BrianJarrett.com

We’re putting our house up for sale! A couple weeks ago Traci, Orson, and I were out walking and passed a house that was being rehabbed. We weren’t really in the market but it looked like a good deal. We called the realtor, did a walk through, and loved it. We’re going to put a contract on it ASAP and then …read more »

Since I last wrote about Abner’s apparent stroke there have been some major developments. Around the beginning of September we noticed that the other side of Abner’s face had become paralyzed. We assumed that it could be another stroke but since his behavior had not changed we didn’t do anything about it. He was still eating, drinking, playing and doing everything else normally. Then, about a week later around September 8 we noticed a pronounced difference in the way he walked and his balance. He was extremely unstable and shaky, and had extreme difficulty walking up and down the steps. He also had a pronounced head tilt. He walked almost as if he was drunk.

Fearing the worst I called the next day and had them move his appointment up to Friday the ninth. I came home from work preparing myself for the worst but there he was, still going strong but still …read more »

Well, the time has come for me to move on. September 15 will be my last day at Von Hoffmann. I’ve been looking for another job for a while now, after they fired half the St. Louis office less than two months ago. Too many firings, too much instability, and too little information and direction from upper management resulted in me searching for a job elsewhere. I guess I’m just tired of watching people get fired. It’ll also be a nice pay increase on top of everything. I’ve been dying to write about the whole saga but it’s typically not a good idea to write about anything bad going on in the place where you work. That information is sometimes considered privileged or confidential and termination can result in …read more »

I guess W. is right; the Iraqi people want the same freedoms and privileges we enjoy here in the …read more »

We just bought tickets to see Chevelle (again) at the Pageant. I’ve already seen them 3 times this year (and three times before that in previous years) but I can’t seem to see them enough. We first heard of them back in 1999, I believe. We saw their video for Mia and then we attempted to see them at a very small club in Huntington that summer. This was a small bar called the Stoned Monkey, just down from Marshall University. Actually, I played there once with my old band, Flood, back in the summer of 1995; then it was called Players. Unfortunately they played earlier than usual and we …read more »

I was listening to Blind Melon today at work and it finally hit me that Shannon Hoon was dead. I guess I get a little upset when my musical role models do something stupid like overdose on heroin or shoot themselves in the head. It’s not that I had a personal relationship with any of them but these people did influence me musically and probably personally. It’s weird, I remember when I heard that he’d died; my friend Scott Robinson told me. It was October 21, 1995 and my band was mixing down our compilation CD for Cave Records. I don’t remember …read more »

A couple weeks ago we noticed that Abner’s lip was a little droopy on the right side of his face. At first we thought he’d been stung by a bee in the back yard so we let it go. Then a couple days ago we noticed that his right eye seemed to be behaving abnormally. So, we took him to the vet and he had the same suspicion that Traci and I did; it appears that Abner had …read more »

After owning the Kia for two weeks I realized I bought the wrong car. Well, actually I bought the right car with the wrong features. Remember all that talk about the inability to find after market wheels? Well, that was the tip of the iceberg.

So, as a last resort, I headed back to the dealer to see if we could make a deal. The good news is, we did. They took the car back with a generous trade-in and sold me the model I should have bought in the …read more »

I was driving through West County today and saw a bumper sticker that read “Evolution is Science Fiction“. Right beside it was …read more »

Orson made his first trip back to West Virginia this past weekend to meet his grandparents. We left the Friday before the July 4th weekend and broke up the drive over two days both on the way there and back in order to make the trip easier for Orson (and us). He traveled like a pro, sleeping most of the way there and back.

My parents really took to Orson, helping to feed and change him while we were there. He really put on a show for them too; laughing, squealing and smiling …read more »