Man, what a crummy 48 hours we just had. The storms that passed over our house on Monday night knocked out the power for a whole 24 hours, and oddly enough not across the street. Now in our neighborhood its not uncommon for the power to just go out on a clear sunny day for a few hours. I always tell Trisha that Baghdad has better electricity service than us. But this was the longest stretch ever with out the juice.

Nothing like living without electricity for that long let me tell ya, especially by candlelight. I had to leave work early yesterday to buy 44 lbs worth of ice so we can save all of our food in the fridge. It was hot the past few days and thankfully it wasn’t so bad. The house was only at about 80 when I walked in. Our neighbors were nice enough to lend us some electricity for our fridge until it came back on again as well later. So, there was a 200 foot long extension cord laying across the street last night (Thanks Van Ackers!). Thankfully none of the food (that we just finally bought) spoiled either.

Its funny, you don’t really miss the electricity until its gone. One thing is for certain, that was the quietest the house has been. What can you do except sit and wait it out. Well, I tried to anyway, at 11 PM I gave up and went to sleep. The power finally came back at 2 AM today, so as you can guess I’m really needing my coffee today. Ah life in the burbs!

If the soreness in my neck is any indication, 2 days later, it must have been a good show. This time I dragged Trisha out to the summer tour of Nine Inch Nails. Watch out people, your elders are at the show, we’re here to relive our youth. Damn you kids and your leather bras and nose rings, why don’t you go home and sulk in some dark corner of your parents house in Naperville? What? Yes I saw them in February but decided one more time because I was disappointed with the seating arrangements. On the way there (coming all the way from Durand) we got a flat tire. For sure I thought we were gonna get screwed somehow yet again. OK, spare tire installed, we made it with time to spare. Parking no problem, getting tickets from will call, no problem. Try to bring in my camera, problem. Dammit. OK so back to the car, then back in. Finally.It pays to become a fan club member, as the choice of seating is awesome. We were about 28 rows back in the front section, so the sight lines were perfect. I had some fears about sound issues initially because the show was at the notoriously bad First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre (Formerly known as The World, then Tweeter Center). I have to say the sound crew was able to salvage it and NIN gave us a kick ass show. I thought Bauhaus was pretty cool too, kind of a throwback to the early 80’s. Oh wait a sec, they are from that era. I don’t know much about them, except they are the ones who started the Goth movement. Trent says they are the ones who inspired him to get into music. I find it funny that he likes to tour with his former idols, who have been completely eclipsed by him in terms of popularity (Bowie comes to mind).So without further ado, the evening’s setlist:

Somewhat Damaged You Know What You Are? Sin Terrible Lie March Of The Pigs Something I Can Never Have Closer Burn Gave Up Help Me I Am In Hell Even Deeper Only Wish La Mer Into The Void The Big Come Down Suck Down In It Hurt Final Solution w/Peter Murphy The Hand That Feeds Head Like a Hole

For you hardcore fans out there you will notice the strong presence of tracks from their early works, which will lead me to jump around like an idiot with glee. The lights and stage setup were dazzling as usual, especially that cage thingy that lowered. Oh yeah, you know this is a NIN show when the two dudes a few rows in front of you need to get a room. Once again I leave it to internets to provide the pictures. Especially this link on flickr.com .

Check out this clip from youtube.com, probably the best part of the show when the cage is used. The instrumental Help Me I Am In Hell followed by Even Deeper. Ignore the drunks.

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My folks, Dennis and Jamie were also with us for the weekend and I think a good time was had by all. Lots of eating and napping , man that hammock is the bomb! Now of course since my body has been trained for an afternoon nap, its been tough to not get sleepy in the afternoon now. Basically we spent lots of time just hanging out, eating farm fresh eggs, visiting Saugatuck and South Haven and the beach. Dad also even took me to the secret fishing hole on one of the many Plumber farms near the house. Damn, those were some big bass!

After that it was smooth sailing, and we arrived at the lake in good time. The next few days again were spent eating and sleeping, and for me a bit of fishing as well. Actually we all went fishing although Erik was more interested in the casting part. Hey, he’s two. As long as he had a good time.