Saturday, January 29, 2011

Interpol Tonight! Portland, Oregon!

I'm excited, I have tickets to the Interpol show tonight at the Roseland Theater. My oh so pregnant wife will be attending the festivities with me, I was looking for some giant ear-muffs for her belly or something, but alas, couldn't find any. You know, perhaps something like this...
Except, you know,...around the belly...area. Yeah.
Of course the baby isn't out yet, and that is obviously a feeble attempt at protecting him from the vibrations of a big rock show. But you can bet when he's old enough, i'll take him to his first major guitar thrashing-he'll have something like this. This should keep him mellow:

But seriously folks. I'm excited, even the band is excited to be here. This is their second or third show, after Vancouver and Seattle I think, to be back in the states.
This has been one interesting record, the newest [self-titled] release of 2010. Some of it I immediately liked, some took me a while to warm into, but ultimately, i've decided I love it, it is a work of art. Perhaps not the most epic, certainly far from bad. It is, as I said in my review earlier last year, like a series of paintings. The artist presents it, we view it and decide what we think and how it makes us feel. Interpol is probably so catching for me, because their music is deceptively complex, and it actually doesn't ware on you the more you listen too it. [Ok, as long as it's not TOO much!].There are little moments of brilliant emotion that get stirred up in their sonic crescendo's, and likewise within the quiet lingering moments.

I'm totally a fan. Can't wait for the show.
Interpol
If you haven't listened yet- you should!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

2011 Military Pay increase Finally Passed! [by Congress]

The wait is over!

For those keeping tabs on my previous post regarding the year-long story of the military budget approval, I Just decided to get straight to the dirt here:

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 was passed by Congress and has been sent to the President for signature. Touted as the largest Defense budget since WWII, the bill authorizes $725 billion for fiscal year 2011. The bill covers virtually every aspect of military spending including authorization for expanding TRICARE coverage to include dependents up to age 26, TRICARE fee protection, family support and care giver programs and a 1.4 percent increase in military pay.
FULL STORY at Military.com HERE.

Here is a handy link to the DFAS website for military pay, where they have a customer service number to call as well.  http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay.html

"What's this? I get PAID to be here??"


HGTV Dream Home 2011 - Giveaway starts New Years Day!

It’s that time again!

HGTV will be kicking off the New Year with their 2011 Dream Home Giveaway Sweepstakes. This year the amazing dream home is in Stowe, Vermont. You can enter twice per day — once on HGTV.com and once on FrontDoor.com — for your chance to win the luxuriously furnished HGTV Dream Home 2011, plus a new 2011 GMC Acadia Denali and $500,000!

The dream home itself is valued at $1,500,000! I can tell you, from the looks of the last couple year’s homes, the amount of customization and care that goes into it makes it a very special house!

...wow...
I did this competition last year, tried faithfully to enter every single day, but probably had more of a 75% ratio when all was said and done. But nonetheless, it was fun…and nice to dream a bit for a month or so…”What IF we won it!?”

Let the fun begin!