stupid and wasteful things people do, especially at my office #5

Well well well, Tony. Aren't you perfect?

Not quite, while I do everything I can not to waste materials and natural resources, what I do occasionally waste is my time. Mostly by watching this video. I can't believe it doesn't have a million you-tube hits already, but it will. And in a month, when this is shown on some TV gossip show, you can remember who referred you to it when it had 14 hits (11 of which are mine - sadly)

Enjoy SWAAAAAGBUCKS

stupid and wasteful things people do, especially in my office #4

She ran the water for 6 minutes just to wash a container she threw away......I counted.

wow.

stupid and wasteful things people do, especially people in my office, #3

Take a paper cup, fill it with water, drink the water and throw out the cup....
Take another paper cup, fill it with coffee.

What the hell is that? Are the 6 droplets of water left in your cup going to contaminate your cup of watered down office coffee?! Coffee is water! That's it! It's just water that flows through a bunch of brown shit. Get a clue and start having a little consideration for something other than your weird obsession with wasting paper cups.

Dear company, If you would like to save money this coming year, please don't take away our yearly raises and just stop buying paper cups.

Oh, PS. You've worked here for 3 years! Bring in a damn coffee cup and rinse it out.

Wow, this really took a turn for the negative.

stupid and wasteful things people do, especially people in my office, #2

The good: I'm noticing more and more people bringing their lunches to work in their used plastic shopping bags.

The stupid: They just throw it away once they take their lunch out of it.

Come on folks, you know it's not trash. You've all seen that big bin in the entrance of your supermarket that says PLEASE RECYCLE YOUR USED GROCERY BAGS HERE. OR better still just bring a damn bag to the store.

stupid and wasteful things people do, especially people in my office, #1

The Good: They rinse out their reusable water cup before refilling it.

The Incredibly Stupid: They waste paper towels by drying the water in their cup before once again filling it with water!

David Holt

Prachute Stage for Radio 104.1

For some reason the video player is only half the size so you can only see one side of the video. For the full size just click the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3whc0enYb_o

¿Te Gustan?

You would think that Chazz Palminteri would have a more impressive Wikipedia page.

Is it really necessary for there to be a warning on my jar of peanut butter that reads, “This product contains peanuts?”


Marianne caught me dancing to CCR at my desk again!

Bananalogue

It's funny, I really do miss eating a banana every day at 10 am
and no I didn't attempt to write a poem with a banana as a representation
of something falic.

Its just, I like the regularity of eating the same thing every day at the same time
And yes although It does make me regular but I was keeping in mind
other benefits.

Its strange, but trying to maintain health and eat the best I can
has made me the minority amoung those who judge the tube that's sucking them!
their lazy lapping.

But still, so I judge them too during water breaks and running laps
since I don't know how to rest other than 30 second snacks and shakes perhaps
an 11am banana.

I promise this will never be about poetry.

True Story: There is a television in my doctor’s office waiting room that only plays commercials for the drugs that he prescribes. That's not so absurd, but what's with the stadium style seating in the viewing area and popcorn vendor? Doesn't anyone see a problem with this?


One of my biggest fears in life is winning a contest where I receive a free dinner with a celebrity.



Hair Today, Bald Tomorrow
by me.

At one time there was fringe up there,
but now it's nowhere.

Yet I don't care, all that much,
There's a bit of glare
and it's smooth to touch.

It took just a few years to lose the fluff,
Sunk through my scalp
right past my scruff.

Now there's no need to own a brush,
gel, shampoo or pocket comb.
No need for any of that stuff
because now I have a beaming dome.

What once was lush had all disappeared,
It had had enough,
now I have no hair.

Office Edition

Dear immediate supervisor,
Do you have any idea how many times I actually use the bathroom everyday?

Whenever I send out a mass email I put everyone on BCC so my co-workers don’t think I rank them, but secretly I do.

Remember to empty the tray after each use, never attempt to stack more than 5 sheets of paper and keep the hinges well oiled. If you take care of your 3-hole-punch, your 3-hole-punch will take care of you.





Picture from treehugger.com Thanks!

I had an idea.

I know this is a lame blog post, but go to flippycat.com

I'm serious! Click and search around the site.

BLOG!!

In an effort to promote awareness of environmental issues I will print driving directions to the recycling center and staple a copy to every tree in the city.


I seriously consider about 25% of my thoughts. I think the rest are just filler.

Hey Mr. Banana
What do you say?
I’m hoping that you’ll turn yellow today.

OOOOOOOOOO Domino.....

Death of a Blog Again

You never hear anyone say, "That smells like Salisbury steak!" Although, I'm sure lots of people think it.

As we approach July 4th I always think about the UK. Over the course of a year over 60 countries celebrate their independence from them. No one likes a bully.

Last week we were discussing the book of Genesis. Someone asked, "what was the forbidden fruit in the garden of eden?" Someone else claimed it was desire. Another said unlawful pleasure . I say pomegranate.

many jams

The Death of a Blog

On google dashboard I follow about 8 different blogs. None of them have made a new post in over 10 weeks and I can't help but think that its all my fault.

When eye was vry young a woman names Mavis Beacontaught me how to type.looking back on it Inever checked her credentia;ls or even got aa reference.

Since my department has begun offshore knowledge transfer (outsourcing), my workload has doubled and I am being rewarded with mandatory overtime.

I wish this was a picture of my friend Brian Maresca in a Keith Hernandez costume.

Today's work-out

this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass this is a looking glass Spiritual awakening self awareness higher consciousness did you miss it? this is a looking glass

The video is a little weird, but in case you were wondering...

"Where?!..What's that say? ...I can't read?!"

In case you don't know what I'm talking about from the quote in the title, it's bacon. Anyway, currently, I'm sitting in the training room in Chennai next to Karthik, one of the trainees. He's becoming one of my good friends although we can barely understand one word the other says.

Karthik is learning guitar, but has never heard someone else play guitar before. He also doesn't know any famous guitar players. I'd imagine this makes learning guitar very difficult, but perhaps not. Since he has no preconceptions it may be fresh and easy to pick up.

Yesterday, I taught him about Jerry Garcia and Tony Rice. He liked both.

Today, look over out of the corner of my eye I see he's reading, with the greatest attention, the Wikipedia page for bacon. I couldn't help, but laugh out loud. I asked why he was reading it and felt stupid when he replied simply, "I don't know what it is."

I guess it's the same as when I read the Wiki page for Genesha. I learn a lot more in Chennai than the names of Gods and spices.

Happy Birthday Allen

Happy Birthday to Allen Ginsberg. Today he would be 93 which is really old.



On pg 64 of Indian Journals, there's a letter to Jack (Kerouac I assume) that is a perfect description of my life everyday for the past 11 days and next 12.



India flowing past the train window with huge plains & palm trees & cows & people shitting in the grasses & washing with their loin cloths in muddy rivers & waterbuffalos & the Ghats mts in the heat haze way off.



I ate a piece of cake with my lunch.

Why the funk not?

So basically Bootsy Collins declared that funk goes back to the begining of time. Bootsy is right! For this reason he has opened Funk University, an online degree program for bassists. I really can't think of a reason not to enroll in the program. As Bootsy said, "you gotta bring some funk to get some funk." So funk it, i'm brining it.

..seriously if I had money to blow on anything it would be The Bootsy Collins Funk University

http://www.thefunkuniversity.com/

"Its not about just playing a bunch of notes" Bootsy Collins

Happy Memorial Day

I'm shot and really have so much on my mind. I have a feeling this post will just be a list. This weekend I visited the Taj Mahal. Delhi where I saw Parliament, India Gate, the Lotus Temple, and some other places. Every experience was fascinating and moving.

This morning I visited the Theosophical Society and Musee Musical where I played guitar for 2 hours with the shop's buyer. He was awesome and trained in classical guitar, but loved the blues. I bought a guitar that I love.

I left it all on the field this weekend. Fear, joy, euphoria, peace, balance, anger, and now I'm here feeling sad. And Lonely and a little bit bored. I miss everyone and would give anything to share the things I have with you.

This is just a journal now, but that's ok.

Peace

TCS#1234

Now my sleep schedule is more messed up than ever before? Im working overnight but on US EST so when its 7 am at home its 430pm. When i got home last night it was about 3am, i ate slept and woke around 10 am. I ate again and then slept till 4:00 showered and went to work. I cant do that every day.

Mike says my body will soon get adjusted to the supplements and I will be able to sleep a few hours after I work out. SO I will try once again to stay awake until 10am, sleep till 4:30 and call that night.

This morning we are attending a wedding of one of the new trainees. Typical Hindu weddings take place in the early morning about 6am with the reception being the night before. During my last stay I was also invited to a wedding. The brother of my colleague and good friend Vinyak. I suspect that this will be similar and I am excited to share the day with my new friend Giri.

I havent had a chance to get any formal wear or even a kurta. I didnt bring any from home because i had llimited space to pace and I only have 1 formal kurta. The last hindu wedding I showed up in full formal indian garb and my Indian colleagues and the grooms brother was wearing a polo and khakis. Go figure. Thats what I will wear this morning and probably look silly.

Oh did I mention next week we are flying to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal? In case you didnt know it was build completely by hand to the last detail and took 22 years. It is the ultimate symbol of love as Shahjahan the emperor of the world built it for his wife who had died 2 years prior to the begining of construction

First day in the office.

I have been losing serious steam with the blogging already. Work is very busy and I don't feel as motivated here to jump on blogger. Plus I've learned that a personal blog, with no real direction, on blogger is like singing in a vaccuum. It's all good thought. My actual journal, the one on paper with ink, is burning up I can't stop writing and whatnot.

Also usually at home I try to write these little blurbs in word then edit and revise. I think I have abandoned that approach permanently and I will from now on just write and write and not read twice. So what you read is what you get i guess. I hope that doesn't cause me to lose any readers or followers. Ha!

It's our first day of work and for the first 2 hours all the LAN was down so we basically did nothing and now its 12:12 am about mid way through the shift. Once I get home Ill have to determine how I will schedule my weeks. IN 2008 we would work unti abour 430 -5 so things were different now we will be home by 3 i guess so i may just sleep right away and wake for noon. Last night i started taking a new workout supplement and was wired like an animal for hours.

I was however focused and had plenty of time to stretch and pactice asanas. My knees hurt and my legs are very very skinny.

Have you ever seen the rain?

I wanna know why I am half way around the earth but thinking about a farm in Manchester, Tennessee?

Today was the first day I've ever listened to Creedence Clearwater Revival for over an hour and I knew every song. And I loved each song more than the one prior. It made me think about Bonnaroo and how this year I will be returning home the day after the festival ends. One of the artists that is performing is John Fogerty and man I would love to lay on that lawn Sunday evening and feel the spirit of the 60s with all the ccr songs.

It may be hard to imagine why I would wish I was going to be in Tennessee in the hot dry sun with a bunch of smelly, intoxicated, and sometimes deceitful people when I am in a country whose civilization is over 2000 years old. I think it's because once someone said that India has so much history and culture and spirituality and the US is so young, a melting pot of borrowed culture, with a shameful history.

When I am here I am not searching for anything ancient or spiritual. I am searching for part of an american spirit from the 1960s that was left by harrison, ginsberg, alpert, and jerry!

It rarely rains in Chennai, it rained 3 days ago now. At bonnaroo it rains every Saturday night, at the pinnacle of the night during the peak of the festival. I think it's because 80,000 plus with 80,000 emotions each are chanting, dancing, loving, fearing, freaking out, plugged in, turned up, whacked out, passed out all at once and there's nothing the earth in that place at that time can do but pour down one everything all at once. It's a reminder that under the blanket we are all connected to everyone on the farm and under the sky. Even me over in Chennai.

Here again!

Shahir just called me from work and it was great to hear from him.

Today I ran the gambit of emotions, but am feeling at ease now. Reading Ginsberg really helps. Honestly, I can't understand why anyone would want to read Indian Journals. To most people it is nonsense. Some of it to me is nonsense, but I'm reading along and enjoying it. This is the first books I've picked up and actually understood literary references. He speaks about Coleridge and I remember Kubla Khan from freshman year English. When he says Jack and Neal I can actually put a face and voice to them.

I feel lonely and traveled. Naive and wise. Comfortable and anxious. I felt kindness today and so I feel more at ease.

Tomorrow will be a good day and hopefully I will have a guitar to play for a few weeks.

This is not Ginsberg's India

Hey, I am in India and my laptop wont charge so I wont really be blogging. The flight was long and lonely and I am not really looking forward to the flight home. I just found out I will be traveling alone again in three weeks. Entering the Chennai airport is a cinch, but leaving is a hassle with customs and all.

Well, nothing about this place has changed other than me. I am a very different person than in 2008. I guess back then I didn't have so many goals at home and so this place was new and open and I loved it easily. I do still love it, but am actually missing home.

For years I was filling the jar with with the small stones. They didn't amount to much. but they were fun and easy to carry. Over the past year, I have smartened up and started filing my jar with the largest stones. They are very hard to carry and sometime the fight is so tough I want to drop them. Once I place them though, and see how much closer I am to only have small stones to carry, I feel lifted and free and ready for another big one.

I received all A's again and Dee has just one semester of classwork to graduate. Hard stones to carry, but worth it. I know that I will one day be free to find peace, but now I have to practice balance.

Zim Zam Yo Yo

I don't have a lot of time today. I wanted to turn you on to this guy that goes around to different local TV stations, convinces them to let him on for a demonstration, then completely messes with the show. I think it's awesome. And who said the news was all bad?


This one is an actual feed.

Audio Butter

I've never been any good at writing lyrics and music. Nothing I write ever seems to be quality. Until now...

I've played in 2 bands over the past 2 years and had a great time doing it, but I just needed more creative freedom. I just decided to start a solo music project where I can exhibit my skills as a songwriter, singer, and producer. The project is called Audio Butter because when you listen to my music you get the same fuzzy feeling of warm butter being poured in your ears.

I credit the idea for the name to my good friend Jordan who gave me the confidence to create Audio Butter for all of you. I've already released one song that you can listen to at my new myspace

I hope you enjoy!

do do do do-da-do do do do do

Many people who make electric dance music are old. Most people who listen to electric dance music are young. I don't get it.

Can you help me place this call?

This whole Blog thing is going really well, but I realize that it's turning out to be more of a journal and less of a blog. For that reason, I'm considering taking Ideas for Digesting to "the next level." Once the semester winds down I feel I will have the time and energy to blog everyday and give insight on a topic I enjoy.

I'm setting a goal for myself, to determine the direction of the blog by the time I get home from Chennai on June 13th of this year. Until then, I will continue to blog as I have been while deciding what type of information I will share on my reinvented blog.

Initially, I thought it may be a good idea to poll you, the readers, to find out what you think I should focus the blog on. Then I realized a better idea would be to ask you to watch 3 cover versions of Jim Croce's song Operator and vote which is best. Enjoy!

This dude has lots of videos on youtube and does any cover you ever want to hear.

All right....

And that's all. Now get down there and rock the vote.

Sweet!

Is there anything uncool about Sammy Davis JR.?

Happy Birthday!! and all that.

A few years ago I walked into my kitchen and Grey made me watch a video of a band on The Tonight Show. He said they, "rocked harder than any other band out there." We, along with Juan and Dee, then drank a bottle of booze and danced to My Morning Jacket in the kitchen until the early morning.

That band did, and does, rock harder than any band out there. Since that night My Morning Jacket has become my favorite band. I will always appreciate being turned on to amazing bands, it's a great gift.

Since April is the month of so many of my close friend's birthdays, I thought I'd wish them all a big Happy Birthday with a stream of a show that I was at on New Year's Eve 2008. The show is epic and said to be one of the bands best 2 shows of all time. The other is their Bonnaroo 2008 late-night set which I was also in the crowd for.

So Happy Birthday, Dave (4/4), Grey (4/5), Wolfman (4/6), Peabody (4/12), Steve (4/14), Brian (4/20), and Brian (4/30).

If I missed anyone, my bad, don't have a facebook so I have to actually remember or write these things down.

Loose Ends.

The blog structuring has gone out the window for the time being. My life has gotten really busy and there's just not enough time to be gettin all ho hum about this blog. So it seems until the end of the semester the posts will just pop out whenever and contain...well...whatever. I hope you stay tuned and enjoy.

It has also come to my attention that most people who actually read my mind don't really know these little diddys come from a blog. Thanks to Google's new Buzz application, they've made it possible for my "Buzz followers" to see my posts in their inbox. To those people, Lucky You!

In case anyone was wondering the URL where these masterpieces of American writing can be found at ideasfordigesting.blogspot.com

The 5k Results!

The TKE 5k was this past weekend and although all things didn’t go exactly as planned, I was certainly happy with the results of the road race.

Let me get right to the point with this one. I forgot all my running gear at home. Yup. Mike, Dee, and I made plans to get to Uconn about 1 hour before race time so we needed to leave West Haven at 9 a.m. The day of the race Mike shows up, we get in the car and away we go to Uconn. It was the most beautiful day to run, a slight breeze, shining sun, and perfectly clear sky. We pull into the parking lot right on time and my heart started to flutter with excitement. The Storrs campus on a perfect spring day is probably one of the most beautiful places in Connecticut. Not to mention, every time I visit, I am usually slapped in the brain with a palm full of memories.

I opened the backseat to grab my bag….no bag. I opened the trunk…..no bag. After all the talking and all the training, there I was an hour before the race wearing jeans and some broke down casual shoes.

I wore my disappointment for myself like a sandwich board. With help from some of my brothers, I tried to track down sneakers, but with no luck. After I exhausted all my resources, I accepted it just wasn’t my day to run.

Then right as I sat down and gave up, Stephanie, a lifelong friend from West Haven, shows up to walk in the event. She was shocked to hear I wasn’t running since she was there in Pigeon Key and knew how hard I’d been training for the race. Without hesitation she said, “You can wear my sneakers, I’m just walking it.” If the sun hadn’t already been shining, my face probably would have done just as well a job of lighting up the campus at that moment. A quick trip to the Co-op for some shorts and I was ready to go!

After surprising everyone last year with my finish, I was a heavy favorite to win the road race. However, checking out the field, I knew there were some serious runners and my chances of taking 1st were slim. My goal was still just to come in before Pat Hevey who last year completely blew me out finishing as the first TKE brother.



11:30 a.m. the gun went off. I had a bad position at the back of the pack of over 100 runners, but within a quarter mile I was out in the lead group. I passed Hevey early on but knew it wasn’t the last of him. In fact, the worst thing I could have done was pass him that early because before I knew it I heard the tap tap tap tap of running sneakers behind me and without turning around could tell it was Pat.

We were approaching the hardest leg of the race (1 mile, uphill, into the wind) when Hevey turned to me and said, “Easy day.” I thought so this is where he leaves me in his dust? I was wrong. He explained how this was something he heard during military training. He then went on, telling me stories about the courses he used to run, wearing full gear, and carrying 60 lbs packs. He kept talking about how the human body is an amazing thing because many times its physical limits can be pushed further than the mind ever expects. “Mind over matter,” he would say. The most importing thing you need when reaching for a goal you feel is unrealistic is support from people who care about you. I started to get the feeling this kid was trying to teach me a very important lesson about teamwork.

Running side by side with Pat, I knew there was no way I would pass him out. I also knew there was no way I was going to let him blow past me. And inside I don’t think he had any intentions to. I’d like to say we were pushing one another, but in fairness it was mostly him pushing me to run my hardest and try my best. We passed runner after runner, picking out a goal ahead of us, catching up, and taking the position. After 20:45 we crossed the finish line side by side 10/11 out of a field of over 100. We were the 2 first brothers across, one active and one alumnus.

The race was a success and at the risk of sounding cliché, the real winner was Autism Speaks. The Fraternity raised over $7,000 (and counting) on an empty campus, the day before a holiday, making this road race the most successful charity event in the chapter’s history. Click the link to read about it in the Daily Campus.

Running wont get you far.

I haven’t had too much time to blog and all sorry. My workload at work has almost doubled this past month as I am part of a training process taking place in both here and Chennai. May 20th I’ll be visiting Chennai for a second time in order to transfer some knowledge to the kiddies over there. More on that later.

More work at work means less time to do homework. That time has to be made up on the weekends, which brings me to this weekend.

I’ll be running my first 5k of the season and I’m pretty pumped on it. Over the past few months, I’ve been training pretty hard and I feel that I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in. Last year, I was pleasantly surprised by my showing in the race so I’m hoping to improve this time around. The most important thing is the cause, which is Autism Speaks, the second thing is my time. I’m trying to come under 18:00. Lastly is the place I finish in.

Last year I boldly said, “I am going to win this thing next year.” I really thought I could, I wasn’t very from off from the leader. Now, I’d just like to finish 1st of all the TKE brothers who are participating. This would mean I need to finish at least top 10.

We'll see.

Sorry nothing spectacular lately. There’s more to come and Ill even tell you about the trip to Pigeon Key last week.

In case you haven’t noticed, MGMT has a new album and it's awesome. Check it out! It's not as ooooooo, or Yeah DANCING!!, or ????!!!! as the old stuff, but their sound has really evolved. When a band like them makes such a big splash, as they did with Oracular, I always expect a flop on the second one. Not this time. That said, if you're looking to dance naked on e to it then you may be let down, but if you can appreciate their vision and then you'll love it.

I guess that should have been a seperate post, oh well. Cosider it your lucky day! 2 posts for one!

Moar Ghosts n Whatever

The best house dj right now is Deadmau5, his music is cutting edge, exciting, and more creative then a lot of djs out there. One of my favorites is his Ghosts n Stuff off of the 2009 release It Sounds like. I think this song has one of the more original beats I've ever heard. Whenever it comes on everything starts to move around me or I start moving and everything else remains in place.

Many non fans of EDM may claim it sounds all the same, but really each genre is very different. They are determined based on criteria such as time signature and beats per minute. Within each genre all djs have a signature style. Deadmau5 is one who covers very many different styles but most stick him in house because his beats are do do dat do do dat as a opposed to dat dat dat dat...

When it comes to originality this is it...Listen carefully the main "lick" of this (begining at 0:16)



Regardless, at work today and I keep viewing this ad for an MTV show called America's Best Dance Crew. I guess the 5th season of the show is begining soon. From what I understand the show isn't all that wonderful, but at least the promo is. It features the "sequal" (if you will) to Ghosts n Stuff called Moar Ghosts 'n' Stuff.

While it is kinda stinky that such an epic dj is being used in such a bad promo on a bad cable network, at least there is the possiblility of people being turned on to quality dance music. Perhaps in the future we'll hear more of Deadmau5 and less Lady Gaga.

Check it out.


Hope you liked it!

Hoooo R U?

A few weeks back Dee and I went to see Alice in Wonderland and one of the movie trailers was for an animated film set to be released in September: Legend of the Guardians. I immediately knew that this movie was going to consume much of my summer and I, along with a theatre of 13 year olds, would be wiggling in my seat on opening night come the fall.

The first (and major) thing that sucked me in was it’s an adventure story about owls. I’m really into owls. I think the owl is by far the most interesting animal. Not only is it nocturnal, but it flies completely silent. Their head has a 280 degree turn radius and their eyes are fixed in their socket. These things have a satellite around their face which allows them super hearing. I’ve never seen too many owls outside of a sanctuary or zoo, but I always hear them. And when I’m hiking, the cooing owl sounds help me forget that there’s a big, nasty bear thinking about having me for dinner.

There seems to be an aura of wisdom and calmness about the owl that fascinates me. The mystery of the animal makes me feel like a curious kid again which is probably why I’m all about this movie.

Legend of the Guardians is actually based on the first 3 books in a series titled The Guardians of Ga’Hoole by Kathy Lasky. I’ve never read these books as a kid so the first thing I did after seeing the trailer was acquire copies of them. The books are very visual and the story line is actually intense. I got sucked into the first book in the series, The Capture, right away.

When I was in elementary school I remember seeing other students completely obsessed with series like Goosebumps and Hardy Boys. I’d watch their eyes dart across the pages during our “free reading” time. Meanwhile, I would stand the biggest book I could find on my desk so the teacher wouldn’t notice me trying to make my bully’s desk levitate. Needless to say, I never developed into a very strong reader (and I still can’t make things levitate!). Recently, I have been backtracking with my reading and picking up the classics I was supposed to have read in school but never did. So when I found out that these books are classified under “independent reader,” I thought that sounds about right.

As it gets closer to the movie’s release date I’m sure it will get more attention, but I doubt it’s going to be much of a big deal. I read movie snob’s opinions on message boards and many of them say it’s a rip off of Happy Feet and the flying sequences are, “a bit emulative of Avatar,” both of which I haven’t seen. I’ve also read that it’s just a kid’s movie with a silly plot. There is a bunch of criticism of the director Zack Snyder (300 and Watchmen) for doing a “kids” movie they claim he can’t so it’s going to be “a sure flop.”

All the downing of Legend of the Guardians doesn’t really mean shit though cause in the end, it’s going to be a few hours of some dope animated owls with some epic adventure storyline. I’ll be there and if I’m alone in the theatre, I’ll just stay and see it again…for FREE!

Check it out…

The Stellar

So last night I was working on a new cheese, but it turned out my Hummus went bad so I had to think fast! I was just about to go with the classic tomato when my hand grazed the lid of an unlikely hero of the condiment world. Tapenade! Why has this taken so long to develop? Out of what could have been a snack-time disaster came the most tasty grilled cheese experience of my life. The creation is deserving only of a name as: The Stellar. Here's how to do it:

-2 Slices multi-grain bread. I used Trader Joe's because it's not too soft and not too firm.
-1.5 slices Munster cheese
-Margarine.
-2 Tsp Tapenade. Again, I used a Trader Joe's jarred type, but homemade would be even better.
-2 Slices tomato
-1 Dash red pepper flakes.

You know what to do... Spread a little bit of that margarine on the bread side that will contact the pan. Lay down the cheese and spread the Tapenade. Put those slices down and top with a dash of pepper flakes. Cook then up nice and crispy as it will be the perfect texture to complement the Tapenade. There you go....Stellar. You're welcome.

The Boathouse and the Outhouse.

2 weekends ago Dee and I took a long weekend to spend some time in the Lake George region of the Adirondacks. I visited the area many times as a kid and was anxious to see and feel the town 15 years later. Dee has never been to Lake George, so I thought it would be nice for her to get a sneak peak of the area as she will be taking on her first overnight hike there in July.

We stayed at the Boat House Bed in Breakfast in Bolton Landing about 9 miles north of Lake George Village. Before even exiting the interstate the deepest part of my memory was wide awake in the backseat. It was pressing its nose against the window wide eyed with amazement by the beauty of the landscape.

We sailed up route 9N, weaving through towering pines which guarded the lake on all sides. The forest was speckled with lodges and cabins all of which were still rocking their original 1960’s style no vacancy signs.

I knew we were lucky because this would probably be the last weekend the lake’s frozen surface would sparkle as if it was sleeping underneath a sheet of diamonds. As soon as we got out of the car the power of its cool clean breath displaced ours and we were alive again. Vacation!

The Boathouse was a perfect place to stay. It was literally on the lake. Isolated but also close to anywhere we needed to be. 80% of the house was build over the water. The house used to serve as a boat garage for a famous speed boat racer George Reis. After a few owners it ended up as Patti & Joe’s summer home and now their Bed & Breakfast.

Aside from shopping for some hiking gear for Dee, we spent most of the weekend just hanging around the house. Breakfast each morning was much less awkward than I expected. Usually at these types of places the conversations are shallow and forced making the morning feel like a bore. Perhaps because the weather and lake were perfect everyone was feeling relaxed. Or maybe it was just me who was more relaxed and so I single handedly commanded the mood of the morning banquet. Either way it was nice.

Each morning I was anxious to get to the Great Room early so I could sit outside and drink some tea. But really, I just couldn’t wait for another dose of the cool mountain air. I think Dee had the same feeling. One morning she commented on the large size of the mountain ridge in front of us…I thought, I can’t wait to see her reaction in summer when she sees what she is about to climb!

One afternoon we made our way into the village and I was pleasantly surprised to see that nothing has changed about this place. Well, nothing other than my perspective of it. For one, there was always a cool little store that sold rock and roll paraphernalia right on the lake. I must have run through that store 20 times between ages 4-10 and had no idea it was called Shakedown Street, Ha!

Another thing was the obscene amount of mini-golf courses. I never realized how many there actually were. There must be 10 at least within 2 miles. That wasn’t as strange to me as recalling that I’ve played at every one of them!

We walked all along the street and the park along the lake and I must have told Dee 100 stories from being a kid at the lake. I pointed out restaurants, museums, and tours that I’ve been to as a kid. I told her how we used to walk by the steam boats for what seemed like hours, drained of energy and bored out of our minds. I even impressed myself with how much knowledge I retained about Fort William Henry and Lake George’s role in the French and Indian War.

Most of the businesses were closed for the season, so when Dee had to use the bathroom we didn’t have the option of just stopping in a gift shop. Without hesitation I redirected our route down a muddy, park hill toward the tiniest, crappiest building she had ever seen. At this point, she was getting very frustrated with my lack of effort to find her a bathroom. Sure enough, there by a dingy little dock was a public bathroom. I couldn’t even believe I remembered where it was. I do recall waiting outside that bathroom with my grandmother while my mother was inside with my little sister.

It was then that I had one of those moments when so many of the questions we never bother to ask ourselves, about our personal development, are answered all at once. I thought of my parents and how different my interests are from theirs. I thought about how little they prepared me for the future and how they saved almost nothing to pass along to me to help me in my adult life. Then I thought about this place. I began to make connections to all my passions, interests, and desires in the life. I thought about my curiosity in American History, my passion for the outdoors, my desire to push my body countless miles, and my amazement for being awestruck by something so beautiful you can only share it with someone by showing it to them.

I felt as calm as the surface of the water. I will forever be grateful of my parents because although individually they are both crazy, in a way, they gave me calmness. To me, there is no better way to prepare someone and no greater gift.

Beats So Fresh You Need to Keep Them On Ice

A few weekends ago my band, Parachute Stage, recorded our first demo. We recorded at In the Woods Recording Studio in Wallingford, CT and had a great experience. When we arrived at the house, which is literally in the woods, I learned that I had a doppelganger. His name was Gregg and coincidently one of the owners of the studio. He made us feel very welcome and gave us a tour of the house and studio.

The house is beautiful and the studio is set up very well. There is a large room with a cool paint job and within it a smaller isolation booth for vocals and whatnots. Down the hall is the control booth and mixing board.

Gregg was very helpful and professional about the recording process. He took his time making sure we were set up properly and everyone was comfortable. After a few takes he became very much invested in our music and at time expected even more from us than we expected from ourselves. This was great because it gave us all confidence that we had a quality product to offer.
The recording went really well and we laid the music to four tracks in just about 2 hours. Green Tea was finished in 1 take and Protest Song in only 2. After that it was just listening to Dee add in the lead vocals which as you can hear came out great!

We highly recommend In the Woods Recording to any band who wants a quality recording in a very relaxed atmosphere. We will be back in the future for a full length album, but for now check out our demo at myspace.com/coldseasonstudio

Sorry It took so long for the post I was hoping to have photos.

Soothes the Soul.

I've been sick so I haven't been able to catch up on all the wonderful things that have been going on. Be patient. In the mean time.....this is for Grey.....


.....Dire Straits is one of my favorite bands, but come on....

Weekend Warm up

I swore I wasn’t going to get outside until late March, but my good friend John got me out ahead of schedule. John is also training for the upcoming road race and strung together a week of outdoor running last week in the ice and snow. Friday night out for drinks and he convinced me to get out for an easy 5 mile run the following morning. Well, I gave in on the condition we start after noon.

2:00 P.M. we began at the Orange Community Center and headed Northbound on Orange Center Road. We took a left at Meeting House Ln, Ridge Road, Treat Ln, Old Tavern Rd, Peck Ln, a right at Pine Tree Dr, and a left at Orange Center. At the community center there is a walking track and we finished with 1 lap around the track.


We finished at 2:40 P.M. so it wasn’t a great time, but we weren’t really pushing it. It was a really refreshing run and worth the cold. It was also all residential back roads too, so there wasn’t a danger of traffic. I would highly recommend the run.

I didn’t feel winded after the jog so my confidence is way up. I think with a race mentality I could have run this particular 5 mile closer to 31 minutes. It was mostly flat with one slight incline toward the end of the run.

I’m looking forward to my next outdoor run. Maybe I can convince Dee to join me on a jog next weekend in Lake George? ….We’ll see.

Ya Heard?

What’s with people who refer to vegetarians as “veggies”? I’m not a vegetable. I am meat, 100% Organic, Grade A meat. I eat lots of vegetables, but this doesn’t make me one. I don’t think the same person who called me a veggie would like it very much if I referred to them as a pig, cow, or chicken.

“Oh, you’re serving sausage at the company picnic?
“Yes, a handful of pigs work here.”


This whole issue with me comes up every time my office put together any type of social event. This week has been “Carnival Week” at work. We deserved to have carnival week because of the tremendous profit our company made in 2009. Nope, we didn’t get a raise. What are you crazy we’re in a recession!! …The multimillion dollar raises are reserved for the men and women who don’t actually know what our company does. We got Carnival Week.

I’ll spare you the details of the whole week, but I will tell you that today’s activities included: Wii Bowling, some duck pond thing, and email bingo. Stop me if you’re getting giddy with excitement over this. On the menu was everyone’s favorite carnival snack...hotdogs!

About 2 hours after the pig snouts and chicken feet were finished eating their hotdogs we got an email informing all of us that, “There are veggie dogs too!” I thought to myself, this may be the compassionate thing that the administrative staff here has ever done however, it doesn’t make up for all the obscenely inconsiderate actions of the past. I refused the veggie dog, however, and demanded $4.50 from the 2009 profit as I could easily eat that much worth of meat aternative products.

For the sake of color in the post, this is my favorite brand of veggie dog...

Pigeon is the Key for Road Race Training to Marathon.

What?
It’s going to take a full month of intense training to really step up my performance in the Tau Kappa Epsilon 5k Road Race for Autism. this year. Since the date was moved up 2 weeks I only have a about a month left which leaves me very little time to log some outdoor miles.

So I’ve decided I’m going to go to Florida for a few days in order to train. I know what you’re saying right now… “It must be nice to be able to go to Florida on a whim just to run.” Well, you’re right it is. Actually, it’s no whim at all…

A few month’s ago my good friend Rachael invited some of my friends and I to visit her in Florida. She works with marine wildlife on an island in the Florida Keys called Pigeon Key (coordinates are 24.704118,-81.155308). I guess there is some house, in which we will stay, that employees can reserve free of charge. How could we refuse that offer? The only cost is the flight down (which we got at a steal) and food (which will be 5 days worth of groceries since there are no restaurants on the island). So basically, we're looking forward to 5 days of doing nothing. I think this will be the first time in my life that I’ve traveled to someplace beautiful and had absolutely nothing to do. Even if we wanted something to do there aren’t many options!

If you wanted to see Pigeon Key on a map, don't look up Pigeon Key, Key Largo FL. Look up the Pigeon Key Foundation on Google Maps. Zoom in pretty tight and pan a few inches to the left and you'll see it.

So how does this sound like an intense running regimen? Well, the next closest island to pigeon key is the highly regarded tourist destination of Marathon, FL. It’s a 2.2 mile bridge away and for the week will be my training facility. Each morning I plan on waking up before sunrise and running to marathon and back, roughly 4.5 miles.

Day one: I plan on a simple run there and back with no stops. As one would imagine it’s completely flat and so I am setting a very modest goal of 30 minutes, but I suspect I will come in with less time. Day 2: I am going to run speed intervals. 1 mile warm up jog, 30 seconds intense and 30 seconds rest to Marathon. Then 1 minute intervals for 1 mile and cool down jog for the rest of the way back. Day 3: same as 1, but 3 minutes less time. Day 4: Reverse the intervals. Day 5: If I get the guts I will try to do a 15 mile run to Bahia Honda State Park and back. Well see…. It is supposedly one of the best beaches in the continental US.

Ideally, I’d like to begin running early morning and be back to the island for some sunrise beach stretching.

I guess I'll be updating more about the trip in the coming weeks. I'm really exited to get down there.

Tau Kappa Epsilon 5k Road Race for Autism

April 3rd is the annual Tau Kappa Epsilon 5k Road Race for Autism. Last year I came in 7th place and ran my best ever time. This year I am determined to win and am confident that I can. I think on of the active brothers, Pat Hevey, won last year, but I mean that guy was trained by the military so it was tough competition.

My biggest competition last year was Ryan Dolan. He entered Uconn a few years after me and although we became great friends he loved to harass me about my weight. The abuse was horrible. Every comment I made was aggressively attacked by him with a slur against my size. The thing was that I was a perfectly normal weight and had no issue at all. He was actually about 40 lbs underweight. Well, I got my revenge as I blew him out in the last mile of last year’s race.

This year’s race was originally scheduled for April 17th which would have been much nicer considering it could be significantly warmer two weeks later. However, due to a scheduling conflict with the university the race was moved up to the 3rd. This is not only unfortunate because of the weather, but it also gives me 2 less weeks to train. Although I have been improving my endurance for the past year on a treadmill there is no replacement for running outside on natural terrain. At the rate this winter is going I may not be able to get outside until the first weekend in April which will be too late.

I have to think of something fast ……other than running in the cold.

Back on belt.

Just to get back in the swing of things I thought I'd hit you with a little fast break. Today I filled up my water bottle at 1:10pm and headed downstairs where those 2 business-type men were, as usual, in the locker room. Only this time they weren't stepping out of the shower they were tying their sneakers! Oh no! This means....Yes! They haven't started their workout yet and I would have the pleasure of exercising beside them and all their judgement.

I tried to think of all the possible ways this couldn't be true. Maybe they're going outside?...Nope too cold. Perhaps I'll run outside to avoid them....Nope, way too cold. I actually thought of just packing up and leaving the gym without saying a word. Reluctantly, I got into my shorts and headed for the far end treadmill. They fell in line beside me and away we went.

I thought it would be a good day for a quick interval session to avoid another personal encounter in the locker room for the post game show. I did the new Men's Health: Belly Off interval workout which is pretty much awesome.

3 min - warm up
.5 min- intense (I do 8.5 mph treadmill or 12mph elliptical)
1 min - recover (5.0)
X 3

1 min - intense
1 min- recover
X 4

.5 min - intense
.5 min - recover
X 4

3 min - cool down

Then I did a super set. The super set is like this:

Dumbbell Squat Thruster X 8 (15 lbs)
30 Push ups (10 close, 10 normal, 10 wide)
Dumbbell Squat Thruster X 8 (15 lbs)

Here's a video if you don't know what dumbbell squat thrusters are. Don't judge these people just focus the exercise. And try to do it with good form. Straight back - no wavering Explode from the squat and control the weight.



I got into the locker room first, showered, and was back here by 1:55 p.m.

How come it took me 10 months to see this?

Sorry for all the no-posts. Here's something for you. On the original album M. Ward sings the entire song alone. This is a bit different because Yim sings the main part. I hope you like it as much as I do...

Voice of the Wind.

For me, the crappy winter days are always the most reflective. There's nothing like an unexpected snow storm to set my mind down a path in 2 opposing directions at the same time. I'm not all about expressing my goals and aspirations because it's unfair to the reader. I mean today I may tell you I'd really like to be an igloo architect then tomorrow I'd express how I can't stand cold weather.

There are, however, somethings I've always wanted to do, but never did and now feel its too late. So I can accept those things and share. I always wanted to be in a band like Chris & Thomas. The problem is when it comes to writing songs with words I lack all the necessary qualities. When writing lyrics I lack creativity, vision, direction and confidence. This all goes back to me not having many interesting thoughts. Or at least not being able to organize these thoughts. This is not to say I don't believe I can write. I feel good about the poetry, prose, and prayer I write, but those forms or expression don't really interest me. I like music and want to be able to sing and play my own work one day.

Once, my good friend Grey made a point to the effect that poems written as poems should remain poems and not be adapted into song. And the same goes for songs and prose I suppose. I agree with that, too much gets lost in translation.

This reminds me of a song by Sonic Youth:

In yr mouth a wad of cashMoist roll of hundredsFingers thru yr hairSilver quarters dropTo yr pleated skirtCannisters of whipped creamIn yr sweater pocketsA look of space and total lifeReady or notThe plan is to go to dc and hang outGo see girls rockHow long's the tour?What time you guys playing?Where you going next?What comes first,The music or the words?

Nope, there was no real connection to what I was saying about music and lyrics. Yet, this sticks out: What comes first,The music or the words?. If there is an answer to this question I do not know what it is, but I'm sure its personal and different for all people.

Anyway, this has been all about me. So what do you think? What comes first?

Uncle Nelson, Béla Fleck is wearing your greasy coat

I'm not really all that observant so the fact that I'm writing a blog about my observations may not be all that relevant. I know when it comes to music I'm always way ahead of the pack or at that point far behind where it's no longer cool, but not far enough to be vintage yet.

Either way, when did banjo become such an integral part of new indie-folk music?! No, I'm not talking about your grand daddy's claw hammer banjo. It's claw hammer sounding but super slowed down and lots of one line parts. I've never heard banjo played like that until these recent artists started putting into their saddest of sad songs.

All this came about when I was listening to the Bon Iver station on Pandora and 4 songs in a row featured some one line banjo stuff. Jesus, Etc. by Wilco, It Wont Happen Twice by M. Ward, some song by Iron and Wine and another from Papa M. I thought I'd do a little post about it.

Who knows, I may be hearing mandolin sometimes and confusing it for banjo, but either way its there. What do I expect though really? It's new indie-folk music after all. The old indie folk music, indie folk music, and folk music all featured banjo so it makes sense. I only wish it was a little more uplifting and not so, "ooo i'm so sad and artistic and adorable." More like this....

So after I posted my orinial post I went to the bathroom and realized the music i'm listening to isn't exactly all that new. However, there are some post neo new indie-folk that also use banjo. So i'm not completely out of the hip music loop. By the way, my position: I like it. And this isn't a knock on the bands or music mentioned just an irrelevant observation.

ok.

I'm on the radio.

From the moment I get to work until I leave I am listening to something on the radio. I'll either have on talk radio in the morning and music in the afternoon, but no matter what it is I am usually completely turned off to what's happening in the office around me. Sometimes papers appear on my desk behind and I also wonder if the person who dropped it off saw me picking my nose.

Just Curious.

Moving Forward and Band Beard Observations

The change is going to happen today and the risk will take place sometime in July. Today marks the first day of the semester for both me and Dee. For Dee, and most students, this means schedules get tighter and fun becomes a rare treat. Tension and anxiety will grow and time for personal endeavors gets limited to almost nothing.

For me this day is the beginning of 15 weeks for personal development. While my classes do, and will, demand a great deal of attention, I have the luxury of taking online classes and completing many assignments at work. This frees up nights and weekends and since Dee will be on overload I am often alone in my extracurricular activities.

Today I've decided that, over the next 15 weeks, I am going to seek to build myself a more spiritually sound foundation. I am hoping to develop a more balanced state of mind so that I can create more opportunities for myself. I believe that by tuning in to my own spiritual signal I will be able to express myself in more creative ways. I am happy about beginning the effort and glad it's a rainy cold day because I feel that on sunny days everyone is optimistic, but it's mostly superficial. An optimistic person on a rainy day is far more sincere.

The journey begins with Fleet Foxes. Since the Jets lost in the AFC championship I've turned my attention from sports talk radio and have reconnected with meaningful music. Fleet Foxes was first on the list today. I find their music to be mature and guided. Their vocal harmonies are often haunting in a curious way. Much of their music has a medieval, almost Gregorian quality which, for me, is uplifting and encouraging.

As I was checking out videos of Fleet Foxes, I realized that the front men of almost every one of my favorite bands have large beards. So I started to analyze 3 of them in particular. First is Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes. I love the color of this beard. I can't identify color too well, but I describe his as regal. The mustache is strong to the beard and the trim is perfect. To me he has the best of the 3 beards because it's the most natural. What I mean by that is, some faces are meant to have beards, they just look better with them. Other faces are on people who want beards and they look forced.

That's my major criticism of Ben Bridwell, singer/guitarist for Band of Horses. To me it looks like an Abe Lincoln costume beard. If he had a killer stache to compliment the bulk then his grow would have a bit more substance, but as is it looks a little forced. Overall, the length is awesome and the consistency is amazing considering it doesn't look like he does any touch ups. I like it, just looks a little planned which really there's nothing wrong with.

Lastly, is Alex Ebert from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. If there ever was an award called Best Facial Hair Makeover, this guy would win hands down! I mean check out the transition from the Ima Robot days to today. You can tell a lot about a person from their facial hair and I can see this guy knows where his priorities are. He looks like a man who's been inspired and found love in many places. As far as the beard goes, it's a weak stache and poor growth, but has magnificent presence which goes a long way. I had the pleasure of seeing ESMZ this year and briefly meeting Alex and he couldn't have been a nicer guy in a great beard.

Hahaha, that was a fun post.

Do anything other than going to see live music.

So about 2 years ago my band, ANIMAL CINEMA, was playing a show. So on Our Myspace, in the little blog section thing I posted a post titled, "Watch More Television Instead of Going to See Live Music." The contents of the blog post was the information for the show. I didn't exactly think it was all that clever and I didn't think anyone looked at our myspace either.

This afternoon I discovered I was wrong. As I was checking out another band's myspace, also a CT local, I noticed they stole my damn blog post title. Theirs reads "go lay on the couch instead of seeing live music."

I mean if you're going to steal something like that, at least steal something that's clever or at least makes sense. I'm not mad at Sneaky Castro though. We played our first show together at Cafe9 a few years ago and now we are local band soul mates.

Let me introduce myself.

Let’s finally get down to introductions. I’m 25 and live in my Dad’s house with my girlfriend Dee. I have a dead-end job at a shitty company. While I’m at work I write this blog because I don’t do a lot of actual work. All this free time isn’t available because I’m lazy, I’m just bored. See, my job is so easy for me that can I complete all my assigned tasks in about an hour. I’m not saying it’s because I’m all that bright or that the work is brain-dead, but a little of both. Once I took an IQ test and scored a 113 meaning I have an above average IQ. Yet, I don’t find myself to be too creative so I don’t invest much in the accuracy of that result. However, I like the score so I won’t take another one.

Anyway, I went to college for 5 years and didn’t get very much accomplished. I attended the University of Connecticut mainly because it was really pretty in autumn. In fact, the most common reason I wasn’t in class was because I was sitting outside the museum or by the pond convincing myself I’d go to class tomorrow. While I feel I learned quite a bit, none of my new knowledge helped me in any way on my exams. I left Uconn with little more than a sophomore’s number of credits and now I take classes at Community College. Though I still have very little direction I think I just want to research things for a career.

I don’t yet know what this blog is about, but am confident I will figure it out eventually. Whatever posting I do now is going to be themed around things I eat, read, or do at work. I’m a health freak on the weekdays and a vegetarian all the time so perhaps these topics, based on my daily activities, will carry this blog throughout the course of its lifetime. However, due to the nature of routine, I doubt the blog will last longer than 3 months. I do the same things everyday and this causes a great deal of anxiety. Documenting such event things may only bring them to the forefront of my mind and drive me into a deep state of depression. I can’t have that.

Well, that’s all I care to share now and perhaps someone may find it interesting, but I’m sure they won’t. I’ll just keep on posting and if you’d like to introduce yourself I’ll gladly stick that up on the page. Beside that, keep checking in for great 30 minute exercise routines, grilled cheese sandwich recipes, and rants on mostly meaningless and old news.

Bye.

The Pizzza Cheese Grilled.

This is one of my favorite grilled cheeses. It is made exactly how you'd expect.

-2 Slices of wheat bread
-1.5 slices of mozzarella cheese
-2 thin slices of tomato
-mayo
-oregano
-garlic powder

Spread some mayo on the outside of your bread slices (only the part that touches the pan). Put 1 piece, mayo down, on a pan over medium heat. Lay down the cheese, then tomato then use the spices at your own preference. Put that other piece of bread right there down on top, mayo side up.

Let it get all crispy and flip over until the sides are equally crispy.

There you go, Pizzza Cheese Grilled. You can even dip this in some marinara sauce if you're feeling greasy.

Use wheat bread, don't mess around.

I know why the fish in a fish tank lays on the gravel and you think its dead but then you move the bowl and it starts swimming around.

For the first year and a half of working here I used to listen to music while I worked. All kinds too. I learned a ton of information on bands I already loved and I was introduced to a whole bunch of new bands. I became interested and familiar with delta blues. Then something horrible happened.

I became inspired....


Man, and then I sat up and I was in a grey fluorescent lit hallway. I started to think about what the floor of this building looked like if there were no cardboard walls. There is nothing inspiring about an office where everyone is working the same dead end job.

Now I listen to talk radio. All day, every day. Right now I'm biding time, finishing my degree and it's a slow process, but worth it.

www.wfan.com

Now, why would you want or need to know this? Maybe inspiration.

Why cats are smarter than dogs.

The Fast Break - Shedding Holiday Pounds.

I gained a bunch of unwanted weight in the month of December. It all started with finals since I wasn't running on breaks needing that time to work on papers and whatnot. After finals, I was just lazy, but I got back to the gym and brought my spare tire along. The worst part about all this is my abs were very flat and very defined before this all happened. It just goes to show you how hard you have to work to achieve the level of fitness you want and how fast it can go away.

The past 2 weeks, I've been running a lot and doing to strength training. I figured I'd lose the weight first then rebuild muscle.

That all ended today. For my workout I did about 10 minutes on the Elliptical. 5 easy 5 intense. Then worked out chest and triceps. I don't do conventional sets and I don't exactly do circuits either. I like to mix it up.

I learn most of the elements of my routines from Scooby. His website and awesome and free and really helpful. I don't know this guy personally, but despite is massive and defined upper body, he seems to be more about being healthy than being a monster in the gym.

First chest, and I do this exactly the same way:


I do the Chest Workout 2 times in a row with 1 minute rest in between. I use a 15 lbs dumbbell. Then I do a triceps "circuit." I start out with 25 dips. I use the arms of 2 side by side treadmills but you can use, chairs, or a dip station, or even lean back on a bench.



Then I do the rope pull downs and then the behind the head dumbbell press. I Do as many of each as I can and go from exercise to exercise with no rest. After all 3 I rest for 1 minute and do the whole thing again.

For the rest of the workout I stretch and shower. I'm tired

My Nalgene bottle has a 7 on the bottom. Must be lucky!

I was flipping through Backpacker Magazine today while at work. I was researching food containers, mostly water containers. Well, it wasn't hard to determine what's the hot trend in water bottle these days. Plastic bottles has gotten everyone going crazy! It's the BPA that has everyone running to their local EMS for the latest aluminum water bottle. But MAKE SURE it's got an epoxy lining!

I can't get into the science and the studies because I don't know about all that. Personally I just don't buy in to the hype about plastic bottles at all. So, I'll give you my opinion from a "no facts" viewpoint.

1. If you watch the local news, ever, you're probably already cursing me out and compiling all the evidence that supports the BPA hype. That's because if you watch the local news you'll believe any line of bullshit that someone will feed you. This stuff is all over the news which leads me to believe it's bullshit.

2. Going along with my first point about local news, every so often a big scare comes out that has everyone running out to a retail store. That's where the bulb should turn on. The motive for, mostly, all of these big media scares is to break new products onto the market. Genius, scare people into buying more crap. Its perfect and free.

3. Water is hot! Everyone is getting natural and fit. People are buying less carbonated beverages and drinking more water. SO how do you make money off something that's free like water? Well first you tell everyone that their water is dirty. Then you convince them that if you don't put, your clean water, in these trendy new bottles it will become dirty.

4. Manufacturers can make Jonas Brothers aluminum bottles whereas those plastic bottles only come in assorted translucent colors. How boring.

My bottom line is that sure there's lots of studies and facts, but it's all too vague for me to believe. This is just the toxin of the year and next year we'll be told that banana peels can lead to blindness. The best article I've read on the subject, made a great analogy.

Remember the joke about the drunk who was walking back and forth below a street lamp? What did you lose, he was asked? My keys, came the reply. Did you drop them here? No, he answered, but this is the only place where there is light! Right now, the light is being cast on bisphenol A, while numerous hormone-like substances lurk in the darkness.

WE HAVE A LOT MORE TO WORRY ABOUT THAN BPA. There's a lot of horrible stuff out there and I'll bet there's not enough BPA in my water bottle to hurt me any worse than the exhaust coming out of your SUV. So I'll continue to use my Nalgene bottle forever. Why? Because it's really big and has measuring lines on it. It's virtually indestructible and it was cheap because of the recall. I'm not worried.

To everyone out there still rocking the Nalgene, don't give it up. You probably don't watch the evening news, like the Yankees, or believe the streets are unsafe. I'll bet you're not a racists either and for those things I salute you. Next time you see me and my green Nalgene say hello. We'll microwave some Tupperware and smoke a cigarette together.

Woman goes wild in McDonald's - Burger Rage

I am a vegetarian so I'd never do this....



Take care of your health and the health of others. Don't eat at McDonald's and don't throw cash registers.

The Fast Break - stretching

I left my desk at 1:10 p.m., filled my water jug with water and headed to the fitness room. The usual 3 business dudes were on in the zone so I changed in peace and got in the middle treadmill. I ran hard for about 10 minutes and by the time I was done they were all showered up and gone. The room was mine!

I like exercising alone so much better, I always find a good grove.

For the rest of the time I was down there I stretched. I'd say it was a good half hour. It was a great stretch and I really needed it. Stretching is my favorite part of fitness. I do a good blend of traditional positions and yoga poses. The key to stretching is holding for longer than you think.

I was back in my seat by 2:00 p.m.

Incarcerated Bob

So 2 days ago it was announced, unofficially, on the Boomer & Carton show (Wfan) that long time, popular caller Incarcerated Bob was dead. It was reported on his twitter, by his "sister", that on his way home from Atlantic City on New Years Day he was hit and killed by a drunk driver.

The news made me pretty upset as Incarcerated Bob is very knowledgeable of sports and his calls were are well thought out as well as hillarious. Also, according to his twitter, Bob had saved $1,500 to donate to The Boomer Esiason Foundation for cystic fibrosis. The news deeply touched co-host (the legendary) Boomer Esiason who claimed it was the saddest moment in the shows history. At the moment it was...

Tweets to follow the announcement commemorated the caller's life, to the effect of, "Bobby you will be missed & now you fly with the angles... Your sister will always remember the good times & your memory will never fade." The Huffington Post ran an article on Bob's death.

Turns out, Incarcerated Bob is NOT dead and someone hacked into his twitter account and was playing a joke. Not a cool joke, but when I heard Bob's voice today I almost died myself, with laughter. On Wfan this morning with B & C, Bob said he was visiting his father and when he got home his phone was "goin off the hook with messages." And "real NYPD detectives" were trying to contact him. Upon hearing the news of his death, he reacted, "You tryin to put me out like that?!" And despite the claim about having $1,500 saved up for BEF was false, Bob did say he was going to donate the money anyway.

The best line from Bob was "I don't even have a sister that's the funny thing man. "
If you go to The Boomer and Carton website you can listen to the whole call. Just click on "Incarcerated Bob Lives!"

It was awesome to hear his voice today and I'm really glad it was a joke cause Incarcerated Bob is the man.