...And the winner is:

ME! I just got them! 2 FREE tickets to see the band Tool at the Excel Energy Center on Tuesday, June 26th! I posted a while back about listening to KFAN's The Powertrip Morning show, well all my listening paid off! I called in one morning on my way to work after they said they would take caller #11 for a pair of Tool tickets. To my surprise I won! Can't wait for this one...I heard they are LOUD in concert.

New Music: 'Tarantula' by Smashing Pumpkins

Like the Smashing Pumpkins? Well they are back with a new CD this July. Check out their single 'Tarantula' off forthcoming CD entitled "Zeitgeint". Sounds like old Pumpkins stuff if you dig that.

Concert Review: Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin and Puddle of Mudd

I'll still trying to get my hearing back after this concert last night. This show was featured at one of the new clubs in the Twin Cities simple called The Myth. This venue is very good sweet! My take on this place is a mix of 1st Avenue absed out of Minneapolis and another club called The Quest. Excellent sound system, LCD displayed all over the place to see the action on the stage if you either can't see or if you're hanging out in back. If you have a chance to see a show there...do it!

I usually don't catch many national acts unless the lineup is good. Obviously this one was.

There were actually 4 bands total. The first band was called Red. I've never heard of them before but they were'nt too bad and put on a decent show. It was hard to pinpoint what they sounded like...which is kind of a good thing. I will probably check out their tunes online or something. The next band was Puddle of Mudd. They were good. They had a simple stage setup and looked like they just rolled out of bed, but I like them. The highlight of the show was when they covered "Breed" originally by 90's grunge band, Nirvana...it was spot on. The next band was when I sent down to 'the pit'. Breaking Benjamin was the band I really wen to go see and ranged from 3-5 'rows' from the front. This is te second time I've seen them; I've got all their albums and they simply rocked the house. The final band was Three Days Grace. These guys were good. By the time they got onstage I already got out of the mainfloor area and stood stage left. These guys played all their hits and were pretty good. Well, I have no rock shows I am planning to attend for the near future, but stay tuned, you never know!

Spiderman 3

Alright, alright. I've been busy with life as of letely. I have been struggling with the time to post. Alot has been going on so I hope to find the time to share it with you. I was finally able to catch Spider-Man 3 a few weeks back. For those of you that know me, know that I like Spider-man in general and have enjoyed the first 2 movies that have come out in years past. Well, this 3rd one was a bit different.

Don't get me wrong, I like the movie but think there was way to much thrown into it as far as characters/villains and storyline. With 3 villains in one flick, there was simply way to much stuff happening! Spidey (aka Peter Parker) has one heck of a life fighting these villains much less trying to have a life with Mary Jane. Although I liked the Sandman character, I think Venom and the 'son-of-goblin' character made the storyline go overboard.. Overall I give this movie a B-. Good action but way to much going on for a 2 hour movie.

Technology for Country folk

Got this one via email from a family member. Kinda funny. Click on the picture above to see them all.

Embarq

So with the buyout of Road Runner by Comcast in my area, we've made the switch to Embarq high speed DSL, formerly Sprint. When the buyout and switch first went through, we received a letter stating that "nothing was going to change"... Well the biggest change they could have done actually took place...the monthly rates! Seeing we don't have cable TV or phone service through them, our rates were going to go up about $25 a month! Screw that! Unfortunetly there are not many providers out here in my area so I thought I was stuck with Comcast or dialup.

Luckily I drove home one day to see a billboard for Embarq. I had seen some trucks in my neighborhood, so I looked them up online and called in. I was pleased to hear that they did provide service to my area and almost immediately signed up! After checking a few things out, I signed up. There was some delay in the phone number transfer from Vonage to Embarq, but after a few phone calls, things finally went through. We've signed up for a 5Mb download transfer rate and a 768Kb upload rate which is about what the cable service provided. All this and we're basically saving about $20 a month! I'm sure you'll hear from me if the service is bad.

Business Trip #8 - Miami, FL

So the final trip for the project I have been working on. It ended us in Miami, Florida! This is probably the top trip both due to the location, the person I went with and the amount of fun we had. The office was on Miami International Airport grounds so it was pretty easy getting to and fro the hotel. We worked some long days but were able to unwind every night at the Embassy Suites with a FREE happy hour; or in our case it was a happy 1/2 hour. We would end the day having a few drinks then heading out to find some sort of dinner. We went to a Bennigan's which was is stumbling distance from the hotel and also made a trek to TigerDirect.com which was kinda cool and also checked out a Cheeseburger In Paradise restaurant near the University of Miami campus.

Overall the highlight of the evenings was on Thursday when we went to Coconut Grove and hit a few bars/clubs. We spent most of our time at Coyote Ugly. We stayed out late and slept in a bit on Friday. We ended up heading to the Miami Beach /South Beach area and sun a nice sunburn before we flew home. Overall a great trip and a fun one to end it on!

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