Sunday, October 23, 2005

U2 Vertigo: Concert Review


Live at the Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
MVG and I went to the U2 concert last night at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. We were not sure what to expect, others who had recently attended a U2 concert in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) were disappointed with the performance. This was my 3rd U2 concert (and MVG's second).

We decided NOT to get there early, rather we would skip the opening act and get there for the main event. We were in the Initech box seats (VIP section), very close to the stage. We could see the facial expressions (and wrinkles) on the faces of the band members.
<aside>
An interesting thing happened... the person sitting next to MVG was a person I went to high school with... about 2000 miles away in "the West" of Canada. Small world.
</aside>
U2 started performing at about 8:45pm. They played for at least 90 minutes (with two encore performances). The music was fantastic, the atmosphere was electric. There were elements of politics (which was the 'knock' that our source said ruined the show in Toronto), but you have to expect some politics from U2 - they are a politically charged group. I found the politics to be non-offensive, rather it was aimed towards helping to put a stop to poverty. There was also a pause prior to and after the playing of "Miss Sarajevo" to reflect on human rights. Really, the message was "Why can't we all just get along?", and I agree with that message.


Of the three U2 concerts I have been to, I would say this was the best of the bunch. We had fantastic seats, the music was awesome, and the band was very lively and into the show. Well worth seeing (in my opinion).

Read this review from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.


The only downside to the concert was the ear-ringing that continued until this morning... but, it was worth it.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Vacation

...or "why I haven't been complaining so much lately"



Life has been sweet the last week. MVG and I have been off on vacation (didn't go anywhere too far away).


It has been a busy week off for us.
<aside>
have you ever noticed that a week takes SO long when you are at work, yet is SO short when you are on vacation
</aside>
We started off last weekend by getting our apartment carpets steam cleaned. The entire family (dog, cat, MVG and I) all went to a local hotel for the night. On Saturday (the cleaning was on Friday), we painted our place a nice deep 'mocha' color. We figured, "hey, we have all the stuff out for cleaning, why not paint". We called these components of our "lease renewal package". We renewed our lease (for a year), so now we are trying to spruce up the place to make it seem like we moved.

Sunday was (more or less) a day of being lazy. We slept in, and I did some studying for the Sun Certified Java Programmer exam that I was taking on Thursday.
<suspense>
you will have to wait to see if I passed
</suspense>
Monday was a bike ride for us (MVG's first since she was in agony with a bad back for the previous 4 days).

Tuesday/Wednesday were spend in the Laurel Highlands at Nemacolin resort. Wow. We were upgraded to a room on a floor with butler service. I highly recommend getting upgraded. We came home on Wednesday to find our Cycle Ops Fluid Trainer had arrived. Funny, it was just sitting outside the door. They didn't bother to take it to the office. The next day, a $5 case for my cell phone arrived while we were out. They did bother to leave this at the office, rather than risk that somebody might take it.

Thursday we had to take the mini in for the 1 year service, and to get state certified. We got it detailed too. Thursday afternoon, I took the SCJP exam... it is regarded as being the hardest certification exam in the IT industry... I'm not sure about that. Anyway, to end the suspense, I passed. I'm now certified (although MVG says that I've always been certifiable). To celebrate, we went to Mad Mex for supper.

Friday, we went to get the Mini from the service center (and return the dogmeat car we rented). We celebrated getting the Mini back by eating at Zenith. Yum. I had the "Tofurkey Dinner".

So, that brings us up to speed. I'm studying now for the SCWCD (Sun Certified Web Component Developer) exam now. Tonight we go to see U2... tomorrow, I have a hockey game (to play, not watch). I expect to have some more torturous tales next week though, when I return to Initech.

Bye.