it's been a while since I posted anything of substance, but tonight's the night!



We had our big layoff the week before Thanksgiving and I was not a victim. I swear, I feel bulletproof. Now watch, because i've written that I'll be next in line. The other interesting rumor is that another reorganization is in the works. This one will supposedly put everything back as it was in 2001. Sigh. This is OK for me; it means my boss is back in San Diego, instead of in Horsham.



Christmas was nice; the house looks great and I had a good time with my brother and sister-in-law as well as my folks.



I've updated the web site with the latest trip adventures: Rome, October, 2002.



I couldn't get up to Tahoe for New year's because Southwest was sold out and American had lousy prices and lousier itineraries. So I've been invited to a neighborhood party for New Years and then I have 3 Sunday nights in row in January: GD employee party, Curtis' graduation party and then Michael Miller's CD release party, assuming he's doing one and I'm invited. I decided to learn a few tunes for New eyars so i can play a little music with Bob, the host and former guitarist. We'll see if we're up to the task.



And speaking of playing, I haven't been! Dammit! This Friday night for sure!!

It was the neighborhood Christmas arty night last night. It was fine - not nearly enough bad behaviour last night as in the previous one.



We ended up playing poker again and I think I came out ahead. it's tough to tell since I don't count my initial pot.



I sanded and painted the crown moulding today an tomorrow I'll caulk it. It looks *OK* but I am never 100% happy with it. I have two new ukiyo-e prints to hang up as well. Maybe I'll do that right now...

Got me some DSL broadband, baby!

Back from Rome and with a lot of photos and some good memories, except I left my car keys in the hotel room the morning I left, which of course meant I had no way to get home from LAX. I had to call my folks and they picked me up. Very embarassing for me.



The Friday of the week I returned I was told that the company wanted us to play the Christmas Party, but we ultimately declined because I 1) am sick of those same 10 frickin' songs (well a few of them anyway), 2) we don't have time to really work aon any more (the married guys can't rehearse 2 or 3 times a week, which is what it would take) and finally 3) we're having a big layoff and I am not interested in doing all this work just to get the pink slip a week or two before the event.



I discovered what I believe to be all the errors in the first book and have corrected them. I am writing a section on the Palatine Hill and have included some new photos. Ancient Rome Second Edition should be ready to go in a few weeks. Early Christian Rome should be good to go in a few months, hopefully.

Quick note from The Eternal City. It's raining cats and dogs today so I decided to catch up on my email and surf a little bit.



The hotel is OK. I have had some funny interchanges with the front desk guy that I will detail later, but siffice it to say he knows I am a travel book writer now and has an autographed copy of Ancient Rome. First edition, too, which is of course the most valuable. :-) There is a nice beer bar down the street about 50 meters that has a combo American/English/Irish feel to it and a similar menu. I go in there nearly every day.



I've been lugging the huge camera bag around every day, loaded with the SLR (with lenses, motordrive, big flash unit) the DV cam, the pocket 35 mm and the GPS receiver. Add a few cans of film, a few DV cassettes and the thing is a monster.



Had some fun nights with everyone, including a great pizza night with the old gang and a nice day with Bruna in Spoleto and a nice walk with Laura on the Appia Antica.



More later.



Ciao!

So we played our "big gig" Wednesday night. It was the annual "booze cruise" that is an event that occurs in tandem with a "Users Conference" that's held at a bayside hotel on Coronado Island.



We set up on the top deck of the boat with the idea that if we sucked then people could escape back down to the lower decks and no harm done.



We had the majority of the attendees on the deck with us and they stayed for the entire hour+ set, so I guess we didn't suck. My comedy MC skills were in full flower and I had the crowd laughing quite a bit. It was freezing and drizzly up there for a while, but we blasted through "Keep on Rockin' In the Free World" and "(What's So Funny) About Peace, Love and Understanding" and by then my fingers had thawed so I was able to play pretty well after that. Vinh played really well tonight. As Mark put it, "We peaked tonight, man! We timed it pefectly!"



We planned a end-of-set jam of a 12 bar blues thing-a-ma-bob with the idea that people in the audience who had expressed an interest in playing could do that with no need to "learn a song." Apparently we scored major points since one guy was a BIG customer of ours. Even though he sucked he jammed for 10 minutes or so. The drummer was a jazz drummer, so the concept of locking on a simple 4/4 groove was alien to him. It was pretty interesting in the way a trainwreck is interesting. I was happy to go down to the bar and get a beer while that while thing was going on. We left Bob in charge on stage.



The next day the marketing folks thanked us for playing and then today positive comments were made in the all-hands meeting, so we're heroes.



We had the experience of playing in front of 100 people and they were entertained to a reasonable level, so everyone won that night.

The weekend was a decent success. We played at my neighbor's party and were a hit. The people seemd to like us and we all played pretty well. We were up there for 1 hour+ and were pretty wiped out after that. Sunday was my book release party and most all the key people made an appearance - Joe and Catherine (yay!), Teresa, Bob and family, Mark and Linda, Kay, Bret and Thomas and a bunch more.



We checked out the boat yesterday and I was quite disappointed. It's not set up for entertainment; there is no stage and the second deck is very cramped. We decided to set up on the top deck, outside and blast the volume. I predict we will blow a circuit breaker with the first notes.



After we get through this gig I will put a hold on the band thing and get my next two books written.