Every once and a while I just stumble onto some random song or band that turns out to be pretty cool. I love it when that happens. My latest find is Silversun Pickups - Swoon.
This album is pretty cool. It's got a 90's alternative feel, with some indie sounds too. It's mostly high energy, mid tempo stuff that has great grooves. Iv'e been enjoying it for the last couple of days and think it's really worth a listen or two. Or seventeen or eighteen...anyways, check it out. You can listen to the whole album for free on their myspace page.
Highlight tracks:
Panic Switch - High energy for sure. Kicks ass.
Draining - Moody, slower but nice and powerful.
Let me know what you think!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
My Detailed Description of my great trip to Moab (part 2)
Ok, due to popular demand...here is the rest of my Moab trip.
After watching the boy get bit by the dog, we drove the 6 hours to Moab. We found a campsite in a canyon about 5 miles out of town and set up camp. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and right around 100 degrees. We went into Arches National Park, and hiked a few short hikes that afternoon. The Park really is quite a sight to see. The rock just seems to cut right out from the dessert floor into the sky. I'm not sure any of the pictures I took can really do justice to the immense size of the rock formations.
We decided to do the two hardest hikes first thing in the morning, one on Wed. and one on Thursday. We are smart, becuase by 8am it is already near 80 degrees...
So Wed. we went to the Delicate arch, which is about 3 miles roundtrip. It was a moderately challenging hike, with great scenery and the ending payoff at the arch was awesome. I was surprised at how many people did not carry much water with them. John,Chad and myself all wore camelbacks, and carried water bottles with us. I drank all of my water by the time we returned to the car at noon. There were Grandma's there with grandkids who had a half bottle of water with them on the way up....good luck with that!
We hiked our butts off on Wed. We hiked all day up until about 4pm. We then went to the visitor's center, where they played a 15 minute movie about the park. We enjoyed/slept through 2 sittings of the movie as we enjoyed the air conditioning.
On Thursday, we went to Negro Bill's Canyon. (Yes that is the official name of it.) This was a great hike that is outside of the park, and is a must-see if you make it to Moab. It is a 5 mile roundtrip hike, that takes you down by a small river. You have to hike close to the river, and some serious undergrowth, and as you travel further in, there are places where you have to cross the river. Definetly some fun there. At the end of the canyon, is the country's 6th largest natural land bridge. It was awesome! We were dead tired by the time we got there, but it was really worth the hard work. There was a natural spring that cut through the rock, and you can tell that not many people hike back to that arch.
After we crawled back to the car, we decided to spend the afternoon driving to the canyonlands, which are about 15 miles from Moab. We drove into the park and stopped off to enjoy plenty of great veiws, even though our feet and legs were totally tired from all of the hiking.
That night, we decided to drink heavily and go to sleep. (Always a nice option.) I awoke at 4am to rain pounding on my tent. It rained from 4am to 8am that day. We woke up at 8, not ready to pack up yet, so we drove into town. We enjoyed breakfast at the "Pancake Haus!" (yes the exclamation point is needed..) Then we returned to camp, packed up the muddy tents and drove home.
All in all, a great trip. Definelty worth traveling to Moab and enjoying the outdoors.
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Detailed Description of my Great Visit to Moab
Ok, so it's probably not going to be that detailed, but the visit certainly was great. I went to Moab, Utah a couple of weeks ago with my friends, John and Chad. Let me kick it off by what happened during the first 40 minutes of the trip...
We decided to leave John's house in Morrison, and head up to Frisco where we would get a greasy gut-bomb McD's breakfast sandwich. Next thing I know, John decides he doesn't want to wait until Frisco and pulls off at the Idaho Springs exit. We find the Mcdonalds/Gas station, and get out of the car. A black volvo pulls up next to me on the passenger side as we get out. We go inside, the guy at the counter says" can I help you?" I said, "just a second, I'm deciding." Then I wait, and tell him I want my gut-bomb breakfast sandwich. It nearly instantly appears in my hand, as if God himself told Mcdonalds to have it ready for me. I paid, thanked the worker and walked by John and Chad as I went to the door. Here's where it gets interesting...I push open the door to see a wild scene....
There's a man in his 50's, standing in the gas station parking lot, with a good sized bulldog (I think it was a bulldog) in a choke hold. Yes that's correct, a chokehold. Standing next to him is an older hippie-looking stoner dude who is just looking at him and the dog. Next to him is his stoner looking hippie-wife ( I presume..) After my jaw hangs open for a minute, I realize that Chad and John have joined me, both with similar looks of astonishment on their faces. Only then, do I notice a 13/14? year old boy, who is sitting on the curb, with blood running down his arm. He is not screaming or crying, just sort of moaning to himself. Then I notice two other random people taking in the whole scene. Obviously, this kid was attacked by the dog.
My focus returns to the guy with the dog in the chokehold. He says to the hippie guy"Are you ready? He's about out cold and I'm going to set him down. Then he's all yours" The hippie guy sort of nods his head in some sort of stony agreement, and the man starts to lower to dog to the ground. Now, a couple of things enter my head. One, the boy seems to be ok, and I have no emergency medical training, so I am not going to focus on him at the moment. Two, the dog is NOT unconscious, and the man is about to release him. I'm thinking, "either that dog is going to attack the guy who had him in a head-lock, or he's going to attack myself or one of my friends. And all I have to fend him off is a greasy, soggy bag with my gut-bomb egg mcmuffin sandwich in it."
As the man goes to lower the dog, he looks right at me and says, "did anyone call 911?" I figured that one of the other witnesses had already done so, but I guess not. I walked immidiatly back into the gas station, and went to the counter. I asked the girl to "call 911 cause a kid was attacked by a dog." She looked at me and pointed to some dork who seemed to be the gas station manager. She said"he already did". I looked at the dork/manager, who had some white towels in his hand. I followed him back out into the parking lot where he attended to the still moaning boy. The dog was laying down on the ground next to the hippie guy, and the other headlock guy was giving him dirty looks and telling him he better "keep his f'ing dog inline." I couldn't agree more.
Now, John had made it into the car, and was waiting for Chad and I to get in so we could get the hell out of there. I looked down and saw the black volvo, with the rear door open, and a dog dish sitting on the ground. It was then I realized that the kid must have interrupted the dog as he was going to get a drink, and the dog was extremely upset. So he took it out on the kid's arm. I asked John to back out the car, so Chad and I could get in. He did, we climbed in the car and drove down the road. We looked at eachtoher for a minute....then we began to review the previous 4 and a half minutes of our lives. No one could touch his greasy gut-bomb sandwich.
We hit the interstate, and somehow our stomachs took over. We ate the gut-bomb sandwiches and left for Moab.
We decided to leave John's house in Morrison, and head up to Frisco where we would get a greasy gut-bomb McD's breakfast sandwich. Next thing I know, John decides he doesn't want to wait until Frisco and pulls off at the Idaho Springs exit. We find the Mcdonalds/Gas station, and get out of the car. A black volvo pulls up next to me on the passenger side as we get out. We go inside, the guy at the counter says" can I help you?" I said, "just a second, I'm deciding." Then I wait, and tell him I want my gut-bomb breakfast sandwich. It nearly instantly appears in my hand, as if God himself told Mcdonalds to have it ready for me. I paid, thanked the worker and walked by John and Chad as I went to the door. Here's where it gets interesting...I push open the door to see a wild scene....
There's a man in his 50's, standing in the gas station parking lot, with a good sized bulldog (I think it was a bulldog) in a choke hold. Yes that's correct, a chokehold. Standing next to him is an older hippie-looking stoner dude who is just looking at him and the dog. Next to him is his stoner looking hippie-wife ( I presume..) After my jaw hangs open for a minute, I realize that Chad and John have joined me, both with similar looks of astonishment on their faces. Only then, do I notice a 13/14? year old boy, who is sitting on the curb, with blood running down his arm. He is not screaming or crying, just sort of moaning to himself. Then I notice two other random people taking in the whole scene. Obviously, this kid was attacked by the dog.
My focus returns to the guy with the dog in the chokehold. He says to the hippie guy"Are you ready? He's about out cold and I'm going to set him down. Then he's all yours" The hippie guy sort of nods his head in some sort of stony agreement, and the man starts to lower to dog to the ground. Now, a couple of things enter my head. One, the boy seems to be ok, and I have no emergency medical training, so I am not going to focus on him at the moment. Two, the dog is NOT unconscious, and the man is about to release him. I'm thinking, "either that dog is going to attack the guy who had him in a head-lock, or he's going to attack myself or one of my friends. And all I have to fend him off is a greasy, soggy bag with my gut-bomb egg mcmuffin sandwich in it."
As the man goes to lower the dog, he looks right at me and says, "did anyone call 911?" I figured that one of the other witnesses had already done so, but I guess not. I walked immidiatly back into the gas station, and went to the counter. I asked the girl to "call 911 cause a kid was attacked by a dog." She looked at me and pointed to some dork who seemed to be the gas station manager. She said"he already did". I looked at the dork/manager, who had some white towels in his hand. I followed him back out into the parking lot where he attended to the still moaning boy. The dog was laying down on the ground next to the hippie guy, and the other headlock guy was giving him dirty looks and telling him he better "keep his f'ing dog inline." I couldn't agree more.
Now, John had made it into the car, and was waiting for Chad and I to get in so we could get the hell out of there. I looked down and saw the black volvo, with the rear door open, and a dog dish sitting on the ground. It was then I realized that the kid must have interrupted the dog as he was going to get a drink, and the dog was extremely upset. So he took it out on the kid's arm. I asked John to back out the car, so Chad and I could get in. He did, we climbed in the car and drove down the road. We looked at eachtoher for a minute....then we began to review the previous 4 and a half minutes of our lives. No one could touch his greasy gut-bomb sandwich.
We hit the interstate, and somehow our stomachs took over. We ate the gut-bomb sandwiches and left for Moab.
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