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. 

Wanna be like Mike

You know that Dos Equis guy? The one that has labeled himself "The most interesting person in the world"? Apparently, that man has never met Mike Boo.
We all have that friend. The one who always is in the thick of things. The type of person who starts a story out with "It was a random Wednesday, and I decided to buy a sailboat". That guy for me is Mike Boo. I sometimes forget how much cooler Minneapolis was when Mike lived here. He moved out to San Francisco a few years ago. And yep, you guessed it, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. I talked to the guy on a Saturday, and he was like "Swing by my going away party this Friday. I'm leaving for San Francisco on Monday".
But that's how life was like with Mike. I have to admit, he is probably the leading contributing factor to my incisive randomness.
If someone was like "Yo Jon. Which one of your friends will end up working at a top notch brewery in San Francisco and will be dope on the bike"? I would have to say Mike.
Mike also introduced me to fixed gears. All it took was a full day ride around San Francisco, and I was hooked. I doubt I could ever go back. Wow, that last sentence made me sound like some kind of hipster.
But when Mike does come back to Minneapolis, it's like no time passed at all. Sure, we've grown up a little bit, but there's a part of me that always wants to go jump into a train yard or abandoned building.
I really do love the picture here. It was taken in high school. For a while, this picture was pasted all over Minneapolis. I couldn't walk around Powderhorn without seeing this picture on a garbage can or stop sign. Rumor has it, there's still a few floating around....

What is up North?

If you live in Minnesota, you've heard the term "Up North" more than a few times throughout your life. But what exactly is "Up North"? Most people would characterize is as any place more than a half hour north of Minneapolis. And to some extent, they would be correct.
But for me, it's something different. While yes, technically, it is north of where I am now, it's more about a sense of place. A place where most of my daily cares don't exist. A place where that inner caveman can sort of thrive. There's something innately naturalistic to catch your dinner, fry it on the shore, and eat it. And P.S., I would die as a caveman. Yes I can catch the fish, but when it comes to pulling and cutting out bones, I'm horrible. I'm worse than a color blind kid trying to solve a rubics cube. I can't tell you how many fish bones I get stuck in my teeth. But that's another story.
Every time I go up north, time moves so much slower. So much more relaxed. The wind carries different sounds and smells, and sometimes I get lost in it all. Reading a book on my couch is a much shorter hour than reading on a dock. I got through two books this past weekend. I can't recall the last time I've done that. It felt really good.
Could I ever live up north all year, or camp in the wilderness for more than a month? Probably not. But I'd be lying if I said I never wanted to try. If I had an escape route, I would love to go hang out in the Rockies for a month. Just to see if I could. Speaking of that, I think I'll go biking through the mountains next month. Just to see if I can.
As I write this, It's really just a distraction from going to the gym. I know I need to go, but I'm not looking forward to spending the next hour and a half wearing out my shoulders.....
So with that all said, happy Memorial day.

 

That Straight Cray

I couldn't find an image that best represented cray. I mostly came up with cray fish, and cray fish ain't cray. I'm just sayin'....

I really forgot how good old school Dr. Dre was. I was walking through the skyway today and heard someone blasting Nuthin' But A G Thang. What a good song. I really have nothing of relevance to say beyond that. But hot diggity, I love me some D-R-E. 

That New Blog Smell

Do you smell that? Do you? It's that new blog smell. I love it. It's so fresh and new. It's like a mix between peppermint, lavender, coffee and mint.

Anywho, welcome to the new blog. Here, you'll find all kinds of randomness. From my late night shenanigans, to Minnesota sports, to fitness, to my crazy obsession with The Wire and cheese fries (and yes, sometimes together).

Why a new blog do you ask? Mostly because I've grown up (at least on the outside). As I was reflecting on my previous blog, it went 5 strong years. I loved it. It had all kinds of awesome stories about my life. The downside? People I actually respect started reading it. Those created awkward moments when interacting with them at a social setting. Getting asked about late nights in train yards by your mentor is not a good look. So I thought I could tailor this blog to a more normalized audience.

So a little bit about me: I love to blog, write and read. If you subscribe to this, be warned. Actually, the free time to blog isn't always there, so I try to post something weekly. I love to be active. Sometimes that means running around Minneapolis, or climbing rocks, or in some instances, climbing bridges over the river. I love to eat new food and drink red wine. I have an odd obsession with The Wire. I love rap music. I love any reference to late 80's/early 90's pop culture (being an 80's baby myself). But the most important thing is that I'm completely random. Post 5 might be about ninja turtles and post 11 might be about me being chased by a hobo. There is no rhyme nor reason to my stream of conciseness.

With that, I leave you to the rest of your day. Thanks for spending those last 2 minutes with me.