Raking the Lawn

Ok... This I'm going to feel tomorrow. Didn't think I would be that worn out by cleaning the winter away from the garden.  But it sure takes a lot of energy. Felt good though but my arms feels like spaghetti now.
It's just the big hedge left for tomorrow and the last part of the driveway. Hopefully the neigbours cat will hang around Tomorrow to watch also. It's nice to have her hanging around. And a good deal for a break also, to cuddle a little with the cat!

But it's great that there's nice weather and good to be outside, finally!
Tonight it's time for BBQ again so I stopped by Gunnaröds yesterday to pick up some eco Meat.

And next weekend it's time for Keep It True. Really looking forward to that!

Cheers
E

Anger Management

Having a bad hair day makes exactly everything annoying and hard, like waiting for coffee, trying to work, having a dude next to me on the train spreading out a bit too much, pressbyrån's new prices for coffee... The list is long today... But the thing that bugs me the most is my work computer. After the last upgrade it sucks donkey ass and THAT really pisses me off. Of course, it's probably me who don't know how to adjust the settings but that doesn't make it less annoying. Mousepad live its own life and switches on and off, courser moves around which messes up all mails and documents...

It's just one of those days. Lucky it's a short week and we're off to fun business again!

Cheers
E

Easter full moon

The moon sure is impressive tonight. Of course, completely impossible to shoot and get a decent shot so I have to settle with looking at it. 
And it sure has been good with a few extra days off now. Not that I've had much time to relax though since Friday meant Void Moon rehearsal from 9:30 in the morning... (normal bands rehearse at night and take a beer, Void Moon rehearse BEFORE breakfast on occasion...) But ok, we got to have a BBQ lunch before the guys had to leave for their easter comitments and I had the afternoon to take care of other stuff. For some reason it feels like things are taking so much more time than they used to. I never had problems to squeeze in Rehearsal, fancy dinner, photo-editing, TV watching and a party in a day but that don't happen often now.

My plan was to catch up as much as I could with photo editing since I can't open the raw-files from my new camera in Elements 7 and I can't install creative cloud on my work computer. Need to see if the little red one can handle it so I'm not locked to editing on weekends only. There's just too few of them to manage everything that shall fit. But else I'm very happy with the new camera and my new toy... Yep, I bought the Canon L 8-15mm lens... Turns out rather crazy and it's not all that useful, but it is FUN!!! Also, I tried the Sigma 10-20 but it was too slow for the price so it felt right to add a bit more cash and get the really good one.

Perhaps a 10-20 would have been more useful since it the 8mm almost takes 180 degrees, the pictures are virtually round. And I assume it is stressful for the bands as well since it focuses on 15cm away from the target and fully opened, this is what it looks like from 2-3dm away from the fist dude on stage!!! I.e. I get AWFULLY close with it... :O)

But it was quite a challenge for a while. My main lens broke during the Satan gig in Gothenburg. I got it fixed but I was out of it for Sacred Steel, Sanctuary and Up The Hammers. As a backup I had a fixed 50mm and the 8-15. A BIT of a mismacth in the middle but it turned out ok. That VERY CHEAP fixed 50mm is still very good and stable but it's hard to not have the zoom, I've always had that and I'm used to it so it becomes rather strage with a fixed lens. Also, for the EOS 50D I had 17-50mm and for the EOS 5D I have 24-70mm which made me miss the mm's up to 50 more than above. 

 
It sure would have been good with a few more days home now. I've been away a lot lately, two weeks in Dallas felt like an eternity and prior to that we went to Katowice to see Overkill and of course Up The Hammers in Greece. So these days has been really nice even ifI haven't completed what I set to do. I doubt I will manage by tomorrow but who knows, I might wake up early (fat chance, nooo) and feel inspired and start right away.

Anyway, if I can keep the speed up with writing and editing the days I'm home I will be in a good position before the new Festival season start. And I'm sure looking forward to it. I got a report yesterday saying Exciter kicked ass at Defenders of the Old Festival. I'm really looking forward to see them at KIT together with Uli Jon Roth, Riot V and more... Great line-up as always. But first we're off to Ireland!

Cheers
E

NP: Riot V - Unleash the Fire

I am a...

Murderer... We'll, not for real of course (maybe when it come to plants though...) but the track sure gets stuck. We've been rehearsing brand new Assassin of an Age on the last few rehearsals and debuted it live at Doom Over Scania. Everything there worked out fine and all bands did really good gigs. Favorite was Sideburn, damn good, cool songs and great variation. Don't know why they never got stuck for real... Should have! Ah, better late than never at least.

And speaking of new Void Moon songs. We got the solo from John Cobbett (Hammers of Misfortune) and damn it's cool. He did more than a solo though, so we'll see if we can fit all in. Most of it should, absolutely! He's playing at Rivers of the Moon. Everything is coming together really nicely and I can't wait to hear the final result.

I'm a bit jetlagged still after USA. Tried to sleep last night but couldn't so today was very hard. Hopefully it will be better Tomorrow. I'll try to stay awake until bedtime. Fell asleep too early yesterday and woke up an hour later. Really annoying.

And I'm so looking forward to next weekend, long one first of all. Then rehearsal that comes with a BBQ. Must explore all the crazy stuff I bought at Walmart, the butt-rub, raspberry chipotle sauce... Bet it will rain the whole weekend just because I plan for this...

It will be good with a weekend at home before next crazy trip starts. The Irish dates with Terminus, Mael Mordha, Argus and more... There's a lot of concerts in Sweden the same weekend also, Evergrey, Destruction with Ice Age as openers... Would have been cool to see! But I might as well realize I won't be able to do everything all the time!

Cheers
E

Temptress

The Lakewood Temptress that it... It was suggested by our local colleagues that we should blogg about the Shops at Legacy restaurants since we've tired a few these last two weeks.
The beer selection was the best att Henry's Tavern, doubtless. Also, the staff was superfriendly and the food decent. Don't think it's fair to judge though since we only had meals from the starter or happy hour menu.
Mi Cocina had great food but felt a little stiff. Main Street Bakery had absolutely ok Burgers but I felt a bit sick walking out of there. Not cause the food was bad, just too much. But I guess that's the Texas way! We also tried to eat att Village Burger Bar but the patio was always full. Yes, that's right, we've been sittning outside since it's sunny and +25 here....
Taco Dinner... Ok too!
But the real takeaway from eating should go to Kenny's Smokehouse. Awesome brisket.
Then I must say I'm rather impressed with American Beer,  the Lakewood brand was great, both the Lager and the Stout. Like it!

Tomorrow is the last day here. Will be nice to come home again even if it has been great to be here. Really looking forward to Doom Over Scania. Will be fun to play live again even if a 15 hour trip isn't the best warm-up for a gig...

Cheers E

Freakshow

Well, I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed with the visit to Walmart. Not the shopping itself, that was good but I didn't see any of the "people of Walmart"... But it is quite odd though to see they got electric wheelchairs next to the shopping carts for anyone to borrow.

I managed to boost up for BBQ season att least with lots of sauce, glaze, rubs and spices. Smokey Bacon mustard can't be anything but Killer. Also really curious about roasted strawberry chipotle glaze... Will be fun to start exploring it all.

I also bought some wine, some cheap and some more expensive. Couldn't really resist a wine called Freakshow, not Dark Horse or Dead Bolt either. And I can tell you, Dead Bolt tasted great. The only I've tired yet and I do think I need to get one more. It's a bit of a shame it's so hard to get USA wines att home, sure Zinfandel they have but utmost rare to find Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon... Amazing wines for sure!

Tomorrow we're heading for more shopping and a Burger!

Cheers
E

Straight to work...

Well, can't say I feel rested. Deadline tired is more it. But the show yesterday was good and then it's worth it. But 2 hours worth of sleep is little even for me. Hopefully I'll pass out on the plane.

Coming back to the hotel yesterday I found a Metal Show on TV. Cool. They talked a bit about Sacred Reich first. Then Enforcer. It reminded me of the days trying to stay awake for Headbangers Ball on Sundays and Thursdays. Kind of miss that show. Of course, everything is available online these days but still. It was a good way of finding new music. As was the Swedish radioshow Rockbox. HBB flipped out a bit in the end though but so did the music scene. Around 95-96 in UK it was Marilyn Manson, Coal Chamber etc for every cent. Not my favorite type of music.

So, another hour to kill at the Airport now. Was lazy (or comfortable) infront of being economical and took a taxi. Damn he was driving fast. But ok, I'm here well in time for mycket flight att least.

Cheers
E