In the aftermath...

Well, Katrina came and went through our area. There really wasn't that much effect in and around here as it was far enough west to not really cause any problems. There were a few power flickers and some gusty winds, but that is about the worst we got. Even the rain was not much to write home about. Unfortunately, I'm sure the same can not be said about the New Orleans area. I'm sure the area is quite devastated at this point. Lori and I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have everything just completely wiped away. We were kind of lamenting the fact that we never really got to see New Orleans either. We live close enough to drive, and had talked about doing it some time, but it seems that it will just never be the same now.

Not much else is really going on. Starting up practice for the Christmas concert allready this week and working hard on everything else as usual. Hope everyone else is good and having a blessed end to summer.

Peace,
Adam

Katrina cometh...

Well, the Russian Orthodox hurricane of the year is headed for us at the moment. People are already freaking out about gas as lines have been steady and long all day. Right now the track looks like it is hitting us dead on, but then it curls to the east at the last minute and hits Panama City. Let's hope it curls anyway. I really don't want to have to put up plywood again. Putting it up isn't too awful, but taking it down sucks, cause then you have to patch all the holes that you put in your siding and stuff. Not fun at all! At least if the hurricane is going to hit, it would be nice if it didn't hit on mine and Lori's only day off. It works out better when they hit later during the week, cause then we get snow days. :) Well, almost anyway. Not much else is new besides that. We'll keep you updated as things progress.

toodles,
Adam

Slave to the man...

Working real hard every night and day... nah nah nah...rollin' on the river...nah nah nah...

Just taking a moment at work to breathe and project some pent up creativity out into the world. Just got done with choir practice and am working on putting together my list of demands for my meeting with the church architect tomorrow. It's finally getting to that point where I get to create my ideal worship environment. At least technologically anyway. My brain is racked with all the little details that I have not really thought about until the last day or so. This meeting probably won't be that intense, but I still want to have a good idea of how I want things before I go in there so I don't look like a complete moron. I was hoping I would get to spend some leisure time in Pensacola tomorrow afternoon after the meeting going to some decent music stores, but have to come back in a timely fashion so Lori and I can play for a mass. Father Roy's mom passed away a week or so ago and he is saying a mass for her tomorrow for some closure as she did not desire a funeral of any sort. I don't think I want a funeral either. At least a traditional one anyway. I'd rather pay for everyone to go see Cirque du Soleil or something like that. That way all the money sunk into the project would at least be a worthwhile and memorable experience for those involved. But I'm sure my thoughts will change as the years go. I think...maybe...sure, we'll stick that. Hope all are well and I miss all those who are close to me yet so far away.

Dankeshane baby,
Adam

The gimps are prego...

Well, Kip and LaFawnduh are officially the proud parents of four little eggs. Whether any real baby birds are in them is yet to be seen. We should know in about 11-14 days whether or not we will have some more feathered company in our midst. Lori is pretty stoked about it, so I'm glad.

Didn't really do much productive today. Ran a few errands after we managed to crawl out of bed while it was still light out, but that's really about it. Started to do some recording but got interrupted by a few phone calls. I need to spend more time in here, but it is hard finding time to record and exercise, and I need to do both. Hopefully we can get the yellow room cleaned out this week so I can have our friend Jim come over and get some drum tracks recorded. I need to start reading up on the mastering procedures with ProTools LE. Recording is easy enough, but the final mixes will probably prove more of a challenge.

Trying to get into biking again. I need to get some gloves and a camelbak. I think the bike I have is decent enough for now, but I've got the bug, which is always bad, but can't afford anything really cool. There aren't that many cool bike store around here anyway. I miss REI and cool places like that in Colorado. Outdoor recreation is pretty much limited to Bass Pro Shop and the local Wally world. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. And since everything in life is so interesting, I will sign off for now and leave you thirsting for more delicate morsels of the Florida high life.

Peace,
Adam

3 strikes and your out...

Just got back from another life enhancing experience! We were able to witness a Pensacola pelicans minor league baseball game. Didn't even know they had a team around here until a few days ago. It brought back some good memories of when Denver was Rockies-less and the Zephyrs were just as big a part of Mile High Stadium as the Orange Crush. Only one thing was slightly different. A million degrees! Next year, maybe we'll try and go see some games in the early season when it is not quite so sweltering. It did get a little better as the night wore one, but definitely needed a shower when we got home. The "stadium" is the UWF baseball field, so we picked up Lori's brother from school and went there. I guess they're trying to petition for funds to build a permanent field in the P-cola bay area, which would be kind of cool. Something else to bring venues in and have things to do around this 3 1/2 horse town. Well, have a long weekend ahead, so am going to keep this short. I still need to try and update more often, but have been rather grumbly this week, so didn't want to project into cyberspace. My love and peace to all.

Adam

A tacit life...

Not much new going here, but figured I should update so that the few readers I do have are not bored to tears with the same endless rants as before. Already starting to feel overwhelmed by Christmas. I still want to be in the summer funk where there's not as much to do and people aren't expecting anything. Oh, well. Time to suck in the gut and get back to life. I'm trying to get ready for a ministry fair this weekend. Gonna have to try and convince the lovely people of the parish to sell their souls to the music ministry and never have a life again! :0 We'll see if it works. I still don't have any one to help out on the children's music ministry side of things yet however. Plus, now there's talk of wanting more middle school involvement, so that means something else to do and be at, since my accompanists are in short supply as it is right now. Not really meaning to complain as much as it probably sounds I am, it's just one of those days where the weight of the world feels like it is closing in around me with nothing but a straw to breathe through, and it's a twisty glitter straw that doesn't really work anyway, so you look pretty while you're trying to breathe, but the actual task of doing so is completely pointless. [end rant here]

Other than that, life seems to be pretty good. Trying to exercise, trying to eat right, trying to sleep right, trying not to bring a hand grenade into heavy traffic. Normal as usual. Hope everyone else is having a blessed day/week/blink of an eye and take the time to smell the sewer pipes. Why? Because then you REALLY appreciate the roses. :)

living la vida loca,
Adam

Ever wonder why?

Do you ever wonder why things are the way they are? Why do some things happen the way they should and others completely fall apart. Why can't penguins, ostrich, and emu fly?

As much as I would like to change so many things in the world, I can't. Things are how they are for one reason or another. The only things I can hope to change and accomplish are the things directly under my control. That happens to be a very small amount of things by the way. The vastness of creation is far beyond my comprehension and so when I find myself pondering why, I simply flip the question around; Why not? Because God wanted it that way of course. If you're not able to accept that everything around you is derived for some purpose, whether it be singular or multiple, then you will certainly not be able to accept your surroundings. Of course it is admirable to desire something better. It is only human nature to seek out the best possible way of things, but one must keep in mind that the desires of our hearts are not necessarily our needs or God's wants.

Keep in mind the penguin. I'm sure he wants like crazy to be able to fly. But it's much easier to catch fish in the water than over it. There's a method to the madness somewhere. Don't try to understand the mystery, EXPERIENCE it!

Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope.
When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you.
When you look for me, you will find me.
Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you;

Happy pondering,
Adam

Sunny Florida?

Rain rain go away, and don't come back no more!

Man, it is relentlessly raining in the panhandle lately. It has not only rained, it has stormed really hard every day for the last week and a half. If I had a wave runner, I could probably ride it to work at certain points of the day as the amount of water left standing is incredible. Of course, I will take a myriad of thunderstorm over a hurricane anyday, but the water is just getting nuts. On a positive note, maybe it will help our decaying front lawn. We have a nice brown spot in the front that we just can't seem to conquer. We've tried grub and mole cricket control, fungicide, fertilizer, and plenty of watering. I've finally concluded that it just can't take the full sun. We had a large nice shady tree in that spot last year before Ivan hit, but sadly it was taken from us at an early age. We managed to replace it with a young sapling, but it just doesn't produce any large amounts of shade just yet.

Nothing much new going on here besides the water. Hopefully our roof will hold up under the constant pouring and we won't find any more leaks. We still have to make it through the rest of the hurricane season! (Which they heightened the prediction amount by the way)

Will leave off at that and return to drudging away at a music schedule that just doesn't seem to want to coordinate itself, so life as usual.

Peace,
Adam

Comments Please...

Hello to all. I did not realize that only members were allowed to write comments on my posts, so I changed the setting and now anyone can. Feel free to respond and comment so AI don't feel quite so lonely and pathetic. :)

Kip and LaFawnduh...

Well after a long and hard deliberation, we settled on names for the Zebra finches. Lord, help our children. :) (Mom and Dad, you'll have to watch "Napoleon Dynamite")

We managed to find a local store in Niceville that actually had some finches, so we picked up the lovely couple this afternoon. We're a little concerned about LaFawnduh though. She seems to have a defunct head. We noticed when we got home that her left eye is recessed and her feathers are a little muffed under the eye. Looks like some of the other birds might have been picking on her. We're not sure if we are going to try and take her back and exchange her or not. I kind of think it givers her character. She's overcome adversity and gotten out of "The Store". No one's repressing her anymore! Power to the finches! Anyway, she's really the only one that chirps at this point also. Kip's too busy chatting online with babes all day.

Stay tuned for more details on the LaFawnduh saga. We may have a LaFawnduh2 tomorrow. :)

Peace, and there's more where this came from if you go to the dance with me on Saturday.

Wedding Bells Are Ringing...

Well bells really already rang, but it's still a special day nonetheless. Today is the big 3 year celebration. Hard to believe that it has been that long already. We're planning on going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. After we go to the pet store of course. I spoiled Lori and got her something that she has been wanting for a long time. She raised Zebra finches when she was growing up and she has been saying for a long time that she would like to have birds again. Taking this as a key opportunity to show my listening and deductive reasoning skills, I quickly put on an attitude of disdain for anything feathered so that she would never think we would get them. All I needed was an occasion to get the little flying terd balls for. :) I surprised her with a stand and a cage last night/early this morning, but I figured half the fun was in picking out the birds and the toys, so we're going to do that together tonight before we go out to dinner.

May the Lord bless all with the opportunity and desire to show others how much you care about them. You'd be surprised how rewarding it can be! :)

Bachelor review Day 4...

I slowly awake as I lay in a puddle of sweat on the cold tile floor, I suddenly realize that my life as a single man is near over. As I slowly come to and begin to rise, the gnawing hunger for a well prepared wife made meal and extreme dehydration take their effect as I quickly collapse to the floor in a weakened stupor. Only 10 more hours to go...

Seriously though, it's Monday and Lori is coming home tonight. Obviously nothing much went on this weekend, other than a creative lapse of brain cells and wasted time in cyberspace. It will be nice to have Lori home though. The dog missed her. :)

School starts back up this week for all the schoolers in this area, so it's time to start kicking work into full gear again. It's been kind of nice not really having to worry about too much during the summer because we have had trips to go on and stuff, but our trippage is officially over for the year. Lori and I were talking and this is the first time in over 2 years that we don't have some sort of extended trip or air fare planned. What is the world coming to? Of course, knock on wood, it will be kind of nice to concentrate on the home front for a while. Although, we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves.

Well, peace to all. Until next time. Same blog time, same blog channel.
Adam

Bachelor review Day 3...

Wha..t? What day is it? Mommy, I don't want to go to school today...

Where's Lori...? (cough, hack, spew, gutteral lung wretching sounds)

Anyway, it's Sunday. Enough said, it was a long day.
Maybe tomorrow will prove more exciting.

Peace,
Adam

Bachelor review Day 2...

The house is dark and chilly. An eerie silence hangs in the air. I am beginning to see my rib cage reflected in the mirror. The fridge has now been exhausted and all the pizza and beer is gone. I am slowly wasting away into nothing. (cue the buzzards circling) Water... water... (cough) water. Where is my wife?

Well it is 10:00 at night and I'm just getting home. Lori's parents invited me to see the "Fantastic 4" movie tonight after mass, so I rushed out of mass to try and make it across the bridge for a 7:10 movie. Did some shopping earlier today. Managed to come up with a couple of ideas for the ol' anniversary but choose not to disclose them at this time.

Hopefully, I will survive until Monday. Hopefully...

Adam (cough)

Bachelor review Day 1...

Well, Lori is off to Quincy for a wedding and I am stuck here at home with a dog and a list of chores. Why is there always a list? Well, I guess I've had the same list for a while, so it's probably my fault. I hope there's enough frozen pizza and beer in the fridge to last me until the wife gets back. :P

Things are looking bright at the moment however. The fridge is stocked and movies have been rented. Ready for a classic night of action man movies and vegetative lounging. Sounds just like college! The only thing missing would be the throngs of attractive women knocking at my door every 30 seconds. Seriously though, have you ever been to Quincy? I pretty much picked up the only gem there. ;)

Well the night is looking manageable. I'll keep you updated on my days to come. We'll see if I remember how to survive in the world on my own.

Peace,
Adam

Little body, sharp teeth...

Well, definitely had an interesting day today. Father Roy and I chased down and captured a little American Alligator running around the church parking lot and front lawn. I guess some parishioners had noticed it scurrying around in the bushes over the weekend and father has been keeping an eye out for it all week. I just happened to notice an alligator lying in the parking lot when I came back to the church after lunch, so Father and I had a St. Michael moment and went and slew the dragon. Well, we didn't actually slay it. Father is actually quite Franciscan in his dealings with animals.

Regardless, we marched onto the field of battle with broomsticks and rubbermaid shields held high. Okay, I'll stop with the sappy medieval references. Nevertheless, we managed to contain the 3 1/2 - 4 foot gator into a large storage bin and clamp the lid down on him without losing any significant appendages. I suppose we could have called park and wildlife services, but that just wouldn't have been any fun, and he might have gotten away by then, thus endangering little children appendages come the weekend. I'm sure the passerbyers on White Point road had a very interesting double take as they drove by the church front lawn with two men waiving poles and a rubbermaid lid and bin.

The picture above is probably a little bit smaller than it was. You have to imagine that the tail is about 1 1/2 times the size of its body also, so it was much more impressive looking. I suppose it was little compared to a full fledged crocodile or swamp alligator, but it was nonetheless a good thrill. It's been a while since I've done anything semi reckless, so the adrenaline was thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe Lori will want to go parachuting for our anniversary next week?

You'll be happy to know that Father was going to find a nice swampy area to return the little guy to so that society is no longer endangering his existence.

Anyway, peace to all, and happy dragon hunting! :)

Nothing special...

Well here it is Monday again. Another weekend of masses and music gone by, Yippee. Spent all day cleaning the house today. We finally had a chance to get something done. After two months of on and off travelling and a hurricane passing through, we had quite a job to do. I think I hauled more branches out of the backyard from Dennis than I did with Ivan. Needless to say, the grass was a mile tall also. At least in out neighbors yard anyway. I voluntarily take care of the elderly neighbors lawn, but I am starting to dread it, because their lawn is always so much greener and taller than ours. They have a sprinkler system which enhances their lawn's performance I guess. But it sucks because I have to mow the lawn now whenever THEIR yard is starting to look unruly when mine still has a good week before I would need to do it again. Needless to say, there is not much going around right now since I am venting about yard work. Speaking of, did I mention how freaking hot it was today? I think I sweated off about 3 pounds over the course of the last few days. Not just hot, but humid to th max. It was nice being in Colorado for a while and experienceing a dry climate again. Man, I miss that.

Anyway, after a hard day of working, Lori and I went to the new local coffee shop to play some cribbage and enjoy a nice espresso drink. It is kind of cool to have a somewhat real coffee shop in the area now. Emerald Coast Coffee is a project of the son of a deacon that Lori works with, so we kind of know some one on the inside. Maybe he can hook us up with some discounts eventually. :) Anyway, good cheer and peace to all, and remember this one piece of advice while on the beach.

Don't pee into the wind. Seriously, you'll regert it...

Out of the frying pan...

Well, we dodged another bullet with hurricane Dennis. We just happened to be out of town in Denver for our friends wedding which was both a blessing and a little stressful. It was nice to be out of harms way, but at the same time we were not really able to prepare our home adequately before we left. We had to rely on Lori's parents to help get our houses boarded up. They did a great job, but it is always stressful when you aren't able to be there yourself.

Needless to say, we finally got back to the panhandle and things are pretty good in our area. We lost some branches off some trees, but that appears to be the only damage that we had.

Well, it's getting king of late here, but will be updating more soon.

Thanks and God Bless!

What a difference a day makes...

Hope everyone had a blessed Independance Day a.k.a. the 4th of July. We had a fantastic one here in our neck of the woods. Good company and good conversation with just a pinch of pyromania seem to be the perfect combination for an extraordinary time. Lori and I had a great time visiting with our friends the Foleys and their two little ones over at the Ensley household after all the other guests have left. It was great to catch up with them and see how God continues to bless them in their lives. God Bless the Foleys, we love you guys! :)

Anyway, it was really just an extraordinary weekend for some reason. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we will be visiting Colorado soon and that always makes me happy, but I think it was just a really blessed weekend over all. Can't explain it, I just know it was.

Our friends Alysia and Brian are going to be getting married soon, so everyone say a prayer for them as they are going to need it this week. Lori and I remember those times all too well. It is really hard to believe that we are coming up on our 3 year anniversary. :0 Where has all the time gone? Nobody ever said that time moves faster when you get older. I'll be taking another step towards that ever looming 30 this year. Only 3 more years till I am officially old and uncool. Lori might argue that I became uncool a long time ago, but we won't mention that. :)

Our blessings to all and our thought and prayers also.

Peace...

Holiday weekend at Wal-mart...

I can finally say that I have lived a complete life. We were out and about the town last night when we decided on a whim to swing by the local wally world. Much to our voyeuristic enjoyment we encountered perhaps the most crowded store on the face of the planet. Have you ever been to a Wal-mart and they were out of shopping carts. Not maybe for 5 or 10 minutes or so, but for the entire evening. If you wanted to do any serious shopping, you had to pay 5 bucks to one of the scalpers out front who managed to get their hands on the cart of a departing shopper and decided to become an entrepeneur. Not really, but I seriously thought about doing that once I trekked out to the parking lot and eventually found a discarded cart between the cars somewhere. It was truly a unique experience.

Other than that, it was a nice night. We were pleasantly surprised to witness an early fireworks display while sitting in the parking lot of Petsmart. Lori has this notion that she would like to get some birds, but I am thinking otherwise. :P It only took us 20 minutes to get from our house to Lori's parents that afternoon, which is only about 2 miles away, so traffic could have certainly been worse. It must pale in comparison to what some of our adventurouse friends that moved out to L.A. have to deal with.

Anyway, nothing much else going on out here on the Florida homefront. Getting ready for a fun filled day of hot dogs, swimming, and the lingering smell of sulfer all night long as we celebrate this Indedpendance day. Hopefully eveyone will be able to take a minute and think and pray about how truly blessed we all are to live in such a nation as this where little things like writing aimlessly into the internet are commonplace and legal. In all seriousness though, God bless America and may He keep you all safe this holiday!

Peace...