A Random Collection of Thoughts for Today

• As you probably know, I record random cover versions of my favorite songs and post them to my website now and then. One of my favorite singer-songwriters is a guy named Paul Sanchez. About 8 years ago, I recorded a version of one of his songs called "Confidential Dance." Last night, I checked my email and saw this: "I just checked out your version of my song Confidential Dance, very cool. Rockin' but still vulnerable. i dig it, thanks for the cover. red beans and ricely yours, Paul Sanchez"
• Awesome.
• Last night, I played a little local showcase for FAWM. Did four songs and a little jam. Can you think of a better way to get pumped up for the show than getting an email from one of your favorite artists telling you they listened to something you did and thought it was cool?
• The show went really well. I remembered most of the words, my setup went mostly without a hitch, and the dozen or so people there seemed to enjoy it. From my end, I like playing enough that I'll play to an empty room as long as there are lights on me.
  
• I may have some video of the event up shortly, for anyone who wants to watch a grainy, static webcam of me yelling.
• Many thanks to Drewfus for comin' out and representing for the Das Binky Recording Collective. He is owed beers.
  
• Got home at about midnight, went to bed around 12:30. When I got upstairs, three-year old DD was still awake, reading a book with the light on. I recommended she go to bed, but she expressed no interest. I decided this wasn't a battle I wanted to deal with, and just encouraged her to go to bed soon.
  
• At 12:37, DD and sister ran in saying that the light was broken. It turns out that it was. But then I noticed the clock was out. And that the street looked really dark too. Yup, the power was out. The kids were freaked out and crept into bed with Mommy. I found a flashlight and wandered downstairs to call the power company. Power came back at about 2 am.
• In a somewhat un-related incident, the Internet went out at around 7 pm. I called the phone company this AM, and after 20 minutes of tests, we determined that the cable modem was fried. K mentioned that a big lightning strike hit nearby around them, and it occurs to me that the modem is NOT plugged into a surge protector. So, they're sending a new one, and I'm without Internet at home for 2 days.
  
• I've recently become addicted to a new video game called "Plants vs. Zombies", in which you try to stop a wave of zombies from destroying your house by placing militant plants on your lawn. It's awesome. As a result of this game, I've been up till around 1 AM three times this week. Watch the music video trailer. It will eat your brain with its awesomeness.
  
• As a result of being up too late too many days in a row, coupled with the added lost sleep due to the power outage, I am borderline comatose today. This manifests itself in a bleakly dark sense of humor and an unwillingness to deal with bullshit. I would have worked from home, but I have no Internet. I would have taken the day off, but I'm taking off four days next week. Yay.
• We're prepping for a big road trip next week. I went to AAA and got a Triptik. In a nice bit of forethought, I got an extra set of maps for the kids to use / enjoy / destroy. We'll be logging about 2500 miles over the course of a week, all of it with the kids. I can't decide if we're adventuresome or idiotic.
• As an aside to all of the above, on the whole, people need to chill out some more.