European Adventure. Blog Style

Rome

2009-10-18T07:17:00.004-04:00

What can i say? I love Rome. On our first day we met our tent neighbors, Jas and Zurie, and they asked us if we wanted to hang out. duh. of course we did. when they asked us what we wanted to do i only had one answer....see really old stuff. if its not pre-10th century....been there, done that. I want to see stuff that's falling apart. honestly, if it was in the movie gladiator...i wanted to see it.

I don't know if its just me, but i think the sky always looks different in rome. kinda like this....

I don't know. i feel like every movie and picture i've seen (and every day i was there), its like this ridiculously deep blue, but with a lot of fast moving clouds, and then the sun just kinda bursts through for this sort of beautiful, yet erie afternoon. what can i say? i dig it.

anywho. turns out our friends jas and zurie were lying to us. they made up ridiculous names and tried to bamboozle us. we found this out about 3 hours into our day. the truth is, i couldnt be mad, because it was a noble effort, and i wished i had done the same thing. so. hillary and shannon showed us all around rome and they were lifesavers. me and matt are travel idiots so somehow we were able to see vatican city, the pantheon, some random castle, some random famous fountain, the spanish steps, and the coliseum all in one afternoon. most of my photos will be from this day because my batter ended up dying and we were camping....so no outlets. when we got back, we met (of course) and aussie and a kiwi that were our neighbors on the other side. so we kinda just had our own little block party with our neighbors that night and called it a night. i would call this a top 3 day of the trip so far....competing for number one.

Next day, slept in, it rained all day. we did nothing. it was fantastic.

Next Next day. went to the vatican museum/sistine chapel. it was 14 euros to get in, but if you have a chance to see the sistine chapel in real life, you have to do it right? well, we did....and i'm glad. Maybe it's just because I don't paint, but the whole vatican and especially the sistine chapel seems like it would have taken an eternity to finish. Everything was so massive and elaborate. and it had to be done upside down. and not just the painting, but every window frame and siding was elaborately painted and carved. I guess I don't really know how to describe it, but it was pretty amazing to see it.

Ok that's all. Pics on facebook later tonight.

Venice

2009-10-12T11:17:00.003-04:00

I must say that Venice was one of the places i desired to go the most. As much as i need a car, I always enjoy cities that you don't need one. In Venice, the option is not even there. Streets of canals and alleys for walkways. So for a boy with a new camera, it was a dream come true. For a boy with a tight budget, I have to say Venice was quite the opposite. For instance, I went to get a cup of coffee, which is already expensive, and they ask me if i want to sit down. of course i do. well...double the price. You have to pay for that beautiful chair right next to the canal. so the brings the total to about 10$ for a cup of coffee. a small cup. like, a babies cup. i could actually swallow the cup. So venice for me was pretty much a free walking tour....led by me. a.k.a. i wandered all day. There were some free exhibits and churches open and that sort of thing, so of course those were taken advantage of. Either way, I took about 6 million pictures and I think you'll find most are strikingly similar. stay posted for those.

The second day, me and ryan went down to the peggy guggenheim exhibit that was actually at her old house in venice. They had a great student discount for people under 26.....but wait. I lost my student ID. This should only take some minor sweet talking and I'm in for cheap. But wait....the receptionist is this silly american girl and a florida gator alumnus. She saw ryans UGA ID and didn't budge for me. A minor setback to a pretty awesome place. I'm not exactly an art history buff, but we did manage to con our way into a free audio guide so I'm pretty much a pro now. Turns out Jackson Pollack really did know what he was doing. Picasso...I'm not so sure, but i'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Either way, there were hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and I feel privelaged to have seen it.

Another beautiful thing about Venice is that we ran into old friends. A couple of our "mates" from prague ran into us at the campground so we had a glorious reuniting right? nope. we got verbally dominated for not adding them on facebook. so lesson learned. if you tell someone you will add them. add them. even if you think you will never see them again. after that though, we had a nice little reunion party at the campground which eventually let to a slightly lame, but surprisingly fun toga party. I can't say ive ever done that before, but if you looked at my toga it was fairly obvious. I had to wear undergarments for fear of an unwanted peep show.

So now we are in Rome, but more on that later. Venice was a great experience and a fun one and it's definitely worth seeing....but 2 days was plenty. It was great to hang out with familiar faces which we found out we will see again tonight in Rome. Look for some Venice pics on facebook in the next 24 hours.

seacreast out.

5 days in prague. 3 in berlin. venice here we come.

2009-10-05T17:10:00.008-04:00

After a miserable milan experience....prague came through in the clutch. The hostel was fantastic (and cheap) and as soon as we got there we met some pretty great people. We spent the night hanging out with these two new zealanders....the first two people we met. The coolest part about them, besides the fact that new zealanders dominate aussies in the "cool" department, is they talked us into going to this bar down the street called Cross club. wow. the whole place is made out of car parts. but not in a lame, junkyard kind of way. more like a...holy crap, i could just stare at the walls forever. They had one room with a dj...playing (for lack of a better word) euro-trash techno music. one thing different about dance parties in europe that i noticed is that nobody dances with anybody. you just face the dj, clear some space around you, and just kinda hop around. i may or may not have partaken (may or may not be a word).

first things first. i've always wanted to try this. the orignal budweiser budvar. and on the train from vienna to prague...me and matt shared our first czech pilsner together.

this is not the budweiser we know in america. not even the same beer. history lesson. czech invented the pilsner in the fine town of plzen (say: pilsen). pilsner urquell being the first and it is absolutely all they drink over there. usually only one per bar. you just go up and say "beer" and they pour you the only one they have. usually, pilsner urquell.

anywho. the next night we met toby and maria, a fantastic little couple from dresden, germany and we hung out all night and so they talked us into going on the free walking tour the next day. so we went on the free walking tour of prague and saw some amazing things, and learned a lot about czech history...which lets be honest...none of us know czech history. they take a lot of pride in their country and most of the art/architecture/statues are in some way mocking their oppressors. it was just incredibly interesting to hear about a country who for some reason was left out of U.S. history books. here are a few of my favorite pics from the city.

ok, ignore that last sentence. apprently i forgot how to blog because uploading multiple pictures is a pain. so forget that for now. another glorious thing about prague. czech korun (crown?). 17 of these equal one US dollar. its the one place where the dollar seems to have some value. you can make 1000 korun (57$) last a really long time. what did i spend most of them on? kebabs. there is only one kebab place in athens....my all-time fave that all my friends hate. but in europe, kebabs flow like milk and honey in the promised land. so tasty. so huge. so cheap. in athens its a treat. in europe, its having a budget and i have NO problem with that kind of budgeting.

So after prague, we spent a few days in berlin....which i loved, but...we were faced with some important decisions, like figuring out what the heck to do with our trip, which is ending way faster than we want it to. so i didn't see much of berlin. i was crammed in the internet cafe spending all of my money. But here's the plan and what you can expect.

we are now in venice. then to rome. then, randomly, to see a friend in oslo, norway. then off to london. under the water to paris. up to amsterdam....which will almost definitely include brussels belgium. and that gets us up to november. at that point, it could be time to come home....we'll just have to see.

sorry about the pics, unfortunately all you get to do is read...but, pics are on facebook. enjoy!

Benji and Matt in Europe

2009-09-25T08:21:00.004-04:00

Well friends and family, i'll have to keep this one short because i only have ten minutes left on this computer. But, its official....we are traveling men. And besides the fact that milan is the worst city for travelers in the history of the world, its a decent looking city. If you want to imagine what milan is like, just imagine if somehow Los Angelas and Charlestown got together and conceived a beautiful, yet bastard of a child. I think that about sums it up. ok, only 6 minutes left. here's a picture of the place we stayed last night.

And here is a picture of glorious matt keef fresh off of the plane.

ok. out of time. thats all for now.

i miss all of you and wish you could travel with me.

ciao

Return of the Mack....

2008-11-30T23:44:00.005-05:00

well, i think i'm going to blog again. things are going to be different this time around. i'm not sure what i mean by that, but i want to be more focused. i'm not referring to the frequency of blogging that i do, but more about the content. in honor of my return, i've written a series of incredibly lame haiku's. enjoy.

hello world wide web
i have missed thee very much
did you miss me too?

I've heard that you did.
I haven't forgotten you.
would you have me back?

yes? is that a yes?
my heart is dancing with joy
it sings songs for you

with that being said
i guess it's about time for
"Return of the Mack"

Wednesday Wishes #8

2008-05-21T09:10:00.005-04:00

Long time no blog.

I wish the Braves game would have started on time yesterday so I could have gotten to bed before two.

I wish that if American Idol ever covers another U2 song, they would get a guitar player who is a little less cheesy. terrible tones all around...probably coming from a pod or solid state amp. but kudos to david cook for actually doing a good job on it.

I wish i was more prepared for the Over the Rhine show on saturday. along with iron and wine, it is probably the most soul pleasing music i have ever heard live...or maybe just in general.

I wish i had a place to live next year.

I wish my car wasn't in the body shop for the last 2 weeks. It led to the demise of meatless may. R.I.P. meatless may. (5/1-5/18). when you don't have a car or any groceries it makes it hard to have a well rounded meal. i wasn't cooking which was a big part of meatless may, and i was eating a lot of the same stuff. i wasn't craving meat really. i think i could have gone the distance for sure, but i decided to cut my losses. i like meat. the end.
I wish my car got more than 15 mpg's. I'm seriously considering this solution.

I wish i wouldn't have had 2 hot dogs last night and 2 cups of coffee this morning. maybe this combo will lead to a good poop story for later. childish? maybe. hilarious? always.

I wish i would have told you before now that this New Amsterdam's album is one of my favorites. i bring this up because they have some new material that is really good, but not as good as the previously mentioned, Worse for the Wear.

I wish MELANIE JOHNSON read my blog so she could see that I am publicly professing my love for her. and that i will miss her when she is in chi-town.

I wish i wasn't so lamely nervous about the american idol finale tonight. p.s. boxing theme? totally lame.

Hallelujah!

2008-05-14T16:54:00.004-04:00

this is the new death cab album. it came out yesterday. go buy it!

Bad Blogger.

2008-05-13T08:59:00.002-04:00

i've been a bad blogger. the lack of entries is really lame and thats all i really have to say about that. recently, i was approached on this world wide web by a friend and this is what i heard, "you aren't a true blogger if you don't twitter." before we discuss the lameness of this quote, or the lameness of this post for that matter, i just want to take a second and tell you that i think twitter is retarded. if you don't know what it is, watch this video.

Supposively, its a way to update people with whats going on with the small things in life that you wouldn't necessarily blog about. For example, my twitter right now would say Benji: "wasting time at work right now." or Benji: "my stomach is growling. to taco bell i go." So here's my main problem with all of this, but first i will take you back in the day....

Remember when you used to call your friends house and say "Hey, can Jeff come play?" and sometimes they would say, "Sorry, Jeff's not home right now, but i'll have him call you when he gets back" and that was IT. i just had to sit around and wonder where the hell jeff was while i had no one to play with. it kinda sucked for a kid that really was in a playing mood. so then cell phones come around. facebook comes around. gchat comes around. i talk to my friend in iraq almost everyday. there just really isn't any privacy anymore and i do not want to twitter so people can know what i'm doing every single second of the day.

I heard a story recently of a good friend of mine getting to go out to dinner with a pretty darn popular blogger that i would really want to meet. i was kind of jealous of him. my friend said that it was a pretty cool experience except for the fact that dude was "twittering" on his iphone the whole time. lame. lame. lame. thats cool for everyone reading his twitter, but not for the people at the table with you. technology is fantastic, but when it interferes with actually one on one communication, that makes me sad. twitter is just too much for me.

One Week Down

2008-05-08T08:55:00.003-04:00

today is the one week anniversary of meatless may. so far, i'm still meatless but it is much harder than i thought it would be. i'm actually a little disappointed in myself. i find myself eating a lot of cheese. we'll see if i can change that this week.

in much more important news, tonight.....my life is going to change. tonight. i'm going to see radiohead. probably one of the most influential bands to exist in my lifetime. i'll be honest though, i kinda hated them until i got to college. i thought they were weird, and the only reason people liked them was to claim that they liked something weird. although that is probably true, i have seen the light that is radiohead. musically, they are incredible. vocally, thom yorke is truly unique and one of the best. creatively, no one can touch them. lyrically.....i really don't know what he's saying half the time, but it really doesn't matter. his voice is more of an instrument rather than a communicative tool anyways. they havent been in the states in something like 4 years, and who knows if they will ever come back. tonight is truly a once or twice in a lifetime opportunity and im going to be enjoying it from the 14th row. so here's to you radiohead. thanks for being awesome.

Meatless May

2008-05-01T11:56:00.005-04:00

i have a strange announcement. this month is meatless may. what does that mean you say? well, it means that for the month of may, i will be abstaining from the consumption of meat. thats right. me. benjamin butler. lover of meat. mean connoisseur? this is going to be hard.

let me start by saying, this is not an attempt to become a hippie. i love meat. and when may is over, i will again consume meat. i mean, i understand animal cruelty is bad, but do still in fact believe that when god made animals and said "have dominion over them", he meant it. so i will not be joining P.E.T.A. anytime soon. the truth is, i eat a lot of chicken fingers and hamburgers. greasy meat. i've been struggling with any attempts to eat healthily. its a pure lack of discipline and will power and i just can't stand it. so i've been thinking about meatless may, and i think i'm gonna go thru with it.

the fact that meat is not in the equation does not necesarrily mean that i will be eating healthy. i also know that there are important health factors in meat that i will not be getting. what comes down to is this: i'm a "half-asser". i don't finish what i start. sometimes, i dont even start what i want to start. i have high hopes for meatless may.

hopefully i will accomplish 4 things:

1) a healthier lifestyle

2) hightened cooking skills

3) a love for more veggies

4) a beard (triggered by an increase in veggies)

i'll miss you meat. see you in 31 days. feel free to leave comments. i want to know how long people think i will last. and in response to zach's comment...i do apologize. it is far out of my nature to not eat meat. but by the time you get back, i will be back in the full meat-eating swing of things.

The Age Old Debate

2008-04-29T09:40:00.005-04:00

so sorry i haven't written in a while. it is not my intention to ignore this blog anymore. i return to the world wide web to discuss an age old debate.....krispy kreme vs. dunkin' donuts.

i roll into work this morning and this is the image i see sitting in the middle of the room. we had a meeting this morning so there were multiple people that said, "hey, i should bring the office some donuts." this led to one person bringing dunkin donuts and another person bringing krispy kreme. i knew where i was headed....

krispy kreme. donut glory. it is a true david and goliath matchup, except this time david doesn't have his sling shot. this image is the only one i could find, but this is not what the office donut situation looks like. there were two dozen of each brand and here are the numbers.....

krispy kreme - 5 left

dunkin donuts - 15 left

and the only reason that many dunkin' donuts were eaten is because one guy ate five of them. i watched him. it was gross. so i think the debate is over.....if you like dunkin' donuts more than krispy kreme, it means you like yankee trash. long live krispy kreme!

Good News and Bad News....

2008-04-24T13:15:00.001-04:00

so here's the deal world wide web....

i didn't blog at all yesterday, and i'm sure you were all outraged. here's the thing. i got transfered to another office. all in all, i think its a great move for me, but the thing is...i am much busier here. luckily i have some time to write this entry, but i think as a general rule of thumb, to keep this blog train rolling i'm going to have to start doing evening posts. this is going to be a difficult transistion, but i am up to the task.

One week ago today....

2008-04-22T12:32:00.002-04:00

...i was in this room. enjoy at your own risk.

Last Catalyst Church service ever...

2008-04-21T15:49:00.003-04:00

yesterday, i was fortunate to be in the band for the last catalyst church service ever. and when i say fortunate, i mean it. i can't say enough good things about that church. the staff and volunteers were far beyond the best that i have ever worked with. i credit them so much with my development as a guitar player. it was because of catalyst that i was able to really begin playing guitar full time and they were so encouraging to me as a player. all in all, i will miss catalyst church very much, but i know it won't be the last time i see those guys. here is a video from the service of us playing "We Shine". i'm the bald electric player on your left. enjoy.

ps. i didn't film this video. i'm sure i should credit joe wiggleston for actually doing all of the footage and editing.

Sadness.

2008-04-18T13:55:00.007-04:00

do you ever have one of those moments where you are fine one second, really sad for about 2 seconds, and then you are back to normal? well, i do...and i just had one of those moments. a 2 second slideshow in my head, playing back last summer where i spent 7 weeks working at M-fuge in west palm beach, FL. we went non-stop from 7 AM to midnight, pouring into kids, pouring into each other until we were drained, only to do it again the next day. i worked with some of the finest people i have ever met and i sure did love the crap out of them. i don't really see my fuge friends anymore, but when i get nostalgic like this, i think of them. thinking about this summer and having a real job makes me miss last summer even more. here are some pictures to enjoy from last summer.

this is part of the family

shirts vs. skins (i hesitated to put up this pic due to lusting issues)

pink. its my favorite color

it was also at FUGE that i grew out my first mustache. cinco de fuge stache. we had high school kids growing out their staches as well. 95% of them were better than mine. you're looking at 3 full weeks of growth right there world wide web.

Boo Athens Radio

2008-04-17T12:59:00.005-04:00

at work, i am forced to listen to 102.1 all day long. i don't know how to describe the format of this radio station, something like top 40 from 1980-present. it's amazing the songs that they have in their rotation EVERY DAY. i've compiled a list of songs i am ok with hearing everyday vs. songs that shouldn't even be on the radio once a week.

Kiss me - Six Pence None the Richer

Name - Goo Goo Dolls

Love Song (minimum, 3 times a day) - Sara Bareilles

Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

How to Save a Life - The Fray

You Say - Lisa Loeb

I Love You, Always, Forever - Donna Lewis

Side note on this song. lets go back to 1996. the olympics are in ATL and i am in love. whats her name you might ask? Dominique Moceanu. at the time, she was a smoking hot 15 yr. old star gymnist and we were gonna get married. some reason, this song reminds me of dominique. you could say it was "our" song.

NOT OK

Every Rose Has its Thorn - Poison

Des'ree - You Gotta be Bad

Hoobastank - The Reason

Delimitri - Roll to Me

Trisha Yearwood - How Do I Live Without You

Every Nickelback song ever.

Every Jewel song ever.

Every Daughtry song ever.

I hope this gives you a taste of what fills my ears everyday.

Wednesday Wishes #7

2008-04-16T15:33:00.002-04:00

i wish iron & wine toured more. see you again in 3 years sam beam.
i wish that my new guitar wasn't so awesome. sike.
i wish that school would hurry up and end so that my friends could be happier.
and so all these stupid kids will move out of their apartment here at the lovely summit.
i wish i had more new music to listen to. its time to make some drastic additions to my musical library. the new phantom planet album came out yesterday....i think i'll start there.
i wish property management would take it down a few notches in the lame department.
i wish i were playing golf right now. if you are in athens right now, or the south for that matter....get off of your computer, step outside, bring a toy/pet/boom-box/loved one/blanket/hammock, and enjoy.
i wish i didn't have to be out of town for my favorite weekend in athens.... that weekend is next weekend, and it is twilight. athens dwellers....dont miss twilight. ever. period. unless you have a wedding to go to.
i wish other cities could take city-lessons from athens, GA.
i wish i was having a better day. i do not want to be inside right now.

Last Night....

2008-04-15T10:15:00.003-04:00

....was ridiculous. let's all join together to pray and thank God for bringing iron & wine into the world. amen. do you ever have those moments where nothing in your body can keep you from smiling? an example for me would be when say one of your best friends gets married. or when the 4 and 5 year old choir at church performs a song. those are smiling moments for me. when iron & wine took the stage, with just an acoustic guitar and some female vox, and then began to play "the trapeze swinger", i had one of those moments. he was flawless. the soft, sweet voice that comes through that beard is so peaceful and powerful all at the same time. i smiled for about ten minutes straight. normally, if a band is doing something acoustic and soft, you can hear the rumble of all the idiots who don't realize how loud and rude they are. iron & wine played to pure silence during the song only to be followed by praise and ovation between songs. this is what music is supposed to be people. if you haven't already, don't deny yourself the undeniable pleasure of iron & wine (that goes for you too mom and dad).

speaking of what music is supposed to be, ben gibbard of death cab for cutie, is on the cover of paste next month. for the album they are about to release, he moved to big sur, the cabin that jack kerouac lived in temporarily, and wrote the album. paste sent him back to the cabin to write an essay for the magazine about his experience there as well as his take on songwriting in general. its called, "the meaning of life". i thoroughly enjoyed it. to fill your eyes and brains with this fantastic article.....go here.

Tonight...

2008-04-14T12:04:00.004-04:00

...is going to be a great night. it is a night i have been waiting for since i bought the tickets in february. april 14th, 2008 @ the variety playhouse - Iron and Wine. if you don't know who they are, look at this man's beard and then go listen to his music. there's probably not a band in history that fits the end of this sentence better than iron and wine: "man, i think i'm in the mood for some ________".

also, i went to the hawks vs. celtics game on sat. night and sat on the freaking floor. i felt like vincent chase from entourage, or jack nicholson from real life. literally, i could touch the out of bounds line with my toe. never before had i felt like streaking at a professional sporting event was more in my grasp. don't worry though, i supressed my desires. here are some things i learned from my ted turner seats at the hawks game.

players talk to the refs. a lot. sometimes it isn't nice.

players yell at each other a lot.

when you realize that yelling on the court is very audible, it makes you want to yell at the players.

its your duty as a fan to yell at the opposing team. especially if they can actually hear what you say.

sam cassell is old. we told him that numerous times.

kevin garnett can eat anybody's lunch that he wants. he is a pure man and he is unstoppable. KG for president.

al horford is pretty good, but...although funny, talking trash to KG isnt wise.

the hawks coach was wearing a parachute suit. the pants were as wide, if not wider than JNCO's.

mike bibby is actually white.

mike bibby is actually black.

i'm not sure about mike bibby's ethnicity, but i sure do think he was a good pick-up for our team.

the hawks will most likely be swept by the celtics in the playoffs, but i like the direction we are going.

New to the Family...

2008-04-11T10:59:00.005-04:00

good morning world wide web. i have some pretty exciting news for you guys this morning...but first, a long and drawn-out back story. as you know by now, i play electric guitar. i have a few guitars, but only one high-quality, gig-worthy electric and that is my america ash tele. she's beautiful and i love her, but i've been wanting to add to the family for a while now. up until this point, any extra money i had would go to other gear purchases, namely pedals (and charity?). i pulled the trigger to buy an expensive gibson hollowbody about 3 months ago, but due to issues with the dealer, i ended up not getting that guitar, and getting my money back.

fast foward to now, as much as i wanted that guitar, i realize that you don't have to spend a million dollars for the gibson "prestige" to have a high quality guitar. so here she is world wide web. 3 months and $450 bucks later, this is my 1995 epiphone riviera (ps. i was 10 in 1995...weird).

she is going to be my project. i've already bought a new pickup for the bridge as well as some new tuners for better intonation. these old school epiphones are of so much higher quality than the newer ones and with the additions i plan on making and a professional set up (not by me, i'm bad at that), i guarantee that this guitar will sound and play as good, maybe even better than its gibson counter part. all for about a third of the price. man, today is a good day. welcome to the family 95 epiphone riviera...we're gonna be so happy together.

Pet Peeves

2008-04-10T10:49:00.002-04:00

i got into an interesting conversation last night with her and her as we began to talk about our pet peeves. i'll be honest, i don't have many. i'm pretty amazingly awesome and tend look for the best in every situation. so i guess my biggest pet peeve is when people aren't more like me. ok, i'm lying. i'm not that arrogant. so what exactly is a pet peeve world wide web? webster's would simply say "a frequent subject of complaint ." i think that rules out a lot of things. a pet peeve can't be snakes. yeah, you can hate snakes, or have a phobia of them....but most of us don't have common encounters with snakes. a pet peeve has to be something that you notice gets under your skin on a semi-regular basis. so here we go world wide web.....my pet peeves.

ps. i'm making these up as i go along, and im pretty sure most will have to do with driving.

pss. if we don't agree about pet peeves, or if you find yourself a frequent offender of these pet peeves, it doesn't mean that i hate you. i love you. you just bother me at that very moment in time.....

4 way stops. if you get there before me, you DO NOT have to wait for ME to stop before you can go. you should be gone before i get there. this may cause me to make an angry face and form angry words.
blinkers. if i almost hit you because you didn't use yours properly, i will again make an angry face at you.
bumper stickers that aren't funny
bumper stickers
talking during movies. no talking can be awkward (see date), a little talking can be quite enjoyable, too much talking can ruin it.
talking during concerts. if you want to hoot and holler whilst listening to music, go to wild wings and check out the cover band. respect the artists you love people.
when people slow down WAY too early/when people stop 20ft. behind a car. again, this could cause me to hit you with my car, which will make me want to hit you with my fist (or head butt you).
shirts with collars that don't fold down/look the way you want them to. collars are so stupid. i'm starting to think that i just have a weird neck.
weird necks.
when girls wear shoes that are stupid. to me, nothing says more about a girl than the shoes that she wears. not that i'm the kind of guy with a lot of options, but i definitely rule out girls regarding dating when it comes to shoes. "oh, you're wearing those? i'm sure you're a nice girl, but i would never date you" i saw a girl yesterday walking around yesterday wearing this: bathing suit top, bathing suit bottom, cute silky thing that you wrap around your waist, eskimo boots (?). i shot her out the window of my car with a bow and arrow.
when your sheets come untucked at the bottom of the bed, therefore exposing my feet to pure, unblanketed air.
going to restaurants with large parties. i'm gonna make the cut off somewhere between 6-8. although i do in fact have more than 6-8 friends, meals can go from being friendly to being a chore when you exceed this number.
anything having to do with chalk. unless you are drawing a 4-square court for me to dominate you on, i don't want to ever see/hear chalk being used.
pizza with too much sauce. no explanation needed.
belts that snag your belly hairs and then rips them out when you go from sitting to standing. (this is only applicable to men/men with above an above average gut).

ok, thats all i have for now.

psss. i'm not that angry.

i will without a doubt add to this later. also, i was thinking about this while writing and i kinda made myself laugh out loud. what if you had a dog or a cat and you named it "peeves". "hey, welcome to my house. this is my pet......peeves. don't worry, peeves won't bite."

i don't usually ask for comments, but i want to hear about other pet peeves. so do it.

Wednesday Wishes #6

2008-04-09T13:07:00.002-04:00

i wish that every email I received was personal to me and that it would be a pleasure to read every single one of them.
i wish i received and wrote more snail mail.
i can't believe i've never wished this before, because it's the sole dream of my life, but i wish i could grow a beard.
i wish i knew a genie that granted 10 wishes every wednesday.
i wish whole grain bread wasn't so gross.
i wish i would have completely thawed out that chicken breast last night before i tried to cook it. but hey, thirty minutes later i had a pretty mediocre tasting meal.
i wish that standing alone at some large christian gathering wasn't so awkward. when approached, people never believe you when you tell them you are a christian.
i wish i didnt like jason castro from american idol so much when i know there is no way he can win.
i wish i spoke another language.
i wish i could invent something really trivial, yet innovative and get rich off of it. i.e. giga-pets, search engines, noodles (think swimming pool), key chains, creative web site, rubber bands, or my favorite....the upside down ketchup bottle.

Milestones.

2008-04-08T09:40:00.002-04:00

so yesterday there were two great milestones in my life that i want to mention to the world wide web....

i bought groceries. this doesn't happen much...and by much, i mean ever. this may not seem like a big deal world wide web, but trust me....it is. this has 2 implications. first, it means i am saving money, which means that i may have in fact loosely started budgeting. secondly, it means that i am starting a new, healthier way of eating. my grocery bags were full of fruit, whole grain bread, vegetables, chicken.....and even yogurt. i need to learn how to be a better shopper.
i signed up for my first guitar lesson....ever. for those of you that don't know yet, i play the electric guitar, mostly for partners of Northpoint Community Church in alpharetta. since i have started playing for them, my skills have increased exponentially. it was here that i realize that playing music professionally is what i want to do. period. i just can't imagine my life without music. in order to do this, realistically, i need to get better. way better. i need to be more well rounded, more creative....more talented. i've hit a wall though. i've tought myself my whole life, and i really just don't know how to go any farther without instruction. this is a big deal for me. i hate to admit it, but i think my pride has prevented me from getting lessons for a long time and that is stupid. anyways, i'm super pumped, nay....uber-pumped about it. i know im going to be pushed and im probably going to get frustrated, but i am excited to get better.

so what is the moral of the story world wide web? stewardship. i have been GIVEN so much. including, but certainly not limited to money, health, and talent. so rather than go bury these gifts in a field somewhere and dig them up later in the same state that i was given them, i think its time to invest in them and grow them. it would simply be irresponsible of me not to....

ps. this post is kind of different than any post i've ever done. i'm not sure how i feel about that. feedback welcome.

pss. what a great national championship game last night. too bad i had memphis winning it all over kansas.

Continued...

2008-04-07T12:09:00.002-04:00

"it doesn't make sense for us to not approach recording our music the same way that we play our music live" -Ben Gibbard

What a Glorious Day...

2008-04-07T10:19:00.004-04:00

today is a good day. today my heart is happy. today is the day that i found out that death cab for cutie put up the first single from their unreleased album on their myspace. long have i waited for new music from them. the chris walla album was a good filler, but it has been almost 3 years since the realease of "Plans" and my soul is ready. the single is good, but its not really a single. its an eight minute marathon of a track and the vocals kick in at about 4:00 into it. needless to say, i doubt this "single" will be getting much radio play, but lets be honest....neither death cab themselves nor death cab fans care about radio play. the song is called "I will possess your heart" and it is good. its got that medium tempo death cab thing going on. great semi-clean guitar tones and piano melodies on top of a fantastic beat (p.s. one of my favorite drummers) and a simple bass line that drones over almost the entire song. not to mention it is all recorded analog. these guys are heroes of modern music. click on the picture to go hear the song and then go buy everything they have ever recorded.

Wednesday Wishes #5 (2 days late)

2008-04-04T12:09:00.005-04:00

1) i wish every month was more like april.

2) i wish that every day was more like friday.

3) i wish the braves would get off their arse and start winning some games.

4) i wish we could infuse some sort of terminator technology in mike hampton's body to make him more durable. i think mike hampton is going to die while rehabing from elbow surgery.

5) i wish i could leave work right now and go buy this album.

6) i wish i could take this album back. this is the "you're indie and cool if you like this" album of 2008 so far. i guess i'm not indie and cool. this album is stupid.

7) i wish that may 8th would hurry up and get here.

8) nay, i wish that april 14th would hurry up and get here.

9) i wish that this belonged to me.

10) i wish i knew how many times i said "the summit, this is ben" in one day. i'm guessing 1000...

You Got Punked....

2008-04-02T09:45:00.002-04:00

i got punked. remember the big news i was talking about yesterday? it's story time.....saddle up world wide web.

once upon a time, there was this lady named t-pain. she is my one and only office buddy. and then there was me, who had no idea that it was april fools day, therefore making me susceptible to any and every prank possible. so me and t-pain are just hanging out in the office (working?) and she says this.....

"hey ben, this is really hush hush so you can't tell anybody, but jonathan is quitting and ken and angie (owner and boss respectively) met and they want you to move down to the main office and take his place, rather than hiring someone new. angie is coming over around lunch time to meet with you."

this is me on the outside - "oh really? we'll i guess i will do whatever is best for the company?"
this is me on the inside - "ummmm, this is retarded."

the thing is, i was trying to convince myself that there are some things about the main office that i would like better, but deep down i wanted to stay. here, i work with one person and we manage a small amount of properties. at the main office, there are like 20 people working and they are fairly swamped all the time due to the large amount of properties they manage. so me and t-pain go into this long pow-wow about pros and cons about each office and why i want to stay and bla bla bla.....i poured my heart out and im sure she enjoyed every second of it.

sure enough, my boss angie shows up over here and we sit down to have lunch and she goes into this long speech about how jonathan is quitting and they need me to go down to the main office, but they don't want to send me if i didnt want to. even though i didnt want to, there's no way i could say that, being that i haven't even been here 3 months....so i agreed. so after some awkward silence, i look up from my delicious zaxby's chicken fingers and they are smiling at me and then they say "april fools." those are tough words to hear when you have no idea its april fools day. i got punked. even though i really kept my cool, t-pain knew i was having an internal battle and that brought her joy. and it will bring me joy when i get to get her back.....eye for an eye right? i'm pretty sure thats in the bible. i don't know if i am doing a good job of portraying how crazy of a morning this was, but they had me convinced i was moving offices...something i wasn't fond of...and i was a chump.

everybody in the office knew about it. i was the official april fool's project of the office. so thanks parker and associates......it won't happen again.

Welcome to Atlanta where the players play...

2008-04-01T11:50:00.002-04:00

man, do i love the braves. and although early in the season....it pains me to see them lose their first 2 games in the last inning. i know the braves are kind of a sexy underdog pick this year, and im gonna join the party. world series: braves over tigers in 7.

i'd also like to personally thank jermaine dye for giving me my first fantasy home run of the year, as well as nick markakis for my first stolen base. its been a great start to the fantasy baseball season, mainly due to the fact that the message board is full of trash talk and there has been some talk of putting some money into a pool for this season. i guess we're growing up....

also, i could have some big news (not necissarily good news, but important) for the world wide web (my few friends that read this). stay posted.

Sunday Summary: Athens Church 3/30

2008-03-31T10:22:00.002-04:00

lets make this short and sweet....best band ever on march 30th at athens church.

worship leaders - clark and selena beasley

electric guitar - ben butler

bass - will harrison

drums - jason cheek

keys - rand lines

what a ridiculous display of talent on this stage. i can hang with them when it comes to worship music, but these guys have talent that go way beyond the stage of a northpoint church. clark and selena are SO good together vocally, not to mention great leaders.....maybe the fact that they are married helps. clark has a combination of vocal talent and guitar talent that is very rare, especially in the worship circle. jason and will are half of an american/folk rock band gabriel kelley and the reins....i can't say it enough, this is legit music. rand lines is, as the name suggests, an integral part of the rand lines trio. this is a local jazz trio that rand plays piano and guitar for. i dont know if you guys know this about me, but i couldn't sniff jazz. put me in jazz band and i would have to play with the volume down. unfortunately, rand has to switch hats from jazz extrordinaire to a proffessional pad player for athens church.

needless to say, there was talent this sunday that extends well beyond the stage of athens church. i'm not going to even go into the set because it was kind of lame (by lame i mean really old songs that are easy to play, not necissarily lame in a worship sense), but all in all a great sunday for athens church.

New York City: Day 4

2008-03-28T09:59:00.009-04:00

WEDNESDAY MARCH 12TH:

we decided to start this day off on the lower side of manhatten, which was my neck of the woods for once. the meeting place was battery park, and i was only a few blocks away so i just walked. it was freezing so i bought a cup of hot tea and a bagel and went on my way....did i mention that i love bagels? battery park was ok i guess. nothing really special going on except that you could see lady liberty. she looked glorious....tiny, but glorious. if you look closely you can see lady liberty in all of her glory off in the distance.

battery park was cold. probably the coldest i was the whole trip.

so battery park was windy and lady liberty was tiny, so we headed up through the financial district to go see ground zero. the walk through the financial district was pretty interesting. there were lots of rich people walking around with wall street journals tucked underneath their armpit. we had a little photo shoot at the famous bull in the middle of broadway. i'm sure there is a correct name for this bull, and all that it represents, but i'm an immature tourist so just take a picture of me and his brass balls. (this picture may be inappropriate for children).

ground zero was pretty incredible. to see the amount of space that is just empty because of the absence of the towers was pretty unreal. the holes in the ground reminded me of the coliseum in rome. the size of the holes were so much bigger than i could have imagined. and what's hard to believe is that they are just that....holes. seven years later and there is still so much to be done. the plans for the freedom center that they are planning on building there look pretty amazing though. we can expect those in 2012.

from ground zero we caught the subway and went up to the soho/little italy area. did a little shopping...nothing exciting. except for the fact that they have a levi's store....my favorite jeans in the whole world. i was like a kid in a candy store. we heard about this place called lombardi's in little italy that was supposively the first pizza place in new york city as well as some of the best pizza in nyc. little did i know this would be the last supper with me and the angels. the pizza was pretty darn good, but i wasn't sold on it being the best in the universe, but definitely enjoyable. theresa thought it was the best, but thats because she's a super-tourist and very gullible. did i mention i love theresa? here's a pic from lombardi's.

oh, i almost forgot. this is how a conversation between me and our waitress went. she had a unique accent, therefore making her more attractive to me than she should be. enjoy.

me: "so thats a great accent...where are you from?"

waitress: "russia"

me: "i love russia. (long pause). i mean, i've never been to
russia.... but i'm sure its great."
waitress: "(awkward stare/long pause) ok....so are you guys ready to
order?"

the angels really enjoyed this exchange of awkwardness. anyways, we did some more shopping and headed to H & M because i wanted to go there before i left. my sister met us there and she tolerated me while i shopped for stuff. the plan was to have one last dinner with everybody, albeit an early one. because i was running so late, we decided i would just go grab a quick bite with my sister and just head out from there. i had been dreading this moment for days....the day i had to say goodbye and leave new york city. it was a tough moment for me, and if i were a cryer, i would have considered squeezing out a few tears. but luckily im a man, and i eat meat and potatoes. i digress. i feared this would happen, but i knew as soon as we said our goodbyes that we would end up walking the same direction, therefore rendering the last goodbye useless and awkward. i'm pretty sure this circle of death happened about 3 times before the angels finally decided to just let me and my sis walk ahead to avoid any more awkwardness. here is our last pic together....the end had come.

from here, my and my sis went and grabbed a gyro really quickly and it was pretty fantastic....more than i imagined it would be. i then headed home, packed up, headed to the airport, found out my flight was cancelled, considered staying another night, ended up getting on an earlier flight and left nyc about 15 minutes after i showed up in the airport. i was back in atl by 1030 and i was sad not to be in new york. it is truly an amazing place and i went with some amazing people. im glad i got to finally share this glorious trip with the world wide web. i leave you with a pic of me and my sis on my last day.

New York City: Day 3

2008-03-27T10:07:00.015-04:00

TUESDAY MARCH 11th:

we had gotten word of the "best burger in new york city" at this little diner called J.G. Melon, so we decided to give it a shot. now more familiar with the subway system, we again decided to wake up around 1030 or 11, and meet on the upper east side for lunch. new to this tale of me and the angels is doozie, theresa's aunt that lives in the upper west side. she's pretty rich i think, and she was hilarious and super sweet, and she kept telling me that i could definitely pass for an english or danish person. so thank you doozie? unfortunately i dont have the accent which is what gives those people their charm anyways....oh well. it turns out that j.g. melon does in fact have a pretty ridiculous burger. definitely one of the better ones i have had, but when it comes to burgers, i think less is more and this was borderline too big to be practical. luckily, it wasn't to big....and i ate the crap out of it. lets all join together and thank doozie for this picture of us in front of j.g. melon...thank you doozie.

so from here, since we are on the upper east side, we decided to head to the metropolitan museum (the met, to the cool kids). we made a few stops on the way. one so theresa could by some purple boots, and about four so jessica could try and get some money, but she was unsuccessful. more on this to come later. across the street from the met is where govenor spitzer lived and this was the scene outside of his apartment.

when we got to the met, we spent a little time outside on the huge steps just hanging out i guess. i don't really know what we were doing, but to be honest with the world wide web, j.g. melon had taken a toll on my belly and i was in need of a room to rest in. i think the picture describes how i am feeling at this moment.

jess and melanie: "why do you have that weird look on your
face"
me: "umm, i need to go inside.....now."

after some much needed business was taken care of, we got to experience every bit of the met that we could. look how much happier i am now that i have had a little bit of alone time.

everything was truly spectacular and i can't express to you how big this place is, so i'm guessing we actually saw about 10% of what the met had to offer. my personal favorite exhibits were the musical instrument exhibit and the jasper johns modern art exhibit. by the way, pics aren't allowed at the met, but the angels are rebels without a cause so enjoy.

umm, thats the oldest piano in existence. made by the dude that invented the piano. and to the right thats a picture of a jasper johns piece that doesn't really do justice for one of the coolest pieces of art ive ever seen. mainly because i love america.....and freedom.

from the met we caught a bus over to the upper westside and went to doozie's apartment. she fed us and gave us something to drink. she's like jesus in this way, but instead of bread and fish it was chips with salsa, guac, and hummus. and instead of water, it was champagne. i felt very pompous just chilling in this upper west side loft drinking champagne, but lets be honest, thats exactly how i wanted to feel. so thanks again doozie...the unofficial 4th member of the angels. here's a pic of the angels at doozies. outside that window....you can see new york city. its amazing.

from doozies we had a quick dinner at some deli type place in the upper west side. this was not a real new york deli, just some chain place that pretended. posers. anyways, i would like to introduce my sister to this tale. she goes to school in nyc and met us for dinner every night. i was very fortunate to have her there because it was at this poser new york deli that she introduced me to bagels in nyc. it changed my life. like seriously, i still have dreams about bagels ever since that trip.

from the deli we took the subway into times square and went to a stand up comedy show. i think we were all a little nervous about this, but it ended up being a pretty good time. there was this one joke about a dude taking pills that makes your poop white, so when you poop, you can pretend like your laying an egg. i dont think the angels thought this was funny, but because of my love for good poop stories, i laughed longer than a normal person should. all in all, a good night, even though some of the comics weren't very funny. here's us at the broadway comedy club.

to round out this brilliant evening, we thought some new york cheescake would be in order. we (they) wanted to go to serendipity, but they closed at midnight. p.s. i hate the movie serendipity, therefore i feel like i should hate the actual place. this is poor logic. so anyways, we wind up at junior's near times square which was recommended by my new york friend. i got a carrot cake cheesecake which was nothing short of a dream come true. i loved it...and i didnt finish it. junior's was a great decision on our part....

so the night is over right? wrong. me, jess, and melanie were lucky enough to be able to riding the same train home, i was just gonna jump off a little after they were. so this was the first subway experience i was able to have without fear of being lost and alone. little did i know, i would end up lost and alone later this night. trains only come once ever thirty minutes this late at night so here is us being bored in the subway station.

so we finally get on the train, they get off at their stop, we say goodbye, i am almost home....this was a good night. i'm on the train a little longer than i thought i should be, so i start to get a little restless. i want to get up and look at the map, but there is this guy sitting directly under it, and everytime i looked at him, he was looking right back at me. creepy stuff. so once he gets off the train, i go look at the map.....i'm in the middle of brooklyn at 230 in the a.m. i jump off the train immediately, only to be welcomed by two guys getting arrested. so for the first time in n.y.c. i am officially freaked out. no signal in the subways so i couldnt call my friends. in conclusion, i had to wait 30 minutes in brooklyn for the next train to come and i was just chilling with my leftover cheesecake from juniors. i might as well have been holding a sign that said, "hey, im a rich white tourist that carries a lot of cash." don't fret though....i made it back and it was still a fantastic day. stay tuned for the final day tomorrow......again, sorry for the lengthiness.

due to new york posts...

2008-03-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

...wednesday wishes will be postponed until further notice (probably next wednesday).

New York City: Day 2

2008-03-26T09:37:00.008-04:00

SUNDAY MARCH 10TH:

this day started with an adventure to say the least. i was given instruction to meet the angels in times square around 11 o'clock. in my brain, this means leave by eleven because they are always late. not sometimes...not occasionally...not often....always! so around 11, i take a look at my friends giant map of manhatten and find the subway i think i should get on. it should be noted that i have never seen new york city in the daytime nor have i ever ridden a subway that wasn't marta. to make a long story very short, it took me about 30 minutes just to find the subway (p.s. the subway i needed was not even a block away from my place). i walked one way and ended up on wall street, i walked another way and i ended up at the water, so after much trial and error, i find the subway. im like a lost puppy. i buy a subway pass at some machine and enter through the turnstiles with no idea where to go. so i follow the blue dots and get to this one platform with two blue trains. which one do i get on? i have no idea, i just know i need the blue number 6. so im on the train, kinda freaking out....and this dude walks on SHOUTING the gospel. i tried listening, but all i heard was "i used to be a crackhead, hallelujah!" i think i was the only person on the train that enjoyed him. as soon as he steps off, a 3-piece mexican mariachi band climbs aboard and starts jamming out for us (and for our money). if you were to enter my brain at that moment, this is what you would have heard "oh my gosh, i love new york". anyways, i get off at my stop and start walking to meet the angels. i won't go into too much detail, but i get hit up by this guy on the street and he asks me if i like "girls". he ended up following me for a while and since i said no thanks to that, he progressed to ask me if i liked "weed" and "ecstacy". i'm pretty sure it was a cop that was trying to get me to say yes so he could arrest me, because i was literally a block from times square. needless to say, it was a crazy first commute in nyc and i don't reccomend doing that alone. but luckily, i think i was right on time.....

so we go to lunch. its a place called ellen stardust and its a diner that hires a bunch of struggling broadway actors and actresses and they sing for/to you. initially i was skeptical, but i had no idea i was going to be so annoyed. it was great to eat with my friends, but i could not keep myself from laughing at some people. not to mention it was more expensive than usual ny food, and our waitress kinda hated us. here's a pic of theresa and mel's sis amanda in front of ellen stardust. theresa is a proffesional tourist.

from here we head to the rockefeller center to go to the top of the rock. not much to be said here, except that we spend about an hour up there. none of us had seen a view like that before. the pictures don't do it justice, but here's me and the angels at the top of the rock.

i would also like to point out some great tourists that we met/stealthly took pictures of. enjoy.

from there we took a walk down 5th avenue towards central park. this is a lot of blocks to walk, and my chuck taylors are old and not so great for long walks. "my dogs were barking" - as made famous by the one and only theresa. we stop at this one block that is home to F.A.O. Schwartz and the Apple store. it is here that we took what is probably the best picture of the trip for me. me, the angels, and the toy soldier.

from there we went to central park which was the goal all along. what an amazing place this was. the city is beautiful, but it has nothing green. and nature is beautiful, but it has no architecture or buildings to admire....but central park has it all. to have this vast landscape in the center of one of the biggest cities in the world was mind-bottling to say the least. here are some pics from my favorite place in the city...

ok, well i realize this post was entirely too long. hopefully you are enjoying my trip vicariously through me....stay tuned for day 3.

they say the first 1000 are the best...

2008-03-25T18:49:00.002-04:00

this happened yesterday and i really meant to make a bigger deal out of it. 1000 readers and counting. i'd say thats a victory for a rookie blogger like myself one month into it. thanks for reading. keep it up. spread the word. i love you...

New York City: Day 1

2008-03-25T09:36:00.009-04:00

so the time has come that i will finally share my glorious time in new york city with the world wide web. in order to keep the length of these posts to a minimum, i have decided to do a day by day synopsis of this trip. i flew out of the ATL at 7 o'clock on sunday, march 9th and came back on wednesday march 12th. although a short day, this post will be regarding sunday the 9th.

SUNDAY MARCH 9
well, my flight arrives on time to nyc, close to 930 p.m. my good friend jessica was there at the airport waiting for me because she caught the flight before mine and decided to just wait for me and we caught a cab together. lets just say its a good thing she was there, because neither one of us knew the proper "cab catching etiquette." i'd say it probably took us about 15 minutes to actually get out of the airport and catch a cab. we couldn't have looked any more touristy and i'm just glad we didn't have to go through that alone. also, me+pea coat and scarf+ jerky cab driver+heat too high= car sick. every time i got in a cab i thought i was going to throw up. have no fear though....chunkage contained.

after dropping my stuff off at my friend's place in the lower east side, we caught a cab to greenwich village and met our other two friends that would be taking the trip with us, melanie and theresa. and for those of you keeping score at home, yes, this is a tale of myself and 3 ladies in the big apple. benji, jessica, melanie, theresa. really, the girls just wanted to go, but they needed a large dude for protection on the streets. little did they know i'm a horrible fighter and i never keep my gun loaded. in all seriousness though, all four of us had a blast and i wouldn't have changed a thing.

once in greenwich village, we decided to get a late dinner since none of us had eaten yet, and what better a late night meal then new york city pizza. so we stumbled upon joe's pizza. a little whole in the wall type place in the village that was pretty much standing room only. there were two things that i loved about joe's pizza.

the pizza was fantastic. crispy crust, not too much sauce, very fresh....i loved it.

there's no doubt in my mind i saw two mobster's there. i would have taken a picture but i feared for my safety whilst taking a picture of mobsters. i don't know what it was about them. the way they looked, the way they dressed, the way they ate their pizza, and the way they spoke italian and carried guns. the one guy looked like he was the token "driver". you know, not quite a true mobster, but was paying his dues. he looked amazing...

after leaving joe's pizza, we headed to a recommended bar/lounge/watering hole type place in the village that i believe was called "the rabbit lounge". this place is kind of like the place where the black pearl docks. the only people that know how to get there are the ones that have been there before. literally, this place was just a plain door with no sign and a door bell. it wasn't even at street level. we had to walk down some stairs to get to the door, rang the door bell, and then someone let us in. it was a pretty sweet place. not very crowded so the bartender spent a lot of time talking to us, which was surprising, because he knew that we were tourists. he was really friendly and very helpful in giving us recommendations for great places to check out in the city. also, the rabbit lounge was a classy establishment. no bud light served here....just a menu full of high quality beer as served by other local favorites like trapeze, copper creek, and the brickstore. all in all, it was a great first night with me and the angels (i'm pretty sure its not ok that i call them that, but for the sake of these posts....thats how i'm going to roll). we were able to get a lot planned for the next day which will begin in times sqaure. here's a picture of me and theresa at the rabbit lounge. p.s. im rocking the sweater vest because i wanted to look my best for new york city, as if the city itself would be judging me. and i wanted to keep my core warm....it was brisk outside.

monday, monday monday

2008-03-24T10:50:00.003-04:00

there's a lot of reasons that this should be a fantastic monday, but there is also one reason why it won't be. we shall start with the bad news: i am exhausted and time is moving like molasses around here. if the day continues to go this slow, i may have to start cracking some skulls. how am i ever going to make it you might ask? well, let me tell you. last night i drafted my fantasy baseball team for the upcoming season and i will be the first to tell you, its a sick team. fantasy baseball draft day is by far the most important day of the year. ironically, this year it fell on easter which happens to be the most important day of the world....so needless to say, fantasy baseball draft day is the real deal. so without further delay, i give you the starting line-up of the team that will swallow up a lot of my computer hours for the upcoming season.

CIván Rodríguez (Det - C) 1BPrince Fielder (Mil - 1B) 2BB.J. Upton (TB - 2B,OF) 3BAramis Ramírez (ChC - 3B) SSTroy Tulowitzki (Col - SS) OFNick Markakis (Bal - OF) OFJermaine Dye (CWS - OF) OFRaúl Ibañez (Sea - OF) UtilAdrián González (SD - 1B) SPFélix Hernández (Sea - SP) SPRoy Halladay (Tor - SP) RPBrad Lidge (Phi - RP) RPB.J. Ryan (Tor - RP) PDustin McGowan (Tor - SP) PIan Snell (Pit - SP) PC.J. Wilson (Tex - RP) BNJosh Willingham (Fla - OF) BNKhalil Greene (SD - SS) BNGary Matthews Jr. (LAA - OF) BNScott Rolen (Tor - 3B) BNJoe Blanton (Oak - SP) BNJason Schmidt (LAD - SP) BNMike Hampton (Atl - SP) DLYovani Gallardo (Mil - SP) DL

i'm not gonna go into too deep because i realize that most people reading
this don't care, but let me say this: my infield is amazing. im very excited
about the possibilities. the outfield is passable. roy halladay and felix
hernandez at the top of the rotation could be sick. all in all, im looking
foward to the trash-talking that this fantasy season will bring.

another thing that makes this monday special is tonight is the season opening game for the parker & associates (place i work) softball team. if you don't know this about me....i love softball. and i don't mean real softball where girls throw hard, yell, and bunt a lot. i like it of the slow-pitch and church/corporate league persuasion. i just really get into it and it brings joy to my day. i've posted a few pics of my softball playing alias, bazooka.

Good Friday

2008-03-21T11:16:00.003-04:00

this is a picture of me and my roommate, adam "mcfly" martin and i just wanted to share a conversation that we had in the car last night.

adam: so why don't you have to go to work tomorrow?
me: good friday man. remember, jesus died....roughly 2000 years ago?
adam: man, its a good thing he went to work that day.

yes it is mcfly. thank you for going to work on good friday jesus.

Wednesday Wishes #4 (a day late)

2008-03-20T09:02:00.003-04:00

1) i wish that the georgia bulldogs would blow my mind today and beat xavier in the NCAA tourny.
2) i wish i could find a place to live next year that isn't falling apart or needing barred windows.
3) i wish all my friends had good friday off....because i sure do.
4) i wish i had every friday off.
5) i wish it wasn't dark outside when i'm trying to wake up.
6) i wish there was a way that amanda overmyer and kristi lee cook could have been kicked off as a pair.
7) i wish my guitar would change its own strings.
8) i wish i would have had a desire to learn "blackbird" on guitar before i heard it on american idol....how lame am i?
9) i wish i had more pics from n.y.c. so i could finally show the world wide web.....come on friends, i think its time to start posting some pics.
10) i wish i enjoyed exercising.

Sunday Summary: Catalyst Church

2008-03-19T13:52:00.005-04:00

so i realize this is a little late, but it was a great sunday that must be written about. so i'm just gonna go right into it. here's the set list:

Salvation is Here - no comment

Glorious One - Steve Fee - good tune. not a whole lot of lead work, but for people that know me i am definitely ok with that. there's just great guitar all over that record so i have no problem playing it the way it was written. thank you steve and jason hoard.

Center - Charlie Hall - its been a while since i've played this one, but i really love this song. from a guitar standpoint i get to play around with some reverse delay which makes me happy, but on top of that its just a great worship tune. unfortunately this is the one song we really didn't gel on until the 2nd service.

From the Inside Out - still not tired of this one, especially the kristian stanfill version.

the band looked like this:

Jason Sartain - worship leader

Ben Butler - electric guitar

Earl South - bass guitar

Joe Lee - drums

i loved this band especially because of those last two names. joe and earl. these guys are north point regulars as well as sick-nasty musicians. i'm so tired of playing salvation is here, but when you play it with these guys, there is just a groove to it that will undeniably make you move around. there was a big display of talent going on from the rhythm section of the band this past week, and that makes what i do so much more fun. thank you joe and earl for providing the groove in our otherwise grooveless worship tunes. we need it.

also, earl was the 2nd person this week to use the word "wonky" as a normal part of vocabulary. example: "something about that 2nd chorus was just a little wonky, can we run that again?" how did i make it almost 23 years without hearing that word?

Tornado Town

2008-03-18T10:25:00.003-04:00

what if you were one of the people staying in one of these rooms??

"hello, room service? i need a clean up crew and a change of pants to room 2511."
Photo courtesty of: Altmix Photography

How 'bout them dawgs?

2008-03-17T09:49:00.004-04:00

are you kidding me? the georgia bulldogs just won the SEC championship in basketball. will everybody join me in saying...wtf? we were one of the lowest seeded teams, only winning 4 games within the conference, and we had to play a double-header on saturday. and for those of you who don't know or don't care.....double headers are not common in basketball. i think its been over 50 years. not only that, had we lost to arkansas in the championship, we would not have even made the NIT because that would have given us a losing record. so here we are...the georgia bulldogs are playing in the NCAA tournament. we will probably lose in the first round. but what if we dont? this run we are on is so unprobable and it feels so good to have stuff like this happen to a school that i go to (went to?). its kinda like the movies. and oh my lord did anybody see billy humphrey throw it down on that in-bounds play? i definitely fist pumped. way to go dawgs...now make us proud and at least compete with xavier in the first round of the NCAA tourny.

also, can we just talk about how young the arkansas coach looks? i've provided a picture for further observation. he kind of reminds me of elf a little bit.

Wednesday Wishes #3

2008-03-13T11:59:00.002-04:00

well, im back from new york and i am back at work....obviously very busy. i realize its thursday, but i wanted to do an installment of wednesday wishes because it seems to be my most popular entry. again, i apologize for the lack of posts. very soon we will have a new york recap with photos and it will be fantastic.

i wish i would have taken the whole week off instead of just thru wednesday.
i wish i was back in new york.
i wish i would have eaten more pizza in new york.
i wish i was back in new york.
i wish living in new york was affordable.
i wish i was back in new york.
i wish i wasn't experiencing post-vacation depression.
i wish i was back in new york.
i wish i could have seen my sister more.
i wish i was back in new york.

ok, im exagerrating. i'm not experiencing post-vacation depression. but i did fall in love with that city and it made it hard to leave. i think a big contributor to that was the fact that i got to spend this time with great people. i cant wait to share some pictures of our adventures. coming soon....

my apologies...

2008-03-11T01:48:00.002-04:00

...for not writing for a few days. i am currently ending day 2 in NYC and i must say i am very much in love with the city. i've walked more today than i have in the last month combined, but im ok with that. anyways, there will be a big NYC recap when i get back. stay tuned.

Crazy Dream

2008-03-07T09:38:00.003-05:00

i had the craziest dream last night and i want to tell you about it. as with most dreams like this, the thing that made it so crazy was how realistic it was. the background goes like this. there is a wedding the day after my dream, and all the wedding party (groomsmen and bride's maids) for some reason were staying at the same house. in the dream, this was my friend frankie's house, but i've seen pics of frankie's house....this was not it. i have no idea who was getting married but these are the people in the wedding party...

me
frankie and some other female friends
my friend will harrison
the members of the band Death Cab for Cutie

the first crazy thing is that we all woke up early, because frankie's mom (whom i have never seen before) was raising hell because frankie slept in the same bed with a boy, will harrison. so then we all start talking like we are in high school, "oh my gosh, frankie and will hooked up....i had no idea." if you know these two humans, that makes this part even funnier. part deux: while we are all standing around in our p.j.'s listening to frankie's mom yell at her, i start talking to none other than ben gibbard, the lead singer of death cab and arguably my favorite song writer of all time. we're just talking like we've been friends for years and then he tells me that he has to poop, but doesn't want to go right now. and so i responded "ben gibbard, now would be the perfect time to go because everybody is out here listening to frankie's mom yell." ben gibbard responds with, "i can't man, i have pooping anxiety. i've been seeing a therapist about it." and then i woke up....weird right?

New York City

2008-03-06T14:47:00.003-05:00

although i sit here at work, i find myself daydreaming about new york city. you'll notice a picture of this cozy little town if you look directly to your right. i have no idea what i'm gonna do, nor do i really understand how anybody can find anything in that city, but i'm very certain i'm going to love every second of it. i plan on trying my hardest not to look like a tourist, but im sure that i will fail miserably. i don't have a lot of plans for this trip, but here are some things i absolutely must do.

eat a hot dog from a street vendor.

have that street vendor know me by name by the end of the trip.

eat a slice of pizza that changes my life.

eat something from china town that changes my life.

go to the top of a very tall building, look out the window, and then freak out.

spend as much time in or around central park as possible.

feed some pigeons?

see a celebrity.

have some sort of interaction with the mafia.

become friends with someone in the mafia.

eventually quit my job, move to new york city, and join the mafia.

thats all i have for right now. im sure i will add to this later. if you have any suggestions...feel free to share.

Wednesday Wishes #2

2008-03-05T12:59:00.003-05:00

back due to popular demand, i give you the second installment of my wednesday wishes.

i wish i didn't have to stop and think everytime i spell the word "wednesday".
i wish that i will never again in my life have a day as slow as yesterday.
i wish that it was sunday right now, because that means i would be in new york city.
i wish that i could find a place to live next fall. i don't want to be homeless.
i wish i didn't have to pay income taxes. where you at mike huckabee?
i wish that mike hampton wouldn't get my hopes up by actually pitching during spring training, only to crush my hopes and dreams when he gets hurt and sits on the bench taking up half the braves payroll.
i wish i could have been a caddy or a fly in the wall for this foursome. woods, smoltz, glavine, and francoeur. i think my brain would have exploded with joy.
i wish i was as artistic as my friends here, here, and here. i am definitely the squarehead of the group. who majors in real estate anyway?
i wish that brett favre would have played at least one more season. he was a lot of fun to watch, not to mention he had one of his best seasons at age 38. is anybody going to care about the green bay packers anymore?
i wish i could say "this is one of the best songs ever written" more often when i listen to music. i say this when i hear the song Hallelujah by leonard cohen, probably made more famous by jeff buckley. i've always loved the song and hearing it on american idol last night reminded me of my love for it. from the lyrics, to the instrumentation, to the amazing melody...its all there. it really is one of the best songs ever written.

Well I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?
Well it goes like this :The fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
And she tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...
I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even thoughIt all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...

What happened to you Collective Soul?

2008-03-04T16:42:00.003-05:00

since its the slowest day ever, ive decided to go with a double post day. just wanted to take some time to point out the lyrics to the worst song ever written. this song was on all of the american idol commercials which first started my hatred for it. its not that i used to love collective soul, but everybody at one point has gotten "so i walk up on high, and i step to the edge, to see my world below" stuck in their head before, and for the most part been ok with it. i am not ok with hollywood. If athens church ever makes me play this song i will quit.....forever. not to mention the lead singer looks like the guy from nickelback now.

Yeah Hollywood

You know I love you more than one man should

Yeah Hollywood

Well kiss me, kiss me good

If you like funny things....

2008-03-04T09:50:00.005-05:00

...then you will like this blog. its titled, "stuff that white people like". i think it is hilarious, but in a very dry and subtle way. in order to enjoy this, one must be okay with making fun of white people i.e. making fun of yourself. i can't wait to add it to my blogroll....

on another note, i went to the restaurant Clocked last night over on the west side of athens with a couple of great friends. great food, good music, terrapin rye on tap, and amazing people: this is what i like to call the recipe for fellowship. i'm pretty sure that's in the bible somewhere but i could be wrong. anyway, i digress. the only reason i brought this up was to say that the great meteor burger from clocked NEVER disappoints me. ever. add in a few of the other things i mentioned and that is the start to a great monday night.

Sunday Summary: Athens Church

2008-03-03T10:04:00.004-05:00

this sunday i was able to stay home and play guitar at the beautiful classic center, home of athens church. it was a really great sunday, and i mean that to sound like it was better than usual. here's the set and the band.

worship leaders - clark and selena beasley
electric guitar - ben butler
bass guitar - tom ryan
drums - b.b. brandenburg
keys - rand lines

set list:
opener
- the pretender by the foo fighters
worship set
- let me sing by todd fields
- i am free by the desperation band
- lift high - as sung by eddie kirkland

let me start off by saying that this foo fighters song scared the crap out of me. its not that they have crazy solos or anything like that, but what they do have is 3 electric guitars that create a HUGE sound, and its part of what makes the foo fighters great. and what we have at athens church is 2 electric guitars, and one of them is a worship leader (no offense, but usually, that might as well be an overdriven acoustic guitar). but, i had the distinct pleasure to be playing with clark beasley who not only is a great worship leader, but pretty much dominates the electric guitar in every sense of the word. so this eased my mind. but once you get passed the wall of electric guitars, theres the vocals and the amazing drumming and the overall tightness that just not a lot of other bands have that makes pulling this song off so difficult. nonetheless, clark and selena, b.b., tom, rand, and myself managed to do a pretty commendable job i would say. oh, and clark screamed at the end and i loved it....ha.

the rest of the set was very refreshing (besides i am free) because they were new songs that are fun to play and just great worship tunes in general. not to mention, everything sounded better with clark playing electric the whole time.

On another note, im going to N.Y.C. in t-minus one week. kind of a last minute decision, but a good one nonetheless. if anybody knows any happening places i need to check out while in nyc please leave a comment and let me know....

I almost threw up....

2008-02-29T10:07:00.002-05:00

...when amanda overmyer did not get kicked off of american idol last night. wtf america?

Ben Stein and Greg Oden

2008-02-28T10:31:00.006-05:00

does anybody else secretly love Ben Stein? i kinda do. whether it be a cameo on a movie or hosting a tv show, he makes me smile. i love how he always wears his airwalk-esque sneakers with his old school looking suits. one thing i didnt understand though is what made him so smart in the public eye? he was always in some role as the teacher or the token nerdy guy and i wasn't sure if he really was that guy or did he just look the part. welp, it turns out, he really is a very intelligent man. he is a well known economist, a writer for the new york times, and he was a presidential speech writer for gerald ford and richard nixon. not to mention a game show host for the comedy central network. anyways, its time to get to the point. i heard ben stein was releasing a documentary that he is the host of and the film is supposed to be released nationwide to many theaters. i went to the website and watched the trailer immediately and was BLOWN AWAY. to sum it up for you, it is a documentary about the debate between evolution (darwinism) and divine creation (creationism). the thing that surprised me though is that ben is supporting the side of creationism. and the point of the film, called Expelled, is to show the discrimination against the scientists who side with creationism. also, the film not only shows the discrimination against those scientists, but it also shows us a lot of the theories from these scientists that never get published because of what they believe. the trailer is amazing and i hope it fires you up like it fires me up. click on the pic above to see the trailers. i recommend the super trailer.

On another note, can we just talk about the fact that Greg Oden has a blog? i just read it and it made me laugh a whole lot. mainly because he uses the phrase "lol" and thats coming from a 7ft. 19yr. old NBA star. i've linked the banner above as well as added his blog to my blogroll in honor of this very large and ugly NBA kid.

Wednesday Wishes

2008-02-27T09:06:00.002-05:00

i can't believe that i have had a blog for over a week and have not made a list yet. i think its because i couldn't think of a clever title that uses a day of the week and some strategic alliteration. so finally, after much pondering, i bring you the first installment of my wednesday wishes.....

i wish my laundry would do itself. my work wardrobe is starting to look ridiculous due to lack of options.
i wish death cab's new album was coming out tomorrow. i need new music.
i wish my boredom didn't lead to numerous random ebay purchases.
i wish i could skip work the way i could skip class.
i wish that if my boss read #4 she would know that i'm joking and i love my job.
i wish i didn't think that poop stories are hilarious....but they are oh so funny.
i wish i could get somebody to go see u23d with me.
i wish i had more time to read, because the irresistable revolution is rocking my world.
i wish that eddie kirkland would have started making albums a long time ago. his first album, Orthodoxy, is really high quality music and i am sure that the church will be singing his songs in no time...especially his version of How He Loves.
i wish the farmers that grow carrots and red cabbage would farm something else. i mean seriously, if i wanted that crap in my salad, i would add it just like i do everything else like tomatoes, onions, etc. "but it adds color...", they say. i say bull. do you wear purple and orange jewelry or accesories because it adds color to your outfit? heck no you dont, because purple and orange are ugly together. so what have we learned? there is no need to add dry, crunchy, flavorless, ugly vegetables to my meal....period.

Sunday Summary: Catalyst Church

2008-02-25T13:16:00.004-05:00

this sunday i had the privilege to play my electric guitar for the fine people over at catalyst church in greenville, SC. its always a pleasure to play there. i'll be honest....i get a little sad when i have to leave athens on saturday night, but once i step foot in that church, i'm always happy to be there. their staff and volunteers are without a doubt some of my favorite to work with. good form catalyst church.....good form.

We had a good band this week indeed.

Josh Bayne - worship leader

Ben Butler - electric guitar

Jeff Hall - bass guitar

Jason Cheek - drums

It was a 3 song set this week. "Faithful" by Fee, "From the Inside Out" the Kristian Stanfill version, and "You are the Light" by Fee. Faithful is a song that is growing on me, because to be honest, i really didn't care for it at first. Stanfill's version of FTIO is incredible and makes an already incredible song even better. Alex Nifong is on electric for that one. he's pretty good i guess. Lastly, You are the light was the closer and a good one at that. Not my favorite song, but definitely appropriate for the moment. The best thing about this sunday was that i got to use my new Proanalog Dual Drive pedal and it freakin' blows my mind. I'm using it in place of my fulltone fulldrive 2 (a great pedal by the way) and the proanalog kills it. im definitely pleased.

on second thought, the best part of this sunday was the fact that i got to play with jason cheek again. hands down, my favorite drummer to play with. and i love a lot of drummers, so i hope you other drummers aren't offended by this. but jason is always prepared to the max, he is tasteful, he is talented, and the fact is, he can just blow you away with gut-busting drum sounds (school of rock anyone?) anyways, i love him and you should too. He plays in a FANTASTIC folk rock/americana type band called Gabriel Kelly. If you're into ryan adams or wilco, you will not be disappointed with Gabriel Kelley. they will be recording an EP at chase park (R.E.M., modern skirts) in athens, GA and it is sure to be amazing. If your in to high quality music and songwriting, then check them out here.

S.A.B.B.A.T.H.

2008-02-24T17:05:00.002-05:00

S.unday
A.fternoon
B.asket
B.all
A.ssociation
for
T.hugs
and
H.o's

today was my first appearance at s.a.b.b.a.t.h. which is pretty exciting. just a bunch of friends from the neighborhood coming together and playing a little ball. i used to play all of the time in high school and the beginning of college, but i've let my laziness get the best of me. its time to step up my game....and the place to do that is the sunday afternoon basket ball association for thugs and ho's.

coming soon: a sunday summary from catalyst church today, a fantastic video of me and my friends "making it rain", as well as some pics of my current guitar set up.

Elliot Smith

2008-02-22T12:20:00.004-05:00

yet another slow day at work. which means another long day of exploring the musical glory of pandora, reading blogs, and exploring the vast world of ebay and wikipedia. along with weezer, i've been listening to a lot of elliot smith recently. i knew i liked his music, but i knew very little of his story. all i knew is that he is no longer with us, and he was supposively an underground indie "hero" back in the day. this leads me to wikipedia. i read his entire biography and i have to say it may be the saddest thing that i've ever read. here's a guy who gained a massive following with just his vocals, an acoustic guitar, and a 4 track recorder. he shared a stage at the academy awards with celine dion and trisha yearwood when his song "Miss Misery" was nominated for an oscar for the soundtrack to Good Will Hunting. I watched this performance and he performed beautifully, but it was obvious he was out of his comfort zone. his underground success led to major label support and two albums with more of a full band approach rather than the acoustic thing. these are the albums that i have been listening to, especially Figure 8. throughout his career he struggled with heroin abuse and depression. at one point, his friend reported to spin.com that smith was smoking over $1500 worth of heroin and crack per day and continuously spoke of suicide. although early in his career his live shows were revered as one of the best, later in his career he could not even perform due to his physical and mental state. One reviewer said, "it would not surprise me at all if Elliott Smith ends up dead within a year". Fans were having to shout out the words and sometimes the chords to his songs while he was performing. anyways, in a surprising turn of events, and many failed attempts at rehab, elliot smith had quit using drugs, quit using alcohol, quit eating red meat, quit eating sugar, and started recording a new album. people close to him thought he had begun to turn the corner and thought he may end up living through his drug riden years, but while fighting with his girlfriend one day he stabbed himself in the chest with a kitchen knife and died later that day. i mean geez, i knew he was going to die, but i figured it would just be an overdose, not something so tragic. it should be noted that the coroner found no evidence of illegal drugs or alcohol during his autopsy. so i didn't mean to just give you a biography, but i was blown away by his story. i dont believe that in order to be a musical genious you have to be crazy, but something was obviously wrong with elliot smith.....and he made amazing music. i wish i would have known about elliot when he was still alive and i wish he was still alive so we could all enjoy whatever he would be working on now....

This is the article if anyone is interested.

p.s. i will NEVER write an entry this long again. i truly apologize.

the weezer stamp

2008-02-21T14:41:00.006-05:00

does anybody else just love Weezer? because i do. i've been on this kick recently where im noticing their influence all over the music stratosphere. they somehow manage to make all of their albums unique and their songs refreshing, yet at the same time you can always tell that its them. its like a weezer stamp. the reason i am finally writing this post to proclaim my love for weezer is because my recent love for pandora has led me here. as previously discussed, on pandora, you type in a certain artist and they will play back a station for you with artist with similar musical styles. they really study their stuff too. from melodies to harmonies to tempos, from major to minor, they break it down to give you a station you will love. so the ultimate conclusion is this: i can't type in a band that i love without eventually hearing a weezer song in the playlist. they have placed their stamp on modern music and they have been doing it since 1992. the music they make has stood the test of time because they were doing it before anyone else. If you wanna get nostalgic and listen to some great tunes, check out the Blue Album. I also recommend the Green Album, but they are all good. Someone should really commend them for the music they make and everyone should respect them for the music they have influenced.

Welcome to the Summit of Athens

2008-02-20T20:18:00.008-05:00

so i got really bored at work today and that let to 2 things: taking pictures and coloring with magic markers. i thought it would be nice to show everybody where i spend 40+ hours of my week so i am going to post some of the pictures from today. also, i promised teresa (the lady i work with) that i would not include her in any of the pictures.....but i lied. it was not my intention to lie to her, but i realized i just cant create the appropriate visual of my workplace without her. did i mention that she is amazing? ok, no more talking. enjoy the pics...

Pandora Radio

2008-02-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

just wanted to take a quick second to tell everyone about the love of my life for the last 2 hours. it is called pandora radio. Anybody who works in an office, or is around a computer for long periods of time will love this. It is an internet radio website, but it is so much better than any other internet radio site I've been to. What you do is type in an artist that you are currently digging (me for instance, Death Cab for Cutie or Band of Horses), once that is done, pandora will have created a radio station just for you that plays similar artists. I am not exaggerating when i say this is a FANTASTIC way to discover new music. the staff over at pandora have really studied the ins and outs of music in order to create a playlist that you will enjoy. here is an excerpt from the website....

The Music Genome Project®

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever.
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.
Since we started back in 2000, we've carefully listened to the songs of tens of thousands of different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.
It has been quite an adventure, you could say a little crazy - but now that we've created this extraordinary collection of music analysis, we think we can help be your guide as you explore your favorite parts of the music universe.
We hope you enjoy the journey.

Tim WestergrenFounderThe Music Genome Project

needless to say....i've been writing down all sorts of new artists to check out ALL day.

its amazing, its the mirrors.

Bob Dylan and Tobacco

2008-02-19T18:20:00.000-05:00

my first blog entry ever. i'm pretty excited about this. I have no amazing intro as to explain why i am doing a blog so I am just going to go straight into the 2 things that have made my life happy today.

its tuesday. that means over here in my neck of the woods that it is tobacco tuesday. its never hard to get through a tuesday, because i know that at 5 o'clock its tobacco tuesday. its just a bunch of guys from around the neighborhood that get together and enjoy some of the finer things in life.....and by finer things, i mean tobacco. the only rules regarding tobacco tuesday is that you must be of the male persuasion, and you must have some sort of tobacco product. high quality people sharing a pipe or cigar together makes every tuesday the best tuesday ever. i feel like its the most "community" oriented thing i do and i love it. there was a fantastic documentary filmed about tobacco tuesday and you can check it out here.
recently, there have been 2 musical realms that ive been wanting to discover. listening to albums on vinyl and bob dylan. so in order to knock out 2 birds with one stone, i bought the soundtrack to the recently released bob dylan movie I'm Not There on vinyl. I figured that a good way to get a roundabout version of a plethora of dylan tunes would be to buy the soundtrack that spans his career as performed by some high quality bands. The artists on this soundtrack include Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine, and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. I'm looking foward to it....

For all of you dylan purists who hate me right now, i do plan on actually buying the original records by dylan himself.