Photo Galleries: Mason in November

Mason is growing fast! We try to take a lot of pictures but some times we are just having too much fun to remember to grab the camera. So there are a few pictures from November loaded up on the Kodak Easy Share Site. Lots of smiles and fun times with Mom and Dad!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/hughesweek/main/mason_in_november

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Robot Domination Countdown: Transformers Movie in 195 days!

Just 7 more months until the Transformers Movie launches. Here is the new trailer!

Bumble Bee looks very evil for the "good guy" lovable bug (now a Concept Camero) that we all grew up with and what is with Optimus Prime having a standard semi tractor front end and a flame paint job? WTF??? But everything else looks pretty good in my opinion.

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How 'bout that?: Death and Taxes

Sometimes when the government talks about tax dollars it is hard to really comprehend how many dollars they are talking about for the needed "social" services. Comparing your purchase of your car to a purchase of a M1A1 tank can be really hard, especially if you are not in the habit of buying tanks. I found this website with a graphical representation of tax dollar usage. It compares each government agency to each other.... the larger the circle, the more tax dollars used by that agency.

http://www.thebudgetgraph.com/view.html

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AHughesMent: Addicted to Line Rider

There was a time in the 80's when "Line Riding Addict" probably had a different meaning, but today it is for this highly addictive game. Draw your line, click Play to ride the line...try not to kill the little guy.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40255643/

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AHughesMent: I HAS UR PHUN EES

There is a ton of these at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buro9/sets/72157594379214637/

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Guns N' Roses Concert: Velvety Smooth, with a Few Thorns and a Very Long Barrel

So last week I got some free tickets to the event booth for work. This time it was for Guns N' Roses, a band that I have loved for ages, but never really had liked enough to spend the $48.50 ticket price and $91.75 on Ticket Master fees. This time was different, free tickets means you can have very low expectations and still have a good time even with a "has been" lead singer and a band backfilled with non-original members. I called up my concert hound friend Kevin (or should it be fiend? Seriously he has been to like 500 concerts) to see if he wanted to go with me to the show. I knew the answer before I even called him as Kevin would skip his first born's birth to see a concert regardless of who was playing. More importantly I knew Kevin would actually dig seeing Guns N' Roses for the simple fact we have jammed to them in the college dorm and on road trips to Eau Claire's finest establishments many times.

The night went like this: Beers at the Local on Nicolet, then off to the show. We arrived late to see the first opening act finishing up on stage...naked. You see, never in a million years would it cross my mind that an opening act would consist of college girls jumping around on stage wearing only dental floss undies and smiles while dancing to music, so I as the rest of the 7000 people at Target Center was a bit confused. After the girls left the stage and everyone got that "am I seeing what I think I'm seeing" look off their faces, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row came on stage and did a normal, get the crowd drunk and ready, warm-up band performance. To our surprise Sebastian, who did not look or sound one long haired-leather pant strutting ounce different than he did in 1990, sang all the Skid Row songs pumping up the audience. 18 and Life, I Remember You, Monkey Business, and Youth Gone Wild did plenty to get everyone ready for some head-banging hair-band rock-n-roll and was actually starting to pass my still very low expectations.

We were now ready for GN'R! for Axl! for the lights and overpowering noise of the headlining band and we got.... Helmet. This third opening act is the act that should never have been. If we had been at the Metrodome the place would have deflated as the energy just left the building like Elvis on his way to a burger joint. So we drank more beers to pass the time, and the now 9000 strong audience just sat there with that "I wish they would bring back the strippers" look on their faces.

Finally, 11:45 PM, the most perfect arena opening guitar cords ever produced pierced the air. Welcome to the Jungle was the opener and it immediately lifted the crowds energy. Then it hit me, "This is not that bad." Heck "This does not suck!" I thought as my lower expectations of the performance began to rise. It may have been the beers, but I was thoroughly enjoying all the old GN'R tunes. Thankfully, they also played some of their newest album tracks which gave me plenty of time to hit the food concessions and beer stands. Overall they could have left the new Chinese Democracy songs out of the show entirely. After the sixth hour of their performance, yes it felt that long, I decided to go rest on the couch in the booth. Thankfully the band did not wait that long when the fans normally beg for an encore, maybe for fear that everyone would just leave so they got right down to business of closing the show. Finally at 2:15am they played Paradise City and the show was over. All in all, the old Guns N' Roses tunes were very well done and worth the show. Slashes stand-in did a reputable job on lead guitar. You just might want to bring a book or a pillow when they start playing their new stuff that drags out the show past bar close.

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