The Real Pat Blair

Please visit the myspace site for a place called The Rock in Papillion (Omaha), Nebraska. Browse the “Upcoming Shows” section. Notice, specifically, October 21st and 22nd.
I don’t even know where to begin with this one, so I’ll just stop and let you enjoy the… whatever it is you’re enjoying.

Fall, if it has not arrived, is at least making its looming presence known. I went for a quick motorcycle ride tonight – job-related, of course (the need for phone numbers and field-measurements knows not constraints of time). The air is cool and brisk. Crisp, nearly even cold. Few things are more refreshing than an autumn evening’s air rushing past your helmeted head at only five miles per hour greater than the speed limit.

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The other night, my roommate Mike and I came up with one of the best analogies I’ve heard in quite a while. While its usefulness is limited to those who are familiar with Gumby’s pizza, I think it’s worth sharing:
Sinning is like eating Pokey Stix. If you’ve done it before, your realize it’s probably not the best idea. Alas, there is instant gratification: if it weren’t fun at the time, no one would have any interest. Unfortunately, there are always consequences.
Some are more dire than others, some are immediate, while others are long-term, some are expected, even dreaded, and some may come as quite the surprise. But consequences… always consequences.
So you swear to yourself that you have learned your lesson, that you are finished, and that there will be no more sin in your life. Until next Tuesday when everyone orders Pokey Stix again.

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An actual workplace conversation, from a construction site, as relayed to me by a friend.

(Whilst framing a wall)
Worker 1: Do you know how to crown a stud?
Worker 2: What?
Worker 1: (Louder) DO you know how to crown a stud?
Worker 2: I’m not familiar with that terminology.
Worker 3: (Shouting from the ceiling above wherest he was working) I’m pretty sure it has something to do with racehorses.

I, of course, did not witness this conversation, and I most certainly didn’t participate in it. But I am told that no one heard the third worker, and the conversation continued on. How unfortunate.

OK, I’m sure that I really do have lots of profound things to discuss with you, the viewing public, my readership, the magnificent 3. But I must say that, when it comes to acronyms, truer words have never been spoken.

The only possible mistakes would be excluding Pretentious and Ridiculous.

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I know that many of you are looking for a great concert to attend after Saturday’s Green Day show in Des Moines (which I am refusing to attend because socialists like Green Day deserve done of my hard-earned American dollars). You’ll be glad to know I’ve found something for you – November 2, 2005.

I share this only because I suspect that no one remembers: The Lone Strangers are playing this Thursday night at the Bali Satay House, along with The Down Trunks from Kansas City. If you are at least 18 years old, and have at least $5, you can come to this wonderful event. I suspect that The Lone Strangers will pull out some things that have never before been heard in Ames, or perhaps even that have never before been heard ever.
Also, mark your calendars, because on Saturday, October 8th, there are two big weddings and, that evening, one big Strangers show. Hoorah!

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in making a donation for hurricane relief, and you are politically inclined/cynical enough to want to avoid many of the usual suspects, let me recommend Samaritans’s Purse, a charity run by Franklin Graham.
More to come…