Brad's Blog

Another cup of sleep?

Coffee is sleep in a cup.  It's the sleep bean.  Not that it makes you sleepy, no.  You have to think of it backwards.  It makes you feel like you've gotten a great night's sleep.  It's sleep in a cup.  You drink some sleep and you feel energetic for a while until you drink some more sleep.  This is how you become addicted.  Of course, it only works so long until you finally crash and no amount of coffee is going to keep you from conking out and letting your body stabilize and catch up to the work load.  It's because you've only been getting artificial sleep. 

Wait a minute-- this reminds me of something else...  I think there's a good analogy here for our current economic situation. 

-B

nature boy revisited

As some of you may know, I'm kind of a nature guy. Think along the lines of Walt Whitman or St. Francis of Assisi-- maybe with a dash of Bob Ross (happy trees). I love being outdoors and experiencing all the sensations of a pure world, away from cars and malls and fast food.  Not that I mind any of that-- it's just nice to take a deep breath sometimes without smelling exhaust or a flame-broiled Whopper.  I'd much rather smell a sycamore tree, which aside from simmering garlic and butter is about the best smell in the world.

Sadly, I don't get to spend nearly as much time outdoors as I would like.  I do live in Dallas after all.  So maybe I'm kind of a "backslidden" nature guy. I grew up on a farm so as a kid I was always outside in the woods or on the river or something like that and I don't get to do that so much anymore. So naturally, being the poet I am, I celebrate nature in a nostalgic way, in remembrance of my home.  It's hard not to anthropomorphize  it and think of it like a family member or a past romance or something.  So God help me when Autumn rolls around.  All of my fondest memories are from the fall. I met my wife in the fall, my son was born in the fall, my favorite outdoor activities were in the fall, the leaves turn colors in the fall, the sky gets bluer in the fall, cotton opens in the fall and smells wonderful, ducks and geese start migrating in the fall, the air gets that crisp feel or sometimes that damp, soggy, clingy cold that smells like mushrooms, Starbucks Anniversary Blend comes out in the fall, I could keep going--do you want me to keep going or do you get the idea?  I really like autumn.  I wish it was a blanket.  A big cuddly blanket.  And it's almost here.  If you see me in the next few months you'll see the happiest me of the year. 

COME ON SOUTH DAKOTA!!!

Just wanted to throw it out that I am REALLY STOKED about hanging with everyone who is going to be at LifeLight Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota!  This is our first time to play this festival and I hope that you guys can all help welcome us to this great event.  Hope to see you there!!!

Brad

NERD ALERT!!!!

Yes, it's me.  I'm the nerd.  I went to a matinee showing of Star Wars Clone Wars today.  Yes it's a cartoon and yes... it was good.  Do you know how much I loathe those last three worthless pieces of garbage that the moron George Lucas put out?  If that last sentence didn't give you an idea then let me tell you straight.  Failure.  Complete and total failure.  If crap could take a crap and have that crap sit in a bloated skunk carcass for two days on Bourbon Street in the summer then you might come close to the level of crap that was Episode 1, 2 or 3. 

So I went to see this one today A: because I'm a glutton for punishment  B: Because I can't shake my undying childhood love for the original trilogy  C: Because I'm a fan of Genndy Tartovsky who animated the Clone Wars featurettes (you can see them on YouTube) and also animated the Samurai Jack series.  His minimalistic style reminds me of Bugs Bunny.  Sadly, Genndy had apparently nothing to do with the computer animated feature film, although his style was still apparent from the character design which was held over from the featurettes. 

So if you're a Star Wars fan and you haven't seen it yet, don't be afraid.  The musical signatures are there although it's a little more of a contemporary sound.  And there's plenty of campy one-liners that the last three were missing.  Those of a nerdier background will pick up on lots of dialogue cues that are meant to remind us of the other movies (Sad that a cartoon can have a better script than the movies they're based off of).  There's even the trademark "Wilhelm' scream (google that).  It's visually elegant, and lastly, there's LOTS of lightsaber duelling, force-wielding, laser blasting, dog-fighting, taunting and things blowing up other things.  I've always loved the world of Star Wars, and it was admittedly moving to be reminded of the kid inside who still wishes he had his own X-Wing Fighter.

I'll go see it again.

Presidential Cabinet position of Department of Property Reclamation

Up to this point, Matt has typically been the king of lost stuff.  Usually phones, sometimes keys and occasionally a wallet or credit card.  Apparently the mantle has been passed-- unbeknownst to any of us-- to me.  I neither asked for this honor nor do I even really consider it an honor.  It's a nuisance.  An expensive, embarrassing nuisance.  In the last three weeks I have lost:

1 iPod
1 set of headphones
1 set of Westone personally molded in-ear live performance monitors
1 raincoat
1 black fashion jacket
1 pair of shorts
1 mind

Where does it end?  Am I out of the woods?  In the clear?  Is the next instance merely lurking around the corner waiting to pounce like a cougar? 

I propose, for the purpose of such dilemmas as may arise similar to my own, that the next president of the United States create a Department of Property Reclamation and appoint a cabinet member to head the department.  This department will be in charge of

1. creating a magical infrastructure for finding lost items
2. developing a method of magically associating 'found' item with rightful owner
3. build a teleportation device or its magical equivalent for transporting the item back to its owner

I figure that this shouldn't be very difficult for either candidate, seeing as they both have found a way to magically fix the economy, the environment and the war in Iraq. 

virtual bloodshed

Okay.  The day is done, the drive is over, checked into the hotel and what do we do next, boys and girls?  That's right.  We kill each other.  Over and over and over.  And then we gloat over each others dead bodies and heckle and jab and insult each other for about two hours as we spill each others blood...

Digitally.

Our combat of choice is the European theatre of World War II, sometimes the African theatre and occasionally we'll even go as far as Stalingrad or Leningrad as Allies and Germans battle it out over small objectives.  Spawn. Kill. Die. Respawn. Kill. Die.  It's not history, but it sure is fun.

Epic team battles.  Glorious one on one showdowns.  Hand to hand faceoffs. Calculated strategy meets brash arrogance and desperate last stands.  In the name of what, you ask?  Why, friendship, of course.  Why else? 

This is our favorite pastime.  At the end of all the outrage and insults, the cheering and indignation; we laugh and high-five and usually say, "well, okay. Just one more.  THIS ONE'S FOR EVERYTHING!!!"  And do it all again.  Honestly, I think it's how we stay friends.  We take out a little frustration with some good competition and blow off some steam.  We may disagree about various things during the day and get on each other's nerves but after we brutally slaughter each other for a while it's all fine. 

The only exception to our friendship is Matt Fuqua.  Matt Stinking Fuqua. 

Puke on his head.  May dogs poop on his toothbrush.  He's too freaking good!  Ridiculously fast.  Unbelievably accurate.  He vexes me... I am truly vexed.  I'm getting more and more bitter as the days pass.  I see him on the other side of the stage and my blood begins to boil.  I think Josh and Marc feel it too.  We exchange knowing glances.  The plotting will begin soon.  Who gives a rip about friendship when our dignity is on the line?

Grilled Cheese and Guacamole

Now before anyone starts getting scared, I didn't combine the two.  I just happened to make them on the same night and was equally pleased with both.  I'm often stoked at how the simplest things can end up so good and this was a classic example.  Take a mundane concept such as the grilled cheese sandwich and put just the smallest bit of thought into it and it becomes freaking divine.  Instead of using crappy Kraft singles try a couple slices of Muenster or Havarti or (dare I say it?) Swiss.  Mix it up a little-- use two or three different kinds.  And don't just slap a couple of pieces of white bread around that good cheese and call it a day, either.  Try a sourdough roll or some dark rye.  And lastly, who says that grilled cheese has to only be cheese?  Two slices of fresh tomato and three or four basil leaves never hurt anyone.  Voila.  You have gone from grilled cheese to grilled awesome. 

Now guacamole, in my humble opinion, is an entirely different matter.  Don't screw around too much with this one.  We stopped at this Mexican restaurant off the highway in central California and I don't know if they were having an avocado shortage or what but they had eggs in their guac.  EGGS.  Couldn't taste the avos for the huevos, if you know what I mean.  Just leave it alone, people.  Avocado, some chopped onion, chopped tomato, chopped jalepeno and some lime juice if you're adventurous and mother nature takes over and let's all that stuff mix up and taste amazing.  No eggs, no sugar beets or oatmeal or whatever else your well-intentioned mother told you was fine.  It's not.  Trust me.  My mom's been making some stuff for years that she's tried to convince me was "salsa" but between you and me I can tell you it ain't. 

Anyway, there are some things that you have a bit of freedom with such as grilled cheese and some things that are better left alone like good, fresh guacamole.  But... if people never thought outside the box we'd never have baked Alaska or corndogs.  So don't just leave it up to the professionals.  Explore a bit.  Come to think of it, a grilled cheese with a spread of guacamole sounds pretty awesome.  (hmm, monterey jack...some ciabata bread...)

Brad

Stranded!!! (sort of)

I have been thrown into a situation that I am unfamiliar with.  Millions of people face this every day but it's fresh to me and I am being forced to quickly learn how to deal with not having a car.  I own two cars, one for myself and one for my wife, Jessica.  When the transmission went out on our Honda (right after the warranty went out, as would be expected) I figured, 'no sweat. One car down, no problem.'  When only two days later the ignition switch went out in my VW I thought, 'this could be a problem.' 

So that puts me down to my bicycle.  Okay, I'm a progressive sort of guy.  I'm all on board the bicycle train.  Pedal power not horse power!  Well... I went to get on my bike to go down to the mechanic's shop and mysteriously the combination lock has somehow gotten reset and my code does not work.  Seriously? Well since that code won't work I start trying a few others of the remaining 1024 possible combinations.  No dice. Probably shouldn't go to Vegas any time soon.

Being a suburbanite, the nearest full blown grocery store is roughly 4 miles away.  Not a tempting stroll there and back with two bags of groceries in 102^ Texas heat.  There's not even a bus that can take me there and I don't even think there's a cab service in this town. The closest thing is a tiny little Hispanic mercado thing that I've as of yet been nervous to visit since I don't speak Spanish.  Time to poni up. This brings me to a social dilemma, that being what I mentioned above.  Millions of people face this every day.  Millions of people walk to the market and bring back food and water and miraculously live to tell the tale. 

Don't get me wrong.  I'm happy for my cars and my bike (when I can get it unlocked) and I'm willing to admit that I would readily drive to that grocery store than walk or even ride the bike but if everyone else can do it then why can't we?  We've all been too happy to drive too far for way too long and now we're paying for it at $4.57 a gallon.  Well, now I have to cope without a car and I believe that when I get them both back I can take a little of what I'm learning this week and apply it to weeks and months and years to come.