goat's head soup

it's incredible what a day makes. this was yesterday. today, there is five to six inches of snow outside right now. but yesterday was nice. very windy, but nice. this is waterton canyon. it's a nice bike ride or walk through the canyon. we've been before. last time we had pictures of frozen water, mule deer and bighorn sheep. this time around we saw more big horn sheep. in fact, the one on the road was staring down demitria big time. we thought he might ram her. but he chose wisely. hopefully this is the last snow of the year and spring will be here to stay.

put me in coach 2013

baseball is back! tonight the houston astros open the season against the texas rangers. it's the astros first game as an american league team. it will also be their loss of many this season. but what better way to start the season: a perennial american league powerhouse against a future powerhouse. but what about this year? this is going to be an interesting year. the american league east has lost some steam. the red sox are back to making terrible decisions and the yankees are just getting old. they are actually watching how much they spend. it feels like a wide open season. i could reel off about eight teams that i think could win the world series. i don't remember the last time that was the case. here is how it will shake out:

al east: tampa bay
al central: detroit
al west: la angels
nl east: washington
nl central: cincinnati
nl west: san francisco
al wild cards: toronto and texas
nl wild cards: atlanta and st. louis

i think the world series will be washington and detroit. the odds are against detroit getting back, but i think they're the clear favorite in the al. maybe the angels could stop it from happening. but that's it. detroit has a pretty clear path. tigers against nationals. done.

washington will again be the toast of the nl. the rockies are going to be horrible again this year and the astros will be too as already discussed in previous blogs so my two teams will not be making an appearance in october baseball again. but i did find something interesting. i couldn't understand why the astros were coming to denver. the astros were supposed to play the nl central this year (each year a certain division from the opposite league makes up your interleague games). i found out that the reason the astros are coming here is because the rockies have no natural al rival. therefore, the astros were chosen as the rockies new al rival. each year in addition to your preselected interleague division, you also have to play your rival.

so that means the astros will be coming to denver every year! how awesome is that. i think the rivalry is lame and totally fabricated, but i'll take it. because so is the rivalry with the rangers. i will always remember the astros and cardinals going at it. that was the rivalry i'll remember. but times change. rivalries change. and i'll keep eating hot dogs and laughing my through it.

oh my my

hear the news people! i have wonderful, amazing news! the new strokes album does not suck!! i know. those words are a surprise to even me, the biggest strokes apologist. since 'room on fire', which was released in 2003, that's right 2003, the year i graduated from sam houston state, the strokes have been releasing albums with half-baked ideas, songs that were too long, songs that made no sense, songs that were like wearing your father's jacket when you're 8. 'first impressions of earth' was okay. the album was way too long. way too long. i mean, seriously, who wants to listen to a single album that's almost an hour long with 14 songs? it's not a double album. if it's a double album, there's more wriggle room. it's a double album, so it carries more of a statement. a single album that's too long is a single album that's too long.

'angles' was the first beginnings of the new strokes. i guess once you've had your fun with late 70's new york punk, the only way to go is early 80's new wave. that's what 'angles' is. but half the album is not good. the other half is great. i had my doubts that the strokes could move on and do something different. were they just trying to branch out? what did all this mean?

well, 'comedown machine' is the answer. the strokes are comfortable in their 80's skin. they actually sound like they're having fun again. what was always interesting about the strokes was how fully developed they were with their initial album. the sound. the look. the feel. it seemed like they'd worn it for decades. with each new album, the confidence faded and you could hear it. you could feel it. each step was a half step, a step that was unsure. 'angles' was two steps forward and a face plant.

this new album is fun. it's self-confident. it's the 80's strokes fully formed. honestly, i'm shocked. i didn't think the strokes would have another album that i would enjoy. but that was short sighted. i mean, ten years, is a short period in the history of the world. it's like a blink. so for the strokes to take ten years to release an album that i actually liked, it's like super quick. 

the once and future story teller/winter tales

i stumbled across a fantastic link that notes the top non-wilco jeff tweedy songs. listening to these songs from uncle tupelo, loose fur and golden smog, it's a great reminder of just how much the lyrics and music of jeff tweedy have been the soundtrack to my life. let's be honest. i didn't find all these songs. randy put 'please tell my brother' on one his 'burgers' mix tapes. that's how i found golden smog. i bought both of loose fur's albums and i hope they make a third, because at times, it's more adventurous and creative than what wilco is doing. it's a great article. if you're a fan, take the time and listen to each one of the songs and try to pin point the timeline when it was written.

speaking of great times, last night my beautiful wife suggested we go sledding: in our front yard. so we got out our $10 walmart sled and we went wild. we had about three different lanes packed with snow and we flew so fast, we ended up across the street. it was so much fun. in fact, it was so much fun, we decided to do it again today, but in a local park with a steeper hill and even, a ramp. the ramp was only used twice, once by me and once by demitria. it was quickly found that the ramp was too high and not fit for a sled. or maybe it didn't work because we're too old to land on our tailbones and continue like nothing happened. either way, we still got creative. i sled down face first quite a few times. and we even sled down the hill together on the same sled. i can't remember having so much fun and feeling like a kid just smiling and laughing and carrying on just being carefree. i really enjoyed it. i wish i had pictures, but we didn't take a camera. which might make it more memorable because only the two of us will be able to see and feel and remember in our minds what it was like. so. much. fun.

i do have some winter photos i took this weekend when we got about a foot of snow. i'll post those soon. 

a bunch of lonesome heroes, pt. 2

the power of editing. this what i want the picture to look like. i feel like my old film camera took these kind of shots naturally. or maybe it was the place that developed my film. i'm not sure. but after a little bit of editing, this is how the picture in my head looks.

greatest. picture. ever.

a bunch of lonesome heroes

snowstorm, pt. 2

the snowstorm was a bit overblown, over-hyped and over pretty quickly. it did snow quite a bit yesterday, like 4-5 inches. that's not a foot. and the sun is right back out today melting it all away. with the time change, it now seems like spring is here. i'm not sure how many more snowstorms we're going to get in march or april. we usually get one more, but it's never anything of significance. you know we're starting to be colorado people when we don't fear getting out in the snow anymore. yesterday we went with a friend and her kids to a pub over in lowry. i drove her massive car. i'm not sure what kind of car it was, but it probably weighed thirty tons. you'd hit the gas and it would barely move. it's a beast.

the sun is nice today, we're going to go walk around wash park and probably find a place to do some reading. the time change is so great because now when i get home, there will still be sunlight. we can go play tennis, run, walk, bide, whatever. i experienced a brief moment of spring last week. 16th mall was hopping. the bar patios were open. there were people playing guitars. it was awesome. i can't wait for spring/summer.

other things i can't wait for: the strokes new album, the flaming lips new album, new star wars movies, baseball season, the return of bell bottoms, more CSI shows set in lamer and lamer cities (CSI Tulsa, CSI Cedar Rapids, CSI Chattanooga).

now i'm off to get the laundry out of the washer, get ready for our walk and read and have one more cup of coffee. 'one more cup of coffee' is one of the weaker songs on bob dylan's 'desire'. not my favorite. my favorite from 'desire' is isis.

in other news, mike nesmith is coming through boulder. add it to the list.

snowstorm

i was going to post the video for galaxie 500's 'snowstorm' as we're due for a bit of a snowstorm this weekend. we're talking 12 inches or so people. but the video wouldn't post for some reason. the first line of the song is one of my favorite opening lines:

"well i listen to the weather, and he's changed his tone of voice."

i usually assign that line to hurricanes or thunderstorms or the like, but now we have our own snowstorm coming. 

since i couldn't post it, i suggest a good google and listen to the song.

you can't touch this

there's a guy at the gym where i workout that looks a lot like mc hammer. i know it's not him because i just read some article about mc hammer being arrested in north carolina i believe. parachute pants are never coming in style are they? that's disappointing. i guess hammer was the only guy really wearing them anyway.

did anyone watch the oscars? man i thought it was terrible. i didn't like the host, but it was more than that. the writing for presenters was terrible and why were they singing showtunes from old movies? and using shark music to chase people off stage? that was lame. i think the oscars are feeling the heat from the golden globes. the golden globes are fun to watch. the oscars are not really. i'm glad argo won. i saw that and lincoln for best pictures. we actually watched seven psychopaths friday night. it was good. it's by a writer that i really like martin mcdonagh. he wrote a play we saw back in houston called the lieutenant inishmore and he wrote a movie that was really good called in bruges. i highly recommend in bruges.

we also finally participated in restaurant week here in denver. it came during a bad time while i was auditing, but now, we can enjoy it. tons of restaurants sign up to participate. they make a fixed menu and you and a guest can eat for $52.80, as in the number of feet in a mile. if you pick a really good restaurant, you get a great deal. we picked a great restaurant called bistro vendomme. it started snowing while we were eating and kept snowing through sunday. we got about a foot of snow. not a lot to do while it's snowing, kind of like when it's raining.

i think i might buy the new nick cave album this week. or maybe yo la tengo. or neither. or the new jim james album or not. i'm almost finished reading the informant. great book. got it as a birthday gift!

can't wait too long

we'll actually probably definitely have to wait for a while for the houston astros to be competitive. that's right. 2013 will be another 100 loss season. 2014 might be as well. but all is not lost. my main complaint about the waning days of the drayton mcclain era (2005-2011) was that there was no plan. if winning the world series was the objective, signing preston wilson, woody williams, kaz matsui and pedro feliz with a barren farm system was not going to get the job done. unfortunately for our long-term growth, we overachieved in 2006 (finishing 1 1/2 games out of first place in a weak division) and 2008 (finishing 3 1/2 games out of the wild card). that says a lot about those teams and the players we had. but those seasons convinced drayton mcclain that rebuilding was unnecessary as we were only a few games away from being that late 90s early 00s playoff team again.

that reality was untrue. the long astros decline actually began towards the end of our incredible playoff run (making 6 appearances from 97-05). the farm system was not producing quality major players anymore. the players we thought might be long term additions to the team (everett, ensberg, lane, burke) turned out to be 2-3 year stop gap players. as i noted above, we tried to keep the playoff run alive by signing overpaid veteran players, including the most ridiculous contract for carlos lee.

also during this time, we changed general managers. this change could be looked at as the moment the decline took on an accelerated pace. although gerry hunsicker had not adequately kept the farm system productive, part of this could be attributed to drayton mcclain who refused to pay out of slot for draft picks. but the hiring of tim purpura was a disaster. anyone remember the jason jennings trade?

these events (hunsicker's departure, the barren farm system, overpaid veteran players) left the franchise in disarray. add to this the reluctance to trade players while they were still producing and receiving promising prospects, the franchise was set adrift. when jim crane bought the franchise and hired jeff ludlow as general manager, the real rebuilding began.

and it's been ugly. ugly but necessary. as evidenced by monday's trade of jed lowrie, we are still rebuilding. we received three quality prospects for lowrie. astros fans may be upset to trade a quality player like lowrie, but the trade made perfect sense. we are not going to contend this year or next. lowrie was at his peak trade potential and it was time to pull the trigger and get something long-term. because long-term is where we're thinking. i like ludlow's plan. it's extremely painful in the short run but the idea is to think long-term even if it hurts in the meantime. i want the astros to be a smart, efficient, dynamic franchise. we will get there. but the sins of the past must be atoned for before we get back. we're halfway there astros fans. keep the faith. start to embrace the names of singleton, correa, springer, cosart, deshields and mccullers. these could be the names that return us to prominence. we'll just have to wait and see.

midnight on the interstate

these pictures have some different elements going on. i'm sure it's somewhat noticeable. the first group were taken when i was riding around on my bicycle while demitria was working one saturday. i rode around and took pictures of all the old buildings around the neighborhood. they didn't turn out great that day, but i got a few good ones. it was cold and i think that affected my camera eye. the next set were taken last weekend when we went bike riding at chatfield park. it looks colder that day, but it was actually pretty arm. there was still plenty of ice and snow hanging around the water's edge. the clouds were the best part of that day. they added an awesome element to what were probably marginal pictures. the picture of the aquifer over the frozen water reminded me of the cloud nothings recent album cover. check it out. only in focus!

Bernanke to Oprah: "I've Been Doping for Years"

someday, some morning, sometime

last weekend we went to waterton canyon, down by roxborough state park. the weather here has been outstanding. i mean like early spring weather. i'm sure we bound for more snow at some point, but we're taking advantage while we can. the trail wasn't really a trail. it was like a semi-paved road, one paved with rocks. and trail followed the canyon creek. we saw some interesting creatures out there. first, we saw the doe above who if you notice only has one antler. i think the other one is retractable. then we saw some big horn sheep. the pictures don't show it, but there were probably 8 or 9 of them up on the rocks. finally we saw the lonely duck. there were no other ducks all day and then we saw this little guy going upstream in the cold, frozen water. we had to get a picture of this little fighter. we're going back this weekend to bike around the lake that's down there. we'll see what shots we get this weekend.

so you want to be a rock and roll star

finally! it took me a while but i have loaded the pictures from our rock and roll weekend, however, they are a little out of order. the top and third pictures are from the divine fits show at the bluebird. the third picture down is classic. it's me, bruce and britt daniel from spoon. britt daniel was talking to a pretty good looking girl when bruce and i interrupted and asked for a picture. you can tell he was stoked about pausing his conversation to take a picture with us. also there appears to be a large liquid spot on my shirt. i think i set it down and someone spilled a drink on it. i don't really remember. but it looks freaky.

the second and fourth pictures are from vail when we went to see wilco. it was so cold, most, and by most, i mean all, the wilco pictures are blurry. the one i posted is the least blurriest. the bottom picture is the group wearing about fourteen layers of clothing and covered in tiny snowflakes after watching wilco.

the trek to the show is one for the ages. i'm pretty sure some of the people didn't survive who went the same way we did. their loss.

Wilco - I'm the Man Who Loves You - Vail Snow Daze 2012

i found this video of wilco at the snow daze festival we went to back in december. check out the hats and scarves. you can't see the snow, but i guarantee you it was snowing the whole time. actually you can see the snow. awesome. yeah great show.

eye of the tiger, pt. 4 the finale

well it's over. the season is over for the houston texans. it wasn't much of a surprise. the new england patriots are a better team, better organization and that's why they won. twice against us this season. there's a problem with the texans. let me see if i can articulate it. gary kubiak is a good coach. matt schaub is a good quarterback. however, gary kubiak is not a great coach and cannot overcome sometimes mediocre quarterback play. matt schaub is not a great quarterback and cannot overcome sometimes mediocre coaching. we don't have a great quarterback to overcome our sometimes inept coach and the same goes for the coach. we're a very good team, but we won't be a great team with both kubiak and schaub. it just won't happen. we'll get this far each year and that's it.

i still have to say it's better than not making the playoffs and being like the browns or chiefs or something. we're close, but just don't have quite enough talent.

i'm looking forward to baseball season. it's going to be a rough year for both the astros and the rockies. they might end up the two worst teams in baseball. but baseball is fun either way. you want to win, but going to a game is still so much fun. i want to go to about ten games this year. see the astros, giants, cubs, maybe the new look dodgers. i don't have a world series pick yet, i'll save that for spring training.

anyway football is over in houston and denver. seems like a new england- 49er super bowl is coming our way. but who knows. either way, i can't wait to see color me badd as the half time show at the super bowl.

wait...i'm being told that is not correct and color me badd should never be mentioned again. harsh, but fair.

eye of the tiger, pt. 3

here we are people. even before the game this afternoon, we've already received our first break. denver lost yesterday. what does that mean? well i'll tell you what that means. if, if, if somehow, someway houston can beat new england later today, the afc championship game will be in houston. that is huge. we already beat baltimore. in fact, we tore them up. well so did denver, so i guess that's not worth a lot in the playoffs, which should make should make us feel better about today. things could be turning houston's way.

however, i am the rain. the game is the parade and i'm raining all over it. prediction:

new england 42 houston 20

i don't have any other predictions. my preseason nfc pick green bay is now gone. they lost last night to san francisco pretty convincingly. i was able to watch it at home. what? that's right. i was talking with my dad and he mentioned that i should be able to buy a normal, everyday antenna and hook it into the converter box and pick up channels over the air. well, guess what? he was right!! i hooked it up upstairs and we have television. so i'll be able to watch the texans game at home today instead out at some bar with everyone cheering against houston. also i'm becoming a statistic and have come down with a sore throat. when you see a map of the US and all the states are red with sick people, i'm now one of them.

(as i'm watching cbs this morning)....this is awesome. i haven't seen a 'moment of nature' on cbs's this morning in years. and this morning they're in montana. and there's a moose. it looks just like rocky mountain national forest. it's not, but man it's similar. i love those moments of nature.

also we saw the hobbit yesterday. i've never read the book or any of tolkien's books. i found them pretty boring. but i enjoy the movies. and this one was good too. we saw it 3d in the IMAX. the IMAX was cool, but i'm always let down by 3d. i think it's a ripoff. but demitria loved it and that's what counts. that's her star wars.

go texans.

eye of the tiger, pt. 2

oh so close! if only the inept bengals offense could have scored a touchdown instead of a field goal, i would have nailed the texans/bengals game score on my optimistic pick. and the green bay, well, i didn't know christian ponder wasn't starting until after my post, otherwise, i would have totally lowered their score.

we are heading on to new england. i'll have my predictions later in the week, but if you watched the game saturday, there is no way a performance like that beats new england. no way sir. i surprised by the ravens and seahawks both winning. and jeeze, that RGIII play where his knee buckled, that was hard to watch. every time i see a reply where someone's knee is blown out, my left knee starts hurting. it's sympathy pain!

eye of the tiger

bengals versus texans. today. football. win. sentence.

yes i have serious doubts about the texans chances today. serious and grave doubts. however, i picked them to play green bay in the super bowl and since both of those teams are still in the playoffs and since both of those teams are playing today, i have to pick both to win. but i tell you faithful readers, i have serious doubts.

predictions: because of my preseason picks, i pick the following:

texans 19 bengals 17

packers 31 vikings 16

however, if i were to pick the games based solely on my amazing football knowledge and instincts, i would pick the following:

bengals 26 texans 23

packers 31 vikings 16

notice the packers game did not change. that's because i do not have grave and serious doubts about the packers like i do the texans. i hope my preseason picks pan out. but like i've noted before on this blog, even if we win today, all that does is send us back to new england, the sight of a brutal massacre earlier in the year. good luck texans. remember, you're not the oilers! prove me right!

1999

prince once said, 'we're not going to let the elevator break us down.' poignant words indeed. i think i'm actually quoting from 'let's go crazy' instead of '1999', which was what i was trying to go for. oh well. speaking of prince, do you think he regrets the batman soundtrack? i don't think he should. he should be proud of his work with the tim burton reboot. it's amazing how terrible the next three batman movies were, yet they made a ton of money. i actually remember watching the last one batman and robin in a theater with bruce. we became so bored that we started to do jumps and rolls over the seats in the theater. i think there was like five other people in there and they became more interested in what we were doing than the movie. so bad. so, so bad.

it's actually 2013 today. and who cares! it's another day following the last one. but since we like to group things in terms of days, weeks, months and years, it's meaningful. resolutions! goals for the new year! let's think about these. what sort of goals should be associated with this new and non-exciting year?

1. put on a concert- yes! demitria and i are currently in the works to perform a show. a four song show featuring several songs that i believe we can knock out as a duet, she plays the flute and i play the guitar. we're in the early stages of practice, so the show might not be ready until the summer, but we're moving forward on it. i'm proud of both of us to do this. i think in the end it will be something we can really be proud of.

2. get my book edited and published online through amazon- amazon will allow me to publish my book and be made available electronically through the kindle. once it's ready, i'm going to get promote it online as well: facebook, twitter all those things. i'll have to figure out the best way to do this. i just need word of mouth because the price will be so low, everyone will buy it.

3. buy a house- that's been on the list for a while and it might stay for a while, but we're both still hoping to buy a house in 2013.

4. get back in shape- this one was probably on last year's too, but last year was filled with celebration and although my knee has started to respond and get stronger, the balance was off last year. too much celebration. this year will, hopefully, feature no new jobs or anything of the sort. i can cut back my consumption and get back in shape for 2013.

5. that's it. not a grandiose list this year. last year was still full of change and getting those parts of my 5-year plan from 2006 done. i don't think i'll institute a new 5-year plan for a couple more years. i want to go back to school to get a masters degree at some point. i wouldn't mind getting a phd also and maybe going the professor route later in life. can you do that later in life? why not! you can anything if you want it.

i'm also going to piggyback on this blog post and knock out my top ten albums of the year:

1. father john misty- fear fun
2. the divine fits- a band called the divine fits
3. the flaming lips and heady fwends- s/t
4. spiritualized- huh?
5. twin shadow- forget
6. the lumineers- s/t
7. the walkmen- heaven
8. beach house- bloom
9. the avett brothers- the carpenter
10. matthew e white- big inner

not a spectacular year. disappoints were out there with the magnetic fields, the white rabbits and even the avett brothers, which made the list. i have a feeling i won't be loving that new album in the next year.

see ya 2012! thanks for the memories. i had friends and family come visit me. demitria and i traveled to glenwood springs on an awesome trip. i traveled to salt lake city, seattle, new york and houston. the astros moved to the al west. i passed the cpa test! crazy, crazy year indeed. looking forward to the new one.