Tuesday night I had tickets to see one of my favorite bands, Drowning Pool. I had seen them twice before at Ozzfest two different years but that was with Dave Williams (RIP). I hadn’t seen them since. I didn’t really care much for their first album after Dave. It was mostly Jason Jones, vocals, that I just couldn’t get into. Nobody will ever be Dave but he just didn’t have what I wanted in Drowning Pool and came to expect. After finding out Ryan (former vocals for SOiL, another great band live) joined the band and hearing the new album I just had to see the new lineup live.
It was great to find out that they were going to play The Iron Horse Pub here in Wichita Falls, TX. The Iron Horse is not a very big place but after touring so long doing major cities, Drowning Pool is on a small-venue tour which I’m sure is amazing. The feeling you get at a small venue is great. I ended up directly in front of the stage and as time went on found myself to the right of the stage in front of the speakers. I normally go to shows in bigger venues like Kay Yeager and Superpages.com Center so it was a change to be right in front of the stage and the band and able to feel their energy.
I’ve seen so many bands live (check out the about me page) from 4 years of Ozzfest and other shows including Metallica, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Godsmack, Korn, Godsmack, Sevendust, Saliva, and plenty more and this is by far the best show I have ever been to. They had a great mix of old school Drowning Pool (Ryan pays plenty of respect to Dave) and new stuff off their latest album. Overall it was an amazing show and without a doubt a band I plan to see again very soon. Next week I’m going to Dallas to the Superpages.com Center for Mayhem Fest headlined by Disturbed and Slipknot, as I love getting lawn tickets, I think I will leave missing something that I found at the DP show. Being able to feel the energy from the band.
Last night we took it pretty easy. We tried a new mexican place for dinner, The Jalapeno Tree, which wasn’t that bad considering I’m not much on mexican food. We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese’s to let them play for awhile. This year I didn’t purchase fireworks instead we went to Sheppard AFB to watch their Freedom Fest ‘08 Firework Display. There were a few hundred other people shooting off their own fireworks as well which made for a great night. Overall it wasn’t a bad 4th of July. A few pictures are on my flickr account.
We took the kids to the Wichita Falls Railroad Museum today. They had lots of great things, lots of history, and plenty of areas to walk around the trains including an engine that the kids got to ring the big bell. I would love to go back some time and go on one of the tours and hear more about the history while walking around. Despite the 100+F temp outside (I believe the high hit 102F) it was a nice visit. Here is a quick video from the end of the yard (the camera died so I wasn’t able to get more video). You can also find 80+ pics on my flickr profile.
Update: We have delayed our moving until August. So, not rushing into the move just yet…
We have been living in Wichita Falls, TX for about 10 months. Our lease on our current apartment is coming to an end next month. They don’t do month to month here and don’t allow full-time students and as Melissa (currently not counted as full-time because she does online classes) will be going full-time at the local college we can not renew our lease here. So, we had to start hunting. We found an apartment complex that we really like just a block down the street (nice not to have to move far). Apartments are better for us at the moment because; 1 we haven’t lived here long and 2 I’m a freelancer and she goes to school full-time and works. So, money although not really tight is something we have to manage between months that I have low work. So, for now it is apartments which isn’t bad.
Today we put in our application and paid the holding fee for an apartment at a complex a block down the street called Tealwood Apartments. This place is really nice and isn’t going to break us. The complex is pretty new and well taken care of. Here are some of the key features for us.
Private Gated Community (Security Cameras, Key Access Gate, etc)
Children’s Play Areas
Huge Walk-In Closets
Full-Size Washer/Dryer Hookups
2 Full Bathrooms
Breakfast Bar, Ice Maker, Dishwasher, Garbage Disposal, Pantry
Just a block down the street
We love the idea of a gated complex for that extra security factor and key access at the gate. The apartment is a really good size (about the same size we are in right now which is nice). It has 2 full bathrooms which is always nice. Right now we have a 3/4 bathroom in our room which is nice not to have to clear the kids toys from the tub to take a shower. It also has a little storage closet (basically a walk-in closet by the front door) which will be nice as we planned to get a small storage shed for our camping and holiday tubs. Having a washer & dryer will be really nice and of course save money. Another plus is it has a ‘bonus’ room (which is a room that sticks out from the living room). It is the perfect size for an office (which I’ve needed since going freelance full-time). Below is a layout of the apartment (click to enlarge). We are really looking forward to the move. We are not rushing this time though. We don’t put our 30 Days notice until June 1st here and they don’t have the apartment ready until June 7th so we have time to pack and get moved right instead of always being rushed like in the past. You can also view a picture of the outside here.
In other news; next month I will be putting up my redesign (yeah, it is just about ready). I am also moving my blog to a new domain (no, I’m not posting it because I haven’t bought it yet, that reminds me that I need to though). Still play to use this domain but moving to a new one.
It’s true. I am alive and kickin’. I recently made a move from Oklahoma to Texas (Wichita Falls, Texas to be exact). We actually moved to Burkburnett, TX first and planned to move to Wichita Falls in January but that didn’t work out and we couldn’t wait that long so we packed up again and got our own place in Wichita Falls. Its great to finally be moved out of Oklahoma. This is where I plan to reside for ever but its an improvement at least. Our new place is nice. 2 big bedrooms, full bathroom and a 3/4 bath in our bedroom (nice to have a shower in our room), big living room and my favorite; a fire place. Can’t wait for the heat to go away (103 outside today) and winter to come and light it up. The only downside to the whole move is one; not having internet. DSL was finally back online today after being without it for awhile (feels like a lifetime). I am now behind work a few weeks as I took off before the move to pack and move. Tomorrow I start work again and have a ton of client work to do. So, the plan is to work my normal hours plus a few extra daily and work on weekends for the rest of the month to get caught up. The only other downside (as if I needed more) is that our AC was working the first few days we moved in. Then Sunday it stopped. We turned a work order in on Monday to get it fixed and nobody came by. It was 102` outside and about 93` inside with my two kids it was really hot. We only have one fan that we just kept moving around the place. Then today after talking to them several times they finally came only to say they had to replace the unit. They got here about 3pm and didn’t leave until after 7pm, which was nice because I was worried they would leave and finish it tomorrow. Anyways, it seems to be working now although its still hard to tell as there is so much hot air in the house so it will need to suck it all out over night, but you can feel the difference from triple digit heat to some cool air blowing.
I promise things around this site will pick up along with a new layout, however most will have to wait until I get caught up on work and some new clients worked out. I spent 2 hours going through emails from clients and creating a huge to-do list of the work they need. It also means that 2532|Gigs will be on hold even longer. As if it hasn’t been delayed enough. I am honestly thinking about adding another developer or two to pick up my slack and taking a leave from the project. I don’t plan to leave it and still plan to be the Project Admin, but might take a step back as far as developing until I can get time and clear things up. It will also delay all my other projects (some would have never seen the light of day anyways). Thats it for today.
Today has been an uneventful weekend so far. Yesterday I went and got my eyebrow pierced. I had it pierced in high school but let it close up (actually the spacer fell out and I didn’t notice it until it started to close). The downside of course to any piercing or tattoo is the aftercare which can sometimes be a pain. For my eyebrow I have to soak it (eye included) in water/sea salt mix for 10mins once a day. Not actually that bad. Tattoos are harder to care for with making sure they don’t dry out, get too much sun time (I have one that faded due to getting a sunburn shortly after the tat). Then we went to Wichita Falls, TX to start looking at houses. We are hoping to attempt to move to Texas within the next two weeks however if that doesn’t work then we are going in January. Going back to TX Monday to look some more and hope we find one thats decent and out price range. Would like to move this month but January isn’t that far away. We will have to wait and see. Should know for sure within the next week. Continue reading »
