Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner post on my experimental blog.

"Killer Parties Almost Killed Me"

I posted a concert review of The Hold Steady on my experimental blog.

The Grand Experiment

A few weeks ago I bought a new home computer. Since I was utterly unable to find a single person who would say a single nice thing about Microsoft Vista (and "It's not that bad" doesn't count), I took the plunge and bought an iMac.

My experience so far as been nothing but good. You know those Mac people who have been annoying you for years because they won't shut up about how much better their Mac is? Turns out they were right all along. Who knew?

The Mac comes with software called iWeb, which makes it incredibly easy to create a good-looking website. I also purchased a .Mac account, which allows me to publish said web site to the Internet.

For the next few months I'll be experimenting with this new web site. Until I make a decision about which one to stick with, I will cross-post here. Please check it out, and send me your feedback. Thanks!

Young's Gulch

Kevin has been giving me a hard time again about my blogging. I mentioned I took a nice picture on a hike last Saturday. His response: "I guess I'll see it in a year." This one is for you, Kevin.

Foliage in Young's Gulch

Our furry pal Sky (Kevin's dog- she was visiting while Kevin and Shirley were in Scotland)

Birthday Bicycle

For my birthday on Monday, Dorinna fixed up my Grandfather's old bike. We think it dates from the 1950s or 1960s. I've been talking about buying a cruiser bike for a few months now, so I can't wait to ride the roads of Fort Collins.

Gaylord Opryland

While at my Nashville conference, we stayed in the Gaylord Opryland hotel. The size of this hotel has to be seen to be believed. Almost 3000 rooms, 6 restaurants, and 5 bars, but that's not the most impressive part. The most impressive is three large.... I'm not sure what to call them-- we called them "biodomes." Huge, air-conditioned, glass-enclosed atriums, filled with stairs, bridges, rivers, waterfalls, buildings, and plants.

44-foot waterfall in the Cascades biodome:
Behind the waterfall:
The Delta biodome came complete with a riverboat cruise (only $9.00)
The Garden Conservatory biodome was my favorite. It was comparatively peaceful, and had a greater percentage of greenery:
Sweeping view of the Garden Conservatory:

More Country in Nashville

On Monday night, we went back to downtown to hear more live music. This night, being a work night, was considerably tamer (e.g. beer instead of whiskey), but if anything we heard even better music. Here are some more "country-related" photos from Nashville.

I bet you didn't know that Charlie Daniels had a museum in Nashville. Bet you didn't care either...


Layla's Hillbilly- We heard an outstanding bluegrass band here on Monday night. At one point a white-bearded old man came in off the street between songs. The band got all agitated-- "It's so-and-so!" they cried (it wasn't a name I recognized). Whatshisname picked up a fiddle and the next song was a fiddle-vs-mandolin duel the likes I've never seen. Then the guy left. The level of talent that just wanders in off the street in this town is downright sickening.
"Western World". We heard a very good western swing band here on Monday- the Western Swingers. It sounded like jazz to me. I liked it enough to buy a cd.
Typical street musician in Music City.

Modern Day Nashville

On Sunday (late), I wandered back to Downtown Nashville. I took some more pictures, and visited the small but excellent Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

Photos from Nashville

Here are some photos from my last Nashville post.

The Ernest Tubb Record Shop. "All Types of Records" led me to believe this was going to be a cool music store that I could browse for hours. You know how regular music stores have signs for the different musical genres: jazz, classical, rock, rap, etc.? There were no signs in this particular store-- let's just say they had both kinds of music: "Country and Western"

Jack's Barbecue. Ribs, pork shoulder, and beef brisket. Good enough to go back on Monday night for a second trip.

B. B. King's Blues Club. Not sure what kind of music was playing that night. It wasn't blues, and it wasn't any good. Far and away the absolute worst music I heard in Nashville.
The scene of "the crime", or at least the scene of the multiple plastic cups, absurdly large, of Maker's Mark. Highly recommended. We saw the country-rock band "Wide Open."

Nashville

Spent last night in a series of progressively dirtier and gritier Nashville honky-tonk bars. Neon signs, cowboy hats and tight jeans, plastic cups of whiskey and continuous live music. Some bluegrass, some rock, some blues, but mostly steel guitar country. I'm not sure if it was the quality of the musicians or the aforementioned plastic cups of whiskey, but it sure sounded good to me.

Real America. Real cool.