McCartney after the show

Can you think back to the first time you heard music? Now I'm sure you heard baby songs, little rhymes, and kid jingles to start with, but I mean the first time you heard real music from a band.

My parents had some old 45s and for those of you that are clueless, that is a very small record, much like an LP or Album as they were called. The 45s had an A side and a B side with a song on each side for the most part. Since most of these 45s are from artists of the 50's and 60's time, you could get by chance two songs on one side at times, but normally it was one song, a Hit song and then something on the B side.

So I grew up listening to groups from the 50's and 60's that my parents really loved. It just so happens the Beatles was one of the groups and something that I started listening to in the very early 70's, sadly I had no idea that the band had in broke up at the time I started liking them. Still it was great music and fun growing up and learning more about them.

So this past Sunday I saw one of the only two Beatles left a live perform live and it was the best I could ask for in a show. To see a member of the Beatles perform songs I grew up to was amazing. He played just about every Beatle song I wanted to hear live and it brought back memories of the old 45's, in fact he even joked on stage about the crackle sounds the old albums made.

I've seen so many concerts, not as many as my buddy who invited me, but for me this was the perfect show and nothing could compare to it. Was it better lights or sounds than another artists show, not at all, but then again the other artist was not the first one to introduce music to me or Rock-n-Roll for the fact. I still would like to see some other artists perform and I'm sure I'll enjoy their shows, but I can really say I've seen my favorite and best show at last.

Paul McCartney 2005 US Tour

Its a saturday night and my cell phone rings... I look at the time and wonder why I'm getting a call from my buddy Bob at 11:00 pm on a saturday night. So he asks what I'm doing the next day and I say, I've got a 6:30 indoor Soccer game, why?

You want to skip it? I say, what for and why? Paul McCartney concert and I've got an extra ticket is the reply. He's tried to get someone to buy it and tried to get someone to just go. No matter what, he's down to the night before and about to be stuck with an extra ticket.

I said I don't know and he tells me that they are leaving about 5:30 to head over to the show. I really don't want him to be stuck with a ticket so to speak and I can't afford it to buy it and he's pretty much ran out of options. I said I would have to think about it some more and get back to him in the morning. I said keep trying to find someone and if you do, I'll be ok not going to the show.

I love playing indoor soccer, but its not everyday that something like this falls in my lap. See I pretty much grew up listening to the Beatles, playing my parents 45's and really liked all the music as a young kid. In some ways they might have been the first band I was ever exposed to so to speak. I was to young to see them in concert and never got the chance to see some of the members after they broke up.

With Lennon and Harrison both dead, my chances of seeing any of the members perform grew smaller and smaller. Now the night before the show a phone call comes in and I'm invited to see one of the original Beatles and the ever popular Sir Paul McCartney perfrom live in a sold out concert. He has a new album out and I know little about it, but his tour has been made up of a lot of old material from the Beatles, Wings and even his band the Quarrymen, before he became one of the Beatles.

As much as I hate to miss a soccer game, I can't see passing this up and look forward to a really great show. I'm sure I'll have other soccer games to play, but I don't think I'll have a chance to see Paul McCartney play live. Its not going to be the Beatles, but from what I've heard its as close as you can get to it.

Shopz n the Hood

Growing up I remember when we only had two malls to shop at in Arlington and that was the Forum 303 Mall and Six Flags Mall. Times change and we've had the Parks at Arlington Mall for quite sometime now and its not surprising that the Forum went downhill and I guess now the same would be said for Six Flags mall.

I really had no idea how Six Flags mall had changed and it was such a long time since I visited the mall. The other day my wife wanted to check out a Baby store at Six Flags Mall and I said sure. The Baby store has access from the outside of what use to be JC Penney anchor store and I have to say its a really nice Baby store.

So I said after looking around, lets go and look at what the rest of the mall has to offer now. We passed on through the internal doors and noticed that they've cut up the old store and have an Antique store and some other outlet store taking up some of the old space. The second floor is some college and closed at the time we are at the mall.

We keep going and should have turned back. The first place I see is the old Suncoast store I worked at and it just goes downhill from there. The Structure store (Express For Men) is now called Stretz or something like that and a little further down is a music store called Eargasmic Soundz or something to that effect. They have a lingerie store that I would not recommend to anyone, (If you think Fredericks of Hollywood is risque, you have not seen anything yet). Each step that we took, kept me thinking, your ok and can turn around and never come back to this place again. The Dillards store is now the outlet store and use to be the outlet store from Forum 300 mall.

If I ever make it back to Six Flags Mall, it will only be to visit the baby store or antique shop and I don't plan of passing what use to be the old JC Penney store. I know most of the traffic has moved on to the Parks at Arlington and I have to think that the Parks will be solid mall for many, many years to come. Its just sad to think that the old malls have really died off and turned out like they are, nothing more than an indoor flee market.

3 Days in North Dallas at the Galleria Mall
I've just spent that last 3 days in a Flash training class in Dallas and the building is attached to the Galleria mall. Its been a long time since I've been to the Galleria and it was really nice to see again. I spent my lunch time walking around the mall an checking things out each day. Dallas has some other malls, but I would say the Galleria is the best of them all. If you've never been, its well worth the trip and you can spend all day looking around the 3 floors of shops. I hope to bring the family out and spend the day soon, they have a little kids play area and I think my daughter would have the time of her life there.

Victoria's Secret is now out...

Sex sells and its in your face at the Malls these days. I've noticed lately in my walks around various malls, that the what once appeared more on the inside of Victoria's Secret stores is now on the front lines and in your face for window displays these days.

It use to be, as I walked around the mall and I came to a certain window display of ladies lingerie, I knew that I was standing in front of Frederick's of Hollywood and a store that was more out there so to speak. No secret about it and the window display would catch your eye.

Now I've been trying to remember what Victoria's Secret had in the windows and I would have to say it was toned down a lot more. Now don't get me wrong and I'm not saying that the current display offends me or that I don't like what I see in the windows. What ever the goal of their marketing is, I have to think its getting the attention of people walking by these days and working.

In most cases a Fredericks store front is a lot smaller and you see only a small selection of sexy lingerie. With the current Victoria Secret stores being larger and bigger window space areas for their displays. The new sexy lingerie displays look like something out of the dressing room for Cabaret and keep your attention longer.

So if in the past you had wondered what the secret was and decided to venture inside to take a look. You might just find out from a glance as you walk on by now. Then again, Victoria might have sexier secrets inside, if that is at all possible.

It's Back On TV...
What: 10th annual Victoria Secret's show
When: Dec. 6
Where: CBS

Fall Movies here at last

This week the release of Harry Potter Goblet of Fire has finally arrived. I have a feeling that this will be the best of all the movies so far to date. I'm a huge fan of the books, thanks to my wife's introduction of the series and me wanting to see what kept her reading solid hour after hour.

I know that nothing will compare to reading the books and I recommend that you read the books to really enjoy the stories. Just the same, I'm looking forward to this movie and future movies as well as the last book of the series.

Each movie has been visually entertaining and for the most part they've done a good job in telling the story. Some things have been cut or moved in the order of things. My guess is to save time in most cases, since the books are so long it would take about 4 to 6 hours to cover everything. That is what makes the books so good I guess.

Next month will be the release of C. S. Lewis' the Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and I've been reading that series now and really enjoy the story line. I vaguely remember seeing an animated version of the story as a kid and I've really loved the book and from what I've seen and heard about this movie so far, I think it is a must see for sure and can not wait.

More and likely this will be the last two movies I see for the 2005 season. I could be wrong and something else might sneak in before the year is out, but these will be must see movies as soon as they come out.

The Polar Express on DVD is a must buy for me this year and should be out in about a week I think. I love the Christmas holidays and have read this story to my daughter about this time every year up till Christmas day. We went and saw this in the theathers and I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to all the extras and seating down with my daughter and watching this one and reading the book.

I'm a Power Watcher...

When it comes to entertainment for TV and movies, I'm a power watcher. So what is a power watcher exactly? Someone that can sit and knock out a barrage of Shows in one sitting. I started doing this about 5 years ago with the HBO series Sex in the City, and at the time my wife was pregnant. We had stopped in at Blockbuster and picked up season 1 on DVD and started watching.

This was the first time we had really sat down an watched about 5 or 6 shows in one night for a particular series. These were 30 minute shows and sitting down and watching them back to back was about 3 hours and the length of a long movie. So over the weekend we easily knocked out the whole 1 season at once.

Now this is something that I've done with most of the HBO shows, by renting them or getting copies from a friend who would record them and pass them on. I've also done the same with Alias on DVD, after a friend bought season 1, 2, and 3 on DVD. We went through them so fast, that I ended up watching season 3 first before him and had to wait for him to catch up inorder to talk about the shows.

Now that I'm all caught up I record the shows on Tivo and watch it along with most of the fans. But I still power watch with other shows like season 1 of Desperate Housewives and should have it knocked out in a week or so and can start on the recordings of season 2 soon.

But with the amount of programs that run during the week, if it was not for Tivo, I would not have a chance to see most of the shows airing these days. The best part is zipping past the commercials. The funny thing is even my daughters shows take advantage of Tivo and I don't think she'll ever really know what life was like before Tivo.

I enjoy watching DVD shows this way, but the real challenge is avoiding the media and other outlets that might let something slip. As long as I stay away from stuff like that, then I can watch a show and keep going and not have to wait for next weeks show and in some case, you want to go on when a cliff hanger is involved.

With Tivo, I might not watch the show right away, in most cases the shows I like are not something for my daughter to see or my wife does not care for them. So I can save them up and watch them a day or two later on my time and still spend time with my family. Most of my power watching takes place late at night or early mornings on the weekends.

With Netflix, I'm finding myself going back and seeing some shows that I missed and giving them a try again. Its nice to seem them as a whole and with out commercials, plus a lot of extra features are available on the DVDs too.

To peek or not to peek?

Well I guess I should actually start off with an explanation about this story. The odd 3D image to the left is a new addition to the Owens/Wilson family and we are sitting at the 20 weeks mark. The due date is set for the very end of March to the first part of April.

We've done what they call a soft launch of sorts and told a few people here or there over the past few weeks. Just wanted to keep it quite a bit during the early stages and it does get a little hard to explain taking off every month for a doctors visit. Yeah I like to go along for the visits and did the same with our first. So for those who did not know the news, here you go I'm going to be Daddy again.

To peek or not to peek is the question. With our first baby and they way Edith and I thought about finding out, was we did not want to know the outcome (boy or girl) and wanted it to be a surprise. I can only say, that it was the best feeling in the world to be there at the birth and wait to see. We knew it was a baby and for the most part healthy, but was it a girl or a boy, would be the surprise ending.

For us, the thought of hearing your going to have this or that and waiting for many months did not seem like fun. We've also heard the stories of how someone heard it would be a girl and they take the boy home wearing Pink or the other way around. In many cases, the outcome could be exactly as they say and a small chance of being wrong exists. For us its not so much that it could be wrong, its more of a feeling we have in waiting.

Our daughter was over due and we had to induce to get things going. I remember seeing the head and thinking, "This is a big baby and I'm guessing its a boy" and to my surprise it was a healthy baby girl. Pretty much got what I wished for and a proud moment in my life. The next step was the reveal and announcement of the name.

This is another area we like to have fun with. Pretty much drives family and friends crazy that we don't want to know the outcome and we say that we don't like to read the end of the book first. On the same note, when it comes to names, we discuss and pretty much pick the name for a girl and boy out, but we do not reveal the name till the birth. The name is something we both love and feel is right and at the right time is when the introduction is made. We did not even reveal what the boys name would have been, keeping it a secret until the next birth, that's not say we will not change our minds.

So check back around the end of March or first of April and we'll have an announcement at that time. If it drives you crazy wanting to know, sorry and its just part of the fun for us.

Cutting the Pipe

Well it's been around 7 years at least and I've cut the broadband pipe being offered to us from the local Cable companies at last. Sorry to see it go in some ways, but I really just can't justify paying the $55.00 a month for Internet Access alone.

I don't think I'll notice to much of a difference in service or speed and my hope is to see a big savings in the amount I've been paying. I'm a big fan of satellite TV and their services and I know that some of the Cable companies are starting to even offer some more services. Even still, picking up the TV programming through the local cable, my internet would still be about $45.00 a month and that is way to high.

It's also sad to hear that in other countries, they offer broadband internet and all the TV programming for around $39.00. So tonight I called in and said stop the services, your charging way to much and all they could say was, "We're sorry to hear that..." and will have you disconnected shortly and stop the billing.

Funny thing is DSL always wanted me to switch to them and their prices always appeared higher, but they seem to have figured out away to drop their prices and in turn gained my business for now. I don't think I'll give up my Dish and I don't see going back to Broadband Cable as long as they keep charging the prices they do.

No matter what, I'll never go back to Dial-Up... Never!!!