I haven’t written anything in a few days. That’s because I decided to take on a pretty big project. Specifically, I’ve been moving stuff around in our dining room/studio. The idea hit me last week, when I realized that we really need to have a better “studio” space for recording podcasts and music. Starting on Thursday night, I began disassembling things and moving them around. (Jen helped with the fish tank. A note to aquarium filter companies: YOU SUCK!!) I’m done with the heavy stuff. Now I’m getting the smaller details in order. I’ll have an update in the next few days. (With pictures.)

Tags: life
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Jen’s been working on a book about her experiences as a teacher in Illinois. Awhile back, she submitted some of the manuscript to a contest held by The Memoirists Collective. Jen didn’t win the contest. But as a “consolation prize,” the Collective has been posting the contest entrants’ submissions on its MySpace blog. Jen’s writing was chosen for the Collective’s latest blog post. What’s posted is from the second draft of her book. She’s still in the process of revising and editing. Anyway, I’m proud of her for putting her work out there, and I think she’s got a great story to tell. Now she just needs to get it published, get it on Oprah, and wait for the sweet, sweet cash money to roll in.

Tags: MySpace, The Memoirists Collective
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I was out for a walk a few weeks back. I needed to pick up a few things before heading home. I decided to stop into Laurel Lane Liquor. (I wasn’t buying booze!) I gathered up the few things I was after, including a Don Miguel breakfast burrito. I picked up the burrito so I’d have something to eat later that night at work.

As you can probably tell from the above photo, I chose the breakfast burrito. The packaging is simple, but the heating instructions are impossibly small to read. (They’re at the very bottom of the package in the photo on the left. But hey, it’s not like it’s all that complex to microwave a burrito.) As I was unwrapping the burrito from its paper sheath, the ‘rito started falling apart. Not sure if the burrito wasn’t structurally sound, or if my eagerness to experience its breakfasty goodness was too much. Regardless, I managed to get all of the burrito onto the paper plate. It was now ready for cooking. I placed it inside the microwave and decided on 2.5 minutes as a good warming period for the liquor store burrito.

(Before I continue with the review, I urge everyone to check out the official Don Miguel website. I’m not certain what’s going on in the animated Flash intro, but… mariachi!)

After a healthy dose of radiation, the burrito came out of the microwave nice and hot. You can see in the following photo how it had started falling apart during unwrapping.

I decided to rip it apart the rest of the way to make it easier to eat. The burrito was filled with the usual breakfast fillings: Eggs, cheese, sausage (maybe potatoes?).

There was also a slight hint of pepper. Nothing too strong, though. (However, it’s that kind of peppery flavor. You know, the kind you tend to find in things like liquor store burritos.) Overall, not a bad-tasting little burrito. It’s got nothing on the breakfast ‘ritos from Higera Street Cafe. But, for something out of the liquor store cooler – not bad.

What was bad is how it affected my digestive tract later that day. I’ll spare the details. Suffice it to say, in this regard, Don Miguel’s Mexican cuisine is truly authentic.

(Photos also available through Flickr.)

Tags: Don Miguel, food
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Last Friday night, Jen and I met up with some friends at a local bar called Z Club. I had been warned that the place is a dive. And I guess if you compare it to Mother’s Tavern (where we’ve gone for karaoke in the past), it kinda is. But overall, the place isn’t that bad. Sure, the floor is perpetually sticky, and there’s an elevated stripper poll in the middle of the place. But it’s not that bad.

Like most evenings of karaoke, this one began with the procurement of drinks, followed by the process of finding the right songs. I was impressed with Z Club’s massive selection of karaoke tunes. Z’s catalog is WAY bigger than what they’ve got at Mother’s. Me and Jen both scoured the book to find our backing tracks of choice. We then filled out our song-selection slips and turned them into the DJ. (“KJ?”)

Jen’s first performance was “Under The Milky Way.” My first song was “Electrolite” (a personal favorite). Of course, we weren’t the only ones singing that night. Over the next hour, we heard an interesting collection of Joy Division, Cardigans and U2 songs (among others). Then, Jen was back up with her take on “Our Lips Are Sealed.” She struggled with some of the high notes. But she did OK. My next song was “Army.” And talk about struggling! I flubbed the first verse (I couldn’t hear the backing track that well) and barely recovered the rest of the song. Another hour passed as we heard karaoke-ized versions of Eminem, Bon Jovi and Nancy Sinatra tunes (again, among others). Jen capped her evening with a fine rendition of “Only Happy When It Rains.” Her voice is a good match for Shirley Manson. My last song was “Pictures Of Lily,” and I believe I redeemed myself with this one. It helped that I know this song really well, and it’s a little closer to my range (whatever exactly that is).

Not too long after that, the night started winding down, and our group began to head in separate directions. We had a good time, though. It was great to get out there and sing again.

And getting back to the whole “dive bar” thing: On our way out, we had to squeeze around some guys on a ladder who were working on the front door. We asked what had happened, and their only response was, “Someone broke the door.” I don’t remember ever hearing of something like that at Mother’s.

Tags: California, karaoke, music, San Luis Obispo, Z Club
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Every time some new thing comes along that sweeps across the Internets, I always swear that I won’t get into it. I said the same thing about Twitter. Well, a couple nights ago, I succumbed and signed up.

For the uninitiated, Twitter is like a “hyper blogging” service. And while blogs can be used to provide timely information, Twitter is specifically designed to tell people what you’re doing right now. Twitter entries are limited to 140 characters, so it’s not the right platform for posting a 1,000-word diatribe on why “Mr. Belvedere” is the greatest sitcom of all time. But if you want people to know that you’re cooking dinner, it’s the perfect tool.

Really, the main reason I even signed up with Twitter was to add a little “supplemental blog” to Shawnogram. I’d like to update this site often, and if there’s ever a lag between posts, readers can check out the Twitter badge on the right-hand side of this page to see what’s going on.

And while I may have caved in when it comes to Twitter, I’m still not using Flickr. Not yet, anyway.

(If anyone reading this would like to add me to your Twitter friends, please feel free.)

Tags: Twitter
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I received a tip from Rowley at DarkCompass that San Diego-based band bill was scheduled to play here in San Luis Obispo on Thursday night. Rowley informed me that Bill had been logging a lot of podplay on the Podsafe Music Network, and that it looked to ge a good show. Me and Jen headed downtown early Thursday night, wandered ’round Farmer’s Market a bit and then ducked into Frog and Peach Pub. We found a couple seats at the back of the main floor, enjoyed a solo-acoustic set by a guy whose name we didn’t get, and then settled in for bill’s performance.

bill’s set began with Curtis Hartling on guitar and lead vocals, Jonathon Coyle on drums and David Marciano on bass. The band worked its songs seemlessly through different tempos and styles. They incorporated pop, jazz, psychodelic, reggae and even some hard rock elements into their well-crafted tunes. bill may be a trio, but don’t let the band’s size fool you. They produce a big sound, and their use of dynamics is impressive; Never too much, never too little.

About halfway through the band’s first set, they did something surprising. Hartling put down the guitar and moved behind the drumkit while Coyle took up the keyboard. The band really showed its flexibility here, delving into swing-styled, piano-based numbers. Not to be outdone by his instrument-swtiching bandmates, Marciano produced a saxophone and blew some sweet notes over songs like the Ben Folds-ish set closer “Sound Scientist.”

At this point, bill announced they’d be taking a break before the next set. They promised that their second act would include some “sing-along covers.” But the stale bar air inside of Frog and Peach was starting to affect Jen’s allergies. So, we decided to head out. But before we left, we purchased a copy of the band’s full-length disc, Birthday Suit. The band’s merch minder was kind enough to give us a couple freebie demo discs, and we even got to talk to drummer Jonathon Coyle.

We had a good time at the show. Hopefully, bill will come back to SLO in the future. If they do, we’ll be there.

(Photos also available through Flickr.)

Tags: bill, Flickr, Frog & Peach, music
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Awhile back, I removed an ice cube tray from my freezer and saw this:

An ice cube “stalagmite.” I didn’t do anything special to make it happen. It was totally random.

And that randomness made my Pepsi taste even better.

(Photo also available through Flickr.)

Tags: Flickr, food
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Yesterday morning, I was surfing around on MySpace when I saw this:

Look closely at the second line of text. You’ll see the non-word “electic.” Must be a typo. Just to be sure, I checked with Google. Nothing there. I also checked with Urban Dictionary, just to make sure that “electic” isn’t some new form of web 2.0 speak. Still nothing.

While Tom and his cronies may have a lot of Rupert Murdoch‘s money, it looks like they still need to invest in the basics.

Like a spell checker. I also wonder if in place of “electic,” they meant to put “eclectic” or “electric.” We may never know.

(Photo also available through Flickr.)

Tags: Flickr, MySpace
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…but they’re actually already here.

Awhile back, I noticed a black construction partition go up around one of the corners downtown. I didn’t pay it much attention at first. That is until last week, when I noticed a huge Apple Computer logo flanking a nearby intersection.

Last fall, I had heard that Apple was looking at opening a store in SLO. But their plan wasn’t accepted by the city, and the store was put on hold. A few months went by, and the city changed its mind. And, yes. Apple is coming to San Luis Obispo. I have mixed feelings.

I’m an Apple enthusiast. Jen and I both use Macs. I have an iPod. OS X rules. Yep. I’ve got the religion! And having another place in San Luis Obispo to buy Apple products isn’t a bad thing. That’s right. Another place. You see, there’s been an Apple dealer here in town for a long time.

The place is called Mac Superstore, and it’s been around since the late 90′s. Mac Superstore is an independent, Authorized Apple Reseller. That means that they do almost everything that a corporate Apple Store does. They’re just not owned by Apple. And now Apple is opening a shiny new corporate store right in the Superstore’s backyard. That’s not fair.

I heard a radio interview with Mac Superstore owner Shane Williams that originally aired last Thanksgiving. Back then, it looked like Apple’s plans for installing a store in SLO weren’t going to pass. While Williams was hardly upbeat about the proposed store, he didn’t seem overly concerned, either. Williams did point out that Apple’s desire to expand into San Luis Obispo seemed counter productive; Mac Superstore is a succesful outlet for Apple products. Why bring in an element that would provide direct competition to an established Apple vendor? The answer is simple: Greed. Apple saw Mac Superstore’s success and realized that the central coast is a good market for its products. Instead of rewarding the local shop for its hard work and partnership in spreading the Apple brand, Apple has chosen to move in and take control. There are only two instances where this kind of business model is in practice: Corporate America and the mob. Who knew Steve Jobs had anything in common with Tony Soprano?

Anyway, I’ll be there when they open that fancy new Apple Store. I’ll marvel at the spectacle of the shop’s modern design. I’ll become filled with the lust for new high-tech computer stuff. And then I’ll head across town to Mac Superstore and get my fix.

(Photo also available through Flickr.)

Tags: Apple Computer, Apple Store, California, Flickr, San Luis Obispo
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