Mark Hayward Is My Hero

After sitting on a box of stuff for a year and a half, I have finally started selling things on ebay.  My first auction is for a Mountain Dew can (that I drank) from 1988 or so that I think is a rare design, but we’ll see if the collectors are into it.

I got my first bid today, and they matched my starting price of 99 cents. So far I am GUARANTEED to make 45 cents for my trouble.  That’s right… I’m a high roller….

Woke up late today at around 10:00.  Listened to a little Within Temptation (metal band with a female lead singer) on YouTube.  Took Lenore to work.  Walked the dog.  Had a light lunch consisting of a yogurt and some Ass-Kickin’ Snack Mix which says right on it that it is “Kick Yo Ass Hot!”  And, as it turns out, it is.  Went out to the garage and got my tools organized to put the radiator back on my family’s 1930 Model A Ford.  Had to cut short workin’ on the car to go to a event for the artistic community that is trying to get established in Indianapolis called “Culturati”.  Came home, walked the dog, ate dinner, made juggilng balls out of old tennis balls to use tomorrow at a gig where I will be teaching race-car drivers how to juggle in order to improve their hand-eye coordination and reaction time.  Got a call from a buddy telling me that his dogs might have given my dog Whip Worms.  Ick.  Ate Brittish candy bar that I bought in San Francisco called “Toffee Crisp”.  It was yummy.

One morning a few months ago, when I let my dog out, there was a hawk in my backyard eating a freshly killed pigeon. It was awesome. There was a big circle of feathers, and bright red blood in the snow. As Vader ran out to see what was going on the hawk tried to fly off with its prey, but couldn’t manage it, so it had to drop the pigeon in the yard. Although it came back later, it couldn’t find the carcass in the snow. I felt bad for it. I am VERY much in favor of anything that will kill and eat pigeons… especially if it’ll do it with such style. After a misidentification by me in the bird book, my wife Lenore looked it up, and we both agree that it must’ve been a juvenile Northern Goshawk.

thanks to www.birdchick.com for the image

Today, I think I spotted its nest in a tree a few houses down the street from ours. I love raptors, so I’m excited about having the chance to watch this one more often. The leaves are just starting to come out, so in another week or so I won’t be able to see its nest, but at least I know where it is now so I can watch for it better.

I also saw a pretty big owl in the neighborhood last week, but it was far away and silouetted, so I really couldn’t see enough to try to identify it. I have seen very few owls in my life, so I hope I can get a better view of it.

The Daily Illini Newspaper found me at the Champaign-Urbana Jugglefest

This time my dog and I are Eastward bound. First a stop yesterday in Cleveland to hang out with the illustrious Steve Brown , and today we’re in Leonia NJ staying with Cousin Scott and family. The purpose of this trip is to go to the opening of Lenore’s first solo NY art show tomorrow night in Manhattan. It should be great. We both have a number of friends in the area, so I’m hoping that it will end up to be a little reunion of all our East Coast pals. We’ll see who can make it. Then after the show I get to go to the weekly post-juggling-practice meal with the NY juggling club. Good Chinese food, and always good times.

It’ll be a short visit here; on Friday we’ll take off again back to the good ol’ Midwest. After another stop at Steve Brown’s house, we’ll be home again for a couple of days before heading up to Milwaukee for a gig (in Chicago), and for me to fly out to California for my brother’s wedding. Vader will hang out in his “vacation home” with Lenore’s mother in Milwaukee. After that I’ll be home for a few days, then back up to Milwaukee for the Shorewood juggling festival where I will be MC for the big show.

March is a big month for traveling but April won’t be so bad.

As if Giant Squids weren’t cool enough, BEHOLD THE COLOSSAL SQUID!!! Larger than it cousin the giant squid, and believed to be nastier, this is the first living specimen ever caught, and the first to ever be captured on film. Of course it died in the capturing, but the footage should be incredibly valuable.

For more on Colossal Squids check out Wikipedia.

I spent some time this week painting the custom Freehand Zero yo-yo sidecaps that I ordered from Duncan. I got 150 pairs, and they are clear plastic so I can paint the inside of them however I want. This is the second batch.

At the moment the yo-yos and caps are only available through ExtremeSpin.com or from me directly. Here’s a great shot of an assembled yo-yo from the ExtremeSpin website:

It’s gona snow tonight.  A lot.  People are FREAKING OUT.  The grocery store had every single lane open and there were at least 10 people in every line.  They were running out of milk.

Natives tell me that it regularly snows here in the winter, but you sure can’t tell that by the level of panic in the face of a snow storm.  We’re supposed to get 6-12 inches tonight, and the little “Snow Warning” tag in the corner of the TV screen has now been there for 18 hours.  The local news people are just SO excited about the big storm.  By the amount of coverage it has gotten so far you’d think that the Manson Family was moving to town.

Of course snow and slippery roads can be dangerous, and people need to be careful and properly prepared, but is it really necessary to make a national emergency out of everything? This is exactly what Michael Moore was talking about in Bowling for Columbine, we live in a culture of fear where the media just can’t wait to blow everything WAY out of proportion.

I had a gig Friday night in Lombard IL, followed by three shows the next morning for Kids In The Rotunda in Madison WI. The shows all went well and were fun to do. One of the great things about doing the Kids In The Rotunda shows is that since I grew up, and went to college in Madison, there are often people I know in the audience. Old friends (usually with their kids now), the parents of old friends, and in the second show this time I saw my Middle School science teacher Mr. Leidel. I was trying to mention the fact that he was there during the show, but I couldn’t deliver lines, and figure out where to mention him, at the same time well enough to do it. I couldn’t find him after the show either, with the rush of people trying to buy yo-yos and wanting trading cards, and I’m not sure he even recognized me anyway. Middle school was a long time ago.

After the shows, I got really lucky and got to have a quick personal tour of the two big theaters in the new Overture Center. John, who had been running sound for me, offered to show me the newly remodeled Capitol Theater (formerly remodeled as the Oscar Meyer Theater, but now returned to its original name), and the brand-new Overture Theater. It was awesome.

I have actually performed in the Capitol Theater twice, and it was fantastic. Unfortunately, one of the shows was on 9/11, so John and I share that bond since we both were working that day. The Capitol Theater is one of the two massive ones in town that were built in the days of Vaudeville. First the Civic Center, and after that was demolished the Overture center, were built around the Capitol Theater. So inside a sparkling, new, modern building you have a gorgeous old Vaudeville theater. I was worried that the remodel (to make it smaller) was going to destroy it, but they did a great job.

The newly renovated Capitol Theater

The brand-new Overture Theater is pretty great too. It has a TRIPLE balcony! It’s an astonishing sight standing on the stage looking up at the house when it’s empty, so I can only imagine how great it would be to play to a full house there. They have a new giant symphonic pipe organ, and a really cool retracting symphony shell that allows all the sound to go out into the house instead of getting lost backstage, or up in the grid above the stage. I don’t think it’ll be happening any time soon, but I sure hope I get to perform to a full house on a stage as grand as this one.

Overture Hall

Japanese fisherman found a living deep-sea Frilled Shark this week. Although science did know about this shark before now, it has rarely been seen alive, and this has got to be the best video footage ever taken of the eel-like “living fossil”. Deep-sea creatures are so cool.

Video:

Or, check out the video here.