Big Girl Bed

We're now on day two of Paige's transition from the crib to the big girl bed. Traci and I were both pleasantly surprised when, on the first night, she went down and woke back up just fine. It was a good thing that we had put up the bed railing. In the morning, she was firmly pressed against the railing, actually leaning over the side of the bed.

Night two went off without a hitch. However, when we went into her room this morning she was nowhere to be found--not on the bed, not on the floor beside it. Upon further inspection, she was on the floor at the head of the bed, fast asleep.

So we're not sure if she got off the bed or fell off the bed; either way she seemed content enough on the floor.

"Paige," I said, "Did you sleep on the big girl bed?"

"Big girl bed," she replied.

I figured she didn't know she was on the floor, so I just congratulated her on sleeping on the bed and she got up and watched The Wiggles.

You Know You're Right

I saw the video for Nirvana's only posthumously released new track "You Know You're Right" the other day. I hadn't seen it in what, five years I'd guess. It still managed to give me chills. What an awesome song. Great video as well.

Ronnie Reagan vs. Saul "Slash" Hudson

I just finished reading a graphic novel biography of Ronald Reagan. I enjoyed it so much that I have decided that I am now only getting my information in comic book form. Well, maybe not. After the biography of the Gipper, I moved on to Slash's autobiography. I don't know if I want to read the comic book version of Slash, er, becoming a man at age 12 and concurrently smoking pot and doing drugs with his girlfriend and her mom. Ronald Reagan would not have approved.

DDR & Labor Pains

I had a great plan to dance, dance revolute myself into shape this new year. For a few weeks it went really well. Traci even danced right along with me until she started having early contractions and had to be on bed rest for a month. Whoops.

Now my new dancing partner is Paige. When she's not pushing me off of my dance pad (she needs to dance on both pads), she's getting her boogie on. The other day she added cartwheels and spins to her repertoire. Her favorite part is when the dance is over and I get my letter score. She waits and waits for the score to appear and then "Yay!!! The letter E!!!!" No matter what letter it is, she couldn't be more excited. She loves letters.

Here's Jenny and Paige fighting for DDR supremacy:

Cap'n Crazy Hair

What do you do when this is your kid's hair?

Increase My Killing Power, eh?

Doctor: We can preform the operation for you. It greatly increase your brain power. Or it may kill you.
Homer: Hmm, increase my killing power, eh? I'll do it!

You know what I hate? Everything. No, but I do hate gimmicky self-assessment color tests, self-help books and the like. But due to the fact that I lose my car keys at least three times a week, and my wallet the other two days, I figured I needed some help. So I called up friend, drummer and librarian Danny Hansen, and asked him to bring me some books on how to increase my killing, er, memory power.

I've only read the first chapter of BrainFit, but I have a feeling 27-year-olds aren't the target audience. (Sample question: How often do you forget to take your pills.) Nevertheless, I carry on.

One of the first recommendations was to change up the way you do things that you don't normally have to think about. So this morning I brushed my teeth with my non-dominant hand. I wasn't as good with my left hand as I thought I'd be, but brushing your teeth doesn't require a lot of precision. When I got done I was impressed by my new and improved brain power. Unitl I stepped into the shower and realized I had a giant chunk of toothpaste in the back of my hair. I guess I need to keep practicing.

UPDATE: Tonight I took the book's first quiz to gauge my memory. I am pleased to report that score is that of an average 70-year-old. I'm the target audience after all.

Superbowl

My prediction for the game was New England 42, Giants 17. One minute 'til halftime and it doesn't look like it's going to be a high scoring affair. I'm still rooting for the underdog.

Boredom-Inspired Lists

Top Names for Our Forthcoming Son

1. Max Power
2. Lance Uppercut
3. Rock Strongo
4. Dr. Death
5. Horatio Caine

Bands I Would Like to Play In

1. The Travoltas
2. Alkaline Trio
3. Millencolin
4. Streetlight Manifesto
5. Nada Surf
6. Bouncing Souls

Reasons Why the TV Writers' Strike Has Got to End

1. Traci is now watching those shows on TLC about families with 16 kids
2. Snoop Dogg's "Fatherhood" is the best thing on our DVR (There were obviously no writers for the show - if there were, they should never work again)
3. I've already watched every re-run of 30 Rock at least twice
4. Without new episodes of The Office, my coworkers and I have nothing to talk about on Friday mornings. Silence. Eerie silence.

President Hinckley

Our beloved prophet passed away on Sunday.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695247765,00.html

Romantic Vacation Getaway: SLC in January

Our friend Rhett and his girlfriend Liz spent the weekend at our house. When we heard the doorbell I said, "Paige, let's open the door."
"Open door!" she parroted. But then the second she saw them, her eyes teared up.

Over the next three days, every time she made eye contact with Rhett, she'd either say "bub-bye friends" or "open door?" She finally decided to warm up them about 30 minutes before they went back home. When they really left, the sad "bub-bye friends" were replaced by happy "see ya's," kisses and hugs. She then napped peacefully for the next two hours.

I don't know how much fun Rhett and Liz had, but I had a great vacation. In just one day I ate at both the Chuck O' Rama and made my first trip to Benihana. I kept thinking of that episode of The Office when they go to Benihana and Dwight can't hear anything anyone is saying. And Michael brings the Asian waitresses back to the office, but has to mark one of their hands with a Sharpie because he can't remember which is which.

There was one really sad part of the weekend. Liz shattered my entire world view when she told me CSI:Miami, with all of its white, linen suits and aviator sunglasses, is not really filmed in Miami. It's actually filmed in Long Beach, California, right around the corner from Liz's college. I wonder if Snoop Dogg knows what kind of shenanigans are being pulled, right in his hometown.

Thug Life/Ghetto Consequence

Recent Pics can be found here.

Join Me or Die. Can You Do Any Less?

Traci and I watched the snooze fest that is the Simpsons Movie over the weekend. Rather than get myself worked up over what I didn't like about it, I'll focus on better times. Mr. Sparkle. What a brave corporate logo. Awesome power indeed.

i wondered how fast is lightspeed

Modern communication goes thusly:

--Spencer writes post about high school dance with Katie.
--Katie lives in Wisconsin. Her blog links to mine.
--Katie's dad is a mission president in Argentina. He used to be Traci's bishop.
--Katie's dad reads Katie's blog and clicks on the link to my blog.
--Katie's dad was shocked that Spencer and Traci were "making out" in his kitchen.
--Katie's dad wants to leave a comment, but is scared that doing so will "put a virus on his computer."
--Traci reminds me that "we weren't making out all, we just kissed a couple of times."

Recent Paige-isms

Paige is learning new words and phrases all the time. Here's a few things she's cracked me up with lately.

The Birthday Party

Paige turned two a couple of months ago. All of my family came over to our house to celebrate. Paige generally gets upset when everyone's around, as she doesn't like losing out on any attention. She'd been practicing the happy birthday song for months (always singing "Happy Birthday, Dear Ryan (her cousin)" for some reason), but when everyone started singing to her, she went into hysterical crying. She had finally mellowed about right about the time everyone was ready to leave. As all of the cousins were getting into the car she stood on the porch and waved to everyone. "Bub-bye, party! Bub-bye party!"

Amen, Brother

Church isn't really Paige's thing. She throws toys at kids at nursery and sneaks out of the chapel during sacrament meeting. She does, however, love saying "amen." One amen never really suffices, though. At the end of each sacrament prayer, the whole congregation hears one little voice saying, "amen, Amen, AMEN!!!" You can only imagine what testimony meeting is like.

Last week we went to Traci's parents' ward for baby Maika's blessing. Paige was actually pretty good during the whole meeting. During the closing prayer, she broke rather significant wind and proclaimed "Toot!" While we were a bit embarrassed, we were more impressed that she got the word right, as she's been referring to that sound as "burp" lately.

Uh, Number 4

Traci bought Paige one of those Christmas calendars that is filled with a chocolate for each day. Paige loved it. The problem, of course, was that she never wanted to settle for just one chocolate. We kept the calendar on top of the fridge (theoretically out of reach). At random times throughout the day Paige would stand in front of the fridge and say, "number seven?" Meaning, "can I have the candy in door number seven." When I'd tell her no, she'd say, "uh, number three?" I never fell for it. Well, sometimes it was too cute so I had to fall for it.

We have also noticed that Paige is already trying to play us. Whenever she falls down, gets hurt, or is crying for any reason, through her tears she'll always manage to propose "uh, can-dy?" If that doesn't work, she'll just wait a little bit and then present the request as a brand new, great idea. "Can-dy?" If we say no, she usually rattles off all of the other acceptable options, one after another. "Snacks? (fruit snacks)" "Elmo? (brushing her teeth with her Elmo toothbrush)" "Toot Toot Chugga" (a Wiggles movie.) She's nothing if not persistent.

A Miracle?!

After at least a year of begging, In Utah This Week magazine finally published some of my work. Read some record reviews here that you already read on the Manifesto.

thnks fr th mmrs

I started dating Traci when I was a senior in high school. At Murray High School, you generally take your girlfriend to the big dances (proms, etc.), but ask other girls to the lesser dances. Toward the end of the year, Traci's best friend Katie (pictured above) asked me to a girl's choice dance. I can't remember who Traci asked, but we were all in the same group. After the dance everyone went to Katie's house to watch a movie. While everyone was in the basement Traci and I snuck upstairs and made out in the kitchen.

December Consumption

It's been a while since I've tracked what I've been listening to...

Music

The Killers - Sawdust
Cake - B-Sides and Rarities
Jimmy Eat World - Chase this Light
Voodoo Glow Skulls - California Street Music
Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in the Between
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
Cobra Starship - Viva La Cobra
Aesop Rock - Labor Days
Kylie Minogue - X

Mo' Best and Worst of 07

Because I was frantically trying to create that other best of '07 so I could give an unsolicited copy to In Utah This Week, I forgot some stuff.

Mo' good albums:

Alkaline Trio - Remains
Brand New - The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out (released in '06)
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas (if it wasn't released in '06 it would have been my best of '07)
Matt & Kim - S/T (Another '06 that I listened to every day of '07)
Mark Ronson - Version
Up Up Down Down Left Right BA - Worst Band Name Ever
The National - Boxer
Tiger Army - Music from the Regions Beyond
Rivers Cuomo - Alone: The Home Recordings of

Crappy Albums

Here are some of the albums I was really looking forward to in '07 that ended up letting me down:

Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell
Bloc Party - Weekend in the City
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Kanye West - Graduation
50 Cent - Curtis (I wasn't looking forward to this album, but it sucked nevertheless)
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Aly & AJ- Insomniac (Yes, I was looking forward to this. You got a problem with that?)
Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light (good but not good enough, this goes in the "okay" pile at best)
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist (worst album of the year)

Best Music of 2007

This may or may not be my complete list for best of '07. It's 11:59 p.m. and I'm very tired. I didn't realize it was going to take me this long to put this together. I've been working on it for like three days. Maybe I don't really want to write about music for a living.

Folk



Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

Iron & Wine, aka Sam Beam, became a folk cult hero after just one album, The Creek Drank the Cradle. But anyone can grow a beard, play an acoustic guitar and sing pretty. It was The Woman King EP that really set Iron & Wine apart. The record felt like the soundtrack to oldie-timey saloon brawl, all brown teeth and chairs breaking over dudes' backs.

The Shepherd's Dog feels like a mixtape of all of the styles Beam has experimented with over the past few years. It's quiet acoustic one minute, and distortion-drenched vocals the next.Though the album can feel a bit uneven at times, the style hopping makes for a great ride.

Standout Tracks: White Tooth Man, House by the Sea

Indie



Bishop Allen - The Broken String

Bishop Allen became blogger darlings when they accomplished their goal of releasing an EP of new music each month in 2006. The band chose to rework and rerecord 10 of those songs for 2007's The Broken String. Though the result is not what you would consider tight, the looseness of the sound is endearing. "Click, Click, Click" is hands-down the catchiest song of the year.

Standout Tracks: Click, Click, Click, The Chinatown Bus

Ska



Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in the Between

Ska, and all of its related subgenres, had a great run in the mid-to late '90s. But just as quickly as it skanked into our hearts, it skanked back out of style. Fortunately, either no one told Streetlight Manifesto or they just don't care. Somewhere in the Between is better than anything released in the '90's, with the exception of Catch 22's Keasbey Nights - an album that SM frontman Thomas Kalnoky also authored. Kalnoky is again on a lyrical rampage, but after touring endlessly with Reel Big Fish, the tunes are a bit peppier. The album doesn't pack the same bunch as the band's 2002 debut, but certainly won't disappoint fans of the band or the genre.

Standout Tracks: We Will Fall Together, The Receiving End of It All

Hip Hop



Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

With commercial hip hop being weighed down by the bloated corpses of predictable/crappy albums (think 50 Cent and Kanye West), it's refreshing to hear someone take the genre in a different direction - or to another world. Though Aesop Rock's lyrics rarely touch down on planet earth, he certainly knows how to spit 'em. Here's a typical stanza, "If you never had a day a snow cone couldn't fix/You wouldn't relate to the rogue vocoder blitz/How he spoke through a no-doz motor on the fritz/Cause he wouldn't play roll over fetch like a #$@#$." If the lyrics are a bit too out-there, the production and delivery should bring you right back in. None Shall Pass is definitely a bright spot in this year's dirge of rap music.

Standout Tracks: Keep off the Lawn, None Shall Pass

Christian Rock



The Almost - Southern Weather

Chug-a-chug, chug-a-chug, chug-a-chug, chug-a-chug, BOOM! Southern Weather's opening track and first single "Say This Sooner" gets me every time. I start tapping my finger on the steering wheel, then my foot starts going and by the chorus I'm singing loud enough to be embarrassed when I notice the folks in the car next to me giving me an uncomfortable look.

Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie took a break from Christian metaling to a do a bit of Christian emo-ing with his side project The Almost. Writing all the songs and playing all of the instruments on the record, Gillespie shows that he can do more than just keep the beat. He's got a knack for a melody, a solid voice and an ear for radio friendly pop structures. Mixing a little rock, a little country, and a lot of lovin' the Lord makes Southern Weather a surprisingly good record.

Standout Tracks: Say This Sooner, Dirty and Left Out

Pop Punk




Motion City Soundtrack - Even if it Kills Me

Motion City has always had the right elements - dancy punk singalongs, plenty of Moog keyboards, a singer with hair as big and out of control as his heart - but has had trouble bringing them all together. On Even if it Kills Me they finally succeeded. The album manages to be fun without being annoying, and touching without feeling contrived. And "Last Night" may be my favorite song of the entire year.

Standout Tracks: Calling all Cops, Last Night


2006 HoldOvers

For me, the best two albums of 2007 came out in 2006.



Silversun Pickups - Carnavas

How Silversun Pickups managed to make the best album of both 2007 (I know it technically came out in 2006) and 1991 at the same time is a mystery to me. With all of its big guitar riffs and spacey keyboard layering, Carnavas sounds like it should be follow-up album to Smashing Pumpkins Gish. Outstanding from start to finish, its hard to even pick the album's best track - and it gets better with each listen.

Standout Tracks: Well Thought Out Twinkles, Three Seed

Matt & Kim - S/T

[coming soon]

Standout Tracks: It's a Fact, Light Speed

christmas yights

Paige has been loving the Christmas season. She's learned all sorts of words - Santa, reindeer, tree, snow, and snowman - and says them incessantly. She loves yights (er, lights) the best so we were excited to take her to Temple Square - even though we knew it would be a huge battle to get her to wear her warm weather gear. She prefers to wear no clothes at all.

We were given a little Christmas miracle when she didn't put up any fight about the clothes. She even wore her mittens. Though the mittens only inhibit the use of her fingers, she thought both of her arms were also immobilized. She spent the whole night moving her arms in robot motion, without bending her elbows.

Despite the millions of lights at Temple Square, she was most intrigued by the one light we could have seen from our house - the moon. "Paige, look at those pretty pink lights." Nope. She was too busy looking into the sky and saying "Moon! Moon!" I tried to get some good pictures of her in front of the lights, but almost all of them turned into neck shots as should couldn't stop staring into the heavens.