Wrex the Halls and the Del

December 11, 2011 Saturday

Bridget told me that Florence and the Machine were coming to San Diego.  I texted Chris to see if she and Betsy were interested.  "Absolutely"  I got 4 presale tickets and the seats were pretty good.  The concert was starting at 6 pm due to the number of performers.

Chris and Betsy drove down early and I drove to the sports arena.  There are several restaurants close by and we chose Chili's to eat at before the concert.

Chris bought me a Tshirt (the one on the left above).  Gotta love that girl.

First up: The Naked and Famous

Young Blood
We're only young and naïve still
We require certain skills
The mood it changes like the wind
Hard to control when it begins
.
The bitter sweet between my teeth
Trying to find the in-betweens
Fall back in love eventually
E-yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah

An indie band from New Zealand.  I liked Young Blood and Punching in a Dream.  Check them out.

http://www.thenakedandfamous.com/

Next up: The Airbourne Toxic Event

A band from Los Angeles named after a section of the book, White Noise by Don  DeLillo.  I like All I Ever Wanted and Changing. Violin in a rock band.  Kinda like a fiddle in a country band.

All I Ever Wanted
So I can tell you that you’re all I ever wanted, dear
I still feel you breathing while you’re sleeping here
And I shudder when you wake and ask me if I thought I’d be here forever, forever, forever
                                                              The Airbourne Toxic Event

http://www.theairbornetoxicevent.com/

A fun band.  How often do you see the girl up on the shoulders of the guitar player while on stage.

Changing
All these buckets of rain
I've heard enough about it
You say that I lied
I am a gentlemen
Didn't I ask for a place I could stay
Well, what were we both thinking
The next part just got in the way

You were just always talking about changing, changing
What if I was the same man, same man
The same I always was
                   The Airbourne Toxic Event

Now for Cage the Elephant

A Kentucky band that has fun.  Matt, the lead singer, has way too much energy.

In one Ear
They say that we ain't got the style,
We ain't got the class,
We ain't got the tunes that's goin to put us on the map
and im a phoney in disguise,
tryin to make the radio,
i'm an anti-social anarchist dyslexic so and so,
they say i'm just a stupid kid,
just a crazy radical,
rock and roll is dead i probably should've stayed in school,
another generation X who somehow slipped up through the crack,
they'd love to see me fall but i'm already on my back

And it goes In One Ear,
and right out the other,
                         Cage the Elephant

Ain't no rest for the wicked
There ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
Ain't nothing in this world for free
No I can't slow down
I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
No there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good
                                  Cage the Elephant

A funny side story.  When we visited Texas in August, Courtney had Alt Nation on the Sirius Radio while we were riding in the car and this band came on.  I was in the back seat and thought what a strange name.  Four months later I am watching them and listening to them and I like it.

Death Cab Cutie

An Alternative band from Washington named after a song in the Beatles film , Magical Mystery Tour.  I had trouble listening to their songs all during the week leading up to the concert.  The net is great for listening to new music so I was doing that.

http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/

The band came on and I had trouble focusing on the music.  Not gonna lie- they were my least favorite of the night.  They were nominated for a Grammy so maybe it's me.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

AKA What a Life
Someday you might find your hero
Some say you might lose your mind
I keeping my head down now for the summer
I'm outta my mind let me pull the other
I'm gonna take that tiger outside for a ride

What a life!
What a life!
                   Noel Gallagher

You might recognize the name from Oasis. Noel and Liam were the driving force of that band.  I have played (What's the Story) Morning Glory?  many times and I always end up in a good place.  The split between the brothers has resulted in this and it's good.

http://www.noelgallagher.com/

He played some songs by Oasis too. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYdIGOgC14I

Enjoyed the new and old songs.

Florence and the Machine

Everyone was supercharged by the time she hit the stage. It was her first performance in San Diego and no one was disappointed. San Diego showed her the love and she performed superbly. She came out in heels but those were soon gone so she could dance around the stage.  It was almost like performance art.  She is very theatrical.

http://florenceandthemachine.net/

The Dog Days are Over
Happiness hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her stuck still no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with her drink
And washed it away down the kitchen sink

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run
                      Florence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVRsuuuqoMs

Shake it Out
Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play

And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around

Our love is pastured, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues strong
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

                                        Florence

It was a great concert and most of the bands are in rotation on my iphone and computer.  We all had a great time.

December 11, 2011 Sunday

Connie and Russ came down today.  It really was a Brown weekend.  We are going to Texas for Christmas so they came down and we celebrated a little early.  Connie had never been to the the Hotel Del in all the years she has lived in California.  Of course at Christmastime it is really decorated and just a fun place to be even if you are not staying there.  The grounds are magnificent and everything is top notch.

http://www.hoteldel.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_del_Coronado  for those that want to know more about the hotel

We drove down to the Hotel Del.  They really decorate and put up an ice rink out by the beach.  We had lunch on the Sun Deck.  It was really good.  I ordered a spicy Bloody Mary and boy was it spicy.  It was a great So Cal day winter day, highs in the upper 60's with a few clouds.  We walked arount the hotel after and looked at all the shops and decorations. It is really a sight to see at night during Christmastime.

Feel the heat
burning you up
ready or not.
Some like it hot and some sweat when the heat is on.
Some feel the heat and decide that they can't go on.
Some like it hot
but you can't tell how hot 'til you try.
Some like it hot
so let's turn up the heat 'til we fry.
                              Power Station

The hotel was featured in the movie "Some Like it Hot"  with Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon and they have all kind of merchandise for sale relating to that movie.  There is also a haunted room and books for sale about that. 

Then it was off to taste wine at our local winery.  Bridget and Connie had some groupon thing for Bernardo Winery.  The four of us were there this summer and enjoyed the wine and a concert.  No concerts in the winter but we did walk around and got a chocolate pairing with one glass of wine at the candy shop.

 http://bernardowinery.com/

For dinner I made reservations at The Butcher Shop.  It's a great local steakhouse.

http://www.butchershop.signonsandiego.com/

Of course we ate too much, but it was worth it.

A buzy weekend chocked full of activities, food and family.

Thanksgiving

Nov 19, 2011  Saturday

The Saturday before Thanksgiving we went duck hunting with the Brown's.

 
The Oregon Ducks lost a costly game on Saturday night to the USC Trojans.

You gotta put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
                    Hoots the Owl

And we did.

Nov 24, 2011 Thanksgiving Day

Turkey for the girls and
Turkey for the boys
My favorite kind of pants
Are corduroys
Gobble gobble goo and
Gobble gobble gickel
I wish turkey
Only cost a nickel
Oh I love turkey on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
                         Adam Sandler

Bridget and I were invited to Connie and Russ's house for Thanksgiving.  Betsy and Chris were there as well.  We had a great time visiting and eating.

                                                                Connie's Thanksgiving tree

                                                                        The Bird

                                      Connie took this picture, you can see we didn't go hungry.

Good times with family.  We were missing quite a few today, but they were in our thoughts.

Homecoming

11/12/11 Saturday

We drove up the night before the game to Connie and Russ's B and B because the game time was 12:30 for TV. We woke up early and headed to USC. We had the breakfast buffet in the Founder's room at the Galen Center. Then walked over to the Campus.

It had rained the night before and was overcast and cold.  Check out the form of these atheletes throwing the football trying to win T-shirts.  Collected alot of free USC stuff, then we walked over to the Coliseum.

Bridget made the scarfs.  It was a good game and we beat Washington 40-17.

We made reservations to try a new restaurant after the game.

http://www.taylorssteakhouse.com/

  Located in Korea Town section of Los Angeles.  The food and the service was excellent.  A great day.

Euge Groove

11/4/11 Friday

We had a groupon deal or something similiar that we needed to use for Anthology.  We have been there many times.  It is a great venue.

http://anthologysd.com/index.html

We decided to see Euge Groove.  Yeah you are probably saying who?

http://eugegroove.com/

Steven Eugene Grove , better known as Euge Groove, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist with a strong Top-40 background.  He played in the Tower of Power.  Bridget and I both like the Sax and he is a fantastic musician.  It was a great show.  I only looked at the USC score before and after his performance.  I forgot USC was playing Colorado, but no worries.USC won and I saw a great performance. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XFZYmzy5ZE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbjtoGi6KkY

Concert, Stanford and More...

10/28/11 Friday
Bridget won tickets to see Thompson Square at the Rancho Bernardo Winery.  She has Fridays off, but I do not.  She got their CD autographed, picture, met them after the little concert and had a great time.

11/29/11 Saturday

Game Day at USC.  No Big Deal.

We tailgated at The Founder's Room at the Galen Center.  They always have a great buffet and we can relax before the game and watch several other games on their TV's. 

Today USC is playing Stanford, with their Heismen candiate.  Here is a picture the Coliseim took during the game.  It was a 360 and if you were in your seat when the camera panned your section you got in the picture.  U2 also did this at their concerts.

Note the intensity.  The game was very close and USC was ahead, but Stanford tied the game to send it to OT.  It was the first OT game we have seen in person.  We matched touchdowns in OT, then Stanford scored and had to go for 2 points.  They made it.  USC's time and we were on the 3 yard line when the running back fumbled in the end zone.  Stanford recovered- Game Over.  It was a great game despite the loss.

We went back to Connie and Russ's house.

10/30/11 Sunday

We got up and of course Connie had a fabulous breakfast for us.  We headed to home and I choose to go through Orange County instead of the Inland route.  We were making great time in the carpool lane when the Jag lost power.  I was able to pull of to the left and shut off the car.  In August, I was having the same problem and it would restart after awhile.  I had to replace the throttle assembly.  We called the AAA and waited for a tow truck.

As we were waiting a CHP pulled up and asked us what the problem was.  He said he would not let the tow truck hook up up on the freeway.  He was going to shut down the freeway and push us to the next exit.  So yes, the Taylor's shut down Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo.  It was kinda surreal as the freeway shut down and the CHP pushed us off the freeway.  The tow truck was aware of what was happening and was waiting as the CHP pushed us into a strip mall off the freeway.

We had looked up Jag repair shops on the internet, but the tow truck driver knew a repair shop about 1 mile away.  Of course nothing is open on Sunday.  I wrote a note and put the key in the mail slot.  Connie and Russ drove to our rescue and drove us home. We fixed them dinner and they left to go back home.

Turns out the fuel pump quit.  Not something that happens when you are driving, usually when you stop.  Picked the Jag up the next weekend.  What an experience.

The First Grandson

10/4/11 Tuesday
Jen called around noon our time.  She was going to the hospital at 8pm and they were going to induce labor.  Quickly made plans to fly to Dallas.

10/5/11 Wednesday
Early morning flight from SD to Love Field.  Got in around 1pm and nothing happening so we ate lunch at Sonic and drove to the hospital.  The hospital looks more like a hotel then a hospital.

There was no progress today so Jen got to eat dinner and we will try again tomorrow.  Brian got to stay in the room with Jen.  Couch that made into a bed. 

Courtney and David came up and we left the hospital to eat dinner.  We went to Gloria's, close to the hospital.  Good Tex Mex food, the sour cream enchiladas were delicious.

http://www.gloriasrestaurants.com/locations/glorias-frisco

We stayed at Jen and Brian's new home.  They moved in 10/1/11.  Here are some pics:

10/6/11 Thirsday
We woke up and got breakfast at Sonic.  Do you think we like that place?  They opened one in Vista and one in Santee, not that close to where we live so we make up for lost time in Texas, where they are all over.  Happy hours are great. 

We went to the hospital and they broke her water and gave her an epidural.  Game on.  Well not much happened so we went to Five Guys for lunch.  They are coming to California and it's great.

http://www.fiveguys.com/

Not quite In-N-Out but a different good.  We went back to the hospital and hung out.  The hospital was great, all the coffee, tea, etc... you could want.  They even fed Brian and he could get anything they had in the snack room.  I seriously put a dent in their coffee inventory.

Brian's parents came up from Waco and we decided to stay at Court and David's place and let the Ingrams stay at Jen and Brian's place.With no real progress we went home to eat pizza Court and David got from a local Italian place.  Talked to Noah and gave him an update and tried to go to sleep at 11:30.

10/7/11 Friday
12:30am Brian called, Jen was at 9 cm.  We hurriedly got dressed and went to the hospital.  The boy just did not want to come out and since they were approaching 24 hours since they broke the water, the doctor decided C-section.  Something I was familiar with 3 times over.

Introducing- Luke Barrett Ingram

See more of the details at:

http://jenandbrianingram.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-labor-and-delivery-story-part-1.html

http://jenandbrianingram.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-labor-and-delivery-story-part-2.html

After we got to meet out new grandson we left the hosiptal tired and drained.  We got donuts for breakfast and took a nap.  Afterwards back to the hospital to see him. 

Courtney and David came up. After visiting we went out to dinner at Texadelphia.  David took us there when we were visiting last Thanksgiving.  It's a great place.  We started with chips and queso, and had Hickory, two Founder's Favorite Beef, and South Philly.

http://www.texadelphia.com/

10/8/11 Saturday
David got up early and got breakfast from Panera.  The rest of us were trying to catch up with sleep.  Today was the big game in Texas.  Texas vs Oklahoma.  Bridget's dad was from Oklahoma and we dislike UT going back to the 60's when we lived in Texas.  It was a no brainer who we were for.

For the game we had Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Chicken dip, veggies and of course Margaritas.  Courtney and David have one of those Margarita Blenders and it is great.  Courtney and David are great party hosts.  OKlahoma dominated today and won 55-17. 

After the game we went back to the hospital to visit the Ingram's and their new family member.  We left the hospital around 7:30 and went to Dickey's Barbeque Pit.

http://www.dickeys.com/default.aspx

Bridget ordered the Brisket and I ordered the Pulled Pork and Sausage.  There were some Oklahoma fans getting Texas BBQ on their way back home.  The food was good.  He went back to Courtney and David's place since tomorrow was Sunday.

10/9/11 Sunday
We woke up and David was having issues at work.  Phone calls back and forth.  Also the AC broke.  This happened in August right before our visit.  It was so hot then Courtney and David stayed with friends. 

Courtney made the call to go the Dream Cafe and we would bring David back something.  We have eaten at Dream Cafe before and it is always good. 

http://www.thedreamcafe.com/

We ordered the pumpkin pancakes, Belfast Benedict and Strap Hanger Bacon,  we brought David back a Melrose Culb.

Off to the hospital.  This would be Jen's last night there.  The hospital served a steak and lobster dinner on your last night of stay.

We left the hospital and it was pouring.  We drove around looking for a place to grab dinner.  About half way between the hosptal and Brian and Jen's new house was a burger place, so we stopped there.  Kenny's Burger Joint.  Great name.

http://kennysburgerjoint.com/

We ordered a BLT and Rueben with sweet potato fries.  Nice and messy in a good way.

Oct 10, 2011 Monday

Luke was coming home.  I went to Dunkin Donuts and got coffee and donuts.  We decorated the house and waited.

Bridget and I went for a walk in the neighorhood.  A lot of homes were decorated for Halloween.  Than night we fixed spaghetti at home and enjoyed Luke.

Oct 11, 2011 Tuesday

I left to go back to San Diego.  Bridget was staying through Saturday.

10/12/11 Wednesday

Bath time and trip to the doctor.

10/13/11 Thursday
USC played Cal today.  Luke's first USC game.

Planning the next trip back.

For more details see Jen's blog.

http://jenandbrianingram.blogspot.com/2011/10/our-new-house.html
http://jenandbrianingram.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-labor-and-delivery-story-part-1.html
http://jenandbrianingram.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-labor-and-delivery-story-part-2.html