HARD ROCK FEVER!

So, this is a continuation from the last post.  If you remember, we had woken up late, gotten ready and headed to the concert...

We got to the Isleta Amphitheater about 12:40pm and got front row VIP parking.  (let me just fore warn you that you will hear VIP alot during this blog).  We walked down a hill about 1/4 of a mile and found a line.  It was the security line.  We lined up and waited FOREVER.  Well, it seemed like forever.  It was hot.  It didn't help that we didn't know what we were supposed to do.  Apparently, all of the kids around us did.  They were just waiting patiently.  Finally, the line started moving and then we went into the main gates where they checked our tickets.  We walked down another hill about 1/2 mile.  We found the VIP lounge/bar/restrooms.  Then we saw the "Main Stage".  It was closed and blocked off.  We found out that the smaller bands were playing on a smaller stage down a little further.  There were vendors set up everywhere selling drinks, food, merchandise, etc.  (It reminded me of the fair how all of the vendors were just set up against all of the walls).  Pretty cool.  

This picture is of BuckCherry.  They were the last group on the small stage.  They honestly could have been the 1st or 2nd group on the main stage - but being on the small stage they got a lot longer time to play.  They have been around for awhile and are pretty established.  

Anyway, we spent the afternoon hanging out in the VIP lounge and walking down to hear different bands play.  Nothing real exciting but it was fun.  We had a good time just watching people and listening to the music.  

About 5pm the catering service showed up and fed us (another benefit to the VIP package).  It was just a sandwich, chips, and a cookie - but hey! It was FREE!

About 5:30pm the Main Stage opened and we made our way to the box!  When we got there 2 gentlemen were already seated in the front of the box.  That was cool.  Amber and I sat behind them.  There was a little metal shelf "table" with drink holders to put your cups.  In just a bit 2 more people showed up for our box and then when the next band came on another 2 showed up.  If we had all been seated and real still it would have been fine - but that was not the case.  The guy in front of me was twice my size and then me and then 6 other people were in this box.  The box was the size of 9 bar stools.  If you lined up in 3 rows of 3 (like when you were a kid and used to pretend to be on a school bus) that would equal the size of our box.  Well, long story short (yeah right) the other 4 people went and talked to security and moved into the empty box next to us.  So then there was plenty of room for us to jump, head bang, dance, flail our arms, and sing as loud as we possibly could (and yes, we did ALL of these things).  

By now, in the blog I am sure that you have figured out that we did not take a lot of pictures.  We were way to busy "Living in the Moment".  But here are a few: 

This group was actually the 2nd band on the Main Stage.  They are a group named PopEvil.  Going into the concert I was only aware of about 2 of their songs.  But as they played I realized I knew almost everyone that they played.  I had no idea they sang all of those songs.  Anyway, their stage presence was GREAT.  They really got the audience involved and were very high energy!  They did SO well, it was truly surprising.  

This was the main headliner.  I have to tell you, in between the band pictured just above and then band, 2 others played.  The 3rd band up was Seether.  They had some technical difficulties but managed to pull through.  Not outstanding (which was disappointing  because I was really looking forward to seeing them) but they did pretty good, considering.  The 4th to come on was ROB ZOMBIE.  He was not the Headliner - but he did steal the show.  I will clue you into him lastly because he was so dang SURPRISING!  

This picture and the one just above it is GodSmack.  They were the headliners.  I did a little research so that I could inform you a little bit.  GodSmack was created in 1995.  In 2001 the won the Billboard Awards as best Rock Artist of the Year and have been nominated for 4 Grammy Awards.  (I could keep going - but let's get back to the concert).  GodSmack went on after Rob Zombie.  After the performance  he put on I thought these guys have to be crazy for a number of reasons:  1.  It's Rob Zombie - he is like a legend in Rock (it's a respect thing) and 2.  No way, anyone could top his performance on this night in particular.

Luckily for GodSmack  there was quite a bit of time for stage tear down and set up.  This gave the crowd time to "come down from their  'excitement'".  Anyway, they opened really strong with the song that their  new album is named after.  There was fire and it was upbeat and powerful.  They did it.  They got everyone's attention.  Then in the middle they started doing a lot of letting the audience sing instead of them...you know - crowd participation stuff - UGH!  This is a big turn off for me.  I paid big money to hear the band sing, not the dang crowd.  But then, just about the time I was like getting irritated, I noticed the drum set started moving towards my right.  As the song was coming to an end, the drums and drummer just kept easily sliding over.  I knew that something was fixing to come out of the stage.  I NEVER expected it to be a BIGGER drum set up!  So, above pictured are the two drum sets.  They battled and then did a duet for 10 or so minutes.  It was HUGE!  Of course they ended the show really strong.  It was a great concert.

So, if you have been paying attention you will have noted that we have not covered ROB ZOMBIE's set.  (I know what you are thinking - that we really aren't missing much!)  When I heard we going to see Rob Zombie I was like, "that's cool"; "He's a legend" "that's cool" (with shrugged shoulders).  But let me tell you....HE WAS AWESOME!!!!

When I thought about Zombie - I thought "horror show" "bloody mess" "lots of prop usuage" and real "heavy metal stage show".  I am not really into all of it.  I like Zombie because I like the energy in his music.  I really don't care that it has titles like "Living Dead Girl" or "More Human Than Human".  I love the energy behind it.  The subtle music behind it, the use of techno that makes you just wanna bounce around - those are the things about Zombie that I like.  Well, his concert was great.  It was really surprising  but all of the things mentioned above that I thought I would see I didn't.  There were a few stage props and yes they had makeup on - but it there wasn't the "heavy metal horror show" stuff.  Tony Clayton (local DJ) really summed up this experience.  He wrote exactly what I was thinking: "I've never seen Rob with a "plain" set. It's usually filled with all kinds doodads and flashy *stuff. Last night, Rob let the music speak for him and it SCREAMED "ROCK 'N ROLL!!" Seriously, I've never seen Rob that animated and having that much fun."  When we say Rock 'N Roll - it was everything!  They even played James Brown - and Rob Zombie was dancing, jumping, sliding all over the stage and when I say DANCING - I mean DANCING - really getting down!  He did play some of his hits (of course) but then he also did some other stuff.  Like I said - He was the real SHOW STOPPER!
                                               
So, after the concert - we went for some waffles and then sleep.  On Sunday I got to watch the football game at Buffalo Wild Wings - which was totally cool on so many levels.  We did a little piddling around town and then headed back to Roswell.  So, since it has taken me 10 days to write these two posts, I will stop there.  

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Albuquerque Trip

So, I started writing this blog 3 days ago.  It has become so long that I decided to split it into 2 separate blogs.  That happens to me all too often.  But here we go - 

On Thursday evening we got to celebrate my mom's birthday!  Mom, Scotty, Brennen, and myself all went to dinner to mark the occasion.  We had a really great time.  After that, I went to pick up Amber from work and get her something to eat - Then we hit the road.

We left town about 9:20pm and headed to Albuquerque.  Let me tell you - Can you believe I didn't even speed!?!?!  Amazing right.  It seemed like we got there in no time at all.  We just talked all the way till about Cline's Corners.  Then we turned on music - (Amber gets real nervous on the Interstate - lucky for us I was driving!)  But anyway, we pulled into Albuquerque about 12am.  Then we had to find the hotel.  I really thought I knew where I was going.  My gut said, take I25.  My head said follow until you see the sign for the airport.  Anyway, long story short, half an hour later we pulled out 2 GPSs.  Bad idea.  We were stinkin' tired and at one point we were following both of them (at the same time).  Each one was taking us a different way.  Finally, we just picked 1 and put the other one up.  Of course, it was then that we found the hotel.

This blog wouldn't be mine unless something had happened, right!?!  So guess what - they couldn't find our reservations (of course) - but then just as we were about to say forget it and start all over with the info - poof; there were our reservations.  We went to the room and crashed.

Friday we didn't really have any plans but got up in time to eat breakfast.  Then we laid back down for about an hour.  Once we were up, we got dressed and headed out to explore.  For lunch we chose to eat at a steakhouse. (Yum!)  Well, we had picked out Ember's Steakhouse.  When we finally found it (inside the Isleta Casino)  we found out that it was by reservation only and not till after 3pm.  Needless to say, we didn't stick around.  Then we had the best time just driving around looking for another steakhouse.  Can you believe that no one eats steak until 4 in the afternoon?!  Well, we finally settled at the Olive Garden around 2:30pm.  Lunch was very yummy!  I had a citrus chicken something or another and Amber had the Tour of Italy but not before we both finished off some calamari.  I had peach tea - which was decent.  We even got a meal to go by accident (one of their featured promo's right now).

After we left the Olive Garden we stopped at a few places we just drove by and thought were interesting.  We then had to make a run to Wal-Greens.  I needed medicine, Amber wanted a new lipstick, and we had forgotten Q-tips.  (That's a pretty weird thing not to be able to live without for 3 days but, it was really driving me CRAZY!).  When we finished there, we had driven by a Putt-Putt place.  So, guess what we did -

We played Miniature Golf.  The animals around the course is what really caught our eye.  But we just had to stop and play.  We had so much fun.  Although - I would like to testify to the fact that Putt-Putt was not made for really tall people.  

 The lady at the counter when we first went in did not do a good job explaining to us about the course.  Don't you just hate it when someone doesn't do the job they are being paid to do!  We asked her where we start from and she pointed to the right and said that is number 1 but you can start from any of the yellow signs.  Well, being the right brained person that Amber is, we usually follow each and every thing in order.  So, we started to the right at #1.

 We were behind a large family and so we played till we caught up with them and then we skipped two holes and were going to go back to them when they were done - so I set up my ball on the little rubber mat to make my shot.  After my second stroke, I got the ball in the hole and then it disappeared!  Ugh!  (Guess that was then end of our Putt-Putt).

What she didn't tell us was that each yellow sign represented a different course. We thought the whole thing was one course - but it wasn't.  It was 3 courses.  Oh well, we had fun and then we went around just taking pictures with all of the different animals.  

Totally cute right!?!  

When we were done there, we continued just exploring around town with nowhere really to be.  Once evening hit, we went exploring a few clubs.  The first club that we went to was really dead but the people that worked there were really nice so we just kinda hung out and talked to them for a bit.  

After we left there I found out that Amber had never had Jack in the box.  So, you guessed it.  I took her to Jack in the Box.  We really wanted Panda Express but they were closed already.  Then we decided on Popeye's Chicken.  Nope.  They were closed too (at 10pm).  Can you believe that?  I thought this was a big city!  With a night life!  On a Friday!  

So, anyway we stopped at Jack in the Box and put a little food on our bellies.  Then we went downtown to another club.  This one was busy.   It's a little different getting used to things in a big city.  We had to park in a parking garage and then walk to the club.  Not too bad.  This club was bumping!  Music, lights, people, etc..........So, we did some hanging out, and then we did some dancing, and some more dancing.  Then we danced with people we don't even know.  By then we decided to go.  (I didn't want my foot to hurt for tomorrow because I figured there would be a lot of walking and that old broken foot of mine just can't take a lot).  Little did we know it was already 2am.  Back to the hotel we went.  

When we got there, we were really surprised that there was no parking ANYWHERE.  We ended up parking on the street in front of the hotel.  Once I hit the bed I went right to sleep.  I think Amber had a hard time sleeping - but not me.  So when I woke up Saturday morning at 8:30am I decided we could skip breakfast because we were going to eat lunch before the concert.  I kept thinking - ok, the concert isn't until this afternoon so we are good to sleep in.  I never did really add it up in my head.  At 10:30am when we woke again, it was time to start getting ready.  We had originally wanted to leave our hotel by 12:00 since we didn't know where it was or what to expect.... 

September 16, 1979

Happy Birthday To ME!!!!

For some reason it seems like when I think about my birthday last year, I remember celebrating like all week long.  Well, appearently that just how I roll!  because this year - it seems we celebrated all year again.  

On Sunday the kids wanted to throw me a little party.  It included them helping make a big family style lunch with rotisserie chicken, broccolli rice, vegetables, and then of course....

 (See that in the corner?  Wonder what it is?  They put a Hershey Kiss on it for me!)  They all sang me a song, and then sang Happy Birthday.  They even got together and counted up their change to buy me some earrings.  

Then came Monday, I received a card and gift from my Mamaw!  - So sweet that even after 35 years she still remembers my birthday every year.  Then I got to go visit with my mom for a few hours.  We talked about her trip and watched Dancing With the Stars and made our commentary about thier dancing.  I really do enjoy spending time with her.  While I was there I received a gift from her and Scotty.  What a way to end the night!

On Tuesday - The 35th anniversary of the day I was born, I had to work - YUCK!  But I didn't really mind and I will tell you why in a minute.  But my crew from work all took me out to lunch at Cattle Baron.  Where I had steak and salad - so good!  Then we all passed around my fried ice cream.  When I got back to work I went to a meeting that lasted like 2 stinkin' hours.  When the meeting was finished I had to leave to go pick up Brennen.  I walked hurridly into my office to grab my keys and look what was on my desk...
                                             

They are so bright and cheerful!  They were perfect.

On Wednesday, after going to lunch with Amber and Mama, I came back to work with a message that our tickets had arrived.  Amber told me a few weeks back that for my birthday she wanted to take me out of town.  Just so happened that I ran across a concert in Albuquerque featuring some of my favorite "Hard Rock" bands.  No way I thought we would really go - but I just threw it out there as like a wishful thinking cloud.  Well, guess what!  Not only did she get us tickets to the concert but she got us VIP tickets which include catering at the concert, access to the lounge where the bands hang out, a table in the middle, VIP bathrooms, and parking!!!!!  This is awesome considering that it is an all day concert.  It starts at 1:00pm and there are 5 bands playing.  

I have told several people about the concert but only about 3 have gotten excited with me - because no one else I know listens to this music - but here are a few songs you might be familiar with by them:

Rob Zombie - Thunder Kiss '65 or Black Sunshine

Godsmack - I Stand Alone (one of the theme songs to the Scorpion King movie)

Seether - Broken ft. Amy Lee

Pop Evil - Monster You Made Me

Escape The Fate - This War Is Ours

So, maybe you want to check them out - Maybe not.  Either way, I am super excited.  The concert is on Saturday and we are leaving tonight about 8:30pm.  We will hang out and just do random stuff on Friday and Sunday and then we will attend the concert ALL day Saturday.  

So, that is my birthday week review!  I will post more about the concert next week.  Tonight I will be helping my mom celebrate her birthday!  

Hope everyone has a great day!

Quinoa

I will start out this blog by saying that if you haven't read my sister's Blog Post entitled "Food" at www.nikandcarladavis.blogspot.com and the comments following it, then you will not really "get" this blog.  My Sister has started cooking a food called Quinoa.  Well, I wanted to know more about the "superfood".  I wanted to know more about the superfood, my sister was feeding to my nephew.  So, here it is:

Quinoa (/ˈkiːnwɑː/ or /kɨˈnoʊ.ə/, from Quechua: kinwa),^[2] a species of goosefoot, is a grain crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, as it is not a member of the true grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beetroots, spinach and tumbleweeds. (Yup - the dang dicationary just said that my Sister is eating a food related to tumbleweeds.  So, what is a tumbleweed?  I guess that people from New York might not know.  But let me tell you - us from West Texas and New Mexico sure know what a tumbleweed is - we even have people who make "snowmen" out of them).

A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of any of a number of species of plants, a diaspore that, once it is mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem, and tumbles away in the wind.
   Here is what it looks like.  Would you want to eat this guy's cousin?

   

Ok so, since my family is eating this crazy "pseudocereal" let's get serious.  Quinoa became important to the diet of pre-Columbian Andean civilizations.^[16] The food has only been around for about 3 or 4 thousand years.  The Incas, who held the crop to be sacred,^[27]referred to it as chisaya mama or "mother of all grains", and it was the Inca emperor who would traditionally sow the first seeds of the season using "golden implements".^[27] During the Spanish conquest of South America, the colonists scorned it as "food for Indians",^[28]and suppressed its cultivation, due to its status within indigenous religious ceremonies.^[29] The conquistadors forbade quinoa cultivation for a time^[30] and the Incas were forced to grow wheat instead.  But Quinoa has made it's come back and has been increasingly popular since about 2006. This is a Quinoa flower - if you zoom on it - it really does look like fish eggs waiting to be hatched.
Quinoa grain has been called a superfood.^[17] Protein content is very high for a cereal/pseudo-cereal (14% by mass), but not as high as most beans and legumes. The protein content per 100 calories is higher than brown rice, potatoes, barley and millet, but is less than wild rice and oats.^[18] Nutritional evaluations indicate that quinoa is a source of complete protein.^[19][20][21] Other sources claim its protein is not complete but relatively high in essential amino acids. ^[22] The grain is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. It is a source of calcium, and thus is useful for vegans and those who are lactose intolerant.^[23] It is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of these characteristics, it is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration human occupied space flights.^[24]
Here is what it looks like in the plant form:

 The nutrient composition is favourable compared with common cereals. Quinoa seeds contain essential amino acids like lysine and acceptable quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
 One of the best reasons to enjoy quinoa is because it has a high-protein content, which makes it a great cholesterol-free and low-fat source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. According to the USDA nutrient database, 1 cup of cooked quinoa (185 g) contains 8.14 grams of protein . To put that in reference, the recommended daily protein intake is about 56 grams for most men and 46 for most women. (Let's look at what it looks like cooked):   This is my Sister's picture.  It has been cooked and then chunks of carrots have been added.  Now, refer back to the flower picture - yes - still looks like fish eggs.  

This is a picture of actual fish eggs.  See the resemblance?

But here is some more good stuff about it:

Quinoa is a great source of iron and fiber for vegetarians, vegans , and omnivores alike. One cup of cooked quinoa (185 grams) provides 15% of the recommended daily intake of iron, and 5 grams of fiber, which is 21% the recommended amount. Quinoa is also an excellent source of magnesium , with 118 mg per cup, cooked. According to the USDA nutrient database, one cup of cooked quinoa provides:

• 39.41 g carbohydrates
• 31 mg calcium
• 2.76 mg iron
• 318 mg potassium
• 13 mg sodium
• 2.02 mg zinc

Ok, so I understand why they call it a superfood - but really?  Let's get down to it.  There is a negative side:  In their natural state, the seeds have a coating of bitter-tasting saponins, making them unpalatable. Most of the grain sold commercially has been processed to remove this coating.^[10] This bitterness has beneficial effects during cultivation, as it is unpopular with birds and therefore requires minimal protection.^[11] 

The toxicity category rating of quinoa saponins treats them as mild eye and respiratory irritants and as a low gastrointestinal irritant.^[13] The saponin is a toxic glycoside, a main contributor to its hemolytic effects when combined directly with blood cells. In South America, quinoa saponin has many uses, including as a detergent for clothing and washing and as an antiseptic for skin injuries.  

To sum this post up:  YUCK! for 1.  For 2.  This food is related to TUMBLEWEEDS.  3.  Yes it is nutritious and a "superfood" but 4.  The stuff is also used as antiseptic and laundry detergent.  
Truth be told if my sister put a spoonful in front of me and said TRY THIS - I woullllllddddd.....try 2 little egg things.  Of course the time that they lasted in my mouth would definitely depend on their texture.  UGH!  So, Sister, please enjoy your fish egg salad.  But becareful!  and if you ever stop making laundry detergent, you could always use your fish eggs.