29 March 2009

No matter how simple & easy, it's still scary

About 10 hours from now, Aidan will be going into outpatient surgery to get tubes put into his ears.

No matter how many times people have told us that this is an easy procedure, only takes 10 minutes, is manna from heaven, there's just something unsettling about having your almost 16 month old go into a medical procedure where there's anesthesia.

We know he's a fighter and a happy kid, but it's going to be very weird to see him all knocked out like that. It's not like sleeping, it's more like a passed out and in someone else's hands helpless feel.

I'm sure everything will go well. Everyone says this doctor has literally done thousands of them and that he's one of the best in our area. We felt very comfortable with he and his staff on our initial visit and then with Aidan's hearing test.

His pre-op physical went without incident and we've kept him out of the line of fire of daycare sickness for the last week.

Sure, I don't post on Duey's Brain for three weeks and then I lay this heavy load on you, but work has been a bit frenetic for the last month or so and it's kept me extremely busy.

I'll have plenty to say in the coming weeks especially as we head off on two weeks of vacation in Europe with the little guy.

So here's a little cyber-prayer for Aidan for tomorrow. This is the best thing for him and will make a world of difference.

06 March 2009

U2 new release(s) and Letterman

I saw U2 for the first time at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois in 1984. It was the 2nd time they had played there and was after MTV had the videos from Red Rocks playing in heavy rotation. Looking back, I feel blessed to have seen them in such an intimate setting at that time in their career.

Over the years I saw them again as their venues needed to be bigger and bigger and I do remain a fan although not as crazed as I had been in the past.

With their last couple albums I didn't even download them on the release day, but I did for their latest effort "No Line On the Horizon". Had a full listen the other day and although it's solid, I couldn't help but sit there and think with each song that I could see it on a soundtrack of a Hollywood flick. Several of the songs have over 60 second intros which had me scratching my head. Talk about any of the remaining deejays in the world having to "hit the post", well, you better have a lot to say to hit it.

Then I saw this article and it sort of confirmed my thoughts about what's going on with the group and their efforts. They are at that point of their life where they're getting almost orchestral or operatic. The albums are about painting a much broader picture and feeling which at the core of creativity makes perfect sense but as a consumer, starts losing it's appeal for me. So an almost ready 2nd album is going to be released AND it basically follows on from the themes of the newest one.

And the music industry gets angry at iTunes because they feel it has turned the industry back into a world of "singles only".... So hit me up for TWICE the cost in a month or so.....

I'm not going to sit here and say that they need to be hammering out full albums of anthems like they used to, that's just foolish. Artists must create and change and evolve, but since they detoured a bit in the 90's and didn't really hit it out of the park, I just hope that after the successes of the last two albums, they aren't reverting back.

Still a fan, still supporting the boys. Edge's slam at Sting at last night was fun as that's following up from Bono's slam at Chris Martin recently.

04 March 2009

C'mon Matt Lauer....wha' happened??

On the way out the door Tuesday morning, I stopped by the tv just long enough to see Matt Lauer butcher an interview with the stunningly beautiful Gabrielle Anwar, who plays Fiona ("Fee") on Burn Notice (Thursday nights, USA Network).

He flat out admitted he didn't watch the show and then spent most of the interview talking about her tango with Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman and talking to her about how she can do an American accent (which she DOESN'T HAVE on show)!!

The producers didn't help by playing clips of Scent (TWICE) and Burn Notice while the interview was going on.

Look, I realize that she was only on there to promo the season finale this Thursday, but it IS the second season and they moved it from just running in the summer to battle against the big boys and it's holding it's own (and will continue to).

Fiona wouldn't have taken that crap from anyone on the show. Matt should be lucky she wasn't packing heat.

Here's the Today Show Butcher in action.

[[nbc deleted the video]]

If you haven't seen Burn Notice, I think most episodes are on iTunes, Netflix, or somewhere and they will run "marathons" on USA Network too (I think they are this Thursday leading up to the finale)

The huge following of the show comes from a hot Gabrielle Anwar (for the boys), a hot Jeffrey Donovan (for the girls) and for anyone who has ever loved cult-classics and Sam Raimi vehicles, Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Xena, Hercules, Brisco County, Jr., etc.). Oh yeah and throw in a chain-smoking, guilt-tripping Sharon Gless, Cagney of &Lacey fame to round out the cast who are set in Miami/South Beach.

Check it out as it's one of MK's & my favorite shows.

02 March 2009

Business Traveler Haiku

Metal tube fly me
across the land, air and sea
Big snow screws the pooch

I was supposed to fly into NYC late Sunday night for a very early Monday a.m. meeting and then fly back mid-afternoon on Monday.

On Saturday evening, my cellphone started buzzing with alert updates from United. It ran as follows (all times central):
Sat. 8:56pm: 5:04pm Sunday flight canceled.
Sat. 9:05pm: re-booked on 8:55pm Sunday flight
Sun. 11:24am: 8:55pm Sunday flight canceled
Sun. 11:35am: re-booked on 9:58am Monday flight
(meeting Monday was to start at 7:30am, so I'd be landing about 20 minutes before the end)
Sun. 4:30pm: notification that I could check-in online for my return flight for Monday afternoon
Mon. 7:01am: notification that 9:58am flight is still on time
Mon. 10:00am: notification that 9:58am flight is now 10:31am (landing me 1 hour after meeting would end)
Mon 11:14am: notification that my 4:04pm return flight is canceled
Mon 11:29am: re-booked on 3:50pm return flight (oh good, I would have landed in NYC 80 minutes before that)
Mon 11:58am: 3:50pm return flight is now delayed to 5:00pm
Mon 1:53pm: now delayed to 6:23pm
Mon 6:10pm: now leaving at 6:08pm (uh, what am I, a time traveler?? Alert comes after I supposedly would have pushed back from the gate)

FYI: Monday 6:10pm, I was actually feeding Aidan some dinner and waiting for MK to get home so we could eat.

Good thing I just stayed home and went into work normally!!

I realize the weather was pretty severe out East, but can the airlines understand why people get so frustrated with them? They claim that they are usually just working with the most up-to-date information that they are getting but within 3 hours today my return flight was canceled and then my re-booking changed departure times THREE times. The snow had ended so what was the deal??

I'm so glad I don't travel for business as much as I used to. Sure I miss the "status" benefits from when I was cranking out 25K+/year but I'll show up a little earlier and board last just to avoid so many headaches.