The Deuce Fo’

The world cup is actually pretty friggin’ sweet.

Lots of cool action going on with it and I’m excited to be seeing a lot of these games even if most of them are in the early mornings.

Today was a pretty interesting day with the US rallying to a draw and what should have been a go-ahead goal very late that was disallowed because of ????????????? no knows… England also ended in a draw with Algeria, meaning that the US, Slovenia, and England all control their own destiny, while Algeria can still advance but that depends on the other outcomes. Things were looking pretty grim  at halftime, but all we need to do is quit moping about and put some goals in the back of the net.

There have been some other pretty disappointing performances and upsets as well. France is basically out. Spain lost their first game to the Swiss, Germany dropped one to Serbia, Portugal and Ivory Coast ended in a 0-0 draw.

Overall, I have a lot of picks going on:

Rando drawn from a hat teams: Cameroon, Mexico, England, Slovenia.  Have to win or be runners up.

Drafted teams: Germany, France (duff), Slovakia, Honduras. Get points for making it out of the group stage and each successive round afterwards. Also a small bonus for worst goal differential.

Bracket: Picked Brazil to win it all. Works like March madness, still unclear how bad mine is shaping up yet.

And the most interesting one is a league where you have to pick the scores to every match, pick the group winners, the highest goal scorer, the runner up and the champion.  On the match scores, 4 points for correct winner and score, 3 points for correct winner and margin of victory, 2 pts for correct winner (or guessing draw but not the right score).

I’m currently in 2nd place out of 18 people, luckboxed most of it. I’ve got no hope with the group winners because I picked basically the same as everyone else so no edge to be gained there.

Anyways, a lot of games left to be played and should be exciting no matter what happens. I really can’t wait til we get out of the group stage so that there will no longer be any draws.

Til next time….

-J

(Let me preface this with the fact that this post is entirely about LOST. If you don’t watch it or haven’t finished it , there’s not a lot else going on here so you might want to skip it and come back when you are done. You can still read it as there aren’t any outright spoilers, but you might not find it very interesting. Also, you SHOULD watch it, because it’s awesome. That’s all…)

So it’s officially over.

I’ve taken a few days to digest it all and what a long strange trip it’s been….My lady still has a lot to get through, but it’s actually been a really cool experience seeing some of the previous episodes from seasons past and how they relate back to what was happening for me while the show was reaching the finale. I think that I could have delved a lot deeper into the whole LOST universe than I did and I am still really pleased about my overall experience, hopefully she gets the whole shebang from the beginning (middle).

There was a really cool interview with Carlton Cuse (EP) a few weeks before the finale: Very sweet interview (audio) with spoilers up to 5/14/10.

“In television, the premise is much less important than the execution of the premise. “ -Carlton Cuse

Overall I typed up a good amount of my thoughts ont he finale, but it ended up me just mostly defending how I felt about it and telling people that didn’t like it that they were idiots. So I gave up on it. All that I can say is that I enjoyed it immensely. I enjoyed the entire series and am not only content, but actually fully pleased with how the creators decided to wrap it up.

LOST is so different than other television shows in many regards, but one of the most curious is the creators’ interactions with the fan community. No other show really gets that kind of direct interaction with people that are forging the show’s direction. That’s why I think that so many people felt “owed” something by the conclusion of the series. The fact that it uses the “what’s inside the box” trick/gimmick so often is part of why many people feel so driven for answers; that’s why we love it! However, as any small child that has awaited desperately or Christmas morning or a similar highly anticipated event, there’s a lot more fun in the actual mystery of something than there is in the answer. So are there still loose ends? Kinda… but not really. Everything that really mattered was ironed out and I’m pleased by that. So as Chuck Klosterman pointed out, it’s strange that the fan base feels owed anything at all. Cuse and Lindelof create the program as best they can, we merely get to watch it. It’s funny that we don’t feel that the writers of the Office OWE us anything, but those of LOST do. At the end of the day it’s just a show.

But at the same time it’s not, it’s more than that. Part of why it was so awesome is that it brought a lot of people together who were all in the same situation of being “in the dark”. Crazy theories, fan art, sweet t-shirts, camaraderie, it was a great shared experience.  For these things and more you should check out fuckyeahlost.com (A LOT OF SPOILERS), because it has some of the coolest lost stuff that I could have ever imagined.

Overall, I think that Doc Jensen’s posts on the finale (AGAIN OBV SPOILERS, meaning that if you’re my girlfriend or anyone else that hasn’t finished all of LOST don’t read them!!!), one and two, pretty accurately reflect a lot of my feelings about the show. There is also this post which has been floating around that spells things out pretty clearly for anyone that is still a bit confused.

A real post is coming soon, but until then…

Thanks 2EJ for the sweet song.

That’s right, summer is actually just about to get kicked off here. I guess that that would actually mean that it’s just Spring. In the process of making some changes around the site (Tag Cloud in the right margin ——>) I discovered that similar to how I write, read, paint, etc…  when I have my camera, I blog a lot more when the weather gets warmer.  Or maybe I just didn’t have my camera over the winter. But whatever… I am pumped !

As I was reflecting on some of these old posts, I came across the one that said that I was going to finish 5 pieces of art this year. HA! I haven’t even messed with the Mad Men piece I’ve had for at least 4 months… But I actually think that a lot of that had to do with the fact that I didn’t know what I was going to do next. This is probably actually a theme of my life, who knows? But I had a minor brainstorming session and came up with some great ideas for some new pieces.  This should serve as some sort of impetus to get me back. I am going to toy around with these ideas and then post the concepts in on the ART page and actually provide a little bit of info on there other than just a few pretty pictures.

So as promised last time, details from the dinner party. What dinner party?! Good question actually, let me expand on that.  So last Saturday, my friend Gabe was kind enough to invite me over to his place to experience one of his gourmet meals that he likes to make from time to time. This happened to be a 5 course meal and I really think that he did an excellent job with it. The hors d’oeurves were light, delicious, and included some bread that he made himself.¹ For a summary of the meal with recipes check out his post here: http://evella.us/?p=552 outlining the entire dinner. I have to say that while everything was honestly amazing, the things that really stood out were the Marscapone as part of the duck salad, the olive bread, the duck itself, the earthiness of the Napoleon, and the desert was really well put together.

Here are my pics of the meal:

Lastly, I had a funny story that I came across the other day:

We were renting a car at Hertz and the guy kept on trying to sell me the Damage waiver, I declined stating that my CC covered it, he went on and about how he was the manager of the Hertz and it wouldn’t cover this particular car because it was a luxury car. I said okay thats fine, I still don’t want the damage waiver.

He basically wasn’t taking no for an answer telling us what a smart move it was getting the damage waiver blah blah blah, it must have went on for like 15 mins I had had enough I looked over at the other rental agencies and they all had a line so I resigned myself to getting the damage waiver and getting out of the airport.

The day I was returning the car I saw the manager dude outside in the lot and for whatever reason I decided to scrape the entire side of the car along a stone pillar while waving hello. I realize that the damage didn’t didn’t come out of his pocket, but I just couldn’t resist. As I exited the car and signed the return receipt I told him that he was right the Damage waiver was the nuts and I was glad he talked me into it.

I can’t rent from hertz anymore.

I was going to talk about the playoffs, but all I have to say is that the Nuggs had better turn this shit around.

-J

Russians. ☭ Maybe Ukrainians? I don’t know but they like the site I guess. I suspect that they are just a bunch of spambots, but they are taking a very interesting approach if they are. Instead of leaving me links for where to get 0nl1n3 dru9z & p1ll5 or g4mb000001 in their 0nl1n3 c45in0, they just leave seemingly innocent not necessarily irrelevant (but not necessarily relevant either) comments that get autospamfiltered out. Well comrades! This is your day to shine! (If somehow you guys are real, leave comments in English and they might get published!)

So here’s what they have to say in order of first to last:

Submitted on 2010/04/12 at 11:11am - Побольше бы таких тем! – We have no order!

Submitted on 2010/04/12 at 5:13pm - потрясающие идеи…нам перенять бы …великолепно. - awesome idea … we would learn … great.

Submitted on 2010/04/13 at 12:53am -Это должно быть в цитатнике – This should be in quotations

Submitted on 2010/04/13 at 6:25am -“Блог в ридер однозначно” – “Blog of the reader clearly”

Submitted on 2010/04/13 at 12:14pm -Автор, а вы из какого города ? – The author, and you’re out of town?

Submitted on 2010/04/13 at 5:56pm -Классно всё: и картинка ,и информация – Cool all: the picture and information

Submitted on 2010/04/13 at 11:06pm -круто..взяла почти все)) – cool .. took almost all))

Submitted on 2010/04/14 at 8:27am - “Очень познавательно” - “Very informative”

Submitted on 2010/04/14 at 2:37pm - Вот решил вам немного помочь и послал этот пост в социальные закладки. Очень надеюсь ваш рейтинг возрастет. – Here you decided to help a bit, and sent this post in social bookmarking. I hope your ranking will increase.

Submitted on 2010/04/14 at 8:40pm - Шикарно, возьму в дневник – Elegant, take in a diary

Submitted on 2010/04/15 at 2:44am – И правда креатив…супер! -And really creative … super!

Submitted on 2010/04/15 at 7:22am – Благодарю ! Статья интересная. - Thank you! The article is interesting.

(since I started the first draft there have been about 15 more of them…)

So it’s not like this guy/these guys are malicious (at least not yet) but it does seem weird that they are all Russian, all different email addresses, and all the same Latvian IP. My only guesses is that they are they are trying to get whitelisted by my spam filter and then start sending L1]\[K5! Or there are a group of Ruskies out there in Latvia are all huddled around their public library computer, that are super interested in my life, waiting their turn in line for days on end to comment on my posts (looooooooool!).

Weird. In other news, I need to post the pics from TAG because I enjoyed some AWESOME food there! It was so damn good!

As I mentioned before TAG has a sweet ass bar. This is what I dream of having when I m making cocktails. Fresh herbs, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, fresh other things that aren’t even in these categories! More impressive is that the bar staff actually spends time experimenting with them to figure out how to actually use fresh tomatoes in a cocktail. Although the have a prominently featured wine collection, the thought of anything but signature cocktails with dinner never crossed my mind.

The meal at TAG was one of the most enjoyable meals that I’ve ever eaten. Some of the things that I enjoy about quality well constructed “foody” food is that the tastes all fit together for lack of a better word. Flavors shine through, there are complimentary tastes, everything is there for a reason, and above all else, portions are very appropriately sized. I never really come away from a meal at one of these places overly stuffed, and rarely wanting more. It allows you to get appetizers that actually get your palate warmed up instead of exhausted before you actually get to your meal. It allows you to have desert if you want. Fortunately for us, we did exactly that and if there is one thing that stands testament to how good TAG is, it’s the fact that there was not a single item on the menu that I didn’t want. I literally wanted to try it all and eventually settled on a daily special that wasn’t eve on the menu! Between the party of 6 of us I would say that we sampled about 40% of the menu items and as expected, all were superb.

I wasn’t able to get pictures of the appetizers (sushi tacos, pot stickers, my mother’s beet salad, maybe something else that I’m forgetting), because they were devoured before i remembered, I was able to get the main stuff.

House salad with a soy sauce vinaigrette:

Filet Mignon:

Sea bass:

Bacon wrapped scallops with brussel sprout salad. That’s right, even the brussel sprouts were good:

Ahi Tuna, this one was mine and the fish was cooked absolutely perfectly:

My kid brother opted for less exotic fare, but ended up with delicious Kobe beef sliders. Wowsers!

And to finish it off they had some pretty ridiculous desert selections, including a bleu cheese ice cream, I was torn between some of the ice cream flavors but narrowed in on caramel or butterscotch and bourbon. My mom got the caramel and I got the B&B. It was a very pleasant mix.

So that was that, I have more food porn, but I think I’m going to save that for next time to avoid a complete wall of pictures…

So then what else does that leave us with? A little Gamboooooll! Last week I won a small prop bet that i had going with my girl. This involved making it to the gym throughout the week and though it really kicked my ass I’m glad I am back into it. I had a couple of weeks where I hadn’t really gone regularly and I ended up actually losing weight below to where I had been when I originally started going! But now that I’m back and armed with some advice, protein, and vitamins I am back on pace for bulking up a little. Hooray!

Next time on The Deuce Fo’: A dinner party (more food porn), the playoffs, some interesting tales from others, summering, and whatever else comes to mind. Look for it this week!

Good luck comrades!

-J

P.S. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of The Deuce Fo’ in it’s current incarnation. Weeee! I’m sure the Ruskies will be overjoyed. ☭

So tonight, I’m planning on going to TAG (“creatively” named after head chef, Troy Atherton Guard)  to celebrate my birthday from about a month and a half ago with my parents, girlfriend, and a family friend.

http://www.tag-restaurant.com/

Check out this review!

Now, ordinarily any time that I get to check out foodie food, I’m pumped, but tonight especially! Because TAG has a flat out, ridiculous bar!

One of my friends is also a bartender there and she has SKILLZ! So I am going to offer up a sneak peak of what I may be dining on this evening and also snap some pics of what I actually end up getting.

Notice that in addition to all the high quality booze that they carry, there are cups full of fresh ingredients like mint, basil, cucumbers, oranges, limes, kiwis, ginger root, and a ton of other fresh ingredients (is that a bottle of honey that I see back there?!) behind the drink in this pic! And as usual with any badass cocktail bar, they know what’s up with Hendrick’s gin. #efffyes!

And from the looks of things the food is nothing to scoff at either!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM……….

TR to follow!

-J

MONEY TO BLOW! hahah yeah right… anyways I left things off after my Glenwood post, and since then I’ve been varying degrees of sick and so have been out of the blog loop for a bit… anyways picking up where I left off:

So after a lovely weekend up in Glenwood, we decided to head back a little bit early and in doing so, managed to avoid disaster!

Yeah, that’s a picture of the road that I had driven mere hours earlier. Link to the story here. It looks like I-70 was closed for at least a week! Sheesh, crazy life.

Anyways, I didn’t get as much time as I thought I would to hang out and read/write, but I was able to do some relaxing. Vapor Caves, Rosie’ s (Bavarain breakfast joint with waffles to die for #OMFG!), the hot springs, exploring the sweetness of an old and possibly haunted hotel, classy diner, late night stop to the cocktail lounge. It was pretty delicious overall.

I really enjoyed it as a couple’s getaway for the weekend but I think that it would be really badass if we got a crew of our close friends to come up and we just rolled through with about 8-10 of us. I’ll be looking into this for the future, preferably while it is still a little cold, because the cold air and snow really helps you appreciate the naturally warm waters of the hot springs (like in the picture at the top of my last post).

Other stuff that’s been going on…

I’ve finished up another couple of books since the last update and have decided to keep track of what’s going on in that realm with a BOOKS page on the top menu. I will probably add in my thoughts on the books that I have read or am reading at some point further down the line once I get some time to put it together. I used to think that that was a silly thing that you only did in school, but I think that it is helpful to rehash what I liked out of it so that I can remember it better for my own sake and refer back to it if I need to. Plus I’ll eventually add in links, pretty pictures, etc… it’s a work in progress.

In addition there is now an ART page up there too which will include stuff that I’ve done. I have been seeing a lot of sweet art from some of my friends so maybe I will see if they will let me post some of their stuff up there too. I have been a bit of a slacker on that front and will need to get inspired to make my goal of 5 major pieces in 2010.

I’ve found that my blogging/writing (/painting?) efforts seem to trend with the amount of pictures I’m taking. And for the last couple months my camera has been busto. I used my iPhone camera for a while and still do, but it just isn’t the same.

So……. On that front, I got my camera fixed and Earthquake mode (Earthquake mode was when I would open up my camera and the lens would attempt to focus but failed causing a vibrating up and down motion that was visible through the lens and looked like the entire frame was shaking uncontrollably. Pictures without a flash were severely impacted, and even those with it had some blurring, stretching, ghosting, and other earthquake effects to them. Videos were awesome as long as you got under a doorframe asap.) is no longer a feature on my camera. So with the addition of new pics will come new creative juices and new, hopefully interesting posts…

Two things that I wanted to get in here also are #1 LOST. Things are going crazy, there are questions being answered, more questions arising, resounding critical acclaim for the most recent episode, and a whole boatload of LOST fanart popping up everywhere. A really sweet piece that I picked up for myself was this badboy¹:

and #2 was a project that a friend of mine was a major part (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER nbd…) of has finally completed the second episode!

http://robustothemovie.com

Several years in the making from the initial concept was pitched, to the completion of the first one… and second one was just released! It is a really interesting documentary series on the lifestyles of poker players. The two episodes are very different as the subjects are VERY different. The movies are very well produced and the director Ryan Firpo did an excellent job with both of them. Hopefully episode 3 is just around the corner.

If you have ever had any interest in what the life of a professional poker player is like, I would set aside an hour and 10 minutes and watch both of the episodes. It is a great look at the wide spectrum of people that make poker their living.

Anyways, keep ya grinds on… whatever they may be…

-J

So I haven’t managed to eek out a post yet in 2010. That hurts.

I have a couple drafts started but no real cohesion to them and no time to sit down and bang it out, so to speak…

I am getting away this weekend up to Glenwood Springs this weekend with my lady. Where I will get to spend some relaxing time in the giant pools of the hot springs. I should have plenty of time to unwind and hopefully get in some reading and complete those drafts…

We are staying at the renowned Hotel Colorado, which has been a Glenwood Springs landmark since the 1880’s. Shown here on the left in 1893:

Should be sweeeeeeeeeeet!

Updates to follow soon.

Hat tip to Joe Tall for stumbling across this really sweet song and passing it along. Despite the eyeshadow and mascara, I really like the song. I also enjoy drinking white wine in the sun, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyways, I just got back from CA and honestly it was a little bit weird seeing the Christmas lights wrapped around the palm trees and having 60° weather while at the same time CO is getting pelted by a blizzard. But the trip was actually a really nice break of pace and it was nice to see my uncles and my aunt while I was out there.

We all went out for a nice dinner at the Charthouse of Dana Point a really cool building nestled up on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. The food was top notch and it was really good to get in some time with my uncles, they’re awesome. Christmas day we packed up a picnic of my design and headed down for a lunch overlooking the beach. We found a really nice spot and it ended up being fairly warm and sunny.

We were parked out on the light green grassy area down the hill. The picnic consisted of some tapas-ish appetizers made with baguette slices and some combination of prosciutto, apple slices, pear slices, cucumber, red and orange tomatoes, sprouts, avocado, and an assortment of cheeses. We also had some shrimp and with cocktail sauce and brought stuff for sandwiches, but we were all too full by that point.

The following day, we went out on a dolphin watching boat ride. I thought that this was going to be pretty lame (it was 3 hours long), but it ended up actually being pretty cool. The dolphins come right up and swim along the side of the boat very playfully. I don’t know what it is about it, but there’s just something really cool about seeing them poke out the surface of the water and just cruise right under or next to the boat. It’s almost relaxing…

The catamaran has one of the front hulls replaced with a glass enclosure so you could get down in there and see them from underwater. The crawlspace area was really tight and only two people could fit down there at once and really only one person has a good view, but I managed to sneak in there right before we turned to head back to shore. Nice.

The rest of the time there was kind of spent casually hanging out, but it did allow me to get some serious reading done!

The 700+page Behemoth of Basketball is almost downed and should get finished up this week. Progress! After that, I have no idea where to start back on my huge list, that is perpetually growing…

And finally balance…

Things have been going well, and not well. I have been slacking, but it seems like things are falling into place on their own. Going to the gym on the regular is really helpful with that. I actually read something in Nate Green’s blog just a few moments ago that really summed up what I’m trying to accomplish (full post).

“My friend and mentor Alwyn Cosgrove once told me to replace the word “time” with “life.” It gives you a different perspective on the same tired excuses…’Cook healthy meals and spend time with my family? Who’s got enough life for that? I’m too busy.’  ’I don’t have enough life to relax and read.’” Really changes things around.

I think that I want to do all these things, study a bunch of different shit, read tons, cook a lot, work out, paint, and still have a bunch of fun… I mean, it’s good, but I honestly don’t have enough time to devote to all of these avenues as much as I’d like. The great part about it is that, when I do devote time/life to them is that I really seem to enjoy it for the most part and that makes up for not being able to always delve as deep as I’d like. So I think that that is probably the most important thing to consider with all this balance stuff–Get something out of what you DO choose to do with your time. It’s your life after all.

So that got me thinking about New Year’s Resolutions and it dawned on me that I should actually make some!

So here’s the tentative list:

• Paint at least 5 real pieces. Get it framed and hang some of that shit up!
• Read (FINISH!) 20 books for 2010. While my track record involves finishing a book every couple months I have given myself a great head start on this because I have about 16 books that I’m already part way through! FINISH HIM!
• Go boarding 10 times. I got myself a pass this year and I haven’t even used it yet. Worthless… To be fair, it has been frigid and sucked so far this year, but time to make moves.

That’s a lame list, but that’s what I’ve got for now that are tangible enough to write down and see whether I can accomplish them or not.

And to close things out… I have a new object of my obsession.

Hendrick’s Gin.

Look at it! It just exuuuuuuudes class and tastes delicious! It has that old school medicine bottle look, and a has been a crucial part to a good number of cocktails of my liking lately. It seems to go very well with cucumber as a garnish. God, that’s so fresh tasting together! Last night at a cocktail party, I brought that materials and made a Hendrick’s Press (The gin over ice, then with the remainder, 1/2 soda, 1/2 sprite.) and garnished with the cucumber slices and a pinch of fresh mint.

Perfect!

-J

As promised, pictures from the Steuben’s Holiday Toy Drive/Party.

Holiday spritz.- Hendrick’s Gin, sherry, Aperol, lemon juice, Prosecco.

X-mas S’mores – Milagro Reposado Tequila, Sombra Mezcal, Cappuccino liqueur. It also had a small roasted marsh mellow on a stick across the top!

cOld Fashioned – Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, Griottes, Orange slices, Chai syrup, soda. Ended up being a *little* heavy on the whiskey!

Hot Buttered Pumkin – Sailor Jerry Spiced Nay Rum, Pumpkin, Jonesy’s Hot Buttered Rum Mix. Served warm. This one was sooooo good!

Winter Gin Fizz – Hendrick’s Gin, Domaine de Canton, Cinnamon Extract, Agave Nectar, Lemon Juice. This was possibly my favorite drink of the night. It was very tart, almost sour, but there was a very sweet sugary lemon coating on the rim that helped to balance that out well.

This is my friend Moe’s drink, Red Skies at Night – Sailor Jerry Spiced Navy Rum, Lillet Blanc, Lemon Juice, Egg Whites. There was a sugary, cinnamonny, stuff around the rim of each glass that she caramelized with a blowtorch (below).

And importantly, remember that all this fun and games is to help collect toys less fortunate kids in the Denver area. It ended up being a huge success and there were a LOT of toys there, this pic didn’t capture even half of what was there as they flooded over the booths and tables in the front area!

Again, it was awesome to get to attend a great event and I hope to attend next year as well and maybe see if I can get snuck into some other COBG events!

In other news, as an early xmas present to myself I finally went ahead and jailbroke my iphone.

This is what it looks like now:

It’s awesome. The first thing is the themes, I can have wallpaper now! This is the Mac OSX Snow Leopard theme. Some themes come with new icons for the standard and most popular aps (like all here are new except the “Settings” icon, which makes sense to keep as that’s the icon OSX uses). Also there’s a bunch of cool shit like tethering (using my phone as a modem), the 5 icon dock, Backgrounding (running multiple applications at once), a battery manager that can display the actual % left (like the 3G S does) and many more that I haven’t even checked out yet. There really aren’t many limitations anymore, I guess that there is even a jailbroken ap that allows you to use the camera as a video camera. Crazy. It’s weird that with all this potential, Apple still limits the native features. I’m sure that there are reasons for this like running multiple aps at once can drain the battery quickly and almost absurdly fast if you go out of control with it. I guess that that might be part of the reason why the jailbroken community continues to coexists, as an outlet for people that don’t just need the simple version.

Speaking of Xmas presents… This year we aren’t really doing the present thing, but on my holiday wishlist for myself…

Netflix – Time to join the 21st century. A lot of movies out there that I missed and now want to see. $10 a month for Blue Ray discs + streaming movies. Boom!

Some boots. I was recently told that while it works for some people, of which I am apparently one of, the dress shoes with jeans thing is widely misused and unfashionable. When I asked what the alternative was, I was told nice boots. While I will have to confirm this with my fashion consultant, it was intriguing and I looked into it. I think that I could pull off the boots and it would be a hell of a lot easier to dig my car out in the morning after a snow in some of these than in my current flatbottomed, no traction, dress shoes. I’m looking at one of these two pairs. Thoughts?

Wine – I need to get a case of wine again, it’s great to have on hand and I might be able to get hooked up. I’m open to suggestions, but I usually have the guys at the small wine shop down on the corner pick out some of their favorites.

Not sure what else is really on this list, not trying to be greedy, and I don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to other random shit, so that’s all for now.

For Xmas in general I’m headed out to CA for a long weekend with the aunt and uncles. I’m not sure how it’s going to go down, but I’ll post a report afterwards…

New sweet jams:

So going against my long-held axiom, I’ve begun to watch a reality show on MTV. My excuse? Simmons. That’s about it. Damn the man who has nothing to do all day but watch television, talk with athletes and celebrities, and occasionally write. But!!!! The Jersey Shore is almost indescribable…

Wow.

For certain people familiar with NJ and all that the Jersey shore has to offer, this tanned out, muscle bound, new haircut, floozy parade is nothing new. But for the rest of the nation/world… Wow. It’s like a car crash. It’s violent, raw, disgusting, and not something that I would want myself or a loved one to be a part of, but at the same time it’s wildly entertaining and I can’t look away.

Speaking of things that I can’t look away from… I was lucky enough to remember to catch (but not DVR) the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show!

Yes please.

I am always confused and amused by this (and fashion shows in general). A bunch of very attractive models wearing some of the most ridiculous things imaginable. Wings? That’s not sexy is it? I mean it is, but what are the wings/twigs/stars/any other ornamental accessory that requires more or less a harness to wear, really supposed to add to the ensemble? I could ramble on, but how can I really complain?

The winter is here in a big way. It was -10° this morning and I was less than pleased about this. However, that does mean that the holidays are in full effect and that means holiday parties! I was fortunate enough to attend a wonderful party put on by one of my favorite Denver restaurants, Steuben’s, which hosted the top bartender/mixologists from Denver and the surrounding area. It was put on as a toy drive/holiday party where bringing toys to donate for kids netted you drink tickets to try the showcase drinks. My friend who works at TAG, was there preparing one of her signature drinks, and was able to help me sort through the offerings to find some of the top drinks of the night. I will be uploading the full menu and some photos that I took of the event once I get the pictures off of my phone.

Also, have a few Ugly Sweater parties and some birthdays to attend coming up. I can’t wait to break out the egg nog, perhaps make some of my own… but I need to pick up a really solid ugly sweater, because the only “ugly” one that I currently own was one of my favorites that my dry cleaners destroyed. But the main thing is that it’s a great excuse for people to gather together and let loose…

My reading has stalled somewhat, but between the things that I really care about, I am getting almost all of them in there. Except painting. It’s coming up on a full year since I got my painting stuff set up (thanks for the xmas present Mom) and I have officially completed two pieces. Although my Kill Bill piece is finally done. I have a couple of other ideas that I really want to get onto the canvas, so I need to get some more supplies. I’ve been going to a really sweet event that that occurs every first Friday of the month. The Art Walk is a collection of galleries that all open up and people come through checking out all that there is to offer. Some offer treats, wine, coffee, hot cider, etc… and they are spread out across 5 or so blocks all along Santa Fe Drive here in Denver. Sooooo much art, a lot of it is just spectacular. Very inspiring.  I need to get my paint on.

Pictures to come.

I need to figure out some holiday gifts to get for my friends/myself. I loving finding good gifts for people, something unique, because it makes me much happier than just some generic meh. But I’m also a sucker for cool shit, so I end up getting myself xmas presents too.

-J