Denver, in pictures and in words. And with facial hair

Well, here's the update I've been promising for weeks now, it seems.

Last weekend, a few of us from work went to Denver. The main reason? Illegal Pete's. A couple of the guys had eaten at this place once, and, since we had a three-day weekend, they thought what the hell, may as well make a weekend of it and head back there. Especially since it was right near the end of the mutton chop competition, we thought it'd be a fun time.

Here we each are, starting off on the about 9-hour drive

me

Jared

Nick

Josh

(Did I mention we all had matching hats, too? Just to complete the ridiculousness of our look) You'll notice I don't have much of a chop going on there. Sadly, I had been "growing" my facial hair for the same amount of time that Josh had. All I had was a creepy-looking mustache, and a few patches of light red hair on my cheeks. Not really visible to the naked eye.

Anyways, the drive out was fun. There was a convoy of 4 cars, made up by what looked like high school students, who were very entertained by the chops. They gave us the thumbs up, took some pictures, and made a sign that read "Nice Chops." All while we were driving. We felt it was a good start to the trip. We stopped for gas near Hays, KS, where we spotted our first (and only) thong appearance of the trip. But it was a memorable one. Not only was the whale tail there, but this girl (who was obviously of good repute), lowered the front of her pants, so the front of the thong was showing. And she did the lowering right in front of us, as we were walking out of the gas station. We were able to make it into the car before we busted out laughing. Our only regret was that we didn't say anything to her. The consensus was that one of us should have just said "nice," and gotten into the car. Oh well.

The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, just some periods of heavy rain and menacing clouds. It wasn't until we had made it to Illegal Pete's for our burritos that we heard there had been 3 confirmed tornadoes along I-70. The road we had just been on for 9 hours. Jared was taken aback by the news, but it didn't have an impact on my appetite.

2? No, it was 3 tornadoes

Yum

The rest of that first night was spent wandering around, taking stupid pictures. Like these:

These two are twins. My cousin couldn't tell they were even related

Outside of Coors Field, where the Rockies made a furious comeback late in the game, to win in 13 innings. We didn't go, we just stood around outside. The guy who took this picture took off like he was stealing the camera, but stopped after about 10 steps. He feared the mustache.

I think Josh was the most photogenic.

Although Nick was pretty good, too.

Especially when paired in a picture with me, getting fake advice for our imaginary chess game.

The next morning, we tore the shit out of our hotel room. It was the facial hair acting up.

After we put it back together, we wandered around, taking more stupid pictures. I'll save a couple of these for later, as they may be the best pictures ever taken.

We went to the see the Rockies take on the Mets, spending $4 on each ticket, sitting in the "Rock Pile." It was awesome. Sure, we were about 600 feet from homeplate, but we had an awesome view, and surrounded by people our age, having a good time. After a while, since the Mets were up 8-2, we started people watching more than game watching. Nick made a kid cry. The whole section almost made a drunk girl cry. But she had it coming, she was trying to start the wave. Here are some of the views from our seats


And, another friendly mutton that we spotted at the game!This was the first of two other friendlies that we ran into, here's the second:



The rest of Saturday, we took more pictures, went to some bars, I got a little drunk, and talked with a bear.

Sunday, we climbed a mountain. Like a real mountain! Actually, two! We hiked up the Twin Sisters, making it all the way to the peaks, about 4-miles, one way, with around a 2300 foot climb, and some amazing views

The Twin Sisters (borrowed from some other site)

Impressive, no?

Studly

Us at the top, with Long's Peak in the background

That was an awesome hike, I'm glad we did it.

The whole trip was pretty amazing. I met up with a cousin I hadn't seen in years, and our days were busy without rushing around, something quite impressive for our only plan being to eat a burrito, which we accomplished our first night (it was a delicious burrito, by the way).

Now, for my two favorite pics from the trip. First, Josh

and secondly, me, in every else's favorite picture, a picture that basically sums up the whole trip

If you're really interested in seeing more pictures, you can check out my albums here:

Part 1

Part 2

Now in the past week, I've shaved and gotten a haircut, so I'm no longer the kind of gross, creepy looking dude I was in those photos. I'll get a picture or two of my new look up soon. And I'm working on creating a flickr account or something, so I can share photos other than through Facebook. But until then, this will have to do

A video to tide you over

I'll hopefully have some time tomorrow to work on a bitchin' post, but until then, watch this bitchin' video over and over again.



I'm really really digging the new Weezer. I'm as excited as a little Weezer fanboy.

Nik Freitas (what I'm listening to at work)

I'm going to attempt to do a new little feature, and, hopefully, I'll actually stick this one in the future. I'm going to make posts about what I'm listening to at work, since that's actually when I spend most, if not all, of my time online. So I have XM on, and if I hear a musician or group that intrigues me, I'll check out their myspace page. So far, such bands have included Airborne Toxic Event and Fog, as well as a few others that I'll talk about in the next few days. But for today, here's Nik Freitas!

Here's his website, here's his myspace. I heard the song "Sun Down," and instantly liked it. He's got a Paul Simon/Bob Dylan sound, without being overly obnoxious about it, or sounding too pretentious. It's a good thing. And it's great stuff to listen to at work, relaxing, and not requiring too much attention. That's not to say it's not worth focusing on, because it is. But, it's nice to have on in the background.


Basically I'm saying it's good, I like it, you should listen to his stuff. I'm sure he'd appreciate it. And I'd appreciate if he'd come to Kansas City, instead of playing 2 dates in Omaha. Omaha's a nice city and all, but come on, help me out here Nik!

This post brought to you by the band Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, the planes of Midwest Airlines, and the letters NIN

First off, if you're a fan of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor has made his latest album available as a free download, just go to this link:

http://theslip.nin.com/

I'm giving it my first listen-through right now, and am liking it a lot. And you can't beat the price.

This past weekend was a quick, but very fun, time spent in Minneapolis. And while my camera sucks, (not to mention I forgot to put in fresh batteries), H and Whiskey snapped off a few. Check out their blogs to see some of the action, and check out H's post at Three Pints for more about Kate Nash.

The Kate Nash show was great, I really enjoyed the opening band, the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players. The family (dad Jason on guitar/keyboard/vocals, mom Tina on the slide projector, and 14-year-old daughter Rachel on drums) basically goes to estate sales, buy old slide photography, and write songs based around them. A lot of bands use a video aspect to their live shows to supplement their sound, (like the Faint, the previously mentioned NIN, Project Jenny, Project Jan, to name a few I've seen in concert), but this is the first instance I'm aware of where the band uses the audio and video in such an intertwined level. To get the full enjoyment out of their performance, here's a couple of their videos

Look at Me (from Conan, with a few slides removed for network TV purposes. I'm not sure if it's better or not. . . )


Don't You Know What I Mean?


Now these videos are a few years old, so Rachel is a few years older now. And Jim still didn't want me to go get her number for him.

These videos don't really do them justice, I was blown away by them, it was awesome. At first I didn't think I'd buy their schtick, but damn if they didn't win me over.

I flew (yes, flew) to Minneapolis, after finding tickets that were cheaper than it would have been for me to drive, and saved me about 13 hours driving (round trip), and a lot of wear and tear on my car. Rudy can't put up with too much more, so I gotta take it easy on him while I can, until I find a new ride. But don't tell him about that.

Anyways, I flew on Midwest Airlines. Holy crap. It was amazing. When I got on the plane for my first flight of the day (Midwest is based out of Milwaukee, so I had a stop there each way), there was classical music playing on the speakers, and (relatively) large leather seats as far as the eye could see. They were incredibly comfortable for plane seats, and even left me with a couple of inches on either side. Plus a middle armrest that was about 5 inches wide. No elbow fights with the neighbor for space! And plenty of legroom.

My favorite part, though, was getting freshly baked cookies. Not just one, but two on each flight! And on my first flight, an older lady was sitting next to me, didn't want her cookies, so she gave them to me! AND everyone got a little bag of pretzels. And drink service. C'est incroyable! I would definitely recommend this airline to anyone if it's available (and comparably priced to other airlines). Lucky for me, KC is one of their hubs. Rock.

So it was an awesome weekend, all around. Played some Wii (Mario Kart is lots and lots of fun) and some XBox 360 (NCAA Football still rules, and the new Grand Theft Auto game is kind of fun), saw a good concert (even if Kate Nash got everyone to say they hated me and I'm pretty sure called me a dickhead), at somewhere near my body weight in pizza (Old World Pizza's buffet is delicious), had some cocktails (most gin and tonics, with a free Jameson and something thrown in for good measure), had a wonderful time meeting and chatting with WhiskeyMarie (however nonsensical and incoherent it may have been), and just really enjoyed myself. If only every weekend could be so fun-filled! Now I'm waiting for visitors to come to KC. There's plenty of room, everyone's welcome! And of course, I can make the airport pick-up, so check out Midwest. It's worth it!

Still here, still kickin' it

yeah, I haven't done much in the way of blogging lately. I got all moved into my apartment, got the living room area arranged and cleaned up, and should be working on the bedroom. But instead, I decided to play my DS, and now I'm at Charczuk's, watching Top Chef and using the internet. And tomorrow I'll be over here, using the internet again, but more to watch The Office. I don't have cable or internet, yet, so yeah. Hopefully things will get figured out on that front soon, but in the time being, we'll have to deal with this setup. Oh well.

This weekend should prove to be exciting, I'm heading to Minneapolis, and will have a shenanigan-filled time with H, a performance from Kate Nash, a get together with an old high school friend, and a meeting with the ever lovely Whiskey Marie. There's a chance that I won't make it back to Kansas City.

I'm going to clean off my camera card, so there will hopefully be some classic pictures. Or at least some blurry evidence of what happens. There will probably be some memories that will be blurry, too.

I'll try to be back soon, but if not, fret not, my homies. And check my friends' blogs, the whereabouts of Flenker may be reported elsewhere.

LATER

Add this to the list of toys I want

And go to this link, watch the video, and feel sorry for the guy.

If anyone out there has XM radio, listen to channel 43, XMU, during the day. Billy Zero will be playing some song selected by your truly. I'm stoked for that. I'll post more about it tomorrow or this weekend.

More actual content stuff coming soon, I hope

Before I go, here's some Maritime with "Tearing up the Oxygen."



If you don't know, that's Davey from The Promise Ring singing. I dig these guys. Here's their myspace page. Check out the songs "For Science Fiction," and "Guns of Navarone." They're good

bye bye bye everyone!

Music for the jilted lover

The two videos below, from the Airborne Toxic Event, are songs to listen to if you've ever been dumped, or forlorn, or have experienced an unrequited love.





I've heard them quite often on XM, and have grown fond of their stuff. (pardon if my descriptions are brief. I've had a couple gin and tonics, the Royals got killed, I've had a busy day!)

The lineup for Austin City Limits was released today. It's a good one. You can see it here. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go. Plane tickets to Austin are supercheap from KC, and I've got a place to stay. I'll make a post about it as the event draws nearer, but I'm excited.

Speaking of excited, I'm way pumped, tomorrow I move to my own place! I put the deposit down on Monday, but didn't hear back 100% sure until today. So yeah. It'll be a week before the stuff I left in Iowa makes it down, so in the meantime, my furniture will consist of an air mattress and a clothes hamper. So much for the house-warming party. Thankfully, my wonderful mom and step-dad have offered to use their truck and horse trailer to haul my crap. Then, we're going to a Royals game! That's awesome. My family basically rocks, all around. Post here maybe even more infrequent for the time being, and I'm sorry about that. Until I get my computer set up (or get a new one), I'll only have limited access to the internet, outside of work.

Well, it's sleepy time for Flenker. enjoy the weekend!

A post a few days in the making. Mostly because I'm lazy.

The powder blue excursion was a smashing success on Saturday! I guess it could've been better, if the Royals won, and if it was about 30-40 degrees warmer, but really, I had a hell of a time. If I would have remembered my camera, there would have been photographic evidence. Since I didn't, I'll just have to paint a picture with words. Damn.

When Charczuk and I showed up, there were already lots and lots and lots of people waiting in line. We didn't have tickets. There were lots of people waiting for tickets. Since the jersey giveaway was limited to the first 20,000, we thought that we were screwed. When we finally got up to the ticket booth, we overheard the four dudes in front of us being told that the game was sold out, they were turned away. So we were looking at not only not getting a jersey, but not getting into the game after standing in the cold for 30 minutes. By some act of the baseball gods, however, we were rewarded with (what we like to think as) the last two tickets available in the stadium. Hurrah.

We were then faced with actually getting into the K (for those of you unaware, the Royals play in Kauffman Stadium. AKA the K). There was a huge line going in the front gate, probably since 2 of the other gates are currently closed, due to construction. Charczuk and I got sneaky, though, and went around the big lines to one of the side gates that is still open. And we were not only able to walk right in without any waiting, but the jerseys were being handed out by Royals manager Trey Hillman and starting pitcher Brian Bannister. That was super-duper awesome.

I'll try to get a photo of the jersey sometime soon, along with the mutton chop progress. Not that there has been much progress, but it's something I've been promising for a while now. I need a new SD card for my camera. For that matter, I need a new camera.

I also might need one of these things. If I can avoid being creeped out by it.

Consider my ass rocked.

To paraphrase a line from an email I just sent, the WHY? show tonight was worth every penny of the $7 at the door, every mile driven, and every second of sleep lost. Just to see them perform "Gemini (Birthday Song)" in person made it worth it in my mind. I won't lie, the venue may have been a little dusty, my eyes got all watery during the song. They played just about every song I could have asked for, including "These Few Presidents," "Rubber Traits," "Fatalist Palmistry," and "Crushed Bones," among many others. There was one song that I didn't recognize, but for all the rest of them, I was belting out the lyrics. My throat hurts now. Worth it. Even if rules 1, 2, and 7 were bent. (Although, I don't think I've ever been to a show with as many tall dudes as there were tonight. It was like the KU basketball team was celebrating their championship by going to the Jackpot Saloon, and got there early enough to stand in front of everyone.)

The opening groups were alright. The first guy was DJ Blunt Object, or something like that. He just stood up there with his laptop or something, and played remixed songs, including "Sexy Back," and I think an Animal Collective song. There were a couple of good loops, but overall, I wasn't that impressed. Sorry dude. Good effort, though. The band that followed him, something about a sleepyhead (that's not their name, all I remember is that it had the word "Sleepyhead" in it), was a little better. It was kind of like indie frat rock, though. Like if (insert name of crappy frat rock band here) started using kind of tech guitar parts. And they kept talking about the Jayhawks. I'm sure they were excited about it, but at a show, you can get by with maybe mentioning it once. Not saying after every other song that "the next one is dedicated to Mario Chalmers."

WHY?, however, rocked me in a way that I haven't been rocked for months. (Lead singer) Yoni Wolf was funny, interacted with the crowd well, and kept the band sounding tight all night long. I think their show tonight catapulted them into my Top 5 performances I've seen in person (along with Jeff Tweedy, The Mountain Goats, Eric Johnson [of the Fruitbats], and Loney, Dear. Good company, indeed!). Hopefully they'll do another tour of the US after they head overseas in the early summer. If they come to your neck of the woods, I strongly encourage you to see them. And, if you like them, support them by picking up a shirt or a CD. I got one of each, the shirt is powder blue (2nd post in a row I've mentioned that color. I tell you, I look like the money in it), the CD is the "Rubber Traits" album, the only one they had there that I didn't already own. And at $5, it was a heckuva deal!

Well, it is quickly approaching 3 am. I need to be at work in 5 hours. Good night all, and have a splendid Friday!

In a Fog. . . (yeah, that's the best I could come up with right now. deal)

Wow, it's been a whole week since I last posted. I wish I could say it's because I was out doing all sorts of fun, wild stuff. But really, I've been lazy. I went bowling, which almost caused both my thumb and arm to be torn off. It was fun, though. I had some issues with my bank and getting my check deposited, so that was frustrating. It's all straightened out now, thankfully. I did go out last night with some people from work, sang karaoke to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," as performed by the Temptations. Good times. That's about it, though. Sorry.

Tonight should be a good time, WHY? is playing in Lawrence. I guess that's about 45 minutes from here, show starts at 9. There are 3 bands playing, I'm hoping WHY? goes on early, otherwise it'll be a long day at work tomorrow. Totally worth it, though, to see the group responsible for one of my all-time favorite songs, "Gemini (Birthday Song)." Plus I really like their new stuff. Win-win!

Also coming up on Saturday will be my first Royals game of the season! It's Billy Butler powder blue jersey giveaway day, I'm pumped up. I look good in powder blue. Plus, the team has been playing well of late, always a good thing.

Last thing for today will be some music.

Fog, as their myspace page says, is a band from Minneapolis, MN, USA that plays experimental rock and roll music. I don't know if I'd call the stuff I've heard "experimental," but it's not exactly straightforward rock and roll, either. It's a mishmash of sounds that work really well to create a fresh sound. Yeah. They've worked with the likes of WHY? (that's how I first heard of Fog), Andrew Bird, Low, Notwist, etc. And I think elements of each group kind of come through in their music. So check 'em out. I wouldn't lead you astray, would I? (I do prefer the original songs to the remixes they have posted, but I think all are worthwhile.)

I'll try to back tonight with a review of the show, as long as I don't get back too late. I don't want to be cranky all day tomorrow, now do I? Maybe I'll have to take some cranky medicine in the morning. Oh, and I'll try to do a Friendly Mutton update soon. Again, there's not much to report about there, but I'll try to give running updates on the beauty as it grows.

I'm not a player. . .

Musician that I currently have a crush on - Kate Nash. I like her music, and she's pretty. Sure, she's only 20, but she's British. That adds a couple of years, right? I mean, the euro is kicking the dollar's ass, so in the exchange, she's actually like 28 here. She's playing in Minneapolis the first weekend in May, I'm going to be there. That's when she'll see me in the crowd, and fall madly in love with me. That's how that's going to work.

Unless I meet up with Zooey Deschanel before then. She's closer to my age, less than a year older! And also very pretty. And sings. She's definitely an actress that I have a big crush on.

The queen of my actress crushes, though, is none other than Natalie Portman. Anyone, male or female, that is in their mid- to late 20's, has had a crush on her at one point or another. I'm positive.

So do I have anyone that I know in real-life that I have a crush on? (Note: I normally try to stay away from ending a sentence with a preposition, but seriously, am I supposed to say "On whom I have a crush" every time?) Sure. There's a really attractive girl at the office. She's even talked to me once! Sure, it was only "excuse me" as we almost ran into each other in the hall, but still. But I don't really know her, so that doesn't count. Plus, I'm not big into the idea of an "office romance," even if it does work for Jim and Pam. Speaking of Pam Beasley, yeah. Definitely crush-worthy.

But someone I actually know? Maybe, maybe not. The problem is that even if there was, it's no one in the greater Kansas City metro area. Not yet, anyways. Perhaps I have a plan (or scheme, if you will) to get someone to move here. Maybe it's a long, time-(and money-) intensive, convoluted ordeal. And possibly, quite possibly, it could be the basis to the most perfect romantic movie ever. Or not. You never know. I'm tricky like that!

Exciting times ahead!

Though I still have yet to make a trip to the lovely city (unlike some people. . .), I had some of the best Louisiana-style food last night, at a place called Jazz. It was great. I had a lot of food. My main dish was crawfish etouffee. This was after the table split some appetizers - fried pickles, and crawfish. And we all did some sharing, I had tastes of blackened shrimp and chicken, fried oysters, a scallop that melted in my mouth, some cheesy grits, and a piece of cauliflower. I liked it a lot.

Things really haven't changed too much. I'll be getting my first paycheck tomorrow, which will be very welcome. The baseball season starts in full over the next few days, so all will be well. On April 10, WHY? is going to be in Lawrence, later on in the month the Kids in the Hall will be performing in KC, then sometime next month They Might Be Giants are going to be in town. I'm kind of impressed with the amount of shows that are coming through here. I just found out that Matt Pond PA was here last night, not that I really would've been able to afford it, but who knows. The Appleseed Cast played here last night, too. Ingrid Michaelson will be here on Tuesday, and The Walkmen will be playing with Spoon on Wednesday. RJD2 is on Wednesday, the 16th. Then the first weekend in May could be an Iowa musician weekend for me. William Elliot Whitmore is playing on the 3rd, Greg Brown will be playing, along with his daughter Pieta.

You know what? I will make the artists of Iowa my recommendation for the week or so.

Here's Whitmore's Daytrotter Session.

Here's a link to Greg Brown's site with some mp3's you can listen to. Check them both out!

I think there may be something that I'm looking forward to even more. At work, a few guys and I have talked about it, and decided to make the 5th month of the year Mutton May. We're going to try to get all of the guys in the Overland Park location to grow mutton chops during the month. Not just normal chops, though. No. We're going for the friendly mutton. I'm not sure how it came about, but a couple of guys were talking about Civil War-era facial hair, and it all just came together. So, at least the men on the 3rd floor have decided to do it, and we're going to try to get the girls to be judges for the best chop. And most of us have decided to start now. I'm going to need the month-long head start to have any chance, but you can be assured that I'll keep a photographic log of how things progress.

A couple of last items. First off, apologies to those up north. From the sounds of it, there's going to be some nasty weather for the next day or two. Secondly, I've been watching the movie Stardust while I've been watching it, and enjoying it very very much. It's an action/adventure movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, has a good-looking Claire Danes, and an enjoyable plot. This, and the surprisingly good Simpson movie that Charczuk and I watched last night, and it's been a good weekend for watching movies.

I hope everyone else's weekend has been as productive and fun and delicious!

Happy "Opening Day!!"

Today marks the very first baseball game of the season, between the Boston Red Sox, defending World Series champions, and the Oakland Athletics, who could end being one of the worst teams in the Majors, in the Tokyo Dome. Sounds like a good game to me!

I was thinking of channeling my inner Bill Simmons and doing a running diary throughout the game, but decided against it, mostly because it's 5 in the morning, and I don't feel like typing constantly. I'm not going to miss the game, though. It's probably been almost 20 years since I've missed the very first pitch of the season, including the two times the season started overseas (Yankees/[Devil] Rays in 2004, Cubs/Mets in I think 2001?).

So get, grab a hot dog, root, root, root for the A's, and play ball!

5:20 AM Central - Eh, screw it, I'll do a running diary for a little while. Dice-K was off to a good start, his very first pitch was an out. The next three: ball, ball, the first home run of the season by Mark Ellis. Then, 6 of the next 7 pitches have been balls. (Right after Steve Phillips said Matsuzaka can throw 7 pitches for strikes at any time. And he wonders why he hasn't managed in 4 or 5 years.) All this after the Sox got a leadoff hit, then the next three went down in order. Awesome.

5:25 - Former Kansas City Royal Emil Brown is up to bat, after Jack Cust is hit by pitch, and surprise, surprise, first pitch ball. Now a wild pitch, advancing runners to second and third. Is it too early for ESPN to run stories about what's wrong with the Red Sox? Probably not.

Now is a good time, I guess to mention that another former Royal, Mike Sweeney, is now on the A's. Good for him, I hope he has a great season. I appreciate the time he spent in Kansas City, and wish things could've worked out better the last few years, but still, I will cheer him on all season.

Meanwhile, Dice-K walks Brown to load the bases.

5:35 - Brandon Moss gets the start because JD Drew has a "stiff back." Which I'm pretty sure is code for "he hit a grand slam in the post-season so he feels like he's made good on his contract and only has to show up when he wants." If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of his. As I'm typing, he grounds into a fielder's choice at second, and Jason Veritek grounded into a double play. I'm sure Dice-K is happy that he got about 4 minutes to rest after he got out of the bases loaded jam only giving up one run.

5:40 - I'm kicking myself, I thought I had some hot dogs, but apparently I don't. What the hell am I supposed to eat while watching the game?? I guess I'll have to settle for Waffle Crisp.

5:43 - Cedar Rapids, IA's own Ryan Sweeney is up to bat! I wasn't aware he went to the A's, last I knew he was on the White Sox. He just skied a ball about 350 feet, both in distance from the plate, and in height. Unfortunately for him, the outfield wall is about 380 feet away.

5:47 - Trivia: first stolen base of the 2008 goes to Kurt Suzuki. Another piece of trivia: I love what these ball boys and girls are wearing. It looks like they were extras in Tron or The Running Man. I'll see if I can find a picture. . .

5:52 - I love shots of the crowd, especially when it shows Red Sox fans shaking their head after their $100+ million pitcher walks another batter. Is it too early to be sick of "Red Sox Nation?" No? Good. Feel good Red Sox fans, you have Julian Tavares warming up in the bullpen.

5:53 - Bill Simmons may have actually set himself on fire this time.

6:03 - Matsuzaka got out of the inning on a questionable strike call with bases loaded. Damn.

One thing I don't like about this early Opening Day, both of these teams still have exhibition games to play when they come back to the States. Why make the game today and tomorrow part of the regular season? Make them exhibitions, and have the normal start date here.

6:09 - David Ortiz smokes a ball, right to the the 2nd baseman playing in shallow right field, who tosses to 1st for the final out. Gotta love the shift.

6:14 - Gary Thorne just explained that Bobby Crosby has never hit a home run against Boston. Next pitch - a little dribbler to the pitcher.

6:17 - I'm feeling a home run here for Kurt Suzuki.

6:18 - or a line-out to short to end the inning.

6:20 - Commercials in this break include some retirement planning company and an erectile-dysfunction pill. I guess that probably says something about who they think is watching. They got me pegged.

6:22 - I'm pretty sure commissioner Bud Selig just asked Steve Phillips on a date

6:25 - shower time for me. I figure if I go now, and Dice-K is still pitching in the top of the inning, I'll miss about 5 batters.

6:35 - Out of the shower, and I overestimated the batters I missed. I only missed 4. I'm awesome.

I also heard Charczuk's alarm go off for the first time, meaning he'll be up in half an hour. Yes, I heard it while I was in the shower.

6:39 - Bud just told Steve he'd see him at 2 in the morning. Awkward.

6:47 - A couple of uneventful evenings. Plus, I'm a little distracted, playing Scrabulous.

6:51 - The name "Kurt Suzuki" reminds me of the baseball game we used to play on the XBox like 7 years ago, where the names for new players were generated by putting a first and last name together, based on names already in the game. Most of the time it worked out, but there was the occasional Dmitri Hasegawa or Tadahito Martinez.

6:57 - I'm pretty sure David Ortiz's face has gotten bigger. It looks like a planet, orbiting the large mass of his body. How was his name not included in the Mitchell Report? Oh, that's right. George Mitchell is in the front office of the Boston Red Sox.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have taken the lead. Shit.

7:08 - I'm pretty sure I hate the Progressive commercials with the "shopping center" place. They just showed two in a row.

7:13 - Oakland re-takes the lead on a MAMMOTH shot by Jack Hannahan. I love home runs. I can't think of one better event in sports.

7:27 - Mark Ellis just missed his 2nd home run. Darn.

Well, I'm going to start getting ready for work, so I'll have to stop the live updates. Unfortunate. Thanks for reading this far, it's been really fun! Maybe I'll do it again for something. Like if I ever have a date, I could bring a laptop and give continuous updates. Seems like a good idea to me. Although, by the time that happens, I'm sure laptops will be very very obsolete.

Sunday music

You may have heard today's music recommendation on a current Nike commercial. Saul Williams is awesome. I don't know how else to put it. I guess if I had to put a genre label on him, it'd be hip hop, but I don't know if that entirely describes his sound. His latest album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, employed Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor as a producer, and his influence is definitely heard. Industrial hip hop, maybe? Industrial pop hip hop? I don't know. All I know is that it's good stuff. Here's what Williams had to say about the album, released late 2007

My Dearest Friends and Fans,

It is my greatest honor to present to you The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, my new album produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. The wall of sound that we've created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they'd find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways. The ways of middlemen proves to be just a passing trend. We need no priests to talk to God. No phone to call her. And when you click the link below, i think it fair that you should know that your purchase will make middlemen much poorer...

NiggyTardust!

love,

Saul

And, from his myspace

As far as the way we’ve decided to release the album, we’re aware that it’s pretty risky, but are even more aware that we cant turn to the so-called powers that be of the industry for answers. Someone has got to be willing to take chances. I was very inspired by the recent Radiohead release and felt compelled, almost instantly, to follow my gut and expand on their concept. Obviously, independent artists have been around for years. My indie film, Slam was in fact what opened so many doors for me. yet, the stigma of being an indie artist in the music world hasn’t always been rewarding. This time I feel different. I feel like the times have conspired to make this album an important part of history.

He released it in a similar manner as Radiohead's In Rainbows, online, with a lower quality 192 kbs version available for no charge, a higher quality 320 kbs version available for only $5. The free download is no longer available (it was limited to the first 10,000), but all versions can still be purchased for $5 at niggytardust.com.

Here's a promo video for a track from the album, a most excellent cover of U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday."



You can follow the links in the player for more info.

If nothing else, read his words, listen to his music, watch the video, and, hopefully, enjoy. His words may be brash, his sound isn't for everyone, but I dig it, and I definitely respect his message.

One week down

Well, today marks the end of the first week in the KC area. It was a good week. Work is going well, the weather has been pretty nice, and for the weekend, I have the place to myself. I had my first of two fantasy baseball drafts last night, the second is this afternoon. My brackets are doing somewhere between "terrible" and "awful." So things are alright.

Really, I wish I had more stuff to talk about here, but there hasn't been too much. I work 8:20-ish to 4:30-ish, come "home," eat, watch TV (usually as much Law & Order as Charczuk and Rhiannon allow), and start falling asleep around 10. Exciting. I did go out and get my ass handed to me in poker on Thursday night, after spending a few hours after work playing some darts at happy hour. There were only 4 of us at happy hour, and we mostly watched the NCAA tournament, but it was a pretty good time.

For those of you with whom I'm playing Scrabulous, I'm sorry if I take a little while to take my turn. I'm going to avoid logging into Facebook from work, because then I'll really not get anything done, and I don't have my computer set up yet. I do have a couple of laptops to use here, but they're both Macs, so I'm trying to spend as little time as possible on them. (There's only one freaking mouse button!!!! And no task bar!!)

Geez, I thought this could be an entertaining post. But I had an epic fail there. The next one will be better, I hope.

I also hope that everyone has a good Easter, should you celebrate it. Mine's going to be spent watching basketball and umm, that's about it.

A quick post from Kansas, and some music

Things are going well here in Kansas, I've had two days on the job and am enjoying it! I haven't had much of a chance to post much, but I'm liking it here.

Anyways, here's a band that I've heard about a little while ago, listened to again, and didn't know why I didn't recommend it here. Here is Los Campesinos! from England. These guys are "indie pop," meaning whatever you want it to, I guess. Listening to them, I hear hints of New Pornographers, Apples in Stereo, a little Vampire Weekend, with a few other bands thrown in for good measure. So check them out!

Oh, and don't tell Charczuk that I'm posting while I'm sitting right next to him. It might weird him out.

A final missive from Iowa

I had a little "going away party" last night, which basically was my friend Chris coming over and watching "Trapped in the Closet" while drinking some gin and tonics. Plus some Wii bowling. It was a pretty good time. Seeing as how spring break has started at Iowa, and I didn't figure anyone would want to make the 20-mile trip north to Cedar Rapids when they could be out getting wasted in Iowa City, I wasn't planning on much. But we had a good time.

I really should start packing my car. I'm not taking a whole lot of stuff, just some clothes, a few books, some movies, of course my Wii, and my computer, along with an air mattress, but I should tidy things up around here before I go, get stuff situated so I can easily sort through them should I decide I want something, or when I get a place of my own and want to bring it. That was a long sentence.

Our dad is coming up to take Travis and me out to lunch, we're going to Zoey's Pizza, probably my favorite pizza in the area. I can't remember if I said that on here before, but it's delicious. Then I'm going to be hitting that dusty road. Ooh, that reminds me, I need to get some windshield wiper fluid. I'm out.

Alright, I guess it's time to start loading up junk. It's been fun, Iowa. I won't be too far away, I'll be back plenty of times. You can't get rid of me. I'm like the Terminator.

Stuff on a Thursday afternoon

I'm watching the Iowa/Michigan game in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. It's like watching a JV basketball game at this point. It's painful. Somehow, the Hawks are only down by 10. I'm hoping for a big Iowa run in the last 7 minutes of the game, and then a magical run through the rest of the tournament to steal a spot in the NCAA tournament. I can dream, right? Either way, however this season ends, I'm happy with Todd Lickliter as the coach, he's done better than I had expected for his first year, I was thinking maybe 10 wins, right now they're sitting at 13 I believe. And next year should be even better, most of the team is sticking around, and Lickliter will be bringing in his first recruiting class. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Anyways, posting might be kind of sparse over the next few days, maybe weeks. Tomorrow is my last full day in Iowa, then I'm leaving for the KC area on Saturday, hopefully around noon. I'll update things around here when I can, and hopefully soon there'll be a guest spot from my soon-to-be temporary roommate, Charczuk. So keep an eye out for that!

Well, the game is getting a little ridiculous now, I'm just hoping that the Hawks will score 40 points. Ugh.

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it sure can buy some awesome stuff

March is turning out to be an expensive month. The money I saved in February by just drinking by myself on Valentine's Day is now long gone. And I haven't even started on the moving expenses. The Shamrock Shake is the least of my worries this month. When one of my favorite game franchises, one of my favorite bands, and my favorite movie in years all have release dates in the span of two days, toss in another of my favorite bands releasing an album that slipped past my radar for a few weeks, and I'm in trouble. Luckily I had a couple of checks from my temp job, and start an actual, real-life job in a week. Plus, I'm counting on getting at least a few free meals from family in the coming week! Yes, I'm 27 years old and still take advantage of parents buying me things whenever I can. (damn, I just realized that I'm really 27 years old. It only took me two months. . .)

Anyways, here's a breakdown of my recent purchases.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I've been a huge fan of this series, ever since the original came out on the N64. We would have some intense-ass battles, and spent at least one New Year's Eve up all night playing until breakfast. Then we'd play some more. And the new version? Even better than the last two.

Holy crap, this game is awesome. I've only played it for about 15 hours in the past two days. The sad thing is, I'm not sure if that is too much of an exaggeration. Yes, as I mentioned above, I am 27 years old. So what.

For those of you not familiar with the game, it's basically a bunch of different Nintendo characters in one game, fighting. It's for up to 4 players at once, in a good old fashioned rumble. And this iteration has online capabilities, so one can play against anyone else in the world. Awesome. You can save replays of great fights, snap photos and save them, even play trial versions of the original games that the characters are in. Super awesome. If you haven't already done so, go buy a Wii, if you can find one (seriously, mine's been worth every penny), and get this game. I know I've said that about a few things before, but this time, I'm dead serious. You'll already be set up with some of the best party games available. SSBB, and Wii Sports. I dare you to not have fun with Wii Bolwing or Tennis. It's not possible.

No Country for Old Men

You already know this is awesome. No more details needed.

WHY? - Alopecia

This was released today, I did a deal online through a comic store in MA - preorder the album, and get a free autographed booklet. I was worried that it wouldn't get here in time, that it would be shipped some slow-ass way, but I figured it was worth the shot. Lo and behold, a package showed up in my mailbox today! Not only did I get the autographed booklet, but it was on a separate booklet, not the one included with the CD. So I can frame it, and still have one to look at! (I should make some sort of display with the autographed stuff I have. I could have a sports one and a music one. Music with the entirety of Weezer, M. Doughty, WHY?, the lead singer of Reel Big Fish, and more. hmm. . .)

The album is incredible. I had heard most of the songs already on their myspace page, but still, that did not lessen my enthusiasm. It felt good to cruise around and listen to it. I can't wait for the warmer weather, I'll feel like a badass driving around in my Grand Am, listening to this album with my windows down. Yeah. I don't know if there's one bad track. And that's saying something, it spans a few different styles, and does them all well. Give it a listen.

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

This one was released on February 19th, but I somehow missed it. I'm glad that I noticed it and picked it up, though. It's awesome. This might be my favorite Mountain Goats album since John Darnielle started recording in an actual studio instead of on his boombox, my favorite full-band album, although Sunset Tree comes in a close second. Want to listen to Heretic Pride, but not sure if you want to buy the album? Well, you can (legally!) listen to the whole album online, and even see a video of the first track, "Sax Rohmer #1," here. Check it out. Not just for my sake, but for your own as well.

All told, I'm extremely pleased with each and every one of my purchases. Considering that in the next few weeks/months I'll be saving every penny I can, I think I needed one last splurge to satisfy myself, and to give myself a present for getting a job. I can do that. Right? Right.

I hate to say I told you so. . .

All the way back in November I said that Vampire Weekend was going to be big. Remember? Well, tonight they're going to be on Saturday Night Live, so I think that counts, doesn't it?

For a weekend music suggestion, I'll recommend Acid House Kings! They have a similar kind of feel to Vampire Weekend, a little more mellow, and more Swedish, but I can kind of hear a resemblance. Maybe to Belle and Sebastien, too.

As for my prediction for another band that's going to be huge someday soon, I'm going to go with Bell X1. Now they're already getting some decent airplay, so this might be a little to late for any cred points, but I'll stick with them. I like them, and I think they have a sound that's going to catch on big time. Just you wait!

Until next time, enjoy stuff. Stuff is fun!