No Fin…  no Elliot…  no Toby…    this house is freakishly quiet.  Thank goodness for Amos keeping me company and raising my spirits.

a few posts ago I mentioned my recent purchase of hipstimatic…  had the app for a few days and here are a few of my favorite photos taken so far.

My dear friends Nano and Sarah recently had their 2nd child…  Fin and I stopped by to take photos and hold little Ella.    I have zero experience holding babies so I had Nano sit very close to me as I held her for about 3 minutes.

Fin jumped right in and held for for a lot longer than I did…  here’s a photo of her in action.

One of the cool things about my new phone is the digital camera output I can get and then flow into iMovie.

Did a little something with Amos… I may get around to doing a few more of these…

A few weeks ago I posted a little update about having tickets to see Ben Folds at Stubbs in Austin Texas.  I’ve been meaning to post a review of the show along with some photos of the show but things have been a little busy on the home front.

The show itself was nothing short of spectacular.  The venue and the artists were a perfect fit.  We arrived early enough to make our way to the front of the stage where we had some incredible sight lines.

As you can see from the photo above, we were only a few rows away from Ben and all of his goodness.  Prior to him coming out to entertain us tho, was the opening act that went by the name of Kate Miller Heidke.  A singer song writer that I had never heard of prior to her coming out on stage.  Despite having a few songs and a vocal approach that I could do without in my life.  She won me over…  its a shame however that some of my favorite tracks she sang that night were the comical ones.

Ben quickly followed her set and to my surprise he started the show with a cover of Elliot Smith’s “Say Yes”.  A cover that I wasn’t expecting to hear but stood there in complete amazement and took it all in.   I recall Fin at one point turning around to ask why I wasn’t singing along. I didn’t have a good answer at the time… but it was one of those moments where you’re taken aback by one incredible artists covering an incredible song by another incredible artist.

One thing that really surprised me was how well versed his fans were in the Ben Folds songbook.   There wasn’t a song that the entire crowd around me didn’t break out in to full cheer for.  The singalongs were deafening at some points.  My favorite part of the show was seeing Ben Folds come from behind the piano and sit behind a drum kit.   I knew that he was an accomplished musician but I never thought I would get to see him play on the skins while I was in attendance.

Earlier this week I received a call from Fin, to inform me that we would be fostering two puppies that were suffering from a treatable but contagious skin condition…  The dogs were found on the side of the road by a man who pony’d up 500 bucks to have them boarded at her emergency pet clinic.  The money covered care for a handful of days but if further help wasn’t found the puppies would risk the possibility of having to be destroyed.

Fin took on the responsibility to take them on so they could have a chance.  When we talked about it over the phone, I knew that we would be doing the right thing, but I also know how much trouble a pair of puppies could be.

The little ones have begun to receive treatment for a skin condition and we recently took them to a Vet’s office to get their first round of necessary vaccinations before we can get them into a no-kill-shelter.   All in all, its looking pretty good for Archie and Edith.   Sarah has been working around the clock looking for a family to take on the puppies or a shelter that will promise to have them up for adoption with no risk of having them destroyed.

If you happen to have room in your heart for these two little ones – do not hesitate to contact me thru the website.  Fin has been receiving small donations from people around San Antonio/Austin/Hill Country area who would like to help with the boarding and medical costs.   If you’d like to help with this – you can hit me up for paypal info if you want to send a little something. Any little bit will help.

When I moved to the City of Detroit in 1996 one of the first things I got to do was visit Tiger Stadium off of Trumbull and Michigan Ave…   It was late August and the Tigers were on pace to win 53 games out of 162 that season and I thought to myself, “well, it couldn’t get worse than this right?”

I was wrong.   The Tigers never sniffed a .500 season while I lived there and I recall the Tigers only getting 43 wins one year….

What amazed me thru all that losing however was how much people in the city loved the Tigers.  I spent a number of years in kitchens, sign shops and cubicles where people had afternoon Tiger games on small radio’s not so much to hear the game but to hear the voice of the man who painted the picture.

Ernie Harwell.

His voice was unlike any other and I will never forget what it was like to hear his voice during a lunch break or a drive home in the summer.  He made all of those losses seem like they didn’t matter.

I wish I could describe how much it hurt to see the Tigers get to the Series to face the Cardinals in 2006.  I had left Detroit the fall before and I’ll never forget where I was when I saw the Tigers hand the Yankees their ass in the opening round only to celebrate by Drinking openly with the crowd in attendance.

A man in the stadium had a sign that read something in effect “Fly back home for this!”  It was personalized for someone else, but I seriously considered going back after seeing that sign.

I had the privilege of seeing both the Red Wings and Pistons win championships while living there but it wouldn’t touch what a World Series would have meant to that city…

Earlier this year I had planned to get Fin and I some Tigers hats so that we could have something to wear to a local Missions game.  We even talked about going to Arlington or Houston to see a MLB game.

I’m going to make it a point to do it now…  not for the game but to honor Harwell in some strange way.

A few days ago, Fin had the idea of taking a trip out to Poteet so that we can take some photos among the patches of Blue Bonnets and Indian Brushes.

The photos came out great and we ended up attending the Strawberry Festival.  One of the best afternoons we’ve had in San Antonio all year.

Just got off the phone with my father this afternoon…  he turned 76 today.  My sister drove down to the valley to spend time with him over the weekend and took Elliot, so he’s having a great 76th.

I really wish I could have seen him today…  if all goes well, we’ll get together soon.

A few years ago I posted a photo of a color pencil portrait my dad got done of himself a really long time ago.  I don’t know too much about the photo but I’d love to get one done of myself one day.

I went through some photos I took last week on my digital camera and ran across one I forgot I took.  I walk past a set of industrial fans that are called  ”Big Ass Fans”.  I can’t help but laugh every time I walk by them.