Overheard in the kitchen: the birth of a loan shark

Saturday night, OhCountess was getting ready to go out for a night on the town with the girls from work. She checked her wallet and figured she was a few bucks short.

OhPrincess1 is saving her pennies like a Midas in an effort to buy a Nintendo DSi and earlier in the day had counted up the stash and found out she'd made her goal.

This seemed to create a match made in heaven. OhCountess was in a bit of a hurry and really didn't want to drive out of her way to hit an ATM for our bank and OhPrincess1 has a readily available pile of cash.

OhCountess, "OhPrincess1, do you think you could lend me $10 until tomorrow?"

"Sure Mom but I don't think I should just give it to you. I think you should have to pay me back a little more then you borrowed, pay me $11 in the morning?" said OhPrincess1.

"Honey, that's called interest," replied OhCountess, "and that's like 2,000%. That's pretty high, how about I pay 25¢."

"OK, I'll give you the money in ones and you pay me back in a ten dollar bill and a quarter. Deal?"

Mom laughs and agrees.

You just gotta love it when a 10 year old figures out complex banking concepts and negotiates usury rates on a short term loan.

Got grass?

Saw this photo today and just had to share it. It's from the web cam looking down at the new Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins.

Look closely...it's GRASS! It's so pretty, my eyes are tearing up (not really, real men don't do that).

WIN TWINS!

BTW - Target Center kinda looks ridiculous with the grass roof...just sayin'.

Not quite ready to give up on summer

Hope you are working as hard as me today. Being a dad can be sooo hard.

Birthday Family Time

Here's a little preview of how we are spending this big birthday
evening.

Maybe your world didn't change

As crazy as this may sound to people, I'm a huge believer in the idea that we are all pretty much equal especially when it comes to men and women. Sure, for the most part, women are nuts, we can all agree on that, but at work and in our potential, women and men can pretty much do everything the same. I know, there are a few physiological differences, but the last I checked, we live, we breath, we love, we laugh and in the end...dust.

I've been asked repeatedly over the years if I'm disappointed that we never had a baby boy. That is one of the most bizarre questions I've ever been asked. Are you asking me if I'm disappointed in the two beautiful, healthy, happy kids I already have? Are you a friggin' moron? My answer for all these years has been the same. Why? Girls can play baseball.

One thing that will forever be different for men and women is the process of making your first baby. Not the beginning part, we should all know how that works and if you don't, go ask your mother. I'm talking about the gestation part. I don't know about you, but that was the weirdest 8 months of my life.

It all started about 10 years and 8 months ago. I came home from work to my wife smiling like the Cheshire cat. She handed me this little wrapped box and asked me to open it. I had no idea what this was. We got married in September, and it was the middle of winter so it wasn't our anniversary. We started dating in the summer too. Her birthday was in March. Is it Bastille Day? Do we celebrate that? Maybe it was MLK day and I missed the memo about exchanging presents. Nope. None of those were it. Inside the box was a little bib that read "I love my dad."

Um. Oh. Um. Holy crap! I knocked her up! Wait...I'm married to her. It's legal. Whew. OK...breathe...breathe...

And with that, we started a journey that would transform both of our lives forever.

Ladies, pregnancy is a really weird thing for guys. For the next 8 months, I would hear the stories and see the changes as my bride transformed from hot goddess of seduction I spent all my time wooing, to the most beautiful incubator of life. I could see the changes. She would tell me about them. She would run to the bathroom and puke her guts up. Lay there at night, not sleeping. But for me, the guy she married, I had no reference to what was really going on. As strange as this sounds, I didn't get it.

Months later, the baby bump, now a prominent fixture of my wife stature, was moving on it's own. Kinda like in the movie Aliens. Yes, to a guy, that's a valid reference. We can see things moving, we can feel the pressure, it was like she had bad gas. It was cool and she told me it was our baby, but still, I didn't get it.

Bringing both of our kids to term was a challenge. I've written about this before. Each pregnancy was a sick game of chicken. How long could the baby stay inside before the strain on my wife would kill her. The first time through this, I was an emotional wreck with a rock for a facade. I don't know if even at this point my wife knows just how stressful it was for me to be asked by the medical staff to think about choosing between her and the baby. Inside, I usually just screamed, "Hm. How about fuck you? They will both live. Capice?" To a young husband...

But even through this, I didn't really get what was going on. My wife told me how she could feel this little life inside her. She told me how beautiful it was. Honestly, it felt like gas bubbles to me. I really didn't get it. I had no idea what any of this meant. I'm just a guy and this doesn't compute.

OhPrincess1 took about 2 weeks to deliver. That's sort of an exaggeration and sorta not. With OhCountess' health problems, they'd started inducing and then stopped and then started and then stopped and then I think I went toe to toe with a doctor and got his staff's mouths to drop when the dickhead doctor asked me, "Excuse me, do you know who I am..." and I replied, "Yes, do you know who I am?". Geez. Seems no one had ever stood up to him before. Oops. I missed that memo. Jack ass.

I still didn't get it. What was all this about?

A week after my encounter Dr. Dickhead, we were at our hometown hospital, the same one OhCountess worked at as an RN in OB - you don't know how handy this is :). At this time of my life, I was an intern that worked 50 miles away. This means any time missed is time not paid. We were still to young to really be able to afford all this starting and stopping so the plan was I'd go to work and she'd call me when things started to proceed. Induction can take time.

We made it to lunch before she called me. Please remember, this was 1999. I had a cell phone and this was a big deal. I was out depositing my paycheck (remember when we had to do that?) when it rang. "I'm on my way!" A call to the office triggered the "OhCaptain's wife is having a baby" emergency plan. The president of the company made it clear I only needed to make one call to the receptionist and to get the hell out of town and take care of my wife. Thanks!

I got to my bride's side. I held her hand. I watched the meters. I shifted in the chair. I went for a walk. I watched some TV. I read a magazine. I talked to the staff. This wasn't really going as fast as we'd hoped. At 8 pm, the doc came in and asked if we wanted to have a break until morning. We can do that? Huh, I didn't know. They turned off the drugs and my wife fell asleep.

We'd decided that since we lived less the 5 minutes away, I'd crash there and she would call me in the morning. All the staff knew me and several of the nurses assured me that they would call me with ANY news. I'll be honest. I'm still not sure what any of this is about, but food and zzz's sounded good.

6 AM, the phone rings. It's OhCountess they are starting again and I should get to the hospital. I raced in. I got to my bride's side. I held her hand. I watched the meters. I shifted in the chair. I went for a walk. I watched some TV. I read a magazine. I talked to the staff. This wasn't really going as fast as we'd hoped. My wife looked exhausted. She was noticeably uncomfortable. There was nothing I could do but sit there helplessly and wonder to myself just what the hell was going on and what this was all about.

By afternoon, things seemed to be changing. By then, I'd figured out how to read the machines. There was a monitor for my wife and one for the baby. There was this belt thing that monitored the heart rate of the baby and muscle contractions in my wife. I'd noticed a pattern in the muscle contractions and got pretty good at getting ready for a contraction...so good she started noticing that I would stand up and take her hand just moments before the contraction. The doc comes in and removes the belt. I asked her not to. She told me she was "done with it", "but I'm not. You see this pattern here, she's about to have a contraction and I like to be ready."

"You just figured that out sitting here?" she asked. I am geek for Pete's sake.

I really don't remember much of the actual labor. The OB nurses were great and gave me some quick pointers on coaching earlier. I never went to baby class so I was winging it.

OhPrincess1's head was there! I could see her brown hair, but that was it. Just the very top. The doctor and my wife worked forever to get her out. She's stuck! More pushing...the doctor coaching. I still felt helpless. I still didn't get it.

Finally, around 6 PM, the doctor uses this thing that kinda looked like a toilet plunger and gives a tug. There she was! My goodness that's messy. "Do you want to cut the cord?" I can do that? Sure. Snip! They whisked that screaming baby away. Professionals were attending to my wife, more attending to the baby. I just tried to stay out of the way. Trying to just let everyone do their jobs. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.

They brought the baby over to OhCountess. My wife had never looked more peaceful, happy. She had also never looked more beautiful. She held the little girl in her arms. It was perfect. I reached down and kissed her.

She kissed me back. "Do you want to hold her dad?"

Wow. Are you talking to me? My father wasn't in the room, was he? I'm not sure I'd ever held a baby before. She hands her to me, this little bundle. I held her in my arms and looked into her eyes. She was perfect. She was amazing. I got it. I'm a dad and this is my daughter. In that moment, I left my life as just a guy behind. Look out world, I'm a dad, a father.

Happy birthday OhPrincess1! Tens years has gone too fast.

Interesting speech, almost like it was given yesterday

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video. I have no idea how authentic it is or not, but I have also read the writings of people opposed to socialism from our past. Whether Obama is moving forward with socialism or not, we, as Americans need to consider this for our future.

I heard this morning, that every American agrees that there needs to be reform in our health care system. I think that is true, but I'm still not convinced this is a crisis that needs to be fixed by racing huge, sweeping legislation through congress that institutes a system that's flawed. We have time. Let's do it right and think very hard about what it is we are doing.

Waiting to do the right thing is always better then rushing to do the wrong.

This video is a speech given by Ronald Reagan. He's been dead a while but his words sound strikingly familiar. Give it a listen.

I'm not advocating one solution over another, I'm just asking that we stop and think about the problem. Define what it is, examine it's causes and look for a solution that is both pragmatic and affordable.

Air whipped sugar syrup is sticky

The temps here in Minnesota have finally returned to normal. For those of you that aren't from this great state, you may not realize that it's not frozen here year round. July and August are typically in the upper 80's and low 90's. Not south hot, but definitely not the arctic people think it is.

We had some special guests at our house this weekend. TheBiggTree (TBT) and company came to visit. TBT and his wife have 2 boys...almost the exact same age as our two girls. We love getting the clans together. The kids pair up by age group, the wives do wifey things and TBT and I...well, we have no one to tell us we are two old to play too much Wii and poker.

This weekend though, had one big item on the agenda.

You might remember, a few months back, he and MumblingSages began a bit of a rivalry. With TBT out to a 1-0 lead in the races, MumblingSages brought can of whoop ass and tied it up. Well done by both. Even Mrs. TBT ran. I manned the camera, but may have caught a piece of the running bug. We'll have to see.

The race didn't go as well as TBT had hoped. We got back to our house after the race and got cleaned up...well, they got cleaned up. I barely broke a sweat taking the pictures. While standing around trying to figure out what to do. TBT snacked on one of my friend Eloise's gourmet marshmallows.

I'm really not exactly sure how we got on the conversation, but somehow, we got to the point where I got to showing him how I could get YouTube to work on my TV, and to demonstrate it and that the world's greatest TV cooking show host, Alton Brown, had done an episode on how to make homemade marshmallows.

Here's part 1 of Good Eats episode S11E12 - Puff the Magic Mallow:



And here's part 2.



Well, that actually looked simple enough. Here's the recipe from the show. I'd write it out for you, but I'm pretty sure it's copyrighted...Let's just say, I went to the pantry to get the following ingredients:

• 3 packets of gelatin
• 1 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Seriously. That's all it takes + water. I'm assuming all of my readers have running water. If you have Internet and no running water or flush toilets. we need to talk about your priorities.

This is where I'll remind the readers that this content is copyrighted. Stealing shamelessly a good idea will only get you in trouble...so if you are a TV executive and think this idea rocks...let me know...but TBT and I had some really cool ideas for a TV show...let's just say the name of that show could be, "MOM! Dad's in the kitchen!"

TBT and I are both well versed in the kitchen. We are grown men that know how to cook. Get over it. It happens. Anywho, neither of us had ever made a sugar based candy before. The hardware you need to make marshmallows have two items that if you don't have, you don't want to try this until you do. You MUST have:

• A candy makers thermometer
• A stand mixer

You don't have these, just step away from the sugar bowl. I'm assuming that the following are a given in any kitchen:

• small sauce pan (5 cups or a little bigger would be good)
• spatula or as my home econ. teach would say, a rubber scraper
• 13X9 pan
• aluminum foil

While these don't get mixed into the recipe, you will never want to handle air whipped sugar syrup with them:

• non-stick cooking spray
• corn starch (which tastes like shit. I tried it. Nasty stuff)
• powdered sugar (doesn't taste like shit. Actually, it tastes really good. Made me want a donut)

If you watched those video, you should get the idea that when you are making homemade marshmallows, being one step ahead of the game is very important. This really is all about making air whipped sugar syrup and it's VERY sticky.

We had done our homework and got all of our ducks in a row. We laid the entire mess out on the counter in our kitchen and set it. Starting with the gelatin in the mixer, we carefully covered all of the powder with the ice cold water. We had no idea what blooming was all about, but hey, it's in the recipe.

The next step was to put about every last bit of glucose we had in our house into the sauce pan. It's hard to believe it, but you are supposed to add 1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar into a half cup of water. It's not really edible yet...it's a little thick. Adding the corn syrup makes it look a bit more moist. Get it all boiling and watch the thermometer. We took this opportunity to prepare the 13X9 pan. It was about to have the world's stickiest goo dumped into it.

Both of us had spent enough time in the kitchen to know that when making candy by this method, the listed temp was VERY important. When a recipe calls for 240°, they mean it.

At this point, we were anxiously waiting to get to the next step. Watching the red line on thermometer move ain't real exciting, but when it got to 240° we sprang into action and got the molten sticky stuff carefully loaded into my stand mixer and cranked her up to 10. I was really disappointed I couldn't get to 11, but top speed is top speed.

The really cool thing about this process was you could hear the mixer change speeds when the goo started to change states. We stood. Watching the mixer. We had 14 minutes to kill and no idea what we gonna expect. A few minutes in, it really started to look like whipped cream, but we weren't sure if it was right.

At the 14 minute mark, we were 1 minute away from done, so it was time to add the vanilla. I'll just warn you, when you add this, it will provide just enough lube to send your mixer spinning like a top again. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The next step was the one spot you will really want to have an assistant. When the 15 minutes was done, you are gonna want to get this sticky mass out of the mixer and into your pan as quickly as possible. This stuff is VERY STICKY and starts to set up pretty quickly. A well lubed rubber scrapper will help a lot. Below is what ours looked like in the pan. I suppose you could shoot for pretty, but why? If you must know, the whisk attachment and the rubber scraper tasted delicious. Could you say no?

The next step is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. You must wait for 4 hours for the blob to set up. Yikes. The urge to dive in is so strong...I wish you luck.

When we got to the end of the wait time, we promptly made a huge mess. You are to snap this pan over onto a sheet of parchment paper that's well covered in magic dust (corn starch and powdered sugar). For reasons that can only be explained by proper breeding, we got the bright idea to just snap and pound this into the counter. Did I mention it was well dusted with magic dust? POOF! I was covered in sugar and starch. I'm so glad my camera was no where near this.

Once out, it was time for cutting. The pizza cutter suggestion that Alton mentions works great! The following picture shows the pile of heavenly pillows we made. They were disappearing pretty fast...
The deed was done. All that was left was the eatin'

OhCountess had a pretty awesome idea. We make a pretty mean chocolate fondue. The recipe is to add the following ingredients to a fondue pot on a pretty low heat. Ours is electric and 2 to 3 is just about perfect.

To the pot we add:
1/2 cup of carmel dip for apples (store bought tub)
1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 bag of chocolate chips (I like to add the equivalent of 1 bag but use 3 different types of chocolate - I'm a chocolate junkie...sorry)
1 tablespoon of hazelnut flavoring

heat until smooth.

The picture on the right shows that this goodness is best served with a buffet of dipping bits. We used apple, banana, kiwi (my fav!), strawberries and you can see the marshmallow squares again.

For a little extra goodness, we crushed up some graham crackers and bought a bag of the Heath Bar toffee chips. You guessed it. First dunk the apple in the chocolate fondue and then roll it in the toffee bits.

The marshmallow of course tasted amazing plain, but the chocolate was taken up an notch...and rolling it in the graham cracker...pièce de résistance.

Easy peasy. I had spent most of this day twittering about this. I think I made people hungry.

These were a blast to make and even more fun to eat. Any questions? Let me know if you try it, I'd love to know how you did!

Homecomings

This first weekend of August every year is reserved for River City Days. Remember, we only live about a 45 minute drive away from my hometown, but this is the one weekend a year I actually spend time out and about, mingling with people. Most of our visits are spent with family and followed by quick exits.

OhCountess and I both spent time growing up here and we both have family that still lives here. So there are roots, but where we live now has really grown to feel much more like home. I guess this is what happens with time.

According to my mom, for the last 24 years, she's been the coordinator for the River City Days Arts and Crafts Festival. Of those 24 years, I've helped some number smaller then 24 but larger 10. I don't have any idea when I started helping out, but I know that for most of that time, OhCountess has been right there, ready to go. She only missed one year since we got together, the year OhPrincess1 was born. There's just no way to convince a very pregnant woman that spending a weekend at a park, walking around, is a good idea.

This year is no different, we are here again. One of the weird things about this is I have no idea what really goes on anywhere else in this festival. We spend all weekend hanging out at the craft show, talking to vendors and answering questions. This year, I've had a harder time then ever, answering the questions about my hometown. Sure, I'm pretty good with the history, but when it comes to "where do I buy this?" and "what restaurants are there?" I'm having a much harder time. One guy asked me a question, that 15 years ago I could have rattled off a long list with sale prices, "where's the liquor store nearest here?" Um. I haven't bought booze here in a VERY long time.

So far, the reunions have been very rare. I met one person I graduated with. Granted, I graduated from a class of 204 people, but still. I'm hoping to up that number today. I'm also quite sure I walked right past someone. As much as I'd like to be paying attention to the people, I'm usually focused on the inner workings of the show.

Facebook has really opened my eyes back up to the people of my past. Years ago, I moved on from looking to the past. I was enjoying my own path through life and rarely took time to look into the rear view mirror, but lately, it's been pretty cool seeing the lives of the people that made up the first half of mine.

Much like Las Vegas, a few days here is plenty for me. I'm beginning to long for home. I'd still like to come here and spend some time with my camera, the good one, not the one on my phone. This town is so beautiful. It's an old river town, along the banks of the northern Mississippi. There's history and stories that I'd love to capture. I also figure that seeing things through the eyes of my memories might also make for some interesting pictures.

If only there was time. It's been a lot of fun, sharing these weekends with the kids. Even OhPrincess2 is having fun. She's the only member of our household that wasn't born here. OhPrincess1 was born here, but I don't think she really remembers too much about it. She was around 3 when we left and by then, we were spending a lot time in our new hometown.

I suspect it's time to get back to work. A few more hours of the show today and our duty is done for another year. OhCountess hasn't quite spent what we get paid yet either. Sunday is the day she traditionally finds the things that give back to the show what we make.

Maybe I'll see you here sometime.

Introductions are in order

Someday I'll I have to actually WRITE more. Until then, I'm on my
lunch time walk and realized I've never introduced you to the two men
that started everything here at my day job.

This is Charlie & William Mayo. A real fascinating story these two men.

Well, back to my walk. Typing these posts is tad tricky while walking
the sidewalks of a city just north of 100,000 people.

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall like weather!

Only you can prevent forest fires

This birthday cupcake was for me and had 40 candles. Got all but one
on this first puff. I still got it it baby!

It's like 60 degrees in July?

I guess we'll go bowling!

It's only a number

When I play poker, numbers are important. I like to calculate the odds and use that to determine the risks and rewards of taking certain actions. Numbers are cool.

But I've watched people obsess about certain numbers. Numbers like 7, 13 are very important to some people because they believe that they carry some sort of magic. There are numbers with religious meaning, but in western society and base 10 numerical system, we seem to be fascinated with with any number where N mod 10 = 0.

After you pass the age 21, landmark birthdays all seem to hover around the tens. I've always thought 36 was cool because you could finally date someone half your age and not go to prison. Must be a guy thing. Although, 42 means you can finally take her to a bar and have a beer and 52 she might be mature enough to finally not annoy the shit out of you.

I've witnessed people collapse with emotion on their 30th birthday. Worried that their youth was gone and there was no turning back. Like somehow, in the passing of a number on the calendar, they life was changed.

Numbers are really cool! Like the name of this blog, I am, without a doubt, a geek, but for all of my love of numbers, I have rarely put stock in the calendar. It's a bizarre system created in 1582 to measure time. We have chosen to mark time by the number of trips we've made around the sun. A day is the time it takes for the earth to spin once relative to it's axis. But does this really mean anything?

I've set a couple of goals for myself that were time related. When I was in 5th grade, I wanted to be a rich engineer by age 35. Yes, in 5th grade, I wanted to be an engineer. Of course, at 17 I wanted to be an engineer too. And at 23 I wanted to be a rock god. At 26, I wanted to be an engineer again. Well, at 40, I'm thinking rock god again...but I digress. I wanted to have my first child AFTER the age of 30. Check. But that's pretty much it.

I don't really understand people who 'feel' a certain age. What the hell does that mean? I feel pretty much like I did yesterday and I can't really remember feeling any different. I got more sleep years ago but the hangovers in your early 20's pretty much insure that each day will feel better then you did then. Nausea is no way to wake up in the morning...just sayin'.

Today, I feel great. I still love life, family and adventure as much as I ever have. My priorities are different. I know what it means to love a child more then my own life. I've discovered that beyond the quest for cuddle time with girls, there's a deep love for my wife that will never fade and can't be replaced.

Putting a time limits on living life is stupid. I have goals. Many of them are dreams whose time limit is what ever time I have left here. I gotta feeling that when I'm dead, I ain't gonna be taking a cruise with my wife in Greece the following summer. But I guess you never know.

Today is my birthday. Today I turn 40. Do I feel any different then yesterday? Nope. Am I just as excited for the next adventure? Yep. Any regrets? Nope...well, there are things I still need to get done.

• I'd like to see Pearl Jam one more time, preferably at the The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
• I'd like to play in the World Series of Poker. Hell, I'd like to play in Bobby's Room with Phil Ivey.
• I'd like to go to every blogger gathering.
• I love watching my kids grow up and learn about the world around them.
• I'd like to have the first dance at my daughters' weddings, because that's Dad's dance damn it.
• I'd like to play with my grandkids and take them to Twins games and fill them so full of sugar they can't sleep that night.
• I can't wait to make fun of everyone that's got a wrinkled tattoo at the old folks home or their nipple piercings keep falling out.
• I can't wait to get really grey and look at my wife and know that she's still the most beautiful woman in the world.

I turned 40 today. Bring it world. We have lots to do and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Green Day in Concert: My Review and Recap

I had a feeling that those posts I did a couple of weeks ago about the best concerts I'd ever seen were unfinished. This past weekend, OhCountess and I embarked on the "Weekend of Rock Tour". No complaints, it was well worth it, going back to work sucks.

On Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we witnessed what could only be described as the best non-Pink Floyd rock concert I have ever seen. Big words from me.

This concert capped off an amazing weekend of music for my wife and me. As I posted earlier, the Basilica Block party started it off. I realized I was hanging out in the Twin Cities area for the weekend, so I tried to contact Terri of TerriTerri fame. I'm always up for the idea of a blogger meet up but nope, her daughter was playing in a softball tournament. This did spawn an idea, though. With a little planning, anyone interested in meeting at the Block Party next year? Kind of a Midwest blogger gathering??? Just an idea...back to Green Day!

Green Day is a band that's hard to pigeon hole. They're mostly punk, with a bit of pop and a lot of rock. Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer and lead guitarist, is very much into liberal politics and ain't afraid to share that with you. They can be loud, raucous and everything I think of in a rebellious rock band.

The concert began with the band playing their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown, in order. This is pretty much as you'd expect. It's a rock opera after all. The order of the songs has a lot to do with the meaning of the songs. It's the story of a young couple trying to navigate this crazy world we live in.

I should apologize for the quality of the pictures. I had heard cameras weren't really welcome here. No way I'm sneaking my good camera in without drawing attention to some bulging body part. We shot all of these with either our iPhone cameras or my wife's point and shoot. Strangely, I really think that capture the event well.

If you've ever listened to Green Day, you'll recognize that they are a pretty high energy band and from the beginning, you knew, this was a no holds barred, high energy with no moments rest concert. Billie Joe has energy like no other performer I've ever seen, but best of all, he can work a crowd. On no less then 4 different occasions, he had members of the audience helping out on stage.

At one point, he running around the corners of the stage, sounding like an Evangelist. Singing praises. He stops over on the left side of the stage and asks if there is a child that can be saved. Um, Ya think there's anyone that wants to go on stage? One dad volunteers his 12(? could have been 13) year old to go on stage. I don't remember the exact words but it was something like "You're gonna let you 12 year old on stage with a punk band?" Billie Joe starts talking to the kid up close, whisper style and the kid just starts swaying with his hands in the air.

He had a little chat with the kid and then they broke into East Jesus Nowhere. The kids just standing there swaying side to side with his arms in the air...all of us following in step. During the song, there is a big "saving" moment. The beat changes and BOOM! He places his hands on the kids head, he falls backwards "saved style" and LOUD explosions from pyrotechnics fill our ears and eyes. The kid gets a hug from Billie Joe and goes back to his dad. Of course the crowd loves it.

Dad Stuff over at Stuff In My Brain was apparently at this same concert, sitting a few rows behind us. Yikes, had we known. He noticed the same thing I did. What a cross section of people were here. Next to us was a mom with her 7 and half year old. He was wearing ear plugs. Behind me was a lady in her late 50's or early 60's - rockin' and looking like she was having a great time.

The two girls sitting next to me were talking about how their parents hadn't let them get the Dookie album. That didn't make me feel any younger...That was 1994. But that's a pretty awesome if you think about it. 15 years.

Through out the show, he was making constant references to Minnesota. His wife is a native of Mankato. As the story goes, in the early years, the tours used to come through here all the time. You know, so he could hook up with her. Boys.

I've read somewhere that he's always like it here, not just because of the hot babes, but in general. He made lots of comments that gave you the impression that this was like home to him. The band started playing riffs from well known classic rock songs, you know, like Black Sabbath's Iron Man. They'd only play a little bit of the song, but it was fun, but then, he played the opening riff from Let's Go Crazy, by Prince.

I don't know how punk rock concerts work in other parts of the world, but here in Minnesota, Prince is in a protected class. Sure, he's arrogant, a bit over the top and his music is funk not punk, but he's deep down well known as a hardcore Minnesotan...We'll sing a Prince song with anyone. It's what we do. Normally, I hate covers, but Green Day made that song theirs and it rocked.

This was followed up the band playing Shout! from the Animal House soundtrack. I know, a Green Day concert. Sure, it was a punk/rock version, but it was fun. During the "lay on the floor" portion of the song, they did a montage of other classic songs. Gawd this was fun and the crowd was just eating it up. Looks like we got a picture of Billie Joe singing on the floor (above).

The picture on the left, just above here is how I'll remember this. He's standing on the monitor, being the rock god he's becoming.

The band left the stage and the arena went dark. You knew it wasn't over, there were so many good songs to go.

This picture on the right is Billie Joe returning for a little acoustic set. He started by playing a song I don't think I've heard..."My Minnesota Girl" a song about his wife. Very cool...and this would be the crowd to appreciate it. This was followed by Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) off of Nimrod. Yeah! I was hoping for this!

Something you don't see at most rock concerts is a crowd that is fully engaged. Sure, they go nuts for their favorite songs, but at no point did the crowd ever disengage. Billie Joe ran off stage for what I thought was a guitar change, but returned with an enormous Super Soaker and proceeds to spray it at the crowd. Cool, nothing new if you ever been to a festival in August, but he pulled another 13 year old out of the crowd and gave him the gun. In the mean time, he's run off stage again and returned with the leaf blower/toilet paper spewer. Yeah, shlocky, but very fun. Those new rolls don't last long so off he goes again and grabs a different gun. This time he screams..."Who wants a t-shirt?" Yep, one of those t-shirt guns. So much fun.

All the while, the band just sounded great. The band played the opening of Boulevard of Broken Dreams, one of their more popular singles. Billie Joe steps to the mic and out of his mouth, he started on the WRONG verse! Apparently, he's got a sense of humor because he just laughed and turned around. The band kept playing and when the time to start singing came around again he steps to the mic and realized something, the crowd was singing it for him. Word for word. He just let it go. No one complained and we got the entire first verse out + chorus before he stepped back in. I have to think, it must be pretty cool to be on stage and hear a stadium full of people singing a song you wrote.

I've always wondered how bands like Green Day play the first hits for so many years and not just get completely sick of them. Dookie had so many remarkable songs on it, but they've been playing them for 15 years. This band didn't skip them. They just let the crowd do the work. During Longview (still one of my favorite songs), for each verse, a different member of the audience did the singing. There's three verses so three lucky fans got their shot. The first girl was pretty good, the second, well, she kinda sucked, and last, this guy gets up and rocked the house. At the end, after singing the best lyric in rock history ("when masterb***'s lost it's fun, you know your f'n lazy"), Billie gets on a mic cheering him on and says, "For that, you HAVE to stage dive!" Every fans dream. Lucky bastard.

The show wraps up. The band had played for two and half hours. One of the longest concerts I've ever been to and every minute of it was just fantastic.

OhCountess, who tends to lean to the pop song side of the music dial, looks over at me and said, "that's the best concert I've ever seen." Better then Rob Thomas? Yep. (I would have been looking for early exits from that...just sayin').

The house lights came up. We were in Section 104, row M seats 13 and 14. Dead center of our row. No rush, we stayed in the hotel across the street so we were really in no hurry. We took a few pictures and said good bye to our neighbors. Our throats were sore and our ears were ringing, but in the end it was all worth it.

This was, without a doubt, the very best rock concert I've ever seen that didn't have Pink Floyd on the ticket. It was very, very close to that good too. You may or may not realize just what that means coming from me...but it's huge.

After the show...cocktails with my bride cause there was no way we just gonna fall asleep after that.

Rock on!

Sorry about the quality but

It friggin Green Day!!!!!!

The weekend of rock continues

Heading in to the show!!! It's time for Green Day!!!

For the record

Time for a quick update. Last night, we went to the Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis. It takes place at the Basilica of St. Mary.

Terri, yes, you need to go! Next year for sure. Maybe this could be a blogger meet up??? It could happen.

OhCountess won the tickets to the VIP section. WOW! All of these pictures were taken from our seats. I like the lack of obstruction and the private bartender handing out free beer. Mmmm....free beer.

The Black Crowes were the headline act of the day. Man, did they rock! Those guys put on a fantastic demonstration of the proper way to do a southern blues/rock jam. The only disappoint of the night came as they didn't play "She Talks to Angels," one of our favorite songs.

Erin McCarley was the first act of the night. We weren't sure if we had ever heard of her, but she did sound great. She set the mood for a great night of music.

Next up, Mat Kearney, as far as bands for an out door show go, this guy was amazing. Great voice and just fun music. His guitarist happens to be from Minnesota. He talked several times about how excited they were to be here (of course, don't they all do this?). One really funny comment had to do with how much he loves Minnesota and Minneapolis. He' love it more without some of the winter, but of course, our homeboy had to chime it that putting up with those winter days is still worth it. I couldn't agree more.

Even with a little rain, the concert was a great time. The sights, the sounds and even the smells of the food vendors are hard to put into words.

I was dubbing this weekend "The Weekend of Rock Tour." Tonight, we are off to see Green Day! I looked EVERYWHERE but I can't find my skinny tie. Damn! But we might just have to change that. We are making a stop at the Mall of America today to see Buzz Aldrin. He's a geek rock star of a different...this is the second man to set foot on the moon.

I'm quite sure, there will be plenty more Tweets and blog posts from my phone, as long as the battery holds up. I really need to get an iPhone 3GS. Wait! There's an Apple store at the MOA...hm.

The man that looks like Jesus...#BBP09

The Black Crowes have taken the stage. Enjoy your lived while we are
in rock heaven...

This is more like it...

Mat Kearney on the stage, a cold beer, a cocktail for my wife and
FOOD!!!

Rock on!

VIP seating?

OhCountess seems to have gotten us VIP seating at the Minneapolis
Basilica Block party...oh boi!!!!!

Warm up act Erin McCarley is playing now. Sounds awesome!!!

Weekend in St. Louis: Getting there...

So, how ya been? Had any surprises lately? Been busy?

My life has been nothing but busy and surprises. I don't think I'll bore you with the day to day joys like being the only member of a team of 3 to be working last week. Or the craziness that are the "weekends" of my life...or wait, maybe I will.

Not this past weekend, the pig roast is another post coming soon, the weekend before. You may recall I put up some short posts, a medium size one and a few pictures. To recap, my wife hid a plan to put me in a car and drive to St. Louis Missouri and watch my beloved Minnesota Twins win one of two games vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. Oh, how I love away Twins games...hehe

In this and the next post, I'm gonna share the adventure that was the road trip to St. Louis.

When we left, I was still pretty much in shock by the whole thing. I mean, I went to bed thinking, "how am I gonna keep TheBiggTree (TBT) occupied all day?" As we made our way south to Iowa, we knew breakfast was going to happen....but where.

Thankfully, we love to eat at mom and pop places when we road trip. You know, you can have fast food any day, but on a road trip, live for the moment, take your life in your hands and order "the house special".

This photo on the left, it's the house special at Dave's Restaurant in Charles City Iowa. It's called the Big Daddy and works like this...take a plate full of hash browns, place an easy over egg on them and cover the whole damn plate in sausage gravy.

They had a little daddy at a reduced price but for some reason, we were hungry. The picture, that's what I left behind. It kicked our ass but MAN, was it tasty.

While I was eating, TBT kept reminding me not to over do it cause we had a stop to make soon and we wouldn't want a gut full...OK...so why did we order the big daddy? Can this possibly just sit nicely in my tummy while, as he said, do a little hoofin'?

I was officially "navigating" on our little adventure. I've done this before when planning a trip on Google Maps, add a sort of fake stop to make sure it routes me a certain way, so I improvised and by passed what looked like a fake stop in the travel plans. Oops. No, TBT wanted to stop there. It was our next destination.

No worries, we got ourselves righted and made our way out of town. We drove and drove and found finally found 240th St. It was a gravel road. Um. Okay. We drove down the road looking for a certain house number. I remember asking him, "you planning on whacking me and know a guy that will help you bury me?" We were in the middle of absolutely no where.

Another thought I had was maybe he was taking me to the Field of Dreams. My trivia on this sucked but I knew it was in Iowa, we were going to a baseball game, it could happen, but none of the farms on this road looked anything like the movie.

I'm not sure how I missed this the first time we passed it, but here it is, The All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club.
TBT is a fantastic tennis player. He has taught it at some of the private clubs in the area. He'd remembered reading about this place in Tennis magazine. I lettered in tennis in high school. That was 22 years ago.
When you make a reservation, they go all out. It's hard to see, but in front of each chair was a lawn sign, with our names on them! Now don't we feel special.
It really is a grass tennis court in the middle of the corn fields and the wind mills. It was absolutely amazing. Neither on of us had ever played tennis on grass. We both have some very limited experience on clay, the other major court surface, but here in the US, asphalt is mack daddy of tennis courts. This was really cool! Again, a complete and total surprise.

Our next stop wasn't a total surprise. One of the things we planned on doing while he had come to visit me was do a little geo caching. In his travel folder he had several geo caches that were on the way. One seemed to be just ripe for the pickin'. It was called JBird's Nest.

I'd never really done geo caching before but had always been very interested in it. Father of Five had written about it and I know others who have and it always sounds so fun.

TBT had the handheld GPS and a little experience. By the clues, we guessed this church was the right spot and sure enough, there it was under the tree!

OK, it really wasn't that brain dead easy. We walked around the back for a while and looked behind all the ventilation systems.

We didn't want to stay too long. We still needed to complete our primary mission. Busch Stadium and a baseball game. We left New London and got back on the highway making a bee line to the hotel to drop off our crap and catch the train into the city. Like we had any idea how to do that...

Until tomorrow...