Sep 10, 2013

I didn't get a job for the day, even though I wasn't really expecting one. I went to the Vineland Board of Ed to pick up my paperwork for employment. I called their suggested doctor's office to make an appointment for a physical to find out that I'd have to wait a full month before I could get in. That was after reminding the receptionist that I couldn't get a TB test done on a Friday if it needed to be checked two days later. So I came home and decided I'd make something out of all the vegetable I had in my fridge. I used asparagus, peppers, onions, and then whatever else I could find to make a very spicy stir-fry something. It was quite good.

Later I picked up Dave and then Tyler and headed up to Starland for the Blink show. We waited at the car and had a few beers before going in. When we did go in I noticed Eddie Reyes from Taking Back Sunday in the crowd and casually pointed him out, exciting Tyler enough to ask him for a picture.

Blink came out and played through a great set of old and new songs. The crowd was into it the whole time, and it was surprisingly not bad for a smaller venue. It was great that during the renovation they moved that annoying soundboard back to give the crowd more room in front of the stage and get rid of the exit bottleneck.

One of the best things was that when they were talking about this show being charity for NJ after Hurricane Sandy, Mark said, "Hurricane Sandy can suck our dicks... actually, wait. I don't know if that's such a good idea, having a hurricane suck your dick. Scratch that." I was dying. They were funny and played really well. It was great hearing some new songs that they hadn't played before including "Wishing Well" and "Dogs Eating Dogs." We were all very sweaty and happy after the show. Dave and Tyler passed out in the car shortly after leaving so I was driving home alone.

Sep 9, 2013

I spent the morning editing the video and on the phone with Alvin from the church making the final adjustments they wanted. They really were not helpful as far as providing me all of the information they wanted. They wanted the video turned around really quickly, but they also wanted to make a bunch of little changes after I finished it. It was a frustrating day. I finally got it to a point where they were happy with it, so I burned a few copies for them.

I headed to Delaware to drop of the DVDs and get paid, then went to Total Wine to check out their selection. They have a ton of stuff and I picked up Evil Genius and Wolaver's Sampler packs. Next stop was Iron Hill Brewery in Wilmington. It sits right on the river and the bar has big glass windows so it's a nice place to sit. Their Citra IPA was really good as was the Pumpkin Ale. The great thing about Iron Hill locations is that they always have different seasonals since they each have an independent brewmaster.

We tried some of the beers later at my house and the Black Eye PA by Evil Genius was my favorite. The Evil Eye PA was really good also. We cracked open the Viva Hababera that I picked up in Boston. It was not really hot at all, but it had a good flavor from the peppers. It was a good thing I was at my house, because I had one or two too many.

Sep 8, 2013

After successfully finding a ticket for the Fall Out Boy show for a good price, I had to go to Philly early to meet the guy at the box office. I met the guy I talked to and his daughter, who was very upset about not being able to go to the show. I was happy to get a ticket though. I went over to the nearby Whole Foods to get food from their bar for lunch and ate most of it before going out for a game at Sedgley by myself. I had a good game and the course played really fast.

 I went to The Abbaye for a couple of beers, the Anchor BigLeaf Maple which was pretty tasty and the Terrapin Tree Hugger which was refreshing. It got pretty boring sitting at a table by myself so I walked over to The Foodery and constructed myself a four pack of beers with generous ABVs. I parked my car a block from the Liacouras Center and poured my Wawa cup full of the Cape of Good Hope and turned up the Less Than Jake. This year's batch is amazing. It was a little awkward since Broad Street is really busy at that area, but I was enjoying myself. Darkness fell and I was texting people inside to find out when I should finish my last beer and head in.

There was a little bit of a line at the door so I ended up missing Panic's first song or two. It was unfortunate that I found out later that they played my favorite song first. They were really good, and I was surprised to know more of the songs they played than I thought I would. Even the newer ones they played were ones I had heard or was familiar with. It was a fun set, but the crowd was filled with jerks and people that just wanted to stand still. I wasn't having any of that.

After a long wait with people pushing on me intentionally and making friends with people nearby as I talked about what assholes the others were being, Fall Out Boy finally came out. They opened with "The Phoenix," which is a great opener and then went into a great selection of songs. They played quite a few new songs, which I got into during the show, but I wished they played more older stuff of course. Patrick played a piano acoustic version of "What a Catch, Donnie" and then segued into "20 Dollar Nose Bleed" with Brendan Urie. That was a cool moment.

They went out to a small stage in the center of the GA section to play a small acoustic set of "Lawyer" and "Grand Theft Autumn," which I would very much rather hear electric. After that they finished the regular set and started the encore with "Save Rock and Roll," so I was pleased with that choice. They finished strong with "Saturday" as always and the crowd slowly filed up the steps and back out to the street. I was really glad that I parked on the street because the parking garages were a mess. I was literally in my house before Kate told me her and Jon were finally getting on the bridge.

Sep 7, 2013

I spent the morning editing the video I shot yesterday and ripping, cutting, and splicing in the video from last year to make a coherent story with the voiceover. Things came together pretty quickly. I moved things around and changed the slideshow to make the video a little more dynamic with the still shots mixed with video. I was pretty happy with the results and I needed a break so I went out for a game of disc golf in Vineland. It was good to get out and see the sun for a bit after being inside all day.

Sep 6, 2013

I had quite a busy day, beginning at a house near Philly in the morning I had to shoot for a real estate listing. I enjoy doing these jobs sometimes, but I feel I have a hard time making empty rooms look interesting. I think I need a wide angle lens that isn't a fisheye to give them a flat look and show them more accurately.

After the shoot I headed to Sedgley for a solo round. I really like that course for a quick, varied game when I'm in the area. I made some great putts. When I finished I headed over to the Legacy Photographics office in Bridgeport for my training session. Along with a handful of others I had to "unlearn everything I knew about cameras" so I could learn to do things Dave's way. It was basically a review, but they do things a specific was so it was actually very helpful to have him go over things repeatedly so it burned into my brain. The other photographers seem cool too.

When I finished there I headed to Delaware and killed some time getting food and watching shows on my laptop while I waited for my shoot time. I had to meet the people at the church and set up for video in the chapel. I had to wait longer (after they pushed the time back already) because they hadn't written their script for the narration yet. The job really isn't worth all of this. Anyway, they finally got it together and I shot three versions of the narration so I had some options, then I headed home. It was a good, productive day.

Sep 5, 2013

Kate wanted to go to Delaware so we went to Lums Pond to play a round of disc golf. There rarely seems to be anyone else out there. The game was good, but I overshot a couple of times and had to search for my disc in the woods. I really liked this course, but I get a little bored with it now. I've seen too much. It was still fun for a quick game. We went over to Argilla Brewing to sample a few of their beers and have something to eat. The Family Tree English pale ale was awesome. Definitely my favorite of theirs I've tried.

Later, Chuck joined us to try some other beers that I'd gotten recently. The Sea Dog Blueberry is really good, and their Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter is damn good. I am partial to hazelnut porters/nut beers in general though. And of course we had a TenFidy by Oskar Blues, and those are always great. Finally, the Trick or Treat by Evil Genius was worth another try also. Good night.

Sep 4, 2013

I went to Delaware in the morning to meet with a guy that wanted me to edit together a video to advertise his church's backpack distribution project for charity. They have video from last year's event and photos from this years so I just need to film a narration and then put it all together. The meeting went well so I'll be coming back to shoot in a few days. Since I was there I decided to go play a round at Brandywine. It was a perfect day and there was barely anyone else at the park. That course is so long, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they cut out a lot of the overgrown areas where discs would often be lost forever. This course always reminds me I have a lot of work to do on my game.

This is what the clouds looked like. On my way home Mandie invited me to Peking Tokyo for dinner with her, Tracy, and little Atreyu. We had a great dinner and it was really nice seeing both of them again. Atreyu was also entertaining as he played with his food and threw his cup all over. After dinner we stood outside talking for a long time and eventually parted ways. I met Chuck and Alex at the Oar House for a drink before going to Quizzo. It was another good night.