks to be them. I hope DoD is good when it comes out at the end of the month! I have been not reading reviews and I'm hearing from some that it's great, from others that it's crap. Who knows??
• Playing lots of games on PC. I bought Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Danny and I have been playing every few nights. It's a good time and a good way for he and I to stay connected. I also bought RDR2 for the PC and though I can't run it at full GFX, I can run high enough and it looks badass. Hoping I can slog my way through it this summer.

General updates

Work: still looking. Though I did speak with an old coworker last week. She was someone that was at MS, then went to Amazon and she reached out to me via LinkedIn. I was surprised to hear from her, but she gave me some great ideas. One of which was to join LinkedIn premium. It's $39.99/month but you get some perks and weirdly, since I did that, I've been getting some action, but still no jobs.

Yesterday, another former MS worker reached out to me and we chatted for a bit. His company is hiring and the role sounds totally like something I could do. It's 100% remote and a full-time gig and based on what he said, would pay me what I'm seeking. That would be cool; I've emailed his hiring managers but have yet to hear back.

And then, while I was on that call, my last manager texted me and asked if I was still looking, and then said a colleague of hers was gonna reach out to me to see if I'd want another contract with Amazon. I did see that he looked at my LI profile, but I have not heard from him yet.

Music: no gigs until May. Working on some new songs with PITO. Cool ones. Tried my new pedal with PITO and I think I'm gonna stay with my old rig for that band. It does work great with the SGs though, and that's been fun to get dialed in.

My guy Jim from Facebook has also reached out. Last year he messaged me out of the blue to play bass on a song that he submitted to some compilation by a band called the Pencils. That got great feedback and he loved what I did, so he asked me to do some recording on some tunes. I just got one guitar/drum/vocal track and I'm gonna try doing some recording today.

I also got double booked for 7/21 somehow. I got PITO booked at a place on Vashon, but then found out last week that SGs are looking to book that same date. With a nice fat payday for the band, I didn't want to jeopardize that, so I asked PITO if we could back out of that Vashon gig. Luckily they were really cool about it and said sure. Even though they were going to pay us $500 total + ferry tix to play, after staying overnight and paying for that, we'd likely each be losing money.

Books: Just finished Don Winslow's City of Dreams. Danny Ryan in California and it was great. Next up is City in Ruins, but that's not coming out until next year. :( So instead, I'm reading The Power of the Dog again. My notes indicate I've only read it once, but I swear this is my third time through it.

Gamez: Finished Hi-Fi Rush last night. What a great freakin' game. So awesome. Loved it, but some of the boss battles were tricky. Gorgeous art direction, great music, fantastic characters and levels and gameplay. 10/10. And now Star Wars Jedi: Survivor comes out in two days. The question is, do I buy it for PC or wait for it on GamePass? Jedi: Fallen Order runs OK on this PC; I have to dial down to 1920x1080, but it plays good enough. Hopefuly SWJS isn't too taxing, even on this beast of a computer.

Life: We celebrated Ted's one year passing on Sunday. Haley came home for her birthday on Sat and we went to dinner at Grillbird in W Seattle. Sunday, we met with my friend Steve, who took us out on a 26' sailboat in the wind to remember Ted. It was windy and cold, but so great. We spent the day in Ballard, enjoying the Farmer's Market, had lunch at the Matador, found out Hay was chased around Seattle by some mystery BMW, had some molten cakes, shopped at KAVU, and then headed home. It was a good day.

11/25/22: Travel report! Day 1 in Las Vegas

I started working for a Very Large E-Commerce Company in February this year. Brought on as a contractor, I traveled to several events around the country. First up was San Francisco in April, followed by Washington DC in May, then Boston in July, and finally, Las Vegas in November.

This event here in Las Vegas means for the first time in my life, I will have visited Las Vegas. The flight in was uneventful enough. 2.5 hrs from Seattle, easy peasy. The LV airport was a bit mall-like, really glitzy, and with gambling games throughout. I made my way through, got my Uber with Larry, a really aggressive minivan driver, and got to my hotel after a 20 minute ride through traffic.

Everything my teammates have told me about Las Vegas and what we'll be doing here has been a little extra. Like, "Bring 5 pairs of shoes," or, "Fill your tub with water because the air is dry," to, "You can rent a second fridge because the one in the rooms is weighted." Huh?

Anyway, I got here to the Palazzo at the Venetian (or maybe it's the other way around) and checked in. Room on the 20th floor, head through the smoky casino to get to the elevators. First, I passed by the high-end watch stores (after all, if you hit a jackpot, you can buy a $32,000 IWC watch (that's what the sales lady said the price was)) and headed over to my floor.

When I got to my room, I saw a DND sign on the door. "Weird," I thought, maybe the cleaners forgot it? I did give a courtesy knock and a shouted, "Hello?" at the door before trying my key. The door opened and I noticed the lights were on... and a dead body was on the hallway floor.

Not really.

There was an open door to the right, leading to the bathroom. On the counter that I could see was a paper wrapper of some sort. And then I saw a towel rack with a clearly rehung towel, so I quickly backed out and headed back downstairs.

Check-in "made things right" by getting me another room, this time on the 38th floor, accessible only by the private elevator bank. Though 38th floor is higher than the other floors, in the private elevator side, it's only higher than the 37th floor, which is the lowest of the private side. Maybe if I had found a dead body, I'd be on the 50th floor.

I got to the new room and it was a little gaudy, but really nice. Walk in and immediately to the left is the double-door bathroom with shower, tub, double sink, private toilet room and vanity. More than I need, but I'm not complaining. Just past the bathroom to the left is the king size bed, which faces a six drawer dresser, with a large LG tv hanging above it.

Keep going and there's the "downstairs," as my colleague, Brittany, called it (she has the same style room). Down a couple stairs is more of a sunken living room, with a L-shaped couch, a round table, a desk in the corner, and another TV over a cabinet. The floor to ceiling windows offer a nice view, of which direction I know not, but sadly, no view of the street below as all I can see is the rooftops of the Palazzo below.

I got unpacked and did some budgeting, did some actual work, and waited for another colleague to show up from her flight. Since she was taking a while to get in, I decided to go downstairs and get the lay of the land.

Tomorrow we start testing for our big event and everyone has said to plan about 30 minutes to get from your rooms to the conference rooms below. I don't think I'll need 30 minutes, but considering elevator traffic, it's a good estimate. I got down to the 2nd floor and jumped off the elevator, as that floor has the little indoor Italy, complete with gondolas. Lots of restaurants, tourist shops, high-end shops (more watches), a rare book shop (again, where are you gonna spend your jackpot winnings?), and did I mention restaurants?

Tons of people about, all sorts, nationalities, body types, financial status. Crazy. I know Marci wouldn't want to vacation here and I don't know if I would either, but man, there are plenty of families that do and did. Really interesting to see, and the people watching here is next level!

Heather finally showed up and then her, Brittany and I met up and headed to one of the first restaurants we saw, Tony V's something or other. Italian, and I had a something something carbonara, along with garlic bread and it was super tasty. The server/bartender was a nice dude and his wife was doing a singalong with a guitarist as the night's entertainment. She was good, but just about as cheesy as the garlic bread we got. They weren't super loud, but man, with my hearing issues and the music, it was so hard to converse with the girls.

We finished eating and headed to our rooms. We have a 9am call time tomorrow and Heather is on EST, so she was pretty wiped out. I came back here and chatted with Marci, watched an episode of the White Lotus and now, I'm hitting the sack as well.

Las Vegas airport

Again in the airport. I'll be there supporting on Sunday

Driving to the hotel

Don't mind that pile of shit on the left

Upgraded to the private elevators

Low on the private side (38), still private

One watch in the store was $32,000!

Gondoliers in the mall