Thanks!

Opening for Freezepop again, this time hittin the road to Mankato! 2 days!!



(myspace event)
(facebook event)

Because I know you've been waiting with baited breath, it turns out the freezing picture/pausing playback was my cable box after all.  A couple days ago I went to check my DVR and it said "Unrecoverable write error" and never worked again.  I took the box in and swapped it out.  So far, no problems.

Now hopefully they'll refund me the $28 service charge that accomplished nothing.  *grumble*

I finally have a blog-worthy life experience.  Judge me not by my digital content.

So a couple weeks ago my cable starts doing this thing where (on some channels) the picture will freeze solid.  Sound keeps going, but picture is like it's on pause.  This has only happened a couple times since, but ever since, any recordings on the DVR will have frequent pauses in the show.  It'll stop for a second (sound and all) and then keep going.  Very annoying.

So I called and they did their long-distance reset thing.  No help.  Next day a guy comes out and checks out my signal and wiring and stuff and makes another appointment for the next day (today) to have all the wiring replaced.

So the guy (different guy) comes out today and replaces every single piece of cable from the box to the pole in the alley (although this was a good opportunity to rerun the cable so it's not VISIBLY TRAIPSING UP THE STAIRS AND GOING THROUGH A HOLE IN THE WALL -- remember when I wanted to do this 2 years ago Spike?).  As soon as the guy left, the picture froze again.  He was awesome enough to give me his direct number though, so he came back after the appointment he went to and tested the line again.  Since it was exhibiting the issue, he was able to see lots of errors coming through on the channels that were having the problem.  And an interesting circumstance: the guy he was just visiting (in my neighborhood) was having issues on the same channel.

So, they're elevating the problem to area-wide and investigating everybody's error rates in my neighborhood.  Hopefully something good will come of this.

And it's nice that I didn't have to (or at least haven't had to) replace my DVR cause I still have some stuff on there I haven't watched.

Holy Carp! I'm going to Russia in 2 days!

Showtime again. Milkbar is opening for All The Pretty Horses this Thursday, May 7th, at the 7th St Entry!



(myspace event)
(facebook event)

Howdy.

Just your friendly neighborhood reminder that this Saturday, milkbar is opening for Information Society at The Varsity!  This is pretty huge for us, and we're super excited.  It's also our first show as a 4-piece so that'll be new and interesting.



(myspace event)
(facebook event)


Advance tickets can be obtained at www.indietickets.com or at the Loring Pasta Bar.

Hey Adam, Kakalios totally realized a dream:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/04/watchman-science-superheroes-technology-breakthroughs_movies.html?partner=technology_newsletter

For the rest of you, the guy in this article was my physics professor at the U for two different classes.  I am jealous.

Just a reminder:  New Wave Day Celebration is tonight at the 7th St. Entry. Come see my band milkbar play with Pop Inc., Kontrol Panel, and The Trapezoids.

$6/18+/8pm

And yes, there will be bacon. And cookies.


(myspace event)
(facebook event)

Big venue, small cover! Also, we're planning to provide bacon and chocolate chip cookies! :)

Sadly, this will also be Kari's last show with the band as she's decided to pursue other interests.
We of course wish her the best of luck. But still :(

( flyer! )
(click for myspace event)
(click for facebook event)

Hahahahahaha!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/17/pride-and-predator-to-give-jane-austen-extreme-makeover


O.o

The man promises hope, and I feel it.  First day on the job and he halts trials at Guantanamo setting the stage for the facility's closing.

You may remember a post I made about change.gov -- the then-imminent administration's forum for interacting with the people delivering detailed outlines of their agenda for everything from Iraq to the economy to health care.  And again more importantly, providing the mechanism for the governed people to make their voices and opinions heard.  Well, change.gov will no longer be updated.  The change is upon us.  All these things and more are now at whitehouse.gov -- including with a new official Office of Public Liaison "through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President."

He's also signed an executive order for an Ethics Commitment to be signed by "every appointee in every executive agency appointed on or after January 20, 2009."  Groundbreaking!

Oh and if you watched any of the weekly video addresses from when he was president-elect, you'll be happy to know that the President intends to continue to publish a weekly video address every Saturday morning of his presidency.  Seriously.


I know I'm historically not one to wax political, but frankly that's just because I'm not a complainer.  For the first time I feel like there are politics I can proclaim with sincere esteem and goddammit I'm gonna do just that.

OK I'm done.

For now.

So... hopefully I'm not announcing prematurely here, but in addition to opening for Information Society at the Varsity on 3/28, we're now confirmed to play The 7th Street Entry on March 4th opening for Maps of Norway!!   More details to come.

I'm freaking out a little.

Went to see My Name Is Bruce Sunday night. Fun flick. Typical B movie acting, dialogue, and special effects -- all tongue-in-cheek of course. And BC's Q&A afterwards was fun. He's pretty good at handling crowds and fanboys. It was a good time.


Also there was a trailer for this new movie called JCVD. If you're unawares, like I was, it's not entirely unlike the above movie in that Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as himself in a fictional story. It's about him as a struggling actor who hasn't had work in a while and hard up for money. So he holds up a bank. Hostage situations and all. It kind of made me keanu ('woah'). Supposedly he's really good in it.


Also, why are people surprised every year when it gets ass cold out and it snows? You live in Minnesota. This is not unusual. I guess some people just like having something to bitch about.

Trailer for Ghostbusters video game: http://io9.com/5101684/ghostbusters-game-is-so-lifelike-its-spooky%20Ghostbusters

Also, this amuses me more than it should. Based on real events (well, at least frames 1 and 2):

The previous weekend Josh and Tara helped me rearrange my house, putting my TV stuff in the larger livingroom area and moving my desk and things into what I'll now be calling the study. I like the arrangement, but I'm still figuring out where everything will be going. Might be a little while before things really come together.

My mom and step-dad came to visit for T-Day, which was pretty good. Picked them up from the Megabus stop on campus. We cooked dinner at my house, turkey and all. It came out great, and everything was very tasty.

Friday was milkbar's benefit show at Aqua. ohmygod. I don't think any of us had previously been there, and so weren't aware that they aren't at all equipped for live bands. They don't have a stage. Or mics. And they kept changing the start time on us. And only let us play 4 songs. But at least they were good songs. And my mom got to see (most of) our set.

Saturday I drove with my parents back to Milwaukee for my high school reunion, which was that night. Actually turned out to be better than I expected. I found it amusing that, despite ample space in the room, everyone was crowded snugly in front of the bar for most of the night. There were I few people I was hoping to see, some of whom I did. It was pretty awkward at first, but that's what booze is for. Afterward, Josh, Juli, Chris and I rounded off the evening at Blu, at the top of the Pfister.

Then it was wake up and drive back to The Cities with Josh and Juli on Sunday. More or less uneventfully. Which is good.

And now back to work.

Ok we're actually going on at 7:00!

Sheesh.