Nothin' But Troubles

Earlier this week, we took Bubbles to the vet. She previously had some type of bladder infection or something and we though she was having it again. Good news is she was fine. While at the vet's office, they weighed her and she weighed 80 lbs. No longer a little dog.

Bubbles can still be onry if she wants to be. This week we noticed several small pieces of wood laying in the dining room. Bubbles often sneaks in a stick to chew on. But Beth vacuumed the dining room today and discovered these small wood pieces were not sticks from the outdoors, but rather from one of the legs of the dining room table. She chewed it pretty good, but we may be able to salvage it and fix it cosmetically.

This is probably the worst thing she's done as a puppy. So you have to expect damage to something eventually. It has now happened. Bubbles, Bubbles... she's nothin' but troubles!

Careful What You Wish For

It was a couple of firsts for Nootril Drop, the band I'm in.

We already had scheduled to play on Friday, June 19 at the Princeville Heritage Days beer tent. But a day or so before that, we got word that we were invited to play for an hour at the Peoria Steamboat Days on the CEFCU Center Stage on Saturday, June 20. For all those out of town, this stage is located on Peoria's Riverfront. A lot of the more popular local bands play there. And playing there has always been something of a goal for us. So not only 2 gigs in one weekend, we get to play a venue long sought after.

Friday arrived and we had storm after storm. We still arrived in Princeville to determine if we were even going to be able to play. When talking with the organizers and checking things out, we learned that the band they booked for Saturday were told they were booked for Friday. Hmmm. So we used that mistake to our advantage and negotiated to play the next night on Saturday. So now we have 2 gigs on the same day/night.

Playing the CEFCU stage was a blast! We all had a good time and it went by real fast. It was hot and humid out, but there was something of a breeze going on. But it still didn't matter. We were playing the CEFCU stage.

When we were done, Ted Sumner, who is also in the band with us as well as a PACE (Peoria Area Community Event) volunteer went to talk to some of the other volunteers. He then discovered that this gig was a quasi-audition and that they wanted to book us for the Taste of Peoria in August. This is very cool.

Once we were packed up, we bolted for Princeville to do it all over again; only this time we had to set everything up ourselves. And it was terribly hot and humid among the cornfields of Princeville. But this show went well also. There was probably about 200 people in the beer tent with a handful dancing to the music at times. We even handed out a business card or two. Needless to say, we were wiped at the end of the night. But it was the first time we played the CEFCU stage and the first time we had 2 gigs in one day.

We have another gig coming up next week. Nootril Drop also played Dennis and Shari's annual Pigstock last week and two weeks before that we played Ambulance Days in Princeville. It's getting to the point we're finding gigs each and every week. I'm not so sure that's something I really want, so I guess I should be careful of what I wish for.

We will get a break; nothing's booked for July... yet.

TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes

The new TV Guide is here! The new TV Guide is here! And they have counted down, in yet another pointless countdown, the top 100 TV show episodes. Without surprise, the Seinfeld episode "The Contest" won the coveted number 1 spot. Among the top ten were notables such as episodes from All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore and a token episode of I Love Lucy. Others in the top 100 were from Cheers, Twilight Zone, M*A*S*H and even an episode of Batman from the 1960's. Some odd choices I thought were selections from newer shows such as The Big Bang Theory, House and 30 Rock.

But what really surprised me were some classics that didn't even rank. How about the episode where Gilligan messed up the castaway's rescue on Gilligan's Island? Hilarious. And where in this list is the episode of Three's Company where everyone had that misunderstanding? Or how about the one on The Munsters when Marilyn brought her date home and his hair stood on end and he ran off when he met her Uncle Herman and Aunt Lily? Come on!

Number 100 on the list was the episode of The Brady Bunch where Marcia breaks her nose. So maybe the list isn't a complete loss.

I Finally Went To See Star Trek

... and it really doesn't sit too well with me. But I need to realize it was only a TV show, not real history.  But watching the original Star Trek as far back as I can humanly remember, this movie seems a bit like history revision. I read somewhere that the movie was to be a "reboot" of the Star Trek franchise. In doing this, and without giving too much away, the story calls for a change in the timeline in the 23rd century... so I guess it wouldn't be history revision. It was revised before it became history.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big Star Trek fan. I don't dress up in the ears or costumes and attend conventions (I will confess I did dress up as Capt. Kirk for Halloween one year). But from watching the show for 40 years, I've come to learn much about it and its characters. The one thing about the series in the 1960s was that it held a lot of consistency. More so that any other TV show of the time. That also continued into the Next Generation series. But the new movie loses some of this consistency. Over all it was good move, but if I were the producer, I would have made a few changes that could have maintained the original Trek story.

Spoiler Alert. Don't read any further if you haven't seen the movie yet or Star Trek doesn't interest you.

The main change I would make would be the removal of the Uhura, Sulu and Chekov characters. In the movie, the story is set during Kirk's days in Starfleet Academy. Uhura, Sulu and Checkov were a few years younger than Kirk. There was no way they would attend the Academy at the same time. Instead, the movie showed Sulu and Chekov as commissioned bridge officers on the Enterprise, while Kirk was still technically a cadet. I would have brought them in in a second prequel movie, if any.

I would have made minor changes with Spock, McCoy and Scotty. Come on... in the movie, Kirk was still a cadet, but Spock held the rank of Commander. That was his rank in the original series in the 60's. So you mean to tell me Spock had stayed a Commander for 12-13 years with no promotion.

There were many other things that did not stay consistent with the original series, but that can largely be explained by the timeline being changed. 

I did enjoy when Kirk's parents were deciding on a name for the future captain of the Enterprise. The special effects were great. The casting was done very well as the actors portrayed their iconic roles almost like the originals (Dr. "Bones" McCoy was exceptional). I liked the fact they kept the usual catchphrases (ie "I've given her all she's got, Captain"). I also liked the fact that they kept the same, although improved, Starfleet uniforms from the 60's original. 

I really didn't like the fact how Kirk became captain so quickly. And Captain Pike's timeline was largely changed. It appeared Kirk took command away from him. In the original Trek, Kirk mentioned that he met Christopher Pike only once.  Additionally, I did not approve the fact that the planet Vulcan was destroyed. That will be a major change in the Federation for the 23rd and 24th centuries.

But then again, it's only a TV show/movie... "get a life!"

Family Portrait

Just thought some of you would like to see the family portrait we had done earlier this year. The pictures came back a few weeks ago and turned out pretty good. I guess we all clean up well.

For Christmas, we all pitched in and got my Mom a family portrait along with any needed framing. The pictures were taken, if I remember, in March... well after Christmas. Better late than never.