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Let’s be honest here.  You’ll have to find some daily humour elsewhere for the next week while I’m in Punta Cana.  However, I may find a computer and give you an update or two but don’t hold your breath.  When there is a James Bond book by my side (currently reading Moonraker) and El Presidente in the other, the urge to update this site may be lacking.

I accomplished yet another item on my small list of things I have done inside the engine of a car.  This list includes changing the oil, filling up the windshield washer and…I think that’s it.  Dad pointed out my headlight was out when I left Kap back at Christmas so I figured I should get it fixed before heading to Toronto tonight.

I pulled the car up halfway into the garage (because it can only make it in halfway when you use your garage for storage!) and popped the hood.  It was a crisp -25 degrees out so I knew I had to get cracking before my fingers starting atrophying.

With manual in hand, I examined diagrams and realized they were useless and I should use some common sense.  See the headlight?  Check.  See the wires connecting to the headlight?  Check.  Unplug ’em.

In the end, it did take me 40 minutes because everything is so crammed inside the engine that I couldn’t get a great look in behind the light bulb where I was digging my hand into and the spring was giving me a hard time because I couldn’t visualize how the mechanism operated.  I ended up figuring it out (natch) and voila!  I have a working headlight.

While this isn’t revolutionary by any means, it’s just another thing that I have in my mind of things I have accomplished.  One day I would like to be able to rip apart an engine like my father or Uncle Greg, but until one of them lives twenty kilometers away from me, is isn’t happening anytime soon.

I’m sitting here reading some Plato along with listening/watching the DVD that came in The Joshua Tree box set which is a DVD of a concert in Paris from The Joshua Tree tour.

Sunday Bloody Sunday came on and I started thinking about when I really heard the song for the first time and how it became such a force. You can see it in the crowds; the emotion they have for this anthematic prose that only U2 is capable of. If only I could have the power to move people like that…

I remember nights at the pubs. The Cabin springs to memory as soon as the drum beat comes from Larry Mullen Jr.’s drumkit and then the chiming notes from The Edge’s guitar…everyone makes a mad rush to the dance floor. Nowadays, it’s hard to call it a dance floor when a song like that comes on. It is a gathering of people singing their favourite song and lifting their hands up in unison to the beating of the drum. It’s an anthem and we are singing it as hard as Bono is.

Maybe that’s what I love about the crowd.

I then think of how I’ve been introduced to so many staples of music not through the radio, but through the songs played at the bar. To this date, I bet you a beer that we could walk into the Cabin on a Friday night and hear the following songs at some point: Mr. Jones, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Living on a Prayer. These are the songs that binds us together and creates a single heartbeat of the world that we share. That’s what I love about music. Even if you don’t know the song, you realize it’s something important from the movement of the crowd. It isn’t someone trying to show off their rug-cutting skills or their flashy clothes. It’s existing in that single moment with everyone around you where you feel the same exact way and you feel the need to get together to share that feeling.

Culturally there are dozens of these songs that are staples of a given event…weddings, pubs, elevator music (!)…I think it’s more than just being a hit on the radio that everyone knows. These songs have passed the test of time because of the constant need for them to be played in these social settings. Will there ever be a wedding without one AC/DC tune? Even some old school rap like the Funky Cold Medina. It’s fascinates me to think about these songs that entered our stamp on culture.

I’ve never realized how important these gatherings were in forming my love for music even more than before. Here is a place where I can listen or be introduced to some tunes that I love and share that love with others. Far better than hanging out in a basement with friends and talking about the brilliance of lyrics or a guitar line…you let your emotions flow out and simply rock (for lack of a better term).

I still get shivers whenever I see everyone go crazy for a song, even if I don’t know what it is. It’s the energy in the room that the song creates. THAT’S why I want to write music. THAT’S the feeling I wish to bring out in people.

iplaying: Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2 (Paris 1987 DVD)

Well, this website design seems to give me the least amount of problems.  Also, it allows line breaks to show up!  I dig it but I’ll tweak things here and there….the archives section on the left hand side menu seems insanely long and the desert landscape photo can definitely be swapped for something else.  I like how I can easily create other pages for the website instead of just having links.

It does seem to take a long time scroll to the bottom so I’m going to look into reorganizing everyone’s favourite sections so they appear on the top.

If no one knows already, Vero and I heading to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Sunday for her sister’s wedding.  We will be gone for an entire week and arriving back at the crisp hour of 1:30AM on Monday in Toronto.

I am quite excited to go down south as I have never been before.  It will be an adventure in determining if I would rather jaunt around localed that are found in Europe, or if I would rather hit the pool, the beach and the bar.  Maybe I will surprise myself and find it to be an equal experience, although I have a feeling that while it will be great, nothing will beat Europe.

So now I’m thinking of things that I have to do to prepare for the trip.  For example – summer clothing.  Krista went along with me last night to do some shopping for some clothes to wear to a wedding (a suit won’t cut it on the beach!) as well as some bathing suits.

Now I’m looking for tips from all sides on what to do/what not to do.  I have hear some standard fare like get some vaccinations (will do so on Friday afternoon), or not to touch any water while there.  I also have to find a currency converter to get a lot of small bills to leave as tips.

So feel free to provide any tips you have to provide while travelling to a southern locale!

http://www.nme.com/news/nme/33793

While I can honestly say I don’t know much about this songwriter (alright, I know nothing), he has passed away and he is responsible for penning one of my favourite songs of all time; Daydream Believer by the Monkees!  What a beautiful tune.

So the new Star Trek film trailer is out.

It starts out with a bunch of steelworkers assembling some giant machine with the aid of welding torches.  In the end, the shot pans out and it’s the Enterprise they are working on!  The one from the Original Series, not some NX-01 mumbo-jumbo!

While I thought the trailer was quite lame, I must admit that I am excited for the new film because everything J.J. Abrams touches is gold.  However, I hope the Writer’s strike didn’t mess up the film too much (no rewrites allowed!).

I must also admit that the trailer opened up another question for me.

In Star Trek’s future, they have warp drive (enabling a ship to fly faster than the speed of light).  They have phasers which are lazer guns.  They have elminated societal racism on Planet Earth and all races, creeds, etc. work together on a five year mission to explore strange new places.  Essentially, this is pretty amazing advancements in our society.

But how did the welding torches survive into the future?

That’s right.  They have regular old welders building this ship.  I’m telling you, if you want a future career with great job stability, join the Steelworker’s Union.  There’s no WAY that you’d ever be out of work.  Heck, you’d also be involved in some great projects.  “See that Enterprise son?  I helped build that.”  “Awww, heck no Pops!  You’re kidding me!”  “Nope.  It’s true.  Your Dad helped build that.”  That’s way cooler than being a red shirt Ensign on board the ship.  Plus, we all know what happens to THOSE people.

What else never advanced?  Are we still using Microsoft Windows to operate our computer systems?  If so, I hope it’s only on the civilians computers and not the Enterprise’s!

Anyhow…sometimes you have to look at the BIGGER PICTURE when seeing a movie trailer.