IVE MOVED

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more youtube

Not sure if anyone actually watches these when I post them but I like hunting for them, so the jokes on you!

Have you heard my Mom refer to her pending grandson as "Tragdor" and wondered what the heck she was talking about? Tragdor the Burninator - Homestarrunner

Try not to smile while watching this: I Want You Back - The Jackson 5

My favorite video ever. Just incredibly powerful: Hurt - Johnny Cash

Hands down best live show I've ever seen before 7PM. Wolfmother - Joker and the Thief

Ben Harper song from a friend of mine. Walk Away (Ben Harper) - Jon Palmer

A guitar lesson. You MUST make it to the 1:30 mark - it gets crazy. Brian Setzer

Live at the Grammys. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger

(here's some from last time)

Too much

It's hard not to like what the Brewers have already gotten done this offseason. The fact of the matter is you don't win late in the year (especially the playoffs) without a solid bullpen.

The Brewers lost the only rock in their bullpen (Cordero) already this offseason along with 'next best' Scott Linebrink. My personal feeling on Linebrink is that more is being made of him leaving than should be... he's been great in the past but what did he really do for the Brewers last year?

Getting Torres, Riske, and now Gagne into our bullpen more than makes up for the loss... assuming any of them can step up and close... which brings me to the title of this post. We gave Gagne a 1 year contract worth $10M... wow, that's an awful lot for a guy who has had a pretty significant rash of injuries the last few years and was downright awful much of last year. He was one of the best for a few years there but this is just too much risk for that money.

NFL Leading Scorer

While we were watching the Cowboys v. Packers game a couple weeks back I made the comment that Packers kicker Mason Crosby is the NFL's leading scorer. I had forgotten about it until just now but he still is.

Real life energy consumption of 2nd Life

A 2nd Life Avatar consumes more energy than the average Brazilian?

... and produces as much CO2 (per year) as driving a Prius 4,000 miles?

It's not a new article, but it's new to me. Check it out.

Of course, there's no real reason to pick on 2nd Life other than that it's fun to compare fake people to real. Really this is a comment on what it takes to run any of the myriad of popular websites.

Grandpa Halberg

My Grandpa Halberg passed away in his sleep last night a few days after making the very difficult decision to end his dialysis treatments. While the treatments are wonderful in that they give extra life - they are a miserable experience and take a real toll on the recipient.

Just a few days ago, following his decision to end the treatments, we were able to go up to visit him at the veterans facility in King, WI. He "had a hankerin' for some eggs" so off we went for breakfast. He ordered 4 eggs and drank his coffee - when my Dad made a comment about the quantity he said "you ain't full til you get milk and cookies" and ordered up 2 more!

Some of my fondest memories of grandpa are from his house in Wakefield, MI - HUGE piles of snow in the front yard with tens of cousins tunneling, stocking the snowball arsenal, and plotting for the grand battle to come.

I remember a garage full of tools and big cars. Always a big American Buick waiting in the garage to take him to his destination in comfortable fashion.

An incredibly overfilled house at every holiday with he and the uncles watching the Weather Channel for what seemed like days on end. I always thought when I was older I'd understand how that was entertaining... I guess I'm not old enough yet! ... he was also a master of the old trick of sleeping in front of the TV but yelling "hey, I was watching that" when the channel was switched.

"How are you?" would also be answered with "Any better and I couldn't stand it" and his famous grin from ear to ear.

Lots and lots of family, faith, and fellowship. He will certainly be missed!

Radio on the TV

I was talking about this just a bit ago but it really seems like I hear more good music on TV commercials than I do on the radio.

... it probably has at least something to do with me listening to mostly talk radio ...

... and it could also have to do with Madison being a Clear-Channel-only city ...

but there really is just a tremendous amount of good (and new/relatively unkown) music on commercials these days.

Here are some that I've seen/heard just during the commercials of the Bears game today:

My Morning Jacket - not sure of the product
Guster - Cypher
Arcade Fire - pretty sure it was them?
Stephen Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) - Volvo
The Weepies - JCPenny
The Shins - Zune
Bloc Party - Saturn

and, of course, Neil Diamond - Jeep

All CDs that I own, other than Neil Diamond... as far as you know.


and that ain't the half of it. Here are some others CDs I own with recent tv-commercial exposure.

Wilco - VW
Teddybears - Cadillac, Virgin Mobile, and Intel
The Flaming Lips - Dell
The Last Town Chorus
Shiny Toy Guns - Razr
Regina Spektor - JC Penny and XM Radio
Hum - Cadillac
Architecture in Helsinki - Sprint
NERD, Wolfmother, Jet, Daft Punk, Feist - iPod
Jim Noir - Adidas
Jens Lekman - LG Steam Dryer
The Go! Team - Target and Honda

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Thanksgiving

Our first snow came on Thanksgiving eve, making for a fun time taking the dogs out in the morning. It was June's first taste of snow and it's safe to say that she's a big fan.

After that we were off to John & Leslie's, in Milwaukee, for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.


Of course, the highlight of the day was the people. It was great to see all the relatives but stealing the show were the nieces (and the other Mainers too)!

Michigan Tech at UW-Parkside

Saturday we got to head to Kenosha to see my cousin Tim play bball for MI Tech. It was an awesome game and lots of family had come into town for the occasion.

They ended up losing the game but cousin Tim played awesome. Dropping threes and throwing it down from high above the rim - it was a complete performance. At one point it was Tim 18 - other team 17 but they threw on a zone that gave Tech fits and took home the victory.

Well played though Tim! It's been awesome to see you play the last few years.

A Win!

With the Packers off to a 9-1 start you may not think that them winning today against one of the league's lesser teams was impressive... you're wrong. What you don't realize is that the Packers were able to overcome an obstacle that they have struggled with for the past 3 years: winning when I am in attendance.

Finally, for the first time in 2 years, I get to actually see them bring home a victory in person - I can't tell you how glad I am that it wasn't close!

Go Pack!

Big (and great) News!

Thomas (my brother in law) and Choeun have made Monnie and I aunt and uncle to a baby girl!

Corryn was born yesterday about 530PM. We're really excited and hoping to pay them a visit very soon!

and while we're at it...

So, as mentioned just a few minutes ago - I'm watching The Borne Identity. Every commercial break I am treated at least once to an Old Navy commercial featuring The Weepies.

I'm really happy to see great bands played in commercials; Seriously, I think it's great: they (presumably) get some well earned money, they (hopefully) pick up a few new fans, and we all win.

but the first time you hear a song - especially of this sort - on a commercial for a company like Old Navy... there's just something wrong about it. Check out The Weepies here (free) - you'll like em.

Saturday

Our Saturday started out letting the dogs run in a field we recently "discovered" in the neighborhood. It's ideal as it's nice and big - no houses (distractions) too close - and no roads. Both of our dogs are great but Howie doesn't really hear "come" and actually do it when there are any distractions, so it's great not to have cars whizzing by.

After that we were off to Johnson's Creek to meet Mike, Steph and Annabelle for a bit of shopping and lunch. It was great to see them and after a bit of negotiation - they're going to be the godparents! Really glad to have them on board as honorary members of Team Halberg.

When we got back to Sun Prairie, we got to go out to dinner with Uncle Ric at the Cannery in Sun Prairie. Mom and Dad Halberg had taken us there just last night for a fish fry and we liked it enough to give the other food a try - great to have another good place in town.

... and now? It seems like now that the sun goes down at like noon it's just impossible to have the day last much past 8PM. So, we get to hang out on the couch and check out The Borne Identify on the good ole' USA network... man, we're getting old!

Oh, and did I mention: UW beat up Michigan, Ohio State lost, Notre Dame got crushed, and Miam is on their way to another loss (although, maybe not). Good day for football!

Halloween

As Monnie has mentioned, we've been to some great Halloween parties this year. I'll leave you to check out her commentary (and additional pics) but here are our outfits...

Music!

After reading Mr. Barlament's article tonight, I was inspired to do some fishing of my own for music on YouTube tonight. Here are the successes...

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (live)

Nine Black Alps - Not Everyone (live)

The Apples In Stereo - Same Old Drag (listening to themselves in the van)

The Subways - I Wanna Hear What You've Got To Say (live)

Fever Marlene - Red Fire (live in Madison)

Josh Ritter - Monster Ballads (live)

The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour (live)

Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me (live)

Magnetic Fields - Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side (cartoon/video)

Wilco - Jesus, etc. (live)

Wolfmother - Woman (live)

Baseball!

Finally, two of the world's greatest things come together. If there is even one stolen base in the World Series this year: we all get a free taco.


And if you haven't yet seen the Red Sox post-series celebration (for the ALCS which ended last week), check out these ridiculously funny videos. It's not everyday you get to see a major league all star do an irish jig in his underwear at Fenway Park. or the whole team doing sort of advanced version of the running man.

Pay What It's Worth

The initial results are in and it looks like Radiohead's "pay what it's worth to you" sales strategy has been an incredible success.

1.2 million albums sold in the first week, at an average cost of $8. For those of you scoring at home: that's almost $10M in one week... not a bad week.

It'll be interesting to see when the first store opens online facilitating this type of distribution. Seems like a site like that could take an incredibly small percentage of the sale to make it. Having multiple large artists on one site like that could really open the door for small/medium bands to make similar jumps. "We see you're here to buy the new 'My Morning Jacket' album. If you like them why not try the new 'Band of Horses' disc for a couple bucks?"

TNP@Pabst

JNo and I headed over to Milwaukee's Pabst Theater last night to see The New Pornographers. I've had nothing but good experiences at the Pabst and this one was no exception - The show may have been the best that I've seen there.

picture borrowed from the always great Muzzle of Bees

After a couple of openers who at times I loved and times I wanted off stage ASAP, the NPs took the stage. At first I thought we might be in trouble. Aside from cornerstone Carl Newman and (the quite impressive) Kathryn Calder, the rest of the band may have gotten into the liquor cabinet beforehand. A lot of bands can pull that off but having not seen these guys live + knowing that with their style of music things have to stay really tight... I was worried.

Never was I more worried when Dan Bejar took the stage and seemed to not really comprehend how his mic worked... and then he started singing and all was right with the world. The whole group pulled it off (mostly) flawlessly and put on a show that had everyone wanting more and more.

I'll definitely try to catch them again next time they're coming around - especially if they can get the whole cast of characters together for it.

Sunday Night Football

Monica and I were up in Green Bay for the Bears v. Packers last night (her comments here). After a really great looking start the game went south in a big hurry. Obviously the outcome was far from desirable but the way it was reached was much worse. The Bears really didn't look good, but the Packers looked much worse - turning the ball over repeatedly and always finding a way to be penalized at the absolute wrong time.

Anyway, despite our poor play: this one falls squarely on my shoulders. I have to accept responsibility for the loss.... A few years ago I drafted Ahman Green and Javon Walker in the first two rounds of my fantasy football league. Both of them promptly were injured and missed the majority/all of the season. I then decided never again to have a Packer on my fantasy football team... until last week when I picked up rookie James Jones. While Jones hasn't been injured (yet), he fumbled twice early in the Packers game - mistakes that had a very large impact on the outcome of the game.

So... my bad. I'll be releasing him shortly so we can get back to normal next week against the Redskins.

Wilco

When it was announced a few months ago that Wilco would be playing the Overture Center it was quite a surprise. To that point the only events at Madison's newest (major) venue had been musicals, orchestras, and the like.

from Daniel Brielmaier (on Muzzle of Bees)

We went out and bought a bunch of tickets during the presale - good thing: the show sold out almost immediately. Our efforts paid off last Tuesday as Monnie, Jon, Matt, Brandon, Joe, Sarah, and I were treated to a great show.

The Overture Center was definitely a different environment for what I suppose would be labeled a "rock" show. Assigned seating was respected almost to the letter - nobody in the aisles or anything of the sort. For some that's a pretty big downer but to be totally honest: I'm a really big fan of being able to sit during a show like this.

The sound was really incredible, especially since my other two Wilco experiences have been at outdoor venues. Crystal clear lyrics and instrumentation - great effects on the opener "Via Chicago" to simulate the El passing right through the theater.

They missed my all time favorite "Heavy Metal Drummer" and oddly also left out their current hit single "What Light", but hit many of my favorites including what probably would be 2-5 on my list: "Jesus, Etc", "Handshake Drugs", and "California Stars"

There's some really great pictures on Muzzle of Bees coverage (one of which I borrowed above) as well as some great commentary and comments. You'll notice in the comments quite a bit of what I alluded to above (people like to get up and dance... I like to sit and relax).

A really great show that was well worth the high ticket price.