The life and times of oh seven

It was an interesting year, and in the end I can say that it was a good yea. It brought about a great deal of change in my life - a move to Ames, a return to academia, a new Church, new friends, new places to run and so forth. For this year-in-review I thought I would share some of my favorite moments/experiences of my life in oh seven.

- Buying my Asics 2120's. It started me off on a running kick that brought me out of my winter slump. Does it ever thaw in January? Maybe if you're running three miles several times a week.
- March Madness. While following it with my basketball-loving coworker Ryan was intense, it was all the more fun watching it with Jennifer. At the time she was house-sitting at a place that not only had a huge projection HD-tv with stadium seating and leather couches, but it also had a hot tub. It was a great few weeks.
- The Moss/Pai event. It's always good to see the 104 fam, but to travel to Wisconsin, to see the Grabhers, to see Ush and Steph in from London, all of it was very much a good time.
- Seeing Wilco in Davenport with Chris and Katie. Was it the Hoover Highway, the company, the face-melting Nels Cline solos, or the presence of Jeff Tweedy that made this an amazing road trip? Definitely a combo of all of the above.
- Meeting Senator Obama on Independence Day and getting my picture taken with he, Monica and myself.
- The Portland trip. Long overdue and too short. I miss my friends and that city often, and to return, if only for a short while, was beautiful.
- Moving to Ames. I was bold in moving, I was nervous and underwhelmed at first, and now I love it.
- The Iowa State cross country course. I fell in love with the course in September, even though it may have tried to kill me.
- Homecoming/Chicago Marathon. It was intensely hot, but that didn't stop us from having a great weekend [or from Steph finishing the twenty-six point two].
- David Bazan with sir Brandon Mick. Brandon and I seem to always miss each other. Like right now, he's in Iowa and I'm in Chicago, but mostly it's vice versa since he is living in Chicago. It was a weekend of theological discussions and episodes of Arrested Development. And of course, Bazan himself.
- Brothers K. It took a while for me to get into it, but once I did I loved it. Definitely my favorite book that I read this year.
- The London Underground. It's close to the Wilson house, they have darts and through it I was introduced to Franziskaner. Though I've only been four or five times, I already have some great moments there.
- The Jewish books. The past three books that I've read: Everything is Illuminated, My Name is Asher Lev, and The Gift of Asher Lev. I think it will be weird when I start The Hobbit within the next few days, I'll miss the strong Jewish themes and learning about Hasidic culture.
- 5000 on tour. Yes, I love Rock Band, but I'll only play when Steph lets me - I promise.

A good year indeed, and I have a feeling that oh eight, despite the political strife, will be another wonderful year of friends, books, running, music and who knows what. I look forward to the beautiful unknown of a new year. you have my love.

A list, maybe a B list

My mother and grandma both have been asking for a Christmas list for a couple of weeks [six] and I've just not given anything to them. Regardless it looks as though I will get a new timing belt, which is a good thing. I've tried to think about what would be on that list, but I couldn't think of much at all [also a good thing], for the slow progression toward a wardrobe of nice clothes - and I won't burden my mom with such a task. However, during the wanning days of my econ class I did make the ideal list - a list of things that would absolutely blow my mind this Christmas. If you, or your rich relatives, go ahead with any of these let me know so I can cross it off the list. Much obliged. you have my love.

- a pair of Asics 2130's
- four more fantasy football wins
- a job in Ames
- the ability of teleportation
- a broomball stick
- for Bottle Rocket to get a Criterion edition [thanks Wes!]
- for the WGA strike to get over [stupid AMPTP]
- dinner with Jeff Tweedy
- the losses of USC, Florida and Ohio State in their respective bowl games
- some Boddingtons, or perhaps a Franziskaner
- a train line from Ames to Des Moines
- for Tottenham not to get relegated
- even more good books for next year
- that cute girl's phone number
- for more Churches to adopt Advent Conspiracy

Larry Bigbie

Noooo! Oh, how could this happen under my watch?! I should have seen the signs; the muscles, the production, the rage. Okay. I will be responsible, even if the Player's Union fails to be, even if the players fail to be, even if Selig fails to be. I hereby forfeit my fifth place [out of five] season in the Deerfield League fantasy baseball league of Oh-Four. In said league near the end of the season I released all players except for Mr. Bigbie and renamed the team "Larry Bigbie", in hopes that he alone could carry me out of a thirty-five point difference, so that I would place in the top three. I trusted you Larry, and now, to know the truth after all these years, oh, the anguish. Not that you took part in disgracing a sport that some dare to call a business, but that you have tainted my fantasy sports managerial portfolio. The shame, the shame. And I won't even start with you Chuck Knoblauch. All of this on top of fantasy football playoff season [oh, and finals] is creating a rigidness within my life. I need a donut, or a burger with five meats. you have my love.

I35 thoughts on music

It's that time of year again, the crest of finals is about to commence and here I am blogging. In all fairness, I'm doing well this time around; I'm done with physics, I have to create a cheat sheet for econ and then I have a couple of days to worry about my stats final. It should be okay, I think. Aside from preparing for finals and finishing Everything is Illuminated [it fascinated me so] I have had a couple of thoughts on the the music industry. I can only imagine that these ideas have been put to words already somewhere, but I haven't done so, so I might as well do it right now.

First, "crunk" is the new "glam". I don't really listen to crunk rap, but my co-workers do and they attempt to bring it into our workplace. I get it, it has catchy hooks and beats, but rarely says anything of non-narcissistic matters. Glam rock revolved around treating women like sexual objects, large quantities of alcohol and drugs, quickly spent wealth and fantastic guitar hooks - all the makings of a Vh1 "Behind the Music" special. And, from my limited view, crunk centers around the exact same things, though exchanging guitar hooks for electronically created beats. I'm not denying its artform, though it's fairly easy to criticize the lyrics, I'm just noting the similarities. I figured Chuck Klosterman should have already written about this sort of thing.

Second, I used to be opposed to the electronic medium of music. Then I was surprised with an iPod last Christmas. Honestly, it has revolutionized how I listen to music. I spend the most time listening to music in my car, where I spend an unfortunately large amount of time, and it's where I keep my iPod. It's a nano, so it holds a fraction of my music, but what it does is that it keeps my music fresh. When I only listened to CD's in my car, I would listen to one CD until I got bored with it, then repeated the boredom with another CD. The process made me lose interest in the music I owned in the form of CD's. With the electronic medium it is easy to create what amounts to a personalized radio station. Since I began using my iPod I have only rarely got bored with my music selection, meaning that I buy fewer CD's [helping my wallet], and enjoy what music I have more.

This being said, there is one thing that is still lacking in the electronic medium: the physical art that physical mediums are packaged in. I love looking through liner notes and looking at old LP covers. There's a certain beauty that's found in those things that is difficult, if not impossible, to recreate in the electronic medium. Maybe it puts more focus on the music itself, but I know that my friends that are in bands sometimes really enjoy creating what packages the music. Perhaps the alternative is the artist's [non-myspace] website. Some artists keep their websites unchanged over the period of several albums, while others revamp their sites for every release. And there are some really, really creative websites out there: Point Juncture WA, Talkdemonic or Jesca Hoop [vis non-crunk co-worker Emily]. I'm not entirely sure of how to resolve this, but I know that multiple musicians read this blog o' mine, so I would like to hear at least a couple of responses. I'll just go ahead and thank you in advance.. and wish my fellow final-takers good luck. you have my love.

My feelings toward December

I've spent the last three or so hours trying to think of something to write. I may have done a better job had I not been distracted by the football game or my roommate's viewing of Anastasia. I can't really think of much, so I offer what little I have. I survived the ice storm, barely. I had some white knuckle moments on the interstate, even though I was going just thirty mph. I'm really enjoying Everything is Illuminated, though I can't imagine reading it without having seen the movie. I wouldn't have understood the first fifty pages or so. The ice has kept me from running this weekend, so I just stare out the windows and sigh. I was reminded of a line from a movie that I have always felt applied to me as well: "you have great ideals, but many doubts." I'm trying to overcome those doubts, but it isn't easy. Does that mean that it's good? I've mentioned that I dream a lot, so this morning I decided to start writing down my dreams; if you're lucky I'll share some with you someday. I spent a lot of time thinking about giving, football and futbol today, but mostly I thought of the friends that I miss. Must be that time of the year. One thing I am looking forward to: Wisconsin versus Tennessee, battle for the C room. I don't think I'll be able to take sides. you have my love.