It's comforting to come in after a long weekend and NOT find an avalanche of accumulated work.

Happy belated Thanksgiving, true believers. I hope everyone's holiday was spent being well fed and surrounded by loved ones. Mine certainly was, though we didn't leave town to see family. Well, not blood related family anyway. We spent Thursday night with the Davis family and it was pretty great. Great food, great company, what more is there?

My parents went to Nashville to celebrate their 35 year anniversary/Thanksgiving and stayed at the Opry Hotel. Apparently, they had a great time and enjoyed everything that that spiritually bankrupt town has to offer. Don't get me wrong, Nashville is a great place to visit, so much so that a visit there years ago convinced me to move there.

My parents' marriage is a rare case; 35 years and never a whisper of divorce. I've never even actually heard them raise their voices at each other. I guess they really love each other or something. They got engaged something like 6 weeks after they met, and were married 6 months later. Quick! It was supposed to be 3 months but apparently my mom's family was hung up on the fact that my dad had been briefly married before and the Good Book said that that made my mom an adulteress, so they tried to convince my mom not to marry him at all. To her credit, she said "Eff that, I do what I want!!" They did, however, succeed in convincing her to wait a year. She told my dad and he said "Eff that, I'll wait 6 months." (I'm paraphrasing, of course. I don't know if either of my parents have ever said the F word. I tend to doubt it.) So, 6 months later they were married and roughly 4 years later they were pregnant with my brother, and 3 years after that, pregnant with me. Hooray, life! Boo to the fundamentalism that tried to snuff me out. Hooray to parents who have always shown me that all you really do need, is love! Hooray to parents who have always been slow to anger and quick to forgive!
Hooray to 35 more years!

This weekend we had our "Twitter show" where we projected a live Twitter feed on the wall beside the stage. It was really fun and interesting. Undoubtedly, it convinced everyone that they were a comedian, and as we predicted, it became really obscene really quickly. It was all in good fun, though, and I think everyone had a good time.

Slept badly last night. Zombie nightmares and cold sweats all night. The zombie nightmares I can explain because of The Walking Dead (How amazing is that show?!?) but the cold sweats are a mystery. Oh well, I guess my life is just way harder than everyone else's.

One of the best moments of the weekend was Leah getting Harper to say "Oh man!" but it coming out (like the native Texan that she is), "Oh Main!"

In the city of the future, it is difficult to concentrate. Meet the boss, meet the wife. Everybody's happy, everyone is made for life.

If you're looking for a significantly tasty burger, Phil's Icehouse on Burnet Rd. can supply you with one, no problem. Most of the band just took Paul to eat there for his birthday and I was impressed. I'm not often blown away by burgers, and I'm not sure if the term "blown away" really applies here either, but it was pretty damn good, nonetheless.

Anyway, Leah and I just got back from vacationing in Orlando, FL, a place I would probably avoid (bad drivers, bad radio, and an absurd amount of televangelists on TV) if it weren't for that little slice of heaven, The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. I've had such a boner to see this place since I first heard they were building it and it did not disappoint. My only complaint is that the excessive amount of muggles crowding the streets in their wife-beaters, fanny-packs, and daisy dukes sometimes takes you out of the moment. Everything is so well done and authentic, though, that it's hard to be unhappy about anything while walking the streets of Hogsmeade or the halls of Hogwarts. Leah and I spent the better part of two days mesmerized by all things Potter, and thanks to Butterbeer, I regained 3 of the five pounds I lost the week before. Oh well, back on track now. Now we just have to figure out how to see The Deathly Hallows as soon as possible.

Leah and I had such an amazing time together and it was nice to get to do whatever we wanted as a couple without having to worry about nap times or snack times, etc... That being said, we missed the hell out of Harper and I could literally feel my heart lighten when we saw her at the airport. I know I've probably said this before and it probably doesn't make for the best blogging (but fuck you, this is my blog and I do what I want), but I love being her father so much, it's ridiculous. She's getting so smart and funny, so full of personality. I can't wait til she's a teenager and screams how much she hates me in a public place.

Quiet Company has begun working on the third record, in earnest. I have no idea when we will actually be done with it, but it's going well, albeit, slowly. Well, it's actually not going slowly, it's just taken us a long time to get started. Everyone is really excited about the new material, and I'm very interested to see how it all turns out. It's a different direction for us, focusing more on guitars and drums than pianos and synthesizers. Basically, we're just trying to pick up where Staind left off.........

Our episodes of My Generation are now available for streaming at Hulu.com and ABC.com. We're in episode 3 (though if you blink, you might miss us), and "How Do You Do It?" has a really nice placement at the end of episode 4. Episode 6 has "The Biblical Sense Of The Word" in it somewhere but I haven't gotten to watch it yet.

Really excited to catch up on our TV shows, especially The Walking Dead.

15 records that made my year (musically).

This may be one of my favorite pictures Leah has ever taken. It's Harper, Estlin, and Olivia on Halloween. I think it captures all of their personalities pretty accurately.

Anyway, here's a list, in no particular order of 15 records that came out this year that are all very much worth owning. Some are even "must haves."

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love
The Thermals - Personal Life
Starflyer 59 - The Changing Of The Guard
Eminem - Recovery
Tim Kasher - The Game Of Monogamy
Menomena - Mines
The Toadies - Feeler
Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz / All Delighted People
Stars - The Five Ghosts
Quiet Company - Songs For Staying In
OK Go - Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky
The New Pornographers - Together
Jason Poe - Now Is The Winter
Autolux - Transit Transit

There's a few records that came out this year that I'm sure deserve to be on this list, but I just don't have them yet. For instance, the new Colour Revolt and Rocketboys records.

The Life I Love

Today is the day!

If you didn't know, my wife is an amazing wedding photographer, and she and her partner are launching their website/business today. I'm so fucking proud of her. She is so talented and works so hard and deserves huge success, which I'm sure she is destined for.

Click on the banner and go hire her for all of your photography needs.


Leah's sister, Elana, and her boyfriend, Ian, have been visiting this week from London and we've been having a great time. We went to the hockey game on Tuesday, barbecued on Wednesday, ate at Trudy's downtown and went bowling/karaoke-ing on Thursday, went down to the South Congress bridge and saw the bats, ate at the Green Mesquite, and saw Red(2.5 out of 5 stars) at the Alamo Drafthouse on Friday, took Harper to a lame ass fall festival, and then hung out at the Quiet Company/Bob Schneider Halloween show at Antone's on Saturday (which was awesome and we were all zombies), and went trick or treating with the Davis family and then ate wings and watched The Walking Dead on Sunday. It was a great time and we're sad to see them go today.


I've never celebrated Halloween. I wasn't allowed to when I was a kid, for religious reasons, and then when I was old enough to do whatever I wanted, I just didn't give a shit anymore. Most people are shocked when I tell them that this weekend was the first time I've ever dressed up for the holiday; I still don't think it's that big of a deal. That being said, I did have a great time being a zombie at the show on Saturday. I do feel like I'll care more about it the more Harper enjoys it. I'm definitely looking forward to many years of trick or treating with her. She was a shark this year...


...But she has the makings of a Jedi.


I caught the end of the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive on Comedy Central. I'm sure I'll watch the rest of it eventually but I just wanted to comment on Jon's closing statements. They made me feel hopeful for humanity in America. Also adding to my hope was the fact that Glenn Beck's rally had 80,000 attendees to Jon Stewart's 280,000. Eat it, pig face.

Patriotism is something I've never excelled at. School spirit is the same thing. I just can't get all riled up with support for a team that has been assigned to me based solely on where I just happened to live. However, I find myself supporting the Texas Stars, which is the minor league hockey team in Cedar Park. I've been to 2 games so far this season and am planning on being at their game against Toronto this Saturday. Maybe the difference is that I chose to live here. I wasn't born here, I didn't move here with my parents, nor was I displaced here by some natural disaster. More importantly, I love it here. I love the people, I love the place, I love the community. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else (in Texas).