Kitten Whisperer

Our very good friends Mike and Giselle adopted some very cute kittens from PAWS on Sunday. Being the crazy cat people that Cait and I are, we had to come over and play with the little beasts.

The black kitten is a girl name Lolla (after Lollapolooza and/or Mike "Lolla" Peluso). She's probably about 12 weeks old and really enjoyed being buried in Cait's hoodie. The orange tabby is a boy named Archie (for now). He's a closer to 6 months old but still pretty small. He thoroughly enjoyed being swaddled in a fleece blanket. The both fell asleep on us a couple of times which was great because of how warm they get.

Someone also happened to like my delicious McDonald's fries and McCafe iced coffee.

We need to have a playdate with all five of our cats and watch the madness that will surely ensue. If everything goes right it should resemble the kitty halftime show during the "Puppy Bowl" on Animal Planet.

Fondue It

After an unsuccessful attempt of the white chocolate / dark chocolate ying-yang combination, we got it right with some chocolate chips from Ethel's. I'm stuffed.

The Best Part Of Waking Up

Freshly ground Starbuck's coffee with French Vanilla creamer, sugar, and two ice cubes. This is how I start every Saturday morning.

The mug is my favorite part. It has several paintings of San Francisco landmarks done by Michael Schwab. He also did all the artwork for the 2007 MLB Allstar Game when it was in San Francisco and six collectible posters of Giants players that they used as give-aways during that season. The art is clean and precise and uses very minimal colors but seems to capture all the necessary details of each unique place.

www.michaelschwab.com

Working For The Weekend

It's 4:30pm on Friday and the longest hour and a half has yet to come. I'm anticipating a "date night at home" with Cait. The plan is to watch Forest Gump and The Truman Show while eating some potstickers and veggies!

Then I need to rest up for our basketball game tomorrow at 1:00pm. Mike, Tom, and I won last week and we are hoping to stay undefeated this week. The competitive league is much faster and exciting which makes it more fun for me. It should be a good time!

Nothing else too adventurous planned so we'll see where the weekend takes us.

Top 10 Albums of 2008

I know we are a full month into 2009, but it took me this long to finalize my top 10 albums of 2008 list. Plus, very few albums come out in January so there hasn't been anything to sway my opinions of 2008's releases.

#10: Misery Signals - Controller

Melodic as it is heavy. Produced by Devin Townsend. I still miss their old singer and I was bummed when they all had bronchitis later in the year which caused them to cancel their Chicago date. Very solid Milwaukee metalcore.

#9: Veil Of Maya - The Common Man's Collapse

This release should have come out on Victory Records. We showcased them a while back and they certainly delivered on this album. Production value has increase tremendously for them on this release., especially compared to All Things Set Aside.

#8: Emmure - The Respect Issue

Fantastically brutal sophomore release for them. It was a pleasure working everything about this record and it was an experience to actually meet Kurt Angle when he came by the office to do the photo shoot. I got to see them live quite a bit in 2008 and I only hope to see them more in 2009.

#7: United Nations - United Nations

Thursday + Glassjaw + Converge. Enough said.

#6: Sigur Ros - med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust

Completely opposite from the majority of the music I listen to, but that's what makes me like them so much. I got to see them outside in Berkley, CA on our honeymoon which was very fitting considering how we used their music in our wedding this past September.

#5: Whitechapel - This Is Exile

Again, another release that should have come out on Victory Records. This album is heavy all the way through and it does not let up one bit. One of my favorites to blast in the car with the windows down.

#4: Radiohead - In Rainbows

I always had OK Computer, but it wasn't until recently that I started appreciating everything that Radiohead has done. I know a lot of people got this album in 2007, but it was physically release the first day of 2008 so I am still counting it.

#3: Anathallo - Canopy Glow

This release sort of came out of no where for me. I have been a huge fan of the band for a long time, but they sort of disappeared for a while after Floating World. This is another amazing release from them and they put on the most amazing live show!

#2: The Acacia Strain - Continent

Collectively, my favorite band right now and this concept album about the end of the world stole my whole fall from me because this is all I listened to. It still hasn't convinced me that it's better than The Dead Walk which is why I put it at #2. Plus I pre-ordered the album an got it on this great color of green which actually has two bonus track which I still have yet to hear because I don't own a record player.

#1: Above This Fire - Last Ones

I had been waiting for this album forever and it absolutely blew me away. The vocals on this are outstanding. This whole CD is the perfect blend of hardcore style music with metal riffs. It came out in late November so it had the chance to sneak in just before the end of the year. Now all they need to do is tour.

Other notable releases: After The Burial - Rareform, Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV, and Meshuggah - ObZen.