Sad news about Scott Miller - leader of Game Theory/The Loud Family

Hi everyone,

As someone who was a young adult in the 1980s, part of my musical soundtrack was provided by a Californian band called Game Theory, led by Scott Miller. Sadly, he passed away in April at the age of 53. I only found out about this recently, when I went to his website to see what he was up to.

The complete statement is available on the official website:
http://www.loudfamily.com/index.html

It's too bad that Game Theory's albums never hit the same level of success as their peers R.E.M. or Let's Active. Still - they're considered one of the most hyper-literate power-pop bands ever, and their "difficult" double-album masterpiece "Lolita Nation" is still a sought after collector's piece.  (Apparently, I'm one of the few people who own an original copy of this on CD.)

As a thank you to the fans, all of Game Theory's albums - including Lolita Nation - are on the above listed website for free downloading.

According to the webmaster: "My main goal is to prevent people from trying to capitalize by selling these long out of print albums for lots of money. I want everybody who would like to hear these albums to be able to do so without paying outrageous prices".

If you're not sure where to begin, I'd strongly urge downloading "Tinkers To Evers To Chance", which was a "greatest non-hits" personally selected by Scott himself. It's a great introduction to his band and it does contain selections from Lolita Nation.

His next band, The Loud Family, is also worth investigating.  However - they tend to be a little more abstract than Game Theory. I'd start with their first album, "Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things", and see if that's your cup of tea. (The Loud Family albums are available on Spotify, I believe)

Cheers,
Paul

It's Alive - My Original CompuServe Homepage

(from the Mists of History department)

Hi everyone,

A long time ago, CompuServe provided a homepage service for their members - "Ourworld", they called it.  I used the whopping 5M of space to create a homepage, with all of my interests, my writing samples, my band's page, etc.  It was my little oasis on the web.

Then, in 2009, CompuServe discontinued the service, and deleted all the sites.

Unfortunately, I didn't find out about that until after the fact, when my site was long gone.

For years, I had assumed my old homepage was lost, but poking around the Internet Archive last night, I found it!

Well - most of it, anyway.  There's some missing art, and of course, most of the links are broken.  But - all of the text is there.  And - I might be able to find the missing pieces.  I do have backups of this... somewhere.

So - without further ado, Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for 2001-ish, and let's explore:

Paul Pietromonaco's Home Page

Cheers,
Paul

P.S.  There's a good tip for getting your pages back here:  How can I view a page without the Wayback code in it?

Dana's way-back machine

(from the Awwwww department)

Hi everyone,

Dana sent me four memories of Rose that she had archived in her computer.  Here they are - in reverse chronological order.

May 29, 2011
Dad: Rose, you're Scottish, and you're Italian.
Rose: I am an adorable butterfly.

October 12, 2010
Rose told me the other day, "I'm not breaking it, Mommy. I'm just taking it apart." Crap. She's like her dad. I did point out to her that taking something apart only counts if you can put it back together.

June 18, 2010
Paul said to Rose tonight "you're quite the little drama queen". Rose said "No, I the King!" - point taken.

November 20, 2009
I've just had one of my most awesome parent moments. Rose just said her version of "I love you, Mom" after giving me a hug and a kiss on the mouth. I started crying immediately. She's never said any version of that to me or Paul. Ever. When she told me she loved me, not a single word was coherent.  She had to repeat it three times before I realized what she was saying

Cheers,
Paul

Trip to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA - May 3rd to May 5th, 2013

(from the It's better in the Islands department)

Hi everyone,

We took advantage of the nice, warm weather - and a Groupon - and headed up to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island this weekend.  We stayed at the Earthbox hotel - it's a nice place, which they self-describe as a "retro motor inn".  Plus - they have an indoor pool, which is always a plus for Dana & Rose.

Here's a few photos. 

First up - waiting for the ferry in Anacortes.  Ice cream is good:

Next - some photos from the ferry:

The last photo shows the puzzles they have on the ferry - Rose was helping us work on this one.

Then, after we spent the night in Friday Harbor, we got up, had breakfast, and went to the Farmer's Market:



Next up was the Children's Festival, where Rose got her face painted, and I took a self portait with Dana:

After that, we headed out to Lime Kiln Park, and I managed to get some amazing photos, some using the Panorama feature on my Nokia Lumia 920:

The next day, we stopped by the San Juan Island Distillery, the San Juan Vineyards, and the American Camp.  (Sadly, no pictures of the distillery):

Finally - we boarded the ferry and headed home:



During this trip, I also took some Photosynths.  These are 360 panoramas you can do with your camera, but you have to view them online.  Here's one taken at Lime Kiln park:

and here's a second taken at American Camp:

(Sorry about the weird image matching on these.  I've actually learned how to take them better now.)

All in all - a great little mini-vacation!

Cheers,

Paul



Family outing to Snappy Dragon

(from the Band of Brothers department)

Hi everyone,

My brother and his family came up to Seattle for a visit.  This meant that we could get all 4 cousins - Alan, Amy, Eric & Rose - together.  Here's what happened when we went to Snappy Dragon for dinner:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good time was had by all.  And - if you go there, be sure to try the homemade noodles with the Snappy Dragon Chow Mein and the black bean hot paste.  Yum!

Cheers,
Paul

National Pancake Day - February 5, 2013

(from the It's always better with Butter® department)

Hi everyone,

Last night was National Pancake Day.  Starting when she was 2, Rose & I have been attending these at our local IHOP each year.  You can see some of our previous visits here: National Pancake Day.

This year, we managed to talk Mommy into coming with us.  It helped that we went a little earlier than usual - so the crowds weren't too bad.  The place was packed as we left though.  Here's some photos:

(Note:  A couple of these were from the front camera of my phone, so they'll be low-res-ish.  That's not your browser freaking out.)

As I've mentioned before, each year on National Pancake Day, IHOP gives away free pancakes.  They also ask that you consider donating to the Children's Miracle Network - which we were happy to do.

You can read more about it here:  IHOP National Pancake Day - February 5, 2013

They don't mention it on their website anymore, but historically, they've held it on Shrove Tuesday.

Known also as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, National Pancake Day dates back several centuries to when the English prepped for fasting during Lent. Strict rules prohibited the eating of all dairy products during Lent, so pancakes were made to use up the supply of eggs, milk, butter and other dairy products...hence the name Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday

This year, they held it a week early.   Time had an interesting article explaining the timing:  Why National Pancake Day and International Pancake Day a Week Apart

Frankly, as long as I get free pancakes, I don't care what day it's held. (^_-)

Cheers,
Paul

Merry Christmas from Santa and Rose (part 6)

(from the We Really Dressed Up This Year department)

Hi everyone,

Well - we got our yearly Santa photo taken today.  Although Rose couldn't wait to see Santa - jumping up and down in anticipation on the steps outside Santa's cabin - once inside, she literally disappeared into Dana's leg.  We had to coax her out with a candy cane and a Mickey Mouse doll.  Santa let us have the chair too:

The picture came out great.  We do clean up nice, don't we?

We got dressed up when we went to the matinee of the Nutcracker that afternoon, and headed directly to Santa's afterwards.

We asked Rose what she was going to ask Santa for.  She told us that she'd written it down in a letter - so she didn't feel like she needed to ask him anything.  We suggested that she at least ask him for her number one item - and she agreed.  Although she had practiced, she got very shy, and wouldn't say a word.  Finally, before we left, she did muster up the courage to ask Santa for a Rock Star Jacket - like the Fresh Beat Band wears - and wished Santa a Merry Christmas.

So - in that spirit:  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Pietromonaco family!

Cheers,
Paul