On Tuesday - May 20th, 2008 we drove down to Moline IL, and enjoyed an evening with Rush. It is not often that a big name rock group like Rush comes close to Iowa, and so I could not pass up a chance to see the power trio of Rush live. With no opening act, I believe Velvet Revolver was suppose to open up for them, they played at 7:45 to 11pm with one 20 minute intermission an hour into the show. I took my ten year old son, so he could enjoy his first concert. I am sure some day he will remember this day and think he actually got to see them play live instead of just downloading them on iTunes. They opened up with Limelight and then played most of the songs from the Snakes And Arrows album. The big moments of the show were of course Subdivisions, 2112, and Tom Sawyer.

Disappointing for me was that they did not play any songs from the Counterparts album which is one my favorite Rush albums. The i-Wireless Center is a very clean arena and while they did not allow cameras, I was able to take these somewhat fuzzy pictures with my iPhone, (click on the top picture to see a higher resolution). The concert used smoke machines, so it was not possible to get a clean photo at times. Our seats were in the balcony, however there were three large projection screens behind the band that allowed you to see close ups of the band during most of their solos. Without a doubt the drumming solo was the best and went on for what seemed an hour. By comparison the Rush crowd was pretty relaxed, compared to a heavy metal concert like The Heaven And Hell tour with Dio and Black Sabbath. Rush played very solid and loud. I could not make out any of the vocals, but considering where we sat that was to be expected. Overall I enjoyed the Rush concert and I hope my kid thanks me later for taking him.

Up next for me is the Iron Maiden - Somewhere Back On Tour concert. This is one I am really looking forward to since I’ve been an Iron Maiden fan for multiple decades now and Bruce Dickinson is back doing vocals.

In my lifetime I have had many names. From Jr, to Pancho, to Cisco, to Olaguez, to my old school high school name, Goose, to my online names: Player, Old School, Burrito Luv, and Muffman. Sometime around the NBA Playoffs season, I get this feeling of being younger and stronger than I really am and that’s when my “Player” mentality kicks in and I find myself at the local basketball court trying to make some jumpshots. 36 made shots later I crawl back home and deal with the pains and aches of basketball and think man, how the hell does Gary Payton and Sam Cassell do it? They are my age and they still manage to play somehow. This weekend I took on both boys, the 10 year old is now five feet tall and the six year old really can’t play yet. Regardless, the older boy has strong hands and shoulders and he has gotten stronger from last year and can now start to push out in the post. I guess I’m going to have to be more like Old School than Player now on the court with him. It is strange to be a father and have one son trying to please you all the time and the other trying to beat you all the time. I’m not sure what the third one will be like, but I hope he is on my side.

Although I am quite busy these days with work and my various hobbies, I ended up putting up a new Amazon store site. I am not much of a gamer but I do buy lots of games and as luck would have it I got stuck with a domain that a customer of mine did not pay me for. The end result is GamersZone.org, which is now a pretty good site to browse for all sorts of console games. Amazon commissions won’t make me rich any time soon, but like I said, I paid for this domain, so I might as well do something with it.

Personally, I am leaning towards getting a Nintendo Wii soon, but I have to admit that the PS3 is very tempting given the Blue Ray player. My kids have about three Nintendo GameBoys, a PS2, and a GameCube which they all play all the time.

Here’s to good gaming and sore thumbs.

Yesterday, ABCNews reported on a school district in Georgia going entirely to single-sex public schools. The move is being done supposedly to improve test scores and to prevent teen pregnancy. The decision has some parents upset, because they feel they had no choice in the matter. Putting stereo types aside, separating kids by gender does not help girls, it only helps them to fail. You can argue all you want about how boys are disruptive, or how girls are supposedly bad at math (something which is a stereo type in this country only!), but the truth is that this school district is running away from its problems instead of facing them head on. You do not combat teen pregnancy by putting girls in another school, you combat it by educating young people on the consequences of sex and how they can practice safe sex. This decision by adults, teaches boys that they do not have to compete with girls. Over time, the impact of this decision will be felt in the workplace, not in the school.

Every day I witness the problems of gender in the work place. Men find it difficult to communicate with women. There is an uneasiness in their interactions. Imagine if I had to work with an entire group of men who never competed with girls in school? The end result would be that women would be excluded from the major decisions and their salaries would end up reflecting that as well, or the exact opposite, which is that in order for women to be successful they would have to work three times as hard as the average male. Then there is the problem of men working for a female boss who is successful, most of these men would complain for one reason or another.

We do not need to reinvent the wheel. The economic history of this country shows that we are financially better off since women entered the workplace. As a country we compete better with women in the workforce, so why would this not be true in the classroom? I believe separating kids is sending the wrong message and letting adults off the hook for not facing up to their own responsibilities.