Quest for Cognizance

Annie and I packed up the little guy and what seemed like 93% of his belongings into her new Rav-4 on Friday and jumped on the road to Chicago for the weekend.

The trip served two purposes: 1) finally meet our new nephew and Max's cousin Steven (of who's mother, my baby sister, I still can't believe is now a mom); 2) to finally see The Cure live at Allstate Arena (the tour-date had been postponed since last September).

After the initial outburst of disbelief and laughter from Tim and Amber upon seeing how GIANT Max has become, we discovered one month old Steven is all arms and legs, just like his dad. You can see a bit of Amber in the cheeks right now, but it's early, so who knows what he'll look like in a month when we see them again. We had great time getting Steven and Max together. Max and Steven couldn't have cared less, but the two moms had a blast.

More on Max's trip here.

The Cure. Wow. This group, in it's various forms over the years, continues to rank at the top of my list of favorites. If you strip away the crazy hair, make-up, and gothic image, you're left with some very talented musicians and writers who never fail to deliver when it comes to a live performance.

Aside from Robert Smith having a cold (I could only see it's effect in one song), the show was fantastic. With swapping out two keyboard players (who had been in the band for quite some time) for the former guitarist (and genius) Porl Thomson, there had been some worry as to how they would pull off some of the keyboard-laden tunes created over the last 10-15 years. When you get rid of a full time keyboard player, and a guitar player who also plays keys on various tunes, and replace them with a single guitar player, something has to suffer, right?

Did I say Porl Thomson is a genius...? He did an amazing job covering keyboard and piano parts with his lead guitar. Sometimes he seemed to have 15 digits versus 10. He didn't use his guitar as a MIDI controller as much as I thought he would. Granted there were a couple of songs with some sequencing, it was sparse and used very little. The keys weren't missed, and the best part is some songs became edgier, rocked a bit more, and had more of a groove. All four members seemed to be having a great time up there; Robert dancing and playing to the crowd, Porl flaunting his chops, Simon dancing the whole night with his bass hanging at his knees, and Jason Cooper rock solid, like a machine, pounding his drum kit.

We won't even get into what Porl was wearing. All I can say is it was classic Porl Thompson. If you know who he is, you know what I mean...

The highlight of the show, for me and my wife I think, was during the first encore when they played The Kiss from the Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me album. There's about a five-minute intro where the song builds and builds with Robert progressively going nuts on his guitar. It took us a minute to realize Porl, the lead player, was sitting down in the shadows as Robert played the whole intro, and only stood up and joined in as the song reached the verse. It almost felt like Porl was tipping his hat to the bandleader, wanting everyone to remember just how good of a player Robert is. Sometimes I think his talent gets lost behind his crazy image. I'm pretty sure all 8000 people in the arena got the point loud and clear. It was mesmerizing and intense, and I think I held my breath the whole song.

There's a new album coming out in September. It'll be interesting. With the sound we heard Saturday, I can't wait.

They played for three hours. Nothing else needs said.

Video of alt.end from the show.

~Live~

I think I like my dog again.

Three years and three months ago Vinnie came into our lives with the intention of becoming a golf course dog. A golf course dog is usually a hunter/herder type of canine used to establish a presence on a property to dissuade pests such as geese and varmints from taking up residence.

He started out at two months old riding in the front seat of not only my truck, but a golf cart as well. It took him three jumps off a moving golf cart before he learned he really shouldn't do that.

The first season with Vin at work was great. He bounced around the clubhouse as a puppy, made everyone who walked through the place smile (the ladies leagues LOVED him), and he did his best impression of a full grown dog when he caught site of geese on the course.

The second season was a pain in the butt. My plan had been to have the greatest, best looking, superbly trained golf course dog in the area. pfft... He's a lab. He was between year one and two. He could sit, shake and lay down like all the rest. He also couldn't help putting his nose on customers tables while they ate our famous Rush Lake hot dogs. He also couldn't stop himself from jumping on people as they came from the front door, especially women and children.

The third season Vinnie stayed home most of the time.

And now this fourth season things have changed a bit. Number one he's 3 1/2 now and THANK GOD that's when everyone tells you they start calming down. And he has. Vinnie now doesn't whine and beg to go outside every fifteen minutes. He calmly sits a few feet away and watches people eat their famous Rush Lake hot dogs. The only people he jumps on coming through the door now are the ones who (oh SO naive...!) bring treats for him.

I actually watched Vin start running for the door the other day, mistaking a new customer for one of his 'treat-bringers' only to pull up short when he recognized it wasn't who he though it was. I really think it was because both gentlemen wear bucket hats.

Vinnie loves riding on the golf cart just about as much as running at 3/4 speed, on cruise control, with his nose to the ground searching for the latest ground squirrel, goose, deer or rabbit. I rarely have to chase him down anymore if he takes off on a scent. After he's had a good run, you're liable to find him sleeping with his chin on his paws in the clubhouse -- a far cry from previous year's constant pacing and whining to go back out.

All in all, he's slowly becoming the dog I always wanted him to be. He just needed his own time to do it. Patience doesn't come from my side of the family, but Vinnie has taught me a few things about it.

Just a forewarning: Vin might be featured a bit more on this site than in the past. He's earned it.

I can't wait for Max to realize how good of a best friend Vinnie is and will be.

~Vinnie waiting not-so-patiently on a frosty morning~