The continuing rantings of the Reverend Aquaman...

All is well. There is nothing to be concerned about. As you were.

2011-08-18T18:49:00.005+12:00

All is going swimmingly at andhow.FM. Not enough time to pay attention anymore. Hope you are enjoying andhow!

Reverend Aquaman Goes Down Under!

2011-03-29T16:30:00.011+13:00

Hello all. I have been VERY, VERY busy lately, like you cannot imagine. When it rains it pours...the record companies, artist management groups and indie artists have started beating a path to our door. SOOO much new music to audition, I am like a kid in a candy store with no limits! Got the new sound card in the server a couple of weeks ago and found a really great streaming host. This is where I am making my stand, good service, good rates and plenty of room for growth and the occasional rush I get from time to time.

Now I can focus on tweaking everything. I have everything else sorted. The rotation in the automation has been where I have been spending most of my time. I would like the music between the shows to sound just as great, it has been my mantra from the very beginning. I have been having a sniff around on the interwebthingy lately and there is a frighteningly large percent of internet radio is really shockingly ordinary or repackaged what someone else is doing. Nice to be different.

The FM signal has been put off at least till the end of the year. The finance committee has delivered their 2011 budget and there was no transmitter in there anywhere. So plenty of time to get back to my new love and get things sounding groovy.

I have been carefully listening to all of the feedback that we have been getting here on AndHow Web Radio and I really want our listeners to enjoy the stream. All of your suggestions and comments are taken very seriously and help us to be a better, stronger, groovier radio station. Santized for your protection.

Peace & love,

Aquadaddy

Bigger, stronger, more luscious ear smacking goodness in every network packet...

2011-02-27T20:34:00.006+13:00

Bigger, stronger, better. I finally found a series of sites that have been a long and arduent search around record companies, talent agencies, etc. The music world has changed so much in the past 15 years. An aggregator of indie music that is not the next door neighbours with a copy of Audacity and a microphone. New and known artists alike, but the great part is that I am getting a bit of review from the aggregator to help me make my decision. Anyway...the short of it is that I have a never ending supply of new music for the station that I don't have to go searching for, I just get an email sent to my box everyday with the updates.

I really have to get a decent sound card for the studio server. I have been poking around with the engineering of the components that make up the station and found there are a few, how shall we say...."soft spots". Right now, I can't broadcast directly into the stream without resetting the studio. The mixer board plugged into the office PC works great and I can process audio from the board with no problem. But when I plug the board into the server, the mic channel sounds like shit. (Really that is the best description of it.)

So basically this has forced me to develop the automation side of the station. I have gotten some voice imaging done. Not completely happy with any of the promos, ID, sweepers, etc....but you get that when you are an anal retentive Station manager.

I have gotten a few offers for shows that I will probably program into the automation and broadcast a couple of times on the live stream. Then post as a regular show in the podcasts. Makes a lot less work for me as I have to support this station by working a full time job and selling myself by the pound.

Thanks all of you funky and groovy peeps for listening.

Peace, love and shower gel.

Da Rebberund

WOWZA! Another job...I have one already!

2011-02-10T21:07:00.003+13:00

Ok...I was just walking along, minding my own business. I lost a valuable friend today. A Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard with the fancy-smantzy wrist rests and shortkeys. We have been together for a busy 6 years. Its predecessor had a more longevity, but not much.

You can now listen to AndHow Web Radio via your iPhone, Android or other mobile device thanks to the guys at RadioTime. They put me up on their featured station list and I almost considered bumping up my bandwidth at the stream host...but false alarm. There is still a very steady stream of listeners who listen all day long...and thanks to the web site InfoSniper, I am able to track that listeners are coming back every day and listening all day long. It is a pretty cool feeling to watch the stats. I have sussed out the Clockwheel technology in the station software I am using. A couple of webcasts coming soon from featured presenters with various music formats coming soon.

Ok...as much as I have been going on about the website and how less is better? Well...I am comtemplating a whole new flash site...that is currently in development. To keep up with the times and all.

Anyway. Tanks for listening. I love each and everyone of you in my own special warped way.

Peace, love, light and granola.

the Reverend.

Where are we headed?

2011-02-02T19:59:00.007+13:00

iTunes allowing us to be a listing in their directory has proved AndHow Web Radio is a station that has made itself a popular commodity in the streaming radio world. I have had to outgrow hosting all of the station myself and get a streaming host to handle all of my streams. There is an awakening to the internet radio in the Western world and we're proud to be a part of that change. We are *brushing off* what the other's consider "alternative" and redrawing what is considered "new music" in the world today! We are bringing to you only what we always have...the cutting edge of today's new music alternative...AndHow Web Radio! We are glad you have all joined us!!!! =)

When it rains...it pours.

2011-01-25T15:41:00.013+13:00

Good tidings, love and light to all of you.

Thanks for joining the human race and turning your backs on being sheep and getting your daily, non-conformist dose of AndHow Web Radio. If you are not listening *RIGHT* now...I am shocked. If a man in prison can surf the web from inside his cell, then you really are not left with a lot of excuses are you?

Things are up and running...the test stream is *LIVE* and now currently taking a hammering. My faithful and trusty test server has given me the following results for this stage of AndHow Web Radio,

My math is not great, but I figured I could handle 7 or 8 concurrent listeners on my current configuration. This includes me hosting the media server on the back of my ASDL broadband connection. I am now hosting up to 9 listeners on a pretty much regular basis. I cycle through about 100 or so listeners a day. So the test stream has proven that I will quickly outgrow my current bandwidth resources, so looking at streaming hosts to handle the proposed traffic.
My little media server is quite capable of handling anything I throw at it so far. The sound card is not so flash, so my inputs from the board haven't been that great. Currently I have to do live broadcasts from the studio PC and then encode them to the server. Fortunately they sound great on that PC, but just not on the server. I somehow think that this may be the fault of the current test instance of the station automation software and not the hardware though. The mic really sounds sweet, in addtion to the new sound board and is a far cry from the Radio Shack dynamic mics and mixer board that we were using back then. Much easier to replace, if you dropped the gear into the Neches River during a show. Now it is all covered under my homeowners insurance!

I think things are coming along swimmingly. Seeing that I am doing *ALL* of the work putting all of this together...it is slow going. I have already been receiving donations from a few gracious listeners, which go a long way as not all of this is free. I have had to upgrade my ADSL plan to PRO via my local ISP. I have outsourced some voice-imaging (mostly because I am too busy to do my own!) for station IDs and sweepers. I haven't even had time to sit down and just do a live show, but only for a few minutes. Hopefully I can get caught up on things and be able to enjoy the fruits of my labour, soon!

All of this as the world is coming to an end! (only if you are a networked device that needs to speak to the internet.) Funny enough...the last time AndHow Web Radio was up and swinging...the Y2K-bug was upon us. We actually were broadcasting live from our New Year's Eve 1999 party...what you heard on the air was on the dance floor! We continued until the wee hours of the morning. Uneventfully, nothing happened...the electricity stayed on...the internet was still running and so were our servers! Another funny thing that just came to mind, if I was just doing dial-up clients, like back in the day...I wouldn't need a streaming host...this server and my ASDL broadband plan would suit all of my needs. How things change in 12 short years.

Nostalgia aside, it is hard work sounding this good...so I will get back to my tasking.

Peace, love & kibble.

The Reverend

AndHow Web Radio has returned to the internet and airwaves!

2011-01-05T13:44:00.028+13:00

Howdy all, how's is going? I just wanted to post that this has been the start of a fantastic new year. Why, do you ask? Well, I have managed to wrangle andhow.com and andhow.org from a couple of CORENIC Internet domain registrars and their brokers. I had actually gotten into a bit of a heated negotiation that lasted for a couple of weeks over andhow.org, due to the broker wanting an grossly outrageous price for it. This "price" that I had in my head, was gauged on how I bought the domain andhow.com, just a few days before and during the negotiations with the broker who had andhow.org. No muss, no fuss to get that one, a reasonable price was offered for andhow.com and the process of transfer happened right away.

I held my hand close to my chest and didn't let on about how I was the former ond original owner of the domain. It wasn't until the final negotiation that he kept going on about how he owned 200,000 domains and sold a hundred of them a week. He also went on about how sex.com sold for $3 million and how that he was not going to budge. Firstly, I did a little research, he owned about 200 domains, some that looked that he had been sitting on them for sometime. Lastly, he had nothing to do with the sale of sex.com.

I responded in my final offer that I had waited 8 years for the domain to come available again, and I would continue to wait until he came up with a reasonable price. I also advised him that I created the domain name myself and in the 10 years of it existing, I had been the only owner of the domain that actually hosted content and wasn't a broker. I admonished him for not taking the sale for reasonable offer that I had submitted, because something is better than nothing and that I thought he was just being plain greedy.
With that, I had accepted that andhow.com would be the new home for my project and had really thought that andhow.org was a lost cause. It wasn't until a week later that the broker responded and accepted my bid. To say the least, I have been pretty pleasantly surprised. I have only been trying for 8 years to get that domain back! I am in the process of transferring the domain now.

The method to my madness -- my plans for the domain names are to start another R and D project with Internet radio. I had the opportunity to work with a few other of these projects outside of my own station in the past few years. Now the price for record company royalties costs for a whole year, what I would have had to pay for one month in the days of AndHow Web Radio. This has been a substantial decrease in the TCO of bandwidth for streaming and the technologies available. I am also looking to experiment with FM Terran-based radio broadcasting with a FM transmitter and antenna array to then simulcast the Internet radio stream as a community radio station.

I have been doing a huge amount of study recently about the licensing, the actual setup and broadcast of the FM signal as well as creating a studio here in the man cave! I am trialing different kinds of broadcasting software, studio microphones, sound boards, server configurations for AndHow Web Radio as well. I am currently streaming a test stream LIVE from our studio servers, so you can listen to us grow!

Of course, as always I am still fighting the good fight for independent, free radio that is not owned by some corporate conglomerate. No syndicated satellite radio for me, thank you...I like mine homegrown!

So watch these spaces for life over the upcoming year from AndHow FM!

To have a listen to AndHow Web Radio, just visit one of the following links! (In case you haven't figured out yet...) Now streaming at 128kbps to your Winamp, iTunes and Windows Media Player!

www.andhow.org or www.andhow.com

Love, peace, light and kibble,
The Reverend

AndHow Web Radio...let's take a trip down memory lane

2010-01-20T16:17:00.031+13:00

From where we were originally located in 1998 at andhow.org to today at also andhow.com & andhow.FM and back again. AndHow Web Radio now andhow.FM was a dream and a passion of mine that completely consumed me. Started in my house in Bridge City, Texas back in late-1998, this hobby was an attempt at what I thought would be a great way to have my own radio station. It ended forcing my bedroom into becoming a radio studio and me sleeping on the sofa for a year and eventually brought me all the way to Aotearoa, New Zealand. It is simply a "back-up" of what was, a curiosity and a memorial to a time in my life that changed the direction that I was going. Opened my mind to new dreams and possibilities and gave me the opportunity to follow my dreams and not just wish for what might have been. It also gave me a great insight into myself and what my capabilities were to accomplishing what I set my mind to. This is a story of that radio station.

(Circa 1998) I was using Winamp to listen to what was a growing library of a new type of digital file known as a .mp3. I found that I could make playlists, something that I had been doing since I was a child and put them all together and listen to them by just clicking a mouse. I was always fascinated with radio and had been since I was a kid listening to Casey Kasem's American Weekly Top 40 on 55 KTSA AM out of San Antonio, Texas in the 70's. In addition, there was a friend of my Mom & Dad's named Patrick Culp who was a professional radio announcer, which gave me the idea that even I could work to achieve this dream. I would often take an old record player and play my favourite 45's, albums, basically everything I could get a hold of to make shows that I would record on a cassette recorder. Most time I would use the built-in microphone, but one day I was able to get a small mike that I would plug into the recorder. This was so I could talk between the songs and then put the mike on the record player speaker during the tracks. I would spend a great deal of time thumbing through the 45's at the local record store in Cuero called the Cuero Music Company, owned by the late Kathy Dell. Making a collection for my shows and then listening to them, honing my skills.

I would later go on to making proper recordings of my favourite songs, sans the talkovers, and distribute them to friends, family members, anyone who would listen. I felt that those songs represented a view-port into who I was and what made me tick, tunes carefully picked to tell a story when listened to one after another as they had said something to me that I identified with. This went on until the mid-1980's when I got the opportunity to work in radio. On the advice of a friend of my Dads who worked a local radio station in his free time, I spent hours reading magazines, newspapers and books out loud to work on the inflection in my voice. Being from South Texas and raised by a family who were all raised in the Southern US, I had quite a local dialect in my voice and I wanted to work to get myself sounding more professional.

I ended up eventually getting a job as an engineer for the Rick Dee's Weekly Top 40 on 95.1 KVIC FM in Victoria, Texas for a short while, but not having a formal educational background in radio announcing, I wasn't able to get a job in radio as an announcer at the time. Being from a small town and not having the opportunity to get that experience elsewhere, I turned to working in nightclubs and bars as a DJ. I found that I had quite the knack for this kind of work and went from my first job to working around Texas playing different clubs and events. Occasionally it was a full-time gig but for the most part it was something that I did in my free-time apart from a regular job.

I finally got a break when I was given the opportunity to work as a Sunday morning replacement for a guy on sick leave at 94.1 KQXY FM in Nederland, TX. At that time they had a "beautiful music" format, which was mostly automated reel-to-reel, that I would pre-record the weather and news to "cart" and the automation would play it at the top and bottom of the hour. That led to a job at KZZB 95 FM which got me more into the producer/engineer side of things. Even though I had the gift of gab, my talent lied in engineering and producing shows, so I moved in the realm of "club DJ" where I would work mixing in dance clubs packed with people as well as the occasional DJ for hire.

This went on until I was in my early 30's (back to circa '98) when I found that I could open multiple instances of Winamp on my computer and produce shows again, similar to my shows I did when I was a child. I thought it was a waste not to share this with the world, until I discovered the world of streaming media. I was able to work a deal with a local ISP, and then located at PNX.COM on a Real Media stream from a server at his location, that I could stream live from my house and the small studio that I had thrown together. One that was completely independent and had to do all of the processes that it took to get Internet-streaming radio station content out to the public. When you connected to the station, you were connected to us. This in conjunction with harassing everyone that I could find via ICQ (an instant messaging client) and their Find a Chat function, to come and listen to my station. In a very short period of time, this became quite popular due to the fact that just a handful of people were doing LIVE internet radio at the time. Especially not one that the in the early IM chatting communities, could make Live requests to a DJ and actually heard them played on the air! The format was a bit mixed due to the fact that we tried to play every request we got, even if we had to find it and play it on another show. This was the time that acquired the small mixer board and some microphones and stands and asked a friend to join me occasionally to do shows. Any topic and any music were fair game and we made a regular habit of putting on shows in my bedroom of my duplex apartment, where I was also running a small home business. We were attracting so much of a following wanting more content, that I was putting together shows with my friends, neighbours and basically anyone who was willing to put a bit of their time into a radio show. I leased the domain andhow.org, started a website and spent most of my time working on the site and producing shows. AndHow Web Radio was born.

This lead to us eventually moving to the Windows Media streaming services that were offered with the brand-new Windows 2000 Advanced Server package. This mostly due to the fact that most people were reluctant to download something from the internet just to listen to the radio and Windows Media Player came installed with all new Windows OS computers. This also allowed us to tweak our stream to get better compression and sound quality from a dial-up (32Kbps) stream. Yes, this was all in the era of the 33-56K modems that most people had at the time. Plus it seemed to be a bit more stable with the amount of listeners that we were starting keep coming back on a regular basis, along with everyone that they could get to come along. We actually did a live, on the air, broadcast of a party at the ISP that we were also providing the music for during the NYE 1999. We were looking to debunk the myth that whatever people thought was going to happen during Y2K and show them how silly the hype really was all along. Not surprisingly, nothing happened as predicted, but what did happen is that we had a large number of listeners from all over, most of them trapped at work during New Year's Eve with access to a computer.

We were starting to overload the server and bandwidth that we were being allotted by the ISP and due to personal differences, we were forced to move the station to a co-lo or co-location server, which is a hosted server. We were pulling in about 800 listeners a day and could only handle about 10 simultaneous listeners. In fact, we were putting so much of a load on the server and networks of a server host, that they asked us to leave. This lead us to come a bit more creative about how we could stream our content, some of the methods ISPs and hosts had never experienced before and really didn't know what to do to fix the problem. All of this continued until an ISP in Nederland called Pernet came along and had listened to the station and wanted to work with us on getting us up and running. He was willing to offer us all of the hardware, software and bandwidth that we needed to stream the shows. We were also able to work out a deal to trade advertising on the station with local businesses to barter for what we needed to run and broadcast the station on a commercial level. The end-goal was creating a commercial radio station that was completely independent, inter net-only and did not simulcast from a traditional Terran (AM/FM/Shortwave) broadcast.

We ended up producing (14) 4-hour shows a week, with automation in the open schedule, to a listening audience of up to 1500 listeners a day from over 100 countries, all over the world. This is where personalities such as Reverend Aquaman, Doctor Dude, Bad Karma & Riley, Anarch & the Chaos Kid, Le Music de Femme, Big Gay Tito and O-Braonain would produce shows from all kinds of formats along with their personal statements and countless characters, all broadcasting non-stop 24 hours a day. I had to remove the bed and furniture from my bedroom and turned it into a studio. I then took to sleeping on the sofa. I had someone usually always doing a show in my house, either myself or one of the other many volunteers who were keen to show up every week, some daily, to do a show. There was the non-stop coffee maker in the kitchen, which always had a pot 24 hours a day. We had a guy from the Northern US, his name completely slips my mind, who had a deep, booming, big-market radio voice was doing our promos and station IDs. Our production sounded pretty great considering it was all done on a home PC. We eventually got a compressor/feedback destroyer (a cool, little box) to make the sound of our voices a bit more professional. I had an ISDN line installed to my house, ADSL was not yet available back then, and was able to stream to a media server hosted at Pernet who would handle the streaming load and bandwidth. We did the first ever live-performance simulcast of an Internet-only radio station in that part of the US, at the Logon Cafe' in Beaumont, TX and that even ended up being a weekly show. They had the occasional open-mike night and bands would come in and perform on their stage we would do a live broadcast from the show and would play the station and our music during the set breaks. The whole station was marketed to 'jamming the free world, one person at a time!', even if you only had a dial-up connection, you could listen to AndHow. Because of this and our interaction with our listeners, made this station unique and a draw for hundreds of thousands of people who would tune in.

We were all having the time of our lives. I was given the opportunity to live my dream of having my own radio station, playing what I thought people wanted to hear. We had proven our steadfastness and determination, as we had now been doing this for a couple of years but due to the record companies and their infinite wisdom and greed, we were not able to become a licensed-radio station. There was no licensing for internet radio stations at the time and all of this was playing out on a world stage prior to the dot.com crash when every one was trying to squeeze a dollar out of this new "internet". Without licensing, we could not get sponsors to buy our ads that we were capable of making and a radio station that we could prove that people listened to, lots of people....without those ads....no revenue.

This is what ended up happening to internet radio in the US in the end.

By that time the other business that I was running to keep my head about water was starting to fail due to the fact that I had spent the past 2 years running a radio station, which was now consuming 50-60 hours a week of my time. I was willing to do whatever it took to keep the station running, but it was starting to lose its steam. Since we were not able to make money with the station, we slowly started losing the interest that we were getting from our sponsors. That I was at the end of my tether and sold everything that I owned and moved to the other side of the world to New Zealand to try something different. I wanted to find a place where I could take my now "pirate radio" station and find a place to make my stand.

After spending some time in New Zealand and taking work in the IT industry based on my experience with the radio station I had to make a choice. I had the possibility of a career in the IT industry, making a good living from something that I was already doing for free. I decided that AndHow Web Radio was all starting to get a bit much and I had lost the passion that I had when running the station from "high atop the Rainbow Bridge in Bridge City, TX" (We claimed to be broadcasting from on-top of there from laptops and lawn chairs). Plus, I came to the decision that I couldn't do it on my own, the expenses were too much and I just didn't have the creative group of people that I did in the US. So on the 14 of December 2002 at about midnight, the great AndHow Web Radio went off the air.

I don't regret one minute of that whole experience. It was a rush, a dream of mine became its own entity and took on a life of its own. It touched the lives of many people and brought me to live 10,000 miles away from home on the other side of the world. This into a life, a career and an opportunity that I could have never imagined possible.

I recently have found a new project for AndHow and it is currently in development. FM broadcasts, Podcasts and the return of Internet radio now in CD-quality sound with AndHow Web Radio and andhow.FM!

This is a really great little widget that I got from ReverbNation for Panda...

2009-07-05T19:40:00.002+12:00

A pandemic spreads across the South Pacific!!

2009-05-14T19:04:00.010+12:00

Hey all. I have been promoting Panda for like what seems forever online, but now I am doing it for real! I have made the offer to my dear friend to help get the wheels turning in doing my part in helping a brotha-from-anotha-mutha out!!!

There are now two CDs (of the current 4 releases) of his music available for sale from Amplifer NZ and I have gotten the latest CD 'Lifedeath & All That Lies Between' posted to TuneCore, which is like an aggregator that represents indie artists to iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, Napster, et. al.

I also co-publish his Facebook site along with his website that I have been authoring and tweaking for the past few years. I am also taking to booking in the Wellington area and looking forward to promoting next year's Te Wai Pounamu New Zealand tour, once he returns from touring the US at the end of the year.

Completely by accident but due to the furious promotion that we have been working on, he has been invited 'Pop! Goes the Weasel' produced by thedownlowconcept to be broadcast on Kiwi FM at a yet be announced date. As well as asked to submit his music to National Radio on Radio New Zealand. Hopefully the tunes will be available to iTunes soon, but Amplifier NZ has been a very popular draw for fans of his music and just reading the comments on his Facebook page will attest to his loyal and devoted followers.

I am really enjoying this creative energy that I feel flowing through my veins again; and I have to admit that it appears I have a talent for this kind of work! Hopefully we can get the wheels spinning faster on the momentum that we have gained so far!

I invite you guys who aren't fans of Panda to have a listen, you'll be glad you did.

Luv, hugs, licks, kisses and nibbles,
The Rev

There is always something there to remind me! BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW

2009-05-06T21:08:00.003+12:00

Mom made it to NZ safe and sound, all went well lots of photos were taken and we all Scarlett, Nickky, Mom and I had a nice little holiday. Since my last post a lot of things have changed, but most of the people I talk to online are on Facebook these days anyway. It is pretty cool how you can link them together though. I have since left Human FM as it was turning into way too much work and I think I quit having fun a while back. It was a shame though, there is a lot of potential there, but there ya go.

I am now managing and promoting a music artist now on the side....Panda and that takes up most of my free time, but at least this way I can possibly make it worth my while. In addition to getting a really good mate the attention and promotion that he deserves.

So most of you that I used to chat with on here are now on FB anyway...so I won't bore you with the details...come and visit me sometime!!

Peace love and granola,
The Reverend

My Maw is coming to New Zealand!!!!

2008-06-21T07:44:00.006+12:00

...for a wee visit. I am pretty excited to see this lady. I sure do miss her. She is going to get the opportunity to see her grand-daughter, Scarlett for this first time!!!! I am flying her here to Aotearoa at 42° below for a gander at my world!

Besides Mexico, she has never been outside the US before. A well-travelled with-in the borders of the states and as you can see for yourself, an attractive and fun person to be around, plus the lady who brought the Reverend into this world and managed not to kill him while he was growing up....so I am honoured to have her here.

Still doing my gig at Human FM, even though be it most of it behind-the-scenes these days...it takes a lot more work than you think to keep a radio station running!!! Loving my little one...she is a joy and a sight to behold. I feel very blessed to have her in my life. She loves her daddy and he sure thinks that she hung the moon.

Just contemplating the whole, "Turning-40" thing that is coming up soon. I have a really choice 40th birthday party in store....a "Pirate" party, in Pukerua Bay at a killer house with a sick view of Kapiti Island and the Tasman Sea. I have finally found what Jimmy Buffett calls, "One Particular Harbour" and I am giving Pat the pirate a wake. It should be good fun and if you are going to be in Wellington around the 12-13th of September and you pass muster....you can be too! It IS going to be a good time....I guarantee it.

Anywhos....that is a little about what is going on in my world. Life keeps me very busy and it gets longer between posts. But I am alive and very well....tired most days....but everyday about ground is a good day!!!

Kia kaha,
The Reverend

The Reverend has moved to HumanFM!!!!

2008-02-11T14:53:00.001+13:00

Heya!!! Sorry I have been a stranger for so long....but life has been keeping me very busy.

I am now on 88.1 HumanFM on Friday nights from 7-9PM (NZST) This is a much better gig than at TheVBC and I am not always having to feel like I am not cool enough because I am working with kids young enough to be mine!

I hope you all come and have a listen and join the Masses or Reverend Aquaman's Music for the Masses. Click Here for the LIVE Internet Stream!

Hope you are all groovy and please come visit me on MySpace!

Love, hugs, kisses, licks and nibbles!

The Rev

Somebody slap me....I'm dreamin!!!!

2007-10-08T22:56:00.000+13:00

Believe or not, it is too good to be true!

BUT FINALLY...The VBC 88.3FM is live and on the internet!

Catch the live internet stream from The VBC 88.3FM here!

Hope to see ya all there.

I will, of course be ON THE AIR on Saturday nights, as always with Reverend Aquaman's 'Music for the Masses', just now you international campers will be able to tune in!

Here are the international schedules for the show!

NZ - Saturday nights 10 PM-Midnight

UK - Saturday mornings 10 AM-12Noon

Sydney - Saturday nights 7-9 PM

US Central - Saturday morning 4-6 AM

US Pacific - Saturday mornings 2-4 AM

US-Eastern - Saturday mornings 5-7 AM

Slovenia - Saturday mornings 11 AM-1 PM

PLUS....I am also going to be doing a Friday night show at HumanFM 88.1 soon!!!!

Stay tuned for more details!!

The Reverend

The Reverend is now BACK ON THE AIR!

2007-04-07T16:48:00.000+12:00

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your radio again! It is the Reverend Aquaman, stuffing the best alternative music mix in your radio! I am broadcasting on Saturday nights from 88.3FM The VBC, which is Victoria University's student radio station. The internet stream isn't finalised yet, but as soon as it is, I will let you all know. Then we will be international...just like I like it!
For now our limited FM broadcast covers pretty much the line of sight from Victoria University to the Wellington CBD and Victoria University campus. In July we are getting an increase in our power output and eventually you will be able to listen to us all over the Wellington area. So make sure to tune in on Saturday nights and check it out!

It has been a four year hiatus for the Reverend, since the last broadcasts of AndHow Web Radio in late 2002. Basically my show on The VBC is very similar to the Music for the Masses show, but now a little edgy-er and definitely has more teeth! In the works is a contemporary jazz, new age and world music show and possibly another specialty show which has yet to be put together.

If you are in Wellington and close to Victoria University....just tune your dial to 88.3FM and enjoy!

Hope to see you there.

The Reverend

OMG...more about that Aquaman's damn kid!

2007-03-25T00:36:00.000+12:00

Man....is it just me, or is this the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? Yes, the princess is just a little over 3 months old now and she is so cool. She always has a pretty smile for her daddy and is making some interesting noises. In fact, if I didn't know any better I would think that she had perfect pitch.

AND I am bringing my mother here to New Zealand for Christmas. It is her 60th birthday this year...yes...the big 6-0 and of course the old queen has to come down and see the reigning princess of the Aquakingdom! Mom has been making Scarlett news over in the US as well, my friends over on MySpace were going on on how beautiful my daughter was and I asked where did they see the photos and they replied...in the papers! Seems that mom has taken it upon herself to introduce the new addition to the family in all the local papers! My friend Heather sorted me out with a scan and an online copy as well...thanks!

I haven't been doing much of my usual ranting lately....but believe me...I have plenty to rant about. There have been some interesting things going on as of late....but then it is late and I will save that for another episode.

Well...cheers and all that to all of you.
See ya soon.

RA

Here is my baby girl!

2007-01-29T13:23:00.000+13:00

Ok...this is for all of your who have been asking for photos and haven't made it across to MySpace to check them out for yourself! I just haven't been spending much time here and MySpace is the best place to find me! I hope you enjoy these as much as I do! She is the light of my life and has already got Dad wrapped around her little finger. (...and what a tiny lovely wee finger it is!) She is pretty damn clever, just like her old man. I have to give her Mum credit too, she is a pretty clever cookie and is a great Mum as well. I couldn't have asked for a better person to have a child with. :-) Thanks Kim!

All is well in the 'Land of the Long, White Cloud' hope it is for you too.

--The Reverend

The Proudest Dad in the World!

2006-12-31T23:51:00.000+13:00

Who is that bum holding my daughter!?!?!? Oh...that's me. I have heaps of photos, but I thought this was pretty accurate. It shows her and all of her gracefulness and her big goofy old pop! This photo is actually during our first meeting, I had just flown in from Christchurch, dropped off the entourage at my house in Welly and then drove like a bat outta hell to Hutt Valley Hospital. I am smitten...that is all I can really say about the whole matter. I knew from the moment that I met her, I would do anything in the world to keep her safe and healthy.

Just want to wish all of you the happiest of New Years. Come visit my 'other' blog at My Space sometime. I have ran into people that I have known for over 30 years on there and had lost touch with, even old friends from the US that I went to school with and of course the whanau all have sites of their own. Hope to see ya all there!

Peace, Love and Granola
The Reverend Aquaman

You were warned...the Invasion is upon us!

2006-12-19T00:15:00.000+13:00

You were given fair warning. The degüello was played by the Mariachi bands in preparation for the invasion of the AquaForce, all the signs were there....did you miss them??? Well it is too late, you can run but you can't hide!

I would like to introduce you to Miss Scarlett Alyssa Brennan-Meads (Aquababy). She is the young lady to the left who is showing you her wrath! She just weighs in at about 6 pounds...but she will steal your heart...er....umm....will make you beg for mercy while she wields complete destruction of the enemy without mercy. You guys bought those fallout shelters didn't you? Tsk tsk...the streets will flow with the blood of the non-believers!

She arrived on our planet 14th December at 7:41PM. I happened to be in Hokitika with my dad during the most incredible journey around New Zealand. I got home to see her the next day and I cryed like a baby. I am head over heels in love with this girl. All is well in my little world right now.

Act II: The Incredible Journey. My dad and his friend Len arrived in Wellington on the 5 of December. I had taken two weeks leave from work. I booked a bach in Ohiwa Beach on the Bay of Plenty for a weekend. We rented a car and drove up through the Desert Road, via Lake Taupo, Rotorua and Whakatane. I introduced them to the local wild life at a crazy little local pub in Opotiki. We spent a couple of days wandering around the area, shopping, seeing the sights, my friend Panda was playing in the Coromandel and took the night off and came down and stayed a night with us. We then drove through the Waioeka Gorge back into Gisborne and I caught up to my mate Kiri. She is living in this really kick-ass house that sits on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the Poverty Bay flats. Very nice. After a quick catch up and a cuppa we then drove back to Wellington though the Hawkes Bay to the Manawatu Gorge, past the wind farms, via Palmerston North. After a short breather, we then flew into Christchurch, rented a car and then drove onto Queenstown where we spent a couple of days taking in the "flora and fauna". Then through Wanaka into Haast and then up the west coast past the glaciers to Hokitika where we spent the night. I was in a cafe called Stumper's having dinner and drinks with my dad's mate, Len when my daughter was born. I got a text after we ordered. I made the announcement amongst a sea of cheers from the patrons of the tavern. The next morning, after some shopping for baby stuff, we drove through Kumara Junction, over Arthur's Pass into Christchurch where we caught a flight back to Wellington and I made a mad dash to the hospital on Friday to see my baby girl.

Dad and Len flew out yesterday evening after a 12-day whirlwind tour of Aotearoa. It was really nice having them here and it was a good time all around. In spite of the 3,000 kilometers of driving that I did...they were not ready to brave it behind the wheel in New Zealand...they just kept muttering something about these damn round-a-bouts! The South Island of New Zealand is really paradise. It is without a doubt the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. WOW was the word of the day during the whole time we were there. I highly recommend to anyone to spend some time down there.

This has turned out to be a very Merry Christmas....well with the exception that I am on call for Christmas and New Year's....man they stick it to the foreigners don't they!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays and a Happy Gnu Year!

The Reverend Aquaman and Aquababy

Death be not proud...

2006-11-27T18:09:00.000+13:00

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

--John Donne

When I went into work this morning, I would have never thought today would turn out like it did. Nor do I any other day for that matter. My boss died over the weekend. He was killed working on his farm in the country. He was the IT Directorate over the entire ITS services department at the University, where I work. I have other bosses, but they all reported to him. He seemed like a nice enough fella, from all of my dealings with him. He had formerly been a lecturer there for a few years before he took the post he was in now. There have been heaps of changes that have taken place there at the Uni. I reckoned that he dealt with them with a particular kind of grace and confidence that I really admired about him. It is my goal to attain the status that he held one day. I guess that I had looked to him as the person that I wanted to be one day, professionally of course. Plus he had a really sweet BMW that he parked not far from the office that was a particular incentive for me to work towards. Not saying that I would ever be caught dead in one of those things, but the status of it all the same. I guess when things like this happen, so suddenly and out of the blue...as life goes is pretty normal anyway, you really seem to stop and take a look at the big picture. Right after our team manager broke the news to us, someone noticed that it was a really beautiful and clear morning. I thought that was appropriate and when it was suggested to us that we could go home if we wanted to, I stated that I reckon that Alan would have wanted us all to just get back to work. During the gathering of the ITS department that we had this morning, the Vice-Chancellor said that our boss mentioned to him that he was really proud of us and the advances and work we had accomplished in the past year. So that is exactly what all of us did, sadly. But at the end of the day, this is exactly what is in store for all of us. One day.

The Reverend

Peace, Love, Babies, Christmas & Granola

2006-11-25T21:23:00.000+13:00

If I would have been wearing this t-shirt, I might not be in the boat I am in now?!?! Only a few short weeks until my life is changed forever...the invasion is imminent. I hope you took my advice a few months back and got those fallout shelters. The Aquababy and aquamum are doing quite well, we went to a restaurant the other night, it had been a while since we really just had a chance to sit down and talk...all I can say is that if you value your life.....never come between a pregnant woman and a buffet table.

Dad is also going to be in the neighborhood in just a little over a week. I have never spent so much time and effort to get my house sorted. So again, if you are wandering aimlessly in the South Pacific, I have enough room to sleep a small band. That means you Mike Doughty, if you are reading this. I was starting to feel a bit lost in this big house all by myself, but I really am enjoying the space. As much as it makes me sound like a poofta, I really have enjoyed fixing the rooms up. All of this baby stuff is making the Aquadaddy kinda domesticated?!?!? I would have never thought it, but fatherhood is soon upon me. I have gotten to "play" dad in a couple of occasions and also have dated numerous women with kids....but I have a feeling this is going to be a lot different. I feel a lot like I did when that airplane was backing out of the terminal in Houston about 6 years ago, after I sold everything I owned, packed my bags and moved to New Zealand. Excitement, fear, curiousity, wonder, etc...this is the beginning of a whole new adventure for me and a whole new life experience to enjoy.

BUT A-N-Y-W-A-Y....I digress. We got to go out and check out an MASSIVE band last night at Sandwiches in Wellington. The Cornerstone Roots. I have seen them a couple of times when I was living up in Gisborne with the Ollynator. They did not disappoint...even though I paid double to see them difference to what I paid in Gissy, bro. Naomi was giving that bass a workover and the band was tight-as. If you like Fat Freddy's Drop, I reckon these guys will suit your taste for a bit of a reggae-dub grooves in your dreads, ow. Awww yeah. It was good to catch up with the percussionist, Adam...it had been a year or so since I had seen him last. It was a great night with some friends from the University....and God Bless Jack Daniels...a true and respected friend. OK....I am rambling....mucho mota.

I will keep you abreast (no pun intended) of the baby's status here at Aquababy Central. Taking bets on the baby's sex....we still don't know ourselves and it is going to be an interesting Christmas to say the least.

Until next time...
The Reverend.

Lucy! I'm Hooome!

2006-10-28T15:50:00.000+13:00

How domestic is this? I am 38 years old and I just bought my first lawn mower. I have lived in so many places in the past 20 years but this is the first place I have had to look after the garden and lawn. It is not like I have acres of lawn to actually mow. In fact, my lawn is about the size of a trailer house. Not much of a section...but it is MY grass! I looked around at a few places and did my shopping, glad that I did. I ended up getting something that was just the right size and price that I wanted. I got some garden tools and have been sorting out the gardens. I know....doesn't this sound all really boring and domestic?

I have dumped the whole idea of having flatmates as well. It is just too much damn headache. I have had the recent experience that has put me off of it for good. This is the sickest individual I think I have ever met. A woman that comes into my house to rent a room, makes feeble attempts to buy me by giving gifts that she would later attempt to take back. I always thought she was a bit of a con and in the month, I got to know her...I was right. I didn't buy into the con, so she made my life a living hell. I finally gave her the boot and kicked her skank ass out. She even tried abusing me for two weeks solid with just random shite that she thought was going to hurt me?!? She was stupid enough to make threats on text messages and then admitted her guilt in unlawfully coming into my house. (STUPID LOL) For the most part it was just annoying, like a mosquito buzzing around in my ear. She actually thinks I even wanted her around in the first place! I really just felt sorry for her because she was losing her place to stay and my flatmate was contemplating moving out. She ended up bullying him to leave so she could move in here, as he later informed me. After she moves in I caught her going through my text messages on my phone, digging through my drawers in my room. I told her to get out...which of course she turned into a big scene, dragging my half-sister into the fracas (whom she has obviously conned as well). After I finally get her out of the house, (which took numerous calls to the police to action) she refuses to give the key back. She claims that the gifts she gave me we her property, pfft, right. So the little scuzz-bag comes in while I am at work...she is waaaay to chicken-shit to come around while I am here...and she pees....like a stray dog...in my shoes (all that were either cleanable or disposable)....then rubs shit on a toothbrush (that had a changable head, dumb cow). She claims to be the "bringer" of karma and has repeatedly threatened her wrath (ooh a STALKER!)...but in fact she is about as stupid as she is ugly...she has no idea how karma works. But that is ok...she will feel the wheel turn soon. The police have served her with an official warning and I got the locks changed, as they suggested. My next step that is in the works is a protective order. I have made every attempt to just ignore her and not have to take such drastic measures, but every time I try to fade-away, I get an abusive e-mail or text. My hand has been forced into bringing the law into this, hopefully this will bring this all to an end.

My dad has always had a saying about Karma that I honestly believe is the truth, "The wheel turns slow but it does turn."

I am fixing-up the extra room in the house as a guest room. I have bought some furniture for the room since Dad is coming out to visit, he has a place to crash now. My mates from Gisborne are coming down to visit soon and now they have a place to crash as well. IN FACT....if you are in the neighbourhood, give the old Reverend a tingle! I am not fucking baking anything. So bring your own goodies.

OH...and Aquababy and Aquamummy are doing quite well. Thanks for asking.

Hope all is funky and groovy in your world.

Aquadaddy

If we got stuck in the middle of the sea...

2006-10-23T19:07:00.000+13:00

This guy right here. The one cooly dragging on one of those long, brown More 120's that he has been smoking since I was about 8. The one who whether I like it or not is responsible of half of who I am. Well, him and his mate MacKenzie are coming down here to Wellington all the way from Zwolle, Louisiana. It should be a right blast. I am un-officially the tour guide. We are going fishing up in the Bay of Plenty, I got a bach for us in Opotiki. I reckon we could drive up the Desert Road past the Tongariro Nat'l Park and then up through Taupo to Opotiki. Then back down around the East Cape through Gisborne and then across the Hawkes Bay back through the Waiarapa over the Rimutukas back to Wellington. That should get them to see a bit of the North Island. As far as Auckland....honestly it looks like any other big city in the world. Nothing really impressive there. Then we are off to the South Island. Not really sure how we are going to do the trip down there yet. That is still in the planning stage. I haven't actually been that far South, so it is a lot of guesswork and asking the locals.

It will be good to see the old man again. We had a nice catch up over Christmas when I went "state-side" to see the rellies and some of my old friends.

Life is good.
Ciao
The Rev.

What is it all really about?

2006-10-06T00:38:00.000+13:00

'The Greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, was convincing the world that he didn't exist.'
-Kaiser Soze'

I have never been a pius man, but that makes me far from being evil. I have been as guilty as the next person in making decisions in my life that haunted me years down the road. There have been events in my life, as some of you readers know, that have given me a different perspective on reality. Just as real as the grey hairs that have sprouted in a small bunch on my hairline about my forehead recently. I think some of us take forgranted how much each one of us effect people around them, if not only for themselves.

Just a few months before I left the US, a respected and admired friend passed away. It was a great shock to all of us, whom had known each other all for approximately 15 years, some longer. Some of our first experiences in adolescence were experienced together and have been the source of some really great memories. The 'official' cause of death was suicide. I did talk to my friend the night prior to his death and I didn't feel like that was an acceptable conclusion. There were rumours abound that he had met foul play, but the powers that be didn't see it that way. I also knew due to the fact that I myself took a hand at tempting fate and I know what that feels like, my friend was not in that state of mind. A lot of the judgemental fingers of gossip, including my own, looked at the wife of my friend as possibly being implicated in this.

His funeral was really an emotional roller coaster ride. I saw a group of people that I had known for a very long time in a light that I had never seen them in before. I myself found myself trying to be strong for my friends and at the same time was so confused about what was all going on. I had lost family members that were close to me in the past, but never someone that I had known, shared some really incredible and memorable times with and respected only because he was a friend. I did not behave myself particularly well at the funeral and refused to talk to the wife. She in turn was quite upset due to the fact that I had known her for quite some time as well. I believed that she had something to do with the reason why my friend was no longer with us and I was angry based on that assumption.

Five years past, I traveled back home to Texas for Christmas to visit my family and friends. The events that had transpired during the time of my friend's passing and my feelings about all that had happened stuck with me. I would spend time pondering over what happened and never really being confident of what the possible truth was. I inquired to another person whom had known my friend for longer than I had about what had happened and how I felt about it. That is when I was given a revelation. His death was accidental and due to the circumstances surrounding that and my respect for my friend, I will not go into detail about, but it was not suicide. My first thought was the way I treated his wife at his funeral.

I didn't put a great deal of effort into making amends to his wife. In fact, I think I was resigned to just forget all about it and get on with my life. Just the other day, I was reading the news in the US and she had passed away just a few days prior. I never got to apologise and make things right. You can not imagine how much that hurts right now. It is one of the few times in my life that I wished I would have been less of a slave to my pride and done the right thing.

I know that where her and him are right now, it doesn't all really matter any more. But it will always matter to me while I am still here.

If you ever think that at any time in your life you have the power to do the right thing, even if sometimes it means admitting swallowing your pride and admitting that you are wrong, then do it. You may never get another chance.

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. --Ecclesiastes 5:2

RA

A new melody to an old tune?

2006-09-27T21:58:00.000+12:00

Ok....only because this is where I have been spending a bit of time lately. I even have linked back from MySpace to My Blogger page here. Now that I have put in a link back to MySpace, I have created an endless loop of the Reverend Aquaman. What you may not know is that this defies all laws of nature & physics and the universe will soon be coming to an apocalyptic and violent end soon.

I hope you are insured.
The Reverend

Jamming the Free World, One Person at a Time!

2006-08-02T14:06:00.000+12:00

Ah, not truer words ever spoken. Still zooming over the burst of energy reminiscing about station has given me again and was just going through some of the copies of the shows that I have. Doctor Dude, Bad Karma & Riley, O'Braonain, Anarch and Chaos, Reagh and Big Gay Tito and all the other personalities and characters that helped bring that whole thing together. All of the hours energy, talent and dedication we put into something all because I believed it was possible. It is not so much the station that I really miss, it was the talents of so many people that took time out of their lives and helped me make my dream come true. As the late, great literary genius Hunter S. Thompson once said, "If you are not living close to the edge, you are taking up too much space."

Anyway....here is yet another shameless plug for the latest incarnation of AndHow Web Radio, I hope you like what you hear.

The one, the only....Reverend Aquaman.

AndHow Web Radio is back!

2006-07-23T19:01:00.000+12:00

Well kind of....thanks to the folks of The Music Genome Project and Pandora. I have been able to choose the music that was played on the 'Music For The Masses" program at AndHow Web Radio and have come up with a blend that was my vision of how I wanted it to sound.

There is nothing to download, but the folks at Pandora require you to log in, which is free. If they ask for a US Zip Code...90210 comes to mind...77611 or 77630 for the original home base of AndHow.

Please let me know what you think. I listen to it quite often and just like the radio station I am often tweaking it. In fact everyone in my office listens to it all day at work and they give their opinions and comments, so we even have requests! LOL Ah, the good old days. It just isn't the same without ICQ running on one machine and another running the studio, slding back and forth between the two...pouring my soul into your bandwidth to share with whomever would listen. Over 1.3 million listeners from over 100 countries, in a time when the internet radio industry was very much like the old west. Lots of cowboys and no real law to govern what they did. It is a great opportunity for me to be able to express myself, if even just a little, like I did then. At the end of the day, I am there in spirit and it is quite poignant that the Music Genome Project was one of the ideas the executive producer of the station had during one of our many 'think-tank' sessions.

Why AndHow Web Radio was so important to me was the fact it represented my chasing one dream I had since I was a small child, I made come true by mostly my own resources. It also was partially responsible for my moving overseas to New Zealand and started an incredible career for myself that I would have never had an opportunity to do otherwise. It was a major, life-changing event for me in my journey. It proved to me that following your dreams is the most important thing you can do in your life. It is, your life. It is not permanent. It is only temporary at best and you don't get another chance to do it again. The cameras are rolling, man. You are a star in your own reality show. You have at your feet tools to make your dreams come true. Make it count or as they say here in Aotearoa, "Give it a go, mate!"

So without further ado, I will point you in that direction....Just click here and ANDHOW WEB RADIO will be loaded soon.

Enjoy.

-The Reverend Aquaman...again.

'You snooze, you lose. Well I have snost and lost...' -Mike Doughty

If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

2006-07-13T11:02:00.000+12:00

Finally, only a few short months after I got the "woman-child" out of the house...I am slowly eaking my way out the hole. I have managed to pay off all of my HPs, so I am actually getting to enjoy my money for a change. I have also had a couple of windfalls of money from various enterprises. So things are definitely looking up. The unions have managed to get us a pay raise this year, very impressive. So slow and steady really does win the race! I feel normal again, not half the man I used to be.

Family wise...My sister and her husband have headed back to the US for a 3 week visit and family catchup. My dad is coming over at the end of this year for a swell off-shore fishing trip. The baby's mother and baby are doing great, hard to believe that just in a few short months....I will be a dad. The mother and I have been hammering out the details on how we will conduct ourselves as parents of this child. I guess it is important to me and to her to have parents that are happy, even if they are not together. We do have a very healthy line of communication between the two of us and we are really coming together well for a common goal...to raise this child to be a winner.

But my ultimate personal goal is to be completely debt free by the time the baby gets here, which is very do-able. I will then be able to start saving up for a house. That is looking to happen by the end of next year actually. I think I will for-go any big holiday plans until I get into the house. But for the most part, I am really enjoying my life at the moment. I am quite content and happy. I feel settled and my life has a definite purpose now. I am going to an anger management counselor, I thought I would get somethings sorted out before the baby came along. It is really important to me that my child not have to grow up in the environment that I did and I am willing to do whatever it takes to assure that. I have been doing a lot of reflection lately and getting my affairs in order in preparation for the arrival. My mate, Panda tells me that no matter what you might think you know or assume about having a child, you will find as soon as you hold that child in your arms for the first time...you have no conception about how you will feel or how much your life will change in that instant. I guess I just want to have all of my "ducks-in-a-row" as a good friend of mine used to say. Being a father is one of the few dreams that I have had that I have yet to make come true and soon, as have all of my other dreams, it will be a reality. After that is done, it will be getting into a house that I own and start getting some equity built up. THEN...that holiday I have been putting off!

Anyway....I am now probably just rambling on, but that is what this damn thing is for, right???

Hope you and yours are well and happy. I wish all the best to all of you.

Reverend Aquaman and the one the only, Aquababy.

:: NEWS UPDATE :: Official News release of impending invasion!

2006-06-13T17:16:00.000+12:00

There really is an Aquababy on the way! The customary 12 week scan was just done yesterday and I got to see the Prodigal Child! The little bugger was standing on their head the whole time and the scan technician was having a hard time getting a measurement due to the fact that it kept moving around. I got to see the heartbeat, that was ultimately cool. Looks like 27th of December for a due date, that should make for an interesting Christmas. The baby's mother and I have decided to keep the sex of the baby a secret, even to us until it is born. I reckon it would be a lot like a Christmas present that way.

The mother and I have decided to remain friends and I have promised to be supportive of her and the baby through all of this. I won't go into the history or how this baby came into being, I will save that for my memoirs. There are heaps of names on the table, family names, personal favorites, what would look best on a wanted poster and the like. This is my first child and the mother's second. I am getting excited about the whole thing now actually. This really is just about the coolest thing I have ever been involved in. Lots of things to think about, what to do when my child bites another child, should I keep a criminal or a civil lawyer on retainer, will my child run with scissors like their good old Dad, what should I consider my limit of how much bail money I am willing to fork out , you know those kind of things.

P.S. There is a sale on fallout shelters somewhere in Oklahoma, you should place your orders now to have them installed and settled come December. I don't think that they are going to help you much, as if this child is from my blood, they would just charm the door off of the thing anyway!

Stay tuned!
--The Reverend

The names are changed to protect the innocent!!!

2006-06-08T18:26:00.000+12:00

Ok, I gave it my best protest I probably could, but in the end...they won! The following story contains graphic images, reader discretion is advised. Please continue reading with extreme caution.

I work at an "unnamed" University. The whole place is built on the side of a hill/mountain, so there is a shortage of good parking. It has been there for over a 100 years now. There is a 12 month waiting list for a parking permit, which I have about 8 month wait left to go. There is this little park just not far from my office, the "Contractors Parking" as it is called. There are 20 spaces in it and it sits underneath another parking platform which juts out of the hill just above it. I discover by stepping outside and casing for a good parking place, that all day, even when the students are all on campus, there is only a couple of cars/trucks and a couple of motorcycles down there. I was thinking, what I neat place to park and so out of the way, yet close to my office, so I induged myself the pleasure...as you do. I did, however, manage to get away with parking down there for about 5-6 months, in my super-secret squirrel hiding place without getting caught.

Now is where it gets interesting. About a week ago, I came out to leave work mid-day for a doctor's appointment. There is a CLAMP on my van! This is not your stock-standard, industrial strength wheel clamp like the Council or Municipal Courts use. This particular clamp is of the "cheap" Warehouse/Wal-Mart variety. My van is a lot like that as well. It is a Suzuki Carry which is a dream on the petrol and carries all of my stuff and not very big at all, in fact it takes up half the space as most cars. Anyway, I was running out to the van and find this "clamp" on my van, I run back inside to the security office and ask them what do I need to do to get this off of my van...not to mention I was pretty PO'd about it being there in the first place. AND being a big-loudmouthed Yank didn't help matters any. I was told that I would have to pay $40 to get it off my van. I then responded on how I could pay them on payday but I didn't have the cash on me and that I had to get to the doctor's office for an appointment. They basically told me "no way, ow", so I replied by telling them I would just take it off myself and walked out. Which is exactly what I did. The tyres on my "little" van are only 12-13" in diameter and this "clamp" was not designed for such a small vehicle, so I just lifted it up and off of my wheel, put the clamp in the grass and then drove away. Needless to say the parking nazi's were not impressed. I came into work the next day with "SOME SPLAINING TO DO"! I was then suggested that I make peace with security and pay them the money, which I would have done on payday with no problems.

The plot thickens. Yesterday, I come to work and I have been parking, in an undisclosed location further down the hill and understand from the world around it is a safe place to park. But, I had overslept that morning and was running late for work, so I parked in my old space! I was sweating it the whole morning and almost came out at lunch to move it, but things got busy at the office. I did go out during afternoon tea and find that it was GONE! They had TOWED MY VAN!

So I taking it all in stride, I figured that this car park costs about $280 a year and I only had to pay for the clamp, $40. The towing fee and cab fare to get my van out of jail, $120, so I figure we are about even. The satisfaction that I got away with something, even if it was for a little while...priceless.

My van and I are both doing well and in total recovery from the incident. We would both prefer to remain out of the spotlight in the future and will maintain a more "stealthy" approach when parking at work in the future.

--Da Rev.

:: NEWS FLASH :: Possible 'Love Child' in the future for the Reverend!

2006-05-20T00:07:00.000+12:00

(TIRES SCREECHING)

I know, I know...I was as shocked as you were. You are asking yourselves; who in God name has possibly let this madman procreate, aren't there international sanctions from my breeding anywhere in the western world and most importantly...who would actually shag this guy anyway?!?!??!

SHOCK HORROR...Funny how life happens whileyou are making other plans. It is still early days so don't go out buying fallout shelters just yet. AND for you die-hard fans....stay tuned for more details. Same bat time, same bat channel.

See, you complain to the world about being bored and look what happens!

--The Reverend Aquaman and possibly Aquababy.

I am soooooo bored!

2006-04-24T11:23:00.000+12:00

I am bored out of my skull today at work. There are 18,000 students back in classes today and they all will be sleeping in tomorrow due to the fact that it is Anzac Day. Most of the people that I work with, took today off and we are operating with a skeleton crew. There is absolutely nothing going on today. In fact, my mates and I were given a brand new IMac to test applications with on the network and we usually just use it as a glorified jukebox, today it is quiet due to the fact that one of our Ex-pat Russian colleagues is tormenting us with some elevator music. Someone else, formally from the former Soviet Union advised us that this kind of music is the sort that the government would play every morning while all their comrades would perform their compulsory callisthenics. For the most part is it mind-numbing music and I am sure it was the key to the fall of the once great Soviet Empire. Roll on 5:30P!!!!!!
I am however, really looking forward to this weekend...my fellow workmates have all decided to take me to my first rugby match at the Westpac Stadium this weekend. This is the same bunch that helped me to experience the best St. Paddy's day I have ever had! It is the mighty Wellington Hurricanes vs. the the bell-ringing, cow breeders from the north, known as the Waikato Chiefs. I am really looking forward to it, some outlandish 'male-bonding'. I was advised that would entail some traditional first game rituals such as The 'yard-glass' skull, the harbour dive, the ritual head shave after the traditional 4 pint Guinness and Oyster block run around the Black Harp, an Irish pub just down the street from the stadium. Sounds like it will be fun and I probably will be doing a bit of feeding the fish....I hate oysters. I will update you all with the details once I have recovered. I am just starting to get the hang of Rugby, much different from the old sport of Gridiron. So I am sure I will be sorted out on all of the rules and how blind the referees are to what the real rules should be this weekend. Other than that, this post has temporarily quelled the boredom. I hope it has for you as well.

Until next time,
The Reverend.

What Kind of Soul Are You?

2006-04-08T16:57:00.000+12:00

I Am a Hunter Soul

You are driven and ambitious - totally self motiviated to succeed

Actively working to acheive what you want, you are skillful in many areas.

You are a natural predator with strong instincts ... and more than a little demanding.

You are creative, energetic, and an extremely powerful force.

An outdoors person, you like animals and relate to them better than people.

You tend to have an explosive personality, but also a good sense of humor.

People sometimes see you as arrogant or a know it all.

You tend to be a bit of a loner, though you hate to be alone.

Souls you are most compatible with: Seeker Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

The Reverend's Music Pick!

2006-04-05T10:13:00.000+12:00

Man...I was just loading the old radio station website and remembering what it was that used to drive me. So I thought I would contribute a bit of "good juju" on the world again and tell you about this guy, that most of you hacks have probably already heard of and if you haven't....this dude is absolutely excellent. Mike Doughty is his name. He is the former lead singer of the band Soul Coughing. There is a certain quality about this singer/songwriter's unique voice and lyrics. As far as I am concerned, this is one of those CDs you would want with you if you were stranded on a desert island, full stop. The song "Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well" I first heard on my trip back to the US, this past December. I rented this choice little Pontiac and toured East Texas and Southern Louisiana catching up with all the rellies and mates. I remember catching it on the radio and thinking...WOW something new from Soul Coughing....but no. This is a solo thing for him and it has been for the past 5 years! The new CD is called HAUGHTY MELODIC and after having a listen to a few times, I am completely hooked. This compilation of new songs was amazingly a soundtrack of the things happening in my little world. So...finding all of this new music from an artist I have been a huge fan of for years, needless to say I am chuffed. Now if we could just get him booked in New Zealand!!!!

Reverend Aquaman

Everything I ever let go of, had claw marks all over it...

2006-04-04T17:34:00.000+12:00

...ah no words ever rang more true. At the end of the day, it is not worth it to be so angry and so filled with hate. It is not productive and basically it shows how easy it is for another person to control you. I can find millions of reasons why I can justify my feelings...but I guess that is what makes me different, I refuse to be a prisoner to my feelings. I am not a victim, my life has new meaning now. I feel empowered. Only because I have made the conscious decision to let go and when the craziness bares it's teeth, just remember that decision. Day after day, it gets a bit easier until eventually it is just gone. It really is that simple, once you are ready to just accept things the way that they are.

Women....who gets 'em???

2006-03-27T23:59:00.000+12:00

Women...man I will tell you, for the most part they can be the bane of my existance. I just cannot fathom how sneaky and underhanded they can be. No matter how nice you treat em, they will turn on you in an instant. I have a friend in the US who is a pit bull terrier lover, he says the same about them.

In my travels around this lovely, blue marble we are spinning on...I have found that for the most part in my life, I have been successful. I have achieved most of the goals I have set down for myself, as gracefully as I am able. I have seen a bit of the world, gotten out and did the things that mean the most to me. I have made my dreams come true only with the sheer determination and ambition that drives me through this thing called life. Along the way, I have made mistakes. I have always tried to the right thing, in the end.

My experiences with the opposite sex, however....that is another story altogether. I think I have seen more than my share of bad women. I know it sounds like a country song, but at the end of the day...I think it really is shocking. I have met some lovely friends through my life and not all of them are 'bad'. Let me just clarify that point. It is usually just the one's that I have chosen over the years to get involved with. I will admit, I am a sexual creature by nature, but I am starting to think that maybe the only thing I have in common in sharing something with them. I cannot figure out what it is that makes me so crazy about these crazy broads! All of my 'male' mates (and some of my women 'mates' as well) all say the same thing, they are ALL crazy man, it is just in varying degrees of insanity. This is one of the most common responses when you talk about women to other guys.

What is this deal with women who don't take pride in themselves. Honestly, most women that I have met and I DO mean MOST, are pretty tidy and clean creatures. I have been known to leave a pile of clean clothes and a pile of dirty clothes on my bedroom floor, so I am not one to say that I am one of those super 'tidy' people. BUT, I do have an issue of just cleanliness. Cleaning up after yourself....what is soooo hard about it? I guess if you didn't grow up with those values instilled in you then you would have no clue about how to do it! Someone who has no self-respect for themselves, why would they have any respect for me or anything I own? Leaving things behind that belonged to me when we moved across the country together. As many times as I have moved, I have never lost anything, however so many things came up missing this time. Why is it that some women can not even look you in the eye when they tell you how they feel about you? EVER! What is wrong with a woman who can never leave the nest. One who continues to stretch those apron strings and wrap themselves so tightly in them that they eventually just become another part of them. When that happens they cannot tell what the difference is anymore. What about the women who just never grow up? Everything that happens around them is somebody else's fault all of the time? They depend on everyone else and will do and say anything to get their way. What is it with these lazy, gossipy, sloppy, vindictive, gold-digging, slutty, lying no-good, rotten two-timing woman that I find attractive in the first place!!!! Well, I guess I am just a sucker for the slutty part. I have to admit, that is probably the chink in my armour. I have always been a sucker for a good piece of ass. The freakier, the better. In fact the REALLY freaky ones are usually the ones that I end up getting involved with! What does that say about the old Reverend? Not to say I would even know what to do with a nice girl. I would just probably find her boring? My love antenna is all fucked up. I am getting bad reception.

Sorry, was I ranting?

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

2006-03-25T15:10:00.000+12:00

I am Half Baked Ice Cream

hmmm...what are they trying to say? In reality, I am just quarter baked

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

WOW...where has the time gone?

2006-03-10T00:12:00.000+13:00

Well, here I be...still in lovely New Zealand. Now I am living back in the capital, Wellington.
At lot has happened since the last time I dared say hello.

I have been to the states, caught up with some really choice friends that I hadn't seen in some time. Mi familia, that was a different story completely. My dad and I finally found some common ground where we both could be just men. That was worth the trip itself.

My mother and I didn't see things so clearly and the lines were mostly muddled. I am still a bit confused about my visit with my mom. But it was good to see her as well; I only wish her the best things. There are many other stories that I prefer to hold close to my chest. I can say this; with all the bad and the good in the US...it was really a scary place.
I could not wait to get back to New Zealand.

My girlfriend and I split up. Those things are always ugly. As the wise Forrest Gump says, "...and that is all I have to say about thaaat."

The hurricane damage in Texas....YIKES!!! My buddy Alabama had her house totally munted by the wicked Rita. She is living in temporary housing until she gets her house sorted.

For the most part, the past 10 months of my life has been interesting to say the least. I am working the job that I was gunning for when I first came to this lovely country. I have the house that my ex and I were living in; she opted to leave back to her home where she grew up. I really like living here and my new hobby is hanging stuff on the walls. I have this really great job, some cool-as friends and a really great life. My seester just lives across town and is going to University where I work, so we get to catch up for lunch and gym visits pretty regularly. I am happy with the choices I have made, not all of them went as well as I had planned but, every day above ground is a good day!

Olly is on his way on his big OE soon. First to Canada, and then around the United States with a trusty new guitar and a suitcase full of dreams. I wish him good journey and Kia Kaha, bro!

Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and just say that I am a happy member of the human race and hope you are too.

--The Reverend Aquaman.

Today's word from the Reverend

2005-10-21T00:04:00.000+13:00

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the

iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."--Ezekiel 25:17, 23rd Psalm & Jules

America hasn’t learned a thing...

2005-09-15T17:42:00.000+12:00

On September 11th, 4:30 am (which is prime time here in New Zealand), the commemoration of America’s loss was just hours away in Manhattan. Watching the news I could see dozens of camera vans on the roadside for the morning coverage. Just to the right I saw the “tribute in light,” two blue shafts beaming stories high into the sky—the representative of the strength and magnificence of the twin towers. As I imagined the old skyline of the city, I realized something. America hasn’t learned a thing in the last fours years.
How have we commemorated those fallen heroes of four years ago? We have used their names and awful tragedy to unleash a war on the world and ourselves. Our president told us we were going to fight for the greater good, but what good has come out of the fight we embarked on?
Today 138,000 US troops illegally occupy Iraq. 1896 Americans have died in vain, for a war against a dictator we once supported, in a fight to destroy weapons of mass destruction he never had. No Al Qaeda connection was found, and while it has infuriated the Middle East and ruined our standing in the eyes of the world, we continue to “stay the course.” Tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children have died due to the blindness and the brutality of our “war on terror.” According to the Red Cross, an estimated 6,000 Iraqis were killed and 16,000 were injured during a three week US led onslaught on Fallujah. Estimates claim over 200,000 residents were displaced due to the siege, while 70 percent of the buildings were destroyed, and the remaining 30 percent were at least damaged. The city was obliterated—or democratized. This type of destruction doesn’t exemplify our compassion, humanity, and value for life above all.
I look back into the sky and think of the squandered opportunities after 9/11. It was a chance for a new start, to unify the world, to fundamentally change our foreign policy, our treatment of the Middle East and the Muslim community. It was our chance to realize that “interests” can’t overtake human life; the safety of our children and their future depended on it.

On 9/11, a tape supposedly released by a half Jewish, half catholic Adam Gadahn referenced intended attacks on Los Angles and Melbourne Australia. Gadahn was a white American citizen believed to be recruited by Al Qaeda in California. Al Qaeda uses the atrocities of the “war on terror” as a reason to fight. If the war in Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, Palestine, and the support of corrupt regimes throughout the Middle East weren’t taking place, recruitment for new blood in Al Qaeda wouldn’t be so easy. Al Qaeda is using the injustices caused by America as a recruitment tool.
In response to “defeat” terrorism, America is causing more injustice. The war on terror cannot be won by the destruction of land, it will only incense the violence and further isolate of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world—it’s a lesson we should have learned after 9/11. Those two beams of light that shine so high in the sky don’t represent the fallen towers; they illuminate our incompetent leadership.

The Reverend

The land of the free and the home of the brave?

2005-09-09T23:02:00.000+12:00

What in the bloody hell is going on in Louisiana and Mississippi????
Is this the greatest superpower on the face of the planet?

This is the image the rest of the world has of the US and what is going on there:

"...But if Katrina and the suffering in New Orleans & the Gulf Coast of the US have done anything, it is to remind us that governments matter. The aftermath has provided a stark illustration of social injustice and the very real divide that exists in America between rich and poor, black and white, throwing into sharp relief everything that is wrong with the US and exposing the failings of the Bush Administration.

Even the most hardened right-wing commentators have found it hard to swallow the evidence of unequal suffering. The rich of New Orleans got out of town, while the poor were left behind to await a rescue that was agonizingly slow in coming. In a scene reminiscent of the Titanic, when first-class passengers got the lifeboats while the poor were left to fend for themselves, Hyatt guests and employees were allowed to jump a queue for a bus heading out of town. And everyone noticed how a black man carrying food was looting while white survivors were merely finding food.

Much has already been written about the part played by the Bush Administration. Bush and his cronies, Maureen Dowd noted in the New York Times, showed a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency. Bush was playing golf the day after Katrina hit and waited five days before making an appearance in New Orleans.

An editorial in the same newspaper reported that Bush and his Republican Congressional leaders are planning to enact more upper-bracket tax cuts while cutting into the safety-net programmes for sick and impoverished Americans.

Contrast the Bush Administration's response with the action taken by Cuban authorities last September when a Category 5 hurricane hit Cuba. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground before the storm hit. A reported 20,000 homes were destroyed but no one died.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that a country riven by inequalities should have difficulty with the notion that those inequalities will always result in unfairness and unequal outcomes..."

In addition is this from INSIDE the US:

"....A really horrifying thought is that this lack of initiative, the
inability to think and take action, permeates the political
infrastructure of Louisiana. I cannot think of a more inept pair
of "leaders" than New Orleans Mayor Nagin and Louisiana Governor Blanco.

Mayor Nagin in a public display of incompetence, admitted on CNN cameras
that he 'doesn't know whose problem this is' when questioned about
disaster relief response. I can tell you Mayor Nagin, it's your problem.
However, your many years of taking orders from the political machinery
that runs the State of Louisiana has left you without the ability to
think for yourself and make the necessary preparations for eventual
disasters.

Mayor Nagin you were warned repeatedly that there was a 20 foot tidal
surge on the way. You knew that the levees most likely would not hold up
against the surge. What plans did you make to protect your constituents
in the event flooding took place? Apparently, you had none.

And Governor Blanco, YOU are in control of the Nat'l Guard. Contrary to
the main stream media's insinuations that President Bush should have
called up the National Guard, YOU are the one who could have staged
Louisiana Guard units in Baton Rouge, or Alexandria, prior to the storm.
You are the Commander in Chief of the Louisiana National Guard. You are
the one responsible for the proper use of the National Guard during
times of disaster...."

Myself personally, I am ashamed to tell anyone that I am a American outside the USA. For the most part, I am tired of getting hassled and people not liking me ONLY because I am an American. I firstly tell them that I am a Texan (the last best governor was Ann Richards) and not an American and I NEVER voted for ANYONE with the last name of Bush!

I cannot believe after what happened 4 years ago, you could let this happen? What happened to all of that American taxpayer money that paid for the "Homeland Security" spend up?

What is even worse how when this is no longer a BIG media event...this will all be something that happened to someone else.

Sincerely,

The Reverend

I caught my cat kicking my dog's ass!

2005-08-14T21:53:00.000+12:00

Sometimes it goes down like this...

2005-08-14T15:43:00.000+12:00

Have you had a Kit Kat lately?

2005-08-14T15:32:00.000+12:00

Ahh, international culture.

2005-08-11T17:58:00.002+12:00

I just learned some more Kiwi culture this arvo from
this lady friend of mine. The topic of today's discussion is, what is the difference between a 'slapper' and a 'slag'.

-a slapper, or as they say 'slappa' (they don't pronounce their 'r's here.) is
a young girl who sleeps around. The comparable term in the US would
be a 'lil ho'.
-a slag, is an old woman that sleeps around. A dirty, old whore in the
states. 'A mutton in sheeps clothing' is an old woman that dresses
up like a young 'slapper'.
-a hoochie mama, is another term for a "hoodrat or trailer park 'white-trash' bitch essentially a girl who dresses and acts like a ho and usually got more than 2 out of wedlock children"...and that is a hootchie mama no matter what language it is.

So, that is all for today's lesson, tune in again for more debauchery from
Aotearoa.

Same bat time, same bat channel.
Love, hugs, kisses, licks and nibbles,
The Reverend

Doodle doodle dee, wubba wubba wubba...

2005-08-09T17:20:00.002+12:00

...this has been running through my cranium for a few days now. Is this the pre-cursor to madness?

Your thoughts?

The phone lines are now open with your comments @ www.andhow.org or www.andhow.com

The Reverend

MTV ID - Wubba Wubba Wubba @ Yahoo! Video

err...ummm...a public service announcement.

2005-08-08T22:41:00.000+12:00

Only because I probably don't know you personally OR I don't have your e-mail addy. Please Visit This Link, without delay.

That is all.

Psst. Pass it on!

R

Do you know this guy?

2005-08-04T19:50:00.001+12:00

**FOUND - LOST SOUL**

This guy has shown up at my house....he just grunts instead of speaking but has a very nice tenor voice when he sings. Do you know who he is? I just want to get him home safely. Nice fella, if you don't mind the occasional ritual every now and then. Anyway. I have posted a photograph and if you recognise him, please contact me @ www.andhow.org By the way have you guys ever heard of a song called 'Heart of the Devil'. Hope not, it really rocks, I might ask this guy if I can borrow the tune! I might give singing it a go!

Love, hugs, kisses, licks and nibbles.
RA

猿渡大輝 Aquaman-san!

2005-08-01T21:41:00.000+12:00

My japanese name is:

猿渡 Saruwatari (monkey on a crossing bridge) 大輝 Taiki (large radiance)

WTF? I did it a couple of times....not the same each time....so random I reckon.

But if you were bored and wanted a Japanese tat?!?!?!?

Been spending a lot of time on the bloody TOKE website and I was just looking for some brain-numbing blogs to help me keep my sanity and this was clever enough to keep me entertained for a while. Hope you like it too.

The Rev.

I meant to do that!

2005-07-29T17:05:00.000+12:00

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!

This is just a senseless blurb...

2005-07-28T23:06:00.000+12:00

...so I can get stars by my name here Pee Wee!

“I know you are, but what am I?”

Home again.

2005-07-26T23:23:00.000+12:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I never thought I would do it, but I have bought a ticket to come back to Texas. Not to stay of course...I haven't completely lost my mind....just a visit....for Christmas.

I think mostly because the fact that I haven't seen anyone from my family in 4 years (outside of one sister who moved here 2 years after I immigrated.) I have 2 nephews that one of them I have never met. I still keep in touch with all of them via IM or e-mail, phone calls, etc.

So, TEXAS.....the fucking United States of America! Here I come.

I have found that the politics of New Zealand are so petty compared to the US. Like no one is really going to get hurt, the government ticks away here. You can go to the hospital and not worry about how you are going to pay for it or how it will screw up your credit if you don't. You are not constantly under the shadow of 'bored' law enforcement officials who have nothing better to do than to look for trouble. The people here aren't competing for who can get more stuff, more money or more prestige than the next guy. Life is simple here, not boring by any means but life seems to have more of a richness, the food tastes better, the air is cleaner and when you have a few people backed up at the local roundabout, you have rush hour!

OK I am finished ranting, but only because it is late.

I will finish with this, but to live MY American dream....I had to leave the country. Until next time....may the force be with you.

The Reverend

You must try these...20 extra bonus points if you do...

2005-07-25T12:08:00.001+12:00

ONE-POINT OFFICE DARES

1) Run one lap around the office at top speed.

2) Groan out loud in the toilet cubicle (at least one other ‘non-player'
must be in the toilet at the time).

3) Ignore the first five people who say 'good morning' to you.

4) Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and
say, “Just called to say I can't talk right now. Bye."

5) To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your
head

6) When someone hands you a piece of paper, finger it, and whisper
huskily,"Mmmmmmm, that feels soooooo good!".

7) Leave your zipper open for one hour. If anyone points it
Out, say,"Sorry, I really prefer it this way".

8) Walk sideways to the photocopier.

9) While riding a lift, gasp dramatically every time the doors open

THREE-POINTS DARES

1) Say to your boss, "I like your style" and shoot him with
double-barrelled fingers.

2) Babble incoherently at a fellow employee then ask, “Did you get all
that, I don't want to have to repeat it".

3) Page yourself over the intercom (do not disguise your voice).

4) Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the
nozzle (there must be a 'non-player' within sight).

5) Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

FIVE POINT DARES

1) At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice
to conclude with the singing of the national anthem (extra points if
you actually launch into it yourself).

2) Walk into a very busy person's office and while they watch you with
growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10 times.

3) For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as "Bob".

4) Announce to everyone in a meeting that you "really have to go do a
number two".

5) After every sentence, say 'mon' in a really bad Jamaican accent -
As in "the report's on your desk, mon". Keep this up for one hour.

6) While an office mate is out, move their chair into the lift.

7) In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your forehead repeatedly
and mutter, "Shut up, damn it, all of you just shut up!".

8) At lunchtime, get down on your knees and announce, “As God is my
witness, I'll never go hungry again."

9) In a colleague's diary, write in 10am: "See how I look in tights".

10) Carry your keyboard over to your colleague and ask "You wanna
trade?".

11) Repeat the following conversation 10 times to the same person: "Do
you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now".

12) Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, "I can't
talk about it".

13) Posing as a maitre d', call a colleague and tell him he's won a
lunch for four at a local restaurant. Let him go.

14) Speak with an accent (French, German, Porky Pig, etc) during a very
important conference call.

15) Find the vacuum and start vacuuming around your desk.

16) Hang a two-foot long piece of toilet roll from the back of your
pants and act genuinely surprised when someone points it out.

17) Present meeting attendees with a cup of coffee and biscuit, smash
each biscuit with your fist.

18) During the course of a meeting, slowly edge your chair towards the
door.

19) Arrange toy figures on the table to represent each meeting
attendee, move them according to the movements of their real-life counterparts.

And if that wasn't enough for you here are some examples of insane
acts you can use anywhere...

1) At lunchtime, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point
a hairdryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.

2) Tell your children over dinner. "Due to the economy, we are going to
have to let one of you go."

3) Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries
with that.

4) Put your rubbish bin on your desk and label it "IN."

5) Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten
over his or her caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.

6) In the subject field for all your e-mails, write "FOR SEXUAL
FAVOURS".

7) Finish all your sentences with "In accordance with the prophecy."

8) Don't use any punctuation

9) As often as possible, skip rather than walk.

10) Ask people what sex they are. Laugh hysterically after they answer.

11) Specify that your drive-through order is "to go."

12) Sing along at the opera.

13) Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don't rhyme.

14) Put mosquito netting around your work area. Play a tape of jungle
sounds all day.

15) Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their
party because you're not in the mood.

16) Have your co-workers address you by your wrestling name, Rock Hard.

17) When the money comes out of the ATM, scream "I Won! I Won! 3rd time
this week!!!"

18) When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot
yelling, "Run for your lives, they're loose!"

We are not afraid!

2005-07-18T08:52:00.000+12:00

Show those evil bastards that we are not afraid. If you take away their reign of fear then you take away their power.

I don't normally jump on the bandwagon with anyone else, but I have to say this is positively, absolutely a good cause to stand up for!

Mr. Blue Sky

Kia Ora from Aotearoa!

2005-07-13T17:34:00.000+12:00

Howdy to all earthlings from the Reverend.

I am now residing in Gisborne, New Zealand. A Texas ex-patriate, of a sort. Living life as I never thought possible. I am still chasing my dreams and getting as much out of this life as I possibly can. You never know how much time you have, so make the absolute most of it. I have found my new home here in this wonderful country. I would call it paradise, but if I did that...then everyone would want to come here and ruin it. (ref. Last Resort by the Eagles)

Some of my recent projects include:

Not getting deported from this beautiful country whilst I finalise my residency in NZ.
Working with an outstanding musician, Olly Knox, on a project called the Olly Knox Experiment. It has been a really great time and I feel like I have really grown as a musician! (Jeez, doesn't that sound like a load of tree-hugging hippie crap?)
Making contacts with other musicians in the area, or just passing through, for other projects which include playing with a darbuka player in a Belly-Dance troupe and a didgeridoo player cum percussionist. I have gotten the bug for world music rhythms and I just can't shake it, man.
Working on my career. Yes, a career. Now, doesn't that sound all grown-up?

I would like to also add a special thanks to my VERY old and dear friend, oh let's say...her code name can be...Alabama-O...for old-times sake, for dragging me into the world of blogging. (...and Tucker Max is a riot!)

I guess a part of me has had a desire for this since I shut the station down. *Deep, dramatic SIGH* ...but that is another story. I have met some of the most interesting people and seen some really incredible things and experienced a life I would have never known otherwise if it weren't for AndHow Web Radio. So it wasn't a total wash.

I will add more info from down here when the urge arises and the time allows.

Live long and prosper.

Mr. Blue Sky aka Reverend Aquaman

The Olly Knox Experiment

2005-07-04T00:05:00.000+12:00

TOKE @ Acoustic Collision

2005-07-03T20:37:00.000+12:00

The Olly Knox Experiment

2005-07-03T20:34:00.000+12:00

Away with the faeries....

2005-07-03T20:33:00.000+12:00

The continuing rantings of the Reverend Aquaman...

All is well. There is nothing to be concerned about. As you were.

Reverend Aquaman Goes Down Under!

Bigger, stronger, more luscious ear smacking goodness in every network packet...

WOWZA! Another job...I have one already!

Where are we headed?

When it rains...it pours.

AndHow Web Radio has returned to the internet and airwaves!

AndHow Web Radio...let's take a trip down memory lane

This is a really great little widget that I got from ReverbNation for Panda...

A pandemic spreads across the South Pacific!!

There is always something there to remind me! *BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW*

My Maw is coming to New Zealand!!!!

The Reverend has moved to HumanFM!!!!

Somebody slap me....I'm dreamin!!!!

The Reverend is now BACK ON THE AIR!

OMG...more about that Aquaman's damn kid!

Here is my baby girl!

The Proudest Dad in the World!

You were warned...the Invasion is upon us!

Death be not proud...

Peace, Love, Babies, Christmas & Granola

Lucy! I'm Hooome!

If we got stuck in the middle of the sea...

What is it all really about?

A new melody to an old tune?

Jamming the Free World, One Person at a Time!

AndHow Web Radio is back!

If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

:: NEWS UPDATE :: Official News release of impending invasion!

The names are changed to protect the innocent!!!

:: NEWS FLASH :: Possible 'Love Child' in the future for the Reverend!

I am soooooo bored!

What Kind of Soul Are You?

The Reverend's Music Pick!

Everything I ever let go of, had claw marks all over it...

Women....who gets 'em???

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

WOW...where has the time gone?

Today's word from the Reverend

America hasn’t learned a thing...

The land of the free and the home of the brave?

I caught my cat kicking my dog's ass!

Sometimes it goes down like this...

Have you had a Kit Kat lately?

Ahh, international culture.

Doodle doodle dee, wubba wubba wubba...

err...ummm...a public service announcement.

Do you know this guy?

猿渡 大輝 Aquaman-san!

I meant to do that!

This is just a senseless blurb...

Home again.

You must try these...20 extra bonus points if you do...

We are not afraid!

Kia Ora from Aotearoa!

The Olly Knox Experiment

TOKE @ Acoustic Collision

The Olly Knox Experiment

Away with the faeries....

There is always something there to remind me! BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW

猿渡大輝 Aquaman-san!