Our mission to get buff has been slowed down. We were all gung ho about it and was going to yoga 4 days a week and working out after two of the 4 yoga sessions. As it turns out all that working out can hurt a person. Go figure. Poor Holly has been saying that her shoulder has been hurting her. It got to the point where she couldn’t do anything with it. She called me upstairs yesterday to ask me to remove her shirt for her. Although she asked me that because she physically couldn’t do it, I still found it a bit erotic. lol. Anywho. She has been to see the doctor and they gave her instructions to see a physical therapist for 4 days a week for 3 to 4 weeks. That is something that Holly doesn’t really want to do since that would mean taking time off work and dealing with a screwed up insurance problem. The poor girl couldn’t do anything. She was up half the night two nights ago because just the act of having an arm was hurting her. She is now jumping with excitement for being able to do things like close the car door from the inside, or being able to push the up-window button to roll up the window. Today she felt able to drive to work and succeeded. She told me it was painful, but was able to lift her arm a bit. I hope that is a sign of it improving and not just having a good moment. The poor thing.

I have been really late posting these pictures and blogging. We have had two really great weekends. The sun has been out and we have taken advantage of it. Last weekend we attended a birthday party for a pair of twins at the local Yacht club. Bring a bathing suit, they told us. So we did. And what fun we had. There was pizza, chips, ice cream, cake, chips, veggies and dip, and some chex mix. Mostly this was an excuse for us to have a good time and go swimming. Although it was really fun swimming with Gavin and eating and playing in the pool, the highlight for me was seeing Holly in a bikini. Man she is lookin’ good. Take a look at some of the pictures from our Yacht Club party. We totally had a good time. And Holly looked really good.

This past weekend we took advantage of living in Hawaii and went to the beach. It was such a great day. Holly grabbed her bikini, I my shorts, and Gavin his. We hopped in the car and off we went. We spent a while at Ala Moana beach park playing in the sand and lying in the sun. We have to work on our tans don’tcha know. Gavin found some other kids to play with for a while. They borrowed all his little toys. I volunteered to be partly burried in the sand, but ended up doing it all myself. I was transformed into a merman. After some good frying and playing and swimming, we headed over to Ala Moana Mall to do some shopping and roaming around. Gavin fell asleep in his stroller, leaving mom and dad to stroll around leisurely and window shop. Mike: “You know what I really want? A yummy brownie topped with hot fudge and ice cream and whipped cream.” Holly: “You have been wanting that for a while. We can get you one you know.” After hitting a few more stores and bumping into one of Holly’s old high school mates (who apparently got better looking with time and at one time called Holly fat when she was a 16 year old buff swimmer), we ended up at a place called “Island Burgers”. This just made the day that much better. The burgers were amazing. The fries could have fed 4. And the brownie desert was… well, only a few notches down from the evening finale. We spent a total of 8 hours out on the town. Our skin tone darkened by one or two notches with the help of some tanning oil and SPF 50. When we arrived home, Holly’s aunt and little cousin Chris were at our house; apparently for about 5 or 6 hours. Gavin and Chris were so excited to see each other and play for the next hour or two. They had a blast. With Mary and Beth watching the wee ones, Holly and I snuck upstairs to “download pictures from the day”. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. ( I just downloaded the pics today. lol ) It was so nice to be able to have a family day and not have to worry about the theatre (so glad I quit) or Karatedepot or mother-in-laws or anything like that. What a great day. Check out some pictures from our outing.

Ok, here it is. Over a week later, I am finally posting the sounds of Volcano Joes. Here are some of the “regulars” that play at Open Mic Night.

Harmonica Guy – Song 1

The Guy with the hair – Song 1, Song 2

And last but not least, song 1 and song 2 by me.

They are really crappy recordings, but you can hear us over all the talking and pizza orders. You don’t really have to listen to them all I suppose, but if you do, it sure does give a good feel of what it’s like being at Volcano Joes on a Monday night. Enjoy the best you can.

Here I am on Monday night at open mic night without any company. I took Gavin out all day to buy a new camera, since our last one broke, despite the fact that he has a cold. Therefore, Holly stayed home with him instead of taking him out and staying out late. I met with a “client” about website updates for her site. She paid me for hours previously put in, the hour for our current meeting and in advance for another 2 hours work. Sweet. There is my new camera. There are only about four other musicians here tonight, so I might get to play twice. After my meeting, I hopped up to the mic for some fun. I coerced the bongo player to play with me for two songs. It was awesome. Maybe I’ll get inducted to the superband yet. Anyway, I busted out my 12-string tonight. I received a lot of oooh’s and aaaah’s. They they were surprised when I told them that it was like 6 or 7 years old. So after I got all set up, I found my heart center and steadied my breathing and them belted out “Champaign Supernova” and “Hey, Jealousy”. I have to admit, they sounded kind of cool.

pause…

Ok, I just realized that I have a laptop with a microphone. Let’s see if I can record any of these performances. If they work, I will post some of my live performances. If not, then you can thank the gods.

Happy Easter Everyone. Today, Beth, Chris, Reed, Ron and maybe a few
others will be coming over for breakfast, lunch, dinner or whatever.
Gavin woke up this morning excited to see what the Easter Bunny
brought him in his basket. There was lots of chocolate. He also
received the Breakdown Train and Gordon. He was thrilled. Holly’s
basket contained a Chinese Dragon, while mine contained yummy
chocolate bars containing 85% cocoa or Chai flavor or raspberry
truffle filling. MMmmmm. It is almost time for creamed eggs and
little sausages. I hope Gabe and Maita and Angel and Adam come over.
We’ll see. But with all this chocolate and eggs and lamb and what
not, I don’t see how this can be a very bad day. I certainly don’t
want to kill my sister. I hear holidays sometimes make you want to do
that. Oh well. Speaking of which, I think I’ll call mine. Happy
Easter everyone!