Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Birthday Wishes!

OK--I've still got 90 minutes to get this done before just.a.girl's birthday is over. I first met her in 2000. She was a timid, gawky looking teenager. A band geek. A cornet player. A former dancer.





















As her years in school passed, she was still a bit camera shy (yes, those are her legs on the left), but could always be counted on to have her cell phone with her at all times!























By the end of her school years, she had blossomed into a wonderfully social young woman! A beer drinker! And a bit of a devil, to boot! Complete with a few surprisingly interesting secrets!

































She now lives in the Portland area going to optometry school.


She's not quite as shy as she used to be in front of the camera.




And she makes friends a whole lot easier now....





To top all of this off, she's a Star Wars geek!! I've known this young lady for about 5 years. We've been good friends for about the last two. She's brilliant, witty, a babe, and I'm happy to call her my friend! Stones, here we come!!

Damn, it's 12:02. Well, it's only 11:02 there, so I'm OK..... Whew!

Monday, October 10, 2005

Google Images

I stole this from Ago-go, who stole it from the lovely Kalani, who stole.....

Directions:
Go to Google and click on the images link. Type in the following and post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds.
    - The name of the town where you grew up
    - The name of the town where you live now
    - Your name
    - Your Grandmother’s name (pick one)
    - Your favorite food
    - Your favorite drink
    - Your favorite song
    - Your favorite smell

TOWN WHERE I GREW UP



TOWN WHERE I LIVE NOW (same place)



MY NAME (yeah, been there, done that, looked similar)



MY GRANDMOTHER'S NAME (yes, indeed!)



MY FAVORITE FOOD (if you can still hear the moo, it's perfect!)



MY FAVORITE DRINK (so hard to pick just one...)



MY FAVORITE SONG ("Amie" by the Pure Prairie League has long been one of my absolute favorite songs. Google came up with this as #1, then alot of girls showing boobies. I figure we've seen enough of those to justify a break, so this is what you get. I may have to re-think my favorite song....)



MY FAVORITE SMELL (MMMMMmmmmm......)



Again, no tagging. Take it if you want it.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

I suck

Moose, I'm sorry. I'm not going to be able to put up the birthday tribute that you so richly deserve, and I should have prepared weeks ago. You know I love ya, and would do anything for you. But this ain't going to happen anytime soon. I might surprise you in the future with one. Just.a.girl (who's got a birthday coming up on Tuesday!) won't be getting one either. Sorry guys. I suck. I'm scum. I don't deserve your friendship.

Well, maybe that's a little harsh...

I'll do something for you down the road!

23rd Post

I was tagged by Michelle, but she doesn't realize it. I generally don't do these, but I got curious as to what the result would be, so--

Fun with Archives
The Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.


"If you don't have an account, you can sign up for one for free."


How lame is that? I was talking about a Christmas thing I had done for friends--I did a photo album. Basically a review of 2004. I did it at Ofoto, and the above quote was sentence #5. If any of you are interested in checking it out, email me and I'll send you the link.

I tag no one on this. I think everyone's already done it. If not, go ahead and do it!

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Three Truths and a Lie

I've seen this on a couple of different sites. Use it yourselves, if you like.

  • I don't smoke pot, but I used to grow it with my roommates when I was in college.

  • I had sex with the twin sister of my girlfriend, but was too drunk to notice the difference.

  • I have not shaved my upper lip since New Year's Eve, 1976.

  • I was offered the chance to tour as the bass player of a country band in the mid-70s.

Three of the four statements above are true. This inadvertently turned out to be more 70s based than I planned on. Then again, I kind of like that. Those of you who weren't around for the 70s need not make comment about the fact that I'm old... Look for another 3T&aL in the future!

More thoughts....

  • I'm still getting a few submissions for the Mystery Guest posts. Remember--I'm posting them until I get a camera (and I need one before I head to Portland at the end of the month!). It's interesting to see who's submitted pics. And I'm a little surprised that I haven't gotten any from certain individuals... Maybe you're waiting for a really good one...

  • I've made some great friends from HNT. Friends that I find myself wanting to know more about. That I want to someday meet in person. That I want to go drink beer with. That I want to help out when I can. That I can tell/share things with that I usually can't with "real life" friends. Fortunately, I have met a couple of them. Hopefully, I'll meet more in the future. I know I'm not alone in this, but I just wanted to say thank you to all my new friends!

  • Which brings me to something else that I've thought a great deal about over the past couple of months. If it weren't for Blogger or HNT, would any of these people be my friends in real life? To be honest, I don't think so. Would Rachel and I be the beer drinkin' buddies that we are? Probably not. I think part of the problem lies in opportunity--we all do things within our own little worlds that don't intersect with others. If we all somehow lived in the same town, would we run into each other? Would we interact on a personal basis? Or would some of you just be the harried mom with 3 kids at the supermarket? Or the IT guy at work? Or that hot babe sitting by herself in the dark? Or the unhappy cubilcle worker? Sad as it is to say, I think we'd all keep to ourselves. But thank God for Al Gore, we have the internet. We have blogging. And we have HNT!

  • I've been in a relatively positive mood as of late. I need something for Peeman to do his business on. Any suggestions? Remember, too, that I do take requests...
    iTunes Boondocks, Little Big Town
  • Whew!


    There's less than 12 hours left to submit pictures for the Fourth Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon! If you haven't checked it out already, you need to! And submit a couple of pics! And while I'm more interested in getting people to participate, if you want to let us know you've participated, that's fun too! There are a number of HNT regulars who used current or prior pics for their covered boobie shot, and quite a few that bared all for the uncovered boobie shot! To those who are hesitant, I offer this--your boobs will simply be one pair in a huge sea of boobs. No faces, no butts. Just boobs. Pretty good anonimity, and there are only an extremely limited number of people who might recognize them. Unless, of course, you let us know which are yours! To those who have confirmed that sort of thing to me, my thanks. I feel honored to share!
    I have, over the months, been quite remiss in thanking all of you for joining in on HNT and making it what it's become. There were 5 of us that did this the first time, and I honestly thought that within a couple of weeks, we'd get bored with it, and move on to something else. Instead, it's still developing into an important social part of our blogging experience! I've had 2 friends this week make the comment to me that I'm "addicted" or "obsessed" with HNT. I protested, then thought about it. I am. And many of you are too! To some, it's a thing to do on Thursdays. To others (and you know who you are!), you're so anxious to get started on Thursdays that you'd prefer to post at noon on Wednesday and enjoy the ride! Whichever side of the fence you ride here, I just say THANK YOU!!! Other thoughts and thanks--
    • I think this past couple of weeks has been a transition period for HNT. I think there were alot of people who bared alot more than skin during this time.
    • Constant participation has taken its toll. Within the past couple of weeks, a number of HNTers have written that they're going to take a bit of a time-out. Some are even backing out of blogging altogether for awhile. To those people--take some time to rejuvenate. We'll miss you, and hope you'll come back. Thanks for being a part of this!
    • Many have written that they haven't accomplished any kind of work on Thursdays anymore. Generations from now, the decline of productivity vs. the rise in public nekkidness on a global scale will be traced back to a small band of rebels in the early, early 21st century. Your great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren will be learning about you in high school history classes!
    • I've noticed that, if quizzed about it, I can no longer go to the sidebar and automatically pick out a specific HNTer. There are some relatively new ones that I'd like to go back and check in on, but I can't keep the sites straight in my mind, and end up scrolling up and down the list in vain! I need to come up with a separate, private roll, if that's possible....
    • More to come later......

    iTunes: Land of Make Believe, Chuck Mangione

    Friday, October 07, 2005

    Battle of the Sox

    I've got a whole huge list of stuff I want to write about, but I ended up drinking beers with Rachel while watching the White Sox walk all over the Red Sox. We drank, ate some chips and salsa, drank a little more, had some fries w/ranch, drank a little more, took some phone calls, talked about all sorts of things, reconnected with one of the bald-headed guys with the thingy from the other night (see an earlier post on her site), drank some more, cursed out an old guy who dared to make demeaning remarks about Veritek (that was her doing...I just drank), then decided after the game that we should leave and go shopping for shoes and underwear. I still don't understand why it's so difficult for women to shop for underwear. Then we called it a night. I need to take a nap before I spend time online tonight. But don't worry. I SHALL RETURN!! (with a vengeance!!)

    Oh, yeah. It's my very best friend's birthday today, and she had to spend the day at a conference, walking around for hours while waiting to go the airport, then sit on an airplane for hours. Hell of a way to spend it. I will, at some point this weekend, put up some sort of embarrassingly over-the-top tribute to her, but it'll have to wait. Go to Moose's site and wish her a Happy Birthday!

    Wednesday, October 05, 2005

    HNT Mystery Guest III

    I had this whole thing ready to go, then Blogger went into maintenance mode. Dammit! Well, this week's HNT Mystery Guest selection ended in a tie. So it was determined by coin flip. And this is the winner. And what a winner she is! I can't give you any real clues as to who she is, but what I CAN tell you is that this person is a grandmother. A grandmother of FIVE!!! Are you kidding me???? And I got to see her in the shower! If you're interested in submitting a Mystery Guest photo, be sure to email it to me by Monday. The current and former Mystery Guests will help me in choosing the new one!

    In an unanticipated coincidence, the boobie shot works well, since I've been pushing the whole Boobie-Thon thing.
    And since I've brought it up, the Fourth Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon is in full swing! But it ends on Oct. 8th, so if you're going to submit a picture or donate money (or both), you need to get over there! I fully urge any and all of you to send them an uncovered boobie shot and force the rest of us to pay for the privilege of getting to see them (many thanks to those of you who already have)! It's a good cause to show off (as opposed to HNT)! I'm also going to keep the pink background through the 8th, so some of the text will be hard to read. Sorry 'bout that!
    Since we all had problems with Blogger, I wasn't able to get to those who posted early, so be sure to check the bottom half of the comments to my last post to see who's been up for awhile (gotta love them Asians/Europeans!). Happy HNT!

    Boobie-Thon


    OK. Here's the deal. It's the Fourth Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon. It runs through Oct. 8th. Last year they raised over $8000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. That's with money coming from schmucks like you and me. For a great cause. The reason for the cause sucks, but you know what I mean....

    Women (and men) submit pictures of their boobies (or chests/manboobs) for the rest of us to peruse. There are two sorts of pictures--"covered" and uncovered. The "covered" boobies are just that, though there's a broad interpretation of what that means. Paint, hands, jewelry, sheer bras--they all count as "covered". Those are available to be seen for free. The uncovered ones are available on a "pay-per-boobie" basis. For $50 or more, you receive a password to access the uncovered boobies. Totally out there for the world to see. What's nice is that there's no way to identify the boobies. There's no names or URLs given. Submitters have the option of being listed as a participant, but there's no way to attach a picture to a specific participant. It's pretty anonymous. The only way to identify a boobie would be if you recognized a tattoo or necklace or something like that. They even re-name each picture as it comes in. The money this year is going to either the Komen Foundation, or to the Red Cross (for Katrina relief). It's your choice.

    Here's the fun part--there are already a number of our HNT sisters who have contributed photos for both the covered and uncovered pages. One has gone as far as to promise her shots for this week's HNT. There are big boobies, small boobies, ugly boobies, pierced boobies, tattooed boobies, painted boobies, wet boobies, biopsied boobies, boobies with props, boobies with themes, boobies with.....well, you get the idea. There's even a picture of a guy with a third nipple! No butts. No lower extremities. Just boobies.

    So now for a proposition--I think that all of our HNT ladies (and guys, if you're interested) should submit a boobie shot to Boobie-Thon. Just take another picture as you're planning on your HNT. (For God's sake, don't forget HNT!!) Then let us know if you submitted a covered or uncovered photo (or both!). The rest of us will then have to pony up the $50 to see the uncovered ones. I've already done it. Have I recognized any HNTers? Possibly! But if you're going to do it, do it soon--things end on Saturday night!

    Is this a pathetic plea to see your boobies? Maybe. Is this a sleazy way to get you guys to fork over $50? Perhaps, but the money goes to very good causes! If you're hesitant to participate, or have questions, I would recommend you check out the sample pages for the covered boobies. I will say that many of the HNT pics I've seen over the past few months would fit in quite well!

    To end on a serious note--for the most part, breast cancer is killing our mothers, our sisters, our spouses, our children. Even a few men. There's not many of us left who have not been affected by breast cancer in some way. It's a monster disease, and the efforts to eradicate it need our support! If you can't give $50, give $5. If you can give $500, that's even better! Go to the site. See who's participated. See who's donated. See what you can do.

    Tuesday, October 04, 2005

    Gone to Hell in a Handbasket

    Dammit. This is my second attempt at this post.

    I go away for a couple of days, and things go to Hell. To wit (no names given to protect the "innocent"):
    • One blogger spent time in jail this weekend! At least she looked good!
    • One blogger announced she was pregnant!
    • One blogger spent the weekend, not just in a communal shower, but also a communal hottub. And has pictures! And has no intention of sharing those....
    • One blogger has some personal relationship issues that cropped up.
    • One or two bloggers took exception with the fact that I would be someplace that was relatively internet-free! My apologies. I'll try not to let it happen again!
    • One, if not two, bloggers have decided to throw in the towel and quit for one reason or another. We'll miss them if they actually follow through. Hope you'll still lurk in the shadows!
    I keep surfing, and keep finding new things happening! Guess I can't afford to take this much time off again!!
    • One blogger has been accepted to a snooty art school!
    • One blogger has gotten engaged!
    • One blogger got married!
    • One blogger accidentally picked up her baby's poop with her bare hand. She freaked.

    bt2005banner
    I have my own personal reasons for contributing to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (the same group that organizes the "Race For the Cure"). But I would imagine that each of us knows someone who has been directly afflicted, or related to someone directly afflicted, with this terrible disease. That, in itself, is enough to make you want to contribute to one of the various charities dealing with breast cancer. But there's a blogger-based site that's doing its share. Yes, there's boobie shots to check out, and if that's a way for people to contribute, then so be it! Go click on the above pink banner.
    There have been some more entries for this week's HNT Mystery Guest! A reminder that if you're going to submit a picture in time for this week's consideration, you need to have it emailed to me by late Tuesday night so that the "committee" can make their decision!
    In that sort of light, there are some HNTers who have said that they'd bare their boobies for a certain donation. If that floats your boat, then check the button above to see what's involved with that!
    I would have posted earlier, but I had to take a friend out for a few beers and laughs out in public. Funny how beer and a couple of bald-headed men will make you forget your troubles for awhile!
    I should mention a little about the weekend that I was away. We played for a benefit for the Catholic school system in Livingston, MT. We played for the same thing last year, where someone payed $40,000 for a tin of homemade chocolate fudge. I don't know who made them, but unless it was the original Betty Crocker herself, that price seemed a tad high. But the money flowed all night, and no one seemed to bat an eye! All in all, a pretty good gig. Saturday we had to ourselves. Didn't seem to make sense to drive all the way home, just to turn around and come back to almost the same place on Sunday! The drummer and I went to Bozeman to play golf. Gorgeous day, mediocre golf on my part. I can blame that on a lack of playing during the summer. On Sunday we awoke to cold temps and lots of rain. Almost snow. We travelled down to Chico Hot Springs to play for a wedding. Without great detail, let's just say that the night was great! While I don't usually like theme-based weddings, these kids had a "gangster" motif (thing more along the Mafia and "The Godfather"). The bride's family is all Italian (including Uncle Vito--of course!). Between the bride's family and the groom's family, they own a huge chunk of the bar/restaurant business in Bozeman! Sort of in that "family" manner! Found out earlier today that Lizabeth knows both families and alot of guests, and probably would have crashed the reception if she weren't galavanting around the hot springs in Jackson with her boy! Drove home at the asscrack of dawn on Monday AM through lots of inches of unplowed slush. That was sort of fun!
    I had really hoped to get caught up on all the blogs and emails today. It just ain't gonna happen.... I'll try to catch up in the AM. Happy October! Rabbit, rabbit.....

    Friday, September 30, 2005

    Out of the Office

    Had to get a quick post up this morning to let everyone know that I'm going to be away from things for the next few days. We've got a couple of out of town gigs that will keep me away from home until Monday afternoon. This will be the most significant amount of time away from email and internet I've spent in years! I'm taking my computer with me, just in case, but I don't know what sort of access I'll have. It should be a fun weekend--we'll have some free time all day Saturday (I'll be golfing), and we'll have individual rooms (like I'll take advantage of that). I'd take pics, but you know the story there. Anyway, if you don't see anything new for awhile, that's the reason.
    HNT was another smashing success. In spite of problems all day with Blogger. They were "down for maintenance" most of the afternoon and evening. Lots of new faces (or other parts) this week. Be sure to go back and check the bottom third of my comments to check out the late-comers. Many had problems getting posted. They deserve the love too! There's over 250 links in the Nekkid roll now. It needs to be cleaned up some--there's some who have dropped out, but I'd say that we're well over 200 in regulars/newbies. Yay us!
    The whole Mystery Guest thing is working well for me. Hope you're enjoying it too! If you want to email me your entry, I'll gladly accept it! I might make a suggestion for improvement, I might not. So far, everyone's been great about revising their pics if I suggested it, and they've been for the better. Have next week's submissions to me by Monday night so that we can make changes, if necessary! Remember--if I get a camera before I run out of MG pics, I'll post everyone's at the end. Guaranteed!
    Have a great weekend! Do something nice for someone. Pet a dog. Skip the coffee and put the change into a Katrina/Rita fund. Buy a hotdog at the football game for a stranger. I'll catch you on Monday!

    Wednesday, September 28, 2005

    HNT Mystery Guest II

    The committee has conferred, pictures were judged, and decisions were made. First off, many thanks to those who submitted Mystery Guest entries. As promised, all of them will be posted at some point. There's no news on my camera--I'll give it another week before I start looking for a new one. I received pics from males and females, from very sexy to very imaginative, with a wide variety in between. Thankfully, there were no entries involving lava lamps....

    As for those who weren't chosen this week, you're already entered for next week. Those of you who are interested, you can certainly send me an entry for next week. And if you did send one in, you're certainly allowed to send more/new entries for the future! The outgoing MG and I both agreed that this week's choice exhibited imagination, and a nice change of pace for HNT. After all, it ain't all about the boobies! Other than mine. Hopefully this quick repair will take care of that!

    Picture 010

    Hope you have a great day tomorrow! Enjoy all that is HNT!
    Be sure to check the comments on my prior post for some early ups, and the birthday tribute in the post below that. Go wish a belated Happy Birthday to Lizabeth!
    This morning I paid a $75 fine for running the stop sign, and $25 fine for no seat belt. And it's a 30-day deferred sentence, meaning it's wiped off the books if I don't get another ticket in that time. Sounds easy, but these things seem to come in bunches for me, so I'd best behave! Oh--my car insurance DID lapse, and that sucker is a $540 fine for first offense, and loss of registration & license for the second! It's like they're really serious!

    Pre-HNT Humor For You

    Saw this on another site. Read it, laugh, then get to work on your HNT!

      Donald Rumsfeld is giving President Bush his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident"

      "OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

      His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands. Finally, the President looks up and asks:

      ''How many is a Brazillion ??!"

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIZABETH!!

    Happy 24th Birthday to my very first fan!


    Very early in the development of the Back Row, before I knew that anyone might read this thing; before I knew if I really wanted to spend time doing this; before HNT, there was Lizabeth. Imagine my surprise when I got my first comment from someone other than Moose (who's a real life friend)! And what a comment it was. I was lamenting the fact that no one was reading my blog, or I had blogblock, or some other trivial gripe that was making me re-think the whole blog experience. She gave me words of encouragement to continue, and to ask her for help if I ever needed it. She also had actually heard of In Cahoots! Well, that did it for me! My ego was generously stroked here! I had a fan! Who actually linked me! And kept coming back! So I offer this Birthday tribute to you--

    Lizabeth was a competitive swimmer. She's a Cobber. Once a Cobber, always a Cobber. Here you can almost see her butt. And those shoulders!


    Now she mostly rides her bike. And does some graphics work/web design. She made my first HNT button.



    She's a staunch Republican, and not afraid to say so.


    Like most attractive young redheads, she's snagged herself a boy. Eric.


    She and Eric brew their own beer. How cool is that?


    She knows how to party, and she knows how to relax.



    I finally got to meet her face-to-face (very briefly) a couple of months ago (with Eric and Just.A.Girl). Other opportunities sort of fell through, but we'll continue trying.


    Lastly, she looks damned fine in a bikini!


    Lizabeth--in spite of your incessant reminders that I'm old, you are quickly approaching the same thing. Well, maybe not quickly, but your time will come! Thanks for giving me that extra push in the early days. It's your fault that I'm still around!

    Everyone else--go to her site and wish her a Happy Birthday!

    Tuesday, September 27, 2005

    Fate, and Last Call!

    What if I didn't check out the last blog that I did this morning?
    What if I had chosen a different route to work--taken a different side street?
    What if the person in front of me had taken a different route?
    What if the person in front of me had a clue that they were driving a little slowly?
    What if the cop had turned around and chased that speeder earlier?
    What if the cop hadn't slowed down to let the deer amble across the street?

    Then I wouldn't have gotten a citation for not coming to a "full and complete" stop at the stop sign, or the secondary citation for driving without wearing my seat belt! I grew up in Montana, where it's still legal to drink and drive (until Oct. 1st, 2005). Where, when the rest of the nation was observing the 55 MPH limit, our highway patrolmen were handing out $5 "wasting natural resources" tickets. Where most students learned the correct way to proceed at a four-way stop (even the women!). I would put my driving record up against anyone's (one accident in 33 years of driving, even when drunk!). But he stuck me for rolling through a stop sign. Then, of course, the obligatory seat belt violation. At least he didn't ding me for not having my proof of insurance (*note to self--check to be sure it didn't lapse....).
    I'm tired. Went 41 hours with no sleep (and could have lasted a few more, I think). I was named in the local paper as being first in line for Seinfeld tickets. Yes, everything I do in this town is newsworthy! Anyway, I got the exact seats I was looking for, the show was sold out in 5 hours, and "Jerry's People" (formerly "Jerry's Kids"?) agreed to a second show for later that night. I'm certain that one won't sell out, but at least Jerry will have enough money for jet fuel to get to California afterwards!
    Last call for Mystery Guest submissions for my HNT this week! I've gotten a handful of very good submissions, but will accept others until tonight. Tonight the "committee" (me and the current Mystery Guest) will decide on this week's entry (notice I didn't say winner--they're all winners!). Just mail any submissions to me (see my profile for address). Looking forward to Thursday!
    I notice that I excessively use parentheses and exclamation points! At least I don't capitalize everything! (DEAL WITH IT!!)

    Monday, September 26, 2005

    Quick Review

    It's about 4:30 AM. I just got home from Spokane. I have to be in line to buy tickets to Jerry Seinfeld at 6 AM. Quick review, quick nap, and I'm outta here:
    • Sugarland--Fun band; enjoys what they're doing.
    • Sara Evans--Beautiful! Wore tight V-neck button-up blouse. Ample bosom forced the thing to gap all night (nice bonus!). Don't know how ample bosom didn't pop that top button right off!
    • Brad Paisley--Incredible guitarist; great show! Did "Whiskey Lullaby" (who would sing the female part????)--Had Alison Krauss on huge screen behind him singing her part (video-sync). Very cool.
    • Sweaty girls in tank tops (or less)--Sweet!
    • Drunk guys in the row in front of us--Assholes. Beer splashed everywhere. People falling over each other, literally. Wouldn't take off their oversized cowboy hats so that people could see around them.
    • Weather--Mid-70s; surprising!
    • Car--26.4 MPG
    • Gas in Spokane--$2.91/gal.
    • Cyrus O'Leary's--Great food; great service! Huge portions (couple of doggie boxes).
    • Return trip--only dozed off about 3 times. Megan was asleep in the back seat, so she didn't know :-)
    • Not having a camera at a concert where they were allowed--REALLY, REALLY SUCKS!
    More coming later in the day---

    Sunday, September 25, 2005

    Submissions Wanted!

    Just a reminder about the Mystery Guest feature for my HNT this week. If you want to be considered for this week's post, I'll need to have your submission by Tuesday night. I'll be sending them off to the current Mystery Guest that night for her input on her successor. I currently have 3 excellent submissions, but no one has the inside track yet. So if you want to get in on the action this week, you've only got a couple of days to go! Regardless of the number of submissions I get, or how soon I get a/my camera, they will all eventually be posted. Let your creative juices flow!!

    Concert Time!

    I'm heading off in the morning to Spokane, WA, to see Brad Paisley, Sara Evans and Sugarland in concert.

    paisley sara_evans SUGARLAND

    Going over with Megan, who lurks around here once in awhile, but doesn't have her own site. Yet. Unfortunately, she has to be to work at 8 AM on Monday, so she'll be sleeping in the back seat while I'm falling asleep driving back from the concert. (Hope she didn't just read that!)

    I'll be sure to get plenty of pics at the concert!! Oh, wait. Nevermind.....

    Friday, September 23, 2005

    Stuff

    What a fine response to the "Mystery Guest" HNT! I know that she certainly enjoyed the comments, and was fully deserving of them! Curiously, no one commented about the "special treat" that we added if you clicked on the picture! Not until Tim mentioned it on a return trip at around comment #150 or so! So how good was it? This was Tim's reaction to it! He tried to blame it on coffee, but we know better! YES, IT WAS THAT GOOD!! Click on it all you want now--the "treat" has been taken down! But many thanks for the compliments! No, I'm not going to tell you who it was....
    Reaction to the "Mystery Guest" concept has been swift and positive! Before the end of the day I received not 1, but 2 different submissions for next week's "Mystery Guest" HNT! Since I'm making up the rules for this as I go, I've decided that each prior week's "Guest" will have some say as to who their replacement will be. If we run out of interest, I'll try something different. If I get my camera back before we run out of material, I'll do a huge post of everyone's shots, and a list of participants. So if you want to get in on this, bring it on! My only request is that I look good (at least as good as I did in my HNT picture!). So feel free to ask me to send you a higher resolution file that will print well. Or to ask what's available. For those who are relatively new here, and are interested, you can find all of mine in the archives back to May, which is when we started all this.

    AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!
    I may have found my future wife.

    20050917REH03D
    I don't know which one, nor does it really matter!
    There's just so much that's RIGHT with this picture!


    I'm severely disappointed that no one left a comment on my audio post from a couple of days ago. I don't know if the music shocked you, or if you're afraid of Castpost, but no one commented. Twenty-one times it was listened to. I'll leave it there for a few more days.... More stuff later!
    iTunes: Soul Vaccination, Tower of Power

    Thursday, September 22, 2005

    Mystery HNT

    **EDIT**--Because I think she is BY FAR one of the best and funniest writers out there, I've agreed to help out Crystal (Boobs, Injuries and Dr. Pepper). She's just gotten engaged, and now has the chance to win a FREE WEDDING! The downside--she got entered late and the voting ends tomorrow at midnight. It's one of those things where you have to vote for her and Chris. She describes it a little on her site too. SOOOO....go HERE to cast your vote! Tell your friends to vote! You should be able to vote at least once/day. Maybe more--it's hard to tell.... They are the couple towards the bottom--Crystal Ross and Chris McKee. Do it for love, do it for me, do it for a fellow HNTer!!

    As you have all read by now, I have no camera. It's been a week, and I'm not terribly optimistic about getting it back. This, of course, poses a problem for posting HNT pics. What to do? What to do?

    There were a handful of you who emailed me with some suggestions, and I appreciate all of them. But one suggestion stood out over the others, and that's what I'm going to go with. It was suggested that, for the time being, have some of you HNTers download a picture from one of my old posts, print it, and pose half-nekkid with it, email that picture to me, and that becomes MY HNT picture! Seems like a good idea! So this individual and I emailed wildly back and forth, and came up with a plan---

    Until I get some sort of a camera again, I'll use a "Mystery Guest" to share my HNT post. Hopefully, this won't last too long. I won't reveal who the "Mystery Guest" is until the end, and then I'll do what my boy Ty does. I'll name everyone involved, but I won't name which picture goes with which name. If I get alot of volunteers, I'll post them all at the end. If I only get a couple, I'll use them until I run out of weeks, or until I get a camera. Whichever comes first.

    So I put the call out to you. Anyone interested in helping me out here can either download one of my older HNT pics, or can email me for a high resolution copy. If you want to remain mysterious, don't let jewelry, tattoos or kids or pets or anything else give it away. If you don't care, then don't worry about that. Email me the resulting picture, and I'll submit it in the upcoming weeks. If you're really into it, like this week's Guest is, you'll send me a few pics to choose from!

    And so I give to you my first "Mystery Guest" HNT picture. No hints, no clues. Other than the fact that the "MG" is female. Let the guessing begin. Even if you comment that you know who it is, I'm not going to tell. Have fun, happy HNT surfing, and take time to say a prayer for those living in Rita's path.


    By the way, Binsk, Shannin, Robin, Sojourness, kb and Aughra all had early posts.

    Don't forget to check out the new HNT buttons that are now available! You can find the codes for them in the "Guidelines" post (click on the blue HNT button in the sidebar).

    Wednesday, September 21, 2005

    Use Me, Exploit Me, Let Me Help

    I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to the geography of Texas, but I know that I have a shitload of blogfriends from down there. And it looks like they're about to get hit by another nasty hurricane. I'm far more attentive to Rita than I was to Katrina. I wish for all of you the very best, and that this thing doesn't turn as bad as it might.

    I commented on one person's post, but it's something that needs to be said to all--if there's anything that those of us who aren't in danger can do for you or your families, please don't be shy about asking us for help. I think that most of us have found a new kind of friendship amongst fellow bloggers, and now it's time that we exploit that friendship! If that means needing clothing or food or housing, I think the rest of us can help.

    Good luck and God bless all of you!

    But First, A Musical Number....

    I'd forgotten that I owned this CD. "Harsh Toke Of Reality" It's from 1993. The band is The Squirrels, from Seattle. One of the guitarist/vocalists was a student here in Helena when I was student teaching back in the day (way back in the day). The Squirrels acheived some pretty good success, though I don't know if they're still together or not. They covered alot of songs, giving them their own "special" twist. If you're a late-60s Beatles fanatic, you might not want to listen...


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    iTunes: Lime In the Coconut Harry Nillson

    Tuesday, September 20, 2005

    New HNT Buttons!

    I received two separate, unsolicited designs for HNT buttons. I originally thought that we should just stick with the original design that Lizabeth came up with, but I've since changed my mind.

    This first one comes from Peter Pan. Small, animated, and it's about the same size as some of those other site feed buttons out there:

    HNT_1


    The other one comes from S! The Outlaw Torn. Actually a friend of his came up with it and offered it to the masses:

    45113638_202b79dc11


    So now you have a choice! As usual, I'm always looking for ways to brighten the days of my HNT friends! If you decide to use any of them, please leave a comment with the appropriate blogger! To get the code, click on the blue HNT button in my sidebar. -->

    Monday, September 19, 2005

    Some observations

    I didn't do much of anything today. I've found that I rarely watch any NFL football anymore. It just doesn't interest me like it used to. I'm sure that would be different if I actually lived near an NFL town, but MT is sort of out in leftfield in that regard (like the cross-sports reference? I don't watch baseball, either!). So I went to see Niece #1 (N1) play soccer for Carroll College. I've posted about her before. She's the hotshot soccer player. Gatorade's Girl's Soccer Player of the Year for MT. And an incredibly good kid. If I had my camera (read the prior post), these are the pics I would have taken:

    Here she is making a great pass to start a scoring play. Note how much taller she is than the other players!


    The bitch on the left got a yellow card after this picture.


    N1 takes a penalty kick, which was perfect, until the wind caught it. It went just over the crossbar. That's OK. Carroll won 3-0.

    I took the free time I forced myself to take today going through many of the blogs I've neglected this week. Now that things have settled down some, I plan to return alot of emails and check some more blogs. I can see where HNT could become a fulltime job. I have a new appreciation for the perverts who run their own porn sites! (not that I think that HNT is porn!!!)
    Speaking of HNT, I used that nifty "SEARCH ALL BLOGS" button (another unrequested button from Blogger) just to see what would come up for "HNT". According to the button, it found 2,519 sites. I was pretty excited about that. Until....

    Now I'm not one to feel particularly important for the whole HNT phenomenon. I don't blow my own horn, so to speak. Oh, what the hell. Yes I do, but that's not important for this next tidbit. I checked out the sites that Blogger found for HNT, ranked by "relevance". I CAME IN AT #72!!! What the fuck is THAT all about??? I'm guessing that no one has the letters HNT found on their site more times than mine! Whose site can be more "relevant" to HNT than mine???
    While checking out the 71 other people ahead of me, I found that there are some HNT wannabes out there. My first reaction was one of mild rage--how dare they attempt to claim this? Then I noticed that they had theirs run for maybe a week or two, and have maybe 4 people playing along, then it died. So rest assured--those of you joining in on our half-nekkidness--you're linked in to the REAL DEAL!!!
    Not much else to report on. I'll be responding to some of your emails, and checking out some more blogs. I recommend you go through the Nekkid roll in the sidebar. There's quite a few newbies that didn't comment on mine, so you might have missed some. The roll is still unedited, so there might be some up there who didn't join in last week. I'll try to get that taken care of in the next day or two. I also need to come up with a creative way to get around the no-camera situation for Thursday. I'd hate to resort to what I did up above! Have a great week, everyone!!!
    iTunes: I Want A New Drug, Asleep At the Wheel

    Sunday, September 18, 2005

    I've had better weeks....

    It's been since HNT since I've posted. I've just completed "The Week From Hell". I usually have this week prior to every Symphony concert, but this week was particularly difficult. Not only did I have the Symphony to deal with (and every person's petty problems), I had HNT and gigs interfering. There were some great moments, and there were some not-so-great moments. Here's a brief rundown:
      Every day since two Thursdays ago has had me involved either in a rehearsal or performance lasting a minimum of 2 hours. In some cases they overlapped. The only day off--last Thursday, which thankfully gave me time to look over the HNT pics.

      Wednesday--In Cahoots/Mob Rules Horns play for the last Alive @ 5 party in downtown Helena. A great turnout and a great day! Cold beer flowing, people dancing, everyone enjoying themselves. As darkness comes, that's when most people get out and dance. We've got them in the palm of our hand. During our last set, I started taking pics from the stage, like I always do. A guy asks if we'd like him to get some shots from out front. I said yes, and gave him my camera. He comes back after a few minutes and says he got a few, but the lighting was bad (which it was). We end the night with an encore, and as I'm playing, the same guy comes up and does that "camera" sort of pantomime--can he take more pics? I figure, why not? I'll tell you why not--THE FUCKER NEVER CAME BACK WITH MY CAMERA!!!! That's right--he stole it! Being the trusting soul that I am, I'm hoping he just "walked away" with it, and he's been trying to figure out how to get it back to me. But I may have to face reality next week. I don't want to hear from any of you about what a fool I was--I've had strangers take pictures of us for years and have never had a problem.

      And rather than hunt him down, I had to leave to catch the tail end of a Symphony rehearsal I'd been missing. So, what should have been a great night was reduced to a downer. What could possibly pull me out of that (besides more beer)? Why, HNT, of course!

      I still haven't been able to clean up the Nekkid roll yet. Maybe in the morning. I'm glad that I caught some of you off-guard with my HNT story! When I finally get links cleaned up, I'm guessing we'll be over 180 Nekkid people for the week. Lots of newbies! A few returnees. And a couple who have resigned/retired/given up. I have mixed feelings about that. While I've enjoyed the participation, I hate to see people go. Hopefully they'll make some guest appearances from time to time....

      From the time that I posted my HNT pic, to the time I came back to the comments (maybe 10-15 minutes), I had 46 comments! Plus the dozen I had on my prior post telling me they were up. You people are nuts!!! I love it!!! I'm clueless as to what I'm going to do this week--I HAVE NO CAMERA!!!

      Friday night--Another gig. This time for Oktoberfest. We had the 7:00-8:30 PM time slot. Not the greatest, since the drunks aren't out yet, but we had alot of kids and their parents out dancing, so that was fun. We play under a tent (about 150 yards long!!!) with lots of beer being poured, and food vendors vending. Again, we kicked butt, but then I had to go to another Symphony rehearsal that I'd been missing. No beer for me!

      Symphony--Rehearsals were a bitch. No one seemed prepared for this concert. A feeling like September is to be spent gearing up for the rest of the season. There were personnel problems--positions in the orchestra that weren't filled, or filled at the last minute. Which is my responsibility. So that's where the majority of my stress came from this week. No sleep, plus all this other stuff going on--I haven't been so happy to be done with a concert in my life!

      The concert was tonight. Played to an almost full house, which is unheard of in these parts! Overall, the audience liked it. From a player's standpoint, it was not a great performance. Lots of lapses of concentration, lots of uncertainty that comes from that, and just not one of our best nights. HOWEVER, the piano soloist we featured was phenomenal (and we DID play her concerto very well....). The audience loved it, but I know I'm going to hear about it next week about how unprepared everyone was. Personally, I played pretty well, but it wasn't a tough concert on my end (thank God). In fact, it bordered upon boring. I've provided short clips from the two biggest moments I had all evening. This isn't us playing, though. The first is Sorcerer's Apprentice (playing the trombone solo part that you can barely hear), and the second is the ending of Bolero (where everything is loud, and the trombones get to be obnoxious at the end!). CAUTION: You may want to turn the volume down on the player here....


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      Well, hell. Problems with the Sorcerer's Apprentice. So I deleted it.... That's about par for the course! And a sign that I should go to bed! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

    Thursday, September 15, 2005

    HNT w/Me & Michelle in the Tub

    First things first--if you're a regular Half-Nekkid Thursday participant, or even if this is your first time, feel free to place the following button in a prominent place on your own site! It shows people that you get half-nekkid on a regular basis, and you're proud of it!! It also acts as a link to the "Guidelines" page. Lizabeth designed it--go tell her how good it looks! In the future, you'll have to get it from the "Guidelines" page. How do you get there? Click on the button!!

    HNTbutton
    Simply copy and paste the following code onto your template:

    (a href="http://osbasso.blogspot.com/2005/05/guidelines-for-half-nekkid-thursday.html"target=_blank)(img src="http://static.flickr.com/27/41652855_6ca8bb2b62_o.jpg" width="100" height="66" alt="HNTbutton" /)(/a)

    Be sure to replace all the parentheses ( ) with < and >
    Need help? Email me!

    I haven't discussed Michelle much on this blog. At least by name. Her picture has been up a couple of times, but I didn't ever identify her by name. I've been told that's a bad habit I've got. I first became acquainted with Michelle in late winter of 1980 (or was it '81?). In any case, I immediately knew that she and I would become very close. And we've been inseparable since shortly after that day. Even during the time that I was with Volcano Girl (see archives--5/18/05). While there was never an agreement to be exclusive to each other, she has stayed with me through thick and thin, first while in Idaho, then moving with me back to Montana. We spent alot of time together with friends during grad school. Late nights, beer drinking, football & basketball (GO GRIZ!!!), concerts--we did everything together. On a couple of occasions, I'd get to do a three-way with her and another. Not once has she ever complained. Other than a brief fling with someone else in 1990 (which I actively encouraged) she has remained loyal to me. I, on the other hand, have checked out others on the side on many occasions. Yeah, I know. I'm an asshole. Yet, I always come back to Michelle. No questions asked. There's a comfort level there that I've never felt with others. We just fit well together. Interestingly, I can do things with her that I simply can't do with others. I love her, that's all there is to it. Some people might find her a little on the large size--screw them. Even the friends I tend to hang out today with say that too, but they've got their skinny little bitches. They can have them!

    Michelle has accompanied me to some of the most important functions in town, and been there for some of my most joyous moments. We still do the three-way thing, even more now than we used to. Still no complaints, but I'm beginning to feel a little bit guilty. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't always treated her well. I'd even go as far as saying that there has been some physical abuse. I know that's a side of me that you wouldn't necessarily expect, but I can't deny it. As she's gotten older, there's some signs of that abuse that we can't hide. But there's other times where we totally click, and I can't imagine my life without her. I probably should do something spectular for her, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen.

    When coming up with an idea for HNT this week, it dawned on me that I could do something with Michelle! One thing I can say about her--when we play, we play dirty! And this summer has been particularly dirty! Every once in awhile, we'll do the bath thing together. Inevitably, she comes out of it with a renewed glow! Others have done the bathtub shot, so I figure that we can, too! I present, in our half-nekkidness, me and Michelle:


    Some men name their cars. Many of you name your computers. Meet Michelle, my trombone. Note her slides being nekkid. And the tuning slides you can't see are having a jolly time under the water. A little wine, a little candlelight, bubbles and the one you love. What more could a guy ask for? Hope you all have a great HNT!

    Tuesday, September 13, 2005

    Visitors

    No time to be substantial this morning. I just found this interesting (I know--I need to get a life). Three stories from the front page of the paper today. First--a couple relocated here from New Orleans. I know that's not a big deal to those of you in Texas or Tennessee or anyplace nearby, but they (don't know exactly who "they" are) had a press conference to introduce them! A press conference! Maybe to introduce the new black couple living in Helena (there's not many of those, ya know....). Maybe to make whoever called the press conference feel important. In any case, this poor couple looked like they wanted to be anywhere other than at a table answering questions. We Montanans will do just about anything to make the news!

    Secondly--the Dalai Lama was in Idaho (which is like, right next door). Something about that is so cool! The man who is leads 20 million Tibetan Buddhists was just a few hours away! That's like having the Pope nearby! I don't necessarily know the ins and outs of Buddhism, but every picture you see of the man shows him smiling! And that can't be a bad thing, can it?

    Lastly--and probably the most exciting thing to happen to Helena in, oh, a week or so--skateboarding icon Tony Hawk paid a surprise visit to the skate park in town (the only people there were the delinquents who were skipping school....). Came in unannounced, but thanks to cell phones, had a nice little crowd to watch him perform.

    Any guesses as to which of the three got the largest acreage on the front page???