I haven't looked at or even thought about in.circles in a few weeks. Strange that when I finally bring it up to blog on my lunch hour Paul has just recently chimed in. I hope everyone's monitor resolution is high enough that I'm not forcing his entry completely out of your screen, as his images of fire embody all of the excitement that our little (big) hometown has to offer - especially the last one in the list. **

So how are we all living? Good? Good. **

Wired News' updates for today were particularly entertaining as it reviews Episode III and gives us a tongue in cheek quick-shot about the new Sony and Microsoft consoles. In my former life I would've probably taken off from work, printed out these news bits, and rolled around in the grass naked with my printed pages rubbing against my naughtier parts while eating buffalo wings. But these days, I'm just not excited about those things. I cringe at spending $500 on the launch day of a new console, know I won't have enough time to play it anyway, and cringe yet again when thinking about the raping of my fond childhood Star Wars memories by Episodes I and II (although I will still most definitely be there on opening weekend). -- My mind's clearly in the gutter, so let me move on. **

The band! Last we spoke we had a song or two and didn't have a name. Well, now we have a song or five and still don't have a name. But there's progress!: We play tighter each and every practice and every new song seems to be a bit better than the one before it. And plans!: recording 4/5 demos the first week of June and doing our best to perform a 6 song original / 2 song cover set to actual human beings a bit later in June. I'm hopeful we'll hit both of our goals - and from the limited feedback I've gotten from the few outsiders I've given a glimpse of our tunes, pretty hopeful that at least a few people might dig 'em. **

So here's to Summer. Or Spring. Or it's almost summer but barely feels like spring. Or whatever. Here's to something. --

hey. things are good with us. i was on alps yesterday at petes and a fire broke out at the florist next to his house. there was a huge turnout. i guess all the houses in the vicinity lost power as a result and people lined the streets. weird thing was it had the feel of a parade, the whole thing. wayne churned out like all their rescue vehicles sans the 6x6, which is the swamper for the floods. i didnt get many good shots, but i got shots none-the-less. enjoy

http://img175.echo.cx/my.php?image=fire4ey.jpg
http://img130.echo.cx/my.php?image=fire21ra.jpg
http://img130.echo.cx/my.php?image=fire39jj.jpg
http://img130.echo.cx/my.php?image=fire43pi.jpg
http://img130.echo.cx/my.php?image=fire61ng.jpg

http://www.duelinfiremen.com/movies/duelinfiremen_divx.avi

Rather than re-type it and try to put it in Blog context, I'll just cut and paste my little story from Friday night exactly how I sent it to a friend via email:

" Brad and I were leaning against the bar and this 50+ year old guy with a thick (slurred) irish accent wearing a pinstriped suit came up to us and asked us if we knew how to get downstairs. The bar had no downstairs. I said "are you looking for the bathroom? That's in the back, but I don't think there's a downstairs." He mumbled a couple of other things and then walked away, so Brad and I went back to talking. Then all of a sudden he walks back over to us and starts choking Brad and I ate the same time.. one of us with each hand. Brad knocked him backwards and then all of a sudden a bartender's hand was grabbing at me yelling that I was getting thrown out. Everyone around us started telling him that we didn't do anything, so they let me go. Five minutes later another Irish guy came over to us and said "i'm sorry about my friend... he's been drinking since 6 o'clock and is pretty drunk. he's fought in three wars.. He's also a delegate (or maybe he said diplomat) in the UN... so if they let him back in here - which they will - you might just want to stay out of his way."

He actually did come back in. But he didn't even remember what happened. And I was having too much fun at that point to care. "

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction... --