You've got me spendin'...

spendin' all my time on ya.

Every now and then I like to sit down and my computer and watch music videos for a bit. Sometimes I pick up a new song that I haven't heard before and I end up really enjoying it ("King Without a Crown" is a recent example), or sometimes I just find some interesting or nostalgic videos. So, with that, I thought I'd share my thoughts from tonight's viewing.

Well, the title of this post should give away my primary thoughts. They are, of course, 'lyrics' to "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas, the video for which came on very early in the evening. I try not to skip unless it's rap, so I stuck with it, and it was very funny. Besides the fact that the entire premise of the song is laughable (lovely lady lumps?), the video is too. I mean, first of all, I have to laugh that the song was or is popular, or maybe that means I'm way off track with pop culture. But then the video. Oh man, I think I was streaming tears down my face when I saw the girl dancing in front of the vehicle, but then I realized the vehicle was a Chevy S-10 or something. A pickup truck! Oh man, they're really singing popular music to a new low. A song about butts sung while Fergie gyrates in front of a mid-range pickup truck. Be sure to check out their next hit "Feet Go Stomp" sung in front of a Kia Sedona.

Of course the irony was then compounded because immediately after "My Humps" came one of my favorite videos right now, "Is It Any Wonder?" by Keane. I love the song to begin with, but I also really like the idea of the video, which is esentially a camera mounted on a mini rollercoaster-like track that has the band intertangled in it. So the camera is going up, down, round and round while it occasionally passes the band members performing the song. It's a pretty simple video, shot in a warehouse with the band's equipment cases in full view, but for some reason it's a very captivating video. It's definitely one of those videos that I watch and think "If I were in a band, I'd want to be in that video or do one like it."

Finally, winner of the weirdest video of the night goes to a group called Sleepthief, who I've never heard of before, and their song "Eurydice". The song I can only describe as Enya on death, so kinda sad. Then the video is a couple people prancing about in the woods, some of them wearing masks made of bark, while they're weaving things with red ribbon between the trees. It's trippy, so I'd recommend checking it out, but ideally after a moderate dose of LSD or angel dust.

These music videos are all free to watch by signing on to Yahoo! and going to the music section. I'm interested in anyone's thoughts if they've seen any of these or if anyone has a recommendation of other cool videos to check out.

'Dog Days' of Summer?

Lucy and I went over to the North Clackamas Aquatic Center the day after Labor Day for their annual 'Dog Daze' promotion. Dogs are allowed to swim in all of their indoor pools, one very deep, one olympic size, and one wave pool. The proceeds from the admission fee went to a local dog shelter so we stopped by and Lucy went swimming (she's the little black head in the bottom left).

It's hard to believe it's finally the off-season, with both the Beavers and the Timbers missing the playoffs this year. The Timbers were last to finish their season, and they did so on Thursday night. Which means, scarily enough, that I'm actually going to have some free time on nights and weekends for the rest of the year! I have to admit, it has felt pretty good sleeping in these last two mornings and knowing that I don't have any work responsibilities that day.

This weekend I'm heading over to Bloomington to spend some time with my wife, whom I haven't seen since the day after the honeymoon. I'll be there for four or five days before I come back to Portland and get into the swing of off-season life. My supervisor and I are going to be launching new websites for www.portlandbeavers.com and www.portlandtimbers.com, so be checking those in the next month or two for brand new websites, content courtesy of yours truly.

On the English side, Southend are 2-3-1 so far in the new season, in a league just one below the giants of the Premiership. That record puts them in a respectable tie for 13th out of 24 teams, which is great for a little team like them. I promise you that their manager would be thrilled at where they are already and if they ended up there at the end of the season. For new clubs in a higher league, the biggest challenge is not getting promoted, but avoiding getting sent down to the league you came from, so they'd be very happy to just stay up.

I thought as a neat, albeit different hobby, I'd take up model shipbuilding for the offseason, although it has turned out to be more complex than I even imagined. I think I understand how to do things alright, but I just don't have enough tools to do it right. I may have to shelve the shipbuilding for now until someday in the future when I can afford to buy all the tools I need.

I've been looking for a new hobby to spend my new-found free time on, and I liked the idea that Marty had of improving my golf game, but unfortunately I left my clubs in Perrysburg and won't be able to get them out here until Michelle moves out in December. I think that's a worthy thing to improve on, though, so I'll probably work on it next spring and fall. In the meantime, for this fall, I've decided that I'm going to work on improving my poker game. I'm registered at pokerstars.net, and my username is 'uptheblues' if anyone ever wants to join me! Hopefully I'll be on most nights. Best part is, it's free to use (I don't consider myself good enough to play for real money yet, so play money is fine with me while I learn the ropes again).

Well, that's about all that's new in this neck of the woods, hope everyone is doing well.