Today will be the first day in more than two weeks that I don’t spend the majority of the day working. I need this. But at the same time, I am feeling a little lost as to what I should do with the day.

I just spent a week at my company’s Durham, NC office. It was an intense amount of work and learning but it was fun. Times like that are good examples of the sort of thing I like about my company. You sit down with a bunch of other smart people and you talk about stuff that interests you. At the base level that’s what it’s all about.

Now that I’m back my head is full of thoughts and ideas of things to work on, but I’m mentally drained at this point and I know I need some time to decompress. There are a million things I should or could do… But you know what, being able to let go and not choose is feeling pretty relaxing right now so I’ll just ride this weekend out and see where it takes me.

What the fuck is wrong with people? I was in the restroom just now washing my hands as another guy was finishing washing his. He proceeded to take no less than six paper towels, quickly wad them up and wipe his hands and then throw them all away. 90% of that paper was completely dry. I know this because when I dry my similarly wet hands I’m able to get them completely dry using one paper towel.

It’s just frustrating, especially when you see little things like that all over the place.

My good buddy from school started a band not too long ago called Instance based in Eugene, Oregon. Well he gave me a heads up recently that their first single is available as a free download so I’m encouraging everyone to check it out. If you like bluesy rock than this will be right up your alley. Go download the track Different Day!

After an extremely painful Game 5 loss and a close ending just now, I can very happily say that my beloved Detroit Red Wings have won the Stanley Cup yet again. I can’t wait for the parade.

Check out some of the songs from Nina Deli on her MySpace, especially the song Flow. I happened across it yesterday checking out some audio software (I’ll have to go into it later) and really dig it.

I have a lot to catch up on! The Wings are (despite last night’s tough loss) still leading in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Red Bull Air Race came to Detroit this past weekend and played to the biggest crowd it ever has and the Pistons managed to blow it against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals.

But this all too brief post is going to try and give you a little taste of what DEMF was like this year. Some have accused it of straying from its roots and going too “mainstream.” While it’s true that some more mainstream artists performed this year to say it sold out would be kind of an exaggeration. The fact of the matter is they needed to make the festival sustainable into the future, and Movement 2008 proved that Paxahau can do that and do it well.

First of all, the event was well organized. The last couple years have definitely shown improvement and this time it really showed that they knew what was going on. Beyond all stuff that festival-goers would see you could tell they had their act together by virtue of the fact that they were attracting more sponsors who were eager to jump in and take on a big role.

Second, I think the lineup speaks for itself. Despite the “mainstream” influence there were plenty of people representing the original sound. Pulling down names like Moby and Girl Talk is icing on the cake I think, not a reformulation of the festival itself. Richie Hawtin’s set was probably one of my favorite that he’s done at DEMF in the last few years. Deadmau5 was exceptional, as were Kenneth Thomas, James Zabiela, Magda, Mark Farina, Kevin Saunderson, Josh Wink and so many others that I haven’t mentioned. Beyond that there were plenty of acts I didn’t even get to see.

Third, the crowd was great. I met people from around the area and all over Michigan but from at least twelve other states, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, Australia, Brazil, Germany (lots of Germans actually), the UK and Russia. Seriously. It wasn’t like I was even going out of my way to try and find people from out of town, it’s just cemented itself as an international event.

All in all it was an amazing weekend. The weather was perfect, the sound was fantastic and plenty of good friends were around to enjoy it with. As in years past, I can’t wait till the next one.

I’ll have to do a follow up DEMF post, but here’s just a little video I recorded with my phone of Moby’s performance, which was mindblowing. Honestly I wasn’t expecting much, but he may have been one of my favorite acts of the entire festival. If only my stupid phone had recorded longer. It cuts out right as he dropped the beat and everyone lost their mind.

In poking around a bit more on YouTube the other night I found this video of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland getting remixed. I have to say, the music by itself is really good but the very well done video adds a lot.

I don’t even need to say much else, just read this quote from the Detroit Institute of Art site.

From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., boxers from Detroit’s famed Kronk gym duke it out and Mexican masked wrestlers, Revolucha, hit the mat in a ring taking center stage in Prentis Court. Ann Arbor’s The Bang! provides the backdrop with a dance party adventure mixing everything from rock’n’roll to ‘60s soul, from BritPop to HipHop.

Yes.

(That’s on a Thursday night by the way.)

I’ve discussed my love of rock music in the Spring, and while that still holds true that’s not what I’m taking about now. Unfortunately Spring always seems to be one of the busier seasons as well. Not necessarily at work; work is just always full-tilt so it’s hard to say one season is particularly busier than another. It’s with everything else going on. Weddings, graduations, festivals and such. A good time of the year to be sure, but pretty draining.

That’s a big part of the reason I haven’t posted here lately. It’s been on my mind and in fact I’ve had plenty to say; just not enough time. Between the crazy deadlines at work, serving as a judge for the MSU Engineering Design Day competition again, various social engagements and homeowner responsibilities it’s been tough to scrape together much time for myself.

April has completely evaporated and May looks to be even worse. My sister is graduating and then needs help moving from East Lansing. I have several friends getting married not to mention the various parties that are associated with each. Then there will be my weekend of personal enjoyment, aka DEMF (note the countdown to the right). The lineup looks killer this year and I fully plan on spending all three days down in Hart Plaza.

But despite being so busy things are good. The trees are getting green and birds are chirping. The last few days have been a bit cold for my taste, but honestly this is a great time to be in Michigan. Actually, all the weather in Michigan that isn’t January-March is pretty awesome in my opinion.

I’ll have another post soon about some of the cool stuff I’m working on from a musical perspective.