Well, I've done some productive things this morning. I made a few (back-dated) posts on this blog and edited a bunch of vacation photos. I also finally got around to listening to the new album by The Books. I bought tickets to see them at the 9:30 Club next month, so I figure I should bone up on their newest stuff. [I never thought I'd say this about any band, but] their newest album might be their best. Impossible to say after just one listen.

Well, vacation is now a week behind us. I'm not so sure I care about vacations anymore. I don't have a job to get away from, which was a weird feeling when we were there. It's like I pack up every single one of my normal responsibilities and take them wherever we go. Stephen is in a very shy stage, so no one could really take care of him except me and Jaime. Then, in the few hours that Stephen was napping, I felt like I had to cram everything I could into that time (shopping for trinkets, swimming, sucking at Wii). Everyone was talking about how relaxing the trip was, meanwhile I was dying a little each day. It was very nice to spend some time with the family, though. Stephen was almost used to them by about Wednesday. He eventually would walk up to my brothers and ask to be held. I will continue to go on vacations, of course, but I just have lowered expectations now. It's just a different version of being at home. It's like, "welcome to being a grown-up," I guess. Nothing will ever compare to our Sandals vacation/honeymoon.

I don't care about baseball, but Albert Pujols is on the verge of something very great. He has been quietly building a Hall-of-Fame career for nine seasons now. For batters, winning the "Triple Crown" means having the highest batting average for a season in addition to the most homeruns and RBI's. This has not been done since 1967. Most power hitters do not have high batting averages. Anyway, Pujols is dangerously close to the triple crown right now. The thing that makes this interesting is that Pujols has never been suspected of using steroids, and his career does not have the tell-tale signs of steroid use (nagging muscle injuries, major changes in physique, wildly differing statistic from season-to-season).

We got home six days ago, and we finally started cleaning the house this morning. We hadn't even moved the suitcases upstairs since we walked in and plunked them on the living room floor.

I have been messing around with Audio Mastering software. I do not have "golden ears" as it were. It seems that Steve has a better idea of frequencies than I do (which is kind of embarrassing because I'm the producer of our duo). Between the two of us, we're going to have a good-sounding album before long. This album is five years in the making and we have all the tracks laid out, but they sound like they are being played through a tin can. I'm getting really excited. Part of the problem is that I have to clean up our first recordings which are horrible quality. (Our first recordings, the microphone was just placed on a shelf.. no mic stand).