General

So, a slew of my "facebook friends" have posted various musical lists that were influential in their life or just important to them in some way.  I appreciate the sharing of this, and it is an interesting exercise which I feel compelled to do.  However, I now HATE facebook lists, so I am just going to post it on my blog.  I am making the separation of the two activities in my own mind, therefore it is good here, but bad there.  I am perfectly capable of justifying this behavior to myself.  It allows me to maintain my elitism while still pandering to the tiny fool of a boy inside of me that screams for attention.  So, here goes.

List Number One.  The Artists I Like.

These artists are not listed in any particular order, and I have liked or disliked them during different times of my life.  Some are iconic, some not.  Some you will loathe, and make hasty judgments of my intellect based on my affinity for them.  This is me, not caring.

1. The Beatles -- if they aren't on your list...shame on you.
2. Led Zeppelin -- "Kashmir" plays in my head while I walk down the street.
3. Van Halen -- DLR, not SH.  or that other hack.
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers -- his voice is awesome.  And I sound just like him in the shower.
5. The Pretenders -- Punk meets New Wave, takes it around the corner and smacks it upside the head.
6. Elton John -- Yeah?  So?
7. Elvis Presley -- I blame my mom.
8. Johnny Cash -- So cool it hurts to look at him.
9. Queen -- I'm a scaramouche.
10. Squeeze -- COME ON.  You can't write "She's so lucky that she doesn't have to shave, I'm so lucky that I'm not doubled up in pain" and not have me like you.
11. Pearl Jam -- The ribeye steak of guitar riffs.
12. Hansen -- just seeing if you were paying attention...
13. Peter Gabriel --  you got something in your eye there.
14. Aerosmith -- I'm incredibly afraid of Janie.
15. The Police -- stadiums can no longer hold Sting's ego, but the music is still teh awesome.
16. Alison Kraus -- she's a smart aleck with a mandolin.  So awesome.  And I know I keep using that word.
17. Ben Folds -- fantastic lyrics, cool piano bits.
18. BareNaked Ladies -- these aren't the hipsters you're looking for.
19. The Beach Boys -- Best.  Christmas. Album. EVAR.
20. Johann Sebastian Bach -- Nice wig, dude.
21. The Who -- The part of the British Invasion that felt...invasive.
22. U2 -- More self-absorbed than most Hollywood people, but they can still rock.
23. INXS -- I sound just like him in the shower, too.
24. Corinne Bailey Rae -- Such a big voice from such a tiny girl.
25. Dave Matthews Band -- That drummer is blowing bubbles while he plays.  BLOWING.  BUBBLES.

I promised myself I would keep my lists at 25 or less.  NEXT.

Albums.  In No Particular Order.  I find myself playing these over and over on my ipod, or they reached me in some particular way during some time in my life.  Again, you may love them or hate them.  But this isn't your list, it's mine.

1. "Songs From The Big Chair" by Tears for Fears -- the first album I ever bought.  On tape (remember those?).  I wore it out in my crummy little tape player.
2. "Violator" by Depeche Mode -- best road trip album ever made.
3. "Joshua Tree" by U2 -- After Boy, which kinda stunk, and before all the media-garbled crap that was 1991-94.
4. "My Generation" by The Who -- The kids are alright, man.
5. Led Zeppelin I-IV.  I can't think of a song on any of these albums that I don't like.
6. "1984" by Van Halen -- I remember recording these songs off of "Casey Kasum's top 40" played on Sundays.  Again on my crummy little tape player.  "Jump" is still one of the most awesome songs ever.
7. "A Hard Days Night" by the Beatles -- I really love this album.
8. "Youth" by Matisyahu -- He's a Hassidic Jew.  From Austin.  Singing Reggae.  And the lyrics are great, and his vocals are all over the map.
9. "Ten" by Pearl Jam -- I always liked them better than Nirvana...and it turns out, they were less crazy.
10. "1972" by Josh Rouse -- These songs are sunny and bright, with heartbreaking lyrics.  And I'm starting to sound like a Rolling Stone writer.
11. "Synchronicity" by The Police -- When they still rocked.  Another tape that I wore out.
12. The "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack.  "Man of Constant Sorrow," "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and "Down To The River To Pray."  And the rest are really good, too.
13. "New Favorite" by Alison Kraus/Union Station -- "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" is one of the funniest songs ever.
14. "Madman Across The Water" by Elton John -- everyone else picks "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."  I like this one better.
15. "Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens -- Yes, he's a pretentious indie hipster.  But this album is great, and sounds like a high school band playing songs they want to play.
16. "Crash" by Dave Matthews -- Sweet like candy to my soul...
17. "The Complex" by Blue Man Group -- Best show ever *remembering Emily and I singing "White Rabbit" at the top of our lungs while Tom and Teresa stared at us.*
18. "American IV - The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash -- yes, they are covers.  but the original artists wishes they were this good.

Can't stand that song, but it is an appropriate title for today's date.  After all, today is the third day of Christmas (of the twelve).

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  We spent time with family, counted our blessings, and kept it very low-key this year.  No extravagance, no hectic travels to and fro to visit relatives/friends.  With the Christmas play dominating our existence for so long, I don't think we could have done it any other way.  Oh...and the play was a resounding success.  All four performances were good, but the finale was over the top good.  We hit all of our cues and got all the songs right and on key.  I expect to get a video soon, and may post bits to youtube, if'n you want.  The performances and the pick up rehearsal were fun and I miss them, but it's nice to sit here on a Saturday and have the whole day to get things accomplished.  Like laundry (which I am doing now).

This is likely to be my last post in 2008, so a bit of retrospect may be in order.  Over all, this has been a successful year for the Thorp family, but we have had (and continue to have) our share of drama.  My joy in my children continues to grow, even when I think that they couldn't make me more happy.  Well, they could (if they would listen all the time, not just when I get Dad-voice).  Anne is turning into a real young woman, and watching her try and bridge that gap between girl and woman has been...interesting.  She's the smartest person I know, so she does pretty well.  However, she, like her dad, sometimes lacks in compassion (we both think too much), and we tend to not be empathic towards other people.  Something we both need to work on, I guess.  Emma is just starting the journey into womanhood and we are all holding on for dear life.  She solves problems with her feelings, which is great for relationships but doesn't work so well for other things.  She has a very tender and compassionate heart (like her mom), but also isn't afraid to speak her mind (again, like Mommy).  I would advise those in close proximity to Emma within the next eighteen months to proceed with caution and handle carefully.  Having said that, I love them both very much, and will always be their comforter and protector, as long as they need me in that role.

Teresa is the yin to my yang, and I couldn't imagine my world without her.

My mother........it's difficult for me to write about her.  I love her, without question.  But our relationship is very different.  I think it's different from most mother/son relationships, but I may be wrong.  I really can't say much more than that.  There is love, but it is in the shadow of all the current challenges.

Teresa's parents are awesome people.  Jack has filled the father role in my life left by the loss of my own father, and I love him dearly.  Thank you both for the great sacrifices you make to help us.  We deeply appreciate and love you both.

Our involvement at church has grown significantly this year, and with it we have started to build some great relationships.  There's some challenges there, too.  Most of it mine, I'm sure.  You see, I built such strong and deep bonds with Adam and Paul that it is difficult for me to include others in that group.  I don't make close friends easily...never have.  Dave, Adam, and Paul are the best guys any friend could ever hope for (I miss you, Dave!  COME VISIT!!!). I am beginning to feel a closeness with Harry O...we share some common interests, so that helps.  we just need to go caching, which is his passion, and something I've always wanted to do ( I know, Tom.  I should really do it).  Speaking of Tom, if we lived close together, I really think I would have the same type of relationship with him that I have with Adam, Paul, and Dave.  The only barrier is distance.  Such is life, I suppose.  Teresa is much better at building relationships than I, and she has really blossomed.  So, overall, life is good here.  My three friends are certainly not out of my life (I just had dinner with Adam and Paul [and families] this past Monday), but we do see less of each other.  It just requires more effort on all of our parts to get together.

Work is really good.  They like me and I like them.  Here's to hoping that '09 sees great success in that category, and that God continues to bless my efforts there.

That's all for now.  In closing, please keep Tim and Tonya close to your thoughts.  Their current challenge is unique and they need every ounce of prayer that you can muster.

But they're SO GOOD.

In other news, locally owned Mexican restaurants have the best Chile Verde. 

Movie Review:  Quantum of Solace.  Okay, so I don't' normally do this, but I'm gonna do it this time.  I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago, and the further away I get from the actual viewing, the more underwhelmed I become.  I have friends who won't agree with me on this, but I'm beginning to not have liked it.  Deal.  First, there is the ludicrous title.  I KNOW it's an Ian Fleming short story title (which has no plot relation to the movie), but that doesn't make it a good title.  That title completely stinks.  I can smell it from here, and I'm nowhere near it.  Second -- this felt like a Bourne movie, not a Bond movie.  Sure, it was action-packed.  Tons of explosions and people getting beat up in a ridiculous manner.  Honestly, some of those fight sequences were tough to accept.  No human could withstand that amount of punishment and continue to be concious, much less upright.  I wanted more gadgetry, more subterfuge.  More acting, if you will.  I can't say I hate the movie, but I can't gloss over the discrepancies in my brain, either.  I do like Daniel Craig as Bond, i think he makes it convincing.  He's not the best Bond ever though...that's Sean Connery (IMO).  Okay.  Enough of that...it's not like anyone cares, anyway.

Next week marks one year at WatchGuard, and I can hardly believe it.  I still like this job as much as I did when I started, and I really like my boss, Pete.  It's really cool working for someone who has the technology down cold, and is personable as well.  He's a very smart guy.    I talked with my buddy David yesterday and Symyx (the old company) had another round of layoffs.  Sadly, he was part of the RIF.  Merry Christmas.  They laid off 90 people.  If that company is still in business in 2010 I'll eat my hat.  I sincerely hope that everyone I formed relationships with while I was there is NOT resting on their laurels and is actively seeking something else.  I know it's a tough time to be looking, but there are things out there.  If any of you read this, please take action.  It's much better to leave on your terms than it is on theirs.  Ask David.  Or Sam.  Or Brad.  Or Howard.

I tried to start drinking only water this week.  I failed spectacularly.  Cherry Coke is good, too.  I will try again, starting today.

Cya.

You know you are in an airport when a bottled water and a yogurt cup costs 8 bucks.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had a pretty good one, as usual.  The highlights were:

• The cabin.  I love going to J&D's cabin at this time of year.  located on the southern slope of the Sierra Buttes, you get some pretty good views of the valley through the trees, and the opposing ridge line.  The weather was really great, and we were surrounded by fall color.  No, Jeremy, I didn't get to go for a hike at Love Falls this time, so no bear sightings.
• The meal.  Yes, its about the food.  I brined the turkey, as usual, and it turned out really great.  All the fixings were good, too.  And Dorothy is so comfortable with me cooking in her kitchen now that she took a nap.  You shoulda been there the first year...you woulda thought that I was going to somehow wreak mass destruction.  the thing is, I pretty much did.  I started the turkey really early (it was stuffed, so stuffed birds take longer), and because of it's massive size, it was hanging off the back end of the pan.  So, fat dripped onto the stove bottom, the kitchen smoked up and the fire alarm went off.  At 5:30 a.m.  EVERYBODY got up, and I had to pull the bird out and Dorothy poured salt on the drippings, which stopped the billowing waves of smoke.  Also, since this was much earlier in my cooking career, I made a HUGE mess in the kitchen, and Teresa expended much effort cleaning up after me.  So, you can't really blame her.  It tasted really good, but the aftermath was impressive, to say the least.  I've gotten better, but the smoke alarm still goes off every year...
• Satellite TV.  The reason that this is a highlight is that it was a huge fiasco.  Personally, I could have cared less, but Jack was pretty adamant about having working TV.  He brought his receiver from home, which expects two inputs.  The cabin dish only has one output.  So, I spent a significant amount of time moving the one input back and forth, because it would only sync the guide on input one, but only display actual TV on input two.  And each switch back and forth was a 10 minute affair.  And figuring out that this was the procedure was a one hour affair upon arrival.  I love ya, Jack, but this wasn't my favorite part.
• My mom.  She came up with us, so it was nice having her.
• Rick.  It's always cool to see Teresa's big brother.  I feel like we would be closer if we lived closer...he's a pretty neat guy.

That's it for now.  I need to finish my 5 dollar yogurt and hop on a plane.

Peace.

So, now that I travel quite a bit here are the airports I frequent and what I generally think of them.  I am, erm, "inspired" to write about them because I am currently sitting in one.  Here they are, in no particular order.  As you know, if you have read my blog with any regularity, I find airports, as a rule, very depressing places.  However, many of them have tried to take the edge off of a painful process.

And I'm really not sorry if this bores you.  It's my blog, after all.

Phoenix -- This is a really nice airport, amenity-wise.  It has interesting shops and some good food choices, like Paradise Bakery (Arizona's Panera Bread). Bag claim isn't terrible, but it isn't the quickest I've ever done, either.  Plenty of moving walkways, and I once met a guy who played shortstop for the Rivercats there.  He was running one of those people movers (I didn't ask).  He did have his PCS championship ring, which was far more impressive than I expected.  The Southwest terminal is split into two wings, with different security lines for each one.  This really helps cut down on the line as this airport is pretty busy.  Rental cars have their own mega-facility, and it is easy to navigate and easy access to AZ freeways.

LAX -- Where I am currently.  This airport is the pit of despair.  The security line at the terminal is right at the door, so you are often in a line outside sucking on car and bus fumes.  The colors are all grey and depressing...it really feels like a detention area or some sort of movie-like immigration processing area.  There are very few amenities and the actual security line always takes forever.  Everything is tiled in that area, so I can imagine that all the women who are wearing sandals when they travel are completely grossed out when they have to remove their shoes to walk through this area barefoot.  I get grossed out in sympathy.  No one looks relaxed, and the surrounding area is depressing as well.  On the bright side...there's nothing here that a thorough carpet bombing couldn't fix.  Never checked a bag through here, and plan to avoid that at all cost.  Every minute in this space makes my heart sadder.

Orange County -- This is actually the John Wayne airport, and has a huge statue of the cowboy in the bag claim area.  The actual airport isn't terrible...it's easy to access, rental cars are a short walk from the terminal, and the security lines are pretty easy to navigate.  The amenities are lacking, though.  There's only one non-chain restaurant and it lacks in power plugs.  The terminal itself is single long hallway, so it can be easy or slightly more difficult, depending on your gate because there are no people movers.  However, it's a small place, so rarely is that a problem.  The biggest nag here is taking off.  The take-off pattern is over Newport Beach, and because of noise restrictions, you feel like you take off straight up and then they cut power way back, so there is this moment of semi-weightlessness.  Weird feeling, and jacks with my ears in a bad way.  Bonus points for cool surf history stuff on display.

Sacramento -- My local airport is also one of my favorites.  Everything is easy to get to, parking and rental cars are close, and the amenities are very nice.  They have a couple of cool little restaurants, including a great noodle place.  The only downside is checked bags, as they take almost forever to get, so avoid that if you can.  There are cool luggage pillars in the bag claim area, which is kinda funny.

Oakland -- this airport has gotten easier to navigate since they re-did the entrance.  I haven't flown through here in a while, so I can't speak to its amenities or security line.  driving to/from is not difficult, though.

San Francisco -- same as Oakland as far as flying through, but definitely driving to/from is a royal pain.  it has easy freeway access, but that freeway is always slammed.  Avoid at all costs, unless you are staying in SF only, then it has a BART link which, I hear, is pretty handy.

San Jose -- never flown through, but definitely hate driving to/from.  the road is an absolute disaster, signage is poor, and it feels like a post-industrial war zone.

Seattle -- great airport, which will be greater when they complete the light rail to downtown.  Lots of really nice amenities, including some pretty good sushi.  Never done the rental car, so can't speak for that.  security line is pretty good.  Bag claim, however, is the longest I have ever experienced.  It takes upwards of 45 minutes to get your bag, so stop at Starbucks or Tully's and chill a minute before you go down.

Tucson -- Weirdest airport experience I have ever had.  the place is really spread out and absolutely empty.  There were three people in the security line and it still took me 15 minutes to get through because of the world's slowest TSA agent.  I think this guy had a special skill in that area.  Lpatop counters for plug in have these weird backless seats with an awkward footrest that puts you in a very odd position.  Designed for form, not for function.  Amenities aren't bad, there just isn't many of them.  Rental car return felt like an Enterprise in a really small town.  Had to do all the legwork ourselves for the return.

I interrupt this broadcast to state that the girls Auburn basketball team just walked by.  They are all very tall, which is why it was so noticeable.  And one girl was wearing high heels, so it made here look like a seven footer.  I guess they play an LA school this weekend.  Okay, back to your regularly scheduled airport descriptions.

O'Hare -- I hate this airport almost as much as I hate LAX.  Everything is a mile away from each other, and getting to/from is a complete pain.  It's been a while since I have flown through O'Hare, so I can't go into detailed descriptions about it.  I hates it, though.  Hates it, hates it, hates it.

Houston -- This has a huge statue of the elder George Bush in it, which is weird.  And a museum.  he's not dead, yet.

Louisville -- Easy airport in a small market with easy access.  Can't speak to amenities since I didn't use them, but the rental car was really easy...right outside the terminal.

JFK -- The crush of humanity in this airport is overwhelming, and getting to/from is an exercise in frustration and horror.  I loathe the airport, even though I have enjoyed both of my visits to NYC.

Newark -- Do I really have to describe this?  Really?  *Shudder*

DFW -- Connectors through here can be a real bear, especially if your departure flight is at the other end of the double-horseshoe and you have 15 minutes to get there.  Nothing like getting on a plane all sweaty and collapsing from heart failure.

There are others, but you get the idea.  Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  If not...well, what can I say? 

Peace.