EricNixon.net - Past Months

May 30, 2006

One of the cool things about a cross-country (sorta) trip is planning the right music for it. I made a 100-song mp3 cd for the car with some of the following appropriate songs...

Song	Artist	Appropriate Area
Tennessee	Arrested Development	Tennessee
Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long	The Magnetic Fields	After picking up Baxter
Virginia	Tori Amos	Virginia
West Virginia	John Linnell	West Virginia
Pennsylvania	John Linnell	Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Is…	Everclear	Pennsylvania
Mass Pike	The Get Up Kids	Mass Pike
New Hampshire	John Linnell	New Hampshire
They Came To Boston	The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	Boston
Drivin' On 9	The Breeders	Route 9 in Massachusetts
The Seven Sisters	Rainer Maria	By Smith College
Automatic Buffalo	The Sheila Divine	Buffalo, New York
Cleveland Rocks	The Presidents Of The USA	Cleveland, Ohio
Cuyahoga	R.E.M.	Over the Cuyahoga River
The Contents Of Lincoln's Pockets	Rainer Maria	By Lincoln's birthplace in KY
James K. Polk	They Might Be Giants	By Polk's house in TN

What I'm listening to right now: Garbage - Not My Idea

May 29, 2006

So yeah, we're back from our big trip up North. Here's a map with all the states we went through...

I was pretty happy since I went through two states I've never visited (West Virginia and Ohio), and Canada.

We went up to Knoxville and picked up the newest member of our family! We didn't know what to call him at first because we weren't sure if we wanted to keep the name the breeders game him or not, so we spent about 800 miles coming up with name after name, but couldn't agree on one that we liked enough. Eventually, we settled on Baxter (which, coincidentally enough, just happened to be the same name the breeders gave him).

While up in New Hampshire, we got to see lots of flood-damaged roads, and rainy weather for the first half of the trip (yippie!).

A brewer friend of ours pulled out some cool beers that he's working on at his brewery for us to sample and rate. Since we're the kind of parents that want to include their kids in our activities, we brought Baxter with us. That's him snoozing in the bag after drinking that entire growler as well as the bomber in my hand. Silly silly dog.

After visiting our New Hampshire friends and family, we went to Boston for part of a day where Baxter made friends with some famous ducks. Make way for Baxter!

Then it was off to Western Massachusetts to visit with more family.

While there, Mr. Baxter decided to go to college. Here he is (on the right) at UMass trying to find out what all of this "New Dirt" stuff is all about.

On our way back, we stopped to Cooperstown, NY to go to the Ommegang Brewery. They make several of my favorite beers, including this one. Yum!

After the tour and, of course, the gift shop, we headed west and, amazingly found a free parking place in Niagara Falls, NY. The

American side was a nasty-ass collection of tired, crappy t-shirt shops and souvenir stands. It was nothing like the idyllic scene we'd seen in the show Wonderfalls we just watched on Netflix the past week. We walked across the pedestrian bridge to Canada, and were surprised to find how nice it looked. Yes, they also had crappy shops, but at least they looked nice, were hidden from sight, and were surrounded by stuff like this to the left.

Sadly, it was extremely foggy and we could barely make out the American Falls, and saw nothing of the Horseshoe Falls. Oh well, next time.

Then we jumped back in the car and drove to Cleveland. The next morning it was a straight shot through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, back to Alabama, and here we are. That was our trip in an extremely brief nutshell.

What I'm listening to right now: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

May 28, 2006

Pics and stuff to be posted from our trip back home sometime soon (whenever I get a chance).

What I'm listening to right now: The Magnetic Fields - Reno Dakota

May 17, 2006

New England, here we come! (please be kind enough to mop up the flooding before we arrive - thank you)

What I'm listening to right now: The White Stripes - Instinct Blues

May 11, 2006

While we're driving around the eastern part of the country, Kari is excited about going here and here, while I'm all about going here and here.

What I'm listening to right now: Bright Eyes - Ship In A Bottle

May 10, 2006 - When it rains, it snows

Two weeks ago, I was bitching (silently to myself) that I was getting sick of all my current music and really wanted some new and interesting stuff. Apparently I wasn't bitching silently enough because Kari reminded me that the Yo La Tengo cd we got last fall had a second disc that I was strangely unaware of (eee!). Then, this past Monday, a cd arrived that Kari ordered for me back in February (hoping that it would have plenty of time to get here for my birthday on April 30th). It was a li'l late, but that's ok since it's wicked awesome (sexy French trip-hop). On my way to Atlanta yesterday, I stopped at a little used cd shop (why are they so hard to find in the South?) and picked up a Bright Eyes cd that I had on my wish list. It sounds like a mix of the Postal Service and some of the more electronica Radiohead stuff. Then, to top off my New Music Bonanza, I stopped to Best Buy tonight and got another Yo La Tengo cd (also with two discs!). I haven't been this excited about a band since I discovered TMBG back in 1994, which makes me want to kick myself since when I was in college, I remember they used to play in the area all the time and I never bothered to check them out. I think it was because I thought they were some kind of salsa/merengue band. Now I know better and feel compelled to buy all of their cds and see them live.

I went on a business trip to Atlanta yesterday for work. I was pretty excited when the kind people at the rental car company gave me a free upgrade from an SUV to a wicked huge subdivision-on-wheels. I know it was probably because they were out of regular cars, but I'd like to think it was because they felt sorry for making me wait two hours before picking me up.

I have a bad habit of getting all sleepy while driving, but I've found that listening to people speaking helps me stay focused, awake, and alive. The last time I went to Atlanta on a business trip, David Sedaris kept me company, along with a healthy dose of NPR (also hard to find in the South). This trip, I took the only talking-type cd I could find was a double dose of Noam Chomsky. I'd been meaning to start reading/listening to his stuff, and it was extremely interesting, but man, it's not the prime choice for listening material for when you want to stay awake while driving.

*Warning - Long-Winded Ranting* When I got up this morning and got in my rental mammoth, and, the cd player wouldn't work. Nor would the radio. The only thing that was on the display was the clock and not one button would work. Funny, it worked fine last night. I'm not so much bothered that I had a cd stuck in there, but I was very concerned the prospects of a four and a half hour drive home today with no music to keep me awake and happy. I called the rental car company who seemed pretty unconcerned and told me to call one of their locations in the Atlanta area. I'm guessing they went to the same school as the fine folks in the Huntsville office since they were also unconcerned and gave me a number of another location in the area who might employ someone who cared. The guy who answered there did care at least a little and gave me a phone number of the local Nissan dealership and told me I should try to bring it in to have them look at it. The Nissan dealership said they could see me next Monday, but that was inconvenient since I'd be driving back to Huntsville tonight. I called the Huntsville office of the rental car company and got a hold of the management trainee girl who rented me the subdivision. After talking about it with her manager, she said she couldn't have an Atlanta office swap it out for another car, but she could give me a discount (no help there since the company already paid for it) and suggested that I bring it to a Nissan dealership. Grrr. Luckily I was able to talk to people on the phone for half of my five+ hour trip (took a back-woods way home to avoid the traffic), and listen to my mp3 player, on the shitty, tiny $10 speakers I got for it at Target, over most of the rest of the drive until the batteries died. *End Of Rant*

I'm surprised I haven't mentioned this before, since we've been planning it for the last couple of months, but Kari and I are driving to New England soon to go on vacation. It's been almost nine months since we last saw our friends and family, so we figured it was about time to head north for a visit.

We've been watching Wonderfalls on Netflix lately. It's from the guy who created Dead Like Me, and so far, it's pretty good.

What I'm listening to right now: Yo La Tengo - I Heard You Looking

May 6, 2006 - Dapple indeed

Wow, what a great weekend.

Yesterday we had a nice leisurely drive up to Nashville. No description of a drive to Nashville is complete without a picture of the James K. Polk Motel sign. Ahhh.

Eventually we reached metro Nashville, found our hotel,

checked in, and spent a bit taking in our digs. I'm guessing the hotel we stayed in hadn't been fully renovated since the 80's considering the decor spanning several decades that filled the room with a garish swirl of mis-matched patterns, colors, and concepts. Ow. Check out this clock! It was a foot wide and bolted into the night stand...probably because it's so damn hot that they had a problem with guests taking them home. How they'd fit it into their suitcases, I dunno.

After having enough checking out our supposedly nice hotel, we went out for dinner. We made it over to the club around 9:30pm and found out that we had missed the opening band, well, guy, actually. I had kind of wanted to see him, but man, dinner was really frickin' good and couldn't be rushed.

When They Might Be Giants first hit the stage and began playing "New York City", it seemed fairly lackluster and like they were going through the motions. It wasn't until the second or third song where they seemed to get in the zone (playing "James K. Polk" in front of the long-dead president's enthusiastic, home-town, Nashville crowd), and wow, they rocked more than the rockingest rockers ever rocked. For years, I thought the time I saw them in New York City in 2001 was the best TMBG show ever and could not be topped even if they did an all-Smiths cover show...well, actually, that would be the coolest thing ever. (much time later:) Ok, after giving it some more thought, a better show would be seeing Morrissey sing all They Might Be Giants cover tunes - I can totally picture him crooning "I Palindrome I". Anyways, this show was, by far, the best TMBG show I have ever seen. Not only did they rock out, but they really seemed hugely into it (after the first couple of songs), having a great time, and they played an amazing selection of songs from all of their cds, including a few I haven't heard live in years and thought I'd never hear again. It also helped that the crowd was gigantically excited, hugely appreciative, and very vocal in singing/bouncing along to every song. The $22 admission price was worth it just to see Dan Miller's intense 5-minute flamenco to metal acoustic guitar intro for "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". I can't wait for the concert to be available for download from their site.

After the show, we returned to the hotel, and decided to use the free drink coupons we got when we checked in. We got to the bar and saw a very different scene than the one from the club we just left. Exit/In: Nashville's late 20's & early 30's alt/indie hipsters totally fixated on seeing TMBG. Cheezy Hotel Bar: Nashville's desperate mid 40-somethings totally fixated on hooking up with other desperate people/soccer moms staying at the hotel, while the karaoke lady tells everyone, in-between badly sung 80's tunes, to be sure to go to their Mother's Day brunch next week. After spending two minutes in there, we were like, "Um, yeah, this sorta kinda wicked sucks," gave our drink coupons to some soccer mom, and left.

This morning, we got up early and headed across town and got breakfast at Fido in the Hillsboro Village section. Yummy. The next stop was to a store across the street form the Grand Old Opry (what the hell is an "opry" anyway?...nevermind. I just found out.) where we did some research for the SUPER SECRET PROJECT. It was very informative.

On the way home, we decided to take a windingly different route (after hitting the Wild Oats in Brentwood, TN) and eventually came across the world's creepiest flea market. These

one-story red buildings went in a U-shape around a common parking lot. The insides all had carpeted floors, but, in most cases, no floor under them. They were all filled with a weird assortment of clothes, glassware, old paperback books, and cans of Spaghetti-O's all mixed together in the strangest mish-match of stuff you've ever seen. When I took a picture of an old, rusted roto-tiller that was sort of like one my father used to use on the garden, an ancient, toothless man appeared out of nowhere and was giving me a dirty look. He was probably trying to figure out why I wanted a picture of a roto-tiller.

Shortly after we got home, we added another member to our growing family! Meet Baxter (his name will most likely change)...

He is a chocolate and tan dapple miniature dachshund. We're going to pick him up in two weeks from a breeder in Knoxville, and, wow, we can't wait (but I'm sure Zoe and NewCat can).

What I'm listening to right now: Saybia - Bend The Rules

May 2, 2006 - A major award!

A month or two ago I wrote how we submitted a few pictures for a Jones Soda label contest. In total, over 6,000 photos were entered and only the top 36 would make it onto labels. Take a look at this picture (clicky to enlarge)...

...and get used to seeing it because IT WON! Starting in June, it will be appearing on random Jones soda labels at Starbucks locations in the United States and Canada. What fabulous riches do we get? A digital camera and a framed label.

Giving a camera as a prize for a photo contest reminds me of the award I got in high school for having perfect attendance. Four years of school, I never missed a day of classes (although I was stricken with mono during the week with all the senior events as well as graduation) and what did I get? Well, during the awards night ceremony I got recognized for my perfect attendance and received a wrapped gift. Ooh! I was actually excited as I walked (well, it was more of a hobble due to my mono-enlarged spleen) off the stage and was thinking (in the proud voice of the dad from A Christmas Story) "It's a major award!" I got back to my seat and greedily ripped apart the wrapping to reveal the cheapest, crappiest, last-minute-of-a-gift... alarm clock. An alarm clock? WTF? Ok, I know I was a consistent C+ student, but geez...four years and I didn't miss a single frickin' day of school. I should have gotten a statue of me should have gone up in the idyllic scenery of the cross-country trails behind the school or something. Behold! The one person who was here every day no matter what. You know what? If you're currently in school right now, and vying for a perfect attendance award or some shit like that, I say, screw it. It's not worth it. Take a day off. Hell, take a week and do something fun. You'll probably learn more anyway.

Whoa, that was a bit of a tangent. Anyways, we're really excited about winning the contest and we can't wait for the framed label to arrive. We'll post a picture when we get it at the end of June. (and stay in school)

Some people have written asking how Panoply went this past weekend. Well, it was an outdoor arts festival, and it rained all day Saturday and Sunday with 35mph wind gusts. As for the festival itself, I dunno how it was. I dropped out of it a few weeks ago. Why would I do such a thing? Well, I had four days off from work reserved for Panoply and after much careful consideration, I felt our time would be better spent working wicked hard on the SUPER SECRET PROJECT and the minor setback at losing our steep Panoply entrance fees would be more than offset by the time invested in our non-Panoply endeavors. What is the SUPER SECRET PROJECT? I still can't tell you, sorry. Ideas need to be trademarked and all of that other legal stuff before we can even remotely hint at the roughest nugget of information. It's like ketchup. It needs its time.

This past Sunday was...my birthday (yay me!)! If you didn't get me a present, it's ok. You still have time to shop for me on my Amazon wish list. (Hint: the Segway would make a really great gift!)

Only three more days until the They Might Be Giants concert.

What I'm listening to right now: Low Flying Owls - What My Friends Say