Last Day of Newvember

So today was it. The last day of Newvember. Today's challenge: blog about Newvember. I never completely intended on blogging about Newember all month long, so when I created my schedule of challenges today was going to be the only entry. I'm glad I blogged kind of regularly though. Let's look at all the things I tried.

1. Take a new route to work. Done and fun. 
2. Practice hand-stands. Done and painful. 
3. Be 10 minutes early for an appointment. Technically done, but not very well. Not something I see myself doing in the future. 
4. Study sign language for 1 hour. Done and done and done and done. My favorite challenge by far. 
5. Change the lyrics of a song to compliment someone. Done...with lots of help.
6. Go out of my way to meet someone new. Done. Not very fun. 
7. Write a review of an artistic performance. Sooooo done. Fun but exhausting.
8. Sleep on the floor. Done. So fun we did it two extra times. 
9. Make a t-shirt. Done. Thanks for your printer, friends. 
10. Make a new playlist highlighting one artist. Technically done, but not completely finalized. 
11. Make a collection of happy photos sans X. Collection started, but not completely finalized. 
12. Write a speech and give to myself in the mirror. Not done at all. Complete fail. 
13. Eat nothing but pizza all day. Done and loved it!
14. Paint a picture with someone else. Done. I hate painting. 
15. Write an actual letter to someone and mail it. Done and appreciated by the recipient.
16. Write stream of consciousness. Done and done. Very fun. Will do it again someday. 
17. Write a grateful email to someone. Done. No word from the recipient yet. 
18. Meditate. Done. Late. No fun. 
19. Pick up litter all day long. Technically done, but very weak. Not much litter where I was. 
20. Write a poem. Done. Late. No fun. 
21. Reply to a reddit writing prompt. Done. Meh...
22. Learn all I can about Spanish (my least favorite subject in HS). Not done at all. Complete fail. 
23. Do everything with the opposite hand. Nope. 
24. Be vegan for a day. Failed by accident then gave up. Didn't prepare well for this one. 
25. Blog about Newvember. Almost done. 
26. ***Study sign language and write stream of consciousness were done on multiple days. 

So...out of 30 days/challenges I completed 26. That's about 87%. That's me, 87%. A couple of them were done late. A couple of them are not entirely completed. That's ok. I practiced sign language enough to make up for any missed challenges. I also blogged a lot. I also made two t-shirts and slept on the floor two extra times. With all that extra credit I think I may have sqeeked out an A-. I'm pretty satisfied with the month. Actually, I'm extremely satisfied with this month. Other highlights include:

• Brother having a baby!
• Friends coming to visit and having a great time. 
• 3rd place in a 5k. 
• Pizza Fridays and faculty basketball Thursdays are going strong. 
• The ultimate season went out with a bang. 
• Football was fun. 
• Thanksgiving with family was great. 
• X is getting cuter by the day. 
• Got someone else ice skates and went ice skating. 
• Got to know coworkers better. 
• Listened to a lot of good music. 
• Visited NY and went on a great hike.
• Biked to work more. 

All this on top of Newvember!!
And it's No-Shave-November as well!

Wow, how can December match this? Here's what I'm hoping December will look like:

• Continue to practice sign language with wife, child, and coworker daily. 
• Be in bed by 9 so I can...
• Be at the gym around 5am three days a week. 
• Run at least two days a week.
• Continue to not eat any unapproved snacks through the rest of the year. 
• Streamline my biking routine to make it quicker. 
• Not freak out about flying out west with a 1.5 year old.
• Blog once in a while. 
• Be in bed by 9. It's going to be hard to do this but I really think it is the crux of the month.

Wish me luck...or come by for a visit! 

The stream will never run dry.

I really like stream of consciousness writing. Here's my latest stream. Someone else gave me the topic. It's one of my fav's.

The future.
I like thinking about the future. I really like planning and thinking on the future. Is “thinking on” a real phrase. I’m thinking of the time I saw some author speak and she said that she needed to stop “meditating on” her enemies. She meant that she needed to stop thinking so much about her enemies and thinking they they are negative. Oh well. Ok. Back to the future. I just watched back to the future 3 the other day. Not al of it. My father had it on while we were waiting for another movie to cue up. Is that the right way to spell cue for this meaning. Or is it que? Not sure about that one. So, the future. I really hope to do many things in the future. In the near future I would like to finish Newvember strong and consider it a successful month. I can already consider it a success depending on how I rate myself. If I rate myself like I was in school, I would only need 65% completed to pass. I definitely have that done already. But I want to hold myself to a higher standard. In a way, anything but 100% will be considered a failure, but that’s unfair. I think as long as I can finish some of my incomplete challenges by the end of the month then I’ll call that a success. Next month I’m going to make it simpler. I really only have two main challenges for next month: continue to learn and love sign language and work out regularly. I’m feeling lazy and weak and crappy. Last year we did the push-up bonanza, maybe I need to do one of those again?! No, I don’t want to do that. I want to go to the gym and work out. Since my breathing is not very efficient right now I’ll put cold weather running on hold an stick to bike riding (which I’m actually enjoying a lot lately). What I would like to do after this session of consciousness is map out a route from my house to school that will have me avoid hills and add some miles on my morning commute. A half-hour commute would be ideal. That would give me some exercise in the morning and afternoon. To really maximize my health I hope to go to the gym before riding my bike to work. I know it’s possible; I’ve done it before. I just need to take it one month, or week, at a time. Ok. Now I’m kinda freezing on topics. Someone else has disappeared and all I hear is the churning of the dishwasher. Ok. Now she’s back. She seems to be eating something. She said “wow, that was quick” when she saw the amount I have already typed. She then said “I do need the computer when you’re done.” That’s good, that will give me a reason to get off quickly and let my fingers/hands rest. I like this type of typing because I get to type really fast but it does hurt my fingers and hands pretty quickly. I wonder if those split keyboards are good enough to invest in. ok, I can see the word count at the bottom of the screen. I’m over 500 words. I’m drifting off. Someone else needs the computer. It’s time for me to go. This is the last stream of consciousness for Newvember. I will definitely do this again someday. It’s always fun and fun.

Tomorrow I have to learn all I can about Spanish, the subject I disliked the most in high school. I guess I'll do that while my better half is out and about. I'm not really looking forward to this. I didn't like spanish then and nothing has changed to make me rethink my opinion.

Oh, and here's a fun thing. This is a link to a google spread sheet. It has all the words I can currently sign (there might be a few missing) in alphabetical order. Feel free to use these words to create a sentence, paragraph, or conversation for me to practice. You can email it to me if you know that info, or you can just post it in the comments.
Thanks in advance for such a ridiculous request!

Newvember is slipping away

Newvember has lost some of its steam. Last week on Thursday I was supposed to meditate; I didn't. On Friday I was supposed to pick up litter all day; but I was only able to pick up a few pieces (which was all the trash I saw, but it still felt like a failure). On Saturday I was supposed to write a poem; no poetry has left my brain. On Sunday I was supposed to reply to a reddit writing prompt; I didn't even look at one. Today I'm supposed to practice sign language for an hour; I'm not quite there yet and I'm watching TNG and getting more tired by the minute.
Here is a cram session to keep Newvember going until the end of November.

My feet carry me swiftly where I go
My legs follow high and low
My eyes keep watch of rocks that grow
My hands grab trees my fall to slow
No need for music
No need for chat
I like to lose it
Just like that
All the way
Down I'll say
As soon as we can
Lets do this again
Beginning feelings are gone
Leaving natures silent song
Until next time I long

To be so gleefully wrong
And walk through the wood
With family that could

There's my poem. I call it: Slowly Rushed While Watching Star Trek

Now for the reddit reply.

The prompt is: the world's armies no longer use guns or explosives. describe a soldier's routine

Here's what I would have submitted if I had the patience to figure out how to submit on reddit. 

"Wake up you maggots. Your not being paid to dream about home. Rise and shine, eat and grin. Today is the first day of basic. As you all know the world's armies no longer use guns or explosives. In fact, the powers that be have decided to eliminate all forms of physical aggression. You'll be fighting the enemy with words. Insults will be your new side arm. Manipulation will be your RPG. Black mail and bulling will be your mines and mortars. Now, first things first, you'll have to be able to withstand any and all insults and comments the enemy might hurl at you. There's no point in being an expert in advanced battlefield boulder-dash if you're crying on your knees cause Charlie has touched upon a sensitive memory from your past. After defensive training you'll split up to your separate classes. You'll all become experts in: Arguments. Sarcastic Agreements. Bad Advice. Articulate Announcements to Distract. Basic Banter. Confusing Burble. Bickering to Annoy. How to Breakdown and Use a Cliche. Criticism. Cheap Chit-Chat. Your classes will last all day. You'll be given food on the go so as to keep your wits about you. If you have sufficiently impressed your teachers during your days class load you will be allowed to relax and speak kind words to each other. But you have to EARN that privilege. Any questions?"

Ok, I know it's not perfect, but I think it's pretty good for 20 minutes of writing while watching ANOTHER episode of TNG!

Before bed I will meditate.

For the rest of this episode (and perhaps one more) I will practice some sign language.

I still need to finish my Happy Group of Pictures, edit myMedeski, Martin, & Wood playlist, and write a speech. I hope I can get these done by the end of the month. If not, oh well.

Tomorrow is stream of consciousness writing. Should be easy.

Grateful email

I don't like the way grateful is spelled, it looks wrong to me.
Ok, so tonight I wrote a grateful email to someone. It was nice. When I started thinking about this post I thought I needed to write an email to someone who I owe a lot to. Like a parent or wife or something. Then I thought I should write it to someone who did something for me professionally, like a professor or advisor or employer. Then I though, why write it to a person, I can write a grateful email just saying how grateful I am for something, like music or running or trees or something. That made me think I should write a sarcastic email, like "I'm really grateful for you old-lady-who-drove-in-front-of-me-today-and-wouldn't-let-me-pass-cause-you-kept-swerving-and-I-was-on-my-bike-and-I-was-going-faster-than-you." But then I was listening to The Mars Volta and I though, I should thank the person who turned me on to this band (and so many others). So I wrote a grateful email to that person.

That's it.

Tomorrow I have to meditate. I'm not looking forward to that. Especially since I'm rocking out to The Mars Volta right now.

Here, have some Mars Volta.

I'm not sure how I feel about the middle of this song. The album version is just straight up rock, but this live version (as well as others of this song online) have these weird cover/inserts in them. Whatever; I think they pull it off.

Stream of consciousness

Today's challenge was to write stream of consciousness at least 500 words. 500 words is pretty easy. I feel like I could do this everyday. Now lets just get one thing straight; I'm not writing brilliant prose or deep thoughts, it's more just a log of what my brain is doing at the current moment. Here is the unedited product. I decided to write this just after school when all the kids had left. I did it in my room, at my desk. I wrote it on Word so it corrected some of my errors, but the grammar is all me!

Enjoy

I ride my bike to school. I’m glad I ride my bike to school. Last year I really didn’t like it. I started off not liking it and even though I changed routes and incorporated different things to make riding more enjoyable (better clothes, better lights, music/pod casts) I never really liked it. I’m very happy to think about my coming bike rides. I still need to get some things for the winter, mostly cold weather gear, but I’m pretty set and happy with my set-up. As I type this I’m looking at my bike in my classroom and I feel like listing the things I enjoy about my bike.

1. I like the basket I put on it. It’s an old milk crate. I think this is the best type of basket to put on a bike. It’s ugly, but functional. 
2. Uh oh, a friend of mine just Google chatted me about a JP Morgan settlement. He’s asking my view on the issue. Am I ashamed to admit that I have no idea what’s going on, or am I proud to admit that I don’t have any idea what’s going on. I’ll take the later. Now I’m thinking about how I’ll have to look this up. But do I look it up first and create a quick opinion…..oh, his second message is a link to the case in case I haven’t heard of it. Ok. So what I’ll do is respond that I don’t’ have a response yet. Then I’ll read over the information and discuss it with Zanny, she’s very helpful at making things clearer…except for when she makes things more opaque. Is that the correct usage of opaque? I hope so. Ok back to talking about my bike. 
3. I like that it’s kinda a nerd bike. Let me quality. One time I was in a stationary store on mass ave. I was reading a book about bike snobbery. In the book the author listed different type of riders. There was the rider who rides for exercise. The rider that is really a runner but who’s injured so has to ride a bike (ugh). The rider that is just trying to be a hipster. The rider who is trying to shrink his/her carbon foot print. The rider who just rides to commute. And the rider who just rides for pure enjoyment. I am obviously the commuter. They broke down the different type of commuters and I feel into the “nerd” type category. The characteristics were someone who just rides a bike that looks like an old mountain bike that has never really seen a mountain. Basket on back. A bunch of safety lights. A banana seat. Something that the owner has made into pure comfort and utility. Besides the banana seat, that’s my bike!
4. I like that, although I’ve had to fix the gears a bunch, my bike is pretty durable and has lasted a good amount of time. My parents bought me the bike when I moved back from California and I’ve used it ever since. I did actually get to ride it on some trails in the ADKS, but it now has road tires on so it wouldn’t be too useful on a trail. The shocks are also completely shot so they wouldn’t help either. 
5. I like that my bike fits nicely in my class. That is more a nod to my class than the bike, but whatever, this is my stream of consciousness writing.

I guess I should say some things I don’t like about the bike…..but I can’t think of any right now.

Actually, right now I can only feel sad and a little regretful at the fact that next year, I will (hopefully) not ride my bike at all and instead I will be running to school. That would be AWESOME!

Well, that’s more than 500 words. This took me just a couple of minutes. I like it. I will definitely do it again sometime.

But for now, I have to get changed and head home on my durable, utility oriented bike.
Bye.

Signing is fun

Signing is very fun. Someone else and I had a nice time practicing tonight. We took the 3rd lesson quiz and got 100% (although I feel like I took it before). I practiced a little with my coworker. It's hard to just walk into someone's room and start signing, especially when I'm really not that good yet. I signed the sample paragraph that was at the end of lesson 3. She was pretty impressed. So was I.

Oh, quick story about why I love this lifeprint website. I wanted to go to her (my coworker) and tell her that because ultimate was cancelled, I could practice with her for a bit. When I searched the word for Ultimate on lifeprint, the teacher showed the sign for frisbee!

Hand cramps

Today’s challenge was to pen and send a handwritten letter. Obviously I won’t be sending it today, what with it being Sunday and all. It was fun. I’ve actually been eager to write a handwritten letter for some time now even though I absolutely hate my handwriting. And I hate handwriting. To minimize the sloppyness of the letter I typed it out first and then just copied it down. Sure, it’s not as romantic as sitting at a desk stationed near a sunny window in a shadowy room, feather pen moving back and forth while a narrator speaks the words I’m thinking, but it works for me. I was going to write to a friend who lives in Long Island, but instead I wrote to a friend who lives upstate. Even though I’ve wanted to write for a while, I didn’t really know what I was going to write about. I just saw this friend less than a month ago. It’s not like we can’t reach each other by phone or email anytime we have a thought that we need to share. So, what to write about? Well, I did what any other talent-less writer would do; write the letter about writing the letter. It was nice. I think he’ll appreciate it.

Tomorrow will be practicing sign language again. I absolutely love learning how to sign. I’m making my way through lesson 3 on lifeprint. It’s great. I’ve downloaded an app onto my wife’s smartphone and I continue to drop in to my coworker’s classroom to practice. I love it. The end of the 3rd lesson has a practice paragraph, which I can move through pretty quickly. There’s an accompanying video that I can watch to practice reading signs. Reading is kind of difficult right now, especially on a video. It’s not like I can ask a video to slow down (which I could sign if I was talking to an actual person). I hope I can take my signing to the next level when I get through the lessons and take a class or something. I also hope I’m brave enough to actually use it if I ever meet a deaf person. I can see now why my wife is shy to talk to someone in Thai when she meets them, although she did spend more time learning and speaking Thai language. But still, it’s scary.

Non-newvember news: No-shave November is going well. I may try to keep the beard all winter long…even through our Utah visit. My car is sick so I’ll be biking a lot more, which is exciting. We get to go ice-skating this Tuesday and before that we’re having pizza with some family! Oh, and I may become a new uncle this week! And we’ll be visiting my parents this week and our friends are going to be around and we’ll get to hang out with them. Good times this week!

And I’m getting excited for the holiday season!

This week's challenges should be good. I’ll study sign language, write stream of consciousness for at least 500 words, pick up litter wherever I go, do everything with the opposite hand, write a grateful email to someone, and meditate. Guess which one I’m looking forward to the least.

Painting....ugh...

Tonight's challenge was to paint a picture with someone else. I hate painting. I hate painting like I hate yoga and fishing and reading and meditating and other slow moving patience needing activities. I didn't want to do it before I started, I didn't like doing it while I was doing it, and now I don't like writing about it. Ugh.

Yesterday's challenge was to eat nothing but pizza all day! It was awesome. I wish I had been exercising and running these past few weeks so pizza day was more thrilling, but it was still great.

Tomorrow I will write an actual letter to someone. This should be fun. I'm going to write it to a friend I have in Long Island. Maybe then he'll finally reply to one of my communication attempts!

Probably not though....

Ugh, biscotti...

I was very excited about today's challenge up until about 15 minutes ago. Today I was to make something yummy and deliver it to someone. I failed on both accounts.
I decided to make biscotti. It's one of my most favorite things to make and eat. I love it. And wouldn't you know, the NY Times very recently had some new biscotti recipes to try! What luck! I even had a family who I had in mind to be the beneficiary of my baking. One of the people in the family is not eating gluten right now. Normally this would be a problem for biscotti making but not today, there are two recipes on the NY Times page that are gluten free. I chose this one. It seemed harmless.....I was wrong. It's bitter, crumbly (not in the good way), gritty, and just plain bad. They are touted as healthy. Well, I sure won't be eating many of them, that's healthy. But I am going to cover them in chocolate in an effort to salvage something. I won't be delivering them tonight. By the time I'm done with the chocolate it will be too late. If the chocolate doesn't save them I will have to make some more tomorrow and bring them over.

Oh well. Here's one of my favorite videos to cheer me up!

Tomorrow I have to write a speech and give it to myself. What should my speech topic be?

I have a problem...

"No Duh," says my wife.
My problem is that some of these challenges are so involved that I don't have time to do them completely and perfectly. Take the playlist for example. The massive 56 song playlist that I came up with is really just step one in a larger process. Here's how to make a great playlist.

1. Decide on an artist/theme. 
2. Listen to a bunch of the songs to see if you're correct. If you're not correct, repeat step 1. 
3. If you are correct, start selecting songs to choose from. 
4. Listen to the songs you've selected.
5. Start eliminating some of the songs. 
6. Rearrange the order of the songs so the next one compliments the previous one. 
7. Go back to the original list and see if any other songs would fit certain spots better. 
8. Rearrange/delete/add songs to optimize flow and feeling. 
9. Repeat steps 7 & 8 until satisfied. 
10. Put playlist on a portable device and listen to it. 
11. If it is good, burn it to a disc to listen to in the car. 
12. If it is not good, repeat steps 7 & 8 until satisfied. 
13. Edit it to make it middle school appropriate. 
14. Done. 

I am currently in the middle of step 4. How could such a process be squeezed into a day? It's only possible in what I call a "broken-leg-scenario."  Have you ever wanted to do something that you know is a complete waste of time should be way lower on your priority list but you really really want to do it? Then you say to yourself something like, "Someday, if I'm bed ridden and I can't go anywhere, like if I have a broken leg, I'll get X done." That's a broken-leg-scenario. I've never really been able to complete a broken-leg-scenario. Either I'm not really incapacitated and I end up doing something else or I'm so incapacitated that doing anything besides watching TV and sleeping is impossible (either way I end up being happy [i like being sick {i am a very good baby and i always have somebody to take care of me}]).

Today's challenge, create a folder of pictures that make me happy sans Xavier, is similar to the playlist one. I started doing it and after an hour of looking through maybe 5% of our pictures (and picking about 65 of them) I realized that this would have to be a multi-step process. After I go through all my pictures and pick out the top contenders, I'll have to walk away from the process for a while to clear my head of the pics. Then I'll have to go back and pick out the ones that, just by looking at them, make me happy. I will re-blog when the process is nearer to completion.

Here's a sample of the pics I have so far. They are some of the earliest pics from my collection. If you don't see yourself don't worry, I probably haven't met you as of the time the picture was taken (or I've never met you at all). 

When we lived together!

Guess who's room?!

"What are you up to?"

In NYC to pick up a friend...pre-courtship.

I was a different type of awesome back then.

No more dirty room thanks to her (and me).

This is Slide the snake...Say Hi!

I'm being spied on!

First time above the clouds!

Colden slide after the Trap Dike.

Giant.

Her tights match the rope...she's a keeper!

North Lake w/bro.

Oh, and I realized I didn't blog yesterday. Sign language went well. I took a 60 question quiz and got a 100%. The prompts were not just single words but simple phrases. I got all excited thinking I was doing good, then today when I walked by Art I tried to say something but I froze and looked like a moron :-(   Oh well, tomorrow will be better.

Tomorrow's challenge: Make something yummy and bring it to someone! I'm excited for this one. I love baking and I like giving away what I've baked!

Create a playlist highlighting one artist

This started out to be a great challenge. What could be better than sitting around listening to music and making an awesome playlist? I'll tell you what could be better...doing it all in a more comfortable chair. I have spent so much time today hunched over this computer I feel like my back is breaking. Making a playlist is one of my favorite activities, but, like a child given unlimited candy, I went overboard and now I'm tired and ready to be done.
Here's the playlist. It's too big and I'm not totally happy with it. If I have the mental energy to, I will come back to this someday and edit it down to fit on one CD so I can hand it out to people who are interested. In the mean time......I'm going to bed.

The playlist is highlighting Medeski, Martin, and Wood. They are one of my favorite jazz bands.
Song title is listed first, then album title.
If you look up and listen to all these songs, I'll give you 10 points!

1. Beeah - It’s A Jungle In Here - a great way to start an album and a playlist. It has lots of MMW elements including two frantic breakdowns.
2. Where’s Sly? - It’s a Jungle In Here - The feel and sound of this song sound so solid I would have guessed that it was a classic jazz tune created years ago. Excellent crescendos and drop-offs.
3. Sand - It’s a Jungle In Here - Another song that sounds like it should have already been created. One of their better mellow songs.
4. Moti Mo - It’s a Jungle In Here - This song sneaks up on you and before you realize it, your eyes are closed, your head is bopping, and you’re very happy! One of their best songs.
5. Shack - Friday Afternoon In The Universe - This song kinda crawls all over you then explodes at the half way mark. Billy Martin drumming is great.
6. Chubb Sub - Friday Afternoon In The Universe - A song that starts strong, becomes sort of standard, then builds and builds to a great ending.
7. Dracula - Shack Man - Another great mellow song. A very nice/haunting sound follows you through the whole song.
8. Strance Of The Spirit Red Gator - Shack Man - My favorite on this album. Many different uses of percussion and keys and some fat bass to lead you through to the end.
9. Sugar Craft - Combustication - Excellent use of a DJ on this song. Totally groovy and hip.
10. Just Like I Pictured It - Combustication - Very groovy and nice. A good song to walk around with earphones on and a pleasant attitude showing.
11. Nocturne - Combustication - So much atmosphere in this song it could terraform a planet….with lots of trees and woodland sounds.
12. Whatever Happened to Gus - Combustication - Guest vocals on this one. Billy Martin does an amazing job of putting just the write symbols in just the right places. Very crisp and solid bass.
13. Latin Shuffle - Combustication - You spend 6:05 of this song knowing that there’s something coming…and then Chris Wood gives it to you and you forget what the beginning of the songs sounded like.
14. Everyday People - Combustication - It’s hard to ignore such a solid eyes-shut song like this one.
15. No Ke Ano Ahiahi - Combustication - This song sounds like you’re saying goodbye/hello to an island paradise. Either way, you’re happy you’re alive.
16. Sugar Craft (Yuka Honda Remix) - Combustication Remix EP - A fun remix of a great song, which I think is actually hard to accomplish.
17. Your Lady - Tonic - A very classy song showcasing their classy side….with a nice breakdown at the end.
18. Hey Joe - Tonic - The perfect way to say goodbye to a live show.
19. Big Time - The Dropper - A full, heavy song from a full, heavy album.
20. Partido Alto - The Dropper - A groovy song with catchy keys.
21. Note Bleu - The Dropper - A very groovy song with some pleasing drums and bass.
22. The Dropper - The Dropper - A fat, funky song full of fat…and funk.
23. Norah 6 - The Dropper - The perfect end to a full, heavy album…a full, heavy (almost terrifying) song.
24. Uninvisible - Uninvisible - A great funky start to my first MMW album.
25. Your Name Is Snake Anthony - Uninvisible - Guest lyrics on this smooth song. Did he just talk about the Hudson river?
26. Where Have You Been? - Uninvisible - Good use of a person moaning/humming.
27. Nocturnal Transmission - Uninvisible - One of the best bass/drum funk lines ever. At 2:50 another songs takes over. Not as funky, but still good.
28. First Time Long Time - Uninvisible - Oh my goodness, this song makes you want to squirm around in your seat…but in a funky way!
29. Off The Table - Uninvisible - Good use of a ping pong game and eerie space keys to end an album.
30. Anonymous Skulls - End Of The World Party (Just In Case) - I’m tired of writing about the songs. It’s late and I’ve been making playlists all day.  The rest of the songs are good. If you want to know about a specific song, ask me.
31. End Of The World Party - End Of The World Party (Just In Case) -
32. Ice - End Of The World Party (Just In Case) -
33. Midnight Poppies/Crooked Birds - End Of The World Party (Just In Case) -
34. Queen Bee - End Of The World Party (Just In Case) -
35. Let’s go Everywhere - Let’s go Everywhere -
36. Pirates Don’t Take Baths - Let’s go Everywhere -
37. Far East Sweets - Let’s go Everywhere -
38. On An Airplane - Let’s go Everywhere -
39. Let’s Go - Let’s go Everywhere -
40. Old Paint - Let’s go Everywhere - Ok, I have to mention this song. It’s one of their best ever. It’s another song that sounds so perfect it must have been created years ago…but it wasn’t. Go MMW for channeling the universe so well.
41.  Sefrial - Zaebos: Book Of Angels Vol. 11 -
42. Vianuel - Zaebos: Book Of Angels Vol. 11 -
43. Cloud Wars - Radiolarians 1 -
44. Free Go Lily - Radiolarians 1 -
45. Sweet Pea Dreams - Radiolarians 1 -
46. Hidden Moon - Radiolarians 1 -
47. Riffin’ Ed - Radiolarians 2 -
48. Amber Gris - Radiolarians 2 -
49. Amish Pinxtos - Radiolarians 2 -
50. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down - Radiolarians 2 -
51. Chantes Des Femmes - Radiolarians 3 -
52. Satan Your Kindgom Must Come Down - Radiolarians 3 -
53. Kota - Radiolarians 3 -
54. Undone - Radiolarians 3 -
55. Walk Back - Radiolarians 3 -
56. Gwyra Mi - Radiolarians 3 -

Make a t-shirt

Today was great. It started with some leftover challenge from yesterday (sleeping on the floor, which will be repeated tonight!). We ran a 5k in the a.m. and I came in 3rd. Then we had a fun day of fun.

The challenge for today was to make a t-shirt. There were a few bumps on the road to complete this. Neither Fed Ex or Staples will print on the transfer paper I was to use to make the t-shirt. We had to call some friends at 7:30 to see if they had a printer. They did! We went over and hung out for a bit while we printed out stuff. Xavier got to play with their kids and he was acting sooooooo adorable.

After the friendly and helpful visit we went home, ordered pizza, put the boy down, ate the pizza, and made two cool shirts!! I'll have to take pictures and upload them soon, but until then, you can check out xkcd's What If? page to see the logo I used. I love this logo. It has the perfect accompanying picture to one of the worst/best questions ever asked. A t-rex being dropped into a sarlacc, what's not to love!

Tomorrow I need to make a new playlist highlighting a particular artist. It will probably take me several hours :-)

ps - in case you are wondering, xkcd does allow the use of his cartoons for not-for-profit use.

Old School Camp Out!

Today's "challenge" is to sleep on the floor! Who ever came up with sleeping on the floor is a genius. Of course, this is purely a middle class opinion. Some people sleep on the floor because that's all they have. I'm sure they don't approach their daily slumber with the same type of enthusiasm that I have. We have all our blankets laid out to make it as comfortable as possible, although I anticipate a restless night. It's a good thing we have a 5k to run tomorrow morning!

The one bad thing about tonight: I'm being forced to watch The Hobbit :-( The lord of the rings movies are sooooooo bad and sooooo long. They stink on so many levels. I'd love to write a review of them, but I reserve my reviews to quality pieces of art, not terrible pieces of junk. Here's a couple things I don't like about the lotr movies:

1. Too long. Do we really need to watch 3 hours of some morons walking around making bad decision?
2. Too many of them. Really, we need 3 of these movies? 3 movies each over 3 hours long somehow equals at least 20 hours of torture. It's too bad this type of compound math wizardry couldn't have been used for good instead of evil.
3. Too racist. Why is the short fat dwarf character Scottish? I know why, because it's a racist movie with nothing original to say.
4. Too contrived. Hey movie makers, can't you just make it seem like things are happening naturally instead of just writing in more stupid twists that make no sense. "Hey everyone, lets ride horses or walk instead of using this awesome flying bird. That way we'll take a completely unnatural amount of time on our stupid quest."
5. Too played out. Oh look, another old man as a wizard. Oh look, another axe wielding dwarf. Oh look, monsters that drool. Oh look, another movie where people with cool powers don't actually use them for anything productive. Oh look, another "hero" who spends more time being a diaper baby than actually getting things done.

Ok, I said I wasn't going to review the movies and look what I end up doing. One more reason to hate lotr: it makes you hate when you don't feel like hating.

Off to watch what I predict will be one of the crappiest prequels of all time (second only to Prometheus). I wish I had some Oreo's and skim milk, then it would be a true camp-out.

Who knew I could write so much

Today I am to write a review of an artistic performance. I was looking forward to this one. I suppose I out and chosen a play or poem or short video or something, but I’m just going with music. I love listening to music and I love talking about listening to music and I love love love saying why the music I listen to is awesome. There are some difficulties with this challenge, ones that I am kinda eager to face:

1. Which artist to choose. I want to review someone I like so I enjoy the process, but I also want to review someone that others (my faithful blog readers) like/can tolerate so they will dig the linked music.
2. I am not creative. How do I go about writing a review when I have scrabble-fright? It will come out sounding like a 4-year-old wrote it. (Scrabble-fright is a new term I just made up. It’s that thing where a smart person with a slightly above average vocabulary freezes up during a game of scrabble and can only come up with 2-4 letter words.)
3. How can I find some way to let the reader listen to the music without signing up for some privacy-robbing, music-sharing-social-media account? I could find the music first or just burn a bunch of CD’s and hand them out to whoever wants to listen to the music I review.
4. How do I write about anything but The Mars Volta? This is an unanswerable question.
5. If I do write about The Mars Volta, how do I control myself?

So here is my review of The Mars Volta album Frances The Mute.

 

Let me start out by saying I am a huge fan of The Mars Volta. Although I don’t like their two most recent albums as much as their earlier ones, they grew on me very quickly and I listen to them all the time. The first time I heard Frances I liked it right away. At the time, I wasn’t a big fan of ambient noise during songs or in between tracks, but the way The Mars Volta laid out this album changed my mind. This album is not even my favorite Mars Volta album. That goes to The Bedlam In Goliath. Bedlam is a great rock album, but Frances brings you places. You are simultaneously in an infinite open space and a finite dome. You are brought up and down hills, through the woods, and into the wires and mechanics of the instruments making the sounds. The lyrics are meaningful and clever, but they are not needed to enjoy the album. The sounds that the singer makes while singing are more than enough to carry you from place to place. It energizes you and settles you throughout the album making you want more and yet be ok when it ends.

The concept behind Frances The Mute is unique. As wikipedia states: “The story given by the band on the album's concept concerns a diary that had been found in a repossessed car by late sound technician Jeremy Ward, while working as a repo-man. The author of the diary is unknown but appeared to be someone who was adopted and was searching for their birth parents, and who may have suffered from mental illness caused by the death of a loved one. The lyrics for each track on the album are loosely based on characters and life events described in this person's diary.”

I used to be able to find this information on the band's website, but I couldn’t tonight. Needless to say, the wikipedia article is, as far as I am aware, accurate.

Search various lyric sites or songmeanings.com and you’ll find lots of people discussing each track. Breaking them down to really figure out the characters in the story.

Listening to the album I don’t really follow the story. I have, before this review, sat down and read the lyrics while listening to the music, but that was awhile ago and I had since forgotten all the information and clever lines you receive. In my opinion you don’t need to understand the lyrics to appreciate the album. The sound alone is reason enough to listen to it. In fact, I will be framing my song-by-song review more in the sound than the message/lyrics.

Here is the track listing for Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta.

1. Cygnus…..Vismund Cygnus
2. The Widow
3. L’Via L’Viaquez
4. Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: A. Vade Mecum
5. Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: B. Pour Another Icepick
6. Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: C. Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)
7. Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: D. Con Safo
8. Cassandra Geminni: A. Tarantism
9. Cassandra Geminni: B. Plan A Nail In The Navel Stream
10. Cassandra Geminni: C. Faminepulse
11. Cassandra Geminni: D. Multiple Spouse Wounds
12. Cassandra Geminni: E. Sarcophagi

Here's is a youtube playlist of all the songs. I think it's missing The Widow. Oh well.
Enjoy!

 

 

 

Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus

          The album opens with a little acoustic guitar and within a minute it’s blazing through Spanish lyrics with whaling guitars and fast drumming. The verses are full and slick. The breakdowns between verse and chorus are thin and sparse. The singer, Cedric Bixler-Zaval, leads the music through ups and downs nicely. Just after 4 minutes the songs slows down significantly. Omar Rodrigues-Lopez, the primary guitarist and producer, slowly brings the song back to speed as the drums and bass follow along. The next 4 minutes the song works towards the crescendo moment when it returns to a blazing rock song. This only last a minute though before the songs starts to tumble away. Random street sounds replace the instruments and a creepy, repeating, circling, beeping noise takes over while cars and electrons pass by. The sounds wind down and the song ends at just over 13 minutes.

 

The Widow

          The most radio-friendly song on the album. Clear start and finish, and a music video to go along with it. This song definitely relies more on lyrics and vocals than instruments and sounds, although the instrumentation is very solid. It’s a slower song than Cygnus….and it starts to tumble out of control at around 3 ½ minutes. After hearing about the shady man in the song the listener has about 2 minutes of circling beeping noise sans passing cars.

L’Via L’Viaquez

          The noise from The Widow continues into this song. Heavy reverb and drums go for just over half a minute before the kicking into a fast, bass heavy song. Most of the lyrics are in Spanish. The sound is made even fuller by the fact that I can’t understand what is being talked about! Cedric inserts well timed moans/groans/yells to accompany the tiny peaks between verses. Then, very suddenly, at about 2 ½ minutes the songs takes a turn. He sings in English over slow wavy guitars. The drums turn hollow. He speaks of his mother. Within a minute the guitars are back in full force. The drums are driving the song further up and up. The Spanish returns and the song is back the way it was a minute ago. This pattern of sudden stops and fast rises continues again. About halfway through the song, 6:30, he sings of not being afraid while the drums bring the listener down a deep well. At the bottom, a gong sounds, the drums go hollow, and the singing is draped with reverb. The entire pace of the song slows. A clean piano sound comes in at about 9 minutes. The guitars fly back and forth. At 11 minutes the instruments stop and the vocals wither away and die like a radio that’s slowly losing its batteries. In the end, the only thing left are the sounds of a peaceful forest.

Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: A. Vade Mecum

          The forest sounds are slowly taken over by a dreary symphony of far off instruments. Ghostly woos join in. The woos ebb and flow from peaceful to painful. After 4 minutes an acoustic guitar tries to bring order. Horns follow. After a total of 5 minutes a mellow song forms. A theme is previewed as the song meanders through an open field. Mentions of mothers, children, pain and suffering give the song a dire feeling. The song breaks down as the horns come back in. Guitars march along while electrons fly by. The song becomes more triumphant as the singer talks of everyone turning away. At 9 minutes most of the instruments fly away and what’s left are sounds of an open field with a few spurting horns and keys. The song slows to a sound just above white noise. However, with 2 minutes left the white noise starts to be over taken by the sound of a song that will appear later in the album.

 

Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: B. Pour Another Icepick

          The song starts with a hard stop from the last song. Fast drums and even faster (but quiet) guitars flank the singer as he talk of becoming one of the others. Some sort of vocal effect creates ridges in the vocals as he sings of two people from his past. He is brought to his knees. He sings as though he is being taken up higher. The music rushes him higher and higher before pausing for him to say, “No there’s not light, in the darkest of your furthest reaches.” The music holds him up there as his voice echoes throughout the expansive world he has been brought to. The guitars step back as the horns bring him higher again. At just over 4 minutes the guitars and bass come in very heavy as he sings of shackles freeing you. The music slams you over and over.

Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: C. Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)

          The song starts as the slamming from the last song speeds up. No longer slammed, you are now being driven through the scenery. The drums and guitars let you go to flail in all directions. The echoing lyrics are speaking directly too you. Woos and moans, hisses and screams, ascend and descend as the lead guitar comes back in. Although the end of the song is 4 minutes away, the drums start to pound away at the ending. The guitar goes in and out. The singer tempts you to stay and partake of the events at hand. At 3 minutes the song picks back up. It thins out before reaching the summit. Eventually the instruments start to break down. They try to leave as the lyrics try to stay. The instruments return. The singer pours his soul into the ocean of sound. He repeats come cryptic lyrics over and over. Percussion takes over as the guitar dissolves into reverb.

Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore: D. Con Safo

          The beginning of Con Safo marks the end of Miranda. The singer repeats the lyrics that ended the last song. This time the lyrics are up front and leading the instruments. The horns and keys follow close behind the vocals. They rise high as the crescendo reaches it’s maximum height. Although not quite in utter space, we are now clearly out of this world. With very sharp horns the song starts to tumble downward.

Cassandra Geminni: A. Tarantism

          The horns take over and bring the song spiraling downward. The bass joins in as the guitar takes hold. The drums aid. Soon they all subside. The vocals come back. There’s nothing you can do. The air is cold. The guitar starts a tiny riff. The drums beat to signal the end. The vocals become whispers. There is still a song there, but it’s being broken down. Over the next few minutes it will break and be rebuilt. At just over 5 minutes the bass changes tempo. The end may be near. Sounds fly by as the drums fade in and out. Around 7 ½ minutes the song slows.

 

Cassandra Geminni: B. Plan A Nail In The Navel Stream

          The only thing constant is the bass. The guitar whips by you, pulling you around. The drums march along next to you. For the next 5 minutes you are being moved through space. There are no vocals. You don’t know if you are moving around these objects or if they’re moving around you.

 

Cassandra Geminni: C. Faminepulse

          There is not discernible song yet. The drums are fighting the horns. The bass is still there. The guitar whizzes by. The chaos increases until the horns win out. At just under 2 minutes a song starts to emerge with the horns leading the way. The bass and drums have teamed up to drive you faster and faster. The guitar has gotten on board as well. There is a familiar sound. You’ve heard this song before. Brick by brick the songs is built. You are driven faster and faster upward to where you were before. The driving stop and the drums hold you in space.

 

Cassandra Geminni: D. Multiple Spouse Wounds

          “No there’s not light, in the darkest of your furthest reaches.” Miranda visits again. You are surrounded by familiarity, but only for a moment.

Cassandra Geminni: E. Sarcophagi

          Acoustic guitars signal the beginning of the end. The album ends the way it began. You wonder: Did it even happen? 

Meet someone new

Today's challenge was to go out of my way to meet someone new. I do not consider it a success. I did meet someone new, a teacher at my school, but I didn't really have to go out of my way to meet her. We chatted a bit about her position at the school and the kids she worked with, but that's about it. Nothing about her or her non-school life. I had considered stopping in a random business on my run home and striking up a conversation with whoever I meet, but I feel that that would have been too much business and not enough "get to know ya" (which is what it was with the teacher).

I had a neutral feeling about this challenge all day. If you think about it, this is the most anti-me challenge of the month tonight. I usually go out of my way to avoid meeting/running into someone. I hate being inconvenienced. I strive for comfort. Going "off trail" was never my thing unless I was actually going off trail. Meeting new people is also not what I look for in a good day. Just an all around meh experience.

I told all my kids about Newvember and the different things I've done so far. They thought it was pretty cool. It ended up just turning into a conversation about sign language. I got to show off what I know so far which felt pretty good.

On a running note, I ran home from work for the third time day. It was good. It's still a bit of a struggle to run with whatever is going on with my lungs/chest, but it is still better than biking. When I got home I ran through a practice "sink shower" to see how it would work at school. I'll definitely need to tweek it to figure out how to freshen up without making a mess. I'm optimistic!


Tomorrow I have to write a review of an artistic work. I was originally going to critique TV On The Radio's first album, but I may change my mind since I'm not too impressed with the album.

Change the lyrics of a song...harder than it seems

Today's' challenge was to change the lyrics of a song to compliment someone. This was an idea I had when coming up with ideas to have. It was inspired by a friend/coworker who changed the lyrics of some rap song to make it about consent instead of....well....what rap songs are usually about.....not consent. 
I was looking forward to this one until I started to think about how hard it was going to be. My creativity doesn't find a home in a project like this. I didn't know where to start, which is always the hardest thing about writing. I didn't know who I wanted to compliment or what song I wanted to use. I thought it would be a good idea to write a pretend email to a person complimenting them on something. I decided to compliment all my friends instead of isolating one. I wrote an email that served as an outline for all the things I like about my various friends. I still needed  a song though. I opened up itunes and started playing some songs and watching some music videos. The songs that I thought of using were all way too long for me. I knew I wanted to have a version of whatever song I used linked in my post so I took the risk of going onto youtube and searching around. I only got distracted for about 20 minutes, which is pretty short for a youtube trip. Somehow I stumbled on to Tom Waits while looking around. It was one of my favorite songs: Make It Rain. So I found my song, I had my outline, now I just needed......most of the work done for me! Enter my lovely bride. She pulled up a chair (after I begged her to help and moved the chair for her) and proceeded to come up with the new version line by line. I can take some writing credit though for doing the initial work and coming up with lines when she couldn't. 
I think it came out pretty good. 
I tried to think of the qualities that a bunch of my friends have. If you read this and think that I missed you, you're wrong, you're somewhere in the lyrics. 
My co-writer thinks we should learn our new version and sing it for you.....that will never ever happen.
First is the Toms Waits version with a video of him performing the song on Letterman. It's an amazing performance. 
After that is our version. 
Enjoy!


Make It Rain
She took all my money
And my best friend
You know the story
Here it comes again
I have no pride
I have no shame
You got to make it rain
Make it rain!

Since you're gone
Deep inside it hurts
I'm just another sad guest
On this dark earth

I want to believe
In the mercy of the world again
Make it rain
Make it rain!

The nite's too quiet
Stretched out alone
I need the whip of thunder
And the wind's dark moan
I'm not Able, I'm just Cain
Open up the heavens
Make it rain!

I'm close to heaven
Crushed at the gate
They sharpen their knives
On my mistakes

It's the same old world
But nothing looks the same
Make it rain
You got to make it rain

Without your love
Without your kiss
Hell can't burn me
More than this
I'm burning up all this pain
Put out the fire
Make it rain!

I'm born to trouble
I'm born to fate
Inside a promise
I can't escape
What she's done, you can't give it a name
Make it rain! [2x]

Got to make it rain
Make it rain
I stand alone here! [2x]
Make it rain! [2x]

-Tom Waits
-Real Gone

Good friend
We both like running
Though I run slow
You are much faster
Than I can go
It makes me faster
In the end
You are a real good friend
A real good friend

Since we met
Everything is good
I’m a happy guy
Walkin’ the neighborhood

I want to say
What I said again
You are a real good friend
A real good friend

You know who’s funny
You know who’s hip
You laugh right with me
You joke and quip

We’re always laughing,
That is our trend
You’re a real good friend

We share our dinner
Your home or mine
We talk all evening
About the times

What I believe, I can’t pretend
You’re a real good friend
A real good friend

Without your help
Without your thoughts
I couldn’t teach
These little tots
You do the work, your mind you lend
You know what I think
You’re a real good friend

We play your games
We play your cards
We watch your movies
We laugh so hard
All those late nights
We got to spend
You’re a real good friend
A real good friend

You’re a real good friend
A real good friend
You’re a real good friend
A real good friend

You are a…

Real good friend.
------
Tomorrow I need to go out of my way to meet somebody new. Meh...

Sign Language Is Awesome!!

The most recent Wolverine movie. Winter Carnival. The most recent Indiana Jones movie. The new Primus album. Going to the mechanic. Congress. Riding a bike.
What do these things have in common?
They're all disappointments.

XAP, Pizza, Charlie Hunter, ultimate, disc golf, American Sign Language.
What do these things have in common?
They're all totally awesome.

Today's challenge is to spend an hour practicing another language. I have chosen American Sign Language (ASL).

My initial reason for choosing ASL we pretty immature: I want to be able to talk about people in their presence without them knowing. Now that I'm learning, I'd like to actually do some good with it. I'm not really sure what that good is, but I'm open to suggestions.

I'm a little hesitant to say that I'm learning/practicing ASL. In researching how to go about learning I stumbled upon a great page for beginners to learn some basic ASL. He (Dr. Bill) is very clear in commenting that ASL is different than signed English. I hope to learn ASL but I'm a little nervous that I will fall back to signed English or Signed Exact English (SEE). ASL is it's own language with different grammar rules and word orders. It is more than just hand signals. It incorporates facial gestures and body movement as well.

The website I found is fantastic. It has lots of pictures and short video clips of so many of the words and phrases. It has lesson plans with a very logical path to learning the most useful words. The creator of the site is an ASL professor for California State University in Sacramento. His online persona is very friendly. The way he talks about ASL puts me at ease and makes me think I could actually learn it!

I think I will devote some time each day to practicing. I'm doing pretty good on lesson one.

The biggest challenge of them all

Today's challenge: Be 10 minutes early for an appointment.
Reasons why it's challenging:

1. The appointment was church which, even though I like going, is an obligation and therefore something I would rather avoid. 
2. We had guests that I really wanted to hang around with. 
3. Someone else wasn't really pushing to go leaving the entire weight of the let's-get-going-ness to me. 
4. Daylight savings time kicked in and messed up my internal clock. 

Results: We bailed on going to our meeting at 9am so we could hang out with our friends. No regrets there, we had a really fun morning. I decided the appointment that would satisfy the challenge could  be going to church at our friends' ward at 1pm. We ended up leaving late but we got there on time. I told myself that since we're always late, being on time is actually as good as being early....but just to make sure I was successful today, I made a dinner appointment with our friends for which we arrived about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Challenge met!

Feelings: I am excited to do a new thing each day, but these challenges would definitely be more rewarding if I was doing the same challenge each day during the month. Perhaps for December I will choose one or two and do them over and over.

Extra: As if doing a daily challenge and blogging about it isn't enough, I'm also growing a beard! Here are some pics of me with a beard in case you were wondering what this will look like.
Enjoy!

Look how serious I look!

Look how serious this horse looks!

Tomorrow is the official start of studying sign language for an hour every Monday. I'm most excited about this challenge!

3 rounds of handstand practice. 15 minutes each round.

Today's Newvember challenge/activity/event was some handstand practice. I was excited about this until I had to start doing them. I used to really like practicing handstands during my CrossFit days, but with no upper body strength left, they were pretty miserable. I did the first set in the AM, around 9am. The headstands I did as a warmup were ok, but I wasn't comfortable with the amount of blood rushing to my head. I was able to extend my legs fully and had enough balance to stay there until my face felt like it was going to explode. The actual handstands were ok, but my wrists started to hurt towards the end. I got some help from a pretty girl who kept my legs a little straight while I tried to activate some magical set of muscles in my body that would prevent me from tipping over in either direction. I think I was able to do a legit handstand for about 2-3 seconds. Not bad I think.

The second set was done later that night. No real difference in the outcome. I think I got a few more seconds added on to my best effort. I'll say 4-5 seconds was the best I would muster.

The third set will have to be done later. I'll take advantage of the one hour we get because of daylight savings time and do them just before the day ends.

This would be a much better and more exciting challenge if I was doing it more often. Otherwise it's just an interesting and new way to make my back hurt!

On another note, today was awesome. Although I woke up with a pretty severe case of the pizza fats (too much pizza the night before) which prevented me from going for a run, I had a great time playing with my little guy and wife lady. When the lazy bums finally woke up we had blueberry/walnut pancakes and casually got ready for our day.
We headed down the lawyers house so we could use his parking pass, took the red line into the city and exited just in time to see the duck parade go by the park. I got to see the World Series trophy, a bunch of players who I don't know, one player who I do know (Ortiz) and the Dropkick Murphy's singing their "for Boston" song.
After a successful parade viewing we headed over to the aquarium and had a very satisfying time checking out all the sea life they have. The little guy slept strapped to his mommy so we were actually able to look at the exhibits instead of just chase him around....which was good because it was very crowded.
Afterwards we headed over to the north end. I got to go to a store that is owned by the father of one of my students. Then we ate at Rabias Italian Seafood & Oyster Bar. It was excellent. I had the Vermont Delicious Red Apple Ravioli with Figs covered in a creamy Gorgonzola sauce and aged Romano cheese. It was out of this world. Best restaurant in the north end. Second best Italian restaurant in Boston. We got cannoli's and gelato at this place before heading home. 
The lazy bums are out at some wedding event and we are babysitting their little girl. 
Overall a great day!

First train ride!

New camera setting let's me take good pictures in the dark aquarium light.

Bubbles!

The gang looking contemplative.

Getting ready...

penguin butt...

swimming away!

Tomorrow I have to be 10 minutes early to an appointment.....I feel my first incomplete Newvember challenge coming on...

Happy NEWvember

Today is the first day of Newvember!
"You spelled November wrong."
No, I simply changed the spelling to reflect all the cool NEW things I'll be doing this month.
"Oh."
I understand it's exciting, but try to contain your enthusiasm.
"So everything you do in Newvember will be a new activity that you've never done before?"
No, not entirely.
"Then what the crap?"
 Well, a buddy of mine sent me a list of activities to do in the 11th month. It was a collaborative list so I added to it. Ever hear of google doc's?
"Google has doctors?!"
No. Doc's is short for documents. It's actually called google drive now, probably to avoid mistakes like this.
"I don't want a doctor from google to work on me."
I don't think it's anything you have to worry about.
"I also don't want my doctor to need to google anything to help me."
That does seem a bit disconcerting.
"Seriously, if a doctor needs to google something they should have their license revoked."
Is this someting you have personal experience with?
"Um....uh......lets talk about  Newvember."
Ah yes, the point of this post. So, each day in November I will do something a little different. Most things I've never done before. I will try to blog each day to report in on how things are going. My blog posts will probably not be in this format, but you never know, maybe I'll continue this duologue with a pretend character for the whole month.
"What do you mean 'pretend character'? Are you going to invite someone else to be in on this conversation?"
No, you are the pretend character!
"WTF!"
I know!!
"So I'm just some character you made up? I only exist in your head? I'm not real?"
Yup.
"So what was this whole bit about me and my drama with doctors?"
I don't know, just seemed to make sense at the moment.
"So you're really just....talking to yourself....online?"
Yeah bascially.
"Don't you think that's kinda crazy?"
No, it's just a tool some people use when they write.
"So I'm a tool?"
Um....uh....lets talk more about Newvember! Today I took a new route to work. It was fun. I feel like I didn't see the usual cars I normally see. I was a little rushed because I left late, but everything worked out fine. Today's activity wasn't that exciting, I'll admit. It's hard to write deeply on it. Tomorrow I will practice hand stands 3 times for 15 minutes each time. That should conjure up more feelings.
"Let's hope so."
Well, it would be fun to sit here and keeping typing and talking, but the phone which provides our internet connection is needed by my spouse. It's time to post.
"Even with all the spelling/grammar errors?"
Take the good and the bad.
"Way to be brave."
Thanks.
Until tomorrow....