Steven Page Leaving Barenaked Ladies

Steven Page

Well, to say that the news of Steven Page leaving the Barenaked Ladies saddens me would be a gross understatement. As far as entertainment goes in my life, it’s a tragic loss.

I first saw BNL in 1998 at the HORDE fest in Irvine, CA. My friend and I went to this concert just because we wanted to go to a show. I still remember falling in love with them from the moment I heard their first song. The way they carried themselves on stage, the way they interacted with the fans, and the way they flat out rocked their songs was so memorable. Instantly I became a huge fan and started catching up on lost time.

Here we are 11 years later and I’m as big a fan now as I was back then. The Barenaked Ladies have been a model of consitency, and they are one of the few bands that you would never have to worry about breaking up. They have always made such an effort to stay close with their fans. From the early days of their fanclub, “The Ladies Room”, to having cruises where they party with the fans, it’s been a great ride.

Steven has left to pursue his solo career. That’s all we know for sure. We can speculate on other reasons why he is leaving, but let’s just leave it at that. Steven is going in his own direction.

The good news is that Ed will keep this band afloat. He will be the lead singer, Tyler will still rock the drums, Jim will still be on bass, and Kevin will still be there to play what seems like every instrument known to man. BNL will press forward. Sure, it won’t be the same, and I’m not quite sure if Ed will perform hits such as, “The Old Apartment”, “Brian Wilson”, and “Break Your Heart”, or other songs that Steve was the frontman for, but one thing that we can do is continue to support the Barenaked Ladies and Steven Page as they embark on their separate journeys.

Steven, I want to say thank you for all the memories you’ve given us as part of this great band that you helped start. I also want to wish you good luck on your solo projects. Your fans will always be your fans.

Today’s Look-alike

Rick Fox of NBA fame, and American Idol Season 8 contestant, Kai Kalama:

Rick Fox

Kai Kalama

Obama’s First Address to Congress

I thought President Obama did a great job in his first address to congress. He is being open with what his plans are and he is conscious of keeping his campaign promises. President Obama is doing as good of a job as we could hope for given the current state of our economy. You can’t fault his effort, his passion to bring people together, and his drive to bring us out on top of this ecomonic crisis.

There are many people out there who don’t want to give him a chance. President Obama will never, ever meet the expectations or ideals for many people. However, it is the negativity that these people express which is symbolic of what hurts us as a country. Division between Republicans and Democrats hurts everyone, and I have faith that during Obama’s term we will see more unity than division.

Obama is putting his best foot forward. If it doesn’t work, then rip him for making the situation worse. But give the man a chance. At the very least, give his proposed solutions for our economic crisis a fighting chance to work.

Too Safe Drivers Cause Accidents!

You’ve all experienced this, or perhaps you were the person I was behind on the road today.

Example #1 – We approach a stop sign. The person in front of me accelerates and then slams on the breaks because a pigeon lands on the road. The pigeon is going to fly away bro, just keep driving! I was literally 3 inches from this persons bumper, all because he wanted to make sure the pigeon got it’s crumb of bread.

Example #2 – This is classic, and it happens to everyone. You pull up to a four way stop at the same time as the person to the right of you. Now class, who has the right of way when you come to a four way stop at the same time as another vehicle? That’s correct, the driver on the right. Well, apparently 96.5% of all the drivers in Redondo Beach have forgotten about this fundamental concept. You end up sitting there for 5 seconds having a staring contest. Then you wave them on at the exact same time they wave you on. Then you both go and stop. Lurch forward again and stop. Finally it ends with somebody flashing their high beams and yelling, “GOOOO!!!!”.

Example #3 – Not really an incident, but as the great Jerry Seinfeld once said, why is it that the older you get, the bigger the car you drive? Seriously, by the time somebody hits 85 they are driving around in a tank that was once used in Desert Storm.

Example #4 – Your leaving Dodger Stadium, The Coliseum, House of Blues, wherever. Your in the line trying to exit the venue, but the car in front of you is allowing everybody to jump in front of them. In a matter of 5 minutes you’ve gone from being 10th in line, to 141st. Forty-five minutes later you finally exit the parking lot.

Drive safe…but not too safe!

Humpity Hump Day

Does anybody watch Wow Wow Wubsy? If you have a child you probably do or have in the past. It’s filled with words like “kickidy kick ball”. Inevitably wubsy will break something and there will be a lesson learned from it.

Who calls and requests songs on the radio anymore? Almost every radio station…er…all 3 radio stations in Los Angeles have some sort of “most requested songs of the day” show at the end of the day. I guess you can just go online and vote, but seriously, when is the last time you requested a song on the radio? Do you even listen to the radio anymore?

The 310 Bums had a good practice last night. Sure we are 0-5, but we are having a lot of fun out there. Last night at our weekly practice we ran for a good 2 hours. I haven’t so hard for so long in quite a while. What a great group of guys we have out there.

Bella will beat you in a staring contest. A couple weeks ago I challenged her to a staring contest. Next thing I know we are face to face, literally, and the girl does not blink. I’ve lost every single time. But then I’ll switch the game to, “Whoever smiles first loses”. She can’t keep from smiling.

If you are waiting for your California State Tax Refund, it’s not going to happen until they reach an agreement with the budget. However, I did learn that they have until May 1st to get those out to us no matter what.

I’m into my 4th week at CSUDH. Classes are going well. I’ve got to register for the CBEST soon. My goal is to be teaching within 2 years.

Well, I hope today is a good day for everyone.

California to the People: “It’s your fault.”

That’s how it feels.

Yesterday it was announced that the people up in Sacramento were close to an agreement that would pull California out of this budget crisis. I’m always the first person to think positive, and without knowing the details of plan, I was very excited to hear that they are progressing to a solution. Then I read about everything these people are about to agree on:

Gas Prices
The proposed solution to the the budget deficit calls for Californians to pay an additional 12 cents per gallon at the pump.

Sales Tax
Ready to pay a sales tax of 9.75%? Well, that’s what most of us will see if this passes. The plan calls for a sales tax increase of 1 percent for 39 months. Don’t forget to tack on an additional .5% effective July 1 for Measure R.

Vehicle License Fee
Whatever you are paying now, just double it and that’s about what you’ll see on your next renewal.

Personal Income Tax
We’ll see a surcharge on our personal income tax ranging from 2.5% to 5%.

Education
The first place Arnold tends to look to cut costs is our educational programs. Next year we will have even fewer teachers, older books, less grants, and more schools looking to consolidate if this goes through. Many schools will have money pulled right out from underneath them.

Struggling Families
The proposed budget calls for approximately 235,000 children to be dropped from welfare support. In home care for about 81,000 people will also be eliminated.

I know we are all suppose to ride these waves up and down. When the housing market was great and California was growing in all areas, we were proud to be Californians and we praised everyone involved in helping our state prosper. The fact of the matter is that we should have competent people in Sacramento that know what the heck they are doing. These people are suppose to have the foresight to see a budget about to break, or have some sort of prediction on the financial stability of our state. How does it get to the emergency situation that we are in today? And why are we electing people who can’t keep us afloat?

In a time where the economy of our nation is about as bad as it’s ever been, the notion that our state finds it appropriate to pull more money out of our pockets is simply infuriating. We’ve elected people to do a job, they didn’t do their job, and now they are essentially blaming us by raising taxes on some of the most important items.