Winter's Return & Spring's Training

The rain from last week had brought the earthworms out of the soil, and they lay stretched across my parking pad and sidewalk, bloated, drowning, and stinking. Today, the local news said we're expecting snow, and I imagine I'll get home tonight to find white crusted earthworms scattered across the pavement.


The cold weather is supposed to stay a few days just to make room for more rain by the end of the week, so immediately my hopes of bike commuting are gone. Ah well...it's early. The actuality of Spring will finally catch up with the calendar, and when it does, I'll be ready.

Spring was in effect this weekend at least, and we milked it. Saturday we had to go do SAT testing in the morning. I managed to finish reading No Country For Old Men before the first half of the test was over and had to run out to the car for my backup book (another stupid vampire book in the series I can't stop reading). After the testing, we headed to my brother's house to hang out for the afternoon. We wound up taking a hike through their local park that afternoon (that's my brother in the first pic, looking like he's ready to strangle mother nature and curse the sun) and heading out for lunch afterward. It's painfully obvious to me how much worse of shape I'm in than I was just last fall. This fact was demonstrated yet again when we went hiking the next morning down in Hocking Hills (second pic). Still, I survived.

After the hike I went over to The North Market to do some meat shopping and loaded up on some dead cow at Blue's Creek Farm. They were really cool, taking lots of time to answer my questions (animals are free range, free fed, are taken to slaughter weekly and put down using a .22 or stun gun) even though the market was packed. I hit up The Fish Guys for some salmon to grill that night, and then stopped to grab a piece of baklava on my way out. Then it was more shopping before making dinner (the aforementioned salmon along with steamed broccoli and a small spinach salad) and watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in Seven Pounds (not bad).

This morning I had the idea of hiring Kevin Smith to come in and play me for a week since I really can't afford to take a week off right now. If he put on a bald wig, muttered sarcastically and just clicked away at his keyboard and mouse all day, I don't think anyone would notice he's not me. Wonder how much that would set me back?

Die Hard 2, Whitesnake, and Sweet Vampire Love

Die Hard 2 is coming to a silent end while I sit in bed and type this. Silent, because I just want the TV on, but don't really want to hear it. That, and Jen is trying to sleep. Hopefully she finds the clicking of keys comforting. Most times I'm a very loud typist, almost as if I'm trying to actually push the keys through the keyboard. So good luck, Jen-E-Jen.

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The other day Rolling Stone sent me a free issue, trying to entice me back to their little mag. It's been something like a year since I let my subscription run out, and I just never bother re-upping. For the most part, they just weren't writing about music that I cared about. They've stripped down the size of the magazine, going with a more traditional size, but everything inside seemed to be about the same.

Case and point is the face that the issue they sent me that included their five star review of the new Springsteen record. Five Stars? Now there's a man I just won't ever get. Sure, there's something appealing about The E Street Band, and their big blustery productions, but it all sounds so immediately dated and (gasp) cheesy. Now, I don't know what the new album sounds like, so I can't comment on it, but with a little luck I'll make it through '09 without the experience. If they have to say that this is the best thing he's done since the 70's, my only question is "What the fuck has the guy been doing for 35 years?"

Prompted by the magazine's arrival to go check out their website, I had to see what their list said the top albums of the year were. They had my favorite album of the year (TV On the Radio's "Dear Science") listed as number one, but quickly rounded out the top ten with an outtakes album released by Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Metallica, and a Coldplay album that I'm not a fan of, but need to give another chance.

I realize that lists are created in order to get people talking and arguing about what should be on it and what should be off, and so I try not to get sucked in. What it does do is point out to me how disconnected I've become from so much of what is going on in music, which is a bit paradoxical since I feel more connected to what I'm listening to than I have in years. I feel like I'm getting old and crotchety, sitting around complaining about all the pseudo-punk bands, and sensitive skinny jean clad emo boys making music these days. I don't want to be that guy, but I just can't pretend I'm into Be Your Own Pet.

Screw 'em. Where did I put my Whitesnake Greatest Hits disc? It's time to rock.

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I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris like they're going out of style. They're the books that the HBO series True Blood is based on, and my love of the show sent me to the books. The first book was a bit hard to get through, because it was essentially the first season. It was kind of tough reading what I had just seen because i have the tendency to get hung up on the differences. The second and third books have been a lot more fun.

Oh, they're complete trash. They're simple, silly, over the top, a bit girly, and a pretty good time. And, like all good junk food, they go fast.