Rock Time

Jared Kiess, the dude who sings and plays guitar in Sid's band, filmed this at the show the other night. Pretty cool -- I didn't even know he was doing it. It was a tiny stage, but we overcame.




I have pictures and one video of the Hammer's set too, which I'll hopefully get to this weekend some time.

Photo Finish Friday

They had my number.

Tomorrow is the River Bank Run here in Missoula, and I registered for the 10K. Unfortunately, other more important things have come up and I'll miss the race. Given the terrible weather, I don't really mind.

I've trained hard to get where I could pull the thing off, so last night at the gym I decided to run the distance anyway (93 laps on the indoor track), even though it wasn't the actual race. I'm happy to say I was able to do it, despite several factors; I'd played a rock show the night before so I was functioning on about 4 hours of sleep, and I'd already done a hard 12.5 miles on the bike earlier in the morning. But when I started running, I got into a nice, comfortable pace and I'm certain my last mile was the fastest. I figure I've shaved about 2 minutes off my mile time from when I first started. I'm pretty happy about that.

Oh, musical motivation for the run via the iPod were the albums Show No Mercy and South of Heaven by Slayer.



Photo Finish Friday is the brainchild of writer/blogger/world traveler Leah J. Utas.

This Just In

Got a phone call last night, and it turns out the magnificent AMERICAN FALCON is going to be sharing the stage with the mighty Judgment Hammer tomorrow night (April 27th) in Missoula at Harry David's Bar. It's last minute, yeah, but if you are in Missoula you should come out (9:00 PM) and rock out with us. There's no cover charge, and it's HUMP DAY for crissakes! And remember, the more you drink, THE MORE WE GET PAID! Don't be wimps, posers, or whiners.

Best thing is Harry David's isn't far from my house. At my age, the sooner I can get home and get in bed, the better.

Reflections of a Weekend

Mostly pictures. Had our first really gorgeous weather this past weekend, and it felt great to get out and enjoy it . . . once I got there.

Queuing up to board a plane out of Charlotte to Detroit

Of course Sid was asking me for money as soon as I saw him. The cash machine urges expediency, in case the financial institution decides to take the money back before one can secure the cash.

Sid lives by that suggestion

Saturday

I wasn't the only one happy to have some sunlight shining in the window first thing in the morning.

Darla is a sun creature

Later that afternoon, Julia and I took a nice long walk along the river.

Down on the Farm

Sunday morning I went out to my parents' house to help out with a couple things.

Dad gets better toy upgrades than I do

These two critters are the newest addition to the family.

Other family members wanted to be a larger part of the day's action, and voiced their irritation to not be included whenever the opportunity presented itself.


When I got home, I got in my first bout of yard work since October. Enjoyed soaking up the sun. Puny did too.

Judgment Hammer Alive!

Sid's band had a show last Saturday and I filmed it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, for what it is. Here's a taste:




You can see a video of every song they played (there are six total) right HERE.

I dig these guys. I'm pretty goddamn proud of my housemates today.

Somebody Has to be the Jackass

I remember that Julia had been interviewed by these folks, but forgot about it. Now you can check it out yourself!

Missoula Fashion 2011: From Goodwill to glamour

"Fashion takes itself way too seriously," said Julia LaTray, the designer, seamstress and owner of Donkey Girl brand clothing. She named her one-woman production after what she considers her spirit animal. "We can't all be leopards and peacocks. Somebody has to be the jackass," she said.

I love it when Julia gets props. She works her ass off.


Big thanks to Kate Whittle at the Kaimin!

Photo Finish Friday

The Road Food Edition.

Had some time at the Charlotte Airport on my way home yesterday, went into a little bar for a beer and maybe an appetizer. Menu said "warm tortilla chips with melted cheddar cheese." Thought that sounded pretty decent, so I ordered it. This is what I got.

That's not melted cheddar. That's melted fake cheese-like substance, and it's gross. I ate about two chips on the outer edges and said to hell with it.

At least the big glass of Sam Adams Beer was good. Not to be mistaken for Samuel L. Jackson beer, of course (very NSFW, by the way.... ).





Photo Finish Friday is the brainchild of writer/blogger/world traveler Leah J. Utas.

Morning over North Carolina

Thought this sight was pretty cool this morning as I left the hotel -- snapped the shot with my cell phone, and it doesn't look too bad.

One thing about North Carolina -- They claim to be BBQ masters, but I think their hearts are really with their fry babies. These people would deep fry their morning coffee if they could figure out a way to do it. Had some decent White Zombie Ale from Catawba Valley Brewing Company to wash down all that grease last night, at least.

Words to Live By

On the road for work this week, but saw this sign at the customer site and, as a public service announcement, figured it was worth sharing.

Photo Finish Friday

The birthday girl edition!

Here's Julia busting a move with a partner at the Indian village we visited in Panama. Everyone wants to dance with her, and today is her birthday!




Photo Finish Friday is the brainchild of writer/blogger/world traveler Leah J. Utas.

Wanderlust

Over the last couple weeks I've been slowly making my way through this book called Wanderlust -- A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit. I've had it on my shelf for quite some time (it was originally published in 2000). This is the first book of Solnit's I've read, though I've been a fan of her columns and essays, particularly the ones I've read in Orion (one of my favorite magazines for years now) and Harper's (another I've grown to love due to a steady supply via gift subscription from Julia's dad).

I think since I started reading Wanderlust I've read two other books, and at least one graphic novel. I haven't found this book to be one where I've felt compelled to blaze through it; I'm about midway along, and hope to finish it up by the end of the weekend. It's a little different than I expected, and the first chapter in particular was a bit slow, but it's picking up speed for me. As a guy who loves to walk, and hike, it has had some interesting passages about humans and our relationship to walking, whether via theories on when humans first started walking upright or when afternoon strolls got out of the garden and into the wider world. Good stuff, if you're into that kind of trivia. Solnit has pointed out that this book is "a" history of walking, not "the" history. There certainly is a difference.

A couple passages I've noted so far as being particularly interesting. Here's the first, pretty early in the book, where Rebecca notes how she first started walking regularly near where she lives in San Francisco, thinking about writing about walking:

These linked paths and roads form a circuit of about six miles that I began hiking ten years ago to walk off my angst during a difficult year. I kept coming back to this route for respite from my work and for my work too, because thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture, and doing nothing is hard to do. It's best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking. Walking itself is the intentional act closest to the unwilled rhythms of the body, to breathing and the beating of the heart. It strikes a delicate balance between working and idling, being and doing. It is a bodily labor that produces nothing but thoughts, experiences, arrivals.

I really like that. Most of my best ideas have come while walking, while out combining a kind of exercise with an activity where I'm not really striving for anything but to just move, both the body and the brain. It is something that I almost always feel better afterward than I did when I started. That line, "thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture," is so spot on. I'm a firm believer in idleness as a path to enlightenment, whether it is a spiritual thing or just trying to calm the brain through a plot hurdle one can't quite get over (or a key change, lyric, design project, etc.). Whenever I start feeling creatively, uh, constipated, I know I haven't been getting out and walking or hiking enough. And all the running and stuff I do doesn't count, because in those cases I'm usually wearing headphones to get me through it. It's a different experience, at least for me.

Here's another one I really liked:

Part of what makes roads, trails, and paths so unique as built structures is that they cannot be perceived as a whole all at once by a sedentary onlooker. They unfold in time as one travels along them, just as a story does as one listens or reads, and a hairpin turn is like a plot twist, a steep ascent a building of suspense to the view at the summit, a fork in the road an introduction of a new storyline, arrival the end of the story. Just as writing allows one to read the words of someone who is absent, so roads make it possible to trace the route of the absent.

I don't know, I just dig that, the metaphor of road or trail as story. I bet there are many, many writers and creative types who find the simple effort of walking to be a kind of creative reset button. It definitely is for me.

The Leisure Gang - An Update for my Parents

I was out at my folks' place last weekend helping them get the last of the year's wood split, and putting a dent in next year's necessary supply. I came away with a blister on my thumb (despite the leather gloves) and a new dog bed to throw in my office. My dad called and asked if the damn dogs had started using it yet, so I took some photos to document it.

This first one was Saturday night. I'd been watching the DVD Sid gave me for my birthday of PREDATORS (which I fully enjoyed, perhaps more even than when I saw it in the theater), turned on my lamp, looked over the edge of my desk, and lo and behold:

To think Julia feared her Russells would never abide living with cats

That's almost scandalous.

These next two I took this morning.

So you'll see, the only dog not documented taking her ease on the new bed is Velcro, though I think I saw her there once. I don't think she's feeling left out, though.

"More room for me on all the beds in the living room!" Velcro says.

... except for when there's too much dog for one bed.

I guess the 6th denizen, Kitten the Basement Dweller, hasn't been on it either. But she never comes upstairs, so I don't think she counts.

"Go to sleep, Fatboy," Kitten says. "Soon as you do, I'm making my move to take over your pillow."

Finally, seeing as how I share a home with someone who claims to "not really be a cat person," I think this photo, which is kind of obscured in a way those Sasquatch pics and videos that hit the internet often are, may be photographic evidence that that comment is, as they say, bullshit.

A Little Late in the Year for This

Julia and I took advantage of the gorgeous, if chilly, weather yesterday evening to make our first foray up the M trail. Wasn't the best time of day for photography, but I took a shot overlooking downtown anyway.

There were a lot of other people on the trail -- clearly the break in the rainy and snowy weather inspired more folks than just us! Thing is, this hike has long since gone from something we do for recreation to become part of our workout routine. During the summer we try and tackle it several times per week, and it is never easy, because when it becomes easier we just push harder. We were talking about it on the way, how sometimes the approach in the car feels dreadful. I told Julia that it isn't life or death, that one can always stop and rest on a rough day. But she said, and I agree, "Thing is, once I went up without stopping, I realized I could never rest on that goddamn trail again." Sad, but true.

I brought the stopwatch out to see where I measured against last year, fully expecting to be lagging. I've been running and working out a lot, yes, but one workout doesn't guarantee success in another if it is an activity using different muscles and motions. So I staggered up to the top, looked at the watch, and discovered I was a full 39 seconds faster than the fastest climb I'd made all last year -- only 22 seconds slower than my best ever (since I've kept track, that is*). Hell, if I'd been paying attention, I'm pretty sure I could have pushed harder and beat that record, as I still had quite a bit of gas in the tank when I arrived at the top. I was pretty happy about that. The only reason I wasn't watching the clock is I didn't want to bum myself out halfway up, thinking I was going about three minutes slower than I actually was.

So this morning, feeling cocky with myself, I decided to challenge my 3 mile/5K record when I did my morning run. It wasn't particularly easy, but I beat last year's best over the distance by 2:35. I was pretty happy. That's a full 7:25 faster than I ran the 5K last year during the River Bank Run. And no, I'm not sharing any of these times, because they're still embarrassingly slow. But they're getting faster for me.

Here's my fat ass (the bulbous shape in the white shirt) crossing the finish line at last year's 5K River Bank Run, 1 year and 30+ pounds ago

This year's River Bank Run is two weeks from this coming Saturday. I'm doing the 10K instead of the 5K. Last Saturday, while deciding if I would still go for the 10K, I went out to run the 6 miles to see if I could do it . . . and did. So that's my plan. I'll still be the slowest dude out there, but I'll be out there.

Progress feels good.

* I've kind of become anal about keeping track of stuff like this. But I like to refer back now and again to remind myself where I started.

Photo Finish Friday

Simple pleasures.

This is actually a shot from the parking lot of the convenience store about 0.7 miles from my house. There is a small wetland right next to it, and I love to park there. Right now everything is still yellow and dead-looking, but it won't be long before it all greens up and looks beautiful. The red-wing blackbirds are out in force; in the mornings their calls are numerous and loud. There will be ducks, and deer, and gophers, and who knows what else. It's a wild little spot right on the edge of the city, and I dig it.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon. I'd signed out from work and driven over to finish a book I was in the closing pages of. I do that sometimes. I think it's a holdover from years back in Washington when I would leave for work very early to beat the traffic, then spend an hour or so reading before clocking in. I love to read in my car, in waiting rooms, on the plane, anywhere.

Sitting with the window down, listening to birdsong, and reading or even just sitting and chilling out -- I love it.



Photo Finish Friday is the brainchild of writer/blogger/world traveler Leah J. Utas.

I Have No Plans to Die Today

I've been lame about posting anything this week. So I just put together a bunch of random stuff for today. It's all incredibly important, though, so if you need to make yourself a sandwich or grab a beverage or something before digging in, I urge you to do so now.

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RIP Joe Bageant

One of my favorite "political" books of recent years introduced me to one of my favorite writers, Joe Bageant. He wrote Deer Hunting with Jesus. Since reading the book I have been an avid reader of the essays that appeared on his website, and his discussions with folks who would email him comments. He passed away last week after a quick and dirty battle with an ugly form of cancer. THIS is a great eulogy, well worth reading. Here is a clip of him doing an interview for a movie coming out called The Kingdom of Survival.



He will be missed.

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Of all the things that regularly make big media splashes -- celebrities, sports, politics, etc. -- the one that I care the least about and frankly don't understand the attraction of at all is golf. I hate it.

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The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Julia and I watched this crazy movie last week off the NetFlix. It's kind of a Korean Western/Pulp/Action thing. It had by far the most gunfire in any movie I've ever seen. It was pretty damn fun. Highly recommended, if you dig that sort of thing.



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If I had a dollar for every time these goddamn dogs I live with growl and snarl at each other in a given day, I'd be writing this blog on one of those fancy high speed Mac computers with a monitor as big as my wall instead of on a middling-level Windows laptop that technically isn't even mine.

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THIS is a great article about independent, "B" list low budget action movies from one of my favorite comic writers, Beau Smith. He talks mostly about the making of the movies and how they mirror the making of comics, but I felt a lot was relevant in many art forms.

Something that the creative end should always remember is that no matter if it’s comics or films it is still a business. You’re in business to make money. It’s not a charity. The thing that the business end need to remember is that they are NOTcreative talent and they should leave that to the ones that are.

I see a lot of calls to support independent bookstores, local businesses, etc. Sometimes I think the call to support independent artists gets overlooked. Support your independent artists, people!

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Speaking of artists catching a break, one of my favorite writers, Bonnie Jo Campbell, won a Guggenheim Fellowship. Congratulations are in order!

Since its establishment in 1925, the Foundation has granted nearly $290 million in Fellowships to more than 17,000 individuals. Time and again, the Foundation’s choice of Fellows has proved prescient: thousands of celebrated alumni and scores of Nobel, Pulitzer, and other prizewinners grace its rolls.

Here's what Bonnie will be up to:

Bonnie Jo Campbell, a novelist who traveled with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus for five months, will be writing a series of interlocking stories set in a contemporary American circus, revealing a surprisingly rigid social hierarchy in this multicultural institution.

Bonnie has a new book out in July. Julia and I are planning to coordinate a trip to Portland to coincide with her doing a reading there. Word on the street is she may be in Missoula this fall for our annual Festival of the Book as well. Fingers are crossed!

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As I have recently just turned 44, I've told Julia that for the next 12 months she may call me Magnum. Particularly in intimate moments. And I don't mean Magnum PI, I mean the most powerful handgun in the world.

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This is why I love dancers.


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Summer blockbuster season is almost upon us, and you know I'm into a lot of that stuff. The first one I'm fired up to see is, of course, Thor. The following trailer has two key moments you must take note of. The first occurs at the :54 mark, and runs through :58. That is the part where, when we see it in theaters, Julia always gasps and claws at my leg. The next segment is from 1:42 through around 1:55. Dig it.



That second segment I mention is a perfect example of one of the things I've always loved about heroic stories: the idea of one person -- the hero -- stepping out alone to face seemingly insurmountable odds on behalf of others. In this movie, I believe the idea is that Thor has been banished to Earth to learn humility, and he does so by realizing only he can protect humanity from the threats they are about to be faced with. It may seem cheesy, and unrealistic, but I love that stuff. Always have. If you scoff, you should read some Joseph Campbell (no relation to Bonnie Jo that I'm aware of) and get off my back. That dude was a full-on scholar, and was known to consume vast quantities of buttery popcorn while totally digging summer blockbuster hero movies.*

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Finally, on the work front, there is a certain type of pushy jackass I have to deal with on occasion that thinks they can influence me to leapfrog their project over others by CCing people they presume to be my "superiors" on emails where they are demanding status updates. That's the surest way to get shoved down to the bottom of my to-do list. Petty? Probably. But I never claimed I'd be saving everyone's world every day.

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* I actually made up that last bit about eating popcorn at the movies. It could be true, though!

More Glorious Spring

Quite a view out my office window this morning.

Wind looks to be blowing the snow still coming down about horizontal too. Awesome. I hope it all melts before Julia gets up, or there will be hell to pay. . . .

Photo Finish Friday

It's a rough life.

This is what goes on around me while I'm working. Clockwise starting with the cat, we have Puny, then Darla, then Velcro, all trying to squeeze into the same patch of sunlight beaming in from the east-facing window.




Photo Finish Friday is the brainchild of writer/blogger/world traveler Leah J. Utas.