Childhood Dreams

Monday was a long day.  Little sleep for a few days before and a busy, hectic day at work;

I was hoping for an easy day at my part time arcade job.  I picked up my brother, Kelly, planning that we could play a good deal of relaxing pinball after performing some quick repairs and cleaning.

That plan didn't work...thanks to some trickier that planned technical issues and some cross-threaded bolts (whoever did this, I hate you); my hope of getting repairs completed in about an hour were dashed.  It turned into a 5+ hour ordeal...and left me with some homework.  Thankfully, Kelly was a big help and we did end up playing a few games of pinball (sorry about making you work so much!).  We trudged out of the arcade a bit after 11pm and started to head for home...drained.

I was feeling pretty worn out...but then a distant image appeared on the horizon (OK across the parking lot).  Is that...is that...I think that is....is it, it is...The NUTmobile!  Obviously, I had to get closer.  It's after 11pm, no meeting Mr Peanut for me.  I would have to settle for a picture.

What an awesome way to end the night?  It would have been great to meet Mr Peanut, but I am sure he had many important nut-related activities the next day and I wouldn't want to interrupt his sleep.  He is almost 100 years old now.  I am not sure about the human year to peanut year ratio is...but I am guessing that 99 is on the more mature side for a peanut.  

Feeling better about the night, we turn the corner...and Oh My God!

The Oscar Mayer WienerMobile is parked in the same hotel...cleverly hidden behind this tree.  I have loved the Wienermobile since I was a kid.  Who hasn't?  I have never got to see it in person, something has always come up, ruining every opportunity for me to visit the grand frankfurter tabernacle. I was pretty excited, but made myself stay in the car to temper my enthusiasm.  If not, I was liable to A) run through the hotel knocking on every door looking for the Hotdoggers in order to get a whistle, B) climb the WienerMobile and ride that thing like I am Slim Pickens in Dr Strangelove. 

Wooo-Hooo!

I was a little sad, not to get out and enjoy the wienermobile to its fullest, but not being arrested for disrupting many a hotel guests or defacing a sausage shaped automobile; reminded me that it was all for the best. I guess the WeinerMobile and I will remain like two ships that pass in the night.  Longfellow knows my pain.  

What amazing event has drawn these two titans into a meeting?  I am unsure.  I can't find anything about anything in Des Moines...google searches show a lot of press about a visit last year, but nothing about this year.  I guess they needed to rest on their trek, spreading joy across the country...so it was truly serendipity that I saw them.

Which WienerMobile did I have the honor of (almost) meeting?  "OH I WISH."  The best one (in my opinion).  What a great night.  One down, five to go.  Until we meet again, #WeinerMobile, I will see you in my dreams.

OH I WISH - the flagship of the fleet

Consequences

Even though it was all for fun, writing this blog has really been somewhat of a life-fulfilling activity (there have been reasons that I have not been writing in the past couple years and that will addressed at a later point).  Writing this blog over the years has had a lot of great consequences.  I've met interesting people, discovered great music, shared and received fascinating ideas, and found a lot of humor in the world.  

However, the best consequence was re-connecting Angie.

It all started with a little blog post congratulating Angie for becoming Miss Wheelchair Iowa 2009.  I had met Angie through a friend nearly 10 years earlier, at a time before she was involved in an automobile accident and becoming a quadriplegic. Around the time of the accident, our mutual friend moved and we lost touch...until the blog post.  We started hanging out again to catch up and then more often as friends and after about a year we started dating.  It's been a wild few years since then full of ups and downs - we became engaged on Dec 24th 2013. 

One Ring to rule them all...

I thought we would take is slow, maybe get married in a year or two but Angie was all "Nope, let's do this."  We were married on September 6th, 2014.  It was an exceedingly busy 9 months of planning and I am mightily thankful that Angie actually handled most of the planning and organizing.  Angie did an incredible job and created a wedding that reflected us and preferences. It wasn't your typical wedding (we are anything but typical) but it was an amazing day.

We decided to do a theme wedding...I know, I know some of those are horrible, but we decided it would be fun to have a 1920's Hollywood themed wedding.  The basis for this being that we are both big fans of both theater and movies, plus you know the outfits back then were just elegant and fun.  That was our base point for planning and the ideas developed from there.  Sticking with the theme, I had hoped to get married at the old Billy Joe's Picture Show location since I was always such a fan but unfortunately our guest list (correction - Angie's guest list) made that space a little too tight.  So after much searching we decided on the Iowa Events Center.  IEC used to be called Veterans Auditorium and I had seen many great concerts there like Kiss, Motley Crue, and Ozzy (and yes it is where Ozzy bit the head off a bat); how could I have a problem with a historic institution like that?  I think it is cool.

Of course, Hollywood themed we had to set the mood...so we started brainstorming.  We let our imaginations and desires run a little wild (sorry, this is probably going to just be a bunch of pictures).

We needed people to know where they were going.  We needed a lighted marquee.  This was created by my dad.  He did a great job, especially because I just said - "Will you make us a lighted marquee?"  We didn't know how it would be hung or where it would go, but it ended up being incredible.  Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do the lights justice.

Our names in lights

Red carpet and red curtains were a must and of course our bridesmaids and groomsmen would be seating in movie theater seats.  Gold stanchions and velvet ropes to keep the crowd in line.

The walk down the red carpet

We thought it would be funny to have us photoshopped into various famous movie posters like we have been in all these movies.  It was a fun photo shoot and our photographer (Black Label Studios) did a great job of making the posters.  The frames came from the Re-Store in Des Moines - only $10 each!

Grease, Phantom of the Opera, The Princess Bride, Singin' in the Rain, The Wedding Singer.

Top Gun - close up

Refreshments - movie popcorn and candy...what else did you expect?  Movie film, popcorn, and the velvet ropes and stanchions were loaned to us by the Merle Hay Cinema (I miss you guys already).  Movie reels were loaned to use by Fleur Cinema.  Both are places we visit regularly.

Popcorn and candy waiting for the guests.

Our star ready for the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  We also pressed our hands into "cement" ala Grauman/Mann's Chinese Theater for our unity ceremony (probably shouldn't trust us with fire).  Unfortunately that didn't turn out as great as I would have liked, just too much rushing on the day of the wedding to get it done right.

Our star

We decided we were famous enough that we needed life-size* cardboard cut-outs of us.  OK, I thought of the idea because I really didn't want to pose for a lot of pictures and figured this way that we could still let everyone get pictures with "us."  It worked like a charm.

*not quite life-size - mine is a little shorter, Angie's is a little taller to make for more balanced photos.

Feeling a little flat

Real vs Doppelganger -
Is it strange that facebook recognized and automatically tagged the cutouts instead of us?

My grand entrance song was the theme to the Muppet Show.  "It's time to play the music, It's time to light the lights..."  Angie did the more traditional wedding march, but we left to Red Sweater by The Aquabats.  Seriously, could she have been more open to strange ideas?

Center Stage  - Fur stole and tails and top hat.

We both love the movie, The Princess Bride, so we thought it was only fitting that we convince our minister to re-enact that scene at the beginning of the wedding.  Luckily, The Princess Bride is also one of our minister's favorite movies, so it didn't take much convincing (Thanks David!).  Not everyone got it...but to us, it was hilarious.

Wuv, twue wuv.

As our minister went to change into his normal clothes, our wedding had a short interruption by Elvis who serenaded us with some "All Shook Up."  This was a surprise that I did not know about until the rehearsal the day before.  Why Elvis?  I had been joking with Angie for years that if I ever got married, I was going to Vegas and getting married by Elvis.  So this was an inside joke that no one else would understand.

Ladies and Gentleman...Elvis!

The Feature Presentation

The fun and surprises continued with the reception.  I don't care for cake, of course, I would happily eat it on my wedding if Angie wanted a cake...but she agreed that we should go with Rice Krispie treats (one of my favorites).  Angie had a Rice Krispie cake made with Princess Leia and Han Solo toppers.  We also had a large selection of Rice Krispie treat flavors including: original, scotcheroo, peanut butter and bacon (the Elvis), and Fruit Pebble.  Instead of a full sit down meal, we decided to have a lot of appetizers of our favorite foods such as mini-corn dogs and white cheddar cheese curds (it had to be white cheddar...I am picky like that).  IEC did a great job with all the food and I wish I had been able to eat more.

mmmmm....

"I love you."  "I know."

Angie then surprised me with a Groom's Cake.  It was styled after a pinball machine with a hockey theme.  I had originally wanted to set up my pinball machines so everyone could play during the reception.  However that idea got thrown out early due to some demands from the IEC. So this cake was a really cool way of Angie bringing in more of my favorite things.  I am not even sure what a groom's cake is, but it was really thoughtful of Angie...and also made of rice krispie (with marshmallows and candy for various buttons and lights).

Delicious, delicious pinball

Our good friend, Tim AKA DJ NSFW, spun records for the first half of the reception.  Then our favorite local band, No Good Deed,  played a set for the second half.   I would recommend either or both for all your Des Moines area music needs.  I wish I had more time to rock out.

No Good Deed

It was a great day...and we passed the line of paparazzi as we left triumphantly.

Here are just a couple photos from the day that I thought turned out well.

On the new pedestrian bridge in downtown DM

A quiet moment before all the craziness

Thank you Angie for all the hard work and effort that you put into our wedding.  I feel like a total slacker for not doing nearly as much and for not having the creative surprises for you that you had planned for me.  I love you and think that you are wonderful.  I am glad that having you in my life has been the best consequence (by far) of this blog.  

Thank you to everyone who was able to help us celebrate or wished us well,  Special thinks to everyone who was in our wedding or helped along the way, it would not have been the same without you.  We appreciate you all.

Please Help Us!

Hi Everyone,

Many of you know about my love for pinball.  Many of you also know that my fiancée, Angie, who is the president of the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Iowa and  who loves helping others.  We have the unique opportunity to combine both of these passions.  We hope to purchase a wheelchair accessible pinball machine for the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Iowa.  We plan to take the machine to various locations and organizations allowing people with disabilities the chance to access life and enjoy pinball.  Some places we plan on working with - local chapters of Easter Seals and Paralyzed Veterans of America, local hospitals and rehab units, nursing homes and in-patient facilities.

This is a rare machine - only 15 machines were converted for use by people with limb impairments and other disabilities...and that was over 20 years ago, it is not known how many still exist (my guess would be very few).  This machine allows rooms for wheelchairs to fit underneath, is on wheels so that it can be brought to a person's bed, has large buttons on the front of the cabinet for easier pushing, has a remote set of buttons so that the person can sit them on their lap, table or whatever works best, and has a straw-style sip/puff adaptor for those with severe limb impairment.

But we aren't buying this machine for ourselves, we hope to take to many locations and functions across the state so that all people can enjoy pinball.  You can learn more and donate through our indiegogo fundraiser page.  A plaque will be made and attached to the machine with all donors’ names.  We need to raise $2500 for the machine and shipping.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wheelchair-accessible-pinball/x/6977685

Any extra money will be donated to the Spinal Cord Injury Association to help others through different projects.

Thank you for any help that you can offer, also if you could please share this with others, it would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Michael 

Player 1 Has Joined The Game

As I mentioned earlier, pinball is going through somewhat of a resurgence.  One of these signs is that there in now a pinball league in Ames, IA.  It has existed for a couple years now but I only joined for the latest season.  I'd been looking/hoping for a league in the area for a several years, but there was nothing...and then when I did see the league in Ames...I had excuses.  The league is run by KD Amusement, the big arcade, pinball, billiards, darts, jukebox operator and supplier in Ames.

I've wanted to join since the beginning but came up with excuses on why I couldn't join...

• I'm too busy
• The season has already started
• I'm not good enough
• I'll have to miss some nights, so it's not worth it
• I don't like bars
• It's a long way to drive to just play pinball
• A league run by an operator seems sketchy
• I tend not to like people that take any subject too seriously
• etc...

Some of those excuses have various degrees of validity but mostly it was just an excuse for me to not try something new and to just be lazy.  I can play pinball at home, but I forced myself out of my comfort zone and joined the league.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I first joined but league night has become one of my favorite nights of the week.  I don't know my fellow league members that well yet, but I am enjoying hanging out with others and playing pinball...unfortunately pinball had become a more and more solitary hobby for me, so it is nice to get out more often with others.

How pinball league works - we meet on Main Street in Ames, every Tuesday at 7pm.  You are randomly assigned to a team competitors of 3-4 players and then randomly assigned a location and machine.  The league plays at four different bars on Main Street all within about a block of each other...the machines can vary throughout the season as the location setup is changed for variety. So far this season I have played on five different machines (Medieval Madness, Revenge From Mars, Iron Man, Twilight Zone, and Pirates of the Caribbean).

Your team will play 4 rounds, and you are scored on how well you did versus the other members on your team.  1st place machine score gets 3 points, 2nd place machine score gets 2 points, and 3rd place gets 1 point. If the 1st place player's score is more than the 2nd & 3rd places score combined, the first place player will get a bonus point...if not, the bonus point goes to the 4th place player.

So here is the responses to my previous excuses:

• Luckily, I have an understanding girlfriend who encourages my hobbies and understands why I am not spending time with her.  I am busy and sometimes it is a little bit of a hassle getting home from work, taking care of my dogs, and then making it up to pinball league...but it isn't too bad if I keep focused.
• In the past, I had always remembered/found out about the league after the season had started.  I was worried that I would just be thrown in and not part of the group...but the group is very welcoming and it is easy to make up past games (stay late and play more rounds with others).  You can join any time and be welcomed and if you stay to make up some games, you can easily be competitive.
• I was worried that I wouldn't be good enough...but there are all levels of play and each round can very significantly.  I haven't had a team where one player completely dominated.  To show the variance one week, I finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th throughout the night's match.  I must admit that I am in the lower rankings of the twelve league members, but that is more due to just having off nights when others are doing good and random team assignment.  I don't feel like I am being embarrassed by the other players.  Just bad luck...but I am still having a lot of fun.
• I have and will miss some nights this season, but it is fairly easy to make up the games the following week (or later), you can even pre-play some games if you know you are going to be gone.  The league is fairly flexible with that.
• I still don't like bars, but being with like minded people and keeping busy playing pinball makes it tolerable.
• It is a long drive to play (about 35 minutes) but I am usually looking forward enough to it that I don't really even notice...plus there can be added benefits (like last night were I found a perfectly good two wheeled cart that someone was throwing out - you know the kind that is nice for moving pinball machines).
• I was a little worried about the league being run by the operator (corruption), but it all seems good.  it seems to be run pretty well and KD only takes a small percentage of league dues for overhead.  It is actually kind of nice that someone from the company is usually there to help fix the pins if anything goes wrong.  It is also kind of cool  to get some "inside" type info on the industry and the games.
• Most members of the league are pretty easy going and don't take the game too seriously.  There is much less cursing and hitting things than I thought there would be (although there is a little of that from certain members).  Mostly it's just a good time even if you are doing badly.

If you'd like to join the Ames Pinball League send an email to janna@kdamusement.com.  And there is still plenty of time left in the season...so join now!

I am really enjoying pinball league.  If there is one near you, you should join.  It is a fun time, just hanging out and playing pinball and usually drinking.  In fact, I am thinking about starting a league for Des Moines this spring or summer.  If you are interesting in that, drop me a line and I'll keep in touch (and probably bounce some things off you too).

Pinball - Don't Call it a Comeback

Don't call it a comeback, pinball has been here for years.  It never really went away...but it does seem to be having a bit of a resurgence.  

 

You can witness the near end of
pinball in this documentary

10 years ago, pinball was basically considered on death's door.  My brother Kelly, and I started collecting machines because you could barely find a place to play in a public setting.  What was out there was beat to shit and just made you angry because it wasn't kept up.  We got pretty good at looking over machines and determining how well they worked before putting our money in...however we were still surprised at times (never once did we think to check whether the actual button for the flipper was there - lesson learned).

Replacement parts and used games were getting scarce and expensive...after all, in the previous decade Williams/Bally, Gottlieb, Capcom, and Data East had all stopped manufacturing pinball machines.  Luckily there was still one Stern Pinball.  Unfortunately, their games sucked at the time...their flippers felt lethargic, their designs uninspired, their sounds very repetitive, and they just didn't feel right...they felt cheap and like corners had been cut.  We still went out and played but it didn't satisfy.  Stern kept at it though and their pins steadily improved.  I think all the Stern machines from the past few years are pretty great.  They have fixed almost every issue that I had previously had with their machines.  I am not a huge fan of Stern putting QR codes all over the place and when they use photographs instead of artwork, and the playfield toys and artwork runs the gambit from being too sparse to too crowded...but those are all personal aesthetics.  I don't think any have reached the level of some of the classics from the mid-90s (I'm talking Addams Family & Indiana Jones) but they stand up very well next to most of the games from the period.  That is saying a lot and 10 years ago didn't think I would ever be able to say (but am glad that I can).  I hate to say it but Gary Stern really did save pinball.

Good quality, fun pins from Stern is just the tip of the iceberg for the beginning of this pinball renaissance. A new company is starting to make machines too.  Jersey Jack Pinball's first machine (Wizard of Oz) is set to start rolling off the line next month, and they just announced their second machine (The Hobbit).  The Wiz looks really good and looks like it has some cool innovations, I can't wait until I see one in person and get to try it out.  I am sorely tempted to pre-order a Hobbit pin.  It doesn't stop there though, a lead designer fromWilliams/Bally, John Popaduik, is also starting to do small run original pinball machines.  I really wanted to pre-order a Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland, but couldn't make the finances work out in time.  They are also planning on releasing plans so that you can 3D print your only pinball replacement parts.

Looking pretty good JJP.  Can't wait to play.

The influx of new games has caused the prizes on used and older games to dip a little and the pinball community has sprung up to support and improve all the old pinball machines out there.  New replacement parts are being produced...often times improved over the original parts.  And not just a few items here and there...tons of items are being reproduced - artwork, plastics, mechanics, and circuit boards.  Enthusiasts are designing their own products to add to their pinball machines and make them even more attractive...more toys, better lights, and even color replacement screens.  I think you can find more parts now than when there were five pinball manufacturers in operation.

In the virtual world, Pinball Arcade is busy recreating all your favorite tables from the past onto virtual platforms.  From Xbox Live to your iPhone and Android Phones, you can now play many pinball tables faithfully recreated all in the palm of your hand.  I hear the iPad format is pretty darn amazing.  Meanwhile, Pro Pinball are creating original virtual titles that can both be bound by a real physics engine or be something that can only exist virtually.

It is more than just a distant movement though.  Here in Iowa there are many changes taking place and I will talk about those in a future post real soon, but includes Iowa's first pinball show, pinball leagues, and a pinball club.

If you have been interested in pinball, now is a great time to jump in...the future is looking bright from where I stand.  Hope to see you at the tables...click the link on the right to find pinball machines to play in Iowa.

When the Sky Falls

Last night, CT and I were able to attend a free sneak preview of the new James Bond film Skyfall.  I enjoy James Bond films (and books and video game) quite a bit, but I wouldn't categorize myself as a fanatic.  I'll watch the movies when they are on TV but rarely do I just suddenly feel in the Bond mood and need to seek out a DVD (although I do own a few).  In fact, most people think my favorite Bond film is an odd choice...On Her Majesty's Secret Service (with the oft forgotten George Lazenby as Bond...thank you Marge Simpson for remembering George).  It's just such a unique and interesting Bond story.

I did want to see Skyfall in the theater when it came out, but it wasn't something that needed to be done on opening night...in fact, on our weekly movie night for next week I would have put it in about the fifth position after Argo, Flight, Cloud Atlas, Man with the Iron Fists...and possibly even Wreck-It Ralph.  Part of that has to do with fact that it is a new movie and I knew that it would be in the theater for a while, but part of it was also that I find it difficult to get super excited about a new (and the 23rd) Bond movie.  Eventually, it feels routine.  I know I will see it, and I know it will be good but the urgency just isn't there.  But I received free passes to a sneak preview...so that changes the movie priority list some...and once that change happened, I did start to get excited.  Plus it was at Jordan Creek Cinema and they have the best lineup in town of pinball machines.  When I walked the arcade before the show 3 pinball machines (out of 3) were being played, 0 video games (out of 20ish) were being played (hint, hint bars, restaurants  arcades, etc...when you keep your pinball machines in nice condition they will make you money).

You do pay a small price in convenience for these sneak previews...mainly, they give out more passes than seats or tickets because they want a full theater.  So you have to get there early and stand in some lines for a bit...but hey, I am hanging with friends so it is all good.  Sometimes you will even have to surrender your phone or leave it in your car because they are afraid of piracy (I guess)...we had to do that for Looper.  At Looper, Cam telling the rent-a-cop security checking people's phones "Well, I'm certainly not leaving it with you..." was so dripping with disdain that it still makes me giggle to think about.  At Bond, there was not a phone surrender (thankfully because that was a slow process) but the security guards were watching the people in the theater to make sure no one was filming...of course, they could use their phones and cause the annoying glow in the peripheral of your vision several times throughout the show.

Skyfall was good.  Really good.  At the time, I thought a few parts dragged a little; but I think that more had to do with me being incredibly tired from barely sleeping the night before.  Skyfall is gritty and action packed like all the Daniel Craig Bond movies have been.  If you like Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace, you should love Skyfall.  Skyfall did have a few things that I found interesting and somewhat unique for a Bond movie.

1. Skyfall doesn't really have many gadgets.  All the Daniel Craig movies have tended to have fewer Gadgets than the movies of 70's, 80's, and 90's (which were getting a little ridiculous at times)...but this takes it to even another level.  Bond's gadgets consists of a radio transmitter (with a single button to turn it on and off) and a Walther PPK pistol (which is coded to James Bond's palm print so that only he can fire it).  That is pretty much it for gadgets.  Bond (and his cohorts) have to make due with their surrounding and Macgyver-izer their surroundings for their defenses.
2. Skyfall tells more about James Bond's past than I think the the previous 22 films have ever told.  Truthfully, I am not one hundred percent sure how I feel about this.  I mean Bond was always kind of an "every man" in my mind precisely because I didn't know anything about his past before joining MI-6.  It did make the movie interesting though, so I guess my judgement will probably have to wait to see how this plays out in the future.

Skyfall has a lot of classic Bond in it too.  Bond being cool under pressure; crazy, creepy villains   Bond doing whatever it takes; amazing locations; Bond butting heads with M, lovely ladies who want to get on James; and Bond just being a total badass.  Skyfall did a good job of expanding the Bond timeline to the past while setting it up for a bright future.  However, I think my favorite part of the movie was the theme song/credit sequence in the beginning...it was just totally epic and awesome.  Really well done and interesting...and I even appreciated the Adele song (which I had avoided up to that point).

You may have seen this Heineken/James Bond commercial...CT and I were pleasantly surprised to find out that Heineken was not only a Bond sponsor, but was also having a premiere after party at the local Champps restaurant.  Everyone who attended got a free Heineken and then had special pricing after.   I didn't even have to ask to have my Heineken given to Cam when I ordered a Pepsi, the waitress/bartender did it automatically.  It was nice to sit and chat for a bit after the movie, a nice end to a good evening.

Pinball in Central Iowa

I've always loved pinball...from the early 80s when I would play every once in a while in the bowling alley while my parents bowled drank to the mid 90s working in an arcade, to 2000s and owning my own machine.  I like video games too, but they don't hold the same draw for me as pinball.  Pinball takes skill instead of just learning a pattern like on most video games...and you can get better with practice but still randomness and luck still play a huge part.  Even though I am a decent pinball player, I still have balls that drain right away.  Easy to learn, impossible to master.

Unfortunately, pinball has been disappearing from public places over the past 20 years.  It used to be in every bowling alley and arcade, and most bars...now all you get is Big Buck Hunter (which is fine, but it is not pinball).  Pinball is hard to find.  I am always looking for different games and new new places to play...so I am making a page to list all the games that I know about in the area.  You can see it on the right called "Pinball in Central Iowa."

I envision this as an interactive site where people can contact me to add new games and locations to the list...as a community we can make a comprehensive and up-to-date list of places and games to play.  In the future, I would also like to start a pinball club, where pin geeks can all get together and hang out one night a week and have some friendly and tournament play.

So please, stop by, contact me if you know of any additions, changes, or interest in getting together to play some pin.  Frequent these places and let them know that you appreciate them still supporting pinball in Iowa.


Update - as I was typing Derek from Des Moines Alive contacted me to let me know that they have a tag for pinball locations....so I am going to include a link for them at the bottom of the page.  Since I don't have a list of exact games at some locations, I am not putting them all in my list yet.  But am going to be working my way down the list to find out.  Thanks Derek.

Perchance to Dream (Part 2)

It is now been over a year since I have had horrible dreams.  One will still sneak in every once in a while, but no longer is my normal night filled with knives, spears, and shotguns shooting in my direction.  No longer are my memorable dreams the ones of a deadly game of cat and mouse that I am always bound to lose.  

I don't know what demons my brain had to exorcise, but they seem to be gone now.  It has taken a lot of work...forcing myself to bed before 3 or 4 am, actually trying to sleep.  Although I had long ago gotten used to the dreams, I think they still had a lot to do with my sleeping habits.  I rarely got more than 4 hours...and existing on 2-3 hours each night for weeks at a time became pretty common place.  Often it wasn't even 3 hours in a row - maybe a couple hours from 2am to 4am then up till 5am and one more hour of sleep before I had to get up for work.  It was exhausting but it was something that your body got used to after a week or so.  I would have horrible sleep for several months and then semi-normal sleep for a week or two before getting back to the next cycle to terrible sleep.

In the past six months, I have enjoyed the longest period of normal sleep schedule that I have had in well over 10 years.  My dreams have started to turn more and more senseless and bizarre...not scary in anyway, but just strange with little tidbits of my life, thoughts, and day intermixed.  It seems more like what other people dream about, but it is new and interesting experience for me.  I often even know that it is a dream but have not been able to enact lucid dreaming yet (dreams where I realize it is a dream and take control...allowing such feats as flying), but I hope to soon.  It would be a complete 180 from constantly being the helpless and hunted to being the controller of the dream.

What dreams are made of...apparently.

So what do I dream of now?  One night last week, each dream started with a still photo of colored pencil drawing, as the camera (of my brain) zooms in, the picture animated and turns into live action.  There was a series of 3 or 4 dreams that started like this but I don't remember the actual dreams, just the form...and the fact that they were narrated by Stone Phillips and Anne Curry from Dateline NBC.  It was all very odd and charming.  A couple nights later, I dreamed two things (that I remember).  The first was that I went to the pet store to buy a fish.  Instead of giving me a fish in a bag of water, they handed me a small fish shaped box that they put the fish of my choice in...without water.  I expressed concern but evidently "This was the new way" and they "had made great advances in fish transportation."  I then went shopping and out to eat with the fish box/coffin in my pocket...but I was worried about the fish the entire time (but evidently not enough to go home and put him in the tank).  The other dream from last night centered around a new pinball machine that I came across at the mall.  Obviously a dream...pinball machines at the mall?  It was a two player Tango & Cash pinball.  One person played Tango, the other Cash.  A little strange, I know...but the pinball portion didn't surprise me, I love pinball.  However, the theme was a little surprising especially since I haven't seen the movie in probably 15+ years.

I am still getting used to these strange and irreverent dreams, but as confusing as they are - it is really nice not to die, even though I do at times still feel apprehensive while in a dream waiting for the hunters to come.

Two Minutes Hate

Ummm...that doesn't really help.

I buy things on eBay.  Not a lot, but probably more than many people.  I have seen all kinds of stupidity throughout the 12+ years that I have frequented eBay, but I am still always surprised by some people's idiocy.  Today I am annoyed by people who list auctions for "pickup only" but they don't list their exact location.

I have an automatic notice set up for listed pinball machines in the state of Iowa....but I kept getting notices of auctions that listed a locations for such things as "Iowa" or "Hawkeye Country" or something similarly stupid.  I understand that selling a "pickup only" pinball machine is probably not their normal items...but seriously it is annoying when you don't list your city.  Iowas is about 56,000 square miles...yes, for the right machine and the right price I would drive to nearly any corner of the state, but you are pretty much automatically making me skip your auction due to the fact you don't list where I am going to have to go.  You could be 10 miles away or you could be 300 miles.  I don't know and chances are that I am not going to go through the trouble of finding out.  I figure that if you aren't comfortable listing your city on eBay, you are probably some sketchy idiot and the auction is going to be nothing but a headache for me.  Admittedly, I am a lazy consumer...but one with a fair amount of walking around money - you as the seller are the one that loses out in this situation.  Seriously, just list your city when you have a pickup auction.  You don't even have to change your profile, just throw your zip code in the item description.  It is SO easy, much easier than having me email and wait for you to get back to me.

End Hate

Worst Shows Ever #7

As a music lover, I've been to A LOT of shows - huge sold out stadium shows, tiny bar shows with a handful of people, awesome shows that lived up to and exceeded all expectations and shows that were great but for a reason I never could have anticipated.  But this isn't about those shows...this is about the AWFUL shows.  The shows that make you feel like you wasted your time and money...the ones that leave a pit in your stomach and may even make you dislike a band that you used to love.  Sometimes its the band, sometimes other factors but no matter what the cause these shows were terrible.  These are my top 10 horrible shows.*

7. Secretly Drowning - Burnsville, MN, 2002

Secretly Drowning was an up and coming rock band from Minneapolis.  My brother, Kelly, happened to catch them on a business trip to the Twin Cities and passed along how great they were.  The band seemed to be skyrocketing to success winning several regional awards and scoring sponsorship from Amp Energy Drink.  I caught them a few times at local Des Moines shows and they were fantastic, high energy shows...even if the crowd was small.  They seemed to be making fans every time they played, I was expecting them to get bigger and bigger.

One weekend, there happened to be an arcade auction in the Twin Cities area.  Kelly and I are both pinball dorks, so we were interested...but that is a long way to drive for an uncertain auction.  Most auctions we go to either don't have anything we are looking for or are so corrupt that it isn't worth the time because you will never get a good price.  The trip didn't seem worth while just for the auction but then we noticed that Secretly Drowning happened to be playing in a small Minneapolis suburb, I am pretty sure it was Burnsville.  I was really looking forward to seeing SD again, so we were then able to justify the trip.

The auction was OK, we didn't buy anything but it was nice to play a couple pins that we hadn't played for a while and it had a really groan inducing moment, when they were auctioning the first "Pick of the Litter" of all the pinball machines.  Some of the line-up included Addams Family, Dr Who, Eight Ball Deluxe, and Elvira and the Party Monsters.  First pick bidding ended at $2100.  Which I personally thought was a lot for any of the games, but everyone figured that the person really wanted an Addams Family.  It was higher than I would pay for an Addams but it wasn't unheard of.  The buyer though decided to go with Elvira and the Party Monsters.  Elvira is a pre-dot matrix machine.  It is good, but it was an $800-$1000 game tops.  An audible gasp went through the room when the buyer choose it.  I wish I could have seen his face to know if he realized he made a mistake when he heard the gasp.

The auction was interesting but disappointing because there wasn't any pinball that we really wanted, so we headed to find the Secretly Drowning venue.  It was a new venue that we had never heard of, but looking at their past concerts they seem to get a pretty good line up of talented local bands.  We had Mapquest maps and were pretty confident in our skills (Mapquest still had some problems but for the most part it was pretty accurate).  We drive to the address of the club and there is nothing there...it is like the town hall and a couple municipal buildings.  We thought Mapquest couldn't find the address, so it just threw us to the town center...it had happened before.  "It's not that big of town, we can find xxxx."  I don't remember the club's actual name now.  We drive all over the place...for like two hours covering every single street listed in Burnsville...at least once but most many times.  There were no signs for this club, no places that even looked like a club.  We checked maps, we checked phone books, we stopped and asked directions at several places.  This club was no where to be found.  After over two hours of looking, we decided to give up and head for home...disappointed.

I was still angry for several days and after much interwebicon searching, I found a random message in a forum board explaining that on Sunday nights the town hall actually turned into a small all ages club with live music.  We drove past the town hall like 10 times, there were no signs or any indications that it became an all ages club on Sunday nights.  I would have thought that there would be SOME kind of sign...there was nothing.  I want to say that the club was called Masque or something like that.  I think it should have at least had an asterisk or something stating that it took place in the town hall building.  Something, anything stating that it was not an autonomous unit.

Now, because we missed a show wouldn't normally make this one of the worst shows.  I've missed plenty of shows that I wish I had gone to, but I try not to dwell on that too much.  What happened to cause this missed show to make the list is the fact that Secretly Drowning disbanded a week later.  So missing our last chance to see an awesome band due to the fact that there wasn't a sign any where to be seen made this show (or lack there of) one of the top 10 disappointing concert experiences.

Still really enjoy Secretly Drowning and pull out their four song e.p. and give it a listen every once in a while...sad that while really good, the CD still doesn't compare to how good and energetic the couple shows that I saw.  Sample for yourself, if you like late 90's early 2000's rock, I think you will enjoy.

Secretly Drowning - All or Nothing

Secretly Drowning - Tired

Four songs and then nothing...it is really sad when this happens to a promising band.  Secretly Drowning, I miss you guys.  You rocked the camel's ass.

*These are off the top of my head, I am sure that I could go through my stubs and find more.  I don't think I left out any major suck-fests though.

Before I Sucked - Classic #1

I wrote this on myspace before I had an actual blog.  Links and pictures added for your convenience.


Thursday, November 01, 2007

So Vegas...
Current mood: tired
Category: Life


So I flew out to Vegas for the SEMA show on Monday. 3 days, 6 hours of sleep...pretty much the best business trip ever.

The trip started off a little crappy as I had to leave for the airport at 5am Monday morning (and I just got to bed a couple (maybe) hours before). Flight was normal...although I still say screw you people with peanut allergies! You ruined a good thing....pretzels? Come on. Pretzels are gross...maybe I need to develop a pretzel allergy so we can get some good snacks again.

Once in Vegas I ended up waiting in line for a rental car for over an hour and missed 80% of the meeting that I flew in so early for. Dang! :-) But hey, I showed up just in time for lunch...and Vegas deli catering is not your Hy-Vee catering that's for sure.

Nothing was going on Monday night (at least that I knew of) so I headed over to the Pinball Hall of Fame and spent many hours there (and more money than I spent on gambling!). I'm sure that sounds boring but to a geek like me, it was fun. After PHoF, I get bored and just start walking the strip collecting Hooker Trading Cards (I think I got some rookies and they'll be worth a lot in a couple years). Anyhow, just walking and meeting people and checking out the sites along the strip and all of a sudden I have gone from Mandalay Bay all the way up past the Wynn. It was quite a long ways to walk and it was 1am, so I just changed sides of the street and walk back. Lots of exercise, it felt good. I finally get back to my room in the Luxor and end up going to bed around 4:30am...so I had been up over 24 hours at this point.

Tuesday, meet the group for the SEMA show and work from 8-5pm...well stand around and answer questions. After work, I head to the House of Blues to catch Danzig! Opening band was Gorgeous Frankenstein (even though I couldn't understand what they were announced as at the time)...and my first thought was "Wow the bassist sure is a Misfits' copycat...wait a minute...is that really...Jerry Only?" It was. He came back on for the Danzig encore and they played 3 or 4 Misfits songs...yay Astro Zombies! It was cool and unexpected. Also opening were the Horror Pops. Very entertaining...loved the dancers in the skeleton dresses. I am not sure why but it was sexy as hell. Danzig himself still puts on a pretty good show even though with a recent shoulder injury and an arm in a sling, he wasn't quite up to the evil intensity that he has been before (also the bald spot didn't help, but I still say he is awesome). Pretty good mix of songs although no Am I Demon (sadness) or Devils Plaything (which I figured was a long long shot). Scared me by not playing She Rides until the encore. After that I hang out in the bar and talk to a few people and try a little gambling (I hate it, it's dumb) and all of a sudden it is like 4am again.

Crappy MM picture taken with my phone

Another day at the show but this one I am helping Jenny our booth girl run our promotion thing...so it wasn't too strenuous :-) but the day did take forever because I could not wait for Marilyn Manson that night. Marilyn put on a pretty good show. He mixed a lot of stuff around and completely changed the show and it was a lot more stripped down than his past concerts. Still awesome, just more straight forward rock without all the set changes (although there were still a few...I would have been pissed if he got rid of the pulpit completely, but it made a brief appearance). I was sad not to hear some songs like Dope Hat, Get Your Gun, or Angel with the Scabbed Wings, and many more...but I suppose he can't play all the old ones anymore. Heart-Shaped Glasses (the new single) was pretty darn good live. Oh and ended with This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas which was cool to see live.

After the concert we went to the Playboy Club and I drank...yes I drank two alcoholic beverages. 33 year streak of not drinking down the drain. It has been growing on my mind for a while and I just decided that I might as well do it now when I am happy and feeling good, instead of ending up drinking some day when I am feeling really depressed. OK people...alcohol tastes like shit! Seriously. I guess I didn't really care for it too much, so don't see myself doing it again any time soon. By the way, I had a Captain & Coke and a Cranberry, Vodka, Red Bull (on recommendation)...yep alcohol is just gross, no matter what you put in it, it still tastes like alcohol. But I lived...probably because it took me nearly 4 hours to choke down the two drinks (did I mention that I don't like the taste of alcohol?).  Didn't feel buzzed, didn't feel any different...maybe very very slightly more relaxed but that is even doubtful.  I ended up dancing with Jenny for a while. Okay, she was dancing and I was more flailing around like a spaz....but it was a good time none the less (hopefully she wasn't too embarrassed by my dorkiness). So back to the hotel, pack, and again 4:30am...oh well. Get a couple hours and catch a plane...pretty good Vegas trip (and definitely a great business trip).

Me, Jenny, & Jason - I look completely retarded & I hadn't even drank yet.

We were all doing our stripper show our cleavage moves, 

unfortunately the camera caught me in mid chortle.

Brothers' Trip 2010

This weekend was my The Semi-Annual Brothers' Hockey Trip 2010. This is when my brothers and I take a trip to Minneapolis or Chicago to take in an NHL hockey game and experience some general debauchery. This year was the Minnesota Wild vs the Dallas Stars. Here is a quick overview and some useless stats of this year.

The Stars have a special place in our hearts after having the Iowa Stars AHL team in Des Moines for three years. We got to see a lot of old I-Stars players and got to see Mike Modano's (probably) last NHL game. A fun trip had by all (I think).  Participants - Me, Kelly, Holly, Ryan, Hedda, Sean.

Useless Stats:

• Mistaken Hotels - 2
• Bands - 3
• Good Bands - 1.5
• High-Fives given to random strangers - hundreds
• Strangers happy to give high-fives - 3
• Restaurants that were featured on Food Network - 1
• Restaurants that were disappointing - 2
• Steaks that were not as ordered - 2
• Times the GPS unit had to "Recalculate" - approx 30
• Zombieland watched - 1.5
• Cadbury Eggs purchased - 48
• Free games at pinball - 3
• Hockey Goals - 7
• Beers drank - many
• Mike Modano crying - 2
• Mini-Corn Dogs eaten -12
• Crackheads given hugs - 0
• Vomit - almost 1
• Bowling Balls the lane next to us had - 14
• Total Hours Slept Fri & Sat Nights - 4ish
• Crazy Ladies trying to dig cigarette butts out of the buttcan - 1

The trip started with the drive up to Minneapolis and then meeting to eat at the Green Mill restaurant.  I'd never heard of it but Kelly & Holly had eaten there before and thought it was really good...plus it was close to the hotel.  It was mediocre...it had potential but it didn't execute well.  Out of ribeye steaks on a Friday night at 7pm.  The New York strip offered in it's place overcooked.  Disappointing nachos.  Slow service.  It all added up to be a disappointing meal.

We decided to go bowling after and that turned out to be a pretty decent time.  Memory Lanes had a stage set up on the middle lanes for live music.  The first band was female drummer and male guitarist/singer.  All I could think of was how awesome the White Stripes were at this combo.  This band was not the White Stripes.  They were punk/thrash stuff, which although I loved when I was young...I don't have much of a stomach for anymore.  I can't call them bad because I had cassettes and cassettes of this stuff when I was in junior and senior high.  It is just not very appealing to me anymore.  Maybe I am not as angry, maybe my tastes have just matured.  I did enjoy their cover of Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name...but that was probably more due to the fact that I like the song than their performance.  The next two bands were decent, some rock with a little bit of horns.  Nothing amazing, but good background for bowling.  I bowled both horrible and decent.  Afterwards, we played a little pinball in the games rooms while Hedda decided to start giving everyone around her high-fives...much to their annoyance.

Saturday started with watching Zombieland...which is a great way to begin any day in my book.  Then we headed to the stupid mall (mall's tagline should be - just like your mall but stupider and full of idiots).  We had meant to play a round of mini-golf but it was packed and had a long line by the time we got there.  We then headed to Psycho Suzi's for dinner.  We had been interested in Psycho Suzi's since it was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network.  It was decent but I had hoped for a little more.  I enjoyed the red rockets (mini-corn dogs) but was highly disappointed in the onion rings.  I loved the names for all the foods - red rockets, brown sugar babies, chicken gremlins, etc... but the food ended up a little drab and very greasy.  Usually, I am a big fan of grease, but this was a little too much for me.  But then I have to remember that I saw the place featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives so really how much could I actually expect?

Pre-Game Warm Up...Our Seats were better than this looks. 
Stupid phone camera.

Saturday Night we went to the hockey game.  Good game...Dallas was down early but battled back to tie it a couple times, sending the game into overtime and finally a shootout.  Dallas won.  It was the final game of the regular season and probably the final game in the career of Mike Modano.  Modano started his NHL career as a Minnesota North Star and played in Minneapolis for 5 years until the team was moved to Dallas.  It was good to see that the Minnesota fans still like and respect Modano.  He received a video tribute, and several standing ovations by which you could tell he was very touched emotionally.  It was a great night and a good finish to his career.  Good luck Mike!

Sunday was just the drive home...which was harder than it should have been since everyone was tired due to lack of sleep and the wind started blowing against up the entire trip...but we all made it home to take naps.  I did give in and buy a box of 48 Cadbury Eggs for my enjoyment. Maybe pictures of me and the bros later...I didn't have a camera, so I don't have copies at the moment.