High Five

With the spotlight of this country bringing the fist bump into the forefront, I'd like to draw attention to the classic High Five. This timeless gem is used to greet, congratulate or show exuberance. Defined as the meeting of 2 or more persons palms, and coming in many variations (the high five, low five, the slide, loud slam, quiet palm bump, the one-hand-up other-hand-smack, the group hi-5) this non verbal communication has signaled positive emotions since the time of Hammurabi. (oh you don't believe me?? check the cuneiform, beyotch!) Todays equivelant to the boombox on the shoulder but still a staple around the world, you've won your place in the universe, High 5.

Fast Food past

This morning I remembered one of my favorite fast food items left in the past. No longer on the menu at Burger King are 2 crispy tacos. Described in BK's own words as "Seasoned ground beef, lettuce, cheese and salsa, all wrapped in two crispy, golden tortillas," nothing was further from the truth. These suckers were soggy as hell and showed no hint of having ever been crispy in any shape or form. But whatever addictive substances and added smells were in those things, I had to keep coming back. When I was in college with a decent saturday afternoon hangover, eating 2 of these would put me in a solid coma state, blocking all pain receptors until my symptoms subsided.
Burger King, you had my .99, but those 2 tacos had my heart.

snowstash

Let me tell you why snowboarding is one of the top 3 activities in the world.

1. There's nothing like snowboarding on fresh powder. Its like riding on clouds...way different than riding on most of the ice that populates east coast "mountains." If you get to it untracked you won't forget it. Your legs will burn more than they have ever burnt before, but you'll go right back up to the top because it feels so good.

2. Friends. There's nothing better than a weekend trip to a mountain (I'll review a few later) with a group of good friends. Crack jokes at each other on the chair lifts all day, hang out in the hot tub later and down some chinese and beers.

3. Hot tubs. jumping in a hot tub after a day of riding in the glades is super relaxing. and painful at first due to all the cuts.

4. glades. a glade is pretty much an area of trees you can ride in. This is my favorite thing to do with a board strapped to my feet. You make your own trails, you're really out in nature, and you have the excitement of dodging trees and finding new areas and some of the best scenery. Plus you can usually find a good amount of untracked powder.

5. teaching. you always end up teaching someone how to ride. I was an instructor for 2 years and it was the most rewarding job I've had. The kids never run out of energy. The adults, well the adults suck, but its a good way to pass on skills to friends. Note: do not teach your significant other. Ive seen many try and fail. It always ends up with said female pissed, bruised and whining.

6. Its exercise and it gets you outside in those cold winter months you rarely se the light of day.

But don't take my word for it.
to learn more about the virtues of snowboarding, check out your local library.

I just slip away and I am gone

Alright internet, I'm sticking with the music theme today. I started rooting through my old cds looking for Radiohead's OK Computer and I came across some music I had completely forgot about, which inspired me to make a list of solid 90's albums. No filler, quality from beginning to end and those deep cuts most people never hear but are some of the greatest rock music to come out period.

Starting is obviously Radiohead's OK Computer. The whole cd seems like an attack on middle class corporate waste of life drudgery in modern England, which can be a downer, but there's no other cd even close to it. Way to have balls Radiohead.

Blur - Blur This goes under the category of cd's I forgot about. I used to listen to it straight through doing homework back in the high school days. Each track is dynamic and well crafted. Throw in the obligatory alternative acoustic track and track from a movie and you have a 90's classic. Oh and chinese bombs, which I think was the theme to some MTV show back in the day? I have to look into some more old blur.

Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen. They just don't play the piano like they used to. Ben folds is a master song crafter, although I gotta say I liked the band better than the solo act. Lots of quality subtleties with a good range of moods.

Blink 182 - Dude Ranch. Yes, dammit, I said Blink 182. I listened to this CD beginning to end every day and never got tired of it. I was that friecking album. I kept wondering why aren't these guys famous? Then of course they got famous and did shampoo commercials and all that.

Weezer- Pinkerton. There arent too many cds with this depth, emotion, subtlety, rawness with strong honest lyrics and all those things you dont hear til the 10th time you hear it, nevermind the interweaving of the Japanese play with the character Pinkerton.

Weezer - Blue Album Come on now, everybody likes this cd.

Deftones- Around the Fur. For a hard rock band, they can write a damn good song.

Jimmy Eat World- Clarity I'd classify this under Romantic period classical music.

ok, thats all that comes to mind for now and I'm running out of gas here.

and there's so much you could learn but you don't want to know

I took the title of this blog from a short surf magazine article. I wasn't paying attention to it until I got to the end when the last few words were "there's never any point in speeding." Surf magazines are always good for inspiration.

Blog number 1

I've never grown a real blog before, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to write here. What I do know is that everyone in the know, blogs, and I plan on growing one too. Stay tuned for delicious spaghetti recipes (water + spaghetti), philosophical thoughts and maybe a sketch or two.

There are only 3 circumstances that I will post a picture with my pants down.