the deodorant song

has anyone ever bought defective deodorant? the stuff i'm using, i don't think it works. in fact, i think it does the opposite. i end up smelling pretty rank by like noon. what is that? i would think that if there was a smell that was determined to be smelt that the deodorant would fight it off until later in the day. but this deodorant does not. i think they're in cahoots. they tag team to create this awful smell and they laugh and mock my attempt at cleanliness. i won't have it. it's time to take action.

also in other news, as many of you know, i will be leaving my job at PwC. it's not something i take lightly. i've never worked at a company like PwC. there are good/smart people who work here. they really want you to succeed. they do work you though. a lot. but i was also able to travel to seattle, new york, chicago, atlanta, salt lake city, kansas city and houston. there's been ups and downs. i've failed and succeeded. but i'm proud to have worked at this company. so now i get to start another job with a new company in a new industry. i'm planning for the future. and i think i'm right where i should be. that's a good feeling. i hope that i can continue to say that going forward. time will tell.

i thought about this the other day. last thanksgiving was kind of miserable. i had just failed another cpa test and i was scheduled to have acl surgery a week after thanksgiving. things were not great for the k-man. but a year later, my knee is feeling great. i have passed all my tests and i am about to start a new job with a great future ahead. so let that be a lesson to everyone. things can change. they can get better. be ready for it when it does get better and enjoy the hell out of it.

afterword on previous entry

that song could be the best song of the year on the year's best record.

just sayin'.....

Funtimes In Babylon- Father John Misty

don't steal our sun

as part of the birthday celebration, i had the crazy/stupid idea to take a road trip. this was on a day when it was snowing in denver and we were headed north, which only meant the snow was going to be worse. and it was going to be much, much colder. but that did not deter us. we are now mountain people and mountain people are not afraid. we headed up to estes park because i wanted to see the rocky mountain national forest under snow. as you can see above, it wasn't totally under snow. but there was snow.

so the sixth picture down, you can see the elk huddled together out in the field. to get those closer shots at the top, i got out the car and walked up to this ridge. now it was incredibly cold. the temperature from the car dash was saying 28 degrees. but the wind was what was tough to take. i got to the top of that ridge and i could barely hold the camera still. i was even using my new tripod and it was still blowing all over the place. my cheeks were frozen and my hands were beginning to feel like glass, so i snapped those shots super quick and headed back to the car. the fifth and i think sixth picture, demitria took. she was excited to take some pictures too of the scenery.

the weather ended up not being too bad until we headed home. by then it was dark and the roads were slick. we drove down i-25 doing about 20 miles an hour because everyone was going so slow. it was fun though. we listened to new country music and joked about how terrible the songs were. it was a fun trip.

and then the texans beat the bears on sunday to go to 8-1. my super bowl pick of texans and packers looks better and better every week.

man in the sand

i bought mermaid avenue vol. 1 at hastings music in huntsville, texas, probably in 2002. i was a wilco fan at the time. i knew they did something with some english dude named billy bragg and the songs they recorded were by woody guthrie. i didn't know much more than that. my internet ability/availability was still slim in those days. i bought it only because it had wilco's name on it.

earlier this year, they repackaged the entire set: mermaid avenue vols. 1 and 2 and they added a 3 with a dvd documentary of the making of the records. there are songs vol. 1 that still are wilco songs to me, even though woody wrote them. california stars. hoodoo voodoo. at my window sad and lonely. one by one. another man's done gone.

i was listening to these songs at the age of 22 or so. and i can't even imagine that i really understood them at that time in my life. but that was not the point. the point was to hear them. to try and understand them. to understand the protagonist's point of view. to try and live in the song.

but you try that with every song. i guess watching the documentary has taken me back to driving too fast in huntsville. to thinking i had the world laid out then. my small apartment and my small street. those were really interesting times.

birthday

my birthday has already come and gone. they go quick, don't they? what is there to pass along as knowledge after 33 years? not a lot. i realize i have fewer friends year after year, but the friends i do have are for the history books. mom and jack hooked me up with grade-a grilling material. when we finally get a house and a really nice grill, we're going to be set in that department. demitria vastly improved my camera setup with a bag and a tripod. the camera i have is so awesome that the zoom goes so far that the slightest shake by me and the picture's are blurry. the tripod will go a long way to fixing that. also we went out to dinner and had some really good sushi. i was even in bed by almost ten. demitria was joking that it was my perfect birthday. gifts, sushi, sake and being in bed by ten. it was great.

this weekend we're going hiking (if it doesn't snow). and we're going to see a show at the hi-dive. birthdays are still great. you don't have the parties and the people and the commotion like when you were younger. all that's left are the really special parts. the special people. the special moments. the special calls. it's nice. i can handle it.

the beaks of eagles

i'm back from my california trip. i made the awesome mistake of forgetting my camera which i realized as we were like ten feet from the airport. so i had to make due with my phone camera. the website i posted last week with the link had some good shots of the resort as well. i didn't get a chance to put my foot in the pacific because the coastline was real rocky and i didn't have my rocky coastline shoes on when i went for the walk so that will have to remain on my list of things to do in my life. but as you can see above, i got a couple good ones.

now i'm back home. right where i want to be. i don't see myself leaving denver for probably the next six months at least and it's a break from travelling i need. since june, i've been to salt lake city, new york, houston, seattle, houston, los angeles. i'm ready for that list to say denver, denver, denver, denver, with maybe boulder, golden or estes park thrown in there. i need days like yesterday. we got the oil changed in the subaru and an emissions test for the truck. we also cut and tied all the limbs in the back alley and raked and bagged all the leaves in the front yard. to top it off, we grilled out and watched a pretty terrible movie while doing two loads of laundry. that list sounds boring and tedious, but those things have to be done. and with all my travels and work and other family events, they've been piling up on us. and we knocked them out big time yesterday. there's more to do in the coming weeks, but next weekend is my birthday celebration. we're going to see the wooden sky live at the hi dive. can't wait for that. i'm also going to do my usual cd splurge and buy about six albums.

or maybe i should buy an album for each year i've been on earth? or each day? that's interesting. how many have i been on earth? let's do the math: 365 X 33 = 12,045. now that doesn't count probably 8 leap years, so add in another 8 days and you get 12,053. that's approximately how many days i've been on earth. wild. and in all those days, i still don't understand nougat. 

gold day

so these are some of the shots from our trip up to golden yesterday. as you can see, i became obsessed with the suspension bridge and how it hung in the sky when the sun was setting. it set up this amazing shot with the clouds moving in the background. i took about twelve shots or more just of that. color/black and white and i zoomed in and out. i think i might put them all together in one frame and just different variations of the same shot. we'll see. anyway, hope you guys like them.

hotel california

today i'm heading out to california to stay at the terranea resort. the place looks amazing. i'm going to take my real camera and hopefully come back with some amazing shots. speaking of that, we took off to golden yesterday and hit up the small backyard brewery and than walked the stream in the middle of town. golden is a photogenic town. i'm going to post some of the shots from yesterday. i got some good ones.

also last night demitria and i hit up this bar by the house and dove head first into the trivia contest for the night. we battled most teams that were five or six people deep. we had only two. and we came in second place. we were leading most of the game, but there is a way to double your score from a round and we used ours early because we didn't know how long the game went. i thought we did great. two people and we took down most of the bar. we won $20, of course you have to spend it there, but who cares! big money!

snowbirds

last night i got home kind of late from work. it was rainy and cold. i didn't want to go anywhere. so we took the cushions off the couch and watched netflix for two hours. after that i was ready to go to bed, but we thought it would be fun to check to see if it had snowed yet. it was snowing like crazy! the ground was still warm, so it was only sticking in the trees and on the grass. we turned out all the lights and sat and watched the snow fall for about thirty minutes before finally going to bed. watching the snow fall is extremely peaceful. it's quiet. it's white. it adds this beautiful blanket to the neighborhood. we're supposed to get more tonight and tomorrow. i hope we get six feet of snow. we'll sit inside, drink hot coffee and watch the flakes pile up around us. no better place to be.

welcome to the working week

the trip is over. we're back from our texas vacation. saw family, friends and got down at demitria's little brother's wedding. it was a great trip. it really was. but now it's back to the grind. and it really is beginning to become a grind.

next week i head out to california for a company pep rally. i'm not looking forward to it. but it will probably be the last trip i take until next spring. by then, i'll be ready to travel again. for now, i'm ready to stay home and get back in shape.

my world series pick of rangers versus dodgers did not materialize. the giants and tigers will fight for the crown. i'm going with the giants. i don't know how they keep doing it, but they do. and they'll be coming into the series with some adrenaline after the seven game series with the cards. you can count on the tigers winning all the games verlander pitches though. that dude is a stud. like cliff lee a few years ago.

hopefully i'll have more pictures soon. i'll probably take my camera with me to california. and a jacket. and a hat. and pants.

kill our friends tonight and bury them out of sight

joe sampson is one of the denver artists featured at the iceland concert/thing we went to a couple weeks ago. he played this song that night and it's been partially stuck in my head ever since. it's not the most amazing thing ever, but it's simple and straightforward and i really dig the lyrics. enjoy.

gobbledigook

iceland. it was back this weekend. denver hosted a reykjavik centric concert on saturday night and a film festival on sunday. we listened to icelandic bands and some of them were great. they were paired with denver singer/songwriters and some of them were great too. i actually met one dude and talked to him. he had this elvis perkins/fleet foxes vibe without the mountain man look. anyway, really nice guy. i bought one of his shirts. it has a fox's face on it. the night wolf! those of you who've come to visit will recognize the night wolf's face. i really enjoyed all of it. the music. the movie. before the movie on sunday was a promotional video to visit iceland. i saw it and wished i was there again. i don't think i've ever visited somewhere that felt as alive and as vibrant, but alone and isolated as iceland. the ground shakes and rumbles. it's alive. but the people are just there. a world away. i miss it. i wish i could get back there as soon as possible.

if you're interested, from iceland was lay low, mugison, petur ben and soley. from denver was joe sampson, julie davis, erin roberts and patrick dethlefs. patrick is the guy i met and bought his shirt.

here's a song from joe sampson. that's him at twist and shout. i saw him at the gothic theatre. cool place, but it smelled like feet. like old shoes.

it felt good to listen to and see iceland again. it's a new/old friend of mine. i'll see it again. soon. and maybe someday, i'll live there. we'll see.

hello seattle

i dig seattle. i could live in seattle. the weather can be a bit spotty, but when it's nice, like it was this week, it's a beautiful waterfront city. the farmer's market, where they sell tons of fish, produce, flowers. it's just amazing. the football stadium is nice with safeco, the baseball stadium, literally right behind it. i was up there for two days this week. on thursday night, we went to the stanford vs. washington game. washington upset the cardinals and the place went nuts. the bottom picture is everyone rushing the field after they won. it was awesome. great place, great city. glad i'm home though.

eyes of texas, pt. 2

i almost called this one. if only ben tate could have hung onto the ball and then of course the texans couldn't have scored because that would have ruined my prediction as well, but anyway, the final score was 31-25. way too close for me, but a win's a win. 3-0 for the first time ever in franchise history. the schedule doesn't let up in the next few weeks. i won't think about that right now. i'll enjoy the fact that we are the only undefeated team in the AFC. let's keep it going.

the eyes of texas

this is literally the biggest day in the history of the world. the texans will defeat peyton manning and the denver broncos. no wait, humiliate peyton manning and the broncos. no wait, annihilate peyton manning and the broncos.

i went to two stores this morning to try and buy a texans hat and i was laughed out of both. no texans gear. they really don't like the texans in this state. i mean the people, the state, the teams. all of the above. that's fine. we'll play a game of football and settle it all today.

the denver broncos helped to steal my childhood. the houston oilers were ahead 24-23 with about two minutes left. john freakin' elway converted two fourth down opportunities. then to end it, he hit vance johnson for a 44-yard touchdown. this was 1991. i was eleven. that's when i learned the good guys don't always win. and that stung. now it's mr. elway's time to cry at the hands of houston texans.

prediction: texans 32, broncos 13. it's close for most of the game before the texans pile it on in the fourth quarter with some choice broncos turnovers. 

misty mountain hop

pete came to town and we hit up some awesome spots around colorado. we hunted down the elk in the rocky mountain national forest. we hiked up to nymph lake inside the national forest. the lilly pads were a nice edition to the scenery. after that, we drove to colorado springs and took pictures of the rock formations at the garden of the gods. we were parched so we headed downtown and took pictures around denver, including the brewery, the train tower, the backside of the ice house and a little scene inside a bowl inside a glass case. the next day we drove almost to the top of mount evans. but we stopped short and took in some breathtaking views. the yellow ash trees are sprinkled in among the landscape. it looks like a bob ross painting. how he would add his 'little yellow' trees wherever in the landscape. it was a great weekend. i enjoyed it and pete enjoyed it and i hope he comes back soon.

also while we were in estes park hanging around the stanley hotel, i ran into my good friend john oliver.  i introduced myself and shook his hand. i don't think he'd heard of me.

the revolution will not be televised

five seconds

so the smart guys at the bluebird wouldn't let me take in my new awesome camera for the concert last weekend. i had to revert back to the phone camera. the show was great. twin shadow's first album was one i listened to endlessly when i first moved to denver and didn't have a job. so i would drive around town and pick up stuff from target or home depot we needed and listen to it. the second album is better than the first, which is a good sign for an artist.

in other news, pete's in town and we're going to hit up some mountain towns today. i'm taking my real camera, so look for pictures to come.

start me up

today is opening sunday. football is back. wednesday's game is like the opening of baseball in japan a week before the start of the real season. today is the real opener, so i still have time to make predictions. the predictions are easy this year. for the super bowl finale, they went like this:

houston vs. san fransisco
houston vs. new orleans
houston vs. chicago
houston vs. green bay

and thats's where it settled. the houston texans will play the green bay packers in the super bowl. i've been watching football since about 1986 and i've never seen a houston football team in the super bowl. i've seen us blow leads to denver (vance johnson), buffalo (frank reich) and kansas city (joe freakin! montana). the run and shoot brought me nothing but misery. warren moon, drew hill, lorenzo white, ernest givens. those guys didn't make it happen. video game wise they were amazing. the houston oilers won about a dozen tecmo super bowl championships. for some reason, those aren't as celebrated as real super bowls victories.

schaub, johnson, foster. these are the names that will bring us a real super bowl. go ahead and print the hats, the shirts, the sweatpants, the oversized jackets. it's time for houston to make their first super bowl appearance.