They'll Need a Crane

Last weekend Darcy and I watched as a smaller crane, put together this much larger crane right near our house. There were about 10-20 people gathered to watch. In Montana, construction on this scale is big news since we never get to see it, at least not downtown. In 2009 We'll have a fancy new bank, but now we have a neat crane.

I finished AC/DC and have now moved on to The Advantage (Wikipedia here) after a brief stint of even more Aceyalone and a single track from Adina Howard"Freak Like Me." I saw The Advantage a few years back opening for Pinback, and they blew Pinback out of the water. They play covers of old NES games as a full on band. And one of their names is Ben Milner, so they must be alright.

To pass the time, and fully wax nostalgic, I've been playing old NES games over at the site vNES where you can play all your favorite old Nintendo games right from your browser. Top 5 games I've been playing? 1. Excitebike 2. The Marios 3. Contra 4. Duck Tales 5. Battletoads. I'm realizing that I played lots and lots of Nintendo (or No-Friend-O as we used to call it) when I was younger, since I still remember so much about so many games.

Speaking of browsers, Firefox 3 came out today! Go get that right here! They might set a world record of downloads in one day. Plus, its a huge improvement to an already great piece of software. I just got it and its running great, despite a few of my add-ons to work. The only one I'm really hoping the fix fast is DownThemAll.

Alright, back to the games.

What More Can I Say?

This Is Not 'Nam, Dude, There Are Rules

In the beginning of listening to all my songs alphabetically, I assumed it would be a straightforward thing. But it has been brought up by several parties that people are confused as to how this will work, so here's a quick primer:

Rule 1. Whenever I'm listening to music alone, I'll continue listening in the alphabetical order. If other people around me are ok with it, I'll continue in their presence. If not, we switch to the standby of iTunes shuffle. This is more preferable to me, because it will force me to actively listen, as opposed to being distracted by conversation/games/grilling. Also, it will spare my wife and friends the horror of listening to 3 hours of Phillip Glass in a row. Not that Phillip Glass is awful, I'd argue the contrary, but it isn't exactly party music.

Rule 2. I will continue to import music into my library, but I will only listen to it if it falls ahead of me in the list. If I happen to import another ABBA album, as an example, I won't go back and listen to it until I finish with this challenge. I don't anticipate this being a problem until I'm ready for this to be over.

Rule 3. I'll only listen to music in this challenge when I'm in the room and listening. No turning it on and going outside or downstairs and coming back hours later. I'll actually listen to everything in my playlist. Exceptions for quick trips, like taking out the trash, which takes less than 20 seconds.

I think that should about do it. Let me know if I'm missing some important detail, or you think I'm leaving myself a huge loophole. I don't think I am. Right now AC/DC's Back in Black is on its last track. I think I'll be on AC/DC for awhile, and I don't mind. I'm glad that Back in Black came first, because it got me in the mood for more. I'll have 4 more albums from them before I move on.

OK, now its back off to work.

Carying on with the Challenge

So today I'm continuing on with the A-Z challenge and am deep into ABBA's Number Ones. I can't say I mind. They have a very infectious pop sensibility that even I can't deny.

This is the scene here after two days of snow in June. It better heat up soon, because I'm ready for summer. It seems nice now, so hopefully we'll have no snow for the weekend.

The A-Z Challenge: In the Beginning...

I've decided to undertake an almost impossible feat: listening to my entire iTunes library from A-Z. iTunes estimates my collection as lasting for roughly 45 days if I listened 24 hours a day, which I won't. I expect this project to last the next 2-5 years. Maybe. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt I'll finish it before the end of this year.

First up is the hip hop group The A-Team. Mr. T doesn't make an appearance, but the first track, and possibly standout track on the album is called "A.B. Baracus." The A-Team is comprised of Aceyalone and Abstract Rude, both of whom I've seen here in Missoula. Both are prominent members of the hip hop community, with Aceyalone founding both Freestyle Fellowship and Project Blowed, and Abstract Rude signed to Rhymesayers. I remember really liking these guys in my Freshman and Sophomore years of college, but I'm not as big of a fan these days. Good for a few tracks, but it gets to be a little much for a whole album.

Thus the curse of this project finally rears its ugly head right from the get go. The worst part may be that I know I won't be able to finish even one complete album before I have to go to work. Oh well, I'm still committed, wish me luck!

Nominee for 3 biggest badasses ever.

This shot is from a plane flying over a small tribe in Brazil. Apparently, they've never been in contact with people outside their tribe. The story, as I've heard it, is that the plane flew over once previously, and upon return encountered these tribesmen in war paint firing arrows at them.

Say what you will, but if I'd never seen a person other than my family and a huge, loud, flying beast passed overhead I'd be the first to run for cover. Flight before fight is a sensible motto for our day in age, and I won't hesitate saying so. I'm not keen on messing with guns, knives or nuclear explosives...call me what you will. But for someone who knows nothing beyond bows and arrows, I give them all the credit in the world. I really hope we leave them alone, and keep our pesky noses out of their business.

These three tribesmen surpassed these guys, who, until now, held the post of 3 biggest badasses ever:

My Muxtape

I just made a "muxtape." It's sorta like making a mixtape, only online. I actually really liked the process. Waiting for the songs to upload was reminiscent of recording a song to a tape; you have to wait before you go on. I think it helps you in the process of planning out the order. While you wait for one song to upload, you look for another.

When I was in high school, a large part of my life was devoted to making mixtapes and the floor of my room would be carpeted with tapes and cds in various states of organization, much to my parents chagrin. Some of the tapes I kept, some I gave to various friends and acquaintances, but each tape took at least 2 hours of love filled labor. I always loved, and still do, providing previously unknown tracks to the recipients of my mixtapes. Guessing what they would appreciate, or wonder about, fueled my fire. Plus, I spent my days and nights glued to my stereo, which was more than enjoyable.

So without further ado, here is my offering to all of you. Since I have no way of knowing what you have or have not heard I picked fairly obscure material. While compiling this mix, I drank a few Olympia beers, hence the title of the mix: Oh Lord, Y Make Poor Indie-rockers Alcoholics? Also, since I am disclosing fully, I included a track from my former band BMMS. Click on the beer advertisement below to check out the muxtape.

Nominee for best band ever.

I blame everyone that reads this for the fact I haven't updated in three plus months. Seriously, my last post was golden and I don't have time to fruitlessly update this blog daily without some sort of response.

And since we've moved on, lets talk about my nominee for best band ever...Racetrack. Every single member is a friend of mine, and they are by far some of the best people I've ever known. Jackson, Chris and Meghan have slept on my floor(s) and found a place in my heart. It doesn't hurt that Jackson and I have known each other since High School and Racetrack's first show opened for my own band, BMMS. (Ancient history.)

Racetrack progressed since their first show (did I mention they opened for BMMS?), added Garden Variety Tsar (Chris) and took over as the greatest power-pop sensation to ever hit the Pacific Northwest. The other places they hit were hit so hard they forgot what happened to them.

So without further ado, because I would come closer to tears than I could as a man, hear are a couple of newly surfaced videos that preempted this post...along with a couple of older ones. Racetrack uber alles.

My Goose Is Cooked!

My Christmas project this year was to cook a goose. Daunting, I know, but I did my research and it turned out better than I thought it would. I'll break it down for you in the easy steps I used to get the job done.

1. Go out and buy a goose. I found mine at the Pattee Creek Market, because I know they carry some of the stranger meats in town. But on Christmas Eve I saw a couple in Albertson's as well, so they aren't too hard to find. And come to find out, one of my co-workers raises geese, so I could have gotten one from him. I should have bought a bigger one though, because there isn't that much meat on a goose. Mine was 8.13 lbs. and it served about 5 of us. But we weren't expert carvers either, so that could have made a difference.


2. Clean the goose. I let mine sit in the fridge for a day and a half before I attempted it, and it was still very frozen on the inside. Be ready to pull out a spine and other innards with the massive amounts of fat. I foolishly tossed these, which I now regret, because anything cooked in goose fat is delicious.


3. Put the goose in boiling water for a minute or two. This supposedly separates the skin from the actual meat. I'm not so sure it works, or else I boiled it for too short of a time. But maybe things would have ended tragically if I had skipped this step. I also poked lots and lots of holes in the skin with a skewer. This step was essential, as it allowed the delicious goose fat to escape and flavor the vegetables in the roasting pan.


4. Let it dry in the fridge for at least a day and a half. This also gives you plenty of time to do the rest of your cooking prep work, and buy enough alcohol for you and your guests, since no one wants to go shopping on Christmas day.


5. Arrange lots of aromatic vegetables in a roasting pan. I used carrots, parsnips, celery, onions and lemon. I also used a cookie cooling rack at the bottom to keep the goose out of its own fat. I know, I've told you how delicious it is a few times already, but don't worry, there is more than enough fat in the goose itself.


6. Have someone very special mix up some stuffing for you. If you don't have a ultra cute wife like me, then one of your drinking buddies will do just fine.

7. Stuff the stuffing inside the empty cavity. This will be messy. Vegetarians and need not apply.


8. Apply your glaze of choice. There are tons of recipes out there, just Google it, or head down to your local library and check out a book or two. I used extra virgin olive oil, cracked peppercorn, fresh thyme, salt and chopped garlic. You'll want to make enough to apply a little each time you check on the bird. I pre-heated the oven to 45o and let it cook for half an hour, then dropped the temperature to 350 and checked every half an hour. In retrospect, I would cook it at 375 the next time, because it took longer than I thought to cook.

9. And since I had so much extra time, I was able to sing karaoke while I waiting for it to get done. Be sure to invite friends over, as you'll be waiting around for a while for the goose to cook.

10. Carve the bird. I am by no means proficient and carving any sort of fowl, and so it was a laissez-faire approach to getting meat. It was every man for himself.
11. Be prepared for the aftermath. Everyone will have their fill and this is what you're left with. Be sure to budget time the next day to clean up the remains, and get that goose smell out of your apartment.


The goose was a big hit, although not as much as Darcy's insanely tasty mashed potatoes and stuffed mushrooms. I thought the veggies cooked in goose fat and stuffing held its own, but Darcy also can take credit for the stuffing. All in all, a great success!

...and no, Jeffrey's did not partake in the goose. He's on a diet.

A Christmas Miracle

Today we went out and bought ourselves some Christmas cheer. First off, we got real, honest-to-goodness mistletoe. We'll see how long it lasts. But I'm excited to steal a few kisses with Darcy under the mistletoe for the next few weeks.

Then we went out on an impromptu Christmas tree shopping excursion. We found a great Charlie Brown-ish tree, stuffed it into our car and set it up. Somehow we lost our tinsel coming in from the car, but we still got it looking pretty good. Where did the tinsel get to? We even checked the fridge, as we bought beer at the same time and stashed that in the fridge. No dice.


And finally, I poured out a little Sparks today for my favorite icicle of the year. What was the deal with our 50 degree weather today? I'm already sick of winter, so I don't like to be teased with spring like weather.