MAD TIME FOR A RECAP

Walruses can play woodwinds now. News to me too.


Got up at 3:45, finally crawled outta bed at 4:25. Love getting up early. There's just some soothing about catching the world before it gets wound up in its typical hustle. Love going on Facebook and seeing that the last post was at midnight-thirty and I'm the first post of the day.

Sugarless January is proving to be nothing short of torture. I can't stand it. I'm close to just breaking down and eating peanut butter. Last year, it was ketchup. This year, it's peanut butter. Some days at lunch, I want sugar so bad my ears start ringing. I guess that's what I get for training at the same time. My appetite is sometimes ravenous and I really don't like having restrictions when I'm starving. Amazing, though, how little doesn't have some sort of corn syrup or sugar in it. The only thing I'm permitted to have is fruit sugars or honey. Somedays, before heading back to work after lunch, I take the honey container and squirt a whole mouthful onto my tongue and just enjoy it the whole way back to work. Yep. That's hard up.

Training has begun for the Warrior Dash. Looks like we're getting a little team together. Of course, once we get out there, it's every man for himself. This ain't a "team" like Celebrity Fit Club. Nah, I ain't helping you through the cargo net. You're on your own, son. Word is, let's see, we got Mason, Pauli, Zack, Bro Bro, Bryan, possibly Matt, Mike the Mailman, Denis and, uh, maybe Kools? That's a pretty good pack. I might even be missing a couple. Wish I could get Dale to jump in, but not sure about that.

Did my fastest three-miler the other day where we completed (Kools and I) just over 27 minutes. Did the last half-mile at about a 8:15 pace. That's freaking fast. Almost killed me. Gonna have to work on a bit of speed if I wanna complete that Warrior Dash in a satisfactory time. I wasn't a marathoner and I did that. I'm not a sprinter. Planning on doing that too.

2010 has started out with a bang. Reading a massive Mingus biography complete with four appendices regarding his recordings, sessions, composition structure. Pretty heavy reading. After that, I have lined up a few books that I've started but haven't finished.

"Can't Stop, Won't Stop" (which despite the title, I've managed to about five times)
"Why White Kids Love Hip Hop"
"Where You're At"
"Bomb the Suburbs"

Who knows. Maybe I won't stop there, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. I don't really like reading. It feels much like being in school again. Of course, sometimes I fantasize that I'm in school again. You know, all scholarly and smart. Also, this year, I'm embarking on a journey through the history of the Western genre. I started with High Plains Drifter which is a remarkable film in which many lessons could be learned. Like, when you ride into town, murder three men and commit rape in broad daylight in the first half-hour, they might make you sheriff. It's like Eastwood was reading the screenplay and thought, "Rape and murder? Sure, I'll direct it, star in it and produce it." Something about as I grow older, my movie viewing is becoming a little more refined. I'll always love zombie flicks, Deniro, documentaries. But I just needed a change. Westerns are a perfect fit. I like the space. The pace. The simple plots. And the fact that the best movies of the genre end up in a wild shootout which tallies up more carnage than most full-length Seagal movies in just under five minutes. Started "The Assassination of Jesse James" and also got about ten DVDs dropped on me by my co-workers. A ton of Eastwood, Wayne and few others. Good recommendations though. That's what's nice about working around movie buffs. Jacko and Clint, you know your stuff too. Don't worry.

2010 minus 20 years would equal 1990 which is the year I'll be delving into this year in my study of classic hip hop. From what I remember, 1990 and 1991 were huge. Should be fun. There's just so many recordings from those two years. So many that I've yet to hear in full.

Ate/drank/whatever my first smoothie a few weeks ago. Not half bad. Tasted mad sweet when you haven't had sugar for a couple of weeks. It had mango, acai juice, soy milk, bananas and blueberries. Haven't stopped been able to curb the bowel movements since.

Working on a few mixes at this point. In the hopper, I have the Beatlemaniaddendum which is the continuation of the first Beatle covers mix. It just didn't seem right stopping where I did where there so many dope omissions. What's crazy about the Beatles and as much as I listen to these covers and search for them endlessly online is that there's just so many. You really get a feel for their impact when you listen to the sources of some of these covers. There's reggae covers, salsa covers, metal covers, rap covers, tons of jazz covers, blues covers...there's even an exhaustion of electronic remixes. Search for Rolling Stone covers and there's barely a twenty-fifth of what's out there on the Beatles. I've come to believe that it's the fact that the Beatles were so damn melodic. Their compositions were crazy from a melodic perspective. And it doesn't matter whether you're singing it or playing it on an organ or stripping paint off the walls with "Eleanor Rigby" on a trumpet, the melodies are timeless. Stones and Zeppelin had some great songs. Some fantastic albums. But dudes didn't write hymns like the Beatles did. Melodically, their compositions were much less varied.

Anyhow, there's the Beatlemaniaddendum, This One's For My DJ (which collects the best of pre-1992 DJ cuts), The Zombie Mix which has been temporarily suspended for a search for more material and, eventually, the Buhloone Mindstate Mix. Can't stop, won't stop.

Looks like I'll be heading to SXSW this year. Primarily on business.

Two ski trips before now and then. One in two weeks up to San Luis, CO to hit Wolf Creek and Taos on the way back and, then, about a month later, doing it all over again. Dopeness. Twice in one season? Incredible. Watching those snow reports daily at this point. Life's not worth wasting on bad snow.

Got one of those gift debit cards for Christmas and decided I was going to go online and search for a pair of Waffles because mine are just worn too thin and stink like the matted dingleberries of a yak. After searching deep and wide, I discovered that the hipster crowd found my Waffles and have caused a steep hike the asking price of a pair what was one of my favorite shoes in a long while. I scored not one or two but three pairs of Waffles at, believe it or not, Ross for Less. I scored a red pair and two black pairs all for only $19.99 each. Now, I get criticized sometimes by my lovely wife for owning too many pairs of one shoe, but here's a perfect example of why I do so. Here's the pair that I bought three of for only $19.99.

$19.99

A decent shoe. Sturdy. No frills. It's a Waffle. Good shoe. Nice template for some creative colorways. I have an affinity for shoes of this nature. The New Balance 574 is the same way. A steady template, timeless look and modest. And modestly priced as well. Especially when you can find them at Hoodville. Well, in my latest search, I found that Nike has redesigned the shoe for the loafer crowd, gave them that "vintage wear" and jacked the price up like you're buying something off a museum wall.

$117.99

I'm no sucka. So I went for the Saucony Jazz. Blue and black. They're super nice and probably offer about twice the comfort. And I only paid $32.99 for them. My new Waffle is the Jazz. The pair I've owned now for two years is probably one of the most comfortable shoe that I own next to the assorted pairs of 574s and they're definitely the lightest. Shoes like the Jazz and the Waffle which is basically nylon, minimal leather and rubber should only retail at $35.00 tops. You can't even really run in these things. They're a casual sneaker. I didn't spend $100 for the shoe I ran White Rock in. Shame.

I'm gonna be Uncle Jeff. Again. Peyton David Wyrick is swimming in a belly right now. Praying for his safety and good health. He'll arrive sometime in June. Awesome blessing.

Cereal time, kiddos. Keep on rockin' it.