A strange new sound you never heard before

OK, so I lied. Its not that I didn't have stuff to talk about, I just didn't seem to get back in front of the computer much. There were many culprits, watching poker on tv with my father, playing Canasta with my parents, playing Settlers of Catan with my parents, playing Munchkin with my siblings, playing the bean game with everyone, and playing Final Fantasy III that my brother got me for x-mas.

So in case you just skipped through that paragraph, blame my brother, I do.

For those of you who have been wondering, we did have the ultra-sound, and we do know what we're having. The title lyric is all the clue you need, if you're too lazy to figure it out, you didn't really want to know anyway. SL has already figured it out, why, because she's cool like that. Follow her example won't you? Then get the song, its one of my all time favorites.

(OK, let's just get this out of the way, I know you're thinking, "Is there ANY post he's going to do that doesn't reference his music tastes in some way?", the answer's NO. Get over it)

We had a great x-mas, as predicted we did the drive back without stopping for the night. It must be the psychological effect of the time change going west. Go figure. Portable DVD players for the car are great for entertaining your child. Though I must admit I was hesitant to get one for Gavin, probably because I didn't have one when I was a kid.

Quick note on the elections, I was REALLY hoping that looking at the field, religion would stay the hell out of the Republican primaries this time. I thought we had a good shot. God fucking dammit. Let's get this straight, I don't give a damn how/if/when you pray, I care about leading the damn country. Truthfully if it wasn't for the religious right, I'd be leaning republican. I've always been drawn that way for fiscal policy, they're just plain morons by messing it all up with stupid social policies that just piss me off. Republicans should be for equal rights for everybody because it makes more money, you discriminate, you lessen the talent pool. Simple economics, wake the hell up.

To be clear, I think Huckabee's a pretty nice guy, I'm not targeting him with that rant, I'm just pissed religion became an issue that Romney has to defend, and even Giuliani (seriously?) jumped on.

Oh and stop predicting who has this sown up after one state, especially since that state is Iowa. Stupid primary system, thus ends that rant.

Since we got a 2nd kid on the way (nice transition there don't you think?) I'm giving myself 2 years to finish the basement. I took a big first step by measuring the damn thing. I say a big step because I've been talking about doing it for over a year now. Gavin wanted to help, but once he realized that meant having to stand still holding the end of the tape measure in one place, his enthusiasm waned. But its done, and I'm trying out Google SketchIt (free!) to put it into the computer to try a couple of ideas. Then I get to figure out if I can actually afford this thing.

BTW, for any house builders out there. PUT THE DAMN FURNACE IN A CORNER INSTEAD OF THE CENTER OF THE DAMN BASEMENT! I know why you did it, but moving 10' to the wall would still keep it mostly centralized and made my choices for the basement much better. I won't get started on the placement of the bathroom rough-in.

To end this bit of ramblings (hey, check the title of this blog), I'd have to say that last year was a pretty good year music wise for me. I discovered 2 new artists who have some real staying power with me, Martha Berner & Liz Tormes. And even though you don't care, here are my yearly awards.

Best Music: Tori Amos - American Doll Posse.
Best Lyrics: Liz Tormes - Limelight (specifically, Black Luck)
Best New Discovery (for me): Martha Berner
Biggest Surprise (Good) : Charlotte Martin - Repruductions (Its a freaking cover album that's actually good!)
Biggest Surprise (Bad): Collective Soul - Afterwords (decent album, but lacked the punch that "Youth" had)
Best Complete Album: Martha Berner - This Side Of Yesterday
Worst Complete Album: I can't say, because it was a gift.
Best Guilty Pleasure: American Gladiators (OK, its not music, but still.....)