Whoops

So, I never thought something like this would happen.

I got the TV on Friday, and it was actually TOO BIG. Not too big in the sense that it didn't fit in the basement, but too big in the sense that our basement room simply isn't big enough to be able to get far enough away from the 57-inch behemoth to actually watch it without it being very grainy, which in an of itself defeats the purpose of an HD-TV.

For as much money as it was, I was not happy with the results. Great TV... just not the best TV for the house we currently live in (and that we will be living in for the foreseeable future).

But fear not. I have to give the people at Circuit City a lot of credit. They treated me very well. I went in that very same day, expressed my concerns, and was able to exchage the TV for a different, smaller one. They even recommended a media stand built by Sony for that specific TV, which killed two birds with one stone.

I give you:

Not quite as big, but still bigger than before.

It's a Sony 46-inch rear projection HDTV. It doesn't have the built in tuner that the Hitachi did, but we saved enough on it to buy the media stand (which was not cheap) and still have about $100 more left than we did after buying the first TV.

The only drawback is that it doesn't have the built-in HD tuner that the Hitachi did. However, in doing some research, if I can switch to Insight, we could get digital cable with a DVR and HD receiver + internet + basic phone service for only $20 more than we're paying for regular cable + internet with WOW! and phone with SBC. Hopefully Insight serves my area of the city. They have by far the best package, and they have all four major networks in HD, whereas the other two cable companies only have two.

So, this Friday, the new TV arrives, and the old-new one goes away.

The Anticipation is Killing Me...

Well, after that crazed week of shows last week, I'm slowing down a bit. Apparently, we're taking this month (September) off, which will be a good thing. More practicing, tighter shows, time to write new material, and possible time to record. Also, we finally got some pictures up on our website, so you can go and ogle us, including this picture of me that's 1 part rock star, 7 parts gay Clockwork Orange.

Now, as for the anticipation mentioned in the title, I hesitate to bring this up in my blog, knowing that my wife reads it and isn't nearly as excited as I am (that's the nicest way I could think of to say that) about this. Yet, tomorrow, at some point, the good people at Circuit City will be delivering the following to our home:

Am I crazy, or is that a HUGE TV?

It's a 57-inch, high-definition rear projection TV. I have my new grandparents-in-law and aunt-in-law to thank for it. Soon to follow will be some kind of digital cable package, and perhaps some HD channels as well, seeing as how the TV has a built-in HD tuner. To watch my Browns, Tribe, and college football games in HD...cue Homer drooling noise.

And further, DVDs with our progressive scan player and surround sound will be even cooler. PS2 will be mind-blowing.

I think I'm going to pass out.


In other news, we're attending "Brew at the Zoo" tomorrow night, which should be a fun mix of encouraged drinking and cute animals. Hopefully no taunting of said animals takes place.

We're then heading to my dad's for the rest of the weekend so that we can spend some time at Grandma's condo looking through her things before they get sold. I'm not sure yet whether this will be a nice time remembering her, or a sad time as we get ready to part with so much of what we remember from her home and thus our childhood visits. Needless to say, it will be nice in the end to be able to bring some keepsakes home with us.

All of this means missing out on another Browns pre-season game (I also missed out on the Giants game as we were traveling home from Jamaica), but since I think Carolina is going to pound on the Browns something awful, I'm not too sad.

Until next week...

Being in a band is fun.

This is quite the week for we House of Cards guys.

I got back into town from my honeymoon on Saturday night. We had a show Monday night at Bernie's, and have two this weekend: Friday night at Skully's, and Saturday night at Old School.

I wasn't able to play drums between July 31st and August 15th, and my hands apparently softened up in that amount of time in Jamaica. In other words, I tore about four holes in my skin Monday night. Not good times. Why bring this up? Because I'm hoping a 96-hour continuous rotation of aloe lotion, Neosporin and band-aids will allow me to grow the skin back by Friday..... you know, so I can then rip it all off again. Please, callous-fairy, come back to me!

In addition, we're hoping that these last two gigs will give us enough $$$ in the "Band Fund" that we can go into a studio and polish three or four tracks so that we may publish/pedal an EP. This would be huge in our quest to get people in Columbus to pay some fucking attention (!) to us, as it would allow us to get our music to people at our shows that like it, which then allows them to play it for their friends, etc., it allows us to play something for club owners, it allows us to get some material played on CD-101.... and on and on.

As of right now, we have the basis for about 12 tracks. We'd need to record some drums for all 12, and guitar and vocals for about 4. That should give us enough material to cull a bad-ass 4-song EP.

On a side note (nerd alert!), I've been working to get an entire sample of my entire drum kit (in other words, I use a microphone or two and create a sound file on my computer of every possible noise I can think of making on my drums) in order that I might be able to do some better drum work on my sequencer/computer. So, if anyone has any guitar diddies they'd like drums for, let me know, and send me a WAV file.

That is all. Let House of Cards rock your weekend, Columbus-ites!

Don't you just hate those uncomfortable silences?

Allow me to blow the dust and cobwebs off of this blog. It has been awhile.

I am now a happily married man, and our trip to Jamaica was simply amazing. As you can see, we were married at the Marblehead Lighthouse up on Lake Erie, and the spot we picked was absolutely perfect. My dad performed the ceremony, and the Reverand Doctor came through with a perfect homilee that tied us together with the lighthouse.

Some Jamaica pictures will be posted as soon as we get them developed (from those underwater disposable cameras). There's one picture in particular I'll need to scan; it is, quite possibly, the best picture of all time.

In summation, I've got a shit-ton of work to do, and I'll update more as time permits this week.

It's good to be back. But not as good as it would have been if we could have just stayed in Ocho Rios for another month or so.