Houston, We Have A Problem...

You all know I'm a DJ, right?  No??  Hey!  I'm A DJ!  Read about it here!

Well, way back when I was doing all the DJing written about at that link, I bought an amp and a set of speakers... and twenty years later, they're still with me! Most contemporary DJs today use these little speakers that sit up on stands and sound like little speakers up on stands. While those would be a lot easier to carry to and from the car, I love that my speakers kick out sound (and yes, BASS!) that would shatter the very poles holding up the minis!

Anyway, a couple years ago, Cindy had the great idea to give the speakers a facelift. Nothing internal, but she made some very nice looking cloth covers to replace the old scratched up metal ones they came with. While in the middle of that project, one of the speakers was showing some wear and tear (literally), with a little hole in the woofer, like so.



I made a mental note of it, knowing that at some point down the road I'd need to replace the woofers, but at the time, it didn't make any noticeable impact to the sound quality, so I decided to let it live out the rest of its days in the service of loud music lovers everywhere.

That brings us up to last Saturday.

Midway through the dance, I noticed that the right speaker was making truly horrible sounds whenever any deep bass tried to come out of it. I thought that maybe we had reached "that time"... But since it was the middle of the dance, I just cut all the deep bass from that side, and carried on, a little quieter than usual.

Finally, 11:00 came, I played the Lawrence Welk exit song, shut off the power, and went over to pull the cover off and survey the damage. The first thing I saw was little shreds of paper lying on the bottom of the cover. Then I looked at the front of the speaker, and even though I knew it would be bad, I gasped out loud at what I saw...



Everyone still in the gym at that point heard the gasp and came running to see the damage. The really amazing thing was that just a week earlier, I'd DJ'd six hours of Daddy/Daughter dancing and both speakers pumped out nice rich sound the whole time. It really held it together until it just couldn't hold any longer.

Now I'm on the hunt for that "just-right" replacement set of woofers - because while the other one has a heck of a lot more woofer in its woofer, it's showing its age... That's the one shown in the first picture, and I've been down that road before!

Oh, and the post title of "Houston, We Have A Problem"?  The speakers were made by a company called Ross, out of Houston, Texas.  It's a company that doesn't seem to exist anymore, but I will happily attest to the fact that it's not because they didn't make a great product!!

Summer in the Puddles

Tacoma Schools got out yesterday, and today the official Puddle Jumpers Summer 2010 T-Shirts arrived!

Maddie and Kennedy were the last two kids here when the happy box came, so they got to be the glamorous models!



The front features the familiar PJs logo with an added HappySun and sunglasses resting on the hat...



And the back adds a beach ball for added Summer fun!

Wednesday is field trip day, and this year all the PJs will be easy to spot!!

Dear Blog, I Miss You

Wow, I have REALLY dropped the ball on writing here on our beloved blog. My last post of any kind was May 1, and my last post that consisted of actual writing was back on December 18 of last year.

It's not supposed to be like this!! I really love writing! Since starting this blog in September 2006, I've written about many things - our family, music, our various animal endeavors, geeky tech stuff, and even an entire post about robotic vacuum cleaners that had my cousin Amy exclaiming that she couldn't believe she'd just read a whole post about robotic vacuum cleaners... and thoroughly enjoyed it!

I really do enjoy the writing! As fun (and easy) as it is to put up a couple funny and/or cute pics, or a video, this blog brought to the surface a love of actual writing that I previously hadn't known existed!

Even in this barren blogging wasteland of 2010, there are always two or three things that happen each week that make me say, "I really want to write about that!"

But the time is so fleeting... I knew that starting my own business would take up a whole lot of my time, but I hadn't factored in things like having a toddler in the house, or four teenagers going in four (or more) different directions at any given moment. Many nights I'll get into bed and think, "Oh shoot! I was going to put something up on the blog tonight!" and then I'll follow that up with, "I should grab the laptop... many of my favorite posts were written after bedtime..."

Of course, then I realize that if I fall for that line of reasoning, I'll stay up later than I should, and will pay dearly when the (very unforgiving) alarm goes off in the morning.

And then morning comes and the whole cycle starts up again.

My nephew The Donald recently brought his blog back from a long hibernation, and it inspired me... I went through a phase where I cared deeply about how many people were reading the blog, where they were from, how many of them left comments, and so on. But tonight, Cindy was looking through the archives, and I realized that none of that matters nearly as much as the great record of our family's lives over the past four years.

That ALSO inspired me.

So I know better than to make any grand statements about firing the blog back up again - that's too similar to posting that I'm serious about losing weight and getting in shape again. (although I AM doing that too) But what I will say is that I really love doing this blogging thing, and I hope that the next time I have time to play a few rounds of Dr. Mario on the Wii, that I will instead, come over here to the computer and pound out whatever's rattling around in my head.

Or at the very least, post a funny and/or cute picture.

And In My OWN HOUSE!!!

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - if you don't see the pics, just click on over!

By now, most of you have met Baby Eric, the little boy Cindy watches during the day.

Eric's dad is Neil. Neil works as a diver, repairing boats under the water all day.

Sometimes, when he comes to pick up Eric, he just takes off the wet suit and doesn't bother to put a shirt on... That seemed kinda weird. But it was nothing compared to what he brought into our house yesterday...



CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? He willfully and knowingly wore a geek squad t-shirt into my house. As soon as I saw him, I informed him that he was dead to me.

He shot back that he would wear a Tech Services 4 All shirt, if he had one!

Psshh... As if I'm not prepared for that kind of thing!



And that atrocity he WAS wearing? I'm thinking it'll live out its days lining the chicken coop. For now, it's just unceremoniously dumped on the floor.



Neil suggested we could use it as a diaper for Danee, but there's no way. It's not WORTHY of catching her poo!!!

Merry Christmas from The Brinkerhoffs! (who's counting days anyway?)

The Holidays really flew this year... I designed the Christmas Card for my company to send out back in October, but ended up mailing out a handful of them on December 23. About as last minute as it gets.

Our personal cards fared even worse, but they turned out so unbelievably cute, we figured we'd put it up here, so all of our blogging and/or facebook friends could see!

These pics of Danee with Santa were taken on the 15th (aka Mikemas) at the annual Christmas Party one of my customers holds every year. They really do it up right, complete with personalized gifts for all the kids in Santa's bag!

We were very curious how Danee would react to Santa, since nearly every typical one-year-old who meets up with Mr. Claus promptly begins kicking, screaming and carrying on.

But if we've all learned anything over the last year, it's that Danee is anything but a typical babygirl.

And so, it is with great pleasure that we present to you, only a week after Christmas, the 2009 Brinkerhoff Christmas Card!



And in case anyone was curious about what I came up with for the company cards, here's that design... In case you're not familiar with my logo, it's been slapped onto all the balls on this tree!



And if you're still not familiar with my logo, you really should go be a Fan of TS4A on Facebook - just click here!

Work and Play Collide

(By Mike Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs)

Long before I started righting the wrongs of the geek squad for a living, I spent a good 15-20 years where every penny I earned came from something to do with music. I've written about that before, (click here, then here to refresh) and after all those years, it stopped being so fun. Music became work. I switched to my "other skill" and did computers.

Over time, I started dipping my toes back into the "music as an income source" pool, with an occasional DJ gig here and there. Then about a year ago, Cindy and I officially re-launched the DJ Business, and 2009 has been a very full year, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it again!

The pic at the top was from last Saturday, when I DJ'd a "Neon Dance". Black lights were everywhere, neon glowing paint was all over clothing, faces and arms... and a good time was had by all!



Our own Ellysa held a special position of honor, when she got to put on a sumo suit and dance with lucky non-sumo people while "Kung-Fu Fighting" played.



That was fun, but then it was off to the wrestling mat, where she was promptly dropped flat on her back!



Luckily that rubberized hair helmet protected her head!

To top the night off, Andy (in his neon yellow shirt) wowed the crowd with his amazing breakdancing skillz. I kept trying to get a good picture of him, but that dude's 'fro kept getting in the way!



It's nice to finally have balance where I can make some money off my musical skills, but keep it light enough that it doesn't become overbearing. It's gotta be fun, right??

Kidz White Board Art - Corporate Propaganda Edition

(hey facebook readers, the 'book pretty much always screws up my post formatting when they import, so just head over to www.thebrinkerhoffs.com and read this in its native form!)

Wow, I can't believe how bad I've been about posting new things!! There are at least two things per day that I think, "Okay, now THAT HAS to go on the blog!"

...and then it doesn't.

Starting and Running my own one-man business has been the hardest, most time-consuming thing I've ever done, and even though it's only a few months old, it's also already been the most rewarding. Things are coming along nicely, and there's some big news brewing on the Tech Services 4 All front... stay tuned, eventually it WILL make it to the blog!

But first, the reason for this post... Remember the white board that the kids love to doodle on?

Well last night, Andy Andrew Drew put up a little corporate propaganda for the ol' Family Business, and it was so good, such an Epic Win, that I just had to share it here...



YES!!! STICK IT TO THE SQUAD!!!

That's Gonna Leave A Mark...

Alternate Post Title:

HOLY CRAP THAT HURTS!!!!

The other day our Weed Whacker stopped whacking weeds and started having issues.

Being the Handy Manny around our house, it was my job to give it an attitude adjustment.

I just hadn't considered the amount of resistance it would put out against having its attitude adjusted.





Cindy counted up the lashes while covering them in neosporin, and said that the final score was...

Weed Whacker: 6
Mike: 0

I contested the zero score, because once I was done with it, it DID work again, and she successfully removed all the tall grass and weeds that were the motivator for getting the stupid thing working in the first place.

On the bright side, the top-half of my head is not only looking stylish, but also promoting my new company!



I'm very glad it's Friday after Five now! My uncle Richard has invited us out to his cabin on Mason Lake for tonight and tomorrow morning, then I get to DJ another Olympia Stake Dance tomorrow night.

Should be a fun and blood-free time!

No Way - A Baby Pictures Post?

It has been brought to our attention, by (among others) Nurse Molly, from the Special Care Nursery where Daneekins spent her first 23 days, that we have not been posting enough Danee news and pictures.

Well, I don't think such a grievous oversight can be corrected in a single post, but Little Missypoo has been doing lots of cute things that I am proud to present to you now! (so Molly, I sure hope you check in to see this!!)



Last week, Danee got to go see Molly and some of her other friends from the NICU. It was much better than the last time we brought her over, when she slept the entire time. This time she was still kinda tired, but did give up a few smiles, and I think Molly even got to feel her little tooth!

Speaking of that tooth, many of you complained that there was no picture of the adorable little nubber. Well, that's because it's just a VERY little nubber, and seeing it isn't really the best way of experiencing it. In order to see it, you have to pull her bottom lip down, and when you do that, she immediately either grabs your finger and pulls it in her mouth to chew on, or sticks her tongue out and over the tooth. It's really hard to see anyway, but these two reactions make it almost impossible!

But now that she's armed with a tooth, and has been getting cereal in her bottle for a month, we thought it would be a good time to try something new!



Spoonfuls of...



SWEET POTATOES!!

I know she doesn't look too excited about it in that first picture, but she really warmed up to them as the feeding progressed!





In addition to the sweet potatoes in these pictures, you may notice that her hair is officially, "all kinds of crazy"...

Well, Mommy has a special fix for that:



Awwwww... Just like Pebbles, only, ya know, without the big meaty bone sticking out of it!

So, by now all of you should know that I started my own company in May - Tech Services 4 All, providing computer support to the masses. I have been very blessed the last few weeks to have some summer help in the form of my niece Alicia's husband Daniel. Daniel is a Computer Science college student during the school-y times of the year, but wanted to spend his summer learning how a brand new business gets up and running, and also doing a bunch of computer stuff that he'd probably be doing anyway, but in a less structured way.

As an added bonus, he's become one of Danee's favorite people!!



He gets the big smiles from her EVERY. TIME. HE. LOOKS. AT. HER!!

I also get quite a bit of quality Danee time in the course of my day, which is great because she is SUCH a little love bug!!



But alas, all that quality baby time is infringing on my ability to focus all my energies on my business, so I'm moving into an office this week. Nothing too fancy, just a room with two desks that Daniel and I scored a sweet deal on last week. Cindy has really loved having me home the past month and a half, but she also seems pretty excited about my new office. Note the look on her face when I took her to see it for the first time!



Yeah... A little TOO excited! Hopefully she'll drop in for surprise lunch dates with Babykins, from time to time!

I've Got A Logo!

My logo contest quit taking submissions on Wednesday afternoon, and I started narrowing down the more than 70 designs to the ones I could really see myself using.

It was a really, REALLY tough task!

Thursday morning, I decided that I needed to just pick one and get moving, because otherwise I'd keep going back and forth and not get anywhere.

There were two designs that were absolutely at the top of my list, and they were both from the same designer. I took a chance and emailed him, asking if I chose one of his designs, if he'd be willing to give me both of them...

He agreed, which pretty much sealed the answer!

So I am happy and proud to present the new logo(s) for Tech Services 4 All:



and



As you can see, they're very similar, so it wasn't too big of a stretch to ask for both of them. I've used the darker one for my first set of business cards, but with a different font for the company name. Among the tweaks I'd asked the designer for along the way, was a more reader-friendly font on that dark one. He was extremely cooperative, with quick turnaround times - another reason I went with his design over the many, many other great logos I had to choose from.

Armed with the source files for these pieces, I did a few tweaks of my own, including designing my business cards...



And a vertical version of the white one, which I plan to put on shirts and more...



I feel like I got an amazing value for my investment! If any of you ever need graphic design work, I couldn't recommend 99designs any higher!!

Logo Contest - Help Me Choose!

There are three days left in my Logo Design Contest, and so far two people have entered designs.  This is the first one that arrived:

I really like it.  The artist said that the Hexagon represents the many different angles of Tech Work that I do, and even though customers wouldn't guess that, I like having it mean something. 

The problem is, I keep seeing the icon portion as T U, and I don't want it to cause confusion.  So I asked him if he could switch it to be an open-topped number 4 that the T fits into, and he turned it into this very impressive design:

I really like this one too, and it certainly removes any possible confusion.  But I'm just not as crazy about it as I was when I saw the first one!

Finally, after wondering if anyone else would take a stab at it, a second artist sent this one in:

I don't HATE it...  but I feel like it's just a "me too" design.  Virtually the same font, and the T4 in the icon portion doesn't really say anything to me other than, "I saw a T4 in the other design, so I'll put it in here too." 

That sounds like a harsh judgement, and I really WANT to like it, but it's hard to reward something that feels like it's ripping someone off who really was creative.  I left him feedback suggesting that maybe the icon could include the full initials, TS4A - we'll see what comes next.

What do you guys think?  I have so little ability in this area, and I want to pick a logo/icon that will represent my company for at least the first few years, so I want to pick the best option.  Cindy didn't see the "U" in the first design until I pointed it out to her - am I over analyzing here?  

Please help me out here!!

Hey Creative Types - Win Some Money!!

In case you've wondered why things have been so quiet around here, it's because I've been VERY VERY BUSY!!

On May 1, I launched my own company, providing I.T. Services to commercial and residential customers. Need your computer fixed or tuned up?? You'd want to call me! Can't afford a full time I.T. Guy at your company, but want all the benefits that would bring? Call me!

My new company is called...

So, for the last couple weeks, I've been setting up bank accounts, tax ID numbers, Articles of Corporation, phone numbers, Internet domains, and many more things, all while also servicing my first major customer.

I've also tried to come up with a logo, but as you can see above, my creative skills lie entirely in the Audio realm, with little-to-none in the Visual side of things. It's gotten a little frustrating, so I decided to enlist the help of the Internet to get me to the next level.

My friend Glen from Australia tipped me off to 99designs.com, a website where people in my exact situation can hold contests, with cash prizes, which are then entered by people all over the world who actually know how to create good looking visuals! WOO HOO!!!

My contest runs for a full week, ending Thursday, May 21 at 3:43 pm.

If you're someone who falls into that second category, and would like to take a shot at creating the face of Tech Services 4 All, just head over to the contest page, sign up and send in your entry!

And of course, if you need any help with your technological devices and systems, drop me a line!

Rockin' The Stake Dance

Last night, I finally got to DJ my first Olympia Stake Dance!

After a couple months of thinking about it, planning for it, and even worrying about it, things went off very well! My niece Rachel and nephew Kevin were great helpers - Thanks Guys!!

Attendance was on the light side, what with coming out of Spring Break and heading into Easter, but the kids who were there, had a great time and the vast majority of them stayed on the dancefloor the whole night. Several of the stake leaders told me that kids were coming up to them saying "That DJ was great - you should try to get him back!"

Hearing comments like that far exceeded even my highest hopes for this first impression! My goal was to simply make a good impression, and hope that after a few times together, they'd start to like me... It was a very fun night, as this highlight reel shows!



Next up, June 27th, which is the final night of Camp Helaman, and they're expecting 500 or more kids... Plus, the theme is NEON, so there will be even more cool lighting - I can't wait!!

Wednesday Quick Facts

Holy Cow! Wednesday already??

Sorry about the complete lack of posting this week.. We have been way beyond what I would normally call "really busy."

But here are a few quick updates to help you keep up with The Brinkerhoffs...

• The adoption hearing was great!! We got LOTS of pictures, which will be posted up later...
• We had a ton of company over the weekend, starting Friday night. In addition to the Brinkerhoff Seven, we had the DeCoursey Four and the Sorenson Five plus One. To me that sounds like 17 people at our house, but that seems impossible, so I'll just not add it up.
• Saturday's open house was a big success! We had a steady stream of visitors from 4 to 8, with no dead times, and no times where it felt like we were overcrowded. Thanks to all who came!!
• Sunday's blessing was also a big success - in that I didn't drop her, and managed to speak clearly and not drop my cue card more than once... Also, right after we sat back down and Danee was snuggling Mommy again, she let out three REALLY LOUD burps - kinda nice that she waited until there wasn't a live microphone right over her head...
• After the blessing, the rest of Sacrament meeting was largely taken over by Brinkerhoffs. It was an almost overwhelming, and very humbling experience.
• Monday I started my new job, heading up Biz I.t. Pros, the "Managed I.T. Services" division of Skynet Broadband. If anyone wants excellent outsourced I.T. Services, I'm your man!

That's about it for the BIG bullet points. Like I said, there are a ton of other posts I'd like to get up... but while you wait, here are a couple quick pictures...

Here's all of us with the judge...


And here's Danee after a long, exciting, overstimulating day!

Mike's 5 x 5

My sister Susan tagged me back on Monday... Time to finally get it done!

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

1. Producing and hosting the Friday Night PartyZone and the Ambient Hour on Seattle's C-89.5 FM.
2. Working at AEI Music, where in 1998 I was doing music for NikeTown, Williams Sonoma, Rave and others.
3. Being a King County snob, thinking very poorly about Tacoma and anywhere else in Pierce County. (Note that a few months after moving to Tacoma, I decided you couldn't pay me to move back up north...)
4. Paying a fortune in daycare costs.
5. Not even imagining that my life would ever be as fulfilling and amazing as it is today!

5 Things On My To-Do List For Today

1. Get in to work early enough to be done with the server upgrades I need to do, so I can get on with the other 4 things on my list!
2. Hop a ferry to Vashon Island for Kaylee's soccer game.
3. Clear the pine needles off of my roof, un-clog any plugged downspouts. (Flat Roof + Way Too Many Fir Trees = Rainy Season Nightmare)
4. Head up to my uncle Richard's house to play games, have fun, and work on musical arrangements for his church Christmas Party.
5. Get my family safely home and tucked into bed.

5 Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire

1. Buy a nice, big house overlooking the Tacoma Narrows and Puget Sound.
2. Open and run the burgers & ice cream restaurant that Cindy and I have dreamed about.
3. Buy Cindy and I the cars of our dreams.
4. NOT change our lifestyle drastically, so that our kids will still have an appropriate sense of value and work ethic.
5. Adopt a baby even though we already have 4 kids in braces... oh wait, we're already doing that! =)

5 Places I have lived (all in Western Washington...)

1. Des Moines
2. Bellevue
3. Federal Way
4. Tacoma
5. Fircrest!

5 Jobs I Have Had

1. Pizza Guy
2. Record/CD Store Guy
3. Music Programmer / Recording Engineer
4. Organic Bulk Foods Merchandiser
5. Information Technology Manager

I can't think of 5 people to tag who haven't already been tagged to death, so I'll just leave it open - if you wanna play along, leave a comment telling us where to go to see your answers!

CC Update

Before I say anything else, I need to thank all of our friends and family who so quickly added my boss, CC Edwards to their prayers after his sudden cardiac arrest Friday. It was humbling to Cindy and I to witness so many people willing to dedicate a few seconds to praying for someone they've never met... Thank you to all of you!

Now for the great news!

Scans of his brain show no damage at all!

A check of his heart also shows no damage!

Saturday afternoon he returned to consciousness, but they thought they'd keep him in the ICU for 2-3 days. Sunday morning he not only moved out of the ICU, but transferred to a different hospital for better access to quality followup care.

CC is conscious, eating, talking... We hope to be able to visit him tomorrow some time.

Thanks again to all who added their prayers to ours - there were several "amazing coincidences" that helped him out over the past few days. For us, it was great to witness the power of prayer!

UPDATED: Please Take A Moment to Pray

Most of you know that I work for C.C. Edwards Construction Company. It's not a faceless corporation, it is a company that exists because of the unbelievable determination of a man named C.C. Edwards.

C.C. is an incredible visionary, and once he has his vision, he will only accept "no" as an answer after every conceivable, and several inconceivable options have been exhausted. Thoroughly exhausted, in fact. This tenacity has served him very well in life, and I have been so privileged to work with him for the past two years.

Last Friday C.C. took the office out to lunch to celebrate 12 years in business. While there, he told us that his fiancé is pregnant with what they're hoping will be their first girl. (their three boys are pictured above)

Yesterday we had a birthday in the office, and C.C. enjoyed a cupcake along with everyone else. He has hand-picked his staff, and tells us often that he loves the people he works with. It shows. You may remember the Mariners game he treated the whole company to last Spring.

Last night C.C.'s heart stopped beating. He was fortunate to have a friend perform CPR while his fiancé Kristina called 911. When the paramedics arrived, they shocked his chest and rushed him off to the hospital where he still is now. Our office, and I'm sure, the whole company, is in shock. We're praying harder than we would have thought possible, for a quick and complete recovery.

Cindy and I are asking all of you to join us in this prayer. Pray for C.C. Pray for Kristina, who has to be simply terrified with the situation. Pray for their boys.

Please, take a moment to pray.

UPDATE:
We now know that what happened to CC's heart was SCA, or Sudden Cardiac Arrest. This is one of the scariest conditions I've ever read about. 95% of people who get it, die within minutes. CC has already beaten those odds, we need to keep praying that he'll continue down that path.

Harvest Festivus Maximus

Tonight was the "Harvest Festival" at Kaylee's new school!

I've been DJing the "Harvest Hop" at our Elementary School for several years, and have even been locked in for this year's, despite the fact that we don't have any kids there anymore... But I didn't know if I'd have a chance to get in to the Intermediate School this year, since we were brand new there. Luckily, as with most things in life, it's not what you know, but who you know!

About two weeks ago, Cindy got an email from a friend of ours, the dad to one of Kaylee's friends. Turns out he and his wife are on the PTA at the new school, and they were having a rough time finding a DJ for their Harvest Festival that would fit in their budget. I certainly price my services with the going market rates, but I've always done these family Halloween parties for a deep discount, basically offering my services for whatever they're able to pay.

I AM SO GLAD I DID!!

The kids had a BLAST, and I had a blast playing for them! It was a great group of 5th, 6th and 7th graders... Kids who were confident enough in themselves to really let loose and be silly on the dancefloor! Kaylee, of course, was in heaven, leading the pack whenever possible, and to great effect. At the old school, I always got a great reaction from the kids by playing SpongeBob's "Ripped Pants" song, as well as the "HampsterDance" and other modern kids classics. I was concerned that these kids, being (on average) older, would think of themselves as too mature, too cool to allow themselves to be crazy to those songs. BIG MISCONCEPTION!

When a kid requested the HampsterDance, I put it on, with something safe (aka Jonas Brothers) queued up and ready, just in case it bombed. Nope, best song of the night so far! AWESOME! These kids wanna have fun!

I still wasn't planning on taking the SpongeBob chance, but then one of the girls who had been dancing all night came up and asked if I had anything from SpongeBob... Now, it was vitally important to me that she had been dancing all night. It doesn't matter whether it's a kids Halloween party, a Church Youth Dance or a Wedding Reception, there are people who will come up and make requests just to listen to them by themselves. Giving in to these requests usually empties the floor, but that doesn't stop them from asking for more similar songs. Since this girl had been very busy on the floor all night, I loaded up Mr. Sponge (or is that Mr. Bob?) and let it fly. When the opening line rang out across the room, there were whoops and hollers as the kids swept in from around the room to sing along and imitate the Ripped Pants dance! Awesome Fun!!

A couple songs later, the same girl asked if I had Dora the Explorer. I didn't, but I saw the pattern, and realized - shocked - that these kids are comfortable enough with their ages and maturity levels to listen to the crazy stuff they were huge on in Kindergarten, just for the pure fun of it! So I pulled out a song that hasn't been played since Kaylee was in, probably, first grade.

I stopped the music to make an announcement (last call at the photo booth) and then asked the kids to think back to Kindergarten. I then warned them that I was going to play the SCARIEST song I possibly could... They were giddy with excitement! Then, as I hit Play, I told them that I needed them to sing along nice 'n' loud when I say... "CAN WE FIX IT?"

Every kid in the room (and a few parents, too!) screamed out "YES WE CAN!"



And for the rest of the song, they were chanting and screaming along with Bob, Wendy, Scoop, Muck & Dizzy! Then a kid in a big white bunny costume asked for the Bunny Hop. If you've never been a DJ, I'll give you a little tip: YOU DON'T PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY LIKE THAT!!

Kaylee jumped up and started the Bunny Hop line, which soon included nearly all of the kids!



After the Bunny Hop, we kept the livestock theme rolling with the Chicken Dance, and then it was time to wrap it up. I always - ALWAYS - end with Lawrence Welk's goodnight song, "Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Weidersein" and everyone always loves dancing around the room for a few final seconds as the cleaning crew starts their task.

Now the van is unloaded, the equipment is safely locked away, and Kaylee's in bed ready to get up with me at 4:45 Friday morning to play racketball! (a new Friday tradition!) So I gotta hit the PUBLISH button and get to sleep myself!

Please Make A Note Of It!

Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs is MOVING!

Thankfully, with the virtual-ness of the Internet, it's a rather painless process... But for those of you who use the very convenient mikeymix.com address to get here, you'll need to update your bookmarks to the new and improved address...

which is...

www.thebrinkerhoffs.com!

Why? Why are we pulling a change like this?

I am VERY glad you asked!

You may recall me mentioning last week that we were DJ'ing a wedding reception... This is something I've been doing on and off since I was a teenager. Over the past few years we've really let the business just kind of hang in limbo, doing the occasional job on word-of-mouth, repeat business, but haven't lifted a finger to drum up additional jobs.

Well, we had SO much fun last weekend, that we decided it's time to ramp back up to active DJ status. And since the DJ Business has always been known as "MikeyMix Industries", the mikeymix.com domain is going to be home to that biz's online presence. The family blog will be much more at home at thebrinkerhoffs.com anyway.

So, those of you following us on google reader, facebook, email updates, or just going directly to the brinkerhoffs.blogspot.com address, no change for you. But we like having our easy to remember domain for newcomers, and effective immediately, that easy to remember domain is www.thebrinkerhoffs.com.

Thanks for keeping up with the Brinkerhoffs, and if anybody needs a DJ, we know a guy... :)

EDIT!

It seems like I keep having reasons to reference my time at AEI Music!

Today's reason is related to a wedding I'll be DJing this Saturday. I don't do many DJ jobs these days, and have done ZERO promotion for the past several years. But there are a few very happy repeat customers who just keep referring me to their friends and families. This Saturday I'll be providing music for one of those family members. It's kinda funny, after all this time, and literally 3-4 different weddings, I'm starting to recognize people, see the babies growing up... I almost feel like part of the family!

So - there's this wedding on Saturday. A few days ago I got the list of specific music they're requesting for the night. This will be a BIT of a stretch, as they want the mix to lean heavily toward the country side of things. Not a big problem, I've got the basics of current country, and made sure I've got the specific songs they want for the "First Dance" and other assorted events of the evening. Oh, and as a bonus, the bride is specifically requesting NOT to have the YMCA or the Macarena played during the reception. That'll be nice for a change!!

She also made a unique request - the kind that I love, that keeps me coming back to these gigs whenever they call me... This request is likely to be met with uproarious laughter from all within earshot. Here is her request:

And as a surprise for David, I would like you to play "Another One Bites the Dust" after we are introduced by the Pastor. Only a short part of that please.

I LOVE THIS IDEA!
The only thing is, I completely agree that it needs to be just a short part... The song is recognizable enough just from the first few notes that they alone would get the point across. But I really don't like doing the fade-out in the middle of a song, especially if people still haven't figured out what's playing yet.

This sounds like a job for... EDIT MAN!

Back when I worked at AEI, I was the go-to guy for edits.

"That hot new single you want to put in Limited Too's new program has a bad word in it? CONSIDER IT CLEANSED!"

"For some completely incomprehensible reason to any sane person, Old Navy needs to have the entire second verse removed from that classic disco song? DONE!"

Although it's been several years since I've had either of those conversations, I can still hear the call when EDIT MAN's skills are needed.

So tonight I slid down the EDIT POLE, dusted off the EDIT CAVE, and fired up the EDIT COMPUTER, and proceeded to EDIT THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of Queen's 1980 Classic!

I reduced it from its standard 3:37 down to 18 seconds... But then I thought, if the joke is over early, that is potentially a lot of time to let it play out. Another SLICE 'n' DICE is in order!

Final product: 13 seconds of Highly Concentrated '80s Greatness!


My hope is that the timing works out perfectly, everyone has a good laugh, and then it's over and on to the reception without a hitch...

And, of course, that the groom has a sense of humour!!