So yesterday was more of the traditional type of good days. One where I did not have to back up and take a look to really see the good through the brambles of some bummers. It’s just goodness all up in your grill.

My ex-wife’s migraine receded enough for the kiddos to go see her and spend the night.

My truck has been fixed and the bill was a bit of a hit, but absolutely better than what I was expecting. I can not tell you how much I appreciate Danny over at Medford Sunoco for coming in on a Saturday morning just to work on my car. I will still absolutely take my car to Chad’s for maintenance, but it’s good to know there is someone this close that I can count on as well (especially when I’m worried about driving the car more than a couple of miles).

I also got in a really good run yesterday afternoon. For those of you that run and have an iPhone, I can’t say enough about RunKeeper Pro – this app is such an incredible tool for training. It’s pricey ($10), but definitely worth it.

On top of those good things, I had a great day working on several client sites - Stone Scapes By Rich, The Family Registry, Independence Seaport Museum, Hope for Humanity, and a few projects still under wraps until launch.

Today, Abbe and I are going for a 10 mile run at Cooper River Park and then we also need to spend some time clearing off countertops, because tomorrow the crew is arriving to start tearing them up! That’s right the NeedCounterTops.com contest I won is becoming a reality. Monday, the old countertops are coming out and Tuesday, the new sink, backsplash, and countertops are going in! Also on Tuesday, the folks from BEN FM 95.7 are going to be visiting my house – I have no idea if I’m being interviewed or videotaped, this should be fun!

Oh and I recorded this… this is just the outro to Jeff Buckley’s So Real…

I’m not sure how many guitar players there are out there reading me, but that song has a lot of incorrect or close to correct version of the tab for this specific part, so I thought I’d post this…

OUTRO: (play throughout the end of the song)

|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------2-2-2-2-2-2-|
|----0--0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-2-4---------------|
|-----3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

|-0-0---0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0---0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|
|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|
|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-4-|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-4-|
|-------------------0-------|-------------------0-------|
|-3---3-3-----3-----5-5-5-5-|-3---3-3-----3-----5-5-5-5-|

|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------2-2-2-2-2-2-|
|----0--0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-2-4---------------|
|-----3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-0-|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-0-|
|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-0-|
|-------------------------|
|-3-----3-----3-----3-----|

• Macho Salad

That’s right, it was Saturday night at Van’s Tavern and Abbe is doing what?…

Actually, Abbe was giving Yogi an ice cube in this picture. My buddy Chris came over with his guitar and two six packs of good beer and we drank a few brews, played lots of guitar, and watched UFC 115 (the Franklin-Liddell and the Cro Cop-Barry fights had amazing endings). I’ve got another busy day today filled with coding and logo design.

• Jamiroquai – Where is He Now? That’s right, pimping Ramen Noodles in Japan
• Comedian Records Funeral Message a few weeks before her funeral – this is great, “the afterlife is a tasty cup of awesome”
• Rocket Tooth Removal
• Wax On, F*ck Off with Ralph Macchio

Today starts, a very short and very busy week for me. My goal is to get a site/blog completed today for a fellow BNI member, here’s the landing page …

And here’s the WordPress blog template…

Shouldn’t be too bad, I like Kelly’s idea of making the site look like a collection of iPhone apps (had to find a good Photoshop tutorial on how to create the buttons).

• Leave Me – very nice short film.
• Sink Hole in Guatemala
• Electric Daisy Carnival 2010 Auditions Episode 1 – there is just so much awesome going on here… it’s impossible

Small Business/Tech Links…

• Show Slow – gives you YSlow and Page Speed in one location. Also check out your Alexa ranking too.

This weeks is gonna be nutzo (to borrow a word from The Fonz) – two dance recitals, Knoxville hospital project, lots of work for EMS, Abbe has four orders she wants to get completed, one site for me to finish, guitar and piano lessons to teach, and the usual carting kids to school and such. It’s a shorter week, but plenty going on. In the meantime, here are pictures from the wedding Abbe and I attended this weekend in Coplay, PA…

• xkcd : Geeks and Nerds
• Ewok Song Karaoke
• Rick K. and the Allnighters – watch the drummer
• Captain Planet Returns From Vacation

I just had one of those unexpected cries. Not necessarily sad, a little overwhelmed with goodness and missing my father. See, I’m really seeing light at the end of this tunnel lately. I still have plenty of worry – I’m totally uncovered by health insurance, each month can be a different stress of praying my car doesn’t break down, I’m very, very concerned about my ex-wife’s situation, and Viv still needs that very expensive dental surgery at some time. But at the same time, I know all these things will work out. And that peace in my shoulders is something my father never saw in me. I want my Dad to see how happy I am today. I want to him to see his son madly in love. I want him to see the recovery and this amazing comeback. I want him to see my son is doing so well in school again, after his small shoulders were so burdened with missing my and resolving matters too big for his age. I want him to see my daughter is still the light she’s always been, just flourishing in new and beautiful ways every day. I’m finally coming to grips with that message Dad, “Life grades on a curve”. It really does.

Got some potentially exciting news, my favorite Kiwi, Di referred me to a friend, Mark Shea an Australian documentary filmmaker who is looking for soundtrack music. I got an email from him this morning and he apparently digs my song, Two Chicks At The Same Time. No idea what this will lead to, but hey, even if a guy on the other side of the planet enjoys my tunes, that’s awesome.

Book reviews…

Sexy Web Design: Creating Interfaces that Work -OK, the thing is with books on web design they have a relatively short shelf life. This book is no different, but the care that went into putting this book together gearing it specifically towards design, is awesome. This book does of course delve briefly into technologies here and there, but the fact that it focuses more on the impact and real form follows function ideology really works well. That said, page after page is filled with links to incredibly helpful websites to help you choose color schemes, tools to help you build wireframes and sitemaps, etc. I devoured this book, seriously. Highly recommended for either a graphic designer that is getting into web design, or a web developer that wants to polish his design skills (like me!). Many thanks to Heather from Mind Over Media for the recommendation.

Shadow Divers- this was a recommendation from my best friend, Doug based on my somewhat counter-intuitive fascination with military history. I say counter-intuitive, because I’m bitterly opposed to the War in Iraq… you’d think I would want more war so that the Military History Channel would not run out of material! This book details the amazing story of two courageous deep sea divers making an amazing discovery of a lost WWII German U-boat 70 miles off of the Jersey Shore. The discovery is amazing unto itself, but the care and respect these men gave to the remains of the sailors that lost their lives aboard this sub is so damn impressive. Literally risking your own life to not disturb the bones of a sailor that perished 40+ years ago – impressive. And it appears that a movie is in the works! Woo!

• Madonna and Lady Gaga on SNL
• Lou Rawls Colonoscopy – thanks MOM!

Links for my geeky homies…

• Digg to Launch iPhone App