Christmas, Bricks, and more.

Christmas

Christmas came and went, without anything negative to report. I guess that’s a good thing, right? I commented to Christine that I don’t feel like Christmas is magical anymore. It’s not like it was when I was a kid.

We decided we are going to make sure we implement some traditions next years. It was hard to really do anything this year because of the move into our new home. In fact, I told the kids not to be disappointed with Christmas because they had to remember we got a new home to live in. My concerns about a lack of enthusiasm was unwarranted, however. Maya told me she thought this Christmas was, “the best Christmas ever!”

White Bricks

Sons Of Nothing played at Bricks last night. Bricks is an unusual venue for SoN because the club is known more for its alternative and hip-hop scene and up until a couple years ago, was a popular lesbian meet-up.

But the management is trying to push some changes through. They’re going to be changing the name of the club, the format of the schedule, and bringing in more blues and rock in an effort (I’m guessing) to win some of the audience lost by the Zephyr closing the Dead Goat Saloon transforming into a stripper joint.

The greater Salt Lake area has been blanketed by snow the last two or three days. I’ve heard it was the biggest single storm to hit the area in ten years. We didn’t get much in Riverton, but areas around downtown got two to three feet of snow. The first batch of snow was wet, heavy snow (exactly what the drought-ridden state needs) and resulted in knocking power out to 60,000 residents. After that came the light, fluffy powder Utah is famous for.

The powder kept falling off an on while we were at Bricks Saturday afternoon setting up for the show. Everyone was concerned nobody would venture out into the inclement weather just to see Sons Of Nothing, but, in the end, several dozen people did just that.

It wasn’t a massively attended show, but it was a better-than-no-turnout-at-all show. The people that came seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and the band got a handful of new fans added to their announcement mailing list.

My visuals are getting better and better. The screen we used was a bit small, but adequate. I’m planning on some software and hardware changes between now and the next show, though. My goal, of course, is to move entirely away from Windows (which I use on two computers to do video and live visualizations) and run Linux on one computer to do everything.

Loader Rote Kay

That’s a fair approximation of how you might pronounce “LoTR RoTK” — the commonly accepted abbreviation of Lord Of The Rings - Return Of The King.

Christine and I managed to see this new film this last Monday and found it to be long, but very enjoyable. It’s not often we get to go to movies anymore, so I really enjoyed that we got to go to one.

A lesson

I taught in church today. Last week, Christine overheard one of the elders quorum presidency asking someone if they would be around this Sunday and if they could present the lesson. That person was unavailable, so Christine suggested they ask me — that I would enjoy doing that.

So, when it was asked of me, I accepted the task and hastily prepared a discussion on “living in the spirit” which I delivered today. It was not one of my best prepared lessons, but I think it went over pretty well.

Christine and I really enjoy the ward we’re in.