All posts by cheaptoy

Parentgood

Father Knows Best: Or Rather, Father Knows Little

25 Comments

This edition of FKB will be advice free and more of a theraputic thing for me, I think.

Our first experience with a newborn was somewhat difficult, especially for new parents and someone like me who was previously against the idea of having kids at all. The reflux and the late night screaming was difficult to adjust to, and I struggled initially. But, in the end, and after the reflux diagnoses at about three months, we ended up with the best daughter ever. After that, it took me awhile to get into the idea of having another. My wife wanted one (with a reasonable separation between the two, though) but I just wasn't sure if I was ready for two or if it was a better idea to just be able to devote all of our attention to the wonderful little girl we had. Eventually, after hanging out with some of our friends with two kids and seeing that dynamic (all boys, but still) and remembering my own experiences growing up in a two child household, I decided I was ready for it.

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Enslaved – Thoughts Like Hammers

Video

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVMWXZC-_L8

And now we've come to the end of my week. Thanks for letting me reflect, everyone. This is my most recent album purchase and I became addicted from the opening riff of this song, which opens the album Riitiir, they're most recent release. I really need to explore their back catalog. This is a pretty great mix of the stuff I like about heavy metal. There's the growl and the clean vocals, excellent guitar work, an obvious passion for what they're playing/singing about, and norse mythology related lyrics (always a good source for this kind of music.)

3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
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Running Wild – Under Jolly Roger

Video

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KABbjTQDLdk

Now that we've gone through how I got here, I'm going to spend the weekend playing things I think are awesome. This video is great because its extremely obvious that, even after 25 years (to that point in 2002. They're still going, although they did split up for a bit in 2009) these guys are clearly still having a blast singing about pirates. This makes for great driving music, by the way.

2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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Iced Earth – Dante’s Inferno

Video 2 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKABLbWbUPM

I started college right about when Napster hit the scene. Combined with a T1 connection, it was a great time to find music, and as much money as I spent on cds over the next few years, I feel I was a pretty good counter-point to ol' Lars's crap about music downloading. One of the first bands I found that stood out and sparked an interest in metal for me was Iced Earth. It was something of a revelation for me and set me off on a journey of discovery that has only recently slowed down due to lack of funds for things like cds, mostly because of kids and beer (and grown up life cost way too much money).

I know the video is kind of long, but its both one of my favorite songs of all time and a great live performance. Well worth the time investment.

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2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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Metallica – Bleeding Me

Video 8 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LpV9o5jGmg

Around the end of my junior year, things started to get set in motion for where I would end up musically. It started, like with a lot of people, with Metallica (the Sam Adams of the metal world, although the comparison breaks down in that Sam Adams continues to make solid, if unspectacular beer while Metallica does not do that anymore.) I started with Re-Load, however, so its a wonder I kept up with it. At the same time, when I was 16 I started working at the Dairy Queen in Somerset, WI. One of my co-workers was pretty obsessed with all things Metallica, so by the time I got to Re-Load I was ready to pick up some earlier stuff from them. Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning got a lot of play from high school senior me. It all set up the stage for college and a lot of bandwidth to discover what I liked and dig deeply into it.

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Korn – Freak on a Leash

Video 27 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33amAddghUM

This..... was where things started to go a bit wrong, around my junior year I had a car with a stereo that was tuned to 93X and that's it. Probably similar to most teenage boys, I apparently had both angst going on and no desire to try to figure out what I liked. (93X was like, so cool, man.) So, I got into the Nu-metal bands, going so far as to attending a concert headlined by Korn and the following band after the jump.

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3 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 103 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10)
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Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song)

Video 14 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pbioVBwX_g

Thinking back on yesterday, I probably should have started with something like The Monkees or some other band from the 50's/60's because of the previously mentioned KOOL108 listening. But, I can't really say that that stuff really started to get me much interested in music like today's entry. We've moved from late elementary school to junior high cheaptoy. This is when I really started getting interested in things, with the three albums getting the most spin time being Melloncollie and the Infiite Sadness, Dookie and The Blue Album. I decided on Weezer for the video because I couldn't bear to inflict Billy Corgan's voice on anyone. (Above the jump, anyway.)

Continue reading Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song) →

5 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 105 votes, average: 9.60 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 9.60 out of 10)
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Spin Doctors – Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong

Video 52 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5v1_UgD2Ro

I'm not gonna try to get good ratings this week, because I probably really can't anyway. Instead, I'm going to try to entertain everyone with a little "Cheaptoy Musical History" week to see how I got to where I am with my musical tastes. As you can see from the video above, this could be a little embarrassing.  My first ever cd that I bought was Pocket Full of Kryptonite. I was about 11 or 12 at the time and just starting to not listen to just what my parents had on in the car (KOOL 108.... not for me these days.)

6 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 106 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (6 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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2013 Twins Game Log

Game 157: Only Five More To Go After This

24 Comments

Fister (13-9, 3.71 ERA) vs. Diamond (6-11, 5.54 ERA)

I can't tell you how happy I am that Gardy's new favorite player's name is so close to Punto its almost comical. Its a little disappointing his walk-off last night wasn't a dropped third strike in which he slid head first into first to beat the throw (which I presume there would not have been a throw what with the runner from third, in this hypothetical scenario, was coming home), though. Ah well, not everything can be perfect.

So anyway, we're down to the final stretch of another bad season. I had to go to a birthday party for a one year old on Sunday at one of them "adventure" farms. It was not the most pleasant thing to do with my recent surgery, feeling like I was getting kicked lightly in the balls over and over from walking around all day. But, my daughter loved it (goats!), so it was worth the discomfort. The point, however, is that while sitting in the barn where the party was set up, I had no choice but to listen to the Packer game on the radio. (ugh, it was like listening to two Hawk Harrelsons without any of the "cute-ish" catchphrases but all of the awful bitterness and over-seriousness.) It reminded me that I would rather watch the Twins (even though I really can't watch them) during a third straight 90-loss season than ever go back to caring about the Vikings. Blech.

 Anywho, on to another attempt to thwart clinching the division at Target Field.

2013 Twins Game Log

Game 150: Two of the Same Thing vs. Colorless Socks

59 Comments

Big Pelf (5-12,  5.31 ERA) vs. Quintana (7-6, 3.56 ERA)

I check the standings when I remember to prepare a game log to figure out which game number to put in the title, and its been an increasingly depressing activity this season.  Fortunately, there's the Pale Hosers manning the bottom of this division. I was contemplating putting up the magic number for the Twins to hold off the Sox to avoid finishing last in the AL Central, but there's nothing magic about it so I decided not to.

Anywho, I presume Mauer is being shut down for the rest of the season meaning the lineup is still a diminished Willingham and a bunch of "young" guys, so that's fun.

What is actually fun is the reaction down here to the Badgers losing this weekend. People take this crap way too seriously around here and get really deluded about things. Its both humorous and insufferable at the same time.