They said: Yes, she's been here...
But their memories weren't clear...
Was it yesterday?
Or the day before?
- Elvis (Kentucky Rain)

This week has been all up's and down's. I've decided that I don't really have "good" or "bad" days, per say, rather I just have days with LOTS of Drama or very LITTLE Drama.

Life is good though. I have Kerrie, and in effect tons of great ideas and lots of restless ambition to cook, write music, travel, and work hard.

Last week was Kerrie's birthday, so we went to Ann Arbor for dinner. It was a great trip. We hit Cafe Felix and the food was spectacular as always. There was a Brie Plate, their Balsamic marinated filets, stuffed chicken breasts and lots of other great stuff. After dinner we went to Espresso Royal for dessert and I revealed the legend of the Sack Cookie and other great Cosmo's moments. The rest of the evening disappeared with burning candles and a mix CD with the likes of St. Germain, Massive Attack and Oakenfold...

Wednesday pissed me off. Larry was a jerk and a half over all this stupid shit and it seriously pissed me off. But Wednesday night was great. I made dinner for Kerrie and I think she liked it. I did a nice salad of tossed greens with provolone, Sopressata, shredded parmesan, marigold saffron flowers and a nice saffron alioli. After the salad I busted out the Moutarde et herbe Filets en croûte with the garlic mashed potatoes. I was irked that my mustard gravy didn't turn out but the filets were nice, as they went really well with the Two-Buck-Chuck merlot. For dessert I made my mayo-bundt with a pear-confit and homemade vanilla bean gelato. Again, I was inspired. Can you dig that?

Friday, Kerrie and I went to Toledo to have dinner with Baxter and his wife at Kevin and Jack's house - Which was really nice... For dinner there was a delicious Beef Burgundy with a side of broccoli and a lot of fun at the expense of Baxter's Wife. (Apparently she doesn't like "nuts"...) There was this massive dessert pizza after dinner and it was utterly rich. I must be getting older because I used to freak out on that kind of stuff and after like three bites I was sure I was going into a diabetic coma. (So good!)

Yesterday was a long day, but a pretty good one. I was behind on prep all day, but I made some great chocolate chip muffins and the day did go by relatively quick. Last night was great though. Like, REALLY great. Kerrie and I went to Poco Piatti for dinner and it was SO good. We had a spread of great food, including shrimp baked in marinara with provolone and garlic, a dinner torta, calamari, lamb and pork and chicken skewers, pizza with spicy sausage, and that really good dish they make with the cheese that they set on fire. Dessert was equally enticing as I am a huge fan of Turkish coffee and baklava. Last night was, hands down, one of the best meals I've had all year.

Today has already slipped by and I haven't even gotten started yet. I had breakfast at Panera and today Kerrie and I are going out for a while. Kohles has some Calphalon shit on sale dirt cheap and I'm hoping to get a few pieces from Pier 1 for new years eve, and tonight the Dawn of the Dead remake is showing in Maumee so I'm hoping to hit that...

Speaking of NYE, my menu is shaping up quite nicely. Jeb is against the Foie Gras but I'm thinking it just has to be on the cheese plate. I'll get to all of that later though. I need to go take a shower and clean that stank-ass Panera smell off of me.

Five Song for a Sunday:
The Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child
Elvis - Kentucky Rain
Johnny Cash - I've been everywhere, man
Tricky with Anthony Kedis & Flea - GIRLS
Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died


"Later Losers Whom I've Never Liked..."
- Bender (Futurama)
"Are you allergic to nuts?"
- Question asked to Katie (Baxter's wife)
"AMERICA!!! FUCK YEAH!!!"
- From Team America
"What do your balls taste like?"
- A question overhead at Poco Piatti referring to the deep-fried risotto balls

No matter what you are... I will always be with you...
- Badfinger

The walk to work this morning was exhilarating. A bounce in my step, so to speak. I trotted along listening to "Genius of Love" by the Tom Tom Club while thinking of the past week and pure excitement of having a girlfriend again.

With that in mind, the day went by pretty quick. I made an amazing Apple Crumb pie this morning and we had this really good slow cooked pork for lunch today. I spent the day thinking about Kerrie and about working on music with Jeb.

After work, Jeb came and got me and went BK-Core. We decided to skip working on the vocal booth because it was raining and instead rewired the studio-space in the basement. Everything was going great until we brought in the bass-cabinet and the damn cat slipped past us out the back door. We looked around and couldn't find him ANYWHERE so we decided to go over to BG Music & Sound instead. I picked up some new cables and a few adapters and we came back to the house. Billy, by then, had found the little fucker hiding under our neighbors car.

With that little fiasco behind us, we started working on music. We finished one song and started working on a thump-thump Acid Techno version of No Matter What by Badfinger. Since neither Jeb or I can sing for shit, we decided to vocode our voices and it turned out really cool. Robot-vox are sweet. Oh yeah, we went there...

"(Sigh) People really need to stop trusting you..."
- Jeb to Me
"The only way to explain how great she is to say that she is the COMPLETE opposite of everything Hannah ever was..."
- Me to Jeb on Kerrie
"WELL SOMEBODY'S GOTTA FUCKING GO!!!"
- Kerrie yelling at the other cars at a 4-way stop

I gotta be honest... I could use a little more Cowbell...
- Christopher Walken

Long week, Good week. Lot of work, little fun thrown in here and there...

Wednesday, Kerrie and I went to Trotters for dinner. Standard Meal Rules apply: Regular Brown Jug, Medium, Caesar Salad, Shot of Cutty and ice water with lemon. After dinner we went to that new smoothie place over behind Spectrum Video. I had a great Peanutbutter Cheesecake Smoothie.

Afterwards, Kerrie and I came back and chilled out to a little Mushroom Jazz. (DJ Mark Farina, Vol. 3) It was a great night and one, I might add, that I haven't had in years. For once I don't have to fake interest in a woman. So good...

Yesterday was a full day. I got up and was leaving for work right as Billy was getting home from a gig in Toledo. The day sucked because I behind on prep, but thankfully it was slow so I got mostly caught up. Plus I made Apple Cinnamon Muffins and Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.
After work, Kristy and Tom and I went up to the Mango Tree for dinner. It was a bit overrated, but my food was good. Aside from slow service and a waitress with a fucked up talk, it was a nice meal. (I like homemade Caesar dressings...)
After dinner we hooked up with Billy and his "friend" Sherry at Cohen and Cooke. We had two cheese plates, two or three bottles of wine and... Tequila? (Kristy? Help me out here...) The party broke up about 12:30 or so (I'm a big pussy now that I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning...) and we each headed out in separate directions.
I wish Jeb and Kristen hadn't blown us off for some trashy keg-party in (snicker) Findlay. More importantly, I wish Kerrie had been out with us last night. 'Eh, it was a good night so what's the problem, right?

Troy, sorry I missed your call the other night. I'll call you sometime this week though.
Edwards, nice template change. Classy. Call me, Please. I promise that I won't need a place to stay...

"I was wondering why I suddenly felt so ALone and Fragile..."
- Travis, to me, upon realizing I was listening to "Let it Be" by the Beatles
"We're SO getting on COPS tonight..."
- Tom

Today is Matthew Sweet's 40'th birthday. Since the guy has one of my Top-10-Albums-Ever spots, I shall impart upon you my favorite of his songs.

Girlfriend

I wanna love somebody
I hear you need somebody to love
Oh, I wanna love somebody
I hear you're looking for someone to love

'Cause you need to
Get back in the arms of a good friend
And I need to
Get back in the arms of a girlfriend

I didn't know nobody
Then I saw you coming my way
No, I didn't know nobody
Then I saw you coming my way

Don't you need to
Get back in the arms of a good friend
Oh, cause honey believe me
I'd sure love to call you my girlfriend
Oooh (sidenote: hey, someone's gotta write it in)
Alright

Don't you need to
Get back in the arms of a good friend
Oh, cause honey belive me
I'd sure love to call you my girlfriend

'Cause you got a good thing going, baby
You only need somebody to love
Oh, you've got a good thing going
You're only looking for someone to love

'Cause you need to
Get back in the arms of a good friend

And I'm never gonna set you free
No, I'm never gonna set you free



Aww yeah...

There was something in the air that night,
The stars were bright,
They were shining there for you and me...


It's weird how things can just go your way sometimes. Call it fate. Call it Karma. Call it God's Will... See, Saturday started like any other day: Sucky. We got our asses handed to us at The Grill for breakfast and lunch, then I went home to try and get a little sleep but the damned phone kept ringing. I eventually got myself out of bed, cleaned up a little, and went to get the order I had placed for the Grill from the Belville Market. I wound up having to go to The Batcave looking for Deli Wraps and that pissed me off because the latch on the door sticks so I had to beat it open with the padlock.

I came home and wasted away. I was looking forward to seeing Billy and Russell play at Cohen & Cooke, but I was also a bit strung out from the day thinking no good was to come of the evening.

I came to the realization that I miss my routine from when I was in High School. Every morning I would have to get up, get dressed -obviously- and get my brother up. Quick breakfast and coffee, then off to pick up Randy, drop my brother off at the junior-high school, then pick up Troy, followed by Mike and Nikki. I thought back to a certain In-Service day where Troy, Mike and I wound up at the Commodore Cafe for coffee and pastries. Good Lord do I miss those days...

As the evening got on in hours, I got dressed, spiked up my hair, and listened to some Daft Punk, a little David Allen Coe, and some St. Germain. Whenever I'm jittery, I always wind up listening to the song "Sure Thing" by St. Germain. It settles me down. Smoothes me out. Gets me cool...

I got to Cohen & Cooke a little late, but Kerrie was already there. I sat down and talked with her for a few minutes then decided to get drinks. While I was at the bar, this guy got on me about how cool my tie was. He was, of course, WAY loaded. It was still funny to see him keep looking back at me like he might have known who I was then just go off about how much he liked my tie.

Kristy and Tom came out. Billy and Russell did a great cover of Heterosexual Man by the Odds. The four of us shared a bottle of some California Red. It was amazing. Everything felt good and right. Then... Then came an apex of sorts. Billy and Russell did a cover of "What a Good Boy" by the BNL, followed directly by a cover of "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie.

I know that seeing those two songs, one after another, doesn't make sense to anybody, but that's okay. That moment was for Kerrie and I...

Skip ahead to Sunday morning... I was driving through Perrysburg on my way to Church and I was listening to "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" by Barry White. It was like I was floating. While on 75North, I drove past Troy's old apartment complex and all these great memories came back. For some reason I remembered these people that lived downstairs from Troy who always had this foul smelling incense and food coming from their apartment. Weird...

People know something's up with me. I didn't freek out once today, and Larry was right in my way all day. Didn't matter. Nothing mattered. All I knew was that I was happy AND I was on my game even though we were WAY behind on prep. It's like Chuck said: You never can tell...

5 Songs for a Wicked Cool Monday:
Stereogram - Walkie Talkie Man
Stroke 9 - Kick Some Ass
Huevos Rancheros - Beach Blanket Black Out
Tom Jones - Are You Gonna Go My Way?
Yo La Tengo - Here Comes My Baby


"I'm a Heterosexual Man, it's just a problem with my glands..."
- The Odds
"I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it!!!"
- Bill Murray
"It takes a special guy to Rock a Tie..."
- A guy to me at Cohen & Cooke
"Jesus Christ! Would you quit bitching already?!!? You're Worse than a fuckin' Woman!!!"
- Kent (A Corner Grill Regular) to Dave Wentz (Another Corner Grill Regular)