Author: Chris Arnini

Chris Arninihttps://wealthhackingwednesday.comIT Geek and Travel Hacker
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House Camping

I think this describes our current situation- HOUSE CAMPING -, we are camping in our own house which is an adventure in itself. It may be teaching us some great agility feats as we weave in and out of all the various objects lying all around our floor. There is the bed frame pieces scattered across the floor, the box springs in the hallway, the compressor, floor nailer, stacks of wood…..need I say more.

It will be good to finish this flooring up again and pack up our current camping situation and start living in our home again.

Still in flooring land…

But I thought I’d mention that we saw the most beautiful rainbow on the way home from Home Depot (our 2nd visit of the day). I’m so grateful for this rare, beautiful fall weather and I can’t help but feel a sappy sort of hope when I see something like that.
I wish I had a secret agent camera I could whip out for spontaneous photo events like these.

Happy Fall everyone!

A weekend of fun and debauchery

Just a quick update to let you know we are not dead! We are still knee deep in flooring (2 rooms fully done now, one more to go!), but we took some time out this weekend to go to Connecticut for more tattooing and to attend the Renaissance Festival in Hebron, CT.

Chris got more work done on his Nightmare before Christmas leg sleeve and has the scars to prove it. I got a few little sailor sparrows–pics will come after we are done whining about the itchiness and soreness (and yes, that’s from the TATTOOS, not any other sort of debauchery–get yer minds out the gutter!).

This was the second time we’ve attended the Ren Faire in CT and it seems to be getting better. Though it was dreadfully cold and windy, we availed ourselves of some great shows. We saw some jousting, archery, and pirate brawls, along with some hilarious (and naughty!) shows. Some of which included a duet of “singing executioners” called Smee and Blogg, and a couple of dueling cassanovas called, quite adequately, The Duelists (their sword fights always seemed to get centered around sexual innuendo). The naughtiest and most hilarious act by far was the show put on by The Pope and Cardinal in their sing-along show. It would make nuns and monks blush for sure! It was neat to see everyone in character and the costumes were great. There was a ton of stuff to do and some good medieval eats (and thankfully, some traditional stuff. We wouldn’t have been able to eat otherwise as it mostly centered around meat!).

There was plenty for kids to do as well and some great artisan stuff–some of the stuff was your usual “fair” cheapy stuff, but there was a real blacksmith making swords and such on site, and a few talented costume-makers.

All in all I’d say we hadst ourselves a right lovely time. It was a good short break from our flooring weekends. We also got to briefly visit Chris’ parents; his mom berated us for getting tattoos while making us some homemade minestrone soup. I can handle berating if soup is involved…

Hope everyone is well and warm–love to all and more updates and pics to come (we owe you some major pics!)

I can see!

I’ve been wearing contacts–well, sort of, for almost a full week now. There have been a few days when I’ve tried to put them on but have just given up! It feels so weird having your finger place something on your cornea–didn’t our mothers say never put anything close to your eye? But it feels nice to see without putting glasses on–though I keep thinking I forgot them…

But I think these contacts will sure come in handy when snorkeling in St. John…(hmmm…is that a shark or Chris?)

Meanwhile we are still knee deep in bamboo but we hope to show you the finished project soon! love you all!

Sawdust, Stacking, Sliding, Saws

So we are officially more than 1 week into the flooring project and not doing too bad. The houses is stacked up the ceilings with all manners of things here and there. We just have little space in the condo so while redoing the computer/future kids room we just stacked stuff as high as we could do in the other room. I am starting to feel more like a rat when I walk through the house. At least we are now more than 1/2 way done with the flooring project which is a very good thing. No more moving things from one end of the room to the other several times in the same day.

On the work front, it has been a crazy couple of days now almost a week. The interm director I think it just not right. She knew coming into the office we where already full of stuff to do yet is giving us more to do, crazy. To make matters worse she totally knows nothing of technology which I find odd for a marketing person. We create more traffic on the site and then get penalized for doing it? Ok makes no sense to me I am just waiting for them to hire anyone and by anyone I mean anyone.
current mood : splitting migraine.

Beehives, bopping and banana pudding

Last night we went to what possibly might be the best concert in terms of just sheer fun (bjork takes the prize for best). We went to the Iron Horse to see Southern Culture on the Skids (scots.com) which is a great band that has been around for a while and sings songs all poking fun at trailer culture in a funny way.

We where fairly lucky and got a table near the front with a decent view. Angry Johnny and the KillBillies (getangry.com) opened up for SCOTS and did a good job. They where sort of a mix of angry hill billies and grunge. They played only for 30 minutes but where enjoyable. Giving enough time to have 2 martini’s in my case which where very yummy.

About this time a bunch of college kids arrived and at first we where a little worried that they would be the typical college idiots but luckily far from that.

Southern Culture on the Skids came on a bit later. They looked even better then when we saw them at the green river festival. The lead singer had plaid shorts and the whole redneck outfit with a straw hat which had part of it cut away for a sun visor. The female lead singer had a beehive and wore it well. The drummer looked like he was wearing an old fashion bowling uniform.

No sooner then 5 minutes into the concert and the college kids where up and bopping around in front of us. They knew the words to every song which made it even better (side note:. For those who have no gone to the iron horse it is one of those sit down concert places but there is room here to stand)  and where dancing it up to the side of the stage where we where. After a couple songs we got up with them (by the end of the evening many people where up) and did some crazy redneck dancing. It was crazy fun and the college kids where having a great time which was even more fun.

SCOTS was also have a blast of a time. They where really actually smiling while playing and looked to be having a great time. They got a couple people on stage including some of the college kids and one that was from TN. He was so estatic to be up on stage. After songs like double wide and day old banana pudding you just got to love them. After placing for a while they came back for a few song encore.

Needless to say we havea  GREAT time and couldn’t believe how much fun it was. Thanks to 2 great bands and some very cool college kids.

Songs you must hear – Double wide & day old banana pudding

Guy highlight – Kathy kissing the beehive wearing lead singer on the neck

Tattoo Status – Very Itchy

“Bamboo” zeled

Up to our necks in bamboo and not even outside.

That is what it feels like lately, we have started to put down the bamboo flooring on our entire upstairs. What is bad about this is the fact the condo is so small. We would give anything for even a small piece of yard which would make the process so much easier. So the living room now has saw dust all over it from cutting and their are boxes all over the place full of flooring.

On the good side we did a fairly ok job of the hallway, only a couple of little mistakes but hey we are both new to putting wood floors down without any help. Only a little bit of the hallway is left which is a good thing. Of course now the question is what to do next, oh the joys of condo projects 🙂

Beauty & Crime in Brattleboro

We were surprised to hear on 93.9 The River that Suzanne Vega was coming to our humble little town to do a concert. Yes, Suzanne Vega, in little old Brattleboro! And not just in Brattleboro, but right down the street from us, within walking distance! We couldn’t pass that up. She had been touring the US to promote her new album “Beauty and Crime”, which has surfaced after a several-year hiatus to raise her daughter.

Seeing her live at the Latchis theater was like seeing time frozen. She looked and sounded just like she did in her old “Tom’s Diner” days. Quite appropriately, she began her set with the album version of “Tom’s Diner” and, quite adorably, her band crew came on stage to “act out” the song, like by bringing in coffee to a cafe table and reading the paper.

Suzanne played a lot of songs from her new album–which was very good! I am especially a fan of “Frank and Ava” about Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, and “New York is a Woman”. Her lyrics and her sound is just as charming as it was in the days of her debut album. She sang a few old favorites including “Marlene on the Wall”, and “Left of Center”.

Suzanne was very engaging throughout the show, telling cute little stories in between sets and commenting on how she liked Brattleboro. She even read aloud a fan letter from a fan who requested she play a particular song in Brattleboro that night, and then she played the song.

The room fell to a hush when she sang a mesmerizing “Luka”, and then blasted into the funky, radio version of “Tom’s Diner” that we all know and love from Benny and Joon.

She came back for a 2-song encore from audience requests and then danced off stage. What a nice show, and the best part was that we only had to walk home after! So we even got to grab a beer at the Flat Street Brewery. And we found out that a neighbor of ours whom we had been friends with moved back to town!

I hope we start to see more great artists like her performing in a place like Brattleboro. Hooray, Suzanne!

Oh, I almost forgot, opening for her was Philip Julian. He was pretty neat, he sang a funny song he called “God the Third” about if Jesus had a son, and the guy was a dissapointment. (“So he became the president of the United States” har har”).

We heart Grizzly Bear.

Ever since seeing these guys open for Feist, we’ve been intruiged by Grizzly Bear. They are one of those rare bands whose live shows far outweigh the quality of their album, so they always leave you wanting more. They didn’t disappoint at Pearl Street, although I wouldn’t consider the venue a good match for their music…they are more of an Iron Horse, sit- down -and listen to kind of band. The name conjures up mean, angry animals who steal your camping food…but these guys are more Teddy than Grizzly.

Opening for them was Beach House, a duo whose music brings to mind a ghost from the 1960’s searching the shore for her lost love (guess that’s where the “beach house” title would fit). And with as much “cool new band” exposure as Grizzly Bear has been getting, they were completely humble about it and hung out with everyone during the Beach House perofmance. When Chris and I were having a drink next door before the show, we saw the guys from Grizzly Bear wander past the window and take the “common people” entrance into Pearl Street. They even worked the CD/T-Shirt booth and joked around with the sound guys.

When it was their time to shine, they walked up on stage and thanked Beach House profusely.I can’t say enough of how Grizzly Bear’s live shows put their album to shame. The album is subdued, with ukeleles and pianos. The live shows have more of an edge, with electric guitars and glockenspiels (sp?). Their music is hard to explain, but it’s emotions and right-on-target group melodies that conjure up thoughts of Simon and Garfunkel and the Grateful Dead mixed with the Beach Boys. Super good stuff. Favorite songs were “Little Brother”, “Fix it” and “On a Neck, on a Spit”. There was even a great acapella version of an old sea shanty.

I hope Grizzly Bear will stay as humble as they were at this live show, even after playing at Coachella and receiving lots of under-the-radar buzz. I hope they’ll come back again sometime, too.