thursday morning shout outs

Carrie Beth - Your presence in my life gives me excitement and comfort.

John - Thanks for two fun, conversation and booze filled years. For your sake, I hope that whiny ass Prima donna Cutler is the answer.

Kristen - Your adventures abroad continue to inspire me. Don't marry a Danish unless he's sweet

Colorado Rockies - Thanks for giving me another tension filled September. Don't let me down or I may not recover

Jeff - We'll help each other recover if said team lets us down.

Alpine Autism Center - Thanks for paying me for over 2 years to get bit, sing silly songs, change diapers of thirteen year olds, have my farts blamed on autistic children, and teach helpful skills to those who cannot teach themselves. miss ya

Pearl Jam - for continuing to kick ass and take names

Les and Bobbie - inviting me to Hilton Head and caring for me when an when my throat threatened our relaxing time

Ruby - For making me feel loved. My car may never be rid of your hair. and also for guarding my precious Carrie Beth. You have my permission to bite anyone who looks suspicious. I'll be over shortly with a new supply of peanut butter

Matt - for your inspiration through further academic pursuit. one day the attorney at law and the dpt will get lunch in between clients.

The Periodic Table of Elements - for aiding me in finding the formula mass and balancing equations.

Dinger - for continuing to do your job to the best of your ability even though your everyone's least favorite mascot.

Todd Helton - For being Colorado's resident badass

Alec Baldwin - For tickling the world's funny bone

Severus Snape - For teaching me about redemption and showing that theres nothing wrong with having a sissy ass patronus

Old Worlde Bagels - for your continual commitment to one of america's most unhealthy breakfast foods.

Seth Smith - for being mr. late night!

Joe - for badass rhymes and unique beats across the social network

Kyle Orton - for taking it in stride

Bill and Deb - Selflessly refilling your almost empty nest

Agia Sofia's - bringing Gregorian Chant back. Its sexy

Carrie Beth - For smiling with your whole body

Jim Tracy - For being manager of the year!

Clint Hurdle - Miss ya and your witty sayings

grilled cheese sandwiches - for giving me pleasure and protein.

Lewish Cash - for always commenting on my blog even though I have no idea who in the hell you are

Coors Field - for being the home for hopes and dreams

a quick breather

It's been a month and a half since my last post. Life's been busy. That's not too good of an excuse, after all, life is busy for everybody. That's finally true of me. For almost two years, life was only busy in small spurts. Most of the time I just worked 8-4 m-f, and just hung out with my remaining hours. I skied every saturday through the winter, and went to Rockies games in the summer. Read several books, watched several movies, mooched many a meal off of my parents, and figured out my favorite bars in town.

Now, I am a full time student again. Left my job a month ago and am now taking twelve credit hours at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. My goal is to gain admittance to physical therapy school. This semester, I'm taking Bio, Chem, and Algebra, along with the labs that go with those classes. Next year I'll have to take stats, physics, anatomy, and physiology. science and math have not been strong subjects for me for many years so I use as much spare time as possible to study.

I've got my first chem exam tomorrow and studying is proving to be a real bitch. I'm understanding most of it, but for the first time in my educational career my grades really mean something. I mean, I always wanted to do well, but hanging out with friends, farting around on the internet, or seeing a good film always took precedence over studying. Now, I need to ace most of these classes or it will all be for nothing. Talk about stress and pressure. But, I am finding ways to relax.

Anyway, on my short break from studying I thought I'd make a list. Here's a list of bands and artists whom I wish had a wider appeal. I really wish more people listened to these guys. I'll refrain from putting hot indie bands and artists that may not top the charts, but have definite huge underground followings such as Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Sigur Ros etc... This list is for bands that I'm not sure of anybody else that actually listens to them. I've found them on the internet or by accident. Let me know if you've heard of any of these guys and either like or dislike them.


Dungen: A Swedish band who's been around most of this decade. They do an odd combination of garage rock, psychedelic, and instrumental that is quite compelling. I own three of their albums and thoroughly enjoy all of them.

Hearts of Palm: Ok, this is my high school locker partner's band hailing from Denver. It's always awesome when your buddy is in a band and you don't have to lie about liking them. Two bad the members went their separate ways, because they were something special. Try and find 'em online.

Idaho: Part of the 90's slowcore genre. These guys are great. Very subtle, musically gifted, lyrically poignant, and just soothing. Check 'em out.

John Frusciante: Ok, he's a famous guitarist from the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I don't know anyone who owns his solo stuff. Its far more complex than the party style of the Chili Peppers. He's worth a listen. Sample him on itunes.

Lindsey Buckingham: Another very famous person because of his band, Fleetwood Mac, but no love for his solo career. He is amazing.

Other Lives: Andrew hooked me up with these guys because his cousin is in the band. Just dropped their first album this past spring. May not change your life, but it is worth a listen.

Red House Painters: An amazing amazing amazing band. They need to be bigger. Check out any of their albums, all are solid. Did most of their work in the 90's, a major player in that slowcore movement. Mark Kozelek, the man behind the band, is having some success with his new band, Sun Kil Moon. But they are nowhere near the same league as the Painters. Can't say enough about this band. Cameron Crowe loved 'em so much he cast Kozelek as the base player of Stillwater in Almost Famous. He's the one that starts singing in the infamous Tiny Dancer bus scene.

Spiritualized: All I've read about them leads me to believe that they are a lot bigger, but I've never heard anyone but John talk about them. Give them a listen.



let me know what you think...

Chia Obama

Is this for real? I think it is...

Just saw a commercial for this on ESPN less than ten minutes ago. This is hilarious...


http://www.chiaobama.com/

1st halfsies - film

Haven't seen too many movies yet this year. Here are my top 5 so far...


1. Up
2. Public Enemies
3. Two Lovers
4. Away We Go
5. (tie)/ I Love You Man / The Hangover



Movies I haven't seen yet that could have affected the list

Adventureland (Greg Mottola)
State of Play (Kevin MacDonald)
Sugar (Anna Bolden, Ryan Fleck)
Moon (Duncan Jones)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Whatever Works (Woody Allen)

Film I'm looking forward to...

The Road (John Hillcoat)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese)
Funny People (Judd Apatow)
The Informant (Steven Soderbergh)
Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Me and Orson Welles (Richard Linklater)
Avatar (James Cameron)
500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson)
Invictus (Clint Eastwood)
Nine (Rob Marshall)
Precious (Lee Daniels)
Green Zone (Paul Greengrass)
Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)
The Last Station (Michael Hoffman)
A Serious Man (Coen Brothers)
Brothers (Jim Sheridan)
Taking Woodstock (Ang Lee)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
The Boat That Rocked (Richard Curtis)
Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie)



Thats all for now. Let me know if I missed any

1st halfsies

6 months of 2009 are history. 6 months to go. Here are my favorite albums of the first half of the year. The more I listen, they are subject to change.


1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
3. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
4. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
5. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
6. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
7. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
8. The Mars Volta - Octahedron
9. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
10. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King
11. Other Lives - Other Lives
12. Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 - White Lies for Dark Times
13. U2 - No Line on the Horizon


Albums I'm looking forward to

The Dead Weather - Horehound (July 14)
The Roots - How I Got Over (August 11)
Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major (August 18)
Matisyahu - Light (August 25)
David Bazan - Curse Your Branches (September 1)
Muse - The Resistance (September 14)
Pearl Jam - Backspacer (September 22)

And any other unannounced albums that may drop in '09...

A Tribute to the King of Pop

Here are my 15 favorite songs of his...


1. Billie Jean (Thriller)
2. Beat It (Thriller)
3. The Way You Make Me Feel (Bad)
4. Wanna Be Startin' Something (Thriller)
5. Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough (Off the Wall)
6. Thriller (Thriller)
7. Scream (HIStory)
8. Black or White (Dangerous)
9. Baby Be Mine (Thriller)
10. Man in the Mirror (Bad)
11. Dirty Diana (Bad)
12. Bad (Bad)
13. Smooth Criminal (Bad)
14. Working Day and Night (Off the Wall)
15. You Rock My World ( Invincible)


Several others coulda made it into 11-15, but these are the ones i'm feeling today. Rest in peace your majesty. We'll miss you.

Lunch Break Ramblings

Today, while eating my two day old chicken breast, I was thinking about the lack of love that low market teams get in the news.

The Colorado Rockies just went on a streak in which they won 16 out of 17. This is virtually unheard of in baseball. Yet, the most recent ESPN power ranking has them at 15 in the league. I understand that they were unbelievably bad before the streak, but c'mon.

Between the Rockies and the Nuggets, Colorado gets no love from the media. The Nuggets were the number 2 team in the west for most of the season and didn't get much press until they took the Lakers to six games in the conference finals. Everybody knows who Andrew Bynum is, but not many could tell you who Nene Hilario is. The lack of coverage kinda pisses me off.

The Rockies rarely play on ESPN. Their games are only televised on the local stations. Yet teams like the Mets and Dodgers are frequently televised, even when they suck.

Anyway, I don't have too big of a point, just kinda Rambling before I have to go back to work.