a slow weekend at home

Shortest Day of the year: after this point… I can look forward to it not being dark when I ride my bike to ….. and from work. Speaking of which… Holy fucking headwind this morning batman! AND speaking of mornings, HELLO Monday!!! Apparently I forgot my spinach calazone in the fridge AND my SD card to upload the photos and video from Fences, that I shot at Mississippi Studios last night (Fences…. if you haven’t heard of them… and I’m thinking most of you haven’t, really you should.) AND, I also forgot to switch out the pedals on my bike. egad!

Weekend Recap:
FRIDAY NIGHT: I’m such a tool. I really wanted to go to my friend Steph and Bria’s open house and for some odd reason I thought it was Saturday night and I’d have to swing it between other events I had planned. No. Apparently it was tonight. And, while everyone was else was there enjoying the festive holiday spirit, Sam and Anna and I spent a relaxing evening on the sofa watching movies and eating experimental pad thai.

SATURDAY:
We had initially wanted to go snowboarding Saturday, but the weather turned warm which pretty much meant conditions would be shit and not worth the drive, so instead we slept in a little and woke up to thoughts ofGravy. In order to get to Gravy and not wait in line, we got there about 9am. I fucking love Gravy, not so much the dish… however, Gravy does have amazing gravy - i mean, if you’re gonna name your restaurant after an item on the menu, it better me good… and it is! - but the place. Most things are excellent, I love the challah bread french toast as it’s so tasty when you eat it then, and if you order the full order, it’s even just as tasty for leftovers. Also, the thing I love about Gravy is that with two people, it’s possible to order a little bit of everything tasty on the menu for a decent price. Can’t decide between eggs and french toast, order the eggs and get the french toast on the side… same with the gravy. Sam ordered a massively huge omelet with a side of french toast and I ordered a single biscuit with sausage gravy. Sam ate half of her omelet, half of my biscuit, while I ate the other half of my biscuit and half of the half order of french toast. In the end all, we both walked out with enough leftovers to feed us the following morning.

From there I still had some holiday shopping to do… so I went to Trendy Third street to gaze upon the holiday wares. I don’t really go shopping that much, and honestly, I don’t really ever buy much…. but I love looking.

At 2pm Fritts came over to my house and we donned our wet riding gear and set off to Tabor to do some hill repeats. On our way back home, we rode down to Mississippi Street to stop by the Sugar Cube. I love love love the Sugar Cube (i have a food crush) and this is the first time I’d been by since Kir opened in her new location at the Food Carts on Mississippi. I was happy that Kir recognized me and called me by name (we’re facebook friends afterall), sadly though, she was out of my favorite cupcake…Highway to Heaven, but… to alleviate our loss, she hooked us up with a delicious brownie with a chocolate ganache frosting drizzled with caramel and sea salt. DE-LI-I-CIOUS! I wanted to eat the wrapper. Sam went inside Proust, the german bar next door to the food cart and ordered some beers for us and we sat outside on the courtyard near our bikes eating brownies and drinking stouts. It was pretty much amazing.

Then, we rode home and cleaned up and Sam and I were out the door to the Wend Magazine Festivus Elefante Blanco Holiday Bash = Slamming Good Times. I was kinda nervous to go to the party since I didn’t really know too many people, but… what a great place to meet some really interesting folks! And let me tell you, the Wend people know how to throw a party! There was a big spread of food, wine, saki, and even a few kegs full of Nikasi IPA!!!! YUM!! In between a few pints of IPA, I met a pro adventure racer, a bike wheel builder, a pro kayaker, and even reconnected with my old friend from dragon boat racing, Nick. The best part about the party was the white elephant gift exchange. I had found this delightfully creepy ceramic good luck cat that you see at Chinese resturants and Sam found a massive western style belt buckle. It was great watching everyone open their random gifts: vodka, a hash pipe, Bibleology the board game, Sarah Palin’s new book, a snuggie, etc. My gift was an award for excellence in Risk Management from PSU in the shape of Oregon. It rocked.

By the time we left the party, it was much too late to make it to Steph and Bria’s (which was actually the day before)… so then Sam and I just jetted off to the Holocene to meet up with some friends and get some dancing under our belt.

SUNDAY:
I slept in. Sam came back from paddling practice and then we ate leftovers from Gravy the day before. Sam filled me in that I can join her for their sunday morning paddling practices at the pool and I can swim laps for free while they paddle. I love swimming and I can pretty much swim laps all day long, I never get tired of it. Sadly though, I don’t have easy access to a pool that has convenient open lap swim.

…..

Went to the gym around 3:30. Came back, packed for my trip home this week and putzed around the house till I left to go shoot Fences at Mississippi Studios. Christen had contacted me Saturday wanting to know if I could cover the show and get material for their EPK. I responded back with a yes before I realized my camera hasn’t been working the way it should. However, I had just bought some new batteries the night before so hopefully they’d last long enough to get some good material. And, praise the lord… it did. I love Mississippi Studios, the sound there is great and more often than not, the crowd is pretty respectful. As a result, some of my best video’s have come from there. Anyways, caught the show. Apparently the message for me to be on the Guest List wasn’t passed along, but I was able to sweet talk my way in to the sold out show. Fences had a great set and played with a few of the guys from Hey Marseilles. Afterwards, I stuck around to see a bit of the Cave Singers set, but I was getting tired and so it was off to bed for me.

Anyways, today is the shortest day of the year and I forgot my spinach calazone for lunch. FYI.

random realization

"Hunters in the Snow" by Pieter Bruegel

So - the other day I had a random thought while jogging - I need to go hunting.

Never, in my life have I ever gone hunting. I mean, this isn't that surprising of a confession. Aside from the fact that I'm from deer hunting heaven rural Southern Ohio and my mom came from a long line of bow hunters back in Eastern Pennsylvania, I've never been offered and I've never turned down an opportunity to kill something. In fact, my stance on people owning and shooting guns for sport or safety is about as vague and wishy washy as my stance on killing bambi. Quite literally, I am undecided. I can see the merits and I can see the problems. So, until I first hand have an experience in either aspect... I'll forever ride the fence.

This revelation and goal doesn't just stem from not having ever hunted. Actually, it delves deeper. I do not count myself as a blood thirsty carnivore no more than I consider myself a veggie loving hippy. I've had stints in my life where I lived mainly as a vegetarian aside from the occasional burger night... but then I found that I really needed to add more protein in my diet and I can only eat so many peanut butter sandwiches. When I lived with my folks back in Ohio, I tried to introduce more veggie friendly meals to get my parents out of the meat and potato rut. New to them, was the idea of salads as a main course and not just a first course. As well, currently always stocked in my fridge is an ample supply of garden burgers, boca burgers, and quorn products. But honestly, I do love bacon, pulled pork sandwiches, sausage, blue cheese burgers and tasty steaks sprinkled with cracked pepper and sea salt thrown on the grill. Honestly, I think if I am going to be fine with eating meat, than I should be fine with killing it too. I should be able to come face to face with my food and thank it for the nutrients it provides me with. If I can grow veggies in my garden, I should be able to shoot my own deer or down a cow and have it provide for me as well. I want to have a greater appreciation for the food I eat. I want the footprint I make to be smaller. I want the relationship I have with my food be more than just picking up a styrofoam tray of ground chuck at the store and grilling it up.

I remember once in high school I went to this summer camp in West Virginia and sat and talked with a kid from a nearby county. We were having spaghetti that evening for dinner and he had mentioned that it was the first time he'd ever even spaghetti that wasn't made with venison. "Venison as in deer meat" I asked? "Yeah" he confirmed and then went on to explain all the ways that his family used deer they hunted to feed and provide for his family. Incredible were all the meals that they were able to fix using venison as the main ingredient. At that time, I thought it was silly and sad that his family only ate what they could kill and grow, but in my later years I've come to appreciate that sensibility more.

It's not about killing something for game, it's not about mounting some animals head on my wall... it's about really being self sufficient and having an appreciation for the animal, much like Native Americans and those cultures and societies where a cow can really feed a village and help people survive. About having an appreciation for the process, for the skill, the shooting, the skinning, the cleaning, the smoking, the storing, the cooking, etc. As well, hunting for food and materials you intend on using to provide for you and your family is an example of self sufficiency and sustainability in one of its greatest, truest and oldest forms. And, when you kill an animal, lets say a cow on your farm... you will take better care of that cow to make sure he is fed the best food money can buy and lives a healthy and happy life. Because, after all... he will be entering your food chain shortly. I would rather eat a cow that I knew had a happy and healthy life than one who was confined to a small cage in a factory. Same with fish, I will not eat farmed fish. I'm not a fisher... but I avoid buying or ordering a fish that had been farmed.

And, if I ever do get out there in some field with a perfect spot on some game and find that I just can't pull the trigger, then I'll know that I really just shouldn't be eating it either.

you can do it all by yo'self

In an effort to sometimes lighten the jovial mood of my blog - i've decided to post some random things that I post on facebook throughout the day... so, if you see these things twice, I'm sorry. Really. Maybe you spend too much time online.

So... the other month i was a football game and a song came over the loudspeaker and all the kids started dancing... i felt a little left out since I didn't know what the song or the dance was.... until today. I bring you... Snap Yo Fingers... Telletubby style.

The dance that the Telletubbies do isn't the exact dance that all the kids were doing, but it's pretty damn close for being in big fuzzy costumes. And, props to Rachel and Brenna for telling me the name of this song at Bumbershoot.

things i think about while riding my bike...

I want to marry someone with the last name Dash, just so I can have two kids and name them Emily and Ennis. When doing laundry I'd ask myself... is this an Em Dash or an En Dash sock? I could also make a lot of references to popular hip hop artists cause everyone would want to come over and play with Em and En.