DJ John Land

Greetings from NC!  Came down after work Friday for a long weekend and to visit Aunt Pat and my mom and stepfather.  I had hoped that I could get through the visit without doing much, but unfortunately not the case. Aunt Pat wanted to get WiFi; George and Mom wanted to get WiFi.  We went to the Apple Store at the Northlake Mall (in Charlotte, NC) to pick up two Apple Airport Extreme routers.  Mom lost her cell phone at the local Walmart and had to get a replacement.  Today was spent helping everyone with their various technical issues. The setup of Aunt Pat's WiFi did not go smoothly.  After several hours of making several attempts to get it to work (and getting assistance from AT&T and Apple), I was able to get the wireless network up and running.  For some reason, the DSL modem had to be configured such that it's "bridged".  We tested it with the PC connected into one of the ethernet ports, and via WiFi with our various IOS devices, and it's...

There's been recent developments surrounding Exodus International, the largest "gay reparative", "ex-gay", etc. organization.  The latest development as of tonight is the word that they are closing up shop.  Good fucking riddance. This organization was an umbrella organization for many of these so-called "ex-gay" ministries, who have successfully torn families apart, branded gay individuals as "defectives", "child molesters", and driven many gay and lesbian individuals to suicide.  They claim that being gay is a "choice", and that homosexuality can be "cured" through reparation therapy, bible study, and prayer.  Despite the fact that they've been debated by professionals that such therapy is harmful, and that homosexuality can't be "cured", the religious right dismissed those studies as "liberal propaganda" and have continued to work tirelessly to demonize gay individuals and deny...

I've been downloading some full-lengths from iTunes lately, primarily stuff I was listening to back in late 70s and early 80s.  This particular download was prompted by Anthrax. Anthrax...you mean that thrash metal band way back when?? Yep. Y'see, they just released an EP called Anthems , and one of the tracks is a very awesome cover of Journey's " Keep On Runnin '" from their Escape album (that's the one with " Don't Stop Believin '").  Anthrax has always managed to perform cover tunes of other bands quite remarkably, and they did so with every song they covered on this EP.   Incidently, they did a bangin' job with the other tracks (from Boston, Thin Lizzy, Rush, and Cheap Trick). Hearing this track brought me back to 1981, when I bought this live album on vinyl. This album/CD/digital download is Journey at their best, before Escape was released in later in 1981.  Not one bad track on this title, and as far as live albu...

The powers-that-be in Wildwood passed a law this week banning folks from wearing their pants well-below hip level (aka..." slagging ").  There's already outrage, according to the article on nj.com .  They're saying that the new law is "targeting African-Americans".  It's not targeting any group...it's just enforcing some degree of decency on the boardwalk.  Not to be a prude or anything, but I really think it's inappropriate to have one's pants sagging down and exposing their underwear bottoms in public. Just yesterday, I picked up a sub at Mike's and one of their employees had his pants slagging down as he stocked shelves.  Are there no standards of dress even in places of business today?  Not only did I write a negative review on this blog, I also wrote one on Yelp! and wrote the management via their website that I was through giving them my business.  The unfortunate thing, they do make great subs but I am now turned off by the estab...

Today's Flag Day (US)...yay! The weather this week has been sort of funky this week: very cloudy, rainy, and cooler than normal, though we did have a nice looking day on Wednesday.  It is supposed to get a nicer for the weekend, which is good because we have a party for Saturday and Dad's day on Sunday. This week's training went well.  So far, did four workouts and had a great one this morning at 6AM.  The gym is only doing the 7:30am class tomorrow, which won't bode too well since I'm meeting the guys out after their dance social around 11:30-ish tonight at Applebees.  The plan in all likelihood will be to do the class in the morning, shower, and head back to bed for a couple hours.  It will be a strength class tomorrow and I hope I have the energy to push it. In other news, I downloaded the latest Anthrax EP from iTunes this week, called Anthems .  It contains material from Rush, Journey (!), Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, and classic AC/DC ("TN...

I decided today to take a holiday from Paleoville and satisfy my craving for a sub (or insert-regional-name-here) from Mike's Subs in Belmar.  I order a #6 (Roast Beef), add Swiss, lettuce, onions, very light on the oil and vinegar, and some oregano.  While the sandwich was being made I was looking around and found a couple of things that has me considering (strongly) not to give them anymore business. The first thing I notice was several posters displayed to the right of the deli counter with Republican talking points.  Does the proprietor really wish to alienate a number of customers who might not share his viewpoint?  He's in the business of selling sandwiches, salads, and drinks, not sell his political ideals to the public.  Even if he were a bed-wetting liberal, I'd still find it off-putting having Democratic talking points plastered on the walls of a non-political place of business. The second thing pertains to the lack of fashion judgement by his sta...

A couple of months ago, I made a personal decision to stop DJing completely.  Al was the first to be told, my best friends Rich and Vinnie were the next.  I was somewhat nervous telling Rich, since he hosts the Country dance socials that I'd been doing with him.  He was fine with it, and plans on buying some of my equipment when I completely stop at the end of the year. It's probably not completely fair to say that my separation from Woody's was the catalyst for the decision; it may have played a major role in the decision to stop.  I don't really know.  The whole incident was very upsetting, but it was due to the way Cliff (the other DJ who I alternated with) and the bar management planned and executed their decision to completely cut me out.  I was not notified in person, or even through a phone call...a group email from the management had gone out to me, Cliff, and Michael (an instructor who had done the dance lesson schedule each month).  In a nu...

Ron's surprise birthday party went off without a hitch!  He was completely surprised and the party was a big success.  A nice turnout of his friends and family attended, and there was food, food, and more food.  Ron's partner, Joe, even arranged to have a Mr. Softy ice cream truck park in front of the house and allowed the guests to order whatever they wanted.  Everyone had a great time and we'll all look back on it fondly. Al and I went to the Belmar Seafood Festival on Sunday.  It turned out that Lauren was there also, and we met up with her, had some lunch (crab cake sandwiches) and took a walk to the south end of Belmar.  The crab cakes were delicious and quite filling. Back to the grind today.  The gym is starting a new 8-week cycle today and I'm looking forward to it.  It's conditioning tonight, but if the weather holds up this evening, maybe a run is in order.