Sigh.  With buying a home came the over-whelming excitement of having a place where I could put, and play, my drum set.  After living in apartments for 5 years, I’ve been jonesin’ for some drums something fierce.  So just knowing I was going to have the chance, I had become very excited.

That is, until I met my neighbor.

It was a nice afternoon, around 2:30 or so, and I decided to sit down and give ‘em a go.  Not five minutes in, between songs blaring into my headphones, I hear a knock on the garage door and a “Hello?”   My worst fear has come true.

Perhaps I was dense thinking that drums in a garage wouldn’t be too annoying to neighbors, maybe my desire overshadowed my logic.  Eiother way, I knew what was coming, and I didn’t like it.

I came out my front door, rounded my garage, and talked to my neighbor.  She was very appologetic, almost like she had been the offender.  Basically, it just came down to the fact that her daughter naps between 2 and 4, and if I could just keep it down in that time frame, everything would be cool.

Yeah, maybe for a normal person.

But not me, oh no.  I have to care about people.  I have to not want to annoy people.

Tonight, at about 6:50pm, I sat down and started playing.  I ‘ve played for ten or fifteen minutes here or there, just kinda putzin’ around a few times, but nothing really good.  Nothing really therapeutic.  But tonight, I sat down, threw on the iPod, and started rockin’ out.  (sorry, no g’s in this post)  Turns out The Killers’ album Hot Fuss is quite fun to drum to.  I was having a great time, until about the chorus of the second song.  No, no one knocked on the garage door.  But it sudden;y hit me that it’s about 7pm, some people might be sitting down for a family dinner.  I wouldn’t want my dinner to have to sit through thumping from the neighbors.  I try and ignore it.  I try to push it back down, but no, compassion wins again.  I put down the sticks for the night.  Sigh.
I’m probably completely wrong.  They probably eat dinner in front of the TV, and they can’t even hear my set over it.  They probably didn’t even know I was playing.  With my luck, they were probably saying, “If these drums ever stop, I’ll kill myself.”

You know you have issues when having nice things just create more worry for you.

Filed under: general by tonybullard
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So now that I’ve a mere 3 exits north, my morning commute has literally doubled. According to the map, I’m 25 miles away from my work, which takes me an hour to traverse in the morning.

I’ve tried quite a few different routes, utilizing the wonderful GPS unit my in-laws got us for Christmas, only to find they all have their ups and downs.

So having an hour to oneself every morning really makes you appreciate good podcasts. I’ve been listening to them since Diggnation started in July of 05, and have found a few good ones, and several bad ones.

But all I want to talk about today are the ones that I think really shine in the world of podcasts. (more…)

Filed under: entertainment, internet culture, podcasts, rambling, social by tonybullard
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So today I spent the day unpacking all my stuff into my new house. Well, spent some of the day doing that. Other parts were spent sitting around being tired.

The wife and I decided to switch over to blockbuster online, from Netflix. The whole “free in store rentals” thing just seems a little to good to pass up. So I spent the last hour trying to get the 117 movies from my Netflix queue into my blockbuster queue.

Here’s the problem. The blockbuster site just plain sucks. (more…)

Filed under: entertainment, general, internet culture, movies by tonybullard
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I bought a house.  I should say, my wife and I bought a house.  We’ve closed and all that, and we’re getting ready to move in this Saturday.

The house is great.  It’s a nice little starter home, perfect for a couple and a kid.  The previous owner seemed to have an eye for design, so it’s very tastefully painted and wallpapered. 

Every time we went to see it, I noticed a box in the back yard.  It’s a medium sized black box, that I always assumed was a utility box of some sort.  Every time i saw it I thought to myself, “I need to go give that thing a look.”
(more…)

Filed under: blog, general, rambling by tonybullard
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If there’s one thing the internet is good for, it’s helping a lot of little people make a big voice. You can easily see the difference in the world from five years ago when you consider the nearly instant onslaught of the “blogosphere.”

Well, at least from my perception, one voice in particular has really been growing in the last year or so, and that’s been the voice of the militant atheist. Richard Dawkins has become a familiar name to many, and many are joining in the idea that it’s no longer enough to just sit back and watch the silly religious poeple do their thing. They believe it’s time to step up, and speak out against religion, calling for an end to it.

I can’t blame them. (more…)

Filed under: blog, internet culture, rambling, spirituality, video by tonybullard
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