December 30, 2005

Lost

Oh and by the way, I'm all caught up on Lost. So now, feel free to engage in discussion with me, you will spoil no surprises.

The Ghost of Richard Hugo

Somewhere in the 440 pounds of stuff I own that is somewhere between Seattle, Washington and Sacramento, California is a book. Many books actually, but the book that got on my mind today is The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo. Richard Hugo was a poet who was part of a school of writers that put Montana on the map for creative writing. His poetry focused on the normal, the mundane of life, one of his ideas was what is normal and mundane to you could be fascinating to him. He once said, “Never write a poem about anything that ought to have a poem written about it.” He died too young at 58 but wrote this very influential book about writing while he was a professor at Montana. He suggested starting with a town; your town, my town, her town, his town…any town. Something about that town makes it unique and something about that town inspires (or triggers, as he suggests) a story or a poem or a song to come out of a writer’s mind. So I don’t know where my town is, I don’t know where the trigger is, but I thought of it today reading city names in the Bay Area. Sunol, Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore, Emeryville, Santa Cruz, and the list goes on, images come to mind with every town/city. Maybe it’s time to start writing again.
The trigger doesn’t have to be town, if you’ve got a few minutes, read this interview with Matthew Ryan. His triggers seem to be pretty normal too as he mentions the rain storm outside.

Songs rattling on the IPod today:

Me and My Lover – Matthew Ryan
Turn Around – Whiskeytown
Flame Turns Blue – David Gray
Can’t Stop Now – Keane
Fruits of My Labor – Lucinda Williams
A Long December – Counting Crows
My Favorite Chords – The Weakerthans
Levity – F/Stop
Breathe Easy – Minibar


I’m working on a year end list of bests.

December 21, 2005

In California

I got in with no hitches last night. It was 63 degrees and felt really nice.

December 20, 2005

Goodbye P-Land

So, the U2 show was incredible…but I’ll do a whole review when I get a little more time. And post what pictures turned out... I’m sitting in PDX waiting for my flight out. I downloaded the new Ryan Adams album “29” (yes, his third complete album in 2005). It’s pretty great so far. A little bit of everything he’s done. There’s a piano song, a guitar only song, a rockabilly song that I accidentally played really loudly for all of these people at my gate. I had my headphones on, but they weren’t plugged into my computer so I was adjusting the volume higher and higher thinking it was turned down, but it was blaring to these old folks next to me.
I’m in the process of downloading the next episode of “Lost” (Raised by Another) in my effort to catch up with the shows on TV. I think watching a TV show about a plane crash is not the smartest thing before traveling by plane, but I also was watching “Flight of the Phoenix” as I packed up.
I wanted to thank all the folks that made my Portland trip great. Schmetzger, Woofer, JJ, Pablo, Homdrom, Freshmaker, Mort, TJ, Jon Bon Jovi, the Washington Wizards, the nice folks at the Spirit Mountain Casino, Bono, Larry, Adam, Edge, Kanye, etc, etc.
Next stop Oakland, CA.
Peace.

December 16, 2005

The Wood

A special welcome to the 'wood. A quick story which might give some perspective to his harsh criticism. We used to work together, he left much sooner than I did. There was a time (I know a lot of you find this hard to believe) when work wasn't the most enjoyable situation for either of us. One day we came up with the idea that work would be more interesting if we had an arch rival at work. Because we got a long well enough, it made for an enjoyable rivalry. Lots of pranks, practical jokes and fraternity hijinx ensued. Some of our common arguments consisted of Van Halen with DLR or Hagar being better, so musical criticism comes natural. John
Denver is cheesey, we should all know that...but it's a cheesy like Air Supply or Journey or Lionel Richie...just good enough that you catch yourself singing out loud in a car at the top of your lungs. Anyway, I've arrived in P-land, enjoying a great latte at one of my old haunts. It's sunny but quite cold.

December 15, 2005

...don't know when I'll be back again

In the immortal words of John Denver...

"All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go...
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again"

Funny John doesn't mention selling a Jetta or the "Packaging Store Moving Center"...

See you in Portland, in 12 hours.

Peace Out Anchor Town.

Lost, Random Thoughts, and a Playlist

Just a few thoughts. As soon as I publish this, I will shut down my computer and pack it in a box. I’ve done a lot of packing the last few days. I have to admit, it’s been a little overwhelming. I didn’t realize how much stuff I’ve accumulated over the last three years. When I came to Alaska, I could fit just about everything I owned into a couple of easily shippable boxes and my Jetta packed to the brim.

I’ve been watching “Lost.” I can’t watch the ones on TV. I’ve become the person that can’t pick up a series part way into it. Today’s TV is written with so many arcs that an episode skipped could take you out of an episode in the future. So don’t ruin Lost for me. I’m on episode 8. Just found out a little bit about Sawyer’s past. I think that I really like “24” but I got “distracted” halfway through the first season and can’t start watching new ones until I watch all the past seasons. But to rent the whole first season for watching half of it hasn’t been a priority. Need I remind anyone of the Buffy-a-thon? I spent March, April and May of this year watching every episode of Buffy, yes all 7 seasons. I tried to watch Angel, but it wasn’t the same…even with Cordelia.

I built a computer for Riche out of spare computer parts that I had in our closet.

That makes me think of the nickname discussion I had the other day. I don’t feel comfortable putting other people’s first or last names on this blog. If you want to comment with your name, that’s fine, but I won’t put it here. It started about 3 years ago when we had a BLB website with pics from history and our adventures in Alaska. Everyone that contributed with photos or comments would submit a nickname…some of them stuck more than others. So, I use nicknames. If you feel like being mentioned, just give me a nickname and I’ll add you to the dialogue.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to boost the comment traffic here. As my good friend Schmetzger (a nickname) once said, “Comments are blog currency. The love language of bloggers. Vitamins.” (You got to be impressed with that quote, Schmetzger, see you Friday, by the way). I have an idea, post a comment, any ol’ comment will do with your nickname and what would inspire you to comment more…

On the playlist tonight (Make Yourself a CD)
L.S.F. – Kasabian
Irrelevant – Matthew Ryan
Your Heart is An Empty Room – Death Cab for Cutie
Sugar Dumpling – Sam Cooke
As I’m Leaving – David Gray
Wear You Like Heaven – Donovan
The Leavers and the Left Behinds – Steven Jackson
Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
The Heart’s A Lonely Hunter – Thievery Corporation
Alaska and Me – John Denver
Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
I Still Miss Someone – Johnny Cash
Fly Away – Poe
Come Around – Rhett Miller

December 12, 2005

Alaska and Me

I spent my last Sunday (for a while) in Alaska doing two very Alaskan activities. Special thanks to “The Coach’s Daughter” (Give me a better nickname and I’ll use it) and “AJ” for hosting me. I visited them in August when my family was up, to see what raising sled dogs was all about. In August, there were 10 dogs (don’t make me name them, because I can). Yesterday; 16 dogs! I honestly can’t think of another time in my life when I’ve been around 16 dogs like that. It was fascinating. I mentioned I took part in two Alaskan activities, there’s the dog sledding, but also I road a snow machine for the first time. It’s very similar to a Waverunner, but hurts much more to crash…yeah, I can say that from experience. I’ve quietly mocked snow machining (snow mobiles, to those of you in the “other 49”) as long as I’ve been up, mainly for the sideways hat wearing 22 year olds that crowd once-cool bars saying “brap” to each other. But after both riding one on my own and seeing one in practical use, I now understand.

Here’s what I learned:

1. These dogs want to pull sleds. With 16 dogs, the 8 that get left behind yelp and howl like a child left out of a game.
2. Some people and dogs consider 30 degrees (above zero) hot.
3. Abandon your instincts when riding a snow machine. If your instincts tell you to put your feet down while careening towards a grove of trees, you’re gonna regret giving into them. If your instinct would tell you to stay on a snow machine if it breaks through a frozen lake, abandon that instinct and jump away. Luckily I didn’t have to deal with the second. I promise, Mom.
4. 16 dogs make a lot of poop.
5. I can’t run fast enough to catch a dog sled.
6. There are muscles you use to handle sled dogs that may not be used for anything else a human would ever do.

There are pictures on Flickr.

Also make sure you don’t have a sucky holiday…click here. I’m gonna add a link to this on the side bar, so you can keep up with this unique outlook on the world.

December 9, 2005

Hello Alaska!!

Welcome to those of you joining my blog from AKD.

December 7, 2005

Jetta for Sale

1997 Jetta for sale, here's the Craigslist link.

December 6, 2005

Grand Opening

Welcome to the Grand Opening of MK in Motion. Lots of stores and companies don't have their grand opening until they are well open. As you can see, the first post was made in early November...in fact one month from Friday. This blog will follow me until there is a new chapter to start writing. To catch some of you up, I'm leaving AK and moving to California, with a quick stop in Portland for U2. I recently purchased a new guitar (Fender Electric Acoustic [yes I stole this picture]) and have been trying to write some songs. I've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of me, but I will post when I can. As always, feel free to leave comments.