January 10th, 2010 by Aaron
I grew up in rural Kansas. There was one house within a quarter-mile of mine, and it happened to be across the road. The hundred-yard distance in south-central Kansas was the equivalent of a neighboring apartment for someone growing up in urban America.
The inhabitants of the house were amazing people. The patron was an unquestioningly kind soul, within whose grandchildren I found friends. The matron was someone within whom I could never imagine an unkind or an inhospitable thought.
Recently, I recall marveling at the sight of the holiday parking feats which caused their yard to impersonate a car dealership. It seemed one of every make and model of vehicle was parked in neat, orderly rows for each Thanksgiving and Christmas. Their family was fruitful, and love seemed to bring all of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren home regularly to vist.
I have a huge number of memories, all of which are pleasant and involve borrowing something from them or playing with their grandchildren on their farm equipment or stopping to visit on one of many all-too-hurried trips between my house and my grandmother’s during harvest.
My fiancee Diane and I are re-watching the West Wing. We usually average a couple of episodes each night. It’s a great TV series that deals with idealism, but one of the overriding themes is that of a president who has multiple sclerosis, a long-term and debilitating disease.
The West Wing had 156 episodes. There was one episode that dealt with a different, long-term, deblitating disease called Alzheimer’s. It’s in the middle of season four, and it’s a one-episode story arc that deals with the father of one of the regular cast memebers. It’s a truly heart-wrenching episode, and it’s what came next tonight in our one-by-one rewatching of the series.
I don’t believe in fate or providence, but it’s unnerving to watch that episode tonight knowing that I received word this morning that my neighbor passed away from Alzheimer’s. He was a beloved friend, and he and his family were never anything but unconditionally kind to me and mine. Rest in peace, Willard, you are and have been loved and will be missed.
November 2nd, 2009 by Aaron
I’ve seen this post on failblog.org a couple times over the last week and each time I can’t stop laughing. Enjoy.
see more Epic Fails
September 9th, 2009 by Aaron
These are 12-packs of pop. And yes, that is Mario. Too bad they used Pepsi products.
see more Fail Blog
August 24th, 2009 by Aaron
Today marks the completion of my server migration away from Lunarpages. Finally having moved aarontraffas.com to new new servers is a weight off of my shoulders.
We had a great time last night with a little house party, and while I spent nearly the entire day yesterday cleaning the garage, today was spent in a far less productive manner as I nursed my hangover and watched about 10 episodes of 30 Rock.
If finally started using Flickr. I’ve been holding off because it’s a Yahoo! property – and everybody hates Yahoo! – but I relented because Twitpic is too primitive and feature-barren to reliably handle my photostream.
I hope you enjoy the new site. The search engine now searches not only this site, but all the content I create on other sites as well. Take it for a spin.
see more Political Pictures
May 26th, 2009 by Aaron
I don’t know which would be cheaper
Putting fuel or beer in your drummer
Notice the mic stand by the front right wheel
Punk music just got a whole lot easier
Thanks to Dee McKee for the link
May 16th, 2009 by Aaron
Played a good show last night at the Perk in Fayetteville
Not a huge crowd
Not a drinking crowd
Sometimes these shows are fun
You can play 100% originals
No drunk guy asking for Carney Man
Or worse…Luke Bryan…Eric Church…
Reese Neal played last night with us at the show
Very talented songwriter with a completely different style
A master of his falsetto
He’s a vocal dead-ringer for Ryan Adams
He gave me his CD
I’m looking forward to actually listening to it on the drive home
G and I are off to find some breakfast
Then it’s studio time at East Hall Recording Studio
Saw the proprietor playing bass in Hot Shot Karate
Last night at the Boom Boom Room here in Fayetteville
Probably not going to start recording before noon
Here’s a video for today
Thanks to Dream Not of Today for the Twitter-tip on this one
May 15th, 2009 by Aaron
Loading for Fayetteville
More studio time
Hoping to finish a few songs
Playing a show tonight
With people I’ve never met
Guess I’ll be playing defence again
Here’s a video for the weekend
Posted to the Amateur Scientist today
Pretty cute lyrics with a great point
