♫ Let me show you the shape of my Heart! ♪

Its amazing. Whodda thought that Bradford was actually speaking truth all this time?! ;) Ok, I'm kidding, I always knew he was right but I just didn't give myself enough of a chance to truly practice what he preached. Do what, you ask? I'm sure you're all just dying to know. So I'll tell you. This morning, I finally woke up. Early. Earlier than just in time to quickly shower and scramble around to get ready before stumbling out the door to get to work on time. Early enough to wake up and work out (thank you Kathi for that intensified ab workout via the giggles, I think Tony would be proud) and afterwards I took a relaxing shower and *gasp* actually ate breakfast. Who knew those early morning hours were actually good for something? I'm happier today too. I'm not so tired, even though I woke up earlier than I would have normally on a day like today, I'm energized and I feel good. Not sluggish. Amazing...

Bradford found this really cool alarm clock that I think is part of the reason I was able to wake up and stay awake rather than fumbling for my phone and shutting off the alarm in the same second that I fall back into unconsciousness like I usually would do. I can't even remember what its called. Its ornj or citrus alarm clock or something... but anyway, you download it off of the internet and it links with the songs in your media player on your computer. At the scheduled time of wake up it starts to play the song (or songs) and it gradually gets louder and louder until you get up and turn it off. Its pretty clever. I put my laptop in the living room so I have to physically get up and go shut if off, increasing the wake factor. And it works! Imagine that. The only bad thing I've noticed (I've only used it twice) is that I wake up about 15 minutes before its actually supposed to go off. I don't know if its because my body is anticipating it and my subconscious just can't wait to hear the Backstreet Boys crooning me out of bed or if its merely a fluke. I hope it doesn't keep happening... because even though I was wide awake, 15 more minutes of slumber is always very much appreciated.

Today I had a good start, and I can see that a good start could be the difference between a good and a bad day. Now, tomorrow I'm planning for a great start.

***Here is the alarm clock link if any of you are interested in it for yourself: http://www.ornj.net/citrus/ it has a 30 day free trial so if you want to try it out I recommend giving it a whirl.***

Ratatat-tatting

Last night Bradford and I went up to Salt Lake City to The Venue to watch a band Bradford recently discovered on Pandora and we both found it pretty cool. The band is Ratatat and they don't sing, its just all music full of synthesizers, some awesome guitar solos, and of course an electric keyboard and other doo-dads. It was so much fun! The Venue is a pretty small venue too so it made it even better. If I liked them before I think I love them now. But it will never be the same listening to them now that I've heard them live. It was SO incredibly good. The first two hours of the concert were torture though... there were two opening bands, and they were really not entertaining. The first one, E-rock I believe, was better than the second one, though still not what I would call good (Anyone that can use a Wiimote and nunchuck to digitally scratch though is considered pretty cool in my book.). We almost wanted to leave because the bands were draining our energy and excitement to see Ratatat and then they took the longest time to set up for Ratatat that we considered just going home. I'm glad we didn't. Ratatat's set was worth the wait. But next time, we'll probably show up an hour or two later so we don't have to deal with lame bands and wait time. Bradford used my camera to take some pictures and videos of the concert so I posted a few of them for anyone who wants a taste. (P.S. The video I was going to post was taking FOREVER to attach to my blog so I didn't end up posting it but I may try it again later.)


We got to go higher up (with a better, less obstructed, less crowded view) into the "lounge" part of the venue. It was a "21 and older" only section so it was the first time I've ever been IDed to get in somewhere. They had couches and an outside balcony and, of course, bars.

The keyboard guy was going nuts in all the songs, it was pretty hilarious to me for some reason. Maybe it was because his hair was a huge poof and it was fun to watch him fling it around...

These are some songs that I like a lot by them:

Falcon Jab http://www.box.net/shared/pncgik12g2

Wildcat http://www.box.net/shared/kby3rh338u (Bradford thinks they should play Wildcat at the BYU football games because it has a cougar-ish roar throughout it. Its fun).

Loud Pipes http://www.box.net/shared/k8pa53lc05

While we were waiting to go inside for the concert there was an old beardy guy standing by the crowd with a cello and he was playing all sorts of diddys on it. He was quite a character. Bradford and I decided that he's a bum because his under-appreciated musical genius drove him to insanity and forced him to the streets. We gave him a buck or so, as did a lot of other people. I bet he made a pretty good chunk of change that night. Ratatat should have had him open for them. I would have enjoyed listening to him more than the bands that did open.

We also went to Wal-Mart last night after the concert to get a few odds and ends and we FINALLY found Mario Kart for my Wii! I'm pretty excited to try it out. I love Mario Kart...