Thirty Years of the Girl with Coal-Black Hair

In honor of my 30th Birthday today, I hope you'll enjoy a picture from every year of my life.

From Youth to Thirty

I never thought I would get so nostalgic turning 30 this week...on Friday I'll be just another 30-something. I feel so young at heart...and have so many great memories of my youth. Recently I've been going through boxes of pictures. And when I say BOXES, I mean literally thousands and thousands of pictures from the last 30 years. The awkward chubby phases, the dated hairstyles, the embarrassing dates, the classic family portraits. I just posted a my favorites into an album on Facebook, which you can view here.

I've been getting things together for a totally RAD Birthday party on Friday...old retro toys, original Nintendo games, cassette tapes of Roxette, Color Me Badd, New Kids on the Block, MC Hammer; Saved By The Bell posters....basically the finest in pop culture from my 3 decades of life. Fondue, Friends, Family, and Fun...I can't wait. Want to come? Email me for details.

1992 Music Groups I Liked

Musical Groups/Singers I Like (in no particular order) 1992

Boyz II Men, Color Me Badd, Arrested Development, Extreme, Eric Clapton, Whitney Houston, Shai, Michael W. Smith, Jon Secada, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Amy Grant, M C Hammer, They Might Be Giants, Michael Bolton, Roxette, Richard Marx, Bryan Adams, House of Pain, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Guns and Roses, Rom Cochrane, Paula Abdul, Bobby Brown, Billy Ray Cyrus, TLC, En Vogue, Kris Fross, Def Leppard, Queen, Ugly Kid Joe, Janet Jackson, Shanice, Michael Jackson, Marky-Mark and the Funky Bunch, Madonna, Bonnie Raitt, NKOTB, Mr. Big, Jodeci, Luther Vandross, Don Henley, Patty Smythe, The Beach Boys, Hi Five, Elton John, George Michael, Nirvana, Weird Al Yankovic, Dire Straits Annie Lennox, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wreckx in Effect, Utah Saints, KWS, Tevin Campbell, Genesis, Pearl Jam, Debbie Gibson, Shakespear's Sister, Snap, Jade, The Spin Doctors, INXS, The Heights, Depeche Mode, Berlin, Eurythmics, Boomtown Rats, k.d.Lang, Celine Dion, Peabo Bryson, The Cure, Firehouse, Snow, Regina Bell, Modern English, The Lemonheads, Soup Dragons, Stereo MC's

(Recovered from a box of elementary school papers this morning. Peoof that I made crazy lists like this way back then)

Spartan Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

During my Junior year at Murray High School, I was a part of the school's television production crew, SpartanVision (aka SVTV). Each morning we had to be in Mr. Pond's room at 6:30 am to prepare for the broadcast at the end of 1st period. We had rotating responsibilities each week: camera, editing, script writing, commercials, footage, and talent (aka host, on-camera personality, anchor) My favorite part was when I was on talent, being the bright and smiling face of MHS, before and after Channel 1.

While I was in HS, I was OBSESSED with the Beatles. It was the mid-90's and The Beatles released their three-part Anthology. I knew all their songs, incorporated song lyrics within my normal daily conversation, watched "Help!" at least once a month, and learned many of their songs on piano and guitar. My nickname was the "Beatles Guru" and I always made sure to request a Beatles song at stomps and stake dances.

In the summer before my Junior year, the SVTV crew spent a week at the school getting acquainted with the production equipment. I had come up with an idea to make a Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band intro, but to replace the heads of the people in the picture to students and teachers from MHS. I had talked to some other people on the crew about it, but nobody seemed very excited. This was in the very early days of Photoshop, which I had no idea how to make it happen electronically. I was, however, an major scrapbooker. I used my dad's archaic copy machine, made numerous photo prints at Costco, copied, pasted, and tried to make a replica worth sharing.
It ended up being a big waste of time, and I eventually gave it up (despite my many hours of valiant effort.) My senior year, I decided to become involved in MHS's handbell choir, which meant that I had to take early morning seminary. Early morning seminary meant no Spartanvision. I was really bummed, but c'est la vie.

During my senior year, a photo showed up on SVTV and my jaw dropped to the floor. A replica had been made of Sgt Peppers with MHS faces. I couldn't believe my excitement...until I realized that I wasn't included in the photo. Mathew, a SVTV member, had worked on this tirelessly, and did a pretty awesome job (especially for 1998 photo editing standards) But to be honest...I was really upset with him. Not only had I endured a variety of cruel teasing by Mathew and the rest of the SVTV guys, I was mad that he stole my idea. For 11 years, I'd harbored a grudge against Mathew. With all the teasing, I thought he'd specifically omitted me from the picture. When I uploaded a bunch of high school photos onto Facebook last month, I'd left a snarky comment about Mathew leaving me out. After a few emails, he did agree that the concept had originally been my idea, but he didn't think I'd taken much interest in the project. I ate my words as he had no idea how much the project had meant to me. Mathew apologized and created a new version of SVTV Peppers, just for me. Can you find me?

Thanks, Mashew. You totally made my decade.

Bonus Photos: Abbey Road

Abbey Road: SVTV Style

Right Now (1992 edition)

RIGHT NOW...I am watching my favorite music video of 1992.
And the Crystal Pepsi Super Bowl commercial that followed...

Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow, why put it off another day?
One by one, little problems build up and stand in our way. Oh!

One step ahead, one step behind it
Now ya gotta run to get even
Make future plans I'll dream about yesterday, hey!
Come on turn, turn this thing around

(Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) Catch your magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything

Miss a beat, you lose a rhythm and nothin' falls into place. No!
Only missed by a fraction
Slipped a little off your pace. Oh!

The more things you get, the more you want
Just trade in one for another
Workin' so hard to make it easy
Whoa, got to turn. Come on, turn this thing around

Did anyone else love this song? It was my pubescent theme song, empowering me until I discovered alternative music, and delved into Depeche Mode, The Cure, TMBG, INXS, U2, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and all those other bands I obsessed over. (I still considered it my theme song until I heard Cake's "The Distance.")

A little cost comparison

I typically fill up my 16 gallon gas tank every two weeks. My commute is 19 miles each way, and my Camry averages around 27 miles per gallon. Here's a comparison of my last few fill-ups:

4/16 $3.48/gal = $55.19 (15.8 gal)
5/1 $3.59/gal = $56.88 (15.8 gal)
5/15 $3.95/gal = $65.01 (16.4 gal)
6/2 $3.98/gal = $62.44 (15.6 gal)

I luckily timed my fill-ups well, because I missed the weekend where gas was consistently $4.08 - $4.19 per gallon. Waiting just a few extra days saved me up to $6 on one tank.

I get nostalgic thinking about the time I bought gas at the Willard Flying J in 1998 for $.79 per gallon, and I filled up my gas tank for less than $8 on my way up to Rexburg. Those were the days...

Random thoughts on my last afternoon of freedom...

Yesterday I started my orientation with UofM Medical Center. Yesterday was a full day of patient safety, corporate culture, medication error reporting, HIPAA and JCAHO regulations, customer service videos, and all the other junk you're required to review upon hire at a hospital. This morning was a little better...ID badges, benefits, retirement, and parking. They let us leave at 11 am, so I spent the afternoon with Taylor unpacking. Yes, we've lived in our apartment for two months now...but with all the travel, we still had a lot to do. We cleared out about 15 boxes, organized our bedroom, spent 2 hours on Rosie's bedroom hurricane, and put up a few pictures on the wall. I start my job for real tomorrow.

My teeth have been hurting so bad lately. I'm not even sure it's my teeth, more like the nerves to my teeth. I had so much dental work done in November and December (over $3000 out of pocket after insurance) and I've never felt back to "normal." The left side's bite still feels wrong after two adjustments on trips to Cali, and the nerve flare ups have been occasional, but never less frequent than a few times a week. Since I got back from Utah, it's been constant pain on both sides. My new dental plan was in effect as of yesterday...and for the first time ever I have dual coverage. I need to talk to my new supervisor and see how soon I can take time off to see a dentist.

I'm so geeked for the NKOTB reuniting on Friday morning. If only I started work next week, I would SO be there...I'd fly out to Rockefeller Square and hold up my big sign while screaming till my lungs gave out. Yesterday, Taylor found a Russian legal download site where we found the whole NKOTB library for 10 cents per song. I downloaded about 30 songs. Unfortunately, my Ipod is on the fritz. The night before I left for Utah, my iTunes crashed, and I lost EVERYTHING. I had to do some mad file transferring to get it back, but I lost about 8 of my 25 GB of music. It's been syncing for 3 hours now...

Oh, and I got a call from Becky Anderson, the guidance counselor from MHS. I was having terrible luck getting anyone to call me back about renting MHS for the reunion, but she called me back (the day after Robin got the info). We chatted for about 10 minutes...she ended the call with "Glad to hear that you've turned out to be such a success." I smiled.

Like, OMG!

ATTENTION NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK FANS

THE TIME: FRIDAY APRIL 4th, 2008

7AM EST

THE PLACE: THE TODAY SHOW COURTYARD
ROCKEFELLER PLAZA, 48TH STREET
NEW YORK CITY

THE EVENT: BE THERE IF YOU ARE READY...

www.nkotb.com

Class of 1998 Reunion Group

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10389876151

I just started a Class of 1998 Murray High School Reunion group on Facebook. Whether you are on Facebook or not, this is the place to get info and details on the reunion whose planning is in it's infancy. If you want to give you opinion on what you want to do...hop onto the site and leave a comment. Can you believe it's been 10 years?

"AND NOW IT'S TIME TO WATCH ANOTHER CARTOON HERE WE GOOOOO!!!"

My first TV appearances were on “Ramblin’ Rod,” a Portland children’s cartoon plus live audience morning show. The kitschy show was interspersed with Popeye and Looney Toons cartoons, but the gold of the show was the chance for local kids to be seen on TV throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. The kids would have an opportunity to introduce themselves on camera, and say what city they were from. The luckiest kids were asked a lame question about the city they were from. (Tualatin is the home of the Crawfish Festival, btw) Rumor is that Krusty the Clown is said to be loosely modeled after Rod, considering The Simpsons creator Matt Groening is from Portland. The closest thing I could compare it to is Stanley Spudowsky’s Clubhouse on the movie UHF. My dad worked at KPTV channel 12, and knew Rod. He would usually give me a little extra camera time and I could tell a joke or say that my dad worked for the station. His trademark attire was polyester pants and a cardigan sweater covered in buttons and lapel pins, all gifts from admiring kiddie-fans. Kids with birthdays would get to stand in front of this big wooden tugboat, hand him a pin, announce their age, and Rod would make a comment like “Seven is Heaven!” or “Eight is Great!” Then all the kids would sing along with a pre-recorded soundtrack of the birthday song. (if you watched at home, you could follow the bouncing ball on the screen to follow the lyrics)There was a smiling contest during every show, where hokey music would play and the camera would pan the children in the audience for about a minute. The camera guy would then get to choose a few kids out that had the best smiles, and get a prize. One kid per day would get the SUPER SMILE WINNER prize, which was usually a free pizza at Chuck E. Cheese. I can recall at least two times that I won the super smile winner award. I’ve got a great smile, but the victory probably had something to do with my dad being friends with the camera guy. Hopefully in my upcoming move I’ll uncover my VHS recording of my last appearance on Ramblin’ Rod, with my 7^th grade friends for my 13^th birthday.

Ramblin' Rod was on KPTV 12 for over 30 years. He passed away in 2002 at the age of 69. For more info on this delightful part of my childhood...click here.

The Man Behind the Drums

Happy Birthday Ringo...

When I'm Sixty-Four

When I get older
Losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greeting
Bottle of wine?
If I've been out 'til quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm Sixty-Four?


I think it's time to pop in Help!

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: John Mayer