Reviews

A good way to End the YEAR!!!!

For the last 3 years, I have accompanied my cousin Henry to New York City 2 nights before New Year’s Eve to see the hot band Gov’t Mule and this year was no different. It rocked. The setlist says it all.

First Set:
Mr. Man > Perfect Shelter> Lola Leave Your Light On>
Livin Lovin Maid She Said > Tomorrow Never Knows Jam (with a verse of vocals at the end)
Tastes Like Wine
Banks of the Deep End
Suffer
32-20 Blues with Ron Holloway

Second Set:
Game Face> Mountain Jam> Game Face Johnny Bratton Jam (from Miles Davis Jack Johnson Sessions)
Hunger Strike> Dear Mr. Fantasy> Hunger Strike
Wandering Child> Drums> Devil Likes It Slow w/ Ron Holloway (and a smokin’ solo from Warren as always!!)
Oh Well Little Toy Brain
Lively Up Yourself
Mule

Encore:
John The Revelator (Danny on Trumpet Playing the Outro as he comes across the stage)

This was the first show in all my years of going to shows that I actually wore my earplugs the whole night. I bought a pair of ER*20 High Fidelity Ear Plugs a few years back from Etymotic Research and they were great. They deadened the sound but didn’t affect the sound quality of the music. They were worth the money. My hearing isn’t the greatest any way from playing my music too loud all these years and going to shows with unprotected ears. It’s been getting so bad they are ringing even after I get out of the car with the radio on to loud. So it’s time to change my ways and turn the volume down……

Bad Uno’s Experiance at lunch

The gang went to the Uno’s at 225 Sloan Avenue Hamilton, NJ 08619 for lunch today. We got there at around 12 and didn’t get served till 12:50 pm. We only got the food because I went to complain to the manager. Who went right back to the kitchen and wasn’t back there more than 30 sec when he came out with our food. The only compensation we were offered was free dessert for each of us. They also made the mistake of leaving 4 comment cards on the table so I filed them out. Not favorably either. Then when I got back to work I shot off an E-mail to the corporate office.

Here is a copy of the E-mail:

My party of 10 arrived at the Uno’s in Hamilton, NJ between 11:45 am and 12:05 pm. We placed our order around 12:15 after our waiter took our drink orders.

We ordered the following items:

3- Uno Burgers
2- Chicken fingers
1- lunch Fish & chips
1- Soup and Salad
1- Lunch Penne pasta
2- Pizza and soups

We didn’t get our meal until 12:50 pm and that was after I went and complained to the manager. There were 4 parties around us that were seated and orders were taken after we ordered and they received their food right away.

We usually go to Uno’s at least 2 times a month for lunch. And when we have a person leaving our company we usually have the going away party at the bar of the Hamilton Uno’s. Usually, we run a $500 to $1000 drink tab at these parties. This experience is making us look into going somewhere else for lunch and taking our party business to another location.

——
Now before you tell me how bad Uno’s is we don’t usually have a problem with service this bad before. Actually, the food is ok and good for lunch and the bar has good beers on tap and the happy hour starts early for parties.

Time Management for System Administrators

Time Management for System Administrators
By: Thomas A. Limoncelli
First Edition November 2005
ISBN: 0-596-00783-3
226 pages, $24.95 US, $34.95 CA, £17.50 UK
link: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/timemgmt/index.html

To save everyone the trouble, I’ll make the obvious joke: “I bought a book on time management, but I haven’t had time to read it…”

The thought of time management for system administrators is something that is thought of with a smile. We are interrupted and side tracked so much. So I bought this book with a little doubt and smile on my face. I ended up reading it twice in one weekend and started implementing Tom’s ideas the next Monday and already I am seeing more projects getting done and less things being forgotten.

There are many books out there about time management and I have read a few but they dont take into effect that System Administrators get interrupted. Tom, on the other hand, has lived and knows what its like to be in the trenches with ideas and suggestions that will work for the system administrator. This bookis very easy to read with a lot of real life experiences and stories that help show the point of the topic being discussed. It also sports a lot of UserFriendly.com comics in every chapter.

Time Management for System Administrators main goal is to get the system administrator thinking about writing things down and not trying to remember them in your head. Toms system is very easy to implement and to use. It is system-generic; whether you use a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a PAA (Personal Analog Assistant) every thing mentioned in the book can work with and improve your current system.If you don’t currently have a system, Tom will help get you going in the right direction to better time management if you follow the cycle system discussed in Chapter 4 (which is the sample chapter on the OReilly web site: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/timemgmt/chapter/ch04.pdf)

Hey its a great book that will help you get through the day and get you working more efficiently and not be so stressed at the end of the day. The worst that will happen if you read this book is you will know how to get into Disneyland and ride all the rides without standing in line.

It’s been a busy month since last we talked

As I said it’s been a busy month since last we talked. I have had my birthday, Family in town, Picnic Prep, La Vigna Picnic, Working on the XP rollout and Server 2003 testing and roll out ideas.

Birthday
My birthday ended out well. We went out for dinner and then to a movie. We saw the “Fantastic 4”. I thought it was an ok movie but as all first Marvel-based movies it was deep in background short on action and adventure. Then we had a nice meal at Chevies the Mexican place. It was a nice birthday maybe one of these years my wife and daughter will throw me a big surprise party.

Family in Town and picnic prep
The last week of July is always busy. My uncle from Michigan rolls into town and heads to the Jersey Shore for the week with his family. I usually don’t get to the shore when he is there so I don’t get to hang out much but this year I made it a point to take my daughter to the shore and hang out with my uncle and his family. The day went well Avery and I had 2 great meal s and got some sun to darken our skin and a swim in the Atlantic. 😉

The rest of the week was taken up preparing for the La Vigna Picnic. It was a quick hot week. My uncle Dean was under the weather so he was limited in what stuff he could do so I picked up the slack.

La Vigna Picnic

This year’s La Vigna Picnic was great. We had the highest attendance in a long time and everyone seemed to have a great time. the weather was cooler and less humid. Dean was still under the weather so Fran and I ran the games and took care of the MC duties for the day. I ended up selling the 50/50 tickets and making the most money ever in the history of La Vigna Picnics. I will now be stuck doing the selling for a long time…

Working on the XP rollout and Server 2003 testing

Finished the rollout of Windows XP in all the satellite offices and am working on getting it done here in the corporate office. I am also working on testing Server 2003 and Active Directory for the server upgrades. I am in the process right now of building the AD network in parallel with the NT network here in the corporate office.

This week Carolyn and I went to see Huey Lewis and the News on Tuesday night. It was a good show and better then I thought it would be. Huey is a very good showman and very fan friendly. I would go see him and see if he does a totally different show.

We are getting ready to go see Jimmy Buffet next weekend in Philadelphia which is unlike any other concert experience that I am used to. It’s one big party check out last years comments on the show. We are also getting ready for the final big picnic of the summer on September 4th so if you are in the Trenton NJ area on that day drop me a line and stop by….. 🙂

Another great Gov’t Mule concert

Gov’t Mule played the Festival Pier in Philadelphia Sunday night. It was a great show a good way for me to start the summer concert season. Here is the setlist…

Set 1:
Slackjaw Jezebel
Perfect Shelter
Bad Little Doggie
Bad Man Walking
About To Rage
She Said, She Said
Tomorrow Never Knows
Jealous Kind w/Ron Holloway on Sax
Sco-Mule w/Ron Holloway on Sax

Set 2:
Maybe I`m Amazed
Soulshine
Thorazine Shuffle
Devil Likes It Slow w/Ron Holloway on Sax
Drums>Jam>
My Oh My
32/20 Blues w/Ron Holloway on Sax
Mule

Encore
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys w/Ron Holloway on Sax

It was a great night weather-wise, once the sun went down we got a nice breeze off the river, and it kept things cooled down. Now I am still amazed at the amount of people who get so trashed at these shows. Yes I have a few beers, but not to the extent that I sit down an fall asleep during the show. I have seen more and more of this at Mule, Alman Brothers and even Phil and Friends show. Or they get so trashed that they just stumble around. We had a guy who sat down right in front of us and went right to sleep. To me that’s a wast of money. See my rant about concerts fans and the spectrum it’s at the bottom here.

A good night out….

Last night was the return of Gov’t Mule to Philly and it was great. A little low key and mellow. The seemed to be playing a lot from there new album Deja Voodoo. The crowd was into it so that was good. A very lite crowd that might have had something to do with the venue change from Penn’s Landing to the Electric Factory.

Warren sounded great as did the rest of the band. Nothing out of the ordinary just good old jamming. Wish I had a ticket for tonight’s show at the Roseland in NYC.

The opening act was Soulive and definitely a band to watch out for.

Met a couple last night that was from RI and had driven down to Richmond, Va. on Sat morning to see the Nascar race, then on Sun drove to Baltimore to see a ball game at Camden Yards and then to the Mule show. What dedication to all the things they find fun…

Here is the setlist for the night:

Govt Mule, Electric Factory, Pa 9/12/04

Set 1:
Mr. Man
Politician
About To Rage
Lola Leave Your Light On
On Your Way Down
Mr. Big
New World Blues
^Sco-Mule

^ w/members of Soulive (Eric Krasno-guitar, Neal Evans-keyboard)

Set 2:
Beautifully Broken
Effigy> Painted Silver Light
If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
No Celebration> Drumz> #Jam>
#%The Spider And The Fly
Rockin’ Horse

encore: My Separate Reality

# w/Rob Somerville-sax player
% w/Cyrus Madden-keyboard player

It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere….

Wow….that is all I can really say. I haven’t been to a Jimmy Buffett concert before and it’s an event that is very close to a Grateful Dead show. I was finally able to get tickets this year and made a surprise gift for my wife and daughter at Easter. Well, last night was the night and we all had a blast. We hit the road around 4 pm after work and were in Camden by 4:45. We were late, the party had started already. The main parking lots were packed with Parrot-heads and they were partying.

We saw and smelled tons of good food and heard a lot of blenders running and making what I hope were some great margaritas. We had a great time just watching people. There is really no real difference between a deadhead and a parrot-head except that a deadhead is a little less groomed than your normal parrot-head. No smellies at a Jimmy show…

We got in line about a half-hour before the gates opened and made some quick friends in line and had some good conversation. It’s interesting how much more attention you get when you bring your 11-year-old daughter with you, all the woman in line keep an eye on here and make sure she doesn’t disappear. The gates opened around 7 pm and the mad rush of all the lawn seat people started. Compare it to the running of the bulls. We lost a lot of the people we were talking to in line and ended up about midway up the hill dead center of the stage. We were surrounded by true parrot-heads. We had a blast watching them..they know how to party…

The show kicked off about 8:20 with Jimmy coming out solo and doing a few songs then the Coral Refers hit the stage with him and the party kicked into high gear. He took a very short break at 9:30 and then came out and played to 11:30.

The highlights of the show music wise for me were, of course, Margaritaville, Fins, and Son of a Sailor, but the big surprise for all of the attending Deadheads was a cover of Scarlet Begonias it made my heart swell and put me on a definite different plane of fun. He finished off the show with a 3 song encore ending with an acoustic version of “Pirate Looks At Forty”.

Overall it was a great show. Avery was disappointed that he didn’t play “Fruitcakes” and I was hoping for “Tin Cup Chalice”, but other than that the show was great. The crowd was excellent and well behaved and in a party mood. The one thing that surprised me was the lack of pot being smoked. There was none at all I didn’t smell any at all. I guess I have been going to too many jam band shows…

As we were walking back to the car my wife and daughter informed me that we have to go next year. So all you parrot-heads see you there next year…..

Here is the setlist:

HOT HOT HOT

Banana Boat Song

01 Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes with the original Coral Reefer Band
02 Great Filling Station Holdup with Mac
03 Pencil Thin Mustache starts with Robert and Ralph joining in and finally the whole band
04 Only Time Will Tell
05 License To Chill
06 Carnival World
07 Son of a Son of a Sailor
08 If The Phone Doesn’t Ring It’s Me
09 Brown Eyed Girl
10 Volcano
11 Why Don’t We Get Drunk Purple Rain psychedelic style
12 Hey Good Looking
13 One Particular Harbour

Intermission

14 Smart Woman (In a Real Short Skirt)
15 The Pascagoula Run
16 Jamaica Mistaica
17 Come Monday
18 Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit
19 Jolly Mon
20 It’s Five O’clock Somewhere
21 Cheeseburger in Paradise
22 Coast of Carolina
23 Cuban Crime of Passion
24 Southern Cross
25 Scarlet Begonias
26 Margaritaville

First Encore:
27 Fins
28 We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About

Band Intros

Second Encore:
29 A Pirate Looks at Forty

Wow…..

This show rocked….even though the night started out a little shaky with Henry and I missing the train we wanted to catch so we missed the opening band…

Warren was hot as was the rest of the band…..They did a lot of things you don’t normally hear but they are at the Beacon for 3 nights and I am sure are saving a lot of old favorites for New Year’s Eve. Henry’s got tickets for the next 2 nights and I am sure he will have a great time.

Setlist is here enjoy. I am going to try to get the 3 night set of shows soon on CD.

1st Set
Time: 1 hour 10 min

John The Revelator
Rockin Horse
Don’t Step On The Grass Sam
Painted Silver Light
Banks Of The Deep End
Patchwork Quilt
Fools Moon
Out Of The Rain, w/ Sonny Landreth can’t wait to hear this one.
32 20 Blues w/Sonny Landreth & Brian Mitchell on keys

2nd Set
Time: 2 hours +

Bad Little Doggie
How Many More Years
Wand Dang Doodle about 5 minutes worth
How Many More Years
On Your Way Down w/ Sonny Landreth & Deep Banana Black Out horns
Spanish Moon w/ Sonny Landreth & horns + Cyrus on keys
I’ve Been Loving You
Down And Out In New York City w/horns
drums
keys
bass
WDC >Beautifully Broken> WDC

Encore
Blind Man In The Dark (Warren kept teasing jungle boogie before the start of the song.)