Big show tomorrow night!

Or tonight, depending on when you read this...this is your last chance ever (well, ok, maybe not "ever", but at least for a while) to see Chicken Starship, the most important rock band in the world. Jack Chicken is moving to Minnesota and the rest of the band is going to "go on hiatus", by which we mean "drink heavily".

Here are the details:

We're back at the L.A.B. at Seattle Drum School, up at 15th NE and 125th in Seattle (the address is 12510 15th Ave NE, and the map is here). Relatively easy access from I-5, and while the show is all-ages, there is a tavern about a half mile north on 15th for those of you who can't watch us without getting your drink on.

Kicking off the evening's entertainment are Dapper Jones, a band we've never played with but sound cool, at least based on their MySpace stuff. Kind of a power-pop-punk thing.

It's an early show - 7:00-ish start for Dapper Jones, 8:30 for Chickens.

It's a cheap show - cover is $5 a head, and the money goes to support the Drum School

There's an after-party - and you're invited. We just can't tell you where it will be, because we haven't figured that out yet.

See you tonight! Or tomorrow night, again depending on when you read this...

Vote Frangles!

Entry #11 Frangles the Cat
Originally uploaded by shayneknitter

I'm Frangles the Cat, and I approve this message.

Hi, everyone. My name is Frangles the Cat. My mom, Paige Chicken, knitted me this sweet outfit and submitted my picture to the Mason-Dixon Knitting web site's "Teeny Project Runway" contest. So help me out...go to Mason-Dixon Knitting and vote for me, #11, Frangles the Cat.

Relapse?

Probably not. But after slowly improving over the last few days my thumb is acting up again tonight. Which really effects the typing, since hitting the space bar hurts.

So instead of anything insightful and long, here's a photo of Logan in his Boy Scout uniform, complete with small stuffed cats:

And....scene!

Well, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, my time as a Cubmaster / Cub Scout Dad / Volunteer has come to an end. Or was coming to an end then...and now it's officially at an end. Tonight was the big night, the combination dessert banquet, volunteer thank-you, Arrow of Light ceremony and cross-over to Boy Scouts. Quite a bit to pack in to, oh, an hour and 15 minutes. But we did, and it's done, and now I can relax. Because Boy Scouts doesn't start until, oh, tomorrow night.

But, they tell me, Boy Scouts is "Scout led". And, they tell me, "we don't give parents jobs for the first few weeks." Great. They're working their hooks in to me already, but I'm definitely going to take a break. No, seriously.

Anyhoo, here are a couple photos:

First up was the ceremonial "crossing of the bridge". The Den made this bridge as a part of their "Engineer" pin...designed by an actual engineer, it even supports my massive, elephantine weight!

Then it was time for Logan to officially meet Mark, his new Scoutmaster, who welcomed him to Troop 123. After that Mark asked him to "introduce his parents." To which he responded by turning around and staring at us, then mumbling something. Amazingly, he's not even a teen-ager yet!

After that awkwardness, he was given his new neckerchief by the Senior Patrol Leader, whose name I've forgotten and wouldn't mention anyway because of privacy issues (hence all the blurring of faces earlier). We'll call him Rasputin. That Rasputin can put on a mean neckerchief, I must say.

Oh, and that arrow Logan's holding in his left hand? Yeah...that's basically what I did today instead of going to work: created two slide shows on the computer and painted stripes on two arrows. If you need an arrow-painting jig let me know, 'cause I've got one.

Save the sandwich!

So as you no doubt know, Starbucks is phasing out their delicious breakfast sandwiches. And I must say, that's just sad. Not that I eat them every day, but there are those occasions when you want something greasy, cheesy, and with a nice spicy bit of sausage in the middle. Or ham or bacon, for that matter. Anyhow, the point is that when that mood strikes I'd much rather go to the Starbucks in my building than have to go out in the world and find either a deli that sells something similar or, perish the thought, a McDonalds Eggamuffin.

Which is why I was so happy to find this site where I can mouth off about the wonders of the "Classic Sausage Egg and Cheese". Won't do any good, but what the hell.

Anyone have, oh, 36 hours to spare?

I am wicked behind on too many projects for Tuesday's big Cub Scout meeting...stuff to paint, slide shows to make, songs to pick, scripts to revise, yeesh! Hence this nicely short blurb, and a shout-out to Diablo Cody for not only writing the best original screenplay of 2007, but also for best name and best tattoo at the Oscars. One of these days I might even see her movie!

So about what I said yesterday...

Today was, well, not quite the same. It was sunny and gorgeous, yes. And I went skiing, yes. So far so good. But that's where the similarity ends.

The difference starts with the snow. Today we were at Summit Central up at Snoqualmie Pass, and it was a weird mix of ice and slush. When we got there at 9-ish it was all ice, all the time. The groomed runs were big frozen washboards. Great for a foot massage, but that's about it.

The next difference was the temperature. While yesterday was warm at times, I never had to adjust any layering. Not so today...after the first run it was back to the car to drop the chamois shirt.

Which brings me to difference number 3: Yesterday I didn't lock the keys in the car, today I did. Lucky for me, the security guys at the Summit are experts at unlocking cars.

The final difference is that yesterday my legs were sore, but that was the worst of it. Today my legs are sore, true, but so is my hand. Why? Because I had a nice face-plant on the third or fourth run of the day and manage to sprain my right thumb. Like to the point where I thought I might have partially dislocated it. So that pretty much ended my day at 11 AM, and let me deal with getting the car unlocked while Dave got to continue skiing. The punk.

What's that old saying?

"A bad day fishing beats a good day at work?" Something like that. Anyhow, I would posit that a good day skiing beats pretty much any day at work, except maybe the day at work when they tell you to leave work and go skiing. Or give you a gabilliion dollars.

So today was day 1 of the Heuga Center's "Vertical Express for MS" ski event thingy at Crystal Mountain. It didn't suck at all.

Back in High School I skied at Crystal 'cause that's where the bus the school chartered went. As I recall, it was better than Snoqualmie Summit, but it was also a lot harder. And I got stuck at the top of more runs I wasn't able to ski.

That was in, like, 1983. Haven't been back until today. And I must say, it's definitely better than the Summit. Maybe not better enough to get me to spring the extra $400 or whatever it is for a season pass up there (that 2 hour drive isn't much fun), but definitely enough to think seriously about renting a condo or room up there for a few days next year.

So anyway, on to the event itself. It's a three-day thing, and unfortunately Dave and I were only able to go today. Which, it turns out, wasn't a bad thing. First, we didn't have to go to work. Second, as you can see from the photo at the top, it was sunny - at least in the morning. And even when it clouded up, it was still bitchin, as shown in this shot of Dave standing in front of some valley leading over to where Mt. Rainier would be if there weren't clouds.

And thirdly, since it was Friday, there were very few people there. I think the longest we stood in line was maybe a minute, and we never had that "I'm going to be steamrolled by a mob of snowboarders" feeling that you get at the Summit. In fact, it looked a lot like this most of the day:

And best of all, we raised a bunch of money for a good cause. And second-best of all, since Dave and I can't go tomorrow due to ski school up at the Summit, Dave's wife and daughter get to use our passes and be honorary one-day members of the mighty Team Minkey Boodle!

For the record...

I posted the "Breaking News from 7200 BC" before Taranto threw it up on Best of the Web, although I will admit that the whole "breaking news from..." headline is his. Probably should have prefaced my post with "shameless idea theft", but I didn't. So sue me.

We like da moon...

'cause it is close to us. And sometimes gets eclipsed by the Earth and looks super cool. Tonight's eclipse was a great opportunity to get the kids outside looking up, and to bust out the tripod for the camera:

This one's kind of fuzzy as it was the first I took, and had the longest exposure. According to the photo properties it was a 20 second exposure at f/4.8. And I don't think I bumped it, I think the streaking is from the long exposure.

This shot is much closer to totality. Only went with an 8 second exposure on this one and it popped the iris out to f/5.6.

Now we're starting to see the moon come out of the umbra, kind of mimicking the "diamond ring" effect you see with solar eclipses. We're now shooting 5 seconds at f/6.3

This one was taken shortly after the previous, but now I'm zoomed out so you can see Saturn down to the left of the moon. We popped that up on the telescope and the kids were able to see the rings, but since I don't have an adapter for the camera this is the best you get. Once again a 5 second exposure, this time at f/4.0 (the camera was choosing the f-stop...)

And then the clouds rolled in. We had pretty darn perfect weather for the eclipse, and at the end the clouds streamed in from the south, whispy and white, slowly covering the moon as she came out of the shadow. 6 seconds this time, again at f/4.0

Breaking news from 7200 BC

Headline from today's Seattle Times:

"Kennewick man kills neighbor's 2 pit bulls"

(Kennewick Man, in case you didn't know, is a fossilized human about 9200 years old)

Sunday pondering

Meant to post this on Sunday but I got all distracted...

So Sunday's "Parade Magazine" was the annual "who's the biggest dictator" issue and I have to wonder...do these guys check this stuff on line? Is North Korea's Kim Jong Il totally psyched that he made it to #1 and knocked off that bastard Omar Al-Bashir from Sudan?

And, in light of today's announcement, do you think that Fidel Castro finally gave up the fatigues because he didn't even make the top 20 this year?

Personally, I like to think that they all sit around the Dictators Club in Zimbabwe (home of #6 Robert Mugabe who moved up one slot this year), smoke their cigars and razz each other about their standings before going in to dinner and discussing new ways to oppress the masses.

What kind of directions are these?

So I'm reading a story about the new Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement store in south Seattle, and I'm thinking "Gee, I don't recognize that address. Wonder where it is?" And then I see the link for "directions". I click on it and, for some reason, start reading the "From South" set:

From South: Head North on I-5, take Tukwila Exit to WA-599. Highway 599 will connect into Highway 99. Take Highway 99 towards East Marginal Way . Take left onto East Marginal Way. Turn left onto Idaho Street use left hand turn lane. Turn right onto unmarked street before the Fiberlay building. Follow road and turn left on S Nevada Street

Is it just me, or does that sound like either the directions to a speakeasy or a street fight? "Turn right onto unmarked street"? WTF?

Crap!

Here I was going gangbusters, remembering to post every day, and then we have a holiday Monday and I blow it. Damn!

Anyhow, here's what I WOULD have posted yesterday if I could have...

Wish I were here...we were supposed to go up to Mt. Baker and go skiing today, but Paige got sick so we stayed home. Luckily, thanks to camera phones, I can now see what I was missing...CRAP!

Two week warning...

Just wanted to give you a two-week warning for our big Pre-Reunion show...yes, two weeks from tonight is your last chance ever (well, ok, maybe not "ever", but at least for a while) to see Chicken Starship, the most important rock band in the world. Why, you ask? Because Jack Chicken is moving to Minnesota to be closer to Target and the rest of the band is going to "go on hiatus". At least until we can sign an aspiring lead vocalist to an exclusive contract...

Here are the details:

• We're back at the L.A.B. at Seattle Drum School, up at 15th NE and 125th in Seattle (the address is 12510 15th Ave NE, and the map is here). Relatively easy access from I-5, and while the show is all-ages, there is a tavern about a half mile north on 15th for those of you who can't watch us without getting your drink on.
• Kicking off the evening's entertainment are Dapper Jones, a band we've never played with but sound cool, at least based on their MySpace stuff. Kind of a power-pop-punk thing.
• It's an early show - 7:00-ish start - and it's a Friday night, so get off work early, come on out, and give Jack Chicken the all-ages sendoff he so richly deserves!

Click here to put our songs on your Facebook profile.

Ugh...

So here it is, Saturday night of the big President's Day weekend, and I'm bushed. Got up early (well, late for a work day but early for Saturday), took the boy up to ski lessons, skied for about 5 or 6 hours, and completely toasted my legs. I am, as they say, wicked out of shape. Then we had band practice tonight getting ready for the big pre-reunion show on the 29th (at the L.A.B. at Seattle Drum School...more info on the band MySpace page). So now I'm beat.

Oh, and it doesn't help that Mrs. Chicken is down with the crud, fighting a sore throat and a fever. I'm guessing we're not going up to Bellingham as planned tomorrow night...just guessing...

More shameless idea theft

This time stealing from John "Monkey Disaster" Moe, I bring you the resurrection of the Family Herman project.

As some history, back in our carefree college days, when John and I would read the Spokesman Review over coffee, we'd do the swap with Family Circus and The Far Side. But since the Far Side isn't in the paper any more, now you gots to swap in Herman. Assuming you read the Seattle Times, which I don't (I'm a lifelong PI guy and still peeved that they killed The Phantom).

Anyhoo, the concept is this: You swap the captions between the two strips and see what comes out. And today we've got this:



It appears, to me anyway, that Daddy or Mommy is trying to scrape snow off the car, and Billy is finding a great deal of enjoyment in the fact that they're using the wrong scraper. Maybe the right scraper is lost and they're stuck with a credit card...we just don't know.

Herman, meanwhile, apparently requires a snow shovel to remove the tartar from his teeth. We can only assume that the dentist likes this kind of bad weather because it gives him an excuse for having the snow shovel in the office...people would ask embarrassing questions if he whipped that sucker out in July.

Happy VD!

I'm not cool enough to have a sweet graphic like Tina has up today. Heck, I'm not even cool enough to do the traditional Scott Chicken protestation of love to Mrs. Chicken, the free Stranger love ad. Usually I'll submit one, then lead Paige through the pages of the paper with a trail of sticky notes, pointing out all the freakish ones (well, some of them...if I did all of them the pen would run dry) before leading her to my lame one.

This year I was even lamer than that, and completely forgot to get it in on time. So instead I had to use the Stranger's "Lovebot". It's not too late to send your own.

Unless, of course, it is, in which case you're on your own.

Help me help the Heuga Center fight MS!

I've been raising money for the MS cause for years now, initially because I was looking for an excuse to go on a cool bike ride, and then because more and more people I knew were being diagnosed - from my sister to a friend's sister to another friend's wife to, well, lots of people. I took a break from the MS cause in 2006 when I ran the Portland Marathon (and thanks to those who supported me with that cause), but this year I'm back to MS, but with a twist: This year I'm leaving the bike in the shed and strapping on the skis instead.

I'm teaming up with a couple friends to participate in the Heuga Center's Vertical Express for MS, a series of "on-snow events" (mainly skiing, although I think there's some other stuff in there too) at Crystal Mountain in two weeks - February 22nd through 24th. And with just a week to go I'm still a few hundred dollars short of my goal and I'm hoping you can help push me over the edge by following this link here and pledging money on the secure donations page. Seriously, it's that easy.

Thanks for your support!

My latest album

So, been working hard in the studio with the new band, Priscilla Studd, and we're just going to press on our new album* "Else Has Seen You". I'm really happy with the album art, especially the drippy font that gets to the heart of the Priscilla Studd sound. That and the photo of the 80s new wave-looking dude...



*In case you've forgotten the album cover rules, they're here...