Bringing it back, 9 months later.

I stopped updating this because not a whole lot had been going on.

Still not a whole lot going on. Screw it.

Still traveling to all those places for work, plus the Front Range in CO and WY (As I type this from a hotel room in Loveland, near Fort Collins). Developed a general sense of complacency with my job; traveling is now as commonplace as breathing.

Still live with Chris and Jenna in a fine townhouse with proximity to Open Harvest, a crappy sports bar, and my office.

Still a supporter of Obama; still loathe Hillary. I won't get into that here; there are only 7 trillion other blogs for people to feel self-important with regard to the election.

Now for some images of the past nine months



Forslund returned from deep dark Africa. Tony got engaged. I got a new ride:



Being friends of Jonn, Tony et. al., and desire to use my car as little as possible finally lead to me making a investment in a new bicycle. I had been interested in getting a Cross-Check for a while, and about three weeks later it has only exceeded my expectations. I can't get enough of it and wish I could (safely) bring it with me on my work travels.

Good: beer. Bad: Shaving.



And I can make some pretty rad salsa, accomplished by roasting the ingredients seen below. Yeah. Homemade salsa. I roll hard.



OK, look for a new post sometime in 2009.

Portland.

Can't say I've ever opened a hotel drawer to find this combination before.

Art is for pretentious ninnies

Rather than spend money on generic prints or resort to the sweet framed photos of chicks on semi trucks I bought at Bag N Save, Jenna and I decided to make our own. Oh dear god. We were joined by the adorable Sarah Schroeder in this endeavor, might I add.

First we have Sarah's creation. I commented that it looked like something you could buy in Target's dorm room section, but I meant it in a good way:



Jenna did this one. She has actual talent that comes with taking classes for this sort of thing:



Then we have this BITCHIN' tree I did. Basically I just really like blue and green - globes, maps, etc. A tree is green. The sky is blue. Connect the dots:




Then I reverted back to my usual cynical self, and did. . . this:

Suggestions Needed for New Compound nickname.

As of July, the News Link Compound will be no more - Shannon is moving to Chi-Town, Cathy's going her own direction, and the house is one or two cracks away from condemnation. It's been fun, but alas, it's time for new digs. So. . .

THE SETTING:



Roughly 5 blocks from my current residence; within a block and a half of both a generic and hippie grocery store, coffee house and porn shop.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Thew, your fearless leader (sans beard, at least currently):



Christopher Schacht, AKA Chris AKA Schacht, who will be attending the prestigious UNL College O' Law because he has nothing better to do:



Jenna, who was basically in the right place in the right time, will keep Chris and I in check when it comes to all the girls neither of us will be bringing home:



Stay tuned.

While I'm at it, here are some from the Columbia River Gorge

I'm killing time at the airport in Phoenix and figured I'd post some more.

These are from the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. I've driven back and forth through it four times now and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

Just east of The Dalles, OR on the Old Columbia River Highway. Lots of winding around and stuff. That's I-84 down there:



A town in Washington (not sure which):



I spent a couple of hours on the bank of the river taking photos of a rail gang repairing this line of track. The railroad is big on preventing "slip, trip and fall" injuries, and this kind of puts it into perspective, as walking back and forth across the ballast wasn't exactly easy, and well, yeah:



I took this one on my first trip out there back in March. Cloudy but still kickin' rad:



Multnomah Falls. I believe it's the 2nd tallest year-round waterfall in the USA (no idea what #1 is):

The Sand IS WHITE

I suppose this is worth posting.

Thursday evening, after wrapping up my job responsibilities in Belen, New Mexico, I decided to take a detour on my way to El Paso and visit White Sands National Monument. There were a ton of people there - not sure if it's usually that way this time of year or the fact that there was a full moon that night, or perhaps because there's nothing else to do in the vicinity of Alamogordo. . .

At any rate, I used my work camera, a Canon Rebel XT, to take some shots as the sun went down:



I'm HUGE (!!!):



Yucca:



A couple of the better landscape shots I took:





Abusing the camera's timer setting to recreate the cover of 'The Gods Must Be Crazy'



Full moon rising. Wish I had a tighter lens:

Three months later

If anyone is still checking this. . . wow.

On that note, Cornbread, these are for you.

He has my sword.

“I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this — a certain audacity — to this announcement. I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”

GObama!

Wow, I should get the rights to that quick

How about a dulcimer?

Andrew Bird, whom I firmly believe is the best young/living singer/songwriter/whistler in music today (to hell with Surf-Yan Whats-His-Name; and you all know deep down that Oberst just plain sucks), did a guess spot as "Dr. Stringz" on some kid's puppet show.

Epic.



When he says "I've got more stringed instruments to fix" at the end his delivery seems to imply he just then realized what he was doing. Either way, good for him.

New album out March 20. I'm betting now it'll be in my top 3 of 2007

Because Jonn told me to and because I have something worth posting

So my boss pulled me in his office last week and asked me if I'd be OK changing territories. The reasons for this:

1) I've established a decent amount of consistency amongst our clients in Texas and Louisiana
2) Some of our clients have lacked said consistency.

On that note, I'll be making two more trips to Texas (although I may still go to Houston like four times a year for a meeting). The first is to San Antonio, meaning it may be the last time I see Austin for awhile. That's one of the big, if not biggest downfall to all this.

Then I get to go down there with Niles, the dude who will hopefully succeed me (anyone know Niles? I know people who know him at any rate).

So what areas of the country will I be taking over? Well, here are the major metropolitan areas:

Seattle


Portland, AKA the International Hub of Underachievement


Phoenix


Albuquerque


Also: Tucson, El Paso, Spokane and Eugene, Ore.

So yeah. Looking forward to talking to folks with a different mentality, although the adjustment's going to be kind of rough. Oh well; it's not as though I really have a life outside of work anyway so s'all good.

I can rent a car for less money now

Random photos from a small gathering on my 25th birthday.

I take credit for introducing Sarah B. to cider. Too bad she'll grow tired of it within five months, as is the case with everyone.


I on the other hand was drinking something from Belgium that came in a freakin' goblet. Sarah S. looks... yeah I don't know.


Shannon und Lisa


Willa (she blinks a lot in photos), Dominique (was sick but still came, the trooper), and Cathy


Will, one of the few cool male employees at work, and his fiance, Lacey


What? It's beer from El Salvador. Piss off.

Why have I ever given a dollar to this business

From back when the Burger King was actually a scary human being, as opposed to a scary human being in a scary mask.

I apologize for the nightmares.

Jonn updated his; I'd better fall in line

Nothing has happened of note since October 11.

Alright, here's some Halloween photos (I was in Austin with Tenspeed).

I really wanted to find one of those goofy Euro-ties that are like a scarf you wear inside a shirt, but I was unsuccessful in that venture - and believe me, I tried.

So my first idea was to utilize my own supplies and go as, um, one of THESE guys:



But that seemed kind of weak, so ultimately I decided to use Justin's costume from last year - A Team Zissou crewman:


I wanted a clear shot of Justin's neck - he wrote on it with pen in an attempt to be that guy who was on Project: Runway or whatever. With him is Lincoln expat Matt R., who went as Floyd Landis but kept getting called Lance Armstrong. Philistines.

Dominique Garay

I know this guy through my co-worker Willa, to whom he is engaged. Heck of a poet and an all-around nice guy; not pretentious at all.

He's in the running to appear on an HBO program, so vote for him: http://www.blastro.com/spokenwordbattle

His myspace (some of his other stuff is on there, I highly recommend the YouTube video): http://www.myspace.com/darcpoet

Biggest highlight of my life since I found the Ghostbusters building in New York

I'm staying at a hotel in a planned community in Irving, Texas (between Dallas and Fort Worth) known as Los Colinas.

As I drove here, I wondered "Where the hell have I heard Los Colinas before... Los Colinas... Los Colinas..."

Got to my hotel and got on wikipedia and found this:

"Many people will recognize Las Colinas as referenced by Lawrence (of Office Space fame), who awoke early in the morning to erect the drywall at the new McDonald's."

Hole-E Shit.

EDIT: I guess the majority of Office Space was filmed in Austin. Still.

The most relaxing waste of time ever

http://www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/flyGuy.swf

All you do is fly around, escaping copy machines, cell phones, etc. I think the music is what does it.

The best album of 2006, finally released

Although it leaked back in February, TV on the Radio's second LP, Return to Cookie Mountain, was released in the USA on the 12th.

If you know me, I've been verbally fellating this album for months. It's a bit more accessible than their earlier stuff (although that's great too), but still takes a while to grow on you. Heck, I wasn't much into the band when I first heard 'Staring at the Sun' and now they're up there with Pinback and Radiohead as my favorite bands of all time.

And I'll say it for the 23892nd time: 'Wolf Like Me' is the best single of the last five years.

And although I hate to cite various music critics to back up my opinions, etc...

"The disc might be the most oddly beautiful, psychedlic and ambitious of the year...Consider your mind blown."
-Rolling Stone (4.5 out of 5 stars)

"The latest experiment from TV on the Radio goes horribly right."
-Entertainment Weekly (A-)
"A punk gospel uplift that's often profoundly moving. There's an old saying that agitators play music because they like the noise it makes. TV on the Radio play noise because they like the music it makes."
-Spin

"This album has such an incredible pull: It doesn't make an atmosphere so much as a space to spend time in, and Adebimpe doesn't become a narrator so much as a witness."
-Pitchfork (9.1 out of 10)

"Anyone who spouts the perennial music is dead argument need only look to TV on the Radio for proof otherwise. Give up now, guys, because it rarely gets better than this."
-URB

And my favorite:

"...what might just be the best reason we've had for hope--as far as interesting, arty, progressive, well-executed, and mind-fuckingly good music goes--since OK Computer was lodge deep in the throat of music-listeners."
-Filter (94%)

A couple of links and videos:

http://www.myspace.com/tvotr - Their myspace page (free place to hear 'Wolf Like Me')

The video for 'Wolf Like Me'


They were on Letterman last night. I missed it; thank all that is awesome for YouTube.


If it isn't your cup of tea after one listen, I implore you - listen to it again. And again. And again. Hey, it worked for me with their last album.

'Tis the Season

In rememberence of the victims of 9/11 and the ridiculous censorship that followed, here's a list of several songs that were "banned" by Clear Channel following the attacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_deemed_inappropriate_
by_Clear_Channel_following_the_September_11%2C_2001_attacks

Some highlights:

"Down" - 311
"Walk Like an Egyptian" - The Bangles
"Ticket to Ride" - The Beatles
"Smokin" - Boston
"In the Air Tonight" - Phil Collins (perhaps my favorite)
"Mack the Knife" - Bobby freakin' Darin
"America" - Neil Diamond
"Ironic" - Alanis... yeah

Failing to draw restraint on Drawing Restraint 9

So with nothing better to do on Labor Day Eve I went to see 'Russian Dolls', the follow-up to 'The Spanish Apartment'. It was quite good, but anyway, prior to the film, the audience of about a dozen and I were treated to a trailer to Bjork's newest film 'Drawing Restraint 9', which I guess is about Bjork and some guy hanging out on a Japanese whaling ship or something.

Here's the trailer:



From the review on IMDb:

"Possibly tedious at some points, I thought it was equally wonderful that Bjork and Matthew and the Captain and crew had so much leisure to be able to tell the story, to act in this way, to live for weeks or months on the ship and its legacy. But then, I'm a full time artist who has no idea what time it is.

What was happening on the screen was only a key meant to unlock what has always been happening within us, within the deeper scar from which we all are naturally and continually emerging our being"

Yeah, ok dude.

So, anyone want to see this at The Ross? Maybe we can inject LSD into our eyeballs first!

And you thought clowns were scary (not that mascots are any different)

Nebraska 45
La Tech 14

With that in mind, here are some photos of past/current mascots.

If you plan on going to sleep soon, don't scroll down.