The funny things from the weekend:
I’m trying to type and not feel the pain of my thigh. I had two hard collisions tonight in my soccer match. One which left a deep thigh bruise. My current feeling is complete exhaustion but I couldn’t let this opportunity pass to journal about the my great weekend.
At 3:45pm on Fri I traded my yellow and purple face paint, LSU reference, for navy and orange, Auburn reference. Gangsta Gary and I took a road trip to Auburn for the Florida game over the weekend. With alot at stake in the SEC we both knew we could be in for one of the most important games of the season. After a long day of tailgating on Saturday we hit game time at about 6:45pm. And from the gun the game was almost too good to be true. With both teams fighting hard during the first half it ended closer than I expected. Second half was total domination by Auburn’s defense and special teams which basically won the game for them. Once again, total dissappoint from the offense not being able to score 3x within the 20 yard line. Overall, Auburn played great. They definitely shutdown Leak and Tebow.
So I started collecting my thoughts on my ten highlights for the weekend. In no particular order:
Click to a few more photos
Well I’m finally getting back into the groove after a great weekend in Chicago. I can honestly say that was the best musical experience I’ve ever been to. Perry Ferrell put on a great event. Yes it was crowded, hot, and tiresome. But it was all worth it.
Sunday recap: As not to be out done by the other couple of days, the bands rocked my world on Sunday. The first order of business was to see one of my favorite bands from Austin, What Made Milwaukee Famous. Awesome. Highlights included Mercy Me and Selling Yourself Short. Plus since it was a 1230 show no one was there so it really felt like they were playing just for 50 fans. love that feeling.
After a short break, lunchtime.
Now we’re getting ready. Nickel Creek. I’ve missed seeing these guys at least 4x due to travel. I absolutely loved the show. So they played there great bluegrass jams but in the middle of the set they decided to play a couple of covers. Who do they cover??? How about Radiohead - Nice Dreams from The Bends. Unbelievable good. Can you really top Radiohead? Oh, just wait. They started playing a familiar tune…..oh wait is that…..no it can’t be……….Britney Spears - Toxic. Easily the best song for me of the day. The fiddle was on the money. I’m including a download here of another show where they played it. Woa. Could it get any better!!!!!!
Quick break again but here comes the Shins. Poor Shins. The sound quality was bad for the first couple of songs then slowly got better. They played some exciting new songs from there upcoming release later this year.
Now its on. My band, yes my band that i’ve followed from the ground up. I can’t believe i’m seeing a band that 12 years ago could barely sell 10 tickets to probably more than 50k crowding up on each other. It was an absolute honor to see these guys in their home town as well. Jeff was looking great, with his dirty beard and bright green jacket. Setlist included several new songs.
All in all. I’m just a fan of a band that defies the rules, brings art into songwriting, and just is incredible to listen to.
To end the day we caught Broken Social Scene. Enough said right there. Great band. Great songs.
So at 830 we started making our way back to Memphis. Thx goodness La Peppers kept awake and sang along with me all the way back to Memphis. We had the iPod rollin. Early Monday morning we rolled in dead tired.
All I can say is I’m coming, I’m coming Via Chicago……..
Woa. What a fast weekend. Birthday party, Mother’s Day, and family visits. My buddy Joel aka Jo-wwwwwwwwwwwwlllllll was in town for his birthday weekend. What fun we had at the Rendevous sat night. 
Food, reunions, and the core 4.
The Core 4: me, Jowl, Ruston, and Shea. It’s sort of like the Four Horsemen in the rasslin’ world. We haven’t all been together in many years so it was a jaw drop when Ruston walked into the room and surprised us all. Good times. I love it when I get to see all my friends that have left me here in the city.
My mom was also in town for the weekend to see da kidz. I dragged her along to the birthday party. I think she found a new best friend in Jen Guck. Mom hadn’t see the core 4 in close to ten years plus all of our families haven’t been together in gosh knows how long.
So today was Mother’s Day. What a joy it was. Seeing my mom, mom’s side of the family, and my favorite great aunt and uncle from Slidell all together. it truly was a special couple of hours. Gangsta Gary Z blogged a while back about meeting my Uncle Dan in March and how even at 92 he has a handshake of a bear. It was funny. I sat next to him during lunch. As we said our blessing we held hands. After a couple of minutes I was screaming for mercy. Uncle Dan was locked in on prayer and breaking my boney hand was his mission. Ha. Funny.
Everyone is leaving today. Relatives gone. Back to my duties. Traveling tomorrow. Off to NYC for a seminar. I won’t have a whole lot of free time but I’m headed to Syndicate, which aims to be one of the hot web 2.0 conferences this year. I’ll probably blog about the nerd shit for a couple of days coming off my nerd high.
I know what your going to ask…..My time, journaling, and weekends are getting more complex. So sorry no postings for the last couple of days.
The weekend was a busy one I say. With time changing I can say I’m officially into spring. Still counting down to Easter. Less than 2 wks to go. I’m already planning my demise as the mind games of fasting the day before are already beginning.
Fri afternoon Nana Cakes and I drove to Nashville to get our bike race on. Our lovely hotel stay in Murfreesboro at the retro Howard Johnson put a great frown upon our faces. Not to worry as Nana and I always entertain ourselves with humor, ghetto music and the redneck lifestyle.
Sat morning after a filling bowl of Oatzmealz at the Cracker Barrel we made our way to the race course. Ahhh, its bike racing time in TN! I’ve been stoked about this day for a couple of weeks after my horrible start in Louisiana. Field was descent with 40+ riders all gunning for the winning cash purse. I love TN racing because it’s always fast, very few inexperienced riders, and challenging courses. No let downs as we start out. The course was rolling which kept the pace very high. I think we averaged at least 25+mph the whole race. 3 laps with a distance of 51 miles. sort of short but fine with me.
As far as my team we rode really smart since we were several team members short reducing our horsepower so we let the two power teams battle it out while we stayed close to the front. Constant attacks, extremely windy, and high pace were taking its toll on the pack. Second lap I made a move and attacked. Couple hundred meters off the front I kept the pace at 26mph hoping it would stick. Two guys bridged up but never contributed to the breakaway reducing our changes and ultimately led to the swallowing up of the pack. Final lap was calm as everyone looked for the move. Couple of guys got off front from a previous attack that ultimately stuck which left us fighting for the pack sprint. Which was a good quarter mile uphill climb. I positioned myself great and was in the first top ten going up the hill that quickly dwindled but halfway up I cracked and soft pedaled across the finish. So not the best results but a good start for me.
So the weekend continued back in Memphis saturday. As I found the outstanding weather to be more pleasant than my NCAA predictions. Sorry LSU and George Mason.
Throughout history there have been many incredible building built in this great country. Empire State Building, Sears Tower, Chrylser Building, etc. But none can compare to Fort Zyriek. As we count down the days to little Anna Z b-day, Nana Cakes, KY, Brick and myself set out yesterday to build the ultimate in child pleasure, the fort-swingset-climbing wall thing. We were all tards except Brick and his previous construction management career. Starting in the rain we turned a complicated construction mess into about 5 hours of productivity. Yeah, we ruled or at least the rest of the team did. My screw driving skills were B A D! yeah but its still cool. I provide the entertainment to balance out my weak construction skillz.
So to get your week off to a funny start watch these:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/sub_122.shtml
There are times in life were you just have to live. Taking chances sometimes brings some of best things you will ever experience in life. Now this especially true when it comes to live concerts. Take for example the Black Sabbath reunion tour back in 1998 I caught. Loud, trash staches, rednecks, tons of beer, etc. This concert is forever burned into my memory. Not specifically the music but the experience. It was as if people came out from underneath rocks to tell the world "I Rule" for 3 hours.
Fast forward to last night. Nana Cakes persuaded his wife to acquire us tickets to Kid Rock. NC’s wife works for a big 5 accounting firm who has a box at the FedEx Forum. So it was a total score! Now let me set the record straight. I haven’t bought a Kid Rock album since he first emerged back on the scene eight or so years ago. SO I’ll state I would have purchased a ticket to this neckfest if it were my cash.
Back to the story. NC and I were stoked minus our Channel 4 news team member KY. KY you really missed out. Now when I say stoked, I’m not specifically talking about the music but more on the experience. Upon our arrival to the beer stand we got our first glimpse of the crowd. As predicted total trash cans with people screaming "ya hoooooooo", sluts, scum staches, etc. Nana got all excited when a drunk chick motioned towards him with her hand that we couldn’t figure out what the heck that chick was thinking. Needless to say Nana still has a magical charm to this crowd.
Okay, never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would be lucky enough to meet Hines Ward. You know the wide receiver for the Steelers. Okay it wasn’t exactly Hines Ward but we met the Mississippi version of him. Tha’s right. Mullet mud flap trash stache, no ID, etc. How did we meet Hines? Nana and I ran out of the box to grab a refill on our frosty beverages. As we purchased beer, showing our ID’s, we encountered the voice of Hines "You got have ID?" Almost let down I could see the dissssappointment on Hines’ face. Um, yeah dude I responded. Quickly we left as I could predict the next line out of his mouth of "can u buy me one?"
Back to the box and back to rockin’. As we sat on the edge of the box watching Kid all of sudden we spot Hines. Hines is sitting in a foldable chair with his feet up on the rails sippin his beer. So somehow he scored. Wait he doesn’t have any shoes on and he is rocking so hard. His mullet mud flap is rocking everywhere. I can’t even remember the song that was on as I was so busy watching Hines. It just kept getting better. Now Hines is playing air guitar and drums. Wait now he is running back and forth over a 20 yard distance around the arena. It just captured the night.
Overall I have to thank LP for getting us tickets. Another experience I won’t ever forget.
whew………the weekend has come and gone.
Friday I relived my glory days of a road trippin’ to a concert like I did back in my Panicin’ days. Me, Peppers, Kaite, Nate Dogg, and Corriez journeyed to Nashville to see Mogwai play at Mercy Lounge. I’ve been a fan of Mogwai for a several years but have never seen them live. Man what a rockin’ show. They rocked solid for close to 2 hours. Setlist included these awesome songs: Hunted by a freak, Folk Death 95, Glasgow Mega-snake, and Auto Rock. Outside of the creepy, experimental band Growing opening up the show, overall I totally enjoyed this show. The venue was a tad small so I think none of us could hear very much afterwards. Peppers did break out the 80s robot during one song so that was a major highlight!
Let’s see. I saw Failure to Launch as well over the weekend. What can I say? Matthew McConaughey as always is great to see. Kaite, Peppers and I were chatting about him afterwards. It seems he plays the same character no matter what movie he is in. I love it. Tejas is in his blood!
Now the most anticipated event. The Sopranos. Holy Cow! Since it has been a couple of years following the season 6 finale, I was thinking and searching for character names. Seeing Vito and the weightloss picture was the best. I can’t believe Uncle Jun shot Tony! Tons of family drama. I couldn’t believe Carmine was working for the Feds. And so was Eugene……It getting very dangerous. Who all is reporting on the families to the Feds????
Okay and WTF on NO previews for next week’s episode.
As I sit here at 7pm, its been a busy weekend. Mini-team cycling camp over the weekend that produced some real quality training. Great riding out to the north and south of memphis. Not really pretty country but getting to ride with my cycling team was good. I’m not real outgoing around alot of people but I tried to be friendly as much as possible. I like alot of dudes on our team but we have a few that push the edge to me.
At this point I can say I believe I’m in descent shape. I need alot of hill work still but I’ve just began focusing on that in my training. So I know it will come. Powerwise I felt okay. I think I’ve got enough to floor it and not feel like a knife is going into my thighs.
I’m already starting to shovel food in like a mexican on the run across the border. I have to be careful but its hard because you are so hungry after a couple hour ride. I know my weight is going to be an issue this year so I’m going to start this week and focus on my caloric intake. I’m always such a tard when it comes to what amount of calories I need: keeping this body going, exercising, etc.
So less than a week away from the start of the cycling season. Rouge Roubaix. Louisiana. Dirt roads. Gravel. But sunny weather. Descent temps. Fast peleton. Its going to be fun.
Yuck. Now I’ve found myself with a sore throat. As the weekend couldn’t get any better. Snow friday, near frostbite feet from riding saturday, and sunday i wake up to a gawd awdful sore throat. I need a beer.
I’ve enjoyed watching the Olympics so far. The cross country skiing is just totally awesome to watch and if you have never tried it, it’s quite the workout. Of course, I was "tarded" being my first time but it was awesome.
Not sure if you have seen the commercial for GM’s yellow campaign but its really cool. I read about the usage of agriculture in fuel development a while back in Fortune. I think it has really sustainability longevity. View it
What else. Check out The Arrogants if you are looking for some new tunes. I downloaded their new album yesterday. Really cool. Soft, chicky, alternative.
Yes I’m drinking and yes I’m watching figure skating. Couple of beers and you’ll watch anything. Were is Bodie?????