Yesterday vs. Today

Yesterday was awesome because: 3 different women bought me my breakfast, my lunch, and my dinner.

Today wasn't awesome because: I found out that I owe the IRS some money.

WTF: Tinted Windows

"According to Billboard.com, there's a new band that exists on earth called Tinted Windows featuring former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, handsome Hanson brother Taylor, and Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger."

I don't even know what to think. More on this story right over... here.

UPDATE: Their self-titled debut will be out on 04.21.09.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Christmas letter from my Aunt... (click to enlarge... please)

If I Was A Legislator...

if i was a legislator, i'd propose that phone books would be made available upon request, but they would not be automatically delivered to every house. we just got 2 thick phone books dropped off at our apartment, and since we can use the internet, we're never go to use these phone books! ever! it's like receiving a chunk of pollution on your doorstep and it makes you feel guilty for having a residence.

Perks of Death Row

I'm not saying I'd want to be on Death Row, but at least you get to pick your last meal. Usually you die unexpectedly, and who knows what you just ate. If you consider the act of eating to be more than something you do to live and more of an experience, this is a pretty nice thing to offer somebody who has presumably done something very bad. It almost seems too nice. This is also assuming that this actually occurs. I could see this being the case back in the day, but in today's institutions I think it's more about getting down to business.

If I had to pick my last meal I'd probably go with some sort of surf and turf. Perhaps a fillet Mignon, medium-rare, with a rich Bearnaise sauce or Gorgonzola crust, and sauteed onions and mushrooms on the side. For the seafood half, I'd have to say that a few pounds of King Crab legs, partially cracked, would do the trick.

This being said, I'm not going to kill somebody to get this meal. I'll save some money and go to the Library II.

Oh, and this was brought on by last night's Top Chef.

Best Albums of 2008

Here's a list of my favorite albums from the year known as "2008".

1. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
2. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
3. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
6. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
7. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
8. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
9. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
10. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
11. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
12. R.E.M. - Accelerate
13. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
14. Parts & Labor - Receivers
15. Nada Surf - Lucky
16. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
17. Santogold - Santogold
18. School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
19. Coldplay - Viva la Vida
20. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
21. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
22. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
23. Army Navy - Army Navy
24. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
25. The Holdsteady - Stay Positive
26. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
27. The Killers - Day & Age
28. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
29. Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static
30. Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us...
31. Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
32. The Teenagers - Reality Check
33. Robert Forster - The Evangelist
34. The Whigs - Mission Control
35. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
36. Jaguar Love - Take Me to the Sea
37. Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
38. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
39. Why - Alopecia?
40. Beck - Modern Guilt

I'm Sick of Apples

I'm sick of apples. I really am.

So, here's a lil' 101 in 1001 update:

5 & 13. I've eaten an apple and have done 100 push-ups a day since 12.03.2008.
16. I've gone a week straight without. This shouldn't be this this hard.
32. I donated money to Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund.
33. I sent a letter to Karen Opitz.
41. I've been slacking with freerice.com ever since being on break from work. What does that say about what I do at work? To date I've donated 11,000 grains of rice.
73. 2 weeks = 2 songs. Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" and the David Byrne & Brian Eno collaboration "Strange Overtones". Both very nice.

Skinny Love - Bon Iver

78. 2 weeks and 2 more books. First was "Invisible Monsters" by Chuck Palahniuk. He's always weird and this didn't disappoint. Second was a classic, "Catcher In the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. I was intrigued because of the whole John Lennon thing, and I'll admit that I was scared I'd read it and kill someone, but so far that hasn't happened yet. I think I liked it. I wasn't crazy about it, but it was definitely worth my time. Plus, I like when a book's cover makes sense when you're done with it.

I also can't help but share this video. Look past the immature title and give it a chance.


Happy Holidays!

Bye Bye 25

if nothing else, this 101 in 1001 gives me something to do, or at least think about, when i have nothing to do and not much to think about. 1 week has gone by and some progress has been made:

5. & 13. i've done 100 push-ups and eaten an apple a day for a week straight
16. is really hard. i've failed multiple times.
33. sent emails to amy mchugh, sheryl burger, and tom ellis.
41. i've donated 7,000 grains of rice on freerice.com
73. song of the week: parts & labor - "nowheres nigh"
78. read "love is a mixtape" by rob sheffield. i'd recommend it if you really like music. if not, it could become really annoying.

a friend of mine from college, brandon richter, has posted his 101 in 1001. it's a movement!

Dog Eat Dog World

on saturday morning sadie got in a fight with another dog in our apartment complex. this other dog was huge; definitely had some pit bull in him. what happened was barb was leaving to go to yoga and this other dog was in the court yard running around while his owner sat outside their door. the dog saw barb and galloped over in a playful way, and sadie thought he was going to attack barb, so sadie shot out the door and they met head on. i didn't see this, but this is how it was told to me. i was on the computer when i heard barb screaming and dogs growling and barking. everything from there is a blur. i remember running outside and jumping on the other dog and trying to get sadie out of his mouth. i know the other dog was under me between my leg and my hands were around his neck/mouth/head. i just remember barb and the other dog's owner screaming. somehow, and i really don't know how, i let the dog go and his owner was trying to gain control of him and i had sadie in my arms and rushed inside and shut the door to make sure she was ok. the smell was awful. it smelled like dog shit was everywhere. i guess she released her anal sacks (that's a real thing). she was just howling and i was trying to calm her down. eventually she was quiet and i checked for blood, but i couldn't find any; just slobber. i brought her in our room and she went right under the bed and wouldn't come out. eventually barb pulled her out and we took her to the emergency vet. long story short, sadie is ok. she was in shock all day, but seems to have gotten her personality back today. apparently, she inflicted the most damage as the other dog was bleeding from his mouth; she either tore into his gums or bit his tongue. as the saying goes: "it's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog." my doxie is bad ass.

101 in 1001

while surfing the internet one day i found myself on facebook. somehow, i ended up looking at the page of a kid who lived down the hall from me freshman year, but who i haven't spoken with in quite some time. i noticed he had a link to this blog/project he was doing so i checked it out. i was skeptical at first, but after reading about it i thought it to be a rather neat idea. his project, which you can read about here, has existed for a few year's now. it's called "101 in 1,001", or some variation of that. essentially, you compile a list of 101 things you want to accomplish, see, do, etc. over the course of the next 1,001 days (approximately 2.75 years). being a list-lover myself, i decided to create my own version.

i guess i don't expect a great number of you to partake in this, but it'd be cool to be doing this alongside a few friends. tell me if you decide to have a go at it. i can see it being a great motivational tool to finally accomplish some of the little things you keep putting off or the bigger goals you're too nervous to attempt.

My List:

Health & Fitness
1. Attend a yoga class with Barb
2. Complete 3 Marathons (0/3)
3. Complete 1 Triathlon
4. Feel comfortable enough to run with my shirt off at the beach
5. 100 push-ups a day for a month
6. Take a 1-hour tennis lesson
7. Go to the dentist
8. Get under 185 lbs.
9. Remain under 185 lbs.

Appearance
10. Get contacts
11. Get a 2nd tattoo
12. Get an expensive haircut

Personal Challenge
13. Eat an apple a day for a month
14. Access college computer (I forgot my Windows password)
15. Don't use the microwave for a month
16. Don't fart around Barb for a month
17. No diet soda for a month

Around the House
18. Clean random crap out of my parent's house
19. Get dents out of my car
20. Wax car twice a year
21. Back up all music, photos, etc on a separate hard drive
22. Organize all of my digital photos
23. Hang my dart board
24. Frame and hang my world map

Soul, Environment, & Friendship
25. Paint a room for someone
26. Write an email to my freshman year roommate
27. Write a letter to my High School football coach
28. Volunteer 3 separate times for 3 separate causes (0/3)
29. Plant 5 trees (0/5)
30. Send a post card to Auntie Pasto's in Hawaii
31. Do something charitable every Thanksgiving (0/2)
32. Do something charitable every X-Mas (0/3)
33. Write 30 random emails to people I don't talk to that often anymore (0/30)
34. Develop old rolls of film sitting around my parent's
35. Send an (extremely weird, non-sensical) message in a bottle
36. Be a "Dharma Bum" with Shu for 24 hours
37. Take Sadie on 3 doggie dates (0/3)
38. Send a package to Australia
39. Find out how / where to recycle paper and do it
40. Donate blood
41. Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.com
42. Do something worthwhile on Earth Day
43. Donate a garbage bag filled with old clothes
44. Replace all of our light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
45. Mail a secret to PostSecret

Finance
46. Consolidate my Student Loans
47. Sell 5 things on Amazon or eBay (0/5)
48. Use up all of my existing gift cards
49. Figure out my credit score
50. Save up for and buy a Mac

Food
51. Brew my own beer
52. Make sushi at home
53. Go to a Japanese restaurant and order something that isn't sushi
54. Cook 50 different recipes (0/50)
55. Drink at 5 different breweries (0/5)
56. Jar / bottle my own marinade, soup, and salsa (0/3)
57. Maintain an herb garden for an entire summer
58. Enjoy a glass of real spiked egg-nog (bonus: next to a fire!)
59. Have a good experience at an Indian restaurant with Barb

Personal Know-How
60. Learn to drive stick
61. Learn how to tie a tie
62. Re-learn CSS
63. Learn the basics of a popular editing program
64. Add internal hardware to a computer

Music
65. Learn 5 "popular" (read: “recognizable”) songs on the guitar (0/5)
66. Attend a multi-day music festival
67. Have a music review published (online counts)
68. Get a letter published in RollingStone (or at least write 30 letters)
69. Attend 25 concerts / shows (0/25)
70. Photograph 3 different shows (where I don't know the band) (0/3)
71. Geek-out on iTunes #1: (assign Year, Genre, and Album Art to all songs)
72. Geek-out on iTunes #2: Give star-ratings to all of my unrated songs in iTunes
73. Compile a playlist of my favorite song each week for a year
74. Give away or recycle my old iPod

The Arts
75. Visit 5 new museums, galleries, or exhibits (0/5)
76. See 15 "Best Film" Oscar winners (0/15)
77. Re-read the Lord of the Rings
78. Read 30 books by 30 different authors (0/30)

Personal Creativity
79. Re-edit my Australia photos and do something with them
80. Re-vamp my Web Site
81. Submit a t-shirt design to threadless.com
82. Edit the Lindenhurst slideshow that I scanned all of my photos in for
83. Enter a photo contest
84. Create a stop-motion animation short and post online
85. Paint a birdhouse

Adventures & Activities
86. Visit the West Coast
87. Camp 3 times in 3 new places (bonus: once with a group of friends) (0/3)
88. Move out of Bensalem (bonus: move out of the North East)
89. Go on a fishing trip (bonus: with my Dad)
90. Hike 5 new trails (0/5)
91. Go to Canada
92. Go to an archery range
93. Take a stadium tour
94. Photograph 5 sunrises in 5 different places (0/5)
95. Photograph 5 sunsets in 5 different places (0/5)
96. Go wine tasting with Barb
97. Stop at 10 roadside lookouts (0/10)
98. Rent jet-skis / wave-runners with Barb
99. Visit 10 new places in our Philly guide book (0/10)
100. Visit 3 National Parks (0/3)
101. Go on a road trip with Ian & Dave

I pledge to document this list to the best of my ability.

Furthermore, I promise to donate $5 to a non-profit for every item not completed.