violince by evan valentine (all instruments by me)

Well, our vacation is wrapping up. It was a good time. Stephen turned two. Different members of our extended family came and went. We took Stephen fishing in a pond stocked with rainbow trout. We're at a fairly secluded cabin on the top of a mountain (the drive up here is harrowing). It's a ski resort, so the summer prices are actually the cheapest.

When we walked into the house, we immediately said "the pictures of this place on the website do not do it justice." That's the same thing we said about our last vacation home. This place has all brand new appliances/furniture. There are even high-efficiency washer/dryer units.

Throughout the course of the week, seventeen people came and went, with a staple of about ten of us. At one point, Stephen was sleeping in a room with my aunt and cousin. Everything went very well considering all the chaos that could have ensued. My cousin's daughter was here for a couple of days (she turns three in July) and she and Stephen played very nicely together. It's funny that even at the top of a mountain, we expect internet and they provide it.

The weather has been perfect every second of every day. We saw the greatest lightning the other night. I saw a doe cross about 30 yards behind the house at dusk today.

Good times. Another successful vacation.

This was made with a series of three free iPhone apps.

On May 4 of these years, history was made.

1494: Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica.
1776: Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to declare independence from Britain.
1862: Battle of Yorktown ends.
1871: First professional league baseball game is played.
1886: Haymarket Square Riot takes place in Chicago.
1904: Construction begins on the Panama Canal.
1932: Al Capone begins 11 year prison sentence for tax evasion.
1946: End of the Battle of Alcatraz.
1949: Superga Air Disaster.
1970: Kent State Shootings.

BIRTHS:
Audrey Hepburn - 1929
Lance Bass - 1979
Hosni Mubarak - 1928
Randy Travis - 1959
Erin Andrews - 1978
Prince Henrik of Denmark - 2009

And, most importantly, I was born on this day in 1981 (that's 30 years ago in case you are bad at math). Happy birthday to me. May 04, 2011.

I keep forgetting to mention that earsauce is on this compilation: Independent music for Japan. You make a donation (minimum €1 EUR) in order to download the compilation and all proceeds are donated to Save the Children. There is no overhead with a release like this, so 100% of anything you donate will go to the charity.

Also, on a personal level, I just made this song with my friend Adam. I think we worked well together on this one. To put it in perspective, this was all made in the past two weeks. So, while I'm constantly complaining about how much work Henry is and how I have no free time, I obviously have time enough to do some things that I want. This song is called "Mulholland Funk" and it's pretty middle-of-the road as far as electronic stuff goes. It's easy-going and accessible.

mulholland funk (with adm†) by evan valentine

We did about ten "takes" of this. Stephen is very aware of the camera and doesn't really act naturally when he knows it's recording. Eventually, he just wanted to have some fun and didn't care about the camera. This is our new guest room, by the way. A corner in the basement which is separated from the rest of the room by that large shelf. It's nice and cozy. I think we did a good job.