This past Saturday El, Dan and I decided to head over to Tampa to check out a new exhibition featuring Chinese cadavers on display as science/art at the MOSI Museum. Incredible, yet disturbing.
I gotta tell you - that was freaky. It was kind of like a horror movie. You don't wanna look, but a the same time you can't look away. This was probably one of the more amazing things I have seen. The exhibition featured unclaimed or unidentified bodies from china who are soaked in a silicone type of liquid that preserves them. They are then modeled in athletic poses or "cross sectioned" for closer investigation. Every part of the body is explored - the musculature, skeleton and even the circulatory (how they extracted all those eveins and arteries and then reformed the shape of the body without the bones or muscles and float them in liquid is beyond me). There was even a section for fetuses - which kinda bugged me out. Remember...everything here is REAL.
It took about 1 1/2 hours to see everything and unfortunately, photographs weren't allowed. What I did take on my camera phone looked pretty crappy. I would highly recommend everyone check out this exhibit. It's on display in Tampa until February 2006.
Afterwards, we went back to Orlando for some lunch at the Celebration Diner. I ate meatloaf. Yummy. Happy Birthday Dan!
Monday, August 29, 2005
Barkada Update!
Wow! Everyone is moving along and getting older! New things on the horizon. Here's the skinny...
Dave and Cheryl (Daveryl) are expecting a package from the stork. Heeey! Congrats you two. You'll make great parents!
Carl and Kristy (Soon to be Caristy) got engaged August 19th! Congrats to you guys as well! We'll be there! Just say the when and where.
Cher and Kevin (Kevilyn) are ALSO expecting. Just had their latest ultrasound. It's due in January/February right? AND congrats to Cher on getting her state real estate license and the new gig. Good luck!
El and I are celebrating our SEVENTH anniversary in Espana with Jen and her bro, Ryan, on September 3rd (or is it 4th???). Woo hoo!
Steve and his wife, Carla, moved BACK to SC in Summerville from San Diego.
Goose is still in Virginia with his little girl, Gayla Rose, doing his thing. Hope all is well.
Marc and Crystal are still getting used to playing mom and dad with their little one. Drop Steve a line - you're neighbors now!
Rick and Kristen are moving to Charlotte, NC. Congrats on buying/selling your house and the new gigs. Good luck!
Flo and Jenivy now have TWO kids. Last I talked to Jun everything sounded well. He's become a real estate mogul out in Cali.
Anything else I miss? Hope not.
Dave and Cheryl (Daveryl) are expecting a package from the stork. Heeey! Congrats you two. You'll make great parents!
Carl and Kristy (Soon to be Caristy) got engaged August 19th! Congrats to you guys as well! We'll be there! Just say the when and where.
Cher and Kevin (Kevilyn) are ALSO expecting. Just had their latest ultrasound. It's due in January/February right? AND congrats to Cher on getting her state real estate license and the new gig. Good luck!
El and I are celebrating our SEVENTH anniversary in Espana with Jen and her bro, Ryan, on September 3rd (or is it 4th???). Woo hoo!
Steve and his wife, Carla, moved BACK to SC in Summerville from San Diego.
Goose is still in Virginia with his little girl, Gayla Rose, doing his thing. Hope all is well.
Marc and Crystal are still getting used to playing mom and dad with their little one. Drop Steve a line - you're neighbors now!
Rick and Kristen are moving to Charlotte, NC. Congrats on buying/selling your house and the new gigs. Good luck!
Flo and Jenivy now have TWO kids. Last I talked to Jun everything sounded well. He's become a real estate mogul out in Cali.
Anything else I miss? Hope not.
Hail Social at The Social!
Wednesday, August 24th, I rounded up some friends to see my cousin Richie's band, Hail Social play here in Orlando at The Social. It's been maybe three years since I last saw him at my sister's wedding.
During the wedding he passed me off some demos of their music. They sounded pretty decent so I shared them with other friends. They've been getting great exposure the past few years touring with Interpol and releasing a CD this year. Reviews have been great and they've even been played in Urban Outfitters. Pretty awesome.
Preshow was spent having a few drinks with Paul, Scott, Erin,THOMAS "PIMPIN" GRIMES and Ollie. Later on my sister Rachel showed up as well as Ed and his new squeeze, Erin. Nice little group. Richie was able to hang out before his set and chat it up. That dude is funny as hell.
Talking with him was an eye opener on what being in a band is like. It's not all that it's cracked up to be. Scraping by just trying to get to each new city to play. Pay isn't great, the hours are rough, and driving all night can be tedious.
The show itself was a great set, although a little offputting that the lead singer ran off the stage afterwards. With the other band, Rainer Maria, they at least said little things in between songs to "interact" with the crowd. Still the music was well crafted and the lead's vocal were on point.
My sister Cherilyn was able to catch up with Richie in Columbis, SC while my bro, Ricky, caught the show at the Drunken Unicorn in ATL. He had to bail out unfortunately before they could finish their set and he could chat with Richie - old man!
It was cool to see Richie perform. Even better to catch up with him. Hey man next time you've got some time to kill come on back and hang out longer!
During the wedding he passed me off some demos of their music. They sounded pretty decent so I shared them with other friends. They've been getting great exposure the past few years touring with Interpol and releasing a CD this year. Reviews have been great and they've even been played in Urban Outfitters. Pretty awesome.
Preshow was spent having a few drinks with Paul, Scott, Erin,THOMAS "PIMPIN" GRIMES and Ollie. Later on my sister Rachel showed up as well as Ed and his new squeeze, Erin. Nice little group. Richie was able to hang out before his set and chat it up. That dude is funny as hell.
Talking with him was an eye opener on what being in a band is like. It's not all that it's cracked up to be. Scraping by just trying to get to each new city to play. Pay isn't great, the hours are rough, and driving all night can be tedious.
The show itself was a great set, although a little offputting that the lead singer ran off the stage afterwards. With the other band, Rainer Maria, they at least said little things in between songs to "interact" with the crowd. Still the music was well crafted and the lead's vocal were on point.
My sister Cherilyn was able to catch up with Richie in Columbis, SC while my bro, Ricky, caught the show at the Drunken Unicorn in ATL. He had to bail out unfortunately before they could finish their set and he could chat with Richie - old man!
It was cool to see Richie perform. Even better to catch up with him. Hey man next time you've got some time to kill come on back and hang out longer!
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Take Two Catheters And Call Me In The Morning
Poor, poor Ellen. A few years ago she had an event at work which required her to go the emergency room. Little did I know that this was a continuing problem that had worsened as she got older. On the rare occasion her heart would rapidly beat like she was running a marathon, evethough she would just be standing around filling out a chart. The ER guys took pity on her, stopped her heart litrerally so it would "reset" itself and gave her some meds to prevent this from happening again.
Fast forward to a few months ago where it happened again at work. She took the meds to stop it, but is now faced with a dilemma. Since we want to have children there is the distinct possibilty of complications with a pregnancy if she has the condition still. AND she can't be on the meds to control it if she is pregnant. Add to that that we are on our way to Spain in a couple of weeks, and go forbid, something should happen to her overseas...
This past week El elected for a procedure to burn away the guilty tissue growth on her heart. The dangers? If they burn too much of the node she would have to have a pacemaker for the rest of her life. If it's too close to a certain part of the heart she would also have to repeat the procedure to "cryo", or freeze, off the tissue. Both not so good. Three hours after her procedure she's in the recovery room. Dr. Guggachev is happy with the work done, eventhough there were some complications (the offending tissue WAS too close for comfort), but he managed to work it out.
El spent the rest of the weekend under observation and then released for care from Nurse Erick. Poor Ellen. I felt pretty awful while she was still out after the procedure watching her sleep. I was happy I was there when she finally awoke.
Hopefully that'll be it for quite awhile. Now we can concentrate on our anniversary trip to Espana in a couple of weeks. Once we get there I'll try to repeat my daily blogger like I did in Japan with pics posted. Til then...
Fast forward to a few months ago where it happened again at work. She took the meds to stop it, but is now faced with a dilemma. Since we want to have children there is the distinct possibilty of complications with a pregnancy if she has the condition still. AND she can't be on the meds to control it if she is pregnant. Add to that that we are on our way to Spain in a couple of weeks, and go forbid, something should happen to her overseas...
This past week El elected for a procedure to burn away the guilty tissue growth on her heart. The dangers? If they burn too much of the node she would have to have a pacemaker for the rest of her life. If it's too close to a certain part of the heart she would also have to repeat the procedure to "cryo", or freeze, off the tissue. Both not so good. Three hours after her procedure she's in the recovery room. Dr. Guggachev is happy with the work done, eventhough there were some complications (the offending tissue WAS too close for comfort), but he managed to work it out.
El spent the rest of the weekend under observation and then released for care from Nurse Erick. Poor Ellen. I felt pretty awful while she was still out after the procedure watching her sleep. I was happy I was there when she finally awoke.
Hopefully that'll be it for quite awhile. Now we can concentrate on our anniversary trip to Espana in a couple of weeks. Once we get there I'll try to repeat my daily blogger like I did in Japan with pics posted. Til then...
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Congrats To Hail Social
Well it's official. My cousin , Ritchie, and his bandmates from Hail Social released their first CD nationwide on Polyvinyl Records. So far so good. They've gotten pretty good reviews for their first time out. The four guys from Philly got together as Whole Foods employees and kept at it. Recently they toured with Interpol and Secret Machines. I'm glad they finally made it down south to promote their new album. They'll be playing here on the 24th at, aptly enough, The Social. We'll swing by to show some support. Check out some fo the reviews from Channel 3000, Neufutur and The Space Lab. Take a listen on iTunes or your local BestBuy to sample it. Nice job guys!
Friday, August 05, 2005
Goose's Crack Reunion
This past weekend we decided to head back to Charleston for a a short visit. It was my mother's birthday earlier in the week and my father's in the upcoming week. Plus, David and Cheryl were coming down from Maryland for
a visit. Since we haven't seen them in maybe three years it was a good time to catch up with everyone.
We left Friday after work and arrived at Cher and Kevin's crib around 2:30am thru hard rain and heavy rush hour traffic in Orlando. We wanted to make the most of our stay so we decided to leave Monday morning to maximize hang time.
Saturday we had lunch at my folk's place and took them out shopping near Mt. Pleasant for their birthday gifts. Afterwards, we had dessert at the local Marble Slab Creamery - mmmmm...Then it was off again to race out to Summerville and hook up with the old crew at Marc and Crystal's new casa for a cookout. Food was good, beer was cold and I learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em Poker.
Now I've never played in my life, but everyone was a good sport about it since I wasn't the only one foreign to the game. Apparently, Dave and Cheryl are well experienced in taking money so they took the time to teach us lesser informed. Plus, to boot, I ran into Jose from Vegas after a 6(or is it 7?) year hiatus and Phillip (sporting his World Poker Championship tee shirt). Marc, Marvin, Jeff and Jason rounded out the rest of the players. Like I said - I don't know sh*t about playing poker - and I got my ass handed to me fairly quickly in our practice round. Once the money came into play I struggled a bit and held my own as I continued to learn the nuances of the game. After 5 1/2 hours of play (2:30am AGAIN) I took home the money. HA! Not to shabby for a first timer. Must've been beginner's luck.
a visit. Since we haven't seen them in maybe three years it was a good time to catch up with everyone.
We left Friday after work and arrived at Cher and Kevin's crib around 2:30am thru hard rain and heavy rush hour traffic in Orlando. We wanted to make the most of our stay so we decided to leave Monday morning to maximize hang time.
Saturday we had lunch at my folk's place and took them out shopping near Mt. Pleasant for their birthday gifts. Afterwards, we had dessert at the local Marble Slab Creamery - mmmmm...Then it was off again to race out to Summerville and hook up with the old crew at Marc and Crystal's new casa for a cookout. Food was good, beer was cold and I learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em Poker.
Now I've never played in my life, but everyone was a good sport about it since I wasn't the only one foreign to the game. Apparently, Dave and Cheryl are well experienced in taking money so they took the time to teach us lesser informed. Plus, to boot, I ran into Jose from Vegas after a 6(or is it 7?) year hiatus and Phillip (sporting his World Poker Championship tee shirt). Marc, Marvin, Jeff and Jason rounded out the rest of the players. Like I said - I don't know sh*t about playing poker - and I got my ass handed to me fairly quickly in our practice round. Once the money came into play I struggled a bit and held my own as I continued to learn the nuances of the game. After 5 1/2 hours of play (2:30am AGAIN) I took home the money. HA! Not to shabby for a first timer. Must've been beginner's luck.
The next morning we teed off at Legend Oaks Golf Club in Summerville. It was raining pretty good, but we were determined to play. I had been gearing up all month in preparation of this by going to the range and even squeezing in a few rounds of golf at home. The weather cleared up and we were up and running. David, Danny and Jeff played a group and Marc, Sean and I made the second group. After all my hustling all month I am proud to say...I need to practice more (playing with Dan and some of his friends at Champions Gate here in Orlando this weekend - that'll be interesting). I flat out suck. No really. To add a little salt to the wound, Sean was AWESOME and for not having played in five years Marc did fairly well. I must be a glutton for punishment.
Later that evening, El and I met up with Dave and Cheryl, Carl and Kristy and Kristy's roommate for dinner. Friday was to be Dave and Cheryl's anniversary so it was perfect timing. We checked out a new spot for us called Queen Anne's Revenge - a kind of old British Colony themed seafood restaurant. Tasty. Afterwards it was off for coffee, dessert and more goofing around at Kaminsky's, one of our old fave coffee spots.
We got back to Cher's at midnight where we hung out some more and hit the sack. The next mornig we went back to my folks for lunch and hit the road to Orlando. I could've easily stayed longer but, alas, it was not meant to be. Either way it was good to see some old faces and catch up.
Later that evening, El and I met up with Dave and Cheryl, Carl and Kristy and Kristy's roommate for dinner. Friday was to be Dave and Cheryl's anniversary so it was perfect timing. We checked out a new spot for us called Queen Anne's Revenge - a kind of old British Colony themed seafood restaurant. Tasty. Afterwards it was off for coffee, dessert and more goofing around at Kaminsky's, one of our old fave coffee spots.
We got back to Cher's at midnight where we hung out some more and hit the sack. The next mornig we went back to my folks for lunch and hit the road to Orlando. I could've easily stayed longer but, alas, it was not meant to be. Either way it was good to see some old faces and catch up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
