I travel a lot. I stay in a lot of hotel rooms (like right now!). It may sound impossible, but oftentimes I have trouble remembering which room is mine. Many hotels are similar and tend to blur into one another after being on the road for a few months. I’ve found myself going to the front desk on more than one occasion asking, “Pardon me. Can you tell me what room I’m in?”

I’ve started snapping a photo of my room number on my phone so that I can look in my phone for my room number the next time I come into the hotel with that blank look on my face.

Mint is an online money management tool that tracks all of your other online bank/checking/investment/credit card/mortgage accounts, aggregates your spending trends and suggests ways you can save money. By the way, it’s free.

For a detail-oriented person like me who doesn’t balance his checkbook, Mint is a godsend! I watch each credit card transaction come in, categorize it and now pay closer attention to where I’m spending my money.

Go check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

My tourmate, Haley, had the idea of posting her daily schedule a while back on her blog. I thought I’d follow suit and share what a day in the life of a sound engineer on a one-off is like:

1. After having gone to bed at 1:30 am the evening prior…
2. 7:30 am wakeup.
3. 7:33 Get dressed in your bunk into the clothes you wore last night.
4. 7:36 Stumble into the bathroom, brush teeth, pee.
5. 7:38 Fill cup of coffee, add a bit of sugar.
6. 7:39 Eat a yogurt and a nutri-grain bar, if you have any left.
7. 7:50 Wander inside to see if Load-In’s started yet.
8. 7:52 Check out the space — “how bad is today going to be?”
9. 7:57 Meet Crew chief –”how bad is today going to be?”
10. 8:00 Load in the show. Land the truck, pull the snakes, build front-of-house, stack the towers, balance the room, set the pit, check it all.
11. 1:00 Go to lunch.
12. 3:00 Take a nap. Set your alarm for 5:30.
13. 5:40 Wake up and eat something.
14. 6:00 Sound check the band.
15. 6:20 Sound check the cast.
16. 6:45 Sound check the principles.
17. 7:15 Focus.
18. 8:00 Mix the show.
19. 10:12 Pack up the console.
20. 10:20 Pack up the pit.
21. 10:45 Pack up the towers.
22. 11:00 Push boxes to the truck.
23. 11:40 Grab ice for the bus coolers.
24. 11:50 Shower at the theatre.
25. 12:05 Store the dirty towel under the bus.
26. 12:10 Drink a beer back on the bus and unwind a bit.
27. 1:30 am… Go to bed and don’t forget to set your alarm for tomorrow.

Sorry for another delayed post. I was in Texas.

Saw the Alamo. I remember most of it.

Played a very cool space in San Antonio, right on the river walk… a very cool part of town.

Went to Waco… didn’t fit real well. Enjoy:

I promise better, more frequent, wordier updates.

I meant to put this up back around the new year… better late than never, I suppose.

2008 was truly a unique and wonderful year for me. I saw some amazing sights and lived some great adventures on the other side of the planet. Here’s to hoping that 2009 is half as good.