Give up the goods

Not that you really care, or that this is even a relevant topic, but I am severely craving some Mexican food. I ran down to the Marquette food trucks today in search of a taco, but there were none to be had! Hola Arepa had a line like 60 people deep, and I don't have time for that!
I'm on a journey quest for some chimichurri and cilantro. So step up or step off.

*stomach growling*

Roman Holiday

Kristen and I went to see Roman Holiday at the Guthrie last night. Going into it, I had a lot of mixed feelings. I've heard it's below average, and that it was great. I actually thought it was very well done. It's hard taking a classic Hepburn movie and turning it into a song and dance show, but I think they did a great job at it. It get's 4 out of 7 (Jon) B's! I don't know enough about theatre to critic it beyond that. Sorry stage nerds, but that's all you'll get out of me.

Afterwards, we got to see the Target sponsored (whoop! whoop!) fireworks. Hot damn, they were good.

As we strolled along the Stone Arch bridge after dusk, and the heat  and humidity were climbing, I couldn't help to reflect on our trip to Italy. And yes, seeing Roman Holiday probably spawned most of the wandering thoughts. I don't know if I could ever live in Italy for the rest of my life, but I could certainly try. If I ever won the lottery, you would all know. Why? Because all of a sudden I would disappear like a baby daddy on Maury. I would buy a villa in Tuscany and Provence, locate a very old typewriter* and write short stories for the rest of my life.
Each day would be exactly the same. Wake up, have some breakfast, read the paper, go for a run and/or bike ride along the vineyards, write through lunch and enjoy a different dinner each night alongside a Brunello di Montalcino or Cortes du Rhone, and cap it off with an episode of The Wire. What a life. Of course there would be some variances (market day, trips to London, gelato stops, etc...). But I couldn't think of a more pleasant way to spend the rest of my life. And in fact, that would be how I would love to bring up my children. My wife may have a different idea of how to spend the next 80 years though (FYI, I plan to live to 110).

*On a side note, how awesome are typewriters?? There is something so therapeutic to the nostalgic sounds of the keys and ribbon fluttering about like trained bees hitting the paper. I absolutely love it. If I could blog from a typewriter, I would. You'd catch me in a coffee shop noisily striking down these random thoughts!

2nd Side note. I can't stop listening to James Brown these days. I literally find myself dancing away at my desk here, when I should be writing. I just two stepped my way down the hall as Give It Up or Turn It Loose came on.

3rd Side note. My new thing is going to be telling people that I'm a "retired baseball player". Did I actually play for MLB? No way, but my high school career should serve as enough foundation for that statement. And I did almost try out for the Twins. And by almost, I mean I filled out the pre-waiver form online. If Steve Dahl can say he is a retired athlete, I can get away with this general statement.

4th Side note. I'm slowly but surely making progress on both books. One will be about a grown ass man who decides to take a high-school-esq summer vacation and work part time at a coffee shop with other high schoolers. The second is still around the guy who travels to San Francisco to jump off the Golden Gate. Two very different ends of the humor spectrum. And to be honest, writing both at the same time causes some theme challenges.....

I need to re watch The Sandlot. I fancy myself a bit of a Yeah-Yeah, while Kristen thinks I'm a little more Squints Palledorous.

So a friend of mine got me a super nice hardcover version of Sun Tzu's Art of War. I remember reading the book back in high school, but I don't think I fully understood it at the time. I reread it over the weekend, and it made much more sense as an adult. One quote really stood out to me "Reinforce success and starve failure". The more and more I think about it, I can really apply that at work. While the book was written from the point of view of war, it has SO many applicable points of view that can be applied to the workplace. Something more for me to noodle over in the coming days....

On a serious note, the whole tragedy in Colorado really has me bugged out. There are so many instances where we feel safe and secure as a society, and all it takes is one individual to disrupt the entire matrix. I don't think I'll be able to go into a theater in the next few weeks and not think about that. It is an absolute tragedy and my thoughts go out to the families and individuals affected.

On a happier note, if you google "Lego Wire Parody", be prepared to be EXTREMELY entertained. It is hilarious. I love anything associated with The Wire.

Lines and Out

I dislike lines. Pretty much lines of any sort. If someone were to say "yo Jon, what do you want to get rid of"? I would be all like "Lines". Traffic, lines to check out, lines in tic tac toe. All of them equally a waste of time. I understand that lines are a necessity of organized society, but that doesn't stop me from pondering what they would be like while I'm standing in them.

On another note, Target softball starts on Monday. You could say I'm pretty jazzed about it.

Rocky Mountain High

I love Colorado. Not enough to live there, but I LOVE to be there. I just got back from a great trip of hiking, biking and climbing (lots of words ending with ing).
Every time I go there, it brings out the grizzly in me. I literally want to live in the mountains and catch/trap/pick my own food. As I told my wife this, she just laughs. "You're the first person to order Duck confit and fois gras, there is no way you're going to eat wild rabbit for a week". I guess she has a point.
With that said, there's something very inherantly caveman-ish with hiking through the vast wilderness. There are places I stood and thought to myself "I might be the only person who's ever stood here". It's one of the most peaceful and breathtaking places I've ever been.
On a very sad note, my heart does go out to the people invovled with the Waldo Canyon Fire. We were hiking through there on Saturday, and by Wednesday, the same place was overtaken with fire. I couldn't imagine losing my house or life in such a way....

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There's a few songs that always get played. Some songs you skip through on the old ipod, but some songs  get the nonstop play. So I decided to look through my itunes library and see which ones get the most plays. I was actually surprised. Escpecially since I go through musical waves. For instance, this week it's all about Action Bronson. But two weeks ago, I had a lot of De La Soul playing.
So here are my top played songs according to my itunes library:
1. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. No question that this is probably one of my all time favorite songs. It was one of the first songs I ever tried to play on the guitar. To this day, I still can't play it though....or any other song for that matter.
2. Blister in the Sun by the Violent Phemmes. I loved this song when I was in high school. It was one of the few non-rap songs I had on most mixtapes.
3. Best of Burden by The Rolling Stones. Such a good tune. I really can't say much more. Normally when this comes on, I gotta play it all the way through.
4. Silent Treatment by The Roots. Single handedly, my favorite song of all time. During my middle to high school years, I don't think there was ever a time where I didn't play this song and think about the new girl I had a crush on. I remember very vividly playing this as I sat in my room drawing graffiti sketches of her name. Looking back now, I can probably understand why they gave me the silent treatment! But damn this song has such a cool feel to it. Do You Want More!?!?! is probably one of my top three albums of all time. Overall, the whole thing is just classic.
5. Lovin' It by Little Brother. Little Brother is by far and away my most favorite group since 2004. The remind me of a newer Tribe Called Quest. I used to play this jam all the time on the way to college. This was pre-day song almost every day in 2005.
6. Tan Leather by Action Bronson. Anyone who can rap about "Bone marrow roasted/spread it on the rosemary bread lightly toasted/drizzle with the vinaigrette" is solid in my book. He is absolutely my new favorite rapper.
7. Wild Side by Lou Reed. Again, this was one of those songs that I used to play a ton as a kid. I loved it when Tribe sampled the song for theirs. It's just got one of those good song stories and a great rhythm.
8. Stay by Lisa Loeb. Nah, just kidding. It's actually Charlie Chaplin by Asher Roth. I play this song a lot when it's just one of those good days. Nice weather, nice morning, nice breeze.

For Score and Ten Years Ago....Indeed

For those who know me, know that I am a die hard Wire fan. But what most people don't know, is that I never saw an episode on HBO. I only got hooked after someone gave me Season 1 on DVD. I was too busy wrapped up in The Sopranos to take on a new show. But I REALLY wish I had.
It was ten years ago that The Wire came into our homes and gave us (especially us in Minneapolis) a look into what dystopia Baltimore was. From the corners, to the port, to the schools, to the newspapers, The Wire told all sides of a seemingly uniformed story.
I only have four problems with the entire series:


1. Ziggy. I can't pinpoint why, but I really disliked almost everything with Zig. Maybe it was because we all had that friend when we were growing up that consistently dragged us into things we shouldn't be drug into, but he was  my least favorite person on the entire series. He was The Wire's Jar Jar Binks. 
2. Omar getting shot. It seemed so anticlimactic. But at the end of the day, it actually fit really well into the whole season. But as my all time favorite character, I had to be upset he got banked. 
3. I wish we would have gotten more story on the Sun folks. In season 2, I felt like we really got a vision to the dock workers, but I never feel like we fully got that from the newspaper. 
4. More Avon. Avon was part of the reason I got hooked. I felt somewhat sorry for Wee Bay and Avon as they were pretty non-existant the latter part of the series. And I Wee Bay's kid was another one of those annoying characters. I just wished we could have seen more of a clash between Avon and Marlo during the last season. 


I love to intergect random Wire quotes into my daily life. I will leave you with some of my most common and favorite:
-Sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttt
-Can't break the Sunday truce
-Either do it or don't. But I got some place to be
-Indeed
-You ain't got any Honey Nut?
-Money be green
-Stricly a suit and tie
-Where is Wallace? (I mostly use this when I lose my keys or phone)


Can I be honest? Of course I can. I am totally infatuated with Kate Upton. Not in a crazy way, but wowzers. That woman is a show stopper. If she was like "yo Jon, wanna get some cheese fries"? I might have to. Kristen has Eric, I have Kate I guess.