Headbanging at Cruefest

Cruefest was so awesome last night, even though I am still partially deaf from the decibels pumping through us last night! For once, all five bands on the mainstage were great. Of course, I was looking forward to Godsmack and Motley Crue, but the first three bands had excellent performances.

On the way into the concert, so religious wackadoodles were outside of the maingates telling us all that we were going to burn in Hell for listening to the Devil's music. I found the whole thing hilarious, as I would rather listen to "Devil's music" than Debbie Boone or whatever crap the religious people wanted me to hear.

Once Godsmack came onto the stage, everyone was on their feet and headbanging. The music was great and everyone was singing along to their more popular songs. Of course, Motley Crue was on last, and they did a wonderful job of performing all of the songs off of the Dr. Feelgood album, which they happened to be celebrating because it has been 20 years since the album was released. The stage props all looked like a sicko doctor's office, fitting the theme of the night perfectly. After performing the Dr. Feelgood songs, the Crue banging out some more of their hits before calling it a night. Even though we only got four hours of sleep that night, it was so worth the experience. I am happy that we were able to get concert tickets for our anniversary, following the tradition of giving a paper gift for a first anniversary present, and what was really cool is that the concert fell on the anniversary of our first date, nine years ago. Yikes!

Stupid foot

Ugh, I'm going on day three of my nasty, fat, red sausage foot. Yesterday, I found out that I have cellulitis, which is a bacterial infection of the skin. The word infection scares the shit out of me because my dad died from a treatable infection caught too late. I am so glad that the office administrator forced me to visit a doctor yesterday because I was being stupid and telling myself that my foot would heal fine. Now I am on antibiotics and forced to keep my foot elevated. I guess the upside is that I can wear flip flops to work, because none of my normal work shoes fit my fat foot. I guess the swelling is preparing me for being nine months pregnant someday.

Day 6 - Motown

I finally talked G into taking me to the Motown Museum today, and I am so glad that I did. I loved being able to walk through the studio and halls that numerous singing legends have also passed through. To think that Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, and The Supremes all hung out in what is now the museum is mind-boggling. I really liked seeing the studio the most out of our tour, because you can really imagine the bands and singers when you are in the recording studio. It must have been an awesome sight back during Motown's heyday.

Unfortunately, to get to the Motown Museum, you have to drive through Detroit. Downtown Detroit is one of the worst towns that I have ever been in. I would rather being in the worst part of Oakland than where we were driving in Detroit. There are so many boarded up or burnt up houses that I think maybe one out ten houses in the area we drove through were occupied. You can really see where the American auto industry has been crippled when you drive through Detroit.

Once we were out of Detroit, we decided to head to the Motorsports Hall of Fame. It was in an old expo center building and looked like it consisted of cars that no other museum wanted. It was interesting, but we were able to look at everything pretty quickly. We headed to Ann Arbor afterward, and just drove through because there was a huge street festival going on and no where to park.

Day two - Port Huron

Today was day two of our Michigan adventure, and because the car show and activities do not begin until tomorrow, we decided to head to Port Huron for the day so I could see Canada from afar and see one of the great lakes in person. Port Huron is a cute town on the St. Clair river, and there is lots of maritime stuff to explore, which of course interests G. We began in the Port Huron Museum, exploring the artifacts from the area and getting a feel of the history of Port Huron. Next, we explored the U.S.S. Bramble Museum, which is a decommissioned ship that used to repair and replace buoys in the great lakes region. Next, we toured an old lighthouse ship, now know as the Huron Lightship Museum. It was neat to see how sailors used to live on the boat and what jobs they were to do, but I think G was a lot more interested in all of this than I was. The last museum we visited in Port Huron was the Thomas Edison Train Depot, which held a lot of history about Thomas Edison's connection to Port Huron.

It was really awesome to finally see Canada, even though we couldn't visit because we don't have passports. The bridge to and from Canada is huge so boats can fit underneath it. We also drove up the coast of Lake Huron a bit so I could see what an immense size the lake is. Lake Tahoe looks like a puddle compared to this lake.

We decided to go back to the meet hotel to see who else might have arrived, and found that lots of cars were pouring in. We found two Californians in our club that had just flown in and had dinner with them at an Italian restaurant across from the hotel. We had a relaxing evening "kicking tires" with various people that had shown up to the meet and ended the night with a drink at our hotel bar.

First day in Michigan

We arrived in Michigan today, and everything is already so much different than back at home. Our flight was smooth and we got to watch a Julia Roberts movie called Duplicity, which I would not have watched on my own, but helped pass time during the 4.5 hour flight. Once off the plane and in the Detroit airport, I felt like an alien because of the way I was dressed and the people staring at me. I guess cuffed skinny jeans and cleavage revealing shirts are not the norm in Michigan, but I didn't really care much.

We picked our rental car, a Chevy Impala, because there were no Fords left, and rented a Garmin GPS thingy as well since we were in unfamiliar territory. Once out on the freeway, I noticed that there is so much more greenery along the highway than at home. This is probably due to the large amounts of rain that falls in Michigan annually. I also noticed that the average price of gas was $2.49, about 50 cents cheaper than home.

We checked into our hotel, dropped our bags, and headed toward the Hudson meet hotel to see if there were any other early arrivals. There were a few local cars, but not really many out of towners yet. From there, we drove to Milford to see where G's grandfather grew up, but there was a street festival going on and driving through town was nearly impossible. We ended up eating dinner in the next town over. We were asked the shocking question whether we wanted to sit in smoking or non-smoking, the first time I have been asked this question in years. I guess Michigan is pretty far behind California with its smoking laws, as the hotel bar had ashtrays set up in front of every barstool.

So excited!

I can't wait to take off for Michigan tomorrow, even though I have a ton of stuff to do today before we leave. I have needed a week off so badly, especially because I have been in school nonstop since August. I also can't wait to have a week off from computers, because I need a technology break. I'm just too addicted to Facebook, the Nest, and many other websites. I just hope Michigan is ready for this California Chick!

Facebook frustrations

I was just checking my Facebook page, and I had a four requests to join causes and one request to become a fan of something I don' t even agree with. Why does this person feel the need to forward everything to me? I can count on one hand the number of times I have met this lady, and she only added me because she is trying to get her friend count up. I only know her because she is my cousin's stepmother. My cousin doesn't even really get along with her stepmother either.

I have gotten to the point where I don't even care if I offend the person by ignoring these requests. If I am truly interested in a cause or becoming a fan of a page, I will look that thing up and join on my own. Don't get me wrong, because some requests do interest me, but five in one day is overkill.

At least this isn't like the time I had a friend suggestion of a guy G has done work for, who had no friends in common with me. That really gave me the impression that Facebook is too Big Brotherish.

Impatiently waiting for vacation

Woo hoo, vacation is three days away! I can't wait to get out of town and explore a new state. G and I have not taken this much time off work since our honeymoon over a year ago, so I think we are overdue. I am really looking forward to visiting Michigan, even though most people wonder why the hell we chose to go there for vacation. We are planning on visiting the Henry Ford Museum, the Chrysler Museum, Lake Huron, the last Hudson dealership, Detroit, and of course, the Motown Museum. The Motown Museum will be a little more special to visit, now that Michael Jackson has passed away. I wonder if they will have a tribute to him?

Bye bye Plucky

I'm sad that my poor plecostomus fishy passed away today. I know that he was just a fish, but I have had him for a few years now, and he grew from 2 inches long to 10 inches long. He was the best algae eater that ever lived in our fish tank. I will miss my plucky.

Bear will also miss Plucky too, because they liked to torment each other. Bear always thought he could catch Plucky as he swam around the tank and never gave up on trying to catch him. I think Plucky figured this out after a while, because he started to tease Bear more lately rather than hide from Bear.