Watching the Ken Burns National Parks documentary on KPBS. It makes me want to rent an RV and drive around this beautiful country of ours. Only been to Yosemite so far in my life, and I got so much more to see. There is so much beauty in the US, but we forget about it or don’t think about it cause we don’t take the time to sit back and enjoy it. I think one of the next places I want to visit is the Redwood National Park. It’s crazy to think that when they first became a National Park, 85% of the forest had already been logged and only half of what remained was set up as a National Park.

Last year when we went to Joshua Tree for some camping it made me want to do even more. Just to get out in nature and get away from it all is the best thing you can do for yourself. Even just getting out into nature and going on a hike will clear your head. Hell, last week when I was feeling down I took a “personal day” and went outside for a few hours and weed whacked the shit out of our front yard. Who would of thought doing “work” outside on a beautiful day would be so cleansing of the soul. Back when I was a kid, I wanted nothing to do with being outside working. And with that, the city of San Diego is planning to turn the Plaza De Panama in Balboa Park back into a pedestrian area and remove all the parking and traffic in the area. There are lots of people who are against it cause they feel the parking is needed cause they don’t want to walk their fat asses too far to get to the museums. How could you not want one of the most beautiful areas of San Diego changed from a parking lot into a large open area where you can sit an enjoy the day? I understand the handicap spaces need to be saved and I’m completely cool with that, but for all you other fat asses you need to stop complaining. Yeah that sounds kinda harsh, but it’s true. You don’t want beauty for your city cause you don’t want to walk any further to get to the museums?

I’m gonna get a bike soon so I can ride around the town and enjoy my weekends. Being able to ride a bike from my home to Balboa Park, around North/South Park, maybe even down along the bay any given day is something I now look forward too. A year ago I never would of thought this would be enjoyable. Now I can’t wait to do it. If anyone has a good suggestion for me on a good bike to get, I’d appreciate it.

Seems like there’s so much I wanna do, but don’t want to do it at the same time. I don’t know if you’d call it being lazy or not, but if there’s something I want to do or somewhere I wanna go I end up thinking of all the reasons not to do it. Most of the time it’s cause I’m wondering what people at said place are gonna think or say about me. So the final solution is to not go and then I won’t have to worry about it. Good plan right? Hell no, makes me miserable. When I do go out I tend to sit by myself and not say a word to anyone unless I know em cause then I won’t have the chance of making a fool of myself.

I’m fine when I’m going out to meet up with friends for the most part. It take a little bit of nudging to get me to go out, but once I do I’m good. Now if I’m going somewhere by myself, that’s when this all happens. If there’s a show I want to go to I stay home. Never been that good at making friends on my own and all the folks I’m friends with now are cause of other friends. Once I get a few drinks in me and someone strikes up a conversation I’m pretty good with being social, but more often than not I feel like the one guy at the bar that everyone points at cause he’s drunk and on his own.

Playing music used to bring me joy, but now I don’t even want to play cause I don’t have faith in my playing ability. Yeah I was in a band for some time, but when you play the same songs over and over you get pretty good at em. Trying to come up with new ones was rough to say the least. Now to have to start it all over just doesn’t seem like something I want to put myself through, but at the same time I want to. The only thing that’s bringing me joy these days is hockey and that’s fucking expensive to do all the time. If I were to play every chance I could that would be like $60 a week and I don’t have that kind of cash.

Maybe I just can’t wait to get away from it all for a little while. I wanna go on an extended vacation, or better yet move out of town and get a fresh start. I do think about that once or twice a year and my time to act on it is getting shorter and shorter. Ohhh well, here’s to better times.

Testing updated iPhone app. More updates coming in the future.

NBC is horrible when scheduling what Olympic event they are showing and at what time. For example, they make a big deal about the Russia vs Czech Men’s hockey game which started at noon yet they show it at 3pm. At the same time the biggest game for North America, the US vs Canada Men’s hockey game, is shown live at 4pm. WTF were they thinking? 2 of the biggest games being shown at the same time even though they were staggered by the Olympics so people could watch both. This isn’t the first time they’ve messed up either cause all of the games up to this point have either been cut to mid way through or they make the viewer change stations mid way through a period but it’s not seamless cause when you get to the new station they are still finishing up with what was already being shown on that station. Not to mention they don’t take TV timeouts in international play so when they come back to the game from commercial you’ve missed parts of the game.

I understand that there are so many different events going at the same time, but you have like 5 different channels showing stuff yet you still delay showing em so you can get better ratings. Meanwhile all the news agencies around the world post the results of who won which metals and takes the excitement out of the Olympics.

First they fuck up the Tonight Show with giving it back to Leno, now they destroy the Olympics. Massive FAIL on their part.

Up in San Jose again for another graduation. Drove up with Jordan and Mom on Wednesday and Brian’s graduation was on Thursday in Emeryville. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I love it up here. If it weren’t so damn expensive to live up here I would move.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Moving out of San Diego. Not cause I don’t like it there, but cause I’d like to get out of town for a bit while I can. I don’t really have anything keeping me in San Diego right now since my job allows me to work from anywhere I have an internet connection. It would be tough for me to move being as though I would miss friends and family, I have a sweet set up living with Jordan and Elvia and I do love it in San Diego. I’ve never lived anywhere other than SoCal and I’d like to see what it’s like elsewhere. You know, get out and see the world so to speak. I think it would be good for me to get into a new “scene” of people, make new friends and all that stuff. I have a lot of friends and with their friends, I know a good amount of people in SD. For me it’s tough to meet people out of this group of people in San Diego, but I feel it will be easier for me in a different town. Especially when you’re the “new kid” in town.

While up here we went to the Lick Observatory which is just East of San Jose. You can see it up on the hill from most of the Bay Area I guess. The drive up there was super cool. Steep hills and windy roads for a good 30-40 minutes. Made me feel like I was driving in the Swiss Alps or something like that. The observatory itself was pretty amazing as it was built in the early 1900’s and has all those little touches that you don’t see in buildings of today. Makes me wonder what people will think in 100 years from now when they look back at the buildings being built today. Will they think they are boring? I think they are. No one really goes into fine detail like they did in the past. I guess the real question is will the buildings still be here in 100 years since most aren’t made as good as they were back in the day.

Tomorrow I fly out of San Jose to Phoenix and then on to Newark, NJ. Tony and I are going out there for some work stuff an we’re staying with some of his family at night and going to New York City during the day. I’ve never been to New York City and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll have a few hours each day to see a little bit of the city, but not much. I’m cool with that cause it will give me an idea of what to expect for the next time I do go back for an actual vacation and also get me used to how a big subway system works for when we go to Belgium next year for my birthday.

The Kings hockey season starts tonight and it’s about time. I’m ready for some NHL hockey and here’s to the Kings making the playoffs this season. This is the 3rd year of my 5 year prediction that the Kings would win the Stanley Cup. I have a good feeling that I’ll be right. We’ll just have to wait and see now won’t we.

This is going to be more of a photo blog than anything. I’ve been getting everything in my room organized and cleaned up. I go a few months with it one way then get the urge to move it all around.

Last week I got rid of all my old paperwork and filed the current stuff in new bins I got. Today was the vinyl. I’ve had a lot of LPs on the ground and been wanting to do something about it but didn’t have any money to do anything. Now that my finances are in order I got a new shelving unit.

Also got a few frames that wouldn’t have to be custome framed. Got the art on the wall and everything cleaned. So now, on to the photos.

Quadcam:

Anyone know where this is from?:

One corner:

Above the desk:

New vinyl rack:

I have not been keeping up on my updates to this here blog. Not sure how many read it but it will be cool to go back and read it when I’m like 64. I’m gonna start updating on a more consistent basis. Here’s what we got in short:

- Vegas next weekend for Frozen Fury 12, will be our 3rd year.
- Going to see the Reverend Horton Heat and Motorhead in Vegas on the 10th with Sergio.
- Work is awesome and I love it.
- Gonna be selling CDs and LPs at the Pearl Jam show on the 9th for Lou’s.
- I’ve been rocking the gym with Sergio. Lost about 10lbs so far, but looking like I’ve lost more. Means I’m getting ripped.
- Planning a trip to Belgium next year for my big 30.
- Not playing music. Lots of people have been asking me to jam with em, but only one or two sound like fun.
- Pretty much got my finances in order and should be debt free by the end of October.

I’m sure there’s more but I forget all the cool shit. Like I said, I’ll try and document it here rather than Facebook and such.

I don’t remember the last time I went to a big city park to do nothing but lay down and do nothing. Today was a perfect day to do just that. Weather wasn’t perfect, nice blue skies and a slight breeze. We packed up some blankets and headed over to the part of Balboa Park where the inbount jets fly over before touching down at Lindberg Field. It was awesome to just relax with the sounds of the 163 humming in the background. Every few minutes a jet would fly over. I’m gonna have to come and take advantage of this more often.

Here’s my list of music from 2008 that I dug the most.

Big Elf – Cheat The Gallows
I had been told about these guys in the past, but never listened to them cause I thought they were a Turbonegro rip off. Got a promo of it and was pleased with the over the top opening song. Full of circus noises and such. They are just super heavy and over the top theatrical sound. And not in a Meat Loaf way. I want to get the rest of their stuff now cause I really dig this album.

Black Diamond Heavies – A Touch Of Someone Else’s Class
Got this as a promo and threw it on cause i like pretty much everything from the Alive Recordings label. It’s 2 guys playing drums and organ. It’s recorded really shitty and that’s why I like it. Everything is distorted and blown out just the way it should be. It’s got a little bit of blues, garage and sole in the music. Singer Reverent James Leg sounds like he’s smoked 10 packs a day since he was a kid.

Black Keys – Attack & Release
I like the Black Keys, but when this album came out I refused to buy it cause it is produced by Danger Mouse. I hate when bands get together with Hip Hop producers or pop production teams. Just look what happened to the Mooney Suzuki when they worked with the Matrix guys. The band sucks now and I don’t like any of their new stuff. When a band can write great music on their own the label needs to let them do what they do and not force these pairings just to make a bunch of quick money. Danger Mouse is rad on his own or with Gnarles Barkley, but I didn’t want him fucking up a band I liked. I finally broke down and listened to the album, and it’s rad. You hear only slight tweakings from Danger Mouse in the production and he didn’t try and make it this huge epic commercial release. I would be stoked if these guys worked together again in the future.

Blood Ceremony – S/T
Metal from Canada with a female singer who play flute. WTF!?!?! Flute in a metal band? Yeah, it works perfect and the album is fucking rad. Go buy it right now.

The Bronx – The Bronx III
Third self titled album from The Bronx. Same hard hitting rock as the last 2 albums. First album with Kenny from the Dragons on guitar. Little more rock than punk on this album but it’s another solid release from the band. First track kinda sounds like “Bring Us Bullets” by RFTC but that’s cool.

Delta Spirit – Ode To Sunshine
Ok, so this album was released in 2007 I believe, but it got re-released on Rounder Records so I still think of it as being released in 2008. Would talk with John from the band at Lou’s all the time but never listened to the band. I always thought they were another indie band that came from San Diego. Then they did an in-store and was pretty pleased with how they sounded. The funny thing about this album was in February of this year I was in Nashville in a bar drinking some beer when a DJ showed up. Once he got all settled in the first track he played was “Trashcan” and I was like, “WTF?!?! Really?” Congrats go out to the guy cause they are all super good guys.

Eagles Of Death Metal – Heart On
At first I was a little disappointing with this album. Not really sure why, maybe it was I was looking for it to blow me away from the first listen? Maybe there was lots of hype about how great it was going to be? Who knows, but I was bummed. Then after listening to it for a week straight I realized that I loved the album. It’s pretty solid from start to finish. Nothing as good as Peace, Love, Death Metal, but if I expect any band to come out with a better album than the one that got me into them I would hate any and all music and would think ever band sucked. This is a different album from the other two the writing style has evolved. You still have the steady back beat held down by Baby Duck and the almost too simple guitar parts from Boots, but the little filler parts add to this album.

Eli “Paperboy” Reed – Roll With You
Jack, our WEA rep at Lou’s, picked up this album cause he heard it was pretty good. So I decided to check it out as well to see if it was any good. It’s old school R&B/Soul through and through. Great sound, great players and strong vocals. Great to listen to when driving down the coast of California on a sunny day.

Flight of the Conchords – S/T
Another album I refused to listen to cause I felt they were trying to be the new Tenacious D. I remember seeing Jemaine doing Outback Steakhouse commercial and thought it was weird that Flight of the Conchords are from New Zealand and I thought there was a riff between folks from Australia and New Zealand? Anyway, I never saw the show and this is pretty much the soundtrack for the show. On release date someone played it in the store and it was pretty damn funny. Ended up listening to it a bunch in the store and I finally ended up buying it.

Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan are the Gutter Twins. I had been waiting for some time for this album. When they first announced that they were doing a project together I was stoked then they said it wouldn’t be out for some time. Afghan Whigs and Screaming Trees are 2 of my all time favorite bands cause they are kinda dark and both Greg and Mark have powerful voices. There are some tracks that sound like they could of been Afghan Whigs or Screaming Trees tracks just freshened up. Got to see em live as well and they sound just as rad live as they do on record.

Hank Williams III – Damn Right, Rebel Proud
He didn’t want to do another country album, but the label made em. Same crazy country rebel sound that Hank III is known for and that ain’t a bad thing at all. Start off with a song calling out the Grand Ole Opry which you shouldn’t really do if you’re a Country musician. You get the twang and the traditional Country Music sound on this album as well as the Hellabilly sound. It’s a perfect mix of all his styles of music. That’s Hank III’s specialty, the fact he can bring so many types of Country Music fans of all ages together. Long Hauls And Close Calls is probably my favorite song on the album.

The Hellacopters – Head Off
The final album from the Hellacopters. After listening to the album for a couple weeks I found out they were all covers. Funny cause the songs sounded so much like Hellacopters songs that I didn’t even bother seeing who wrote the songs cause I figured they did. They also released the album as a deluxe edition that came with a patch, button and had a bonus track that was a thin layer of vinyl on the top of the CD. Yeah, you put the CD on your record player and put the needle down on it. Not the best sounding LP I’ve ever heard cause the layer of vinyl is so damn small. Cool concept, but I doubt it will ever take off. I only played that song once so I could record it to my computer and then never have to play the vinyl side again. Bummer the band is no longer around cause they knew how to rock.

More to come later.