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6/23/01 - Another beautiful (busy) weekend...
It was another beautiful weekend here! Maybe our Karma is on an up cycle... It's been nice on the weekends and the rain has mostly been durring the week... Anyway, it's been quite busy also... On the entertainment side... Corinne and I did some major boating Saturday, Casey and I played catch... and all of us went to Ellie's (Dara's Mom) club (valley low) for a nice day at the beach, dinner and birthday celebration. Happy Birthday Ellie!
I also did the usual bike riding and made a few CDs for people, worked on some pages (like now when I really need to get to bed) and practiced my new song, etc...
Casey's birthday is this next weekend, and we still don't have our plans worked out yet :-( :-( I also postponed our initial vacation ideas because of a change at work (leaving Caremark (not AiC)) and My bro is going to be putting in a new A/C for us (soon , we hope, since ours is out (like every year, unless we have someone out to do a service call and charge the freeon (definately not the right term... more like expensive-on).
More later... It's harder to fill in all the blanks durring all this nice summer weather (I already spend too much time in the basement)... Stay tuned... R,D,C,C (and cats)
6/17/01 - A Nice Father's Day...
It was another beautiful weekend here! Sunny, warm, not too humid. For us it was a nice bike riding and swimming pool weekend. Dara took the Corinne and a friend to the pool Friday 1'st, while I took a nice long ride. Next I took Casey and Corinne to the pool Later Saturday. Sunday, Casey, Corinne and I went to the Des Plains River bike path and had a really nice time, Whilst Dara went to see her dad. Later, Corinne and I did another little dip at the pool.
I had a real nice Father's Day... First, I was served breakfast in bed and waited on. Casey and Corinne were my servants, Dara did most of the (thankless) backup support (food cookin, etc (No, I thanked her too)). I was also able to sleep late for the first time in a while (so it seems). Then it was just a beautiful day and we did the stuff that I mentioned above...
I also completed the lyrics to my next song while on my bike ride Saturday. That was easy, because the basic theme is bike ridin through the cemetary!!! (No more hints, for now...). I've also had a good start on the music for a while and I am continuing the work on that of course. I hope the basic theme is not to novel and people can relate to it (there's more to it then what I mentioned, of course) and not just the weird stuff that I like.
Well, that's our story for this weekend ... See ya all later....
6/15/01 - Happy Father's Days...
Just a quick PRE-Father's day update. I got a suggestion from a fellow songwriter on writing Father's Day (or Mother's Day
songs) and advertising them on the internet a while ago So I have been trying to revive one of my older songs for this on my MP3 site (since that one gets a lot of traffic and searches). Well, it got hung up on the MP3 site so I decided to try a quick revival of the song as a seperate page. Here's the link: Father's Day Song... Click HERE...
I had some problems with my page updates tonight and it is getting late already... so I'll try to do the regular news later...
Thanks for stopping by... Stay tuned...
6/4/01 - The Nash-vlator!
Yep, We're back. Got back last night (Sunday). We had a very nice trip. My music city orientation was very sucessful. I was not too disappointed that I was not "discovered" and made into an overnight sucess, because that really wasn't on my list for this trip anyway :-).
I accomplished most of my music business at music row on Friday. Click Here for the MUSIC ROW, music publisher update/details. (I am adding this to the Song-News page rather than here on the ol family page)...
As for the rest of the trip... We stayed at Dales friend Ricks house, in Nashville by the (new) Grand Old Opry (I guess that would make it the Grand New Opry, now wouldn't it?). I had not met Rick before, and he had a very nice house and was a great host.
We played Frisby golf on Saturday, went to this huge new mall (for some gifts for the kids that I wanted to get). I think it was called Opry Mills and saw the new Grand Old Opry house and museum (like I said, this is the new one, I guess the old (original) was much smaller and is actually in the downtown area of Nashville).
We went into downtown Nashville later that evening and had a nice meal by the crab house by the river, then saw a couple of bands (one pop (a little bit country) band, with a great female singer, and then later a blues band).
I could write more (of course), but I think those were some of the highlights of our trip (other than what I learned about music row (music row link above)).
Other News: The kids just got their yearbooks and I was just looking through them with them. Corinne made it into quite a few of the "crowd" pictures. You know the random shots of kids at the school. I think she was in about 5 pictures other than the class one. Casey was in his class picture (of course) and the band picture (he keeps a lower profile).
I got an interesting email and request for a song from Norway yesterday, and I found out that one of the publishers that has listened to my songs and has sent me emails (and that I attempted to see Friday), is also a musician and has played with Shania on TV a few times!
I had a 'transition day' today, so I stayed home and just rested a little, did a bike ride and worked on setting up the van transmission repair!!!! (not to happy about that) and this update (I didn't do a real lot of photos from Nashville, but if I get a chance I will try to upload some).
The kids last (half) day of school is Friday!!! Pool is open! Summer must be here! I'm trying to figure out our next vacation. I would like to do something before we do the Disney thing, which I think will be in the fall.
See ya all later...
5/30/01 - Post Memorial Day Nashville Update
Just a quick update. I got to print some stuff and pack, etc. I'm sure I won't have time for a weekend update since I'll be in Nashville.
We are leaving Thursday afternoon. Dale and his friend are golfing Saturday and I will be visiting publishers, music row, NSAI, etc. I have a few publishers in mind (the ones that responded to some of my solicitations). I got 1/2 dozen CDs made up to hand out. Then I hope to check out some open mics and shows and stuff on the weekend. I am not bringing my guitar or planning on playing at the open mics, but just to look around and stuff...
I DID break out old the ol trumpet on memorial day and went out by the lake (2 times, once with Casey and once with Corinne later) and did Taps... It really sounded cool with the echoes off the lake... Just a little fun thing... (no one threw anything at me or called the cops or anything, so I guess it was successful... :-) :-) ).
Well, I hope I have some good stories after the trip!!! See ya all later...
Memorial Day Weekend!!! (and goin to Nashville!)
Alright! Memorial Day weekend is Here!!! (or it could be over if I don't get another update done in time...)
I thought that one of my dad's Marine Corps pictures would be appropriate for memorial day. Maybe I'll break out my trumpet on Memorial day, go back by the lake and play taps. I was the one that used to play taps at the memorial day services in high school.
It also looks like I'll be takin my songs (on CDs) and myself to Nashville next weekend with my friend Dale. Dale has a friend there and planned the trip and I have been intending to make a visit soon also, so I guess I'm doin it!!!! I'll write more on that later of course...
Well, I'm sure I'll do another update or so later (in the evenings maybe)... so stay tuned... and ya'all be safe drivin out there!
WA DA Weekend!!!
It was an absolutely fantastic weekend. A little cool, but very nice (almost fall-like). No real major events to write about, just the usual... bike riding, lawn work, baseball games, etc. but I really enjoyed being outside, doing lawn stuff, planting flowers and tomatoes and mowing (what Casey didn't finish) and raking a little out by the lake (then sitting back and enjoying my finished work).
I have been trying to get the next song project underway also, but have gotten a little hung up on some song creation technicalities. Here's a link to the "News" section of the song page.... Song News Stuff (click here) I've written my toughts and ideas there so I'll just direct you there if you would like (that page doesn't get much traffic, but that doesn't stop me from writing... :-) ).
5/15/2001 Dance Recital and Ghost Riding!!! |
Dance Recital: Well the pictures above probably tell the Dance Recital story much better than I can... 7 pictures... let's see that 7000 words... Check out the pictures... They really came out great I think!!!
Ghost Riding... (or more appropriately Cemetary riding): I couldn't resist writing about this one!!! Any of you that have read our page here (or know me), pretty much know I am a little stange, Right??? (com'on...in a nice way...). Well, last spring I did my story about wanting to ride my bike accross the US, and earlier this spring (somewhere below) I wrote about how much fun it was riding my bike in a lightning storm!!!
Well, here's another for my list... There were a lot of people (cars) at Harper tonight when I was bike riding, so I thought I would check out the street accross the highway. In the Cemetary!!! It was Great!!! No cars at all and a nice paved bike-path-type road through a very peaceful area. It was a nice alternatitive. Of course, this might be a little less than respectful if there were people there visiting... But I see by the sign that it closes (to cars) at 7:00pm in the summer and 5:00pm in the winter... There will probably be some good times to ride there...
Also, I know that Nick wouldn't mind at all (respectfully). As a matter of fact he would probably appreciate that he still has friends close by that can be there and think of him. He will also get some internet recognition/publicity (like now). (For those of you who are not aware, Nick was a friend of ours who is buried in that cemetary).
See... besides for being a great place to ride, it also brings on memories and thoughts about our mortality and lots of fun stuff like that... OK... it's getting late and I better upload those nice pictures and these updates and stuff Before I Creep everyone out too much!!!!
Stay tuned!!!
5/6/2001 Weekend Update.
It was another nice spring weekend here. Did a little batting practice with Casey Friday. Went to his game Saturday (need more batting practice...). Did a 15 mile bike ride Saturday and planned another for Sunday, but guess what? No energy left. It didn't happen. I snuck out for my ride when Casey wasn't around, but he got all competitive and went out and rode more miles than I did! Sheesh...
Corinne and I did some regular fishin Saturday, and then some boat fishin today (Sunday) (I left the boat pumped up and out (under the trees) so it was pretty easy to do the boat thing). Apparently we are not using the right bait (just the fake stuff) because we saw at least 10 to 15 fish jumpin all around us (some were 3 or 4 feet from the boat), and we didn't catch any. I guess we need live bait. I reminded Corinne of old proverb "Man who fish in inflatable boat, must be berdy careful with hooks"... No problems (this time anyway)...
It was Corinnes idea to do the boat fishing, so I told Casey I would take him later. First of all, it is very difficult with 3 people in that boat anyway and I wasn't about to try 3 people with 2 kids and 2 poles with 2 hooks to watch out for in an inflateable boat! We were out for a while but it started to rain and we had to call it quits before Casey got his turn, so I owe him one.
That was the most exciting stuff for the weekend (I'll spare you the other boring stuff, since there should be enough other stuff to read about)...
See ya later, Rob&co...
5/3/2001 First Concert!
Mid Week Extra! Casey had his first concert tonight! (Thursday) It was a very nice concert. This was a first for me too. Being in the audience for one of these things instead of on stage! (life goes on...)
They don't have uniforms (like we did) but notice, I got Casey into a regular shirt (not a T-shirt and too big, but still a regular shirt!) and he wore nice (non-jean) pants. A small miracle! I couldn't actually get him to wear the black shirt, that I had, with the tuxedo imprinted on the front though... JJJ
4/29/2001 Boating +...
OK, I'm trying to sneak in a quick late weekend page update... Casey and I did a 13 mile bike ride (He's still ahead in the big Odometer competition... Then, I broke out the inflateable (picture above) for some boating on Chapman Lake.
I finished the final mixes of the song and am trying to do the uploads tonight (if I don't run out of time).
That's it, for now... gotta go... stay tuned!
4/28/2001 Beautiful...
Another BEAUTIFUL spring weekend! (so far...). I worked on my new song last night (also called Beautiful) and was up way too late (again), so I slept in a little, but it has been beautiful outside all day, so we did a lot of outside stuff too! Corinne and I planted some flowers, and did some lawn stuff, we also did some basketball and bike rides, and Casey had his game earlier this morning. Nothing major... just a lot of nice layed back outdoors stuff.
Tomorrow, I am hoping to break out the old inflatable boat (I haven't told the kids yet, just in case I get wrapped up in something else and don't get the chance). If I have the time I'll try to post an update...
I am copying tracks right now and hope to have the song announcement out this weekend. Of course that means doing the final mixes, copying to WAV files on the PC, converting to Real Audio and MP3s and updating my page and the 2 MP3 pages, and sending out my email... I am starting to realize why so many hardcore songwriters just do acoustic guitar (or piano) and vocal recordings. It is a lot quicker, easier and efficient (from the song creation perspective itself) then doing these more elaborate productions. But still, I enjoy doing the productions (even if they are mostly just B-Class), and I just get bored with acoustic guitar songs. More on that real soon...
Mouse News: Another interesting (but frustrating) thing that I did was to take apart my PC Mouse!!! It was getting a little slow and unresponsive, so I thought that I would just clean off the wheel and stuff... So I unscrew 2 screws and open it up and... all these little pieces start falling out all over the place... Arrgghh... (panic) (I don't have a spare mouse and using the PC without one is extreamly difficult (I don't remember hardly any of the keyboard keys to use)). It was interesting to see how the little critter worked, but midnight Friday was not the time that I wanted mouse theory and repair lesson!
Well, I managed to get it back together, and am using it now (elst you'all wouldn't have the news this week... :-) ), but there were 2 springs that I wasn't quite sure about and it rattles a lot now... :-( Ahh well, at least it works... It is much faster and responsive (after I got that piece of gum out of it! :-) :-) (just kidding... It really was dirty though after almost 3 years of use...).
Well, Gotta go... Stay tuned (and stay in touch...) Rob & co.
4/22/2001 Enchanting...
I got a little time to do an official weekend update now (doing some more recordings and track copies). We just got back
from the Enchanted Castle (mentioned below). That turned out to a lot of fun! It's a pretty big entertainment thing. Kind of like a Texas version of Chucky Cheese... WAY BIGGER.
It had the typical C-Cheeze token-get-tickets type arcade games, and food and stuff, but it also had Laser tag, minature golf, bumper cars and this 3D Movie type ride. I thought that the Laser tag and 3D movie thing were the best. The kids liked just about everything... It also ended up being completely free (on my consulting company (actually indirectly from me, but that's another story)).
Also, since it was convienent, I couldn't resist having the kids experience something that they have never experienced before... There was a White Castle right next to it!!! I described the hamburgers as little cookie-like-hamburgers, but Dara kept telling them about the "slimy onions" and how bad they were, so they had mixed feelings... Well, even the alledged "plain" hamburgers had a few onion pieces, so they weren't too crazy about them, but they loved the shakes and fries... OK, one more major life event, experieced! :-) :-)
I also did 15 more bike miles on Saturday, and Casey's baseball team lost :-(
4/20/2001 Update.. Happy Birthday Dara!!!
Yes, I have told her also! (I haven't gotten that bad with web pages... :-) ). We also just had our cake, but I thought that I would remind ya'all out there....
Sorry I missed last weeks update... I have started the recording of my next song of which the title has been changed from "Guilty" to "Beautiful" (per Dara). It was originally going to be "Guilty of being Beautiful", but Dara thought that sounded too corny and too much like the "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" phrase (which is exactly what the idea was), so I gave in and changed it (since she usually isn't that critical unless she really doesn't like something...). I'll still save the rest of the story for the "Scoop" section of the song page, after the official internet release (still a ways off, due to being too busy with real life).
Anyway, part of the reason I am mentioning that is because I have some time to do this update while I wait for tracks to copy on the ol 4 track... OK, back again...(got 1 drum track, 2 acoustic guitar tracks, and the main vocal done) enough of that for now...
It's going to be a busy weekend, so I don't know if I'll be able to do another update. Dara has a badmitten match tomorrow, Casey has a baseball game, Sunday we got this thing that my consulting company is sponsoring at a place called Enchanted Castle or something like that and if I have time, I would like to go to my Chicago Songwriters meeting Sunday also... In addition to trying to rack up some more bike miles and some chores and stuff... (and maybe some more tracks on this song)...
OK, That's it for now... Ya'all check in later now... Ya'here
4/08/2001 Weekend Update..! Drop Dead Gorgeous!
It was a gorgeous weekend... I was fairly successful at mixing songcreation, playing with the kids, exercise and even some garden work (chores).
Soncreation: I pretty much completed the composition of my next song ("Guilty", I don't think that I will fill you in on any of the details until the official internet "release" (probably in a week or two)). I think that it may be pretty good. I am still trying to top the "Feel like I Felt" release. (now, I still have the performances, recording, production, mixing, upload, etc.)
Bike Stuff: Saturday was really warm (I think it hit the 80s!) but extremely windy. Well, I was determined to do my bike ride anyway. (I also did some repairs... Daras back tire (the old one blew up when I was trying to find the leak an sprayed greenish, blueish goop all over!!! What a mess!!! Never buy those expensive self sealing innertubes! I also fixed my back break cable which snapped durring my thunderstorm ride...).
OK, I do my ride and the wind is terrible, and great (depending on the direction that you are going). Well, it was in favor of my favorite record breaking downhill section. My previous speed record was 32.5 mph (August 2000). So I decide, that with this wind, I gotta go for a new record... So I put the metal to the pedal (or something like that) and my new speed record is now 36mph!!!! Yes, downhill with a strong wind, but it counts!
Other than that, I did some catch with Casey (baseball season has begun) and some basketball, Corinne and her friend Christine and Dara did some fishin, and we all played with the new cats, of course too (among other things).
I think that there is actually more to update you on, but that's the big things that come to mind this Sunday, April the 8'th 2001 (Rob Chapman Reporting)...
Gotta go... Stay tuned!
4/05/2001 Mid -Week Update..! The new family!
OK, I agreed to it! Sooner than I was considering... later than Dara, Casey and (especially) Corinne wanted... Corinne has been leaving notes around the house for months now to "get a cat" and "get a black cat" (well they weren't exactly black, but they are exactly cats (or kittens actually)). They are both boys (we think) and 9 weeks old.
Bye Bye Mouses...!!!
I've actually never had a cat. I like the varmints OK I guess... the closest that I ever came was having a stray that used to hang out at our bachelor pad in Arlington Heights ("Arlington Manor"). I used to fed him and he would spend the night. Then the neighbor grabbed him and gave him a more permanent home.
Any cat tips from ya'all out there?
Other news... Just did a 12 mile ride in the lightning and rain. Got REAL WET, but I really loved riding in the storm. I just wish there was a little more lightning! I want to do a another bike ride in a major thunder storm!!!! (OK, maybe it's weird... OK, maybe I'm a little weird... Oh well...).
Gotta go!
4/01/2001 Update... Bike Season Begins!
Well, It's April! The 1'st... April Fools!!! That applies to the 96 mile ride that I claimed above!!!
OK, bike season has really begun and I did 15 miles today, so part of the story above is true. Now I never really thought that Casey or Corinne could even stay close to my bike milage records. Well, Casey is very determined to beat my record and as you can see by the odometer readings above, he is creaming me!! We'll see how the rest of the season goes...
Another really busy weekend... Every time I finish a song production (like I just did last week) I have all this catching up (on life) to do...
I did our TAXES. Yuk... :-{ It came out real close (like I attempt to do) and I got a small amount back, so that was pretty good. But one thing that I really like these days, is the tax return PC software (Turbo Tax). If you do your own taxes and if you have a PC, it's the best way to go! (in my humble opinion). (OK, that little story is about as exciting as talking about accounting with an accountant... (sorry Bob)).
Dale came over Saturday night, and we burned some CDs (and created and printed the jewel case stuff, etc), for a girlfriend of his in California, for himself and for me too! One real interesting thing we did was to burn a CD copy of the latest (I think anyway) Chicago album - Stone of Sisyphus.
The interesting part is that the record companys didn't really like the album or the style and didn't release it. So, as I understand it, you can't buy this album (kind of like mine in that way (except more people may actually want this one :-) :-)). You can get the story on the internet (I don't know the page addresses) and the only way to get the music (and CD covers, etc) is by downloading the MP3s and other files, which is how Dale got it. The album has some similarities to the original Chicago albums (hard rock with horns), and has some great songs on it! (I also got a copy of "Ridin with the King" which is really great and is probably gonna make me want to write a traditional blues song soon...).
Oh yea, I also stayed up way too late Friday night (once again) doing page updates to the song page. I couldn't quite get what I wanted to do accomplished (A sideway piano keyboard with the hyperlinks overlayed on the white keys), but I did make the page easier to navigate (putting the shortcuts on the left side towards the top). So the page works the way I intended in many ways (specifically fast and easy to navigate) even though it is kind of plain and no frills).
OK, Gotta go... Check in soon... See ya... Rob & Co.
3/28/2001 Update...
Just thought I better mention that the new song is complete and uploaded to the song page (just in case anyone who makes it here isn't on my distribution list... (let me know)).
Here's the info (shameless self-promotion):
The song is called "What's Up With That" It's a flirty/cheaty, fun, Rockin Boogie (rockabilly) song. Here's a link to go to it:
http://home.att.net/~chapman99/thesongs.htm#whats
On a related note... I just got a CD request, for Still Burning, from my homeland... Ireland! (Just missed St Pats Day)
3/24/2001 Weekend Update...
Happy Birthday Jake!!!
New Song Under Construction... (doin the page updates...)
Well, I got most of the tracks on my next song recorded so I have a little time for page updates, while I move around and mix tracks... It takes about 5 minutes for each track that I copy, and I have about 10 to 12 tracks so far and still got about 4 or 5 more to do... but you don't really need to know all that now, do you... just sit back and enjoy the next 2 1/2 minute song... (hopefully...)
Bike Season Begins!!!
OK, now... you may have noticed the new bike odometer updates. I just got Casey and Corinne speedometer/odometers for their bikes (and installed them). I think that I mentioned here before how competitive Casey is... Well, now he wants to beat my bike season mileage record! So far he is... but I haven't really started my official areobic riding yet.
Got Some Film Developed... Finally.
You know, I can do the camcorder stuff pretty quick, but it takes forever to get film developed (the prints are nice though). Anyway, I hope you didn't miss it at the top... Andi and Brads (the big kids) pictures are from January (They are OLDER now! :-) ) and then just some interesting expresions from the littler kids...
Oh yea, I hope the one of Andi and Brad together doesn't look to fake. I edited out the background to simulate a white studio background. It takes time and isn't quite as good, but I thought it was worth a try...
Well, I'm going to upload all this stuff, and keep mixing (sound tracks) more...
See ya'all later... Rob (&co)
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