Another week gone

Not to sound too depressing but that is how things are going. The weekend is pretty much just designating that another week has passed, and I am 7 days closer to doing my bit of travelling to the UK and 168 hours closer to getting to South Africa for Scott's wedding and 10080 minutes closer to seeing my family in my native land. Ok that sounds all desparate and all, but when you are home-sick, thats jst the way things are. I don't have a calendar with X's all over it - I'm not that extreme! Still got some exciting stuff to do and see before December, so I am sure the time will fly by (or at least that is the hope)!

The Chicks of Dixie

Well as the last post said, I went to the Dixie Chick's concert last night. Now when I booked these tickets I knew of a couple of their songs and knew they had a new album out. And also that I love going to concerts so I just booked straight away! I had a friend from work, Teresa, come along with me - so I wasn't all on my lonesome.

They started off with a couple of tunes that I recognised and then went into some awesome tracks that I've never heard but were really good. The entire line-up of tracks was amazing, and they delivered it with energy and enthusiasm. The lead singer (Natalie Maines) made a couple of references to "the incident" a few years ago where they made an outspoken anti-Bush and Iraq remark, which resulted in them being shunned by radio and the media. One of her opening remarks was "Sorry we are a bit late - we just got back from kicking Bush's ass in Iraq".

All three seem to be incredible musicians, most memorable was a fiddle solo by Martie during one of the songs. All of this was just amplified by the massive, well polished backing band they had along with them.

At the end they thanked everyone with the expected "Thank You Winnipeg - Good Night", and the crowd went wild. The encore went on for at least 5 minutes with chants of "D I X I E C H I C K S" and whistling and screaming (it was a mostly female audience ). The Chicks came back on to do three more songs to end off the evening after what seemeed like an eternity.

Conclusion: Dixie Chicks in Concert - 10 thumbs up!

(P.S. If you are wondering where the pics are - we aren't allowed to take camera's into these events, so use your imagination - or do a search online for official press pictures)

I'm Batman baby, but you can call me Bob

Interesting title eh? Well it was one of the lines from the opening act for the Dixie chicks that I went to go see last night (Saturday). The opening act was someone called Bob Schneider, and while we has playing he sounded really really familiar, but apparently not, he's not well known outside of Texas. He was a great crowd warmer for what followed... The Dixie Chicks!

Fishin'

So on Saturday I went out with Rick et Fam to a spot on the Red river called Lockport for some fishin'. Its called Lockport because there is a lock there - coz back in the day they were trying to make river transport a viable option - so they had to accomodate a bit drop in elevation which caused rapids and they made a dam-type blockage to artificially raise the level of the river during the summer and allow free flow during winter. Needless to say river transport is a white elephant and all Lockport (or St Andrews Lock and Port which is the official name) is really used for these days is the occasional small boat.

All that said, the net result of that trip - no fish but much more relaxed after spending some time out of the city.

Quote for y'all

So I heard a quote tonight, which I think is actually great:

"..you don't solve life, you live it.."

There are always going to be issues and obstacles in life that we have to negotiate, but its not a matter of solving all of the problems before you can get on with it. I'm just learning in this thing called life! I guess you could say that I'm coming out of that stage straight of school where I knew everything and could do anything. Its a constant learning exercise, and not necessarily small things either!

Statues are great!

So I was doing a bit of surfing and came across a post about weird statues. One in particular caught my eye. This is right outside the Ernst & Young offices in Los Angeles. This is also how I feel sometimes. Coincidence - I think not!

Kilo-dollar

Well it has finally happened - Zimbabwe has devalued it's currency. Apparently they are dropping three zero's off of everything. Sounds good doesn't it? Not really!! I wonder what the guys in the ministry of finance are feeling because a devaluation such as this is an admittal of defeat (of which everyone and their goat knew a LONG time ago).

It likely will not make anything easier in everyday life. Quite the contrary I am sure it will confuse a large portion of the population, possibly causing riots as people realise that this is just facilitating further hyper-inflation. The other part of the population who understand the ramifications are likely trying to adjust current systems and practices to deal with a brand new currency. This is an administrative nightmare of note, as can be testified by a friend of mine's recent post on his blog about having to re-do his databases retrospectively so that when he shows sales for the year, they dont just drop by 100000% in August.

Interesting times for sure.