My first granted patent! Woohoo!

So a buddy of mine and I went to a free introductory class of Krav Maga yesterday. It’s a martial art created by the Israeli military, who you know don’t mess around when it comes to pragmatically kicking the shit out of others. In self defense, of course.

Anyway, it was pretty cool! We did the whole warmup thing, and then practiced some jabs, kicks to the groin, and elbows to the head. Fun! Unfortunately, the classes are pretty spendy (60-120/mo) it seems to me…and I have no job (and am already paying for a gym membership), so…

Any martial arts people reading this (hehe) care to give me some insight on how much is reasonable to pay, and what they’d recommend in terms of different styles etc?

Before.

After.

Textured ceiling removed
Painted
Floor stripped
Floor sanded
Floor stained
Floor polyurethaned
Baseboards painted and installed
Quarter round molding stained and installed.

By: Jen and Andy
Total time: oh I don’t even want to think about it…

A big thanks to Chris L for the use of his miter saw and nailgun!!

Well, a cover of an old song…

I did Manic Depression at an open mic earlier this week, and I did a quick recording of it today.

WTF is wrong with this country!!

When will the US get over the PTSD caused by 9/11? ’cause we keep on moving in the WRONG direction.

long time no talk. So what’s new with me?

I am two months into my time off, and things are going pretty well. I have been focusing on music, as well as the website that I’ve been working on (seemingly) forever. Musicwise, I think the next step for me is to start performing solo. To that end Jen and I scouted the Open Mic Night at the Green Room on Monday, and I plan on getting on stage this coming Monday. The performers we saw Monday set the bar NICE AND LOW. Heheh. I wouldn’t mind joining an existing band (and I’m tracking the musician’s forum on Craigslist) but none of them on there are quite right, or even as close as Templeshock was to being right (I did know Templeshock wasn’t gonna be The Band going in, but I thought I just needed the experience, even if it fell apart eventually. Which it did.)

Google Earth has updated the picture of my house to reflect the tree coming down in the back yard, but as you can see, it still shows the shed, and a bunch of wood in the back yard. You can also see my car.

Very cool. The messy backyard doesn’t look NEARLY as bad, when viewed from outer space!

Finally, I put up pics from my latest trips to SF, and Atlanta. Unfortunately I don’t have any from Cincinnati due to a canoe malfunction.

My birthday this year is on Election Day. I’m thinking about having an election-themed party. Hopefully the electorate will grant my birthday wish…

new pics up!