:: HOW'S YOUR EDGE? :: Hardcore Straight Edge

This week has been pretty strange as far as networking goes. I've met some interesting people at work, as well as outside of work and have made some interesting new contacts because of that. But somehow, this week feels very different from previous weeks. It's probably because ALL of these new connects (or near connects) were completely unexpected.

Here are a few stories in chronological order. Also in potential order or significance.

(if you follow teetilldeath.com, feel free to skip to #2)

My wife and I have been hitting up the Acton-Boxborough Farmer's Market every Sunday. It's a nice little Sunday morning trip. We get a bunch of excellent, fresh vegetables, and sometimes we bring the dogs. It's a very dog friendly zone, and our favorite farmer seems to LOVE our big dog. Overall, it's just good times.

This weekend while walking over to the market, we stopped at an intersection waiting for a car to turn left. As it pulled up, the man in the front seat rolled the passenger side window down. At this point, I was expecting to give out directions to some local establishment. Instead, the man said, "wow, I haven't seen a Bold shirt since 1988." And then drove off with his wife and baby in the back seat.

I was so shocked, that I could only squeak out "yeah, man" while he drove off. For the next couple of days, I was haunted by this "missed connection." Hopefully, this weekend, I'll run into them again and get to chat about the core.
I've been selling a bunch of LPs on ebay lately (keep your eyes peeled for EPs soon). I've been making many, many, MANY trips to the post office, and despite spreading it over 3-4 offices, I think they are all starting to give me dirty looks when they see me.

In the last round of LPs, I noticed one of the buyers was from the same city I work in. I emailed this fellow and said if he wanted to save $4 and time, that he could meet me for an in person hand off. He was game, and we planned to meet the next day outside my work.

He called a few minutes before showing up, and I ran down to the street with LPs in hand. He had only purchased one LP, but since we were meeting in person, I threw in an extra LP that didn't sell. He pulled up, and we began to chat. He was psyched to get the LP BACK into his collection. Turns out he owned all these LPs when they were first released and sold them years back. Now he is trying to build his collection back up. I asked what else he was looking for. Again, there was some overlap with what I had and what he wanted. I told him I was more interested in shirts and that's where the connection was made.

"Oh, I gave my wife most of my tees when I grew out of them. She may still have them in her closet. Maybe we can trade shirts for LPs."

Yeap, that's my favorite conversation. It also turns out that this guy has been going to Boston shows for years (his first show was Youth Of Today and 7 Seconds at The Rat) and had played in a lot of great local bands. I'll leave his name out of this, but I am positive you've heard at least one of his bands before.

After our great conversation, he walked away saying he would check his wife's closet for tees and get back to me. I consider that a great connect.

After talking to a few friends about this great experience, one of them asked if it was "____ ______." And yes, yes it was. Turns out he was good friends with this guy and his wife. It's a small world, don't you know?
A few months ago, I bought a shirt on ebay from a seller who had a couple of great gems up. In my paypal payment to him, I sent along a note that asked if he had any other shirts he was planning to sell. I didn't receive a response, but the shirt came shortly. Great shirt, and I was quite happy with the whole thing.

Fast forward to yesterday. Out of the blue, the seller emailed me saying money was tight, and he wanted to sell a few more tees. And that's all because I took a few extra seconds to fire off a note with my payment. I'm now talking to him and working on getting a couple AMAZING OG tees. We'll see how it goes.

There you have it. It's funny what 4 seconds of personal touch can add to any interaction. Going forward, life looks good. I'll let you know how it goes with shirts and trades as it goes down.

Summer 2009 is one for the record books. It was just a real good summer. In also seemed like it was all about Bane. In fact, it felt more exciting than Summer 1999 (as far as Bane goes).

1999:

June 7 1999 @ The Space Worcester Mass: Bane, Ten Yard Fight, The Swarm, Adamantium, Embrace Today ("The sooner more people get naked, the sooner we play again." Zach)

June 10 1999 @ Mcternan's Studio in DC: Bane backups for Give Blood

August 27 1999 @ Merrimack College North Andover Mass: Bane, Garrison, Errortype:11, Mid Carson July, Little Dipper

2009:

June 20, 2009 @ Blenders NYC: Sick Of It All, Bane, Capital, Inhuman

June 25, 2009 @ Some Studio Wakefield (fixed), Mass: Bane backups for the two new EPs

August 09, 2009 @ The Palladium downstairs Worcester, Mass: 10 For 10 Tour: Bane, Terror, This Is Hell, Poison The Well, ...

August 13, 2009 @ ICC Allston Mass: Bane, The Suicide File, Alpha & Omega, Foundation, Harms's Way, Convicted

August 15, 2009 @ Some Venue in Long Island, NY: Bane, This Is Hell

August 16, 2009 @ Starlight Ballroom, Philly PA: This Is Hardcore Fest: Bane, Blacklisted, Ceremony, Wisdom in Chains, Trapped Under Ice, Reach The Sky ...

Let me start with some pictures. Here are a few from the Blenders gig.

I know. You're thinking, WTF? Well, I was selling merch for most of the evening (except during Bane). That's ok, though. Blenders has the merch downstairs, and they very smartly have flatscreens all over the place showing the gig upstairs. That's good and bad. Good for merch dudes, partially bad for bands because people can chill downstairs while still "attending" the show. Good gig. Met Mario.

Ok, now here are some shots from the Bane merch table at This Is Hardcore. Noticing a trend here?

Quality merch. The kids ate it up. I felt bad for the kid I sold the XS longsleeve to with the hole in the shoulder. But his girl definitely wanted it, even after they returned it and re-bought it. That's a quality fan.

Big Bob taking a breather and Justin checking for that color vinyl. Good dudes.

Obviously the best hair cut of the weekend. Great look.

Get ready for some blurry pics of Reach The Sky and Bane now. Squint and shake your head while viewing them. That could clear them up some.

Brothers from different mothers?

And then it was over, and the crowds left. Quiet times. Of course, Bane was the last band out. Bedard and Co had to say goodbye to every single band and person in the venue, it seemed.

Finally, a good blackmail pic. So goofy.

Yeah, summer of 2009 was a good one. Hit up the beach a few times, did some camping, saw plenty of great shows, and an awesome time. No complaints here. It made me feel like a kid again (even on those weekends when I had to go to work).

Lets hope winter 2009/2010 can compete with winter 99/00.

Lately, I've been very UP on cycling. I've been trying to ride as much as possible. You can imagine that's difficult when you have

a) dogs that need walking
b) a mortgage that needs paying
c) a house that needs upkeep
d) a job that needs to be kept

Yes, all these things can add up, but I've been squeezing in miles whenever I get a chance. And not just that, but I've started to religiously follow various biking blogs. Everything from NYC Bike Snob to Fat Cyclist all the way over to prolly. Each of those guys has an extreme view coming from completely different angles of the sport & culture (especially in prolly's case).

At the end of the day, it's all motivation to go out and ride. And that's what I've been doing. I introduced my commuter ride a over 12 months ago, and here you can see it in action.

Day #1:

Getting the job done (or getting to the job):

Here's a sweet view from my office. Check the conference room in the back of the following pic.

(did you notice the poorly attached saddle bag? Whoops, it's been fixed since then)

There's something wrong with the heating system in that room so I frequently have to put up with loud, open door meetings. Usually it isn't so bad. Sometimes, however, there'll be that one ungodly loud telecon speaker. Oooofffff, diss.

That picture was actually taken one Saturday when I had to come in. Yeah, not cool, but at least it gave me the opportunity to ride. When it all boils down, that's what it is about. Getting out and riding. So coming from a bike that was found in my friend's basement, I think we've come a pretty long way. And look forward to going even further.

Now get out and ride.

Do you know Big Bob? If you don't, you are missing out on a genuinely awesome human being. This dude is tops in my book. The first time I met him, was after a Bane show in 1998. It was Summer, and the upstairs of the Palladium was hotter than hell. This was back when it still had the ridiculous stairs built into the front of the stage. So foolish. He had been up front all night long, and was used as a runway for many stage dives. FOR THE WHOLE GIG. Didn't matter, he moshed and sang along to every song. He was feeling it. He also needed a place to stay. He ended up at our house, and I loaned him my bed. He had a long day of driving the next day and needed his rest. We didn't oblige him. We stayed up all night playing poker and ended up running down the stairs at sunrise to play football. We did so much hooting and yelling in the hallway of our house that the girls downstairs came out and yelled at us. LOL, good times.

Like I said, best dude. At some point, some years ago, we set up some sort of trade. At this point, I can't even recall what it was for. That's how far back it stretches. It's the second longest trade I have going. The other one has been going since 1998. Yeah, 1998. 11 years.

But yesterday, I received a package. From Big Bob.

Like I said, dude is the best. Peace, dude.

My wife gets some pretty cool perks. Last time, she got tickets to Fenway, we sat in the EMC Level. I get misty just thinking about how amazing those seats were. These seats were nothing to snob off. In face, they were the second best seats I've ever occupied. Check my blurry pics for yourself.

Yeah, we were close. WAY better than HDTV, that's for sure. Also, we were right behind the Jays on deck circle and happened to be sitting next to two drunk yellers. They probably threw out hundreds of terrible one liners. But every now and then, they hit a gem.

"Barajas, you suck. Varitek is a better catcher than you."

"Hey, Millar, cowboy up, you douchebag."

They had a few more gems that really escape me now. Out of hundreds of one liners, they probably had 5. Not worth it, really.

All in all, we had a great time. The Sox won too. Thanks Auntie Ann!

The other day Justin Thunderlizard hooked me up with a Gator Bait shirt. He couldn't sell it because it had a small dryer burn on the shoulder. It was pretty apparent on that bright white shirt. I thought the shirt was cool and wanted to sport it. I too was having a hard time looking past that burn. So I went ahead with a little craft project. Turns out I also had a dope Mental tee that went through the wash with a pen. The pen exploded. Sadness ensued. So check the pics. This was maybe 2 hours of work. And most of that work was waiting.

Pretty sweet, right? I was very pleased with the Gator Bait tee. The Mental tee was lime green initially so the difference isn't super apparent. Also, I think that GIANT X on the Gator Bait tee flecked and washed off onto the both tees. An interesting side effect.

Good luck finding either of these on eBay. If I can make them, so can you.

Actually, it's more accurate to say "since I've been gone." I'm sure you all missed me. I was off in Albuquerque for the week. Here's my week in pictures.

Leaving Providence. Lovely weather, of course.

Sadly, I did not stay at this hotel. Yes, I said HOTEL. I stayed next door. This is sticking out the side of the Radisson Hotel and Waterpark. Yes, Hotel AND Waterpark. Wild.

ABQ has a dry, non salty climate so all those old cars stick around. I saw many amazing classics ...

And then some cars that just BLEW my mind.

I had the opportunity to eat at some awesome restaurants this go around. I arrived a little early on my first day and got to walk all over the Central St area. Annapurna's World Vegetarian Cafe was my obvious highlight. I was hoping to hit up 20 Carrots for a PB + Banana shake, but they were closed. Here's my meal from Annapurna's.

While enjoying my meal, I kept amused by reading I Drink Milk Fanzine #3. These kids do it right. Review coming soon. Peep that pic with Casali. All the way from Wilkes-Barre to Hungary and back.

ABQ has a lot of houses that all look the same. This one isn't one of them. It's located on Monte Vista, and I believe I caught it featured in a segment on the Travel Channel. Needless to say, it was a little over the top.

My last full day in ABQ was Friday the 13th. I'm not a superstitious fellow so I wasn't worried at all. However, my morning free buffet was ruined by a leaky cranberry juice cup. I filled my drink and walked away from the cart without realizing the cup was severely cracked. Here's the terrible, terrible outcome.

One last shot. I've never seen this before. And despite hating Dr. Pepper, I would have gladly used my free Guns N Roses coupon on this beverage. Anyone ever had one?

So that was my trip. Other highlights not pictured: gelatin free skittle, many iced lattes, Rudy's BBQ (I heard someone accurately describe it as "vegetarian hell." Very accurate. My co-worker at "brisquet, ribs, sausage AND chicken." It was either 1 full pound of meat, or 1lb 4oz. I can't recall if he got a quarter pound of chicken or half a pound. Either way, it was a ridiculous amount of food. Ridiculous), long days spent in windowless warehouse sized rooms, longer evenings and other fun stuff.

This will probably be my last trip to ABQ. See ya, dudes. I'll miss your ayurvedic meals.

2008 was an excellent year. It brought a lot of good times to my house and my life. Let me run down a few highlights for you.

The Bar Harbor Vacation
The stairwell getting painted
Jaw Surgery aka finally getting rid of the braces and over bite
Lots of Bane shows
True Colors
My older brother getting married
Madlib & J-Rocc
First time visiting New Mexico and Albuquerque
...
Plenty of good times.

After a long night of saying goodbye to 2008 (obviously, the little guy partied too hard.), it's time to welcome 2009.

2009 has the potential of being the biggest year in my life (so far). I'll turn 30, share a 5th wedding anniversary with my lovely wife, be a home owner for 3 years, ... The list goes on and on. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to 2009. Honestly, it's going to be good.

So stick around, it's only going to get better from here on out.

It's been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry, my bad. I was off in Albuquerque for a while and have been hella busy with work. And then when I'm not working, I basically just needed time to sit back and relax. Now I have a few days off and have been busy watching the worst movies known to man. Truth. Terrible, terrible movies. Movies that make people cringe when you say the title.

Just yesterday, I watched a movie called Death Race. Yes, the 2008 thriller with Jason Statham. Part "Fast And Furious," part "Waterworld," part "Days Of Thunder." Ok, well maybe not that last part. Yeah, so a real winner. Plus this happened to be the unrated version so the scene where 14K buys it was definitely extra gruesome. Overall, a pretty terrible movie. Plus, the week before, I happened to catch National Treasure 2 and something probably equally as terrible.

But today, today I topped all of them with the worst possible movie ever. It is called In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and also starred Jason Statham. You can probably see a theme here; I catch most movies with this guy, even if they are notoriously terrible (Transporter 1 was probably the least offensive to the soul as far as action movies go. The Lock Stock and brit movies remain untarnished, cinema gold stuff). This movie down right stunk. I wouldn't be surprised if it was direct to DVD.

Strangely enough, the trailer doesn't look too terrible. Then you realize they just cut scenes from the Lord Of The Rings and replaced hobbits with bald brits. I won't even try to explain the plot; it's just not worth it. Plus, the acting. Ooofffff, so frigging bad. I can only assume the script was written during the writers strike. The word putrid comes to mind. Feel free to LOL at these comments left on IMDB.

Ok, now it's time to get back to my terrible movie marathon. What'll it be? Tokyo Drift or something equally as terrible.

Over the weekend, I had the honor of attending the opening of my brother's building. He's a project manager at the EMPAC building on the Rensselaer campus in Troy, New York. He's been busting his ass for the last few years and double that for the last few months. It was real cool to finally see the fruits of his labor.

We rolled up for a late lunch at El Mariachi's. So good. This time around, my mouth wasn't just recently unwired so I HOUSED some chips and salsa. Toss on the fajitas and an orange jarrito - I'm good to go!

GB, what up?

We then had hours to kill before the 11pm event we were attending. It involved walking around Troy. A LOT. We then hit up the EMPAC building in order to see the Open Late With Madlib gig. Here's the only unblurry picture I really captured.

Blurry One

It was a weirdish event. Everyone keeps asking me if it was a rave. It was not. It was a juxtaposition between hip hop and visual art. The room had this giant 360 degree projection screen. For smaller events, it would be resting on the floor. This event was too large so they used the upper projectors and had it lifted 30 feet off the floor.

This is where the art part comes in. The Vidvox dudes were projecting weird ill video. They were live mixing it and doing all sorts of funky stuff. The bubbly MS Paint stuff was cool. When they started showing footage of the building construction, people started to get nauseous. That was a semi downer.

Construction Footage

Regardless, the show was ill. J-Rocc and Madlib set it off. They had kids fist pumping during their "warm-up" period. It was probably all the WU they kept spinning. Juiceboxx got the crowd going crazy too. Koushik was in the house, mostly laughing on stage. Sadly, he didn't get to spin.

Overall, it was a great night. And my brother didn't freak out too much. I rode around Troy with Madlib and even got a chance to ask him about the Lord Quas dunks. Apparently he was given a few pairs, but that's all that ever came of them. He done good. Props!

ps. If you want to see some less fuzzy pics of the vidvox work, check this link.

I received a lot of positive feedback from my "Walk With Me" blog post so here is another installment. Instead of walking, we're eating. And instead of idly standing by and watching, you can participate. Follow these easy steps to the best in brown bag lunching.

Start with your basic ingredients. This is really all you need to have the top of the tops.

The first step is pretty freaking easy. Just slap two slices of bread on your napkin or plate. Go with wheat. Don't skimp here. Don't even fool around with wonderbread.

Then slap some peanut butter on BOTH pieces. I like Teddie brand. Unsalted, crunchy or smooth is fine by me. My recommendation is to spread a lot of peanut butter on one and just a little bit on the other piece. It's important to have peanut butter on both slices in order to seal the next ingredient in place. You don't want these bad boys sliding around.

Now peel that banana.

And cut in half.

Then cut those halves lengthwise. Now you've got quarters.

Then place the banana quarters on one slice of bread. Make sure to squeeze them all on there. Spoon them in nice and tight.

Press those slices together...

... And you've got yourself a freaking sandwich!

Add that Cherry Coke Zero, and go to town. One of my favorite lunches. Get into it.

The last time I tried this, my co-worker rolled up in his brand new BMW M3. So let's try this again. We're walking, we're walking.

It's still summer at my work. Otherwise, that fountain in the background would be shut down and drained. Summer rules! Never mind those fall flowers they just installed. Still summer, folks!

The weather was kind of sucky today so I had to hustle my way down the street. I play that game sometimes, "Can I walk there and back before it rains?" I haven't lost yet, knock on wood!

In case of fire, hang out near this red poll.

In the background, you can see my mall. It's aight. I hang there a lot. Plenty of walking at lunch right through the heart of it. Nice floral arrangement in the foreground too.

At this point during my walk, someone usually stops to ask for directions to either a) the lahey clinic or b ) the marriott. No directions given this time. Also note the sign about fire lanes and handicap parking. There are definitely no fire lanes marked on the street, and there are definitely no road side handicap parking spots. Why is that sign there? No friggin clue.

Almost there. If I walk alone, I cut through that triangle thing. If I'm walking with co-workers, I'll hit up the crosswalks. They aren't so quick with heads on swivels and usually make comments about getting run over. No one needs that.

Stopping at the red light so I don't get run over. Those are my sneakers. I'm bored while waiting for that red light. Must get across the street, must not get run over.

Oh shit. I'm there! You thought I was going to D'Angelo, didn't you? Hahah.

One amusing story. While I was in the Starbucks, the barista manager kept waving my cup around and saying "how much? How much?" I had no friggin idea what she was talking about. Then I realized she was talking to two regulars sitting at the table behind the bar. Apparently they have been trying to track down a cup like that for months without luck. Not for sale. Sorry dudes.

Good walk. Now I'm chilling. Peace.

I need to apologize for neglecting all my people. I have updates to post, but I've been hella busy. For the last month, I've been working Saturdays and at least 50 hour weeks. And then for the last week and a half, I've been driving into Cambridge every morning for 7am (leaving my house around 6am) and then leaving at 7pm and arriving home for 8pm -- long days certainly. So I apologize, I apologize.

Here's a story from my morning that I found heart warming. Yeah, I'm turning mushy in my old age.

I've been driving into Cambridge early in order to beat traffic. Most mornings, I arrive before 7am. But testing doesn't begin until 8:30. So that gives me some time to walk around Cambridge. Some mornings, I sit on a bench and people watch. This morning, I walked down to the Cambridge Bike Store and back. Lots of fixed gear bikes up in there, including the Obey X Fuji fixed gear. Looked weird in person.

After that, I walked back to the Clear Conscience Cafe (part of the Harvest Market) which had just opened. They guy behind the counter and I were discussing my hard plastic Starbucks cup. He was angered by Starbucks practices, but like me, was truly amazed by the cup. Great cup. In his amazement, he ended up pouring me a hot americano even though I specified iced.

At this point, an older Cambridge native was in line behind me. He had a pretty long beard, was pushing 60 years old and looked like he spent a lot of time reading novels by Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. The counter guy apologized for pouring me the wrong drink and was going to pour it out for himself. The older gent behind me asked what it was. Realizing it was exactly what he was going to order, he told the guy to pour it out for him. The counter guy said it was on the house. I then ordered 2 vegan scones. One for me, one for the older gent.

Needless to say, the older guy was truly amazed. He was a little confused, but I gladly and willingly offered him a scone. So he got a free americano and a scone. He commented on how everyone was so generous today. I told him to pay it forward and at that exact moment, I think his eyes got misty. It was like his faith in human kind was restored.

He then went on to tell me how he was going to visit his daughter today, and he was sure it was going to be a great day. It started off so nicely that I have to agree with him. Today is a good day. Life is good. Enjoy it. Peace.

Today was, without a doubt, a shitty day. The weather sucked, my alarm going off at 5:15am sucked, my one day weekend sucked, ... lots of things sucked. Highest on the sucking meter was working from 8:30am until nearly 8pm. That's just not cool. Especially when I leave my driveway at 7:20am and pull back in at 8:30pm. Just not cool. Things just felt off all day long. And I don't know why.

Then I come home to find an empty house. Actually, two sleeping dogs and a noisy bird. But I also come home to a package from a friend. Earlier in the week, he told me to watch my mailbox as he was sending me something. He also didn't mention what was in the package. Just said to keep an eye out. Well, today, it arrived.

That's right. Homeboy sent me a Bane tshirt. And not just any Bane tshirt. The first WHITE Bane tshirt the band ever made. And shockingly, this one is STILL white, despite being 9 years old. This shirt is fucking cool, in my book. I'm planning on enjoying the hell out of it. The note was pretty amusing too.

Mr. Murphy
Hope this finds you well. Consider this a gift. No, it's not Anthrax or a trip back in time to the Anthrax, nor a show featuring Scott Ian's Anthrax. I know you'll appreciate it. But as the ol Godfather saying goes, "one day, you may be called on to repay this favor." HAHA, seriously man, enjoy!
Stay True"

So there you have it. A cool free shirt, and an uplifting note. My chi and all that shit is now realigned.

If you don't follow my life very closely, you won't know that I had jaw surgery a while back -- May 6th, to be exact. It involved sliding my jaw forward and loads of fun times. Oddly, I never felt an ounce of pain. In fact, the most painful experience involved a catheter removal. Oooh, fuck that.

As part of my recovery, my mouth was wired shut for 6 weeks. Yeap, 6 whole weeks. You saw what I ate, how I ate. Well, here is the last meal I had blend. Yay. I believe it was a strawberry fruit and soy smoothie.

And here's a shot of my mouth on a face only a mother could love. You can see the wire that held my jaw in place. That wax prevented the wire from cutting up my lip. Good stuff.

Then the wire came off. I was pretty freaking stoked. Of course, my mouth muscles had atrophied and I could only open my mouth so wide. I have a measuring device that I use to check on my progress. Before surgery, I was a 53. In this picture, I am a 20. This is a face only a wife could love.

I no longer was forced to drink from a straw or through an enema bottle. But that didn't mean I was ready to shred a burrito. Nope. My mouth wouldn't open wide enough for that. And also, my jaw didn't really recall how to chew so well. But here is my first "solid" meal. Note how happy I am.

For the curious parties, it's bbq tofu (pan fried tofu smothered in trader joe's bbq sauce. You may or may not recall my love of trader joe's bbq sauce. I still have 3 bottles left. Only 2 are unopened). For the most part, I ended up sucking it off the straw, mashing it some with my teeth/gums and swallowing it semi-whole. Good thing those pieces were cut up small. I don't think I could have fit anything larger than 1" cube in my mouth at that time.

Please also note the goodfoot shirt. I strongly suggest you support this store AND brand from the great white north, Canada. They always come strong with product and their in-house brand is always at the top of it's game. Check their site, and if that isn't good enough, hit up ebay for some gear you may have missed.

Remember last week when I was talking about karma? Here's why.

Needless to say, I was psyched all week. I just got it back today, and the ride is smooth! Now let me give you the back story that lead to my "deep" karma discussion.

It all started about 3 weeks ago. Summer was here, and I wanted to get out and ride my bike. Of course, I don't own a bike. That was the problem. The wife and I began visiting every LBS (local bike store for the uninitiated). I would peruse the bikes and even got a kid to measure me out. I'm a 56cm if you are curious. We went to every bike store I can think of in the area. We even hit up the big city of Boston (and got an ill vegan shake too). Most of those bikes were out of my price range. I had loot but wasn't willing to blow my load on some super fancy bike. I just wanted something I could kick around on.

I also began lurking ebay and craigslist religiously. I would check once an hour on a busy day. And every 20 seconds on a slow day. Maybe not that often, but DAMN often. I came across a ton of viable bikes. Some were super expensive, some required ridiculous shipping. Most items on craigslist were "sorry, already sold" or not the right size.

I kept digging. I soon started looking at fixed gear and single speeds. I figured a mutt/conversion would be less expensive than a fancy road bike. I did plenty of digging, checked out bikesdirect.com and all those sites. Saw some good deals, but nothing that jumped out at me. The one item that came highly recommended was back ordered (it's available in my size now, fyi).

Then one day, Casali asked me if I wanted a Wishingwell logo shirt. He knew some guy who was selling one. I told him I couldn't buy one (despite how awesome it looked) because I was focusing all my loot on a bike. He was surprised and asked what kind of bike. When I said "road bike," it all started "coming up Brian."

He commented that his brother in law left a road bike in his basement. He couldn't ride it because it was too small for him. Too small for the brother in law, not Casali. A bike too small for Casali would assuredly be too small for me. This was his brother in law who I remembered was a semi-giant. I asked what kind of bike it was. He told me "it was only rode twice and not for a very far distant." Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but apparently the bike was in the basement. He didn't want to go down there just then.

He eventually went down and came back. It turns out, it was a Specialized Allez bike. Now that frame is probably a $800 setup. I wasn't sure if I wanted to drop that kind of loot right then and there. I asked him what size it was. He didn't know. He didn't want to go down to the basement again.

I drove home in a happy fog. I found a bike in my friend's basement but wasn't sure if it was my size. On the ride home, I got a text from Casali. "56" Who could fucking believe that? Then later, he told me the brother wanted $500 for it. Bike, cage pedals, clip pedals with specialized sneakers, helmet, gloves and a roof rack. I was a little astonished. I didn't really want the rack and threw back $400. The brother accepted then tossed in the roof rack "just because."

I drove down the next night and picked it up. And the last bit of karma, the sneakers were size 11.5-12. Yeap, they fit like a glove.

And now the previous karma post is explained. Full circle.

ps. If you have a fixed gear bike in a 56-58cm and want to trade for hardcore vinyl, I'm game. Hit me up.

I think a lot can be said about a person based on what they are watching on ebay. Here's what I've been watching lately. I wonder what it says about me?

$25

Duh, I love Bane. I don't have this hood. I have the tshirt, but not the hood. I'd like to get this hood. I was outbid in the last minute.

$67

I love this design. The front has the pocket X print. I wasn't too keen on the navy blue or the yellow front. It wasn't worth $70 to me.

$122

I have this shirt. I almost shit my pants when I saw the final price. Holy crap, who knew?

$5 (no bids)

C'mon, no bids? Wack. Less than 6 were printed on pink shirts. They were gags, basically. Somehow, they all were printed on XLs. Try to think of one giant friend who wants to rock a pink HYE? shirt. D'oh!

$128

Not my size, but one of the limited Savier Trainers I need to complete my collection. If they had been cheap, I would have scooped. Obviously not cheap.

$202 + $70

Just a little single speed/fixed gear conversion. Like Freddy Mercury said, "I want to ride my bicycle."

$431 + local pickup

I was pretty stoked on this little guy. Good bike, barely used. And I could have drive to pick it up. When it was under $250, I was stoked. When it bumped over $390, I blew it off. Wasn't worth that much to me.

Wait until you see my latest pickup. Its coming soon. Getting tuned up as we speak. Freddy Mercury would be proud.

If you know me, you know I'm not a religious man. I don't hang with buddha, mohammed or jehovah. It isn't my deal. I grew up in a quiet, hands off Christian household. No overbearing catholics, no crazy zealots. But still it wasn't something I could hang with. I don't know, it just wasn't something I felt deep down. But a few points come out of this discussion.

1) If someone is religious, I let them be. I'm not pushing my non religion on people, and I hope they aren't pushing their religion on me. I let them do their thing, and I hope they let me do my thing.

2) When an animal or pet dies, some part of me knows they are going to a better place. Is that hypocritical? Maybe. But just like I don't push my non religious views on other people, I don't push my beliefs on animals either. For instance, my pet bird Baby died a few weeks back. Baby had been with us for a few years. She lead a rough life. She was found outside 5 years back, dirty and missing a claw. We brought her in, and she chilled. It wasn't always peaches and cream, but she was a good bird. And then she died. A part of me knew she was going to a place with endless millet. Strange? Yes, probably.

3) Karma. Karma isn't a Christian belief. Not under that name at least. But for some reason, that concept has always stuck strong with me. Cosmic balance? I don't know. I always do my best to put good things out there. Add positivity rather than negativity. Another example. No idea why, but I'm obsessed with Massachusetts Saftey Inspection stickers on cars. Once a year, each car has to be inspected. They check safety, emissions, ... the usual car load. And if the sticker expires, expect a stupid ticket. So now, whenever I see an expired sticker, I try to make sure the person is made aware. This has been much harder lately with a mouth wired shut, but yesterday, I saw a sticker expired. I pulled a 3"x5" card out of my pocket (that's how I communicate with people for the next 15 hours - fuck yes) and wrote a quick note about the sticker. I was worried the note would fade in the rain. Today when I parked my car, I saw the expired sticker car. Guess what? It had a brand new 2008 inspection sticker on it. That was me elevating the positivity in my little parking lot.

Going forward, I hope all you folks add a little positivity to your small world. Don't push your beliefs on others, let people do their own thing. Skip that burger, get a big salad. Up the positive.

Oh yeah, go Celtics! 2008, baby.

Hey there people. Checking in. I'm doing remarkably well. Coming back together, piece by piece. I took these pics yesterday afternoon. Oddly, the biggest bruising wasn't from the actual surgical points, but rather from the NG tube, I think.

There is some yellowing along my jaw line, but my sweet, sweet beard hides most of it. I actually took the clippers to my face yesterday so as to not scare little kids or small dogs.

ps. Catheters pretty much suck. Wow, so freaking terrible. The worst part wasn't having it removed, even though that was terrible. But rather, 2 hours or so after having it removed and drinking what seemed like gallons of water, the urge to urinate is super high. However, the body still thinks it has the catheter and is a little confused. I think there might be an air bubble block that has to be worked through too. Before my first piss, I thought I was going to explode. It was a pretty terrible feeling, like I was going to burst. Once I finally went, I was pretty much in a heaven / nirvana. Pure bliss. Weird.

pps. What about those sweet myspace-style shots? Better than glamour shots.

ppps. Current weight: 163.5 lbs. I think I was at 175lbs a week ago.

Some have you who read this blog have a regular chance to speak to me face to face. Anyone who has spoke to me face to face in the last 3 years has probably noticed I have braces. Yes, braces. Orthodontic work. Probably a little strange for a man nearly 30 but you know what they say, "young til I die." Anyway, Tuesday was a big day in the braces game for me. Part of my ortho process involved oral surgery. Below, I present the before and after pics. Turn away if you are slightly squeamish. Fear not, I didn't post up "the day after pics" but rather "the day after the day" The day after pics are much more gruesome and are probably worse looking because I was still in ICU at the time with about 6 million wires plugged into me.

Before: Check that Sweet Mug

Before: Check that Side Sweet Mug

After: Mugging For The Camera

After: Tired of Mugging for the Camera

Oh yeah, I'm fine too. I experienced very little pain and got out of the hospital one day early. My doctor and nurses were really amazed by my progress. I lay all my thanks to a healthy lifestyle and an endless supply of PMA. Really, PMA got me through a fucking lot.

And now slow eating, but I'm doing fine. Much love to every person who texted me or shot me an email. I really appreciated it. You'd be surprised how slow those nights wore by in a little hospital room. Good thing I had baseball and basketball to keep me company. Oddly, I somehow fell asleep before Papelbon blew both saves. Weird.

Last week, I ate something terrible and fought food poisoning for a few days. A diet of apple juice and gatorade isn't the life for me. Somehow, I thought it was still a good idea to do yardwork. It went like this "rake for 2 minutes, lay down for 10 minutes, rake a bit more, dump leaves, lay down for 20 minutes, rake more, ..." At one point, I spread out my hooded sweatshirt to lay on. Tucker would steal that spot when he wasn't chilling in this spot.

I spent some time wondering the mall. You know how I do it. The Burlington Mall got a name change for the movie. Hot times.

Thankfully, summer is around the corner. That means I can put winter behind me. So the winter wheels got put in the corner of the garage and the summer wheels make an appearance.

I also got back into the swing of trading last week. I sent a ridiculous amount of vinyl to a friend in the UK and he has offered to send me some sneakers and candy. I plan on sending him a few more records along the way in hopes of receiving more amazing kicks. I broke out these today.

Sadly, the chocolate didn't survive the flight. They arrived in what appeared a melted-frozen-re-melted state. For the most part, they tasted like dirt. Except for the almond one. That one held up the best.

Leaving my building one day, I said "SFKL!" If you know skfl, you know what I'm talking about. Pretty damn close.

And over the weekend, I hit up the 10th anniversary of the Metal & Hardcore fest. This year was very unhardcore. Cold World even cancelled (I found out later). They were the only hardcore band playing. Wow.

Here's a picture of Behemoth ripping up a bible and trying to get the crowd to chant "Hey Hey Hey." It was a little sad. When I think death metal, I don't think of "Hey" chants.

Lastly, while I was in the men's room, which was basically the smoking room, I saw this tag on the toilet paper dispenser. I figured Fred Hammer would approve and snapped a pic. Locals only!

Maybe I'll add some non cell phone pics of Metal Fest up tomorrow. We'll see. That crowd was soooo metal. It was good hanging with Pike, Merrick and Nick, and meeting new people like Bridgewater and Ramona. Good times.

Just like Classic NES, Skate or ... SHOP! The mall has been taken over by skate rats. Here's a few of the new skate-able structures. Enjoy.

These are actually mall directory signs. The white piece of paper says something like "this is a scene prop, NOT actual mall directory information." Lol.

Maybe some hand plants on the mall planter?

This one went up yesterday or the day before. Immediately upon seeing it, I knew what it was for. What mall would have such an item? Who knows.

Someone must have been doing some gnarly wall rides last night. This guy is busy painting some coping and cleaning off some tire marks.

First, I'll apologize for this pic. Some lady was busy painting the rocks and the staff didn't looked psyched about me standing there.

With this ramp, you could literally jump the ... alligator. Yeap, right over the alligator into the rain forest cafe.

Finally:

These "benches" just look ill. Metal coping on the edges, plenty of room to work with. Not bad at all. There are a few of these scattered around the mall.

That's all. Sorry for all the bad play on words. I couldn't help myself. Peace.

Rule #1: Pics or it didn't happen...

1) A couple of things. It's looking more and more festive everyday.

2) While in the Gap, two ladies approached me asking about the availability of a product. When I told them I didn't work there, they looked confused and then one lady said, "It must be because you look so stylish." My mom would be so proud.

3) There was a ton of activity over by the Gamestop today. Good times.

4) First celeb spotting. As I was getting on the escalator, Erick Avari was getting off. I couldn't recall why I knew him. For a minute, I just figured he was a goofy dude I worked with. Then I realized he was Cecil from Mr. Deeds. That's where I broke rule #1. No pic.

That's all for today, folks. Is my blog turning into a mini Perez Hilton / gossip column? Shit, I hope not. I'm just trying to keep people in the loop on my day to day. Word.

Peace in the middle east!

Or Why I HATE April Fools' Day

I know, I know. You're probably thinking someone pranked me hard as a kid forever making me hate a time honored tradition of pranking. Not the case. I don't mind a good prank. But I do hate April Fools' Day. Here are my reasons. The list is pretty short.

1) Too predictable. I mean, c'mon. It's almost a national holiday here. Everyone knows you are going to do something stupid. It isn't a mystery. We see it coming.

2) A lot of pranks are mean spirited. There is no PMA in mean spirited pranks. Wack. I've got the PMA.

And those are my reasons. Short and sweet. As an example of a prank gone wrong, I give you today on the local Hip Hop station.

It began yesterday as Ramiro began setting up the prank. He kept talking about a big meeting with the General Manager of JAMN 94.5 and the stalling contract negotiations. Of course he took it over the top and began name calling the GM. "TOM ... OCONNEL ... SUCKS ... ELEPHANT ... BALLS." Puh-lease. Like no one saw this coming? Easy set up.

Then today, the intro music was replaced, Pebbles and Ramiro "were given the boot." And they were replaced by Sippy and The Box. A couple of fresh faced kids with no prior experience who were supposedly related to the GM. Completely unbelievable. Who replaces one of the highest rated radio host duos with a couple of hack kids? If they had been replaced by afternoon DJs or someone else from the channel, the believe-ability would have gone way up. Then there was Melissa's bad acting. She's the third wheel on the Ramiro And Pebbles morning show. She kept saying, "C'mon, don't say that. We need to keep these listeners." And then she would play one ridiculous phone call after another. UGH. Terrible. It's almost a slap in the face to every listener. "Our listeners are so stupid, they'll fall for anything." That's the message I got out of this weak ass prank.

This could have been an all-star prank but they fell super hard into predictable land. They probably even hurt their reputations going forward for believing their audience was so dense. I actually felt embarrassed for them. Poor execution was shaming.

Hopefully that lackluster prank demonstrates why I hate April Fools' Day. I just do. It's just sad. Nuff said.

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go your way? That's been my work life for the last 2-3 days. Thursday was intensely frustrating. So frustrating, in fact, that I frequently asked myself, "what the fuck am I doing here?" It was one of those days. And it made me take stock of my current place in life. I quickly began running down all the major events that had brought me to where I am: graduating high school then college, melissa, trips to France, London, Iceland, getting married, Briggs, Tucker, ... All the important events and activities in my life. I quickly realized that I have it good -- that all my major events easily out weigh one day of crap.

It was my drove home that night which helped reaffirm my faith in civilization. Despite having nothing to do with civilization or people. Check that blurry picture. What you see there is a field I drive by twice a day. It's about halfway through my journey to or from work. This is Bridge Street, a road that cuts between rt 117 and rt 2. It can be pretty busy with commuter traffic. But that night around 7:30pm (yes, I worked until at least 7pm that day. Ugh), I saw a sight that made me pull over. In the field, in that blurry pic, were 12 deer. Just chilling. Eating grass and enjoying life. It made me realize that the little shit is just that.

Of course, Friday at work was 8 hours of mind numbing frustration. I left work essentially raging. For most people, it would have been an appropriate occasion to hit happy hour HARD. Instead, I got home for a dog walk and BBQ tofu. Not sure how the wife knew, but a favorite dinner and a fun walk was all I needed to snap out of a mind grueling funk.

We had a great weekend and I was ready to attack Monday with vigor. Up early for a dog walk and a great iced soy latte. The wife is a pro. And I stumbled upon a grail on ebay. A NDS pair of Savier Trainer Lux Brazils in my size! And for WAY less then any site has been offering recently (like 1/6th that price). But upon getting to work, I'm greeted by angry "you broke the build" emails and instant messages. I barely had my jacket off before people were breaking down my door.

Back to tiny miracles. 3 people backed me up in our weekly meeting, saying how they gave me false information on Friday, saving me some face. Things all started to turn around. To top it all off, after I took a power walk to blow off steam, I hit up Starbucks. I was chatting with the dude who my wife calls my "barista boyfriend." We were discussing the usual shit: weekends, weather, ... you know. He rang up the lady in front of me, grabbed a cup for an iced latte for me, continued to tell me stories, and then rang up the guy behind me. The money in my hand never left my hand except to go back in my pocket. Yes, that's right. Free.99.

Ok, this has surely devolved into a crappy Livejournal post, but it was semi-therapeutic for me. Hopefully you weren't too bored and could actually make sense of my ramblings. Until next time. Peace!

Not March Madness, but rather, MALL Madness. Here's the story.

Thanks to getting a great dose of Bark Busting, I ended up driving into work later than normal. When I arrived, I was greeted by cones blocking my parking lot entrance. I normally park in the mall lot and walk over. It makes it easier to leave in the evening. So I had to park further back in the mall lot.

The cones were set up because there was some sort of construction going on. A giant tent was being erected where I normally park. Who knew?

I normally park in the area where I'm taking this photo from.

I found out later that this tent was being erected for catering. Catering for a film being shot in the mall. I learned that Happy Madison is producing a film starring Kevin James called Mall Cop and they chose to shoot some scenes in the Burlington Mall.

Of course, this movie is set during Christmas so the mall got dressed up last night.

I walked through the mall yesterday. No Xmas. Today, Xmas Xplosion. The Easter station is still set up for pictures with the rabbit. I doubt they'll be able to put up the Santa Village.

If you know me, you know I hate when they put up decorations before Thanksgiving. This is WAY before Thanksgiving. As my way of sticking it to the mall, I'm parking in between the juice bar and meat carving station tomorrow. If anything cool goes down, I'll try to get pics.

Peace.

Back in Summer 2005, I bought a pair of sneakers off a kid in California. I think I paid $60 for them. Shipped. They were a pair of brown pack Nike SB dunk lows. When I got them, I was bummed on the skimpy tongue. I wanted a FAT tongue. So I thought I would try my hand at customization.

My original plan was to make a poor man's Slam City dunks. Bleach out the dark brown, and color the toebox, swoosh and lace stays black. I immediately go to work bleaching the kicks and bought the black Rit. Almost 3 years later, the Rit still has not been applied. And I have still never worn these sneakers.

Here are some more pics.

They are my unfinished sneaker project. What is even more funny, is that I have some bottles of angelus paint somewhere, and I spent many evenings in my cold ass basement painting a pair of blazers. But I can't find one evening to smear Rit all over these sneakers.

So the question remains, should I finish this project or call it "good enough?" Actually, they are sort of growing on me now.

It was time for lunch. We had the day off and we went out for lunch. I love lunch.

So we both had the day off and decided we needed to go out for lunch. But first, we hit up JC Penney. We had a gift card and needed to spend it on something. We ended up with sheets. I got bored and took this photo.

Finally, it was time for lunch. So we took a trip back in time and went to Quan Yin in Worcester. I miss the propaganda videos.

Supreme Master TV, look into it.

Melissa had fun. Obviously.

Nothing beats fried wonton soup with rice and tofu with two orders of chicken drumsticks and a steamed bun. Nothing.

Amazing. Best day. While I was next door getting money from the ATM, the quan yin lady asked melissa all about our "tall friend who really likes soup and drumsticks and steamed buns. He's real tall." Melissa guessed Aaron. I think that was the right answer.

Well, fall is winding down, and the pre Holiday season is ramping up. The signs are everywhere: this morning was the first frost, for instance. But what really amps me up about the pre holiday season.

Yes, that's correct. Candy Cane Joe Joes.

And they allowed me to fart around with the camera some more. I was playing with the digital macro feature. The first pic is evidence of that. The lighting wasn't great so I went black and white, hoping to trick of all you into thinking I was the next Ansel Adams. Then I realized I could muck around with exposure and other settings. That is shown in the last pic. Not bad.

Back to the pre-holiday season, I only have one gripe. Yes, just one. Yesterday, November 6th, 2007, I was walking through the Burlington Mall and I saw Santa. YES, Santa, at the mall. Wow, soooo early. Even worse? There was a line to see him. YUCK!

I recently sold my 2001 mkiv matchstick red GTI. Sad but true. I now have some leftover stuff that I need to pass on.

And I just realized I have a ton of parts that will do nothing for my IY 20th. I'll post stuff up here and probably later on craigslist, but you guys are getting first dibs.

Monster Mats. Used 2-3 seasons. Yours for $40

3 back seat head rests (how'd I not see these on sell back??), $30

Matchstick red touch up paint pen and at least 2/3 full 12.5 oz spray can (I was going to work on valances but never got around to it. Just did the rear emblem and some touch up on the front). Not sure how full pen is. $20

Stock side markers, no bulbs. No idea where they went. $5

Let me know. Best offers accepted. Also looking for some winter wheels for my IY. I have steelies but no rubber. Let me know.

Check the Contact page for my info. Hit me up on aim if you want too, howsyredge.

Peace

When I was a kid, I was a pretend skate rat. I had a nash board and couldn't ollie over a penny. It was a little sad. That didn't prevent me from skating up and down the driveway for hours on end, of course.

One day, I went semi legit. And it was only because of the sneakers my mom brought back for me on a work trip. Normally, I would wear some basketball kicks (despite never playing basketball). Not Jordans. No way. More like Pony and British Knight. We were never well off, but one time my surprised me with some new kicks. The Airwalk Lava 600. My mind was BLOWN away.

These sneakers were the epitome of awesome. You gotta remember, this was the mid 80s and everything neon was cool. Most of my shoes were black and white as Pony and BK were pretty chill sneakers. These nearly jumped out of the box at you. And the lace save -- Unheard of technology, for sure. Pretty much space age quality stuff.

I wore the hell out of these shoes and then they got sent to the basement. Where they stayed for years. It wasn't until my dad redid the basement back in the late 90s that they were tossed. I wish I had gone back and scooped them pre-trash run. oh well.

If anyone has a pair, hook a brother up. Peace!

Do you remember? I know I do. I wish that day would make a comeback.

Back in the late 80s, early 90s, instead of hanging at CBs or the Anthrax, I was collecting comic books. Of course, I was even a teenager yet. But there was a time when comic books ruled my life. I had a subscription to GI Joe and the Uncanny X-men, which later changed to a subscription to X-men. When Uncanny X-Men ended, of course.

Then later, I dreamed of selling all these comics books and retiring at an early age. That was quite the dream. Of course, now a days, it just doesn't look like it will happen. Ebay sales are slim, and unless they books are graded, it just isn't going to happen.

But courtesy of a post on a few message boards, I got to dig around in the back of my closet and remember the good times. I would spend hours pouring over these comics. Locked away in my room, listening to my tape player, examining each page as if it were a piece of fine art.

C'est la vie. They are still worth reading, in my book.

On Wednesday, Melissa told me she had a surprise coming my way and she would know more on Thursday. Thursday night, she told me it all had come together. She had scored tickets to the RED SOX. I was pretty amped, as you can tell. It isn't summer without a trip to Fenway or a trip to the beach. And since I never went to the beach ...

Oh yeah, that's Schilling chatting up Steve Tyler. Why Schilling wasn't paying attention to the game ... No clue.

So when Melissa told me she had tickets, I was planning on sitting out in the bleachers, hoping I wouldn't get beer spilled all over me. Whoa, I was way off. These tickets were the big league. EMC Level, in a suite. We showed up SUPER early and took pics.

I was literally blown away. Blown away. That night they were saluting Jim Lonborg. He was sitting 2 suites over. So amazing. And when I spotted Steve Tyler heading towards the front row of seats and pointed him out to the ladies in the suite with us, they went bananas. Good times. For the rest of the night, I enjoyed free coke and water, and soaked up the game.

Too bad V-Tek broke our hearts TWICE on a almost perfect come from behind near win. 9-8, man on third, man on first. The Captain comes up. Pinch hitting, no less. And what does he do? Yeah, a double play ball to the second baseman. Bah. Oh well. Still an amazing night. Even with a $25 parking ticket. The fan rushing the field and getting LEVELED was well worth the $25 ticket.

One of the things I like to do on those crazy mornings at work is taking a little walk to Starbucks. There is one (in)conveniently located up the street from my work. A few steps out the door, and I'm almost there. Come with me.

Here we are stepping out the door, heading towards the rotary / park thing. Pretty soon, we'll take a left and head up the street to the destination of choice.

Of course, this is as far as I got, on foot. Directly after I snapped the above pic, a coworker who I always talk to cars about, drove up and said, "Going to starbucks? Need a ride?" How was I going to refuse a ride in a 2006 BMW M3? I obviously did not. No pics were taken after this as I was too busy holding on and enjoying the ride. Such a great car.

Instead, enjoy these pics from my ride home. Shout outs to Drive Daily! I was playing with the features, trying to teach myself about exposure and lighting. I'm obviously no Illissa.

Ps. This is the same intersection where I was told I had a brake light out by a kind old man in a truck.

A little story from my night.

I'm driving west on Rt 2 in Mass in my imola yellow VW GTI around 7:50pm. I stop at the red light at Crosby's Corner. Two lanes turn left, I'm in the rightmost lane aka the slow lane. A beat to shit truck pulls up next to me with a flannel wearing old man driving. He's looking over at me like he wants to chat. The Smiths come on the shuffle, and I'll gladly turn it up to rock out a bit. Hands tapping on the wheel, I'm getting into it. No singing, or mouthing words, but I'm into it.

The light is about to turn green when he revs his engine. Now maybe it was just his engine getting wound up, preparing to go, but I'm almost sure he's revving his engine at me. At this point, two thoughts simultaneously go through my head.

1) "Ok, let's do this."
2) "Is this old man joking?"

So I give him a little head start and before going past the gas station, I'm already 10 feet beyond him. A few hundred yards down the road, I pull into his lane to pass an 18 wheeler. We go through the green light for rt 126 and head to the next light. The one at Bridge St is red, turning green. I get in the left lane to go left, and he passes by me going straight.

As he passes me, he yells out the window, "FAGGOT!"

This old man obviously called it like it is. So here are my theories on how he came to this conclusion:

1) Only homosexuals drive yellow cars.
2) Only homosexuals can drive better than him.
3) Listening to The Smiths is for homosexuals. He obviously knew who Moz is. He may not be a Suede Head, but he knows.
4a) Wearing an x-rated swatch is a key indication of homosexual tendencies.
4b) The man saw my watch when the Second, Minute and Hour hand were forming a 'Y.' The Minute hand on 10, The Second hand on 2, The Hour hand on 7. "XY" yeap.
5) He noticed I had a tail light out. Yelling "Faggot!" was code word for "Your left tail light is out."

I'm guessing #5 is the actual reason. I may never know, though.

So here's to that guy. I present to you the soundtrack for "being called a faggot by an old man in a truck while driving an imola yellow gti."

I hope you enjoyed.

Older Love

One day, I knew it would happen.

After 4 years of faithful service, it was time to trade the Matchstick GTI in. She served me well. Then she served Melissa like a champ. Here is my artsy photo montage of me saying goodbye. You can see the progression of my "form."

I'll miss that old car. I had plenty of great adventures with it.

Old Love

(This one is much less sentimental.)

If you know me, you know I love bbq sauce. Yes, bbq sauce. Fittingly, my favorite comes from Trader Joe's. And of course, Trader Joe's loves to screw me over on my favorites every now and again. Like the chicken poppers, or the chicken burgers ... Along these lines, my favorite bbq sauce is seasonal. It's only sold Memorial Day to Labor Day. So between the months of September and May, I'm pretty much out of luck.

Last year, I had the foresight to purchase 2 or 3 bottles before the deadline. However, that barely lasted into the new year. This year, I decided to "Go Big or Go Home."

And no, I will not share any with you come March.

The Nike Air Max. Amazing shoe, great concept. The am87 is one of my all time faves. I'd be hard pressed to choose between a nylon tongued dunk and an air max 87. Here's the latest pickup. Air Max 1996. Or one of the air maxes from 96 as it doesn't look like the usual Air Max 96. You know, the shark toothy looking one. This one reminds me more of a Burst. If you have any info, hit me up.

Just needs a little magic eraser. Then they'll be good to go. Not bad for an eleven year old sneaker.

After some investigation (good old google), I have determined they are Air Burst 2s.

AIR BURST 2
604055-141
WHT/MIDNT NV/LT ZN GRY/VRSTY RED

Dope. If my conversion is correct, these shoes are being sold for $140 in DS condition. Not bad for a $15 ebay pickup.

Ps. My wife described them as "goofy football cleats." What does she know?

Today was spent hanging with Sweet Pete and hitting up various shops in Boston. Concepts, Bodega, Niketown, ... wherever we wanted to go. I decided I was going to document the trip with pics in order to help out my fellow NikeTalk bros. Here are the results.

Much larger than a Venti or the Dunkin's Bucket

I saw this giant cup floating atop a new Dunkin's Donut location in Brighton. I was pretty amused by its giantness. Impressive, eh?

Next up was the Watertown diner. Food was required and it was noon. Breakfast food seemed appropriate. This place was pretty cool. It was basically a regular diner that happened to have soy milk and a few vegan options. I went with the pancakes. Pete called me a loser for getting the short stack (then again, I did get a coffee soy shake to go with it, and a large cranberry juice).

Extra syrup, please

The largest mound of bacon I have ever seen

Then, we went to all sorts of stores. Concepts, Bodega, Puma, G-Star, Niketown, Barneys, ... We even tried to hit Laced but couldn't find parking. We topped it off with a trip to Re-up. I entered every store with my camera but somehow forget to take pics in ANY of them. DOH.

Here's me driving by The Collection. Yeap, that's the new name of the Natick Mall. The Collection. How stupid is that? What rocket scientist PR firm came up with that crap? Lame.

Nieman Marcus and Nordstrom. Maybe sales racks will be overflowing with Nike

Everything to the right of that junction box didn't exist 18 months ago

So that wraps up my Saturday. NikeTalkers will appreciate these, I'm sure.

My wife has a blog called Drive Daily. In it, she talks about all the thoughts that occur to her driving to and from work, around town, or out of town. The road is her muse, it inspires her. She's volunteering all weekend so no blogging for her.

However, luckily for her and all of you, I had the camera as I was driving around Concord, MA. What's this I see?

Why, it appears to be a boy in a tiger suit. Was he coming from a school play? Was he on his way to Lion King try outs? No idea. But I knew I needed a better pic. My wife would get a better pic if it was her blog.

Better, but not best. Then to my delight. Him and his bro got on their bikes and rode off. Good times.

This last pic was the best. But it doesn't show one crucial item. When the kid got on his bike, he spent 15 seconds trying to figure out what to do with his tail. It's hard to see, but he actually tucked it into his front belt. Now he won't run it over.

Sweet. Much love to Drive Daily for the inspiration.

A friend was asking me about How's Your Edge? shirts so I did some surfing on ebay, attempting to find one out there. I didn't find any, but I did come across this sweet auction.

Description:

Yo this is a Mental shirt from sometime in 2004 or 2005, I'm not 100% certain. What I am certain of is that this is an awesome colour of yellow which looks good on everybody. Word is that this shirt was a friends only release who knows.

"Is it a walnut? A brain? A wrinkley butt? No clue." - Brian "Howsyouredge.com" Murphy, Merch God

Payment is due at most 3 days of auction's end. Paypal only please. Shipping will be $8 flat for North America, more to Europe so message me if you think you will win it. Be sure to check out the rest of my auctions. A lot of good merch from Mental, The Wrong Side, Shipwreck, Have Heart and more...

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZebimbib

Thanks for looking and good luck.

It's official. My status has been upgraded from hardcore kid to merch god. All hail me.

The other day went so well, and sparked such great discussion that I whipped out some more flyers and stickers. Enjoy.

YOT - We're Not In This Alone

Rush out and get those cassettes now!

DHU does it the best!

3 Band Bills Are The Best

The Swarm, Buried Alive and Bane. 3 bands. A festival of mirth and mosh. What more do you need? Of course, The Swarm didn't make it. Reach The Sky played instead. Then Ian turned the show into a benefit for the Fallen Worcester Firefighters. Lots of raffling and stage diving for a good cause. 1999 was a good year.

The End Of An Era

National Edge Day

Words cannot describe how amazing this show was. Mosh.

Bane, The Sheist ... FULL BLEED!

When Chachi printed up these flyers, he made sure to let me know about Full Bleed. You'll notice no white borders. It's black to the edges. Yeap, full bleed. He was very proud. The show was very long. But dope. Of course, The Sheist didn't play this show. Ah Chachi. Best dude. 1998 stylee.

Before Fests, There were Shows with a Million Bands

Bane Stickers, A Little From Each Era

Enjoy the pics. Let me know if you any more requests for flyer or sticker pics. Peace.

Last night, I was feverishly looking for some old stickers. I needed one for comparison. I couldn't find an unstuck sticker, but I did find these.

A Promo For AJ's Zine

A Long, Great Day Which I Missed

Did this show actually happen? It must have been 1998. It's not on my list of shows though. I can't imagine why I would have skipped a Worcester Bane show. I mean, I did see them the next night.

February 21th 1998 @Reflections New Bedford Mass: Get High, Lynchpin, All Chrome, and Bane (Bane's 50 show, and 2 year anniversary)

Unless it was 1999. But I don't know if Fragment was still playing in 1999. My records are pretty shotty for 1999 though. Sucky.

Memories of My Youth

So Much Beef

I had a little trade with Rev the other day. GI Joes for a Warzone on Clear!! Well, not really. More like banner space for shirts. Close enough, though. This In My Eyes sticker came along with the shirts. It was real odd looking. Check my comparison here.

In My Blurry Eyes

The original is metallic bronze, pretty crisp. The one rev sent was mustard yellow and seemed fuzzed out. A little bit of a bummer because I could use more of that "Nothing To Hide" sticker.

A weekend or two back, I helped my brother move out of his house. As a thank you, he was generous enough to give me a few items from his shirt collection. One item was a Sam Black Churck 2xl Longsleeve. No pics. I'll spare you. The other was a Ten Yard Fight - Summer Tour 1998 shirt. I had one, but this one was different.

First off, the shirt brand is different. The colors are obviously different too. Mine was the darker blue while Jason's was lighter blue.

Jason's shirt appeared different on the front too. The letters seemed larger, and the alien/football player seemed more crisp.

Finally, there is the back. Mine had THICK, bullet proof ink. And an extra white border around the graphic. Jason's was normal print. Not super thick, with no run off white boarder. In fact, it didn't have any white ink at all. One less screen.

If anyone has more info, please let me know. I'm curious why these two vastly different shirts were made for the same tour. Thanks. I'll be asking Clevo too.

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Oh Twitter? follow me on Twitter It's All About Networking ... -- Friday, September 18, 2009 This week has been pretty strange as far as networking goes. I've met some interesting people at work, as well as outside of work and have made some interesting new contacts because of that. But somehow, this week feels very different from previous weeks. It's probably because ALL of these new connects (or near connects) were completely unexpected. Here are a few stories in chronological order. Also in potential order or significance. (if you follow teetilldeath.com, feel free to skip to #2) My wife and I have been hitting up the Acton-Boxborough Farmer's Market every Sunday. It's a nice little Sunday morning trip. We get a bunch of excellent, fresh vegetables, and sometimes we bring the dogs. It's a very dog friendly zone, and our favorite farmer seems to LOVE our big dog. Overall, it's just good times. This weekend while walking over to the market, we stopped at an intersection waiting for a car to turn left. As it pulled up, the man in the front seat rolled the passenger side window down. At this point, I was expecting to give out directions to some local establishment. Instead, the man said, "wow, I haven't seen a Bold shirt since 1988." And then drove off with his wife and baby in the back seat. I was so shocked, that I could only squeak out "yeah, man" while he drove off. For the next couple of days, I was haunted by this "missed connection." Hopefully, this weekend, I'll run into them again and get to chat about the core. I've been selling a bunch of LPs on ebay lately (keep your eyes peeled for EPs soon). I've been making many, many, MANY trips to the post office, and despite spreading it over 3-4 offices, I think they are all starting to give me dirty looks when they see me. In the last round of LPs, I noticed one of the buyers was from the same city I work in. I emailed this fellow and said if he wanted to save $4 and time, that he could meet me for an in person hand off. He was game, and we planned to meet the next day outside my work. He called a few minutes before showing up, and I ran down to the street with LPs in hand. He had only purchased one LP, but since we were meeting in person, I threw in an extra LP that didn't sell. He pulled up, and we began to chat. He was psyched to get the LP BACK into his collection. Turns out he owned all these LPs when they were first released and sold them years back. Now he is trying to build his collection back up. I asked what else he was looking for. Again, there was some overlap with what I had and what he wanted. I told him I was more interested in shirts and that's where the connection was made. "Oh, I gave my wife most of my tees when I grew out of them. She may still have them in her closet. Maybe we can trade shirts for LPs." Yeap, that's my favorite conversation. It also turns out that this guy has been going to Boston shows for years (his first show was Youth Of Today and 7 Seconds at The Rat) and had played in a lot of great local bands. I'll leave his name out of this, but I am positive you've heard at least one of his bands before. After our great conversation, he walked away saying he would check his wife's closet for tees and get back to me. I consider that a great connect. After talking to a few friends about this great experience, one of them asked if it was "____ ______." And yes, yes it was. Turns out he was good friends with this guy and his wife. It's a small world, don't you know? A few months ago, I bought a shirt on ebay from a seller who had a couple of great gems up. In my paypal payment to him, I sent along a note that asked if he had any other shirts he was planning to sell. I didn't receive a response, but the shirt came shortly. Great shirt, and I was quite happy with the whole thing. Fast forward to yesterday. Out of the blue, the seller emailed me saying money was tight, and he wanted to sell a few more tees. And that's all because I took a few extra seconds to fire off a note with my payment. I'm now talking to him and working on getting a couple AMAZING OG tees. We'll see how it goes. There you have it. It's funny what 4 seconds of personal touch can add to any interaction. Going forward, life looks good. I'll let you know how it goes with shirts and trades as it goes down. Labels: blog 1 Comments Vinyl On Ebay ... -- Friday, September 11, 2009 These and more! Check it Labels: blog 0 Comments Summer 2009 - The Summer of Bane ... -- Wednesday, September 09, 2009 Summer 2009 is one for the record books. It was just a real good summer. In also seemed like it was all about Bane. In fact, it felt more exciting than Summer 1999 (as far as Bane goes). 1999: June 7 1999 @ The Space Worcester Mass: Bane, Ten Yard Fight, The Swarm, Adamantium, Embrace Today ("The sooner more people get naked, the sooner we play again." Zach) June 10 1999 @ Mcternan's Studio in DC: Bane backups for Give Blood August 27 1999 @ Merrimack College North Andover Mass: Bane, Garrison, Errortype:11, Mid Carson July, Little Dipper 2009: June 20, 2009 @ Blenders NYC: Sick Of It All, Bane, Capital, Inhuman June 25, 2009 @ Some Studio Wakefield (fixed), Mass: Bane backups for the two new EPs August 09, 2009 @ The Palladium downstairs Worcester, Mass: 10 For 10 Tour: Bane, Terror, This Is Hell, Poison The Well, ... August 13, 2009 @ ICC Allston Mass: Bane, The Suicide File, Alpha & Omega, Foundation, Harms's Way, Convicted August 15, 2009 @ Some Venue in Long Island, NY: Bane, This Is Hell August 16, 2009 @ Starlight Ballroom, Philly PA: This Is Hardcore Fest: Bane, Blacklisted, Ceremony, Wisdom in Chains, Trapped Under Ice, Reach The Sky ... Let me start with some pictures. Here are a few from the Blenders gig. I know. You're thinking, WTF? Well, I was selling merch for most of the evening (except during Bane). That's ok, though. Blenders has the merch downstairs, and they very smartly have flatscreens all over the place showing the gig upstairs. That's good and bad. Good for merch dudes, partially bad for bands because people can chill downstairs while still "attending" the show. Good gig. Met Mario. Ok, now here are some shots from the Bane merch table at This Is Hardcore. Noticing a trend here? Quality merch. The kids ate it up. I felt bad for the kid I sold the XS longsleeve to with the hole in the shoulder. But his girl definitely wanted it, even after they returned it and re-bought it. That's a quality fan. Big Bob taking a breather and Justin checking for that color vinyl. Good dudes. Obviously the best hair cut of the weekend. Great look. Get ready for some blurry pics of Reach The Sky and Bane now. Squint and shake your head while viewing them. That could clear them up some. Brothers from different mothers? And then it was over, and the crowds left. Quiet times. Of course, Bane was the last band out. Bedard and Co had to say goodbye to every single band and person in the venue, it seemed. Finally, a good blackmail pic. So goofy. Yeah, summer of 2009 was a good one. Hit up the beach a few times, did some camping, saw plenty of great shows, and an awesome time. No complaints here. It made me feel like a kid again (even on those weekends when I had to go to work). Lets hope winter 2009/2010 can compete with winter 99/00. Labels: blog 5 Comments All About Biking -- Thursday, August 20, 2009 Lately, I've been very UP on cycling. I've been trying to ride as much as possible. You can imagine that's difficult when you have a) dogs that need walking b) a mortgage that needs paying c) a house that needs upkeep d) a job that needs to be kept Yes, all these things can add up, but I've been squeezing in miles whenever I get a chance. And not just that, but I've started to religiously follow various biking blogs. Everything from NYC Bike Snob to Fat Cyclist all the way over to prolly. Each of those guys has an extreme view coming from completely different angles of the sport & culture (especially in prolly's case). At the end of the day, it's all motivation to go out and ride. And that's what I've been doing. I introduced my commuter ride a over 12 months ago, and here you can see it in action. Day #1: Getting the job done (or getting to the job): Here's a sweet view from my office. Check the conference room in the back of the following pic. (did you notice the poorly attached saddle bag? Whoops, it's been fixed since then) There's something wrong with the heating system in that room so I frequently have to put up with loud, open door meetings. Usually it isn't so bad. Sometimes, however, there'll be that one ungodly loud telecon speaker. Oooofffff, diss. That picture was actually taken one Saturday when I had to come in. Yeah, not cool, but at least it gave me the opportunity to ride. When it all boils down, that's what it is about. Getting out and riding. So coming from a bike that was found in my friend's basement, I think we've come a pretty long way. And look forward to going even further. Now get out and ride. Labels: blog 0 Comments This Is How We Do It .... -- Tuesday, July 14, 2009 One morning, everything had come together for me. I had leftover espresso headed from the freezer (before shots shown below), plus soy milk. AND Melissa had made up some vegan pancake batter. I'm not a pancake making pro, but I think I did a damn fine job. Threw some blueberries in them too! Life doesn't get much better than that! Labels: blog 0 Comments Google Analytics WOWs Me ... -- Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Riddle me this: Why is the search term "Chris Morgado" so popular this month that it made the top 10 search terms? Anyone? Anyone? In the last year and a half, 83 visitors have googled this fellow, and come a knocking at HYE. Wild. Also, why is there a sudden spike in "Chris Morgado" traffic lately? What'd he do now? Labels: blog 1 Comments Ewww .. What's That? -- Thursday, June 11, 2009 Check this pic, looks pretty gross, right? Well, you are wrong. This is perhaps my finest concept ever. THE SOY MILK ICE CUBE! I toss them into my iced lattes. Espresso + soy milk ice cubes + soy milk. That way, the espresso NEVER gets watered down. GENIUS! Labels: blog 3 Comments Good things come to those who wait ... -- Saturday, May 23, 2009 Do you know Big Bob? If you don't, you are missing out on a genuinely awesome human being. This dude is tops in my book. The first time I met him, was after a Bane show in 1998. It was Summer, and the upstairs of the Palladium was hotter than hell. This was back when it still had the ridiculous stairs built into the front of the stage. So foolish. He had been up front all night long, and was used as a runway for many stage dives. FOR THE WHOLE GIG. Didn't matter, he moshed and sang along to every song. He was feeling it. He also needed a place to stay. He ended up at our house, and I loaned him my bed. He had a long day of driving the next day and needed his rest. We didn't oblige him. We stayed up all night playing poker and ended up running down the stairs at sunrise to play football. We did so much hooting and yelling in the hallway of our house that the girls downstairs came out and yelled at us. LOL, good times. Like I said, best dude. At some point, some years ago, we set up some sort of trade. At this point, I can't even recall what it was for. That's how far back it stretches. It's the second longest trade I have going. The other one has been going since 1998. Yeah, 1998. 11 years. But yesterday, I received a package. From Big Bob. Like I said, dude is the best. Peace, dude. Labels: blog 2 Comments Tickets to Ride (to Fenway Stadium) ... My wife gets some pretty cool perks. Last time, she got tickets to Fenway, we sat in the EMC Level. I get misty just thinking about how amazing those seats were. These seats were nothing to snob off. In face, they were the second best seats I've ever occupied. Check my blurry pics for yourself. Yeah, we were close. WAY better than HDTV, that's for sure. Also, we were right behind the Jays on deck circle and happened to be sitting next to two drunk yellers. They probably threw out hundreds of terrible one liners. But every now and then, they hit a gem. "Barajas, you suck. Varitek is a better catcher than you." "Hey, Millar, cowboy up, you douchebag." They had a few more gems that really escape me now. Out of hundreds of one liners, they probably had 5. Not worth it, really. All in all, we had a great time. The Sox won too. Thanks Auntie Ann! Labels: blog 1 Comments Making Gator Bait and Mental Proud ... -- Thursday, April 16, 2009 The other day Justin Thunderlizard hooked me up with a Gator Bait shirt. He couldn't sell it because it had a small dryer burn on the shoulder. It was pretty apparent on that bright white shirt. I thought the shirt was cool and wanted to sport it. I too was having a hard time looking past that burn. So I went ahead with a little craft project. Turns out I also had a dope Mental tee that went through the wash with a pen. The pen exploded. Sadness ensued. So check the pics. This was maybe 2 hours of work. And most of that work was waiting. Pretty sweet, right? I was very pleased with the Gator Bait tee. The Mental tee was lime green initially so the difference isn't super apparent. Also, I think that GIANT X on the Gator Bait tee flecked and washed off onto the both tees. An interesting side effect. Good luck finding either of these on eBay. If I can make them, so can you. Labels: blog 1 Comments Justin Thunder Lizard is NOT a rip off ... -- Saturday, March 28, 2009 Justin Thunder Lizard posted some pics of a few new shirts they had in stock. I ordered two shirts from Thunder-Lizard and received so much more. Great dude. He threw in a bunch of extras because he knows I love shirts. He even threw in the Mindset "acetate" (is that what it is? I'm never sure) for the pocket print of their tshirt. Very cool. Support Thunder Lizard. This crew is doing it right. Labels: blog 4 Comments Since You've Been Gone ... -- Saturday, March 14, 2009 Actually, it's more accurate to say "since I've been gone." I'm sure you all missed me. I was off in Albuquerque for the week. Here's my week in pictures. Leaving Providence. Lovely weather, of course. Sadly, I did not stay at this hotel. Yes, I said HOTEL. I stayed next door. This is sticking out the side of the Radisson Hotel and Waterpark. Yes, Hotel AND Waterpark. Wild. ABQ has a dry, non salty climate so all those old cars stick around. I saw many amazing classics ... And then some cars that just BLEW my mind. I had the opportunity to eat at some awesome restaurants this go around. I arrived a little early on my first day and got to walk all over the Central St area. Annapurna's World Vegetarian Cafe was my obvious highlight. I was hoping to hit up 20 Carrots for a PB + Banana shake, but they were closed. Here's my meal from Annapurna's. While enjoying my meal, I kept amused by reading I Drink Milk Fanzine #3. These kids do it right. Review coming soon. Peep that pic with Casali. All the way from Wilkes-Barre to Hungary and back. ABQ has a lot of houses that all look the same. This one isn't one of them. It's located on Monte Vista, and I believe I caught it featured in a segment on the Travel Channel. Needless to say, it was a little over the top. My last full day in ABQ was Friday the 13th. I'm not a superstitious fellow so I wasn't worried at all. However, my morning free buffet was ruined by a leaky cranberry juice cup. I filled my drink and walked away from the cart without realizing the cup was severely cracked. Here's the terrible, terrible outcome. One last shot. I've never seen this before. And despite hating Dr. Pepper, I would have gladly used my free Guns N Roses coupon on this beverage. Anyone ever had one? So that was my trip. Other highlights not pictured: gelatin free skittle, many iced lattes, Rudy's BBQ (I heard someone accurately describe it as "vegetarian hell." Very accurate. My co-worker at "brisquet, ribs, sausage AND chicken." It was either 1 full pound of meat, or 1lb 4oz. I can't recall if he got a quarter pound of chicken or half a pound. Either way, it was a ridiculous amount of food. Ridiculous), long days spent in windowless warehouse sized rooms, longer evenings and other fun stuff. This will probably be my last trip to ABQ. See ya, dudes. I'll miss your ayurvedic meals. Labels: blog 0 Comments Support the Bands + Trade Item ... -- Thursday, March 05, 2009 I hit up Anchor's Up last week to see The Effort, Alert, Mindset (and Give). Good show. Supported some bands! I also traded a Bane test press to a friend in London for these bad boys. There is obviously WAY more to the story, but I'll let you figure that out. My next pick up should probably be a photography class or a class where they teach you how to NOT take a blurry picture. That'd be nice. Labels: blog 7 Comments Sorry, I Was Busy. I Was In Hell. -- Sunday, February 22, 2009 No seriously. Expect more updates soon. Peace. Labels: blog 1 Comments Some Merch Up on Ebay ... -- Wednesday, January 28, 2009 I have a few items up on Ebay. You should buy them. Check the listing here. Labels: blog 0 Comments I Love Burritos ... -- Friday, January 09, 2009 Some people like to get dressed up and go to fancy dinners. Or order expensive wines and fancy cheeses. Others like big slabs of steaks or sandwiches with au jus. Me? I'd rather eat a burrito. I'm no burrito snob either. I'll eat one from a hole in the wall, moe's, chipotle, ... As long as it's vegan, I'm eating it. I prefer the kind you can lift. Not really big on burritos with mole sauce, but I'll still eat 'em. This was my dinner tonight. It was friggin amazing. Paired with a coke zero, some broiled cauliflower and a spicy cabbage salad. So friggin good. You're into it, admit it! Labels: blog 0 Comments Holiday 2008 = Good Times! -- Sunday, January 04, 2009 Holiday 2008 is now officially over. After almost 4 weeks of not being at the office (one week in Cambridge, one week in Albuquerque and two weeks of vacation). Tomorrow, I go back to work. I'm not afraid! The tree came down today, but check out how nicely it was decorated! (Ignore the nerd books in the background. Shout outs to Big Bob) I received that amazing tree ornament from my aunt during a $5 limit yankee swap. Very nice! Shout outs to Larry Ransom for the inspiration. Some of these cards are over 2 years old. I even busted out the iTunes gift card today. Oh sudoku, here I come. There you have it. 2008 was chill. Now for 2009. And the wife is already planning the next vacation. It should involve sun and fun. I'm down. Labels: blog 0 Comments Happy New Year! -- Thursday, January 01, 2009 2008 was an excellent year. It brought a lot of good times to my house and my life. Let me run down a few highlights for you. The Bar Harbor Vacation The stairwell getting painted Jaw Surgery aka finally getting rid of the braces and over bite Lots of Bane shows True Colors My older brother getting married Madlib & J-Rocc First time visiting New Mexico and Albuquerque ... Plenty of good times. After a long night of saying goodbye to 2008 (obviously, the little guy partied too hard.), it's time to welcome 2009. 2009 has the potential of being the biggest year in my life (so far). I'll turn 30, share a 5th wedding anniversary with my lovely wife, be a home owner for 3 years, ... The list goes on and on. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to 2009. Honestly, it's going to be good. So stick around, it's only going to get better from here on out. Labels: blog 2 Comments It's been a long time ... -- Tuesday, December 23, 2008 It's been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry, my bad. I was off in Albuquerque for a while and have been hella busy with work. And then when I'm not working, I basically just needed time to sit back and relax. Now I have a few days off and have been busy watching the worst movies known to man. Truth. Terrible, terrible movies. Movies that make people cringe when you say the title. Just yesterday, I watched a movie called Death Race. Yes, the 2008 thriller with Jason Statham. Part "Fast And Furious," part "Waterworld," part "Days Of Thunder." Ok, well maybe not that last part. Yeah, so a real winner. Plus this happened to be the unrated version so the scene where 14K buys it was definitely extra gruesome. Overall, a pretty terrible movie. Plus, the week before, I happened to catch National Treasure 2 and something probably equally as terrible. But today, today I topped all of them with the worst possible movie ever. It is called In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and also starred Jason Statham. You can probably see a theme here; I catch most movies with this guy, even if they are notoriously terrible (Transporter 1 was probably the least offensive to the soul as far as action movies go. The Lock Stock and brit movies remain untarnished, cinema gold stuff). This movie down right stunk. I wouldn't be surprised if it was direct to DVD. Strangely enough, the trailer doesn't look too terrible. Then you realize they just cut scenes from the Lord Of The Rings and replaced hobbits with bald brits. I won't even try to explain the plot; it's just not worth it. Plus, the acting. Ooofffff, so frigging bad. I can only assume the script was written during the writers strike. The word putrid comes to mind. Feel free to LOL at these comments left on IMDB. Ok, now it's time to get back to my terrible movie marathon. What'll it be? Tokyo Drift or something equally as terrible. Labels: blog 1 Comments Some Shirts For Trades ... -- Sunday, November 30, 2008 I have some shirts for trades. Get into it people. Probably 12 shirts, so make sure to click the "more" link. Check my trade list. Click here for more details ... I have some shirts for trades. Get into it people. Guns Up Outlive Longsleeve, size L Negative FX boot, Joe Boxer Tee, size L Mouthpiece Hood, Murina tag, size XL Betrayed tee, size M Betrayed Tee, size M How's Your Edge? West Coast 06, size Girls L LA Lemon / Like It Or Not, LIMITED size M Snapcase Hungry Charlie's Tee, 97! Delta XL Bold long sleeve with REV STAR on back, RARE, Anvil XL (fits like L) Bold hood with Matt on back, Tultex (OLD) L Bold with Matt on back, black shirt, white ink, RARE & OLD, Signal XL Cold World record release tee, M Bane Holding This Moment, Pretty Rare, no tag but measures as L There you have it. Hit me up with trades. Check my trade list. I want shirts. Labels: blog 0 Comments Ain't That the Truth?! -- Saturday, November 29, 2008 Here's a quick one! So true, so true ... Labels: blog 0 Comments International PWNing - Ouch -- Monday, November 03, 2008 LOL. Skip to 4:10 for some PWNing. Now that's funny. Here's the back story. This was shot (by Voy from the UK) at Fluff Fest somewhere in the Prague. There's probably a million or two kids there. Or maybe some thousands. Lots of people, probably the biggest fest in Europe for hardcore punk. Pretty cool. But I don't agree. And this picture from over the weekend of me stage diving for Bane probably would prove different. I'll have to fight Bedard the next time I see him. Labels: blog 0 Comments A Few Items For Trade (bold, bane, turning point) ... -- Friday, October 24, 2008 I want to trade a few tees. I'm not selling them. I have many angles (including tags) but will just post the front with size. Bold: Fits like large (signal xl). Bold: Fits like tiny, tiny tiny medium (no tag, possibly not OG, no idea, but old ass tee) Cold World: Fits like short large (tag is large but it's not very long) Bane: Large Bane: Fits like large (no tag) To see more angles, check this link, More Angles Turning Point: Fits like Large (anvil XL) - shirt not as yellowed as it appears. Bad lighting in my dining room. To see more angles, check this link, More Angles I'm looking for a few In My Eyes, Bane, Bold, Chain Of Strength, Schism, Wishingwell, Youth Of Today, ... tees. Let me know what you've got. Check my want list for more insight. Peace Labels: blog 0 Comments EMPAC - Open Late with Madlib ... -- Wednesday, October 08, 2008 Over the weekend, I had the honor of attending the opening of my brother's building. He's a project manager at the EMPAC building on the Rensselaer campus in Troy, New York. He's been busting his ass for the last few years and double that for the last few months. It was real cool to finally see the fruits of his labor. We rolled up for a late lunch at El Mariachi's. So good. This time around, my mouth wasn't just recently unwired so I HOUSED some chips and salsa. Toss on the fajitas and an orange jarrito - I'm good to go! GB, what up? We then had hours to kill before the 11pm event we were attending. It involved walking around Troy. A LOT. We then hit up the EMPAC building in order to see the Open Late With Madlib gig. Here's the only unblurry picture I really captured. Blurry One It was a weirdish event. Everyone keeps asking me if it was a rave. It was not. It was a juxtaposition between hip hop and visual art. The room had this giant 360 degree projection screen. For smaller events, it would be resting on the floor. This event was too large so they used the upper projectors and had it lifted 30 feet off the floor. This is where the art part comes in. The Vidvox dudes were projecting weird ill video. They were live mixing it and doing all sorts of funky stuff. The bubbly MS Paint stuff was cool. When they started showing footage of the building construction, people started to get nauseous. That was a semi downer. Construction Footage Regardless, the show was ill. J-Rocc and Madlib set it off. They had kids fist pumping during their "warm-up" period. It was probably all the WU they kept spinning. Juiceboxx got the crowd going crazy too. Koushik was in the house, mostly laughing on stage. Sadly, he didn't get to spin. Overall, it was a great night. And my brother didn't freak out too much. I rode around Troy with Madlib and even got a chance to ask him about the Lord Quas dunks. Apparently he was given a few pairs, but that's all that ever came of them. He done good. Props! ps. If you want to see some less fuzzy pics of the vidvox work, check this link. Labels: blog 0 Comments A Few Items Of Interest ... -- Wednesday, October 01, 2008 I have a few items up on ebay which may be of interest to some of you. Mostly LPs from the early 2000s, but some older ones too. Check it. If you see anything you like, let me know. Maybe we can work out some crucial trades! Labels: blog 0 Comments Lunch Time Perfection - A Tutorial -- Friday, September 26, 2008 I received a lot of positive feedback from my "Walk With Me" blog post so here is another installment. Instead of walking, we're eating. And instead of idly standing by and watching, you can participate. Follow these easy steps to the best in brown bag lunching. Start with your basic ingredients. This is really all you need to have the top of the tops. The first step is pretty freaking easy. Just slap two slices of bread on your napkin or plate. Go with wheat. Don't skimp here. Don't even fool around with wonderbread. Then slap some peanut butter on BOTH pieces. I like Teddie brand. Unsalted, crunchy or smooth is fine by me. My recommendation is to spread a lot of peanut butter on one and just a little bit on the other piece. It's important to have peanut butter on both slices in order to seal the next ingredient in place. You don't want these bad boys sliding around. Now peel that banana. And cut in half. Then cut those halves lengthwise. Now you've got quarters. Then place the banana quarters on one slice of bread. Make sure to squeeze them all on there. Spoon them in nice and tight. Press those slices together... ... And you've got yourself a freaking sandwich! Add that Cherry Coke Zero, and go to town. One of my favorite lunches. Get into it. Labels: blog 1 Comments Let's Go For A Walk ... -- Tuesday, September 23, 2008 The last time I tried this, my co-worker rolled up in his brand new BMW M3. So let's try this again. We're walking, we're walking. It's still summer at my work. Otherwise, that fountain in the background would be shut down and drained. Summer rules! Never mind those fall flowers they just installed. Still summer, folks! The weather was kind of sucky today so I had to hustle my way down the street. I play that game sometimes, "Can I walk there and back before it rains?" I haven't lost yet, knock on wood! In case of fire, hang out near this red poll. In the background, you can see my mall. It's aight. I hang there a lot. Plenty of walking at lunch right through the heart of it. Nice floral arrangement in the foreground too. At this point during my walk, someone usually stops to ask for directions to either a) the lahey clinic or b ) the marriott. No directions given this time. Also note the sign about fire lanes and handicap parking. There are definitely no fire lanes marked on the street, and there are definitely no road side handicap parking spots. Why is that sign there? No friggin clue. Almost there. If I walk alone, I cut through that triangle thing. If I'm walking with co-workers, I'll hit up the crosswalks. They aren't so quick with heads on swivels and usually make comments about getting run over. No one needs that. Stopping at the red light so I don't get run over. Those are my sneakers. I'm bored while waiting for that red light. Must get across the street, must not get run over. Oh shit. I'm there! You thought I was going to D'Angelo, didn't you? Hahah. One amusing story. While I was in the Starbucks, the barista manager kept waving my cup around and saying "how much? How much?" I had no friggin idea what she was talking about. Then I realized she was talking to two regulars sitting at the table behind the bar. Apparently they have been trying to track down a cup like that for months without luck. Not for sale. Sorry dudes. Good walk. Now I'm chilling. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Spotted ... Highs Lows Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Apologies ... -- Tuesday, August 26, 2008 I need to apologize for neglecting all my people. I have updates to post, but I've been hella busy. For the last month, I've been working Saturdays and at least 50 hour weeks. And then for the last week and a half, I've been driving into Cambridge every morning for 7am (leaving my house around 6am) and then leaving at 7pm and arriving home for 8pm -- long days certainly. So I apologize, I apologize. Here's a story from my morning that I found heart warming. Yeah, I'm turning mushy in my old age. I've been driving into Cambridge early in order to beat traffic. Most mornings, I arrive before 7am. But testing doesn't begin until 8:30. So that gives me some time to walk around Cambridge. Some mornings, I sit on a bench and people watch. This morning, I walked down to the Cambridge Bike Store and back. Lots of fixed gear bikes up in there, including the Obey X Fuji fixed gear. Looked weird in person. After that, I walked back to the Clear Conscience Cafe (part of the Harvest Market) which had just opened. They guy behind the counter and I were discussing my hard plastic Starbucks cup. He was angered by Starbucks practices, but like me, was truly amazed by the cup. Great cup. In his amazement, he ended up pouring me a hot americano even though I specified iced. At this point, an older Cambridge native was in line behind me. He had a pretty long beard, was pushing 60 years old and looked like he spent a lot of time reading novels by Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. The counter guy apologized for pouring me the wrong drink and was going to pour it out for himself. The older gent behind me asked what it was. Realizing it was exactly what he was going to order, he told the guy to pour it out for him. The counter guy said it was on the house. I then ordered 2 vegan scones. One for me, one for the older gent. Needless to say, the older guy was truly amazed. He was a little confused, but I gladly and willingly offered him a scone. So he got a free americano and a scone. He commented on how everyone was so generous today. I told him to pay it forward and at that exact moment, I think his eyes got misty. It was like his faith in human kind was restored. He then went on to tell me how he was going to visit his daughter today, and he was sure it was going to be a great day. It started off so nicely that I have to agree with him. Today is a good day. Life is good. Enjoy it. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Cosmic Balance -- Monday, August 11, 2008 Today was, without a doubt, a shitty day. The weather sucked, my alarm going off at 5:15am sucked, my one day weekend sucked, ... lots of things sucked. Highest on the sucking meter was working from 8:30am until nearly 8pm. That's just not cool. Especially when I leave my driveway at 7:20am and pull back in at 8:30pm. Just not cool. Things just felt off all day long. And I don't know why. Then I come home to find an empty house. Actually, two sleeping dogs and a noisy bird. But I also come home to a package from a friend. Earlier in the week, he told me to watch my mailbox as he was sending me something. He also didn't mention what was in the package. Just said to keep an eye out. Well, today, it arrived. That's right. Homeboy sent me a Bane tshirt. And not just any Bane tshirt. The first WHITE Bane tshirt the band ever made. And shockingly, this one is STILL white, despite being 9 years old. This shirt is fucking cool, in my book. I'm planning on enjoying the hell out of it. The note was pretty amusing too. Mr. Murphy Hope this finds you well. Consider this a gift. No, it's not Anthrax or a trip back in time to the Anthrax, nor a show featuring Scott Ian's Anthrax. I know you'll appreciate it. But as the ol Godfather saying goes, "one day, you may be called on to repay this favor." HAHA, seriously man, enjoy! Stay True" So there you have it. A cool free shirt, and an uplifting note. My chi and all that shit is now realigned. Labels: blog 0 Comments What One's Wearing ... Sxe ... -- Thursday, August 07, 2008 I read a few blogs. I get around the internet a bit. I've been a member of NikeTalk for sometime now and watched the Neek phenomenon grow. I'd call him a blogging sensation. Well, he started up a new blog and I noticed one of the dudes "about" bio mentioned "straight edge." I had this pic from a previous trip and figured it'd be a hoot. Unfortunately, I'm not too funny so my answers are plenty plain despite trying for that "hoot" angle. I submitted it, sat back and waited. A week later, it's up AND he tacked on a comment. LOL What up Julian? Good work dude. What up Sam Black Church? Oh fuck yeah. Let in Life! Check out their site, and if that book comes out, you should probably buy it. Peace. Labels: blog 1 Comments If you don't know, now you know, sucka ... -- Sunday, July 20, 2008 If you don't follow my life very closely, you won't know that I had jaw surgery a while back -- May 6th, to be exact. It involved sliding my jaw forward and loads of fun times. Oddly, I never felt an ounce of pain. In fact, the most painful experience involved a catheter removal. Oooh, fuck that. As part of my recovery, my mouth was wired shut for 6 weeks. Yeap, 6 whole weeks. You saw what I ate, how I ate. Well, here is the last meal I had blend. Yay. I believe it was a strawberry fruit and soy smoothie. And here's a shot of my mouth on a face only a mother could love. You can see the wire that held my jaw in place. That wax prevented the wire from cutting up my lip. Good stuff. Then the wire came off. I was pretty freaking stoked. Of course, my mouth muscles had atrophied and I could only open my mouth so wide. I have a measuring device that I use to check on my progress. Before surgery, I was a 53. In this picture, I am a 20. This is a face only a wife could love. I no longer was forced to drink from a straw or through an enema bottle. But that didn't mean I was ready to shred a burrito. Nope. My mouth wouldn't open wide enough for that. And also, my jaw didn't really recall how to chew so well. But here is my first "solid" meal. Note how happy I am. For the curious parties, it's bbq tofu (pan fried tofu smothered in trader joe's bbq sauce. You may or may not recall my love of trader joe's bbq sauce. I still have 3 bottles left. Only 2 are unopened). For the most part, I ended up sucking it off the straw, mashing it some with my teeth/gums and swallowing it semi-whole. Good thing those pieces were cut up small. I don't think I could have fit anything larger than 1" cube in my mouth at that time. Please also note the goodfoot shirt. I strongly suggest you support this store AND brand from the great white north, Canada. They always come strong with product and their in-house brand is always at the top of it's game. Check their site, and if that isn't good enough, hit up ebay for some gear you may have missed. Labels: blog 1 Comments Remember Karma? -- Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Remember last week when I was talking about karma? Here's why. Needless to say, I was psyched all week. I just got it back today, and the ride is smooth! Now let me give you the back story that lead to my "deep" karma discussion. It all started about 3 weeks ago. Summer was here, and I wanted to get out and ride my bike. Of course, I don't own a bike. That was the problem. The wife and I began visiting every LBS (local bike store for the uninitiated). I would peruse the bikes and even got a kid to measure me out. I'm a 56cm if you are curious. We went to every bike store I can think of in the area. We even hit up the big city of Boston (and got an ill vegan shake too). Most of those bikes were out of my price range. I had loot but wasn't willing to blow my load on some super fancy bike. I just wanted something I could kick around on. I also began lurking ebay and craigslist religiously. I would check once an hour on a busy day. And every 20 seconds on a slow day. Maybe not that often, but DAMN often. I came across a ton of viable bikes. Some were super expensive, some required ridiculous shipping. Most items on craigslist were "sorry, already sold" or not the right size. I kept digging. I soon started looking at fixed gear and single speeds. I figured a mutt/conversion would be less expensive than a fancy road bike. I did plenty of digging, checked out bikesdirect.com and all those sites. Saw some good deals, but nothing that jumped out at me. The one item that came highly recommended was back ordered (it's available in my size now, fyi). Then one day, Casali asked me if I wanted a Wishingwell logo shirt. He knew some guy who was selling one. I told him I couldn't buy one (despite how awesome it looked) because I was focusing all my loot on a bike. He was surprised and asked what kind of bike. When I said "road bike," it all started "coming up Brian." He commented that his brother in law left a road bike in his basement. He couldn't ride it because it was too small for him. Too small for the brother in law, not Casali. A bike too small for Casali would assuredly be too small for me. This was his brother in law who I remembered was a semi-giant. I asked what kind of bike it was. He told me "it was only rode twice and not for a very far distant." Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but apparently the bike was in the basement. He didn't want to go down there just then. He eventually went down and came back. It turns out, it was a Specialized Allez bike. Now that frame is probably a $800 setup. I wasn't sure if I wanted to drop that kind of loot right then and there. I asked him what size it was. He didn't know. He didn't want to go down to the basement again. I drove home in a happy fog. I found a bike in my friend's basement but wasn't sure if it was my size. On the ride home, I got a text from Casali. "56" Who could fucking believe that? Then later, he told me the brother wanted $500 for it. Bike, cage pedals, clip pedals with specialized sneakers, helmet, gloves and a roof rack. I was a little astonished. I didn't really want the rack and threw back $400. The brother accepted then tossed in the roof rack "just because." I drove down the next night and picked it up. And the last bit of karma, the sneakers were size 11.5-12. Yeap, they fit like a glove. And now the previous karma post is explained. Full circle. ps. If you have a fixed gear bike in a 56-58cm and want to trade for hardcore vinyl, I'm game. Hit me up. Labels: blog 1 Comments Ebay Watched Items ... -- Thursday, June 26, 2008 I think a lot can be said about a person based on what they are watching on ebay. Here's what I've been watching lately. I wonder what it says about me? $25 Duh, I love Bane. I don't have this hood. I have the tshirt, but not the hood. I'd like to get this hood. I was outbid in the last minute. $67 I love this design. The front has the pocket X print. I wasn't too keen on the navy blue or the yellow front. It wasn't worth $70 to me. $122 I have this shirt. I almost shit my pants when I saw the final price. Holy crap, who knew? $5 (no bids) C'mon, no bids? Wack. Less than 6 were printed on pink shirts. They were gags, basically. Somehow, they all were printed on XLs. Try to think of one giant friend who wants to rock a pink HYE? shirt. D'oh! $128 Not my size, but one of the limited Savier Trainers I need to complete my collection. If they had been cheap, I would have scooped. Obviously not cheap. $202 + $70 Just a little single speed/fixed gear conversion. Like Freddy Mercury said, "I want to ride my bicycle." $431 + local pickup I was pretty stoked on this little guy. Good bike, barely used. And I could have drive to pick it up. When it was under $250, I was stoked. When it bumped over $390, I blew it off. Wasn't worth that much to me. Wait until you see my latest pickup. Its coming soon. Getting tuned up as we speak. Freddy Mercury would be proud. Labels: blog 1 Comments What Do You Know About Karma? -- Tuesday, June 17, 2008 If you know me, you know I'm not a religious man. I don't hang with buddha, mohammed or jehovah. It isn't my deal. I grew up in a quiet, hands off Christian household. No overbearing catholics, no crazy zealots. But still it wasn't something I could hang with. I don't know, it just wasn't something I felt deep down. But a few points come out of this discussion. 1) If someone is religious, I let them be. I'm not pushing my non religion on people, and I hope they aren't pushing their religion on me. I let them do their thing, and I hope they let me do my thing. 2) When an animal or pet dies, some part of me knows they are going to a better place. Is that hypocritical? Maybe. But just like I don't push my non religious views on other people, I don't push my beliefs on animals either. For instance, my pet bird Baby died a few weeks back. Baby had been with us for a few years. She lead a rough life. She was found outside 5 years back, dirty and missing a claw. We brought her in, and she chilled. It wasn't always peaches and cream, but she was a good bird. And then she died. A part of me knew she was going to a place with endless millet. Strange? Yes, probably. 3) Karma. Karma isn't a Christian belief. Not under that name at least. But for some reason, that concept has always stuck strong with me. Cosmic balance? I don't know. I always do my best to put good things out there. Add positivity rather than negativity. Another example. No idea why, but I'm obsessed with Massachusetts Saftey Inspection stickers on cars. Once a year, each car has to be inspected. They check safety, emissions, ... the usual car load. And if the sticker expires, expect a stupid ticket. So now, whenever I see an expired sticker, I try to make sure the person is made aware. This has been much harder lately with a mouth wired shut, but yesterday, I saw a sticker expired. I pulled a 3"x5" card out of my pocket (that's how I communicate with people for the next 15 hours - fuck yes) and wrote a quick note about the sticker. I was worried the note would fade in the rain. Today when I parked my car, I saw the expired sticker car. Guess what? It had a brand new 2008 inspection sticker on it. That was me elevating the positivity in my little parking lot. Going forward, I hope all you folks add a little positivity to your small world. Don't push your beliefs on others, let people do their own thing. Skip that burger, get a big salad. Up the positive. Oh yeah, go Celtics! 2008, baby. Labels: blog 0 Comments Selling a Print on Ebay ... -- Friday, June 06, 2008 Here goes. Selling a Shepard Fairey Barack Obama Progress 2008 print. You know you want this! You better bid soon. It'll probably get crazy. That's what I'm hoping. Vote Obama in 2008. Labels: blog 0 Comments I Will Give You 1,000,000 Space Bucks If ... -- Monday, June 02, 2008 I will give you 1 million space bucks if you agree to eat this: Or something that comes out of a blender and is ate through this device: You must do this 3 times a day. You must do this for 6 weeks. Call me when you are done. I'm four weeks in, and I'm soooo over it. Very, very over it. One concession: I eat ice cream every night. Gotta keep those pounds on, you know?! ps. It still comes from one of these: Yeah. Labels: blog 0 Comments An Update from the Sick Bed ... -- Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Hey there people. Checking in. I'm doing remarkably well. Coming back together, piece by piece. I took these pics yesterday afternoon. Oddly, the biggest bruising wasn't from the actual surgical points, but rather from the NG tube, I think. There is some yellowing along my jaw line, but my sweet, sweet beard hides most of it. I actually took the clippers to my face yesterday so as to not scare little kids or small dogs. ps. Catheters pretty much suck. Wow, so freaking terrible. The worst part wasn't having it removed, even though that was terrible. But rather, 2 hours or so after having it removed and drinking what seemed like gallons of water, the urge to urinate is super high. However, the body still thinks it has the catheter and is a little confused. I think there might be an air bubble block that has to be worked through too. Before my first piss, I thought I was going to explode. It was a pretty terrible feeling, like I was going to burst. Once I finally went, I was pretty much in a heaven / nirvana. Pure bliss. Weird. pps. What about those sweet myspace-style shots? Better than glamour shots. ppps. Current weight: 163.5 lbs. I think I was at 175lbs a week ago. Labels: blog 0 Comments What You've All Been Waiting For ... -- Saturday, May 10, 2008 Some have you who read this blog have a regular chance to speak to me face to face. Anyone who has spoke to me face to face in the last 3 years has probably noticed I have braces. Yes, braces. Orthodontic work. Probably a little strange for a man nearly 30 but you know what they say, "young til I die." Anyway, Tuesday was a big day in the braces game for me. Part of my ortho process involved oral surgery. Below, I present the before and after pics. Turn away if you are slightly squeamish. Fear not, I didn't post up "the day after pics" but rather "the day after the day" The day after pics are much more gruesome and are probably worse looking because I was still in ICU at the time with about 6 million wires plugged into me. Before: Check that Sweet Mug Before: Check that Side Sweet Mug After: Mugging For The Camera After: Tired of Mugging for the Camera Oh yeah, I'm fine too. I experienced very little pain and got out of the hospital one day early. My doctor and nurses were really amazed by my progress. I lay all my thanks to a healthy lifestyle and an endless supply of PMA. Really, PMA got me through a fucking lot. And now slow eating, but I'm doing fine. Much love to every person who texted me or shot me an email. I really appreciated it. You'd be surprised how slow those nights wore by in a little hospital room. Good thing I had baseball and basketball to keep me company. Oddly, I somehow fell asleep before Papelbon blew both saves. Weird. Labels: blog 1 Comments The Last Week in Pics -- Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Last week, I ate something terrible and fought food poisoning for a few days. A diet of apple juice and gatorade isn't the life for me. Somehow, I thought it was still a good idea to do yardwork. It went like this "rake for 2 minutes, lay down for 10 minutes, rake a bit more, dump leaves, lay down for 20 minutes, rake more, ..." At one point, I spread out my hooded sweatshirt to lay on. Tucker would steal that spot when he wasn't chilling in this spot. I spent some time wondering the mall. You know how I do it. The Burlington Mall got a name change for the movie. Hot times. Thankfully, summer is around the corner. That means I can put winter behind me. So the winter wheels got put in the corner of the garage and the summer wheels make an appearance. I also got back into the swing of trading last week. I sent a ridiculous amount of vinyl to a friend in the UK and he has offered to send me some sneakers and candy. I plan on sending him a few more records along the way in hopes of receiving more amazing kicks. I broke out these today. Sadly, the chocolate didn't survive the flight. They arrived in what appeared a melted-frozen-re-melted state. For the most part, they tasted like dirt. Except for the almond one. That one held up the best. Leaving my building one day, I said "SFKL!" If you know skfl, you know what I'm talking about. Pretty damn close. And over the weekend, I hit up the 10th anniversary of the Metal & Hardcore fest. This year was very unhardcore. Cold World even cancelled (I found out later). They were the only hardcore band playing. Wow. Here's a picture of Behemoth ripping up a bible and trying to get the crowd to chant "Hey Hey Hey." It was a little sad. When I think death metal, I don't think of "Hey" chants. Lastly, while I was in the men's room, which was basically the smoking room, I saw this tag on the toilet paper dispenser. I figured Fred Hammer would approve and snapped a pic. Locals only! Maybe I'll add some non cell phone pics of Metal Fest up tomorrow. We'll see. That crowd was soooo metal. It was good hanging with Pike, Merrick and Nick, and meeting new people like Bridgewater and Ramona. Good times. Labels: blog 1 Comments oh whut, whut, ... mall cop -- Thursday, April 24, 2008 Saw this. Made me laugh. Shout outs to Larry. Labels: blog 1 Comments My Birthday is a Month Away ... -- Monday, April 14, 2008 My birthday is a month away. You should probably band together and buy these for me. K? Thanks. That's not asking too much, is it? Got to aim high, right? In reality, I'd just be happy to get a pair of these: air structure triax 91. Size US 12-13. You have to love those OG colors. Good luck! Labels: blog 0 Comments Skate or ... SHOP! Pt 2 -- Wednesday, April 09, 2008 Movie shooting was in the Rainforest Cafe today so there wasn't a ton of staff shooing people away. Here are some better pics. Jump the alligator? Someone did it last night. LOL. I wish I had stood behind someone trying to find the Verizon store with that map. Of course, since all the shooting was in the Rainforest Cafe, the food shop was closed and has been closed for 2 days now. I have never seen more unhappy kids in the mall EVER. Sooo sad. Labels: blog 0 Comments Skate or ... SHOP! -- Tuesday, April 08, 2008 Just like Classic NES, Skate or ... SHOP! The mall has been taken over by skate rats. Here's a few of the new skate-able structures. Enjoy. These are actually mall directory signs. The white piece of paper says something like "this is a scene prop, NOT actual mall directory information." Lol. Maybe some hand plants on the mall planter? This one went up yesterday or the day before. Immediately upon seeing it, I knew what it was for. What mall would have such an item? Who knows. Someone must have been doing some gnarly wall rides last night. This guy is busy painting some coping and cleaning off some tire marks. First, I'll apologize for this pic. Some lady was busy painting the rocks and the staff didn't looked psyched about me standing there. With this ramp, you could literally jump the ... alligator. Yeap, right over the alligator into the rain forest cafe. Finally: These "benches" just look ill. Metal coping on the edges, plenty of room to work with. Not bad at all. There are a few of these scattered around the mall. That's all. Sorry for all the bad play on words. I couldn't help myself. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Broke another Cardinal Sin ... -- Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Rule #1: Pics or it didn't happen... 1) A couple of things. It's looking more and more festive everyday. 2) While in the Gap, two ladies approached me asking about the availability of a product. When I told them I didn't work there, they looked confused and then one lady said, "It must be because you look so stylish." My mom would be so proud. 3) There was a ton of activity over by the Gamestop today. Good times. 4) First celeb spotting. As I was getting on the escalator, Erick Avari was getting off. I couldn't recall why I knew him. For a minute, I just figured he was a goofy dude I worked with. Then I realized he was Cecil from Mr. Deeds. That's where I broke rule #1. No pic. That's all for today, folks. Is my blog turning into a mini Perez Hilton / gossip column? Shit, I hope not. I'm just trying to keep people in the loop on my day to day. Word. Peace in the middle east! Labels: blog 0 Comments I Broke Edge ... Or Why I HATE April Fools' Day I know, I know. You're probably thinking someone pranked me hard as a kid forever making me hate a time honored tradition of pranking. Not the case. I don't mind a good prank. But I do hate April Fools' Day. Here are my reasons. The list is pretty short. 1) Too predictable. I mean, c'mon. It's almost a national holiday here. Everyone knows you are going to do something stupid. It isn't a mystery. We see it coming. 2) A lot of pranks are mean spirited. There is no PMA in mean spirited pranks. Wack. I've got the PMA. And those are my reasons. Short and sweet. As an example of a prank gone wrong, I give you today on the local Hip Hop station. It began yesterday as Ramiro began setting up the prank. He kept talking about a big meeting with the General Manager of JAMN 94.5 and the stalling contract negotiations. Of course he took it over the top and began name calling the GM. "TOM ... OCONNEL ... SUCKS ... ELEPHANT ... BALLS." Puh-lease. Like no one saw this coming? Easy set up. Then today, the intro music was replaced, Pebbles and Ramiro "were given the boot." And they were replaced by Sippy and The Box. A couple of fresh faced kids with no prior experience who were supposedly related to the GM. Completely unbelievable. Who replaces one of the highest rated radio host duos with a couple of hack kids? If they had been replaced by afternoon DJs or someone else from the channel, the believe-ability would have gone way up. Then there was Melissa's bad acting. She's the third wheel on the Ramiro And Pebbles morning show. She kept saying, "C'mon, don't say that. We need to keep these listeners." And then she would play one ridiculous phone call after another. UGH. Terrible. It's almost a slap in the face to every listener. "Our listeners are so stupid, they'll fall for anything." That's the message I got out of this weak ass prank. This could have been an all-star prank but they fell super hard into predictable land. They probably even hurt their reputations going forward for believing their audience was so dense. I actually felt embarrassed for them. Poor execution was shaming. Hopefully that lackluster prank demonstrates why I hate April Fools' Day. I just do. It's just sad. Nuff said. Labels: blog 1 Comments Thinning the collection ... Part 2 -- Monday, March 31, 2008 More items up on ebay Check it. The last round went pretty well. Lets make sure this one does EVEN better. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Tiny Bubbles ... Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go your way? That's been my work life for the last 2-3 days. Thursday was intensely frustrating. So frustrating, in fact, that I frequently asked myself, "what the fuck am I doing here?" It was one of those days. And it made me take stock of my current place in life. I quickly began running down all the major events that had brought me to where I am: graduating high school then college, melissa, trips to France, London, Iceland, getting married, Briggs, Tucker, ... All the important events and activities in my life. I quickly realized that I have it good -- that all my major events easily out weigh one day of crap. It was my drove home that night which helped reaffirm my faith in civilization. Despite having nothing to do with civilization or people. Check that blurry picture. What you see there is a field I drive by twice a day. It's about halfway through my journey to or from work. This is Bridge Street, a road that cuts between rt 117 and rt 2. It can be pretty busy with commuter traffic. But that night around 7:30pm (yes, I worked until at least 7pm that day. Ugh), I saw a sight that made me pull over. In the field, in that blurry pic, were 12 deer. Just chilling. Eating grass and enjoying life. It made me realize that the little shit is just that. Of course, Friday at work was 8 hours of mind numbing frustration. I left work essentially raging. For most people, it would have been an appropriate occasion to hit happy hour HARD. Instead, I got home for a dog walk and BBQ tofu. Not sure how the wife knew, but a favorite dinner and a fun walk was all I needed to snap out of a mind grueling funk. We had a great weekend and I was ready to attack Monday with vigor. Up early for a dog walk and a great iced soy latte. The wife is a pro. And I stumbled upon a grail on ebay. A NDS pair of Savier Trainer Lux Brazils in my size! And for WAY less then any site has been offering recently (like 1/6th that price). But upon getting to work, I'm greeted by angry "you broke the build" emails and instant messages. I barely had my jacket off before people were breaking down my door. Back to tiny miracles. 3 people backed me up in our weekly meeting, saying how they gave me false information on Friday, saving me some face. Things all started to turn around. To top it all off, after I took a power walk to blow off steam, I hit up Starbucks. I was chatting with the dude who my wife calls my "barista boyfriend." We were discussing the usual shit: weekends, weather, ... you know. He rang up the lady in front of me, grabbed a cup for an iced latte for me, continued to tell me stories, and then rang up the guy behind me. The money in my hand never left my hand except to go back in my pocket. Yes, that's right. Free.99. Ok, this has surely devolved into a crappy Livejournal post, but it was semi-therapeutic for me. Hopefully you weren't too bored and could actually make sense of my ramblings. Until next time. Peace! Labels: blog 0 Comments Christmas Has Balls! -- Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Oh, you know me. Walking around the mall again, here are a few new snaps. Notice the Santa Village is in the location where the usual Santa scene goes. This joint is WAY more elaborate though. And now the ball pit has extra christmas to it. You'll notice all the palm trees disappeared. Of course, the beanie baby kiosk was bumped elsewhere. Boooo. Also, thanks to Easter being a chocolate holiday, I scored these sweet tarts for HELLA cheap. The entire edible content of the pic below cost $3.19, courtesy of post Easter sales and a "buy one, get one" Coke Zero sale. Sweet. I love holidays. Labels: blog 0 Comments The Biggest Ball Pit In The New England ... -- Friday, March 21, 2008 T&R, yo. Here's a few more pics from the mall. Good old mall. Bumping today too, thanks to all the schools on vacation. Labels: blog 2 Comments MALL Madness -- Thursday, March 20, 2008 Not March Madness, but rather, MALL Madness. Here's the story. Thanks to getting a great dose of Bark Busting, I ended up driving into work later than normal. When I arrived, I was greeted by cones blocking my parking lot entrance. I normally park in the mall lot and walk over. It makes it easier to leave in the evening. So I had to park further back in the mall lot. The cones were set up because there was some sort of construction going on. A giant tent was being erected where I normally park. Who knew? I normally park in the area where I'm taking this photo from. I found out later that this tent was being erected for catering. Catering for a film being shot in the mall. I learned that Happy Madison is producing a film starring Kevin James called Mall Cop and they chose to shoot some scenes in the Burlington Mall. Of course, this movie is set during Christmas so the mall got dressed up last night. I walked through the mall yesterday. No Xmas. Today, Xmas Xplosion. The Easter station is still set up for pictures with the rabbit. I doubt they'll be able to put up the Santa Village. If you know me, you know I hate when they put up decorations before Thanksgiving. This is WAY before Thanksgiving. As my way of sticking it to the mall, I'm parking in between the juice bar and meat carving station tomorrow. If anything cool goes down, I'll try to get pics. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Thinning the collection ... -- Sunday, March 16, 2008 More items up on ebay Check it. More items to come soon. If you have any questions or want to see the upcoming list, hit me up. Labels: blog 0 Comments Ever start a project and never finish it? -- Thursday, March 13, 2008 Back in Summer 2005, I bought a pair of sneakers off a kid in California. I think I paid $60 for them. Shipped. They were a pair of brown pack Nike SB dunk lows. When I got them, I was bummed on the skimpy tongue. I wanted a FAT tongue. So I thought I would try my hand at customization. Click here for more details ... Back in Summer 2005, I bought a pair of sneakers off a kid in California. I think I paid $60 for them. Shipped. They were a pair of brown pack Nike SB dunk lows. When I got them, I was bummed on the skimpy tongue. I wanted a FAT tongue. So I thought I would try my hand at customization. My original plan was to make a poor man's Slam City dunks. Bleach out the dark brown, and color the toebox, swoosh and lace stays black. I immediately go to work bleaching the kicks and bought the black Rit. Almost 3 years later, the Rit still has not been applied. And I have still never worn these sneakers. Here are some more pics. They are my unfinished sneaker project. What is even more funny, is that I have some bottles of angelus paint somewhere, and I spent many evenings in my cold ass basement painting a pair of blazers. But I can't find one evening to smear Rit all over these sneakers. So the question remains, should I finish this project or call it "good enough?" Actually, they are sort of growing on me now. Labels: blog 1 Comments A Quiet Weekend ... -- Sunday, February 24, 2008 The wife and I had a really nice and quiet weekend. We spent a lot of time hanging around the house and chilling with the dogs. Good times. After it was all said and done, everyone was sleepy. I probably should have taken a nap too but did not. Maybe next time. Labels: blog 1 Comments Coming to Ebay Soon ... -- Thursday, February 21, 2008 Time to free up some more space in my collection. Maybe trade a few for sneakers, or a new cell phone (anoyone got a blackberry they want to send this way? Hell, 8700g or newer is fine by me). So hit me up for the list/pics, or wait for the ebay postings. Peace. Sweet. Plenty more where those came from too. This round of ebay listings will be "EPs: Insted - Youth Of Today." Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Time For Lunch -- Monday, February 18, 2008 It was time for lunch. We had the day off and we went out for lunch. I love lunch. Click here for more details ... It was time for lunch. We had the day off and we went out for lunch. I love lunch. So we both had the day off and decided we needed to go out for lunch. But first, we hit up JC Penney. We had a gift card and needed to spend it on something. We ended up with sheets. I got bored and took this photo. Finally, it was time for lunch. So we took a trip back in time and went to Quan Yin in Worcester. I miss the propaganda videos. Supreme Master TV, look into it. Melissa had fun. Obviously. Nothing beats fried wonton soup with rice and tofu with two orders of chicken drumsticks and a steamed bun. Nothing. Amazing. Best day. While I was next door getting money from the ATM, the quan yin lady asked melissa all about our "tall friend who really likes soup and drumsticks and steamed buns. He's real tall." Melissa guessed Aaron. I think that was the right answer. Labels: blog 1 Comments For Trade: size 12-13 Nikes ... -- Thursday, February 07, 2008 I'm currently trying to trade 5 pairs of size 12 or 13 kicks. Hunter SBs, 99 Orange/White dunk highs, 03 Goldenrod dunks (nylon tongues, yeah), some htm zoom macropus and some very UN-EDGE sk8-hi vans. Check it out. If you are interested, hit me up on AIM: howsyredge. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Leave No Stone Unturned ... While digging through some items to sell on ebay, I came across this sticker. It makes me realize that after I bought a whole record collection, I didn't inspect the collection very closely. If I had, I would have seen this picture immediately. It's a little sad that it took me almost 8 years to find this. So leave no stone unturned. If you come across a great deal or a huge score, investigate every last piece. You never know what you'll turn up. Labels: blog 0 Comments Nothing Beats the Magic Eraser ... -- Friday, February 01, 2008 I love the Magic Eraser. I can't believe how amazing it works. I'm normally not one to gush over crap, but this is actually a cool product. Previously, I was a toothbrush and mild soap guy. Now I'm strictly magic eraser. Check this pic. Click here for more details ... I love the Magic Eraser. I can't believe how amazing it works. I'm normally not one to gush over crap, but this is actually a cool product. Previously, I was a toothbrush and mild soap guy. Now I'm strictly magic eraser. Check this pic. The top shoe was cleaned with magic eraser. The bottom shoe has not been cleaned yet. Notice the bottom shoe has denim stains on the swoosh and a semi grungy midsole. Even the heel section has dirt in the creases. But not on the upper sneaker. That baby looks super clean. Amazing. Here are some more pics for the unbelievers. The last pic is after both are cleaned. The difference is clearly evident. Even with the strange white lighting. Dope. Labels: blog 0 Comments Two Things ... -- Thursday, December 27, 2007 This will be brief. First. Today, my new best friend hooked me up with all these shirts. Best dude ever. That In My Eyes shirt is one sided. Hot! Second. I'm selling a used Sidekick III. Buy it. That is all. Peace. Labels: blog 0 Comments Seasonal Ebaying -- Monday, December 03, 2007 Ah, Ebay. Time to make some money for snow tires again. After sliding past the stop sign at the end of my street, they are needed now more than ever. However, not having snow tires is a great excuse to work from home. Click here for more details ... Ah, Ebay. Time to make some money for snow tires again. After sliding past the stop sign at the end of my street, they are needed now more than ever. However, not having snow tires is a great excuse to work from home. Mostly Shepard Fairey prints and a few shirts. I may end up putting up EPs today. We'll see. Check this link to see the auctions. Labels: blog 0 Comments It's that time again... -- Wednesday, November 07, 2007 Well, fall is winding down, and the pre Holiday season is ramping up. The signs are everywhere: this morning was the first frost, for instance. But here is what really amps me up about the pre holiday season. Click here for more details ... Well, fall is winding down, and the pre Holiday season is ramping up. The signs are everywhere: this morning was the first frost, for instance. But what really amps me up about the pre holiday season. Yes, that's correct. Candy Cane Joe Joes. And they allowed me to fart around with the camera some more. I was playing with the digital macro feature. The first pic is evidence of that. The lighting wasn't great so I went black and white, hoping to trick of all you into thinking I was the next Ansel Adams. Then I realized I could muck around with exposure and other settings. That is shown in the last pic. Not bad. Back to the pre-holiday season, I only have one gripe. Yes, just one. Yesterday, November 6th, 2007, I was walking through the Burlington Mall and I saw Santa. YES, Santa, at the mall. Wow, soooo early. Even worse? There was a line to see him. YUCK! Labels: blog 0 Comments I Saw Floorpunch in 2007 and All I Got was This Print (For Someone Else) -- Monday, October 29, 2007 Floorpunch was awesome. Floorpunch in 2007 was still awesome. Good times. Here's a print by Linas Garsys for the show. Note how it is limited to 88. Maybe 12 were shredded ... Click here for more details ... Floorpunch was awesome. Floorpunch in 2007 was still awesome. Good times. Here's a print by Linas Garsys for the show. Note how it is limited to 88. Maybe 12 were shredded ... Sweet. Enjoy. Labels: blog 1 Comments Where's Waldo? -- Friday, October 26, 2007 Do you ever go through stacks of show pics looking for yourself? I can't be the only one. I know I do it all the time. I was never in a band, never really roadied for a band so it isn't like anyone ever had a reason to take a pic of my mug. Somehow I still spend way too much time trying to spot myself. Last weekend was Edge Day (Observed). Ten Yard Fight / First And Ten / Wrench, Clevo and Resist Dudes played. There was moshing, there was stage diving. There was even head walking, apparently. So here goes, where's waldo? Click here for more details ... Do you ever go through stacks of show pics looking for yourself? I can't be the only one. I know I do it all the time. I was never in a band, never really roadied for a band so it isn't like anyone ever had a reason to take a pic of my mug. Somehow I still spend way too much time trying to spot myself. Last weekend was Edge Day (Observed). Ten Yard Fight / First And Ten / Wrench, Clevo and Resist Dudes played. There was moshing, there was stage diving. There was even head walking, apparently. So here goes, where's waldo? Too much time on my hands? Yeah, probably. Fuck, I love Ten Yard Fight! Pics borrowed liberally from Dan Future-Breed (great dude, top notch pics) and Manny Minority Threat (I don't know Manny, at least not by sight. He has probably caught the best pic of me though). Labels: blog 2 Comments MKIV GTI Parts For Sale (Matchstick Red) -- Saturday, October 13, 2007 I recently sold my 2001 mkiv matchstick red GTI. Sad but true. I now have some leftover stuff that I need to pass on. Click here for more details ... I recently sold my 2001 mkiv matchstick red GTI. Sad but true. I now have some leftover stuff that I need to pass on. And I just realized I have a ton of parts that will do nothing for my IY 20th. I'll post stuff up here and probably later on craigslist, but you guys are getting first dibs. Monster Mats. Used 2-3 seasons. Yours for $40 3 back seat head rests (how'd I not see these on sell back??), $30 Matchstick red touch up paint pen and at least 2/3 full 12.5 oz spray can (I was going to work on valances but never got around to it. Just did the rear emblem and some touch up on the front). Not sure how full pen is. $20 Stock side markers, no bulbs. No idea where they went. $5 Let me know. Best offers accepted. Also looking for some winter wheels for my IY. I have steelies but no rubber. Let me know. Check the Contact page for my info. Hit me up on aim if you want too, howsyredge. Peace Labels: blog 0 Comments Reminiscing: Airwalk Lava 600 -- Friday, October 05, 2007 When I was a kid, I was a pretend skate rat. I had a nash board and couldn't ollie over a penny. It was a little sad. That didn't prevent me from skating up and down the driveway for hours on end, of course. One day, I went semi legit. And it was only because of the sneakers my mom brought back for me on a work trip. Normally, I would wear some basketball kicks (despite never playing basketball). Not Jordans. No way. More like Pony and British Knight. We were never well off, but one time my surprised me with some new kicks. The Airwalk Lava 600. My mind was BLOWN away. These sneakers were the epitome of awesome. You gotta remember, this was the mid 80s and everything neon was cool. Most of my shoes were black and white as Pony and BK were pretty chill sneakers. These nearly jumped out of the box at you. And the lace save -- Unheard of technology, for sure. Pretty much space age quality stuff. I wore the hell out of these shoes and then they got sent to the basement. Where they stayed for years. It wasn't until my dad redid the basement back in the late 90s that they were tossed. I wish I had gone back and scooped them pre-trash run. oh well. If anyone has a pair, hook a brother up. Peace! Labels: blog 7 Comments Check this pic ... Earler today, this image came to my inbox from a person I didn't know and have never spoken to before. Also, the email was lacking any text, it was just the pic. Hell, it didn't even have a subject line -- I initially thought it was spam. I replied to the dude asking what it was and why he sent it. Here is his reply. haha i don't know, i made this a year ago and i always forgot to send it youi was bored that day i think. you like it? Awesome! Keep the hand drawn pics flowing. Labels: blog 2 Comments Do you remember when we were going to retire on comic book sales? -- Saturday, September 15, 2007 Do you remember? I know I do. I wish that day would make a comeback. Click here for more details ... Do you remember? I know I do. I wish that day would make a comeback. Back in the late 80s, early 90s, instead of hanging at CBs or the Anthrax, I was collecting comic books. Of course, I was even a teenager yet. But there was a time when comic books ruled my life. I had a subscription to GI Joe and the Uncanny X-men, which later changed to a subscription to X-men. When Uncanny X-Men ended, of course. Then later, I dreamed of selling all these comics books and retiring at an early age. That was quite the dream. Of course, now a days, it just doesn't look like it will happen. Ebay sales are slim, and unless they books are graded, it just isn't going to happen. But courtesy of a post on a few message boards, I got to dig around in the back of my closet and remember the good times. I would spend hours pouring over these comics. Locked away in my room, listening to my tape player, examining each page as if it were a piece of fine art. C'est la vie. They are still worth reading, in my book. Labels: blog 2 Comments A special day & some more pickups ... Last week held a special day (I would have posted sooner, but my wife has been hogging the camera). Last week was the first time that anyone has ever hooked me up with something courtesy of the Swap Board. I helped him track down someone who was a no reply/no send for 6+ months. Then the bad trader sent the gear, and the guy I hooked up hooked me up in return. I'm told it is a bootleg shirt (why would anyone bootleg this shirt? I recall theses sitting on the AN merch table forever), but still, free is free. It's a special day at HYE? HQ. Next up, my bro from California said he was going to send me some gear. He did. I'm psyched. He may be responsible for a forth coming page redesign so make sure to give him props if you see him/ know him. Thanks E! Labels: blog 2 Comments Bane Gear ++ I like Bane. I like Bane gear. I'm constantly on the look out for stuff I don't have. Here are some recent pick ups. Click here for more details ... I like Bane. I like Bane gear. I'm constantly on the look out for stuff I don't have. Here are some recent pick ups. Ebay + Trades UK Hookup Close Up: Love Park Meets Moz Looking around my house, I realized I had two other Bane items that didn't get shot. A bane tee that is airing out and a bane track jacket that came from ebay in desperate need of a wash. Boo. Labels: blog 0 Comments Melissa Hooked Us Up ... -- Saturday, September 01, 2007 On Wednesday, Melissa told me she had a surprise coming my way and she would know more on Thursday. Thursday night, she told me it all had come together. She had scored tickets to the RED SOX. I was pretty amped, as you can tell. It isn't summer without a trip to Fenway or a trip to the beach. And since I never went to the beach ... Click here for more details ... On Wednesday, Melissa told me she had a surprise coming my way and she would know more on Thursday. Thursday night, she told me it all had come together. She had scored tickets to the RED SOX. I was pretty amped, as you can tell. It isn't summer without a trip to Fenway or a trip to the beach. And since I never went to the beach ... Oh yeah, that's Schilling chatting up Steve Tyler. Why Schilling wasn't paying attention to the game ... No clue. So when Melissa told me she had tickets, I was planning on sitting out in the bleachers, hoping I wouldn't get beer spilled all over me. Whoa, I was way off. These tickets were the big league. EMC Level, in a suite. We showed up SUPER early and took pics. I was literally blown away. Blown away. That night they were saluting Jim Lonborg. He was sitting 2 suites over. So amazing. And when I spotted Steve Tyler heading towards the front row of seats and pointed him out to the ladies in the suite with us, they went bananas. Good times. For the rest of the night, I enjoyed free coke and water, and soaked up the game. Too bad V-Tek broke our hearts TWICE on a almost perfect come from behind near win. 9-8, man on third, man on first. The Captain comes up. Pinch hitting, no less. And what does he do? Yeah, a double play ball to the second baseman. Bah. Oh well. Still an amazing night. Even with a $25 parking ticket. The fan rushing the field and getting LEVELED was well worth the $25 ticket. Labels: blog 1 Comments A Walk To Starbucks ... -- Friday, August 31, 2007 One of the things I like to do on those crazy mornings at work is taking a little walk to Starbucks. There is one (in)conveniently located up the street from my work. A few steps out the door, and I'm almost there. Come with me. Click here for more details ... One of the things I like to do on those crazy mornings at work is taking a little walk to Starbucks. There is one (in)conveniently located up the street from my work. A few steps out the door, and I'm almost there. Come with me. Here we are stepping out the door, heading towards the rotary / park thing. Pretty soon, we'll take a left and head up the street to the destination of choice. Of course, this is as far as I got, on foot. Directly after I snapped the above pic, a coworker who I always talk to cars about, drove up and said, "Going to starbucks? Need a ride?" How was I going to refuse a ride in a 2006 BMW M3? I obviously did not. No pics were taken after this as I was too busy holding on and enjoying the ride. Such a great car. Instead, enjoy these pics from my ride home. Shout outs to Drive Daily! I was playing with the features, trying to teach myself about exposure and lighting. I'm obviously no Illissa. Ps. This is the same intersection where I was told I had a brake light out by a kind old man in a truck. Labels: blog 0 Comments Shyness is Nice ... -- Wednesday, August 29, 2007 A little story from my night. I'm driving west on Rt 2 in Mass in my imola yellow VW GTI around 7:50pm. I stop at the red light at Crosby's Corner. Two lanes turn left, I'm in the rightmost lane aka the slow lane. A beat to shit truck pulls up next to me with a flannel wearing old man driving. He's looking over at me like he wants to chat. The Smiths come on the shuffle, and I'll gladly turn it up to rock out a bit. Hands tapping on the wheel, I'm getting into it. No singing, or mouthing words, but I'm into it. The light is about to turn green when he revs his engine. Now maybe it was just his engine getting wound up, preparing to go, but I'm almost sure he's revving his engine at me. At this point, two thoughts simultaneously go through my head. 1) "Ok, let's do this." 2) "Is this old man joking?" So I give him a little head start and before going past the gas station, I'm already 10 feet beyond him. A few hundred yards down the road, I pull into his lane to pass an 18 wheeler. We go through the green light for rt 126 and head to the next light. The one at Bridge St is red, turning green. I get in the left lane to go left, and he passes by me going straight. As he passes me, he yells out the window, "FAGGOT!" This old man obviously called it like it is. So here are my theories on how he came to this conclusion: 1) Only homosexuals drive yellow cars. 2) Only homosexuals can drive better than him. 3) Listening to The Smiths is for homosexuals. He obviously knew who Moz is. He may not be a Suede Head, but he knows. 4a) Wearing an x-rated swatch is a key indication of homosexual tendencies. 4b) The man saw my watch when the Second, Minute and Hour hand were forming a 'Y.' The Minute hand on 10, The Second hand on 2, The Hour hand on 7. "XY" yeap. 5) He noticed I had a tail light out. Yelling "Faggot!" was code word for "Your left tail light is out." I'm guessing #5 is the actual reason. I may never know, though. So here's to that guy. I present to you the soundtrack for "being called a faggot by an old man in a truck while driving an imola yellow gti." I hope you enjoyed. Labels: blog 0 Comments Old Love ... Older Love ... -- Tuesday, August 28, 2007 One day, I knew it would happen. Click here for more details ... Older Love One day, I knew it would happen. After 4 years of faithful service, it was time to trade the Matchstick GTI in. She served me well. Then she served Melissa like a champ. Here is my artsy photo montage of me saying goodbye. You can see the progression of my "form." I'll miss that old car. I had plenty of great adventures with it. Old Love (This one is much less sentimental.) If you know me, you know I love bbq sauce. Yes, bbq sauce. Fittingly, my favorite comes from Trader Joe's. And of course, Trader Joe's loves to screw me over on my favorites every now and again. Like the chicken poppers, or the chicken burgers ... Along these lines, my favorite bbq sauce is seasonal. It's only sold Memorial Day to Labor Day. So between the months of September and May, I'm pretty much out of luck. Last year, I had the foresight to purchase 2 or 3 bottles before the deadline. However, that barely lasted into the new year. This year, I decided to "Go Big or Go Home." And no, I will not share any with you come March. Labels: blog 0 Comments Professionally Stuffed ... -- Monday, August 27, 2007 According to this ebay auction, I'm a professional tongue stuffer. How about that? If you can't remember what I'm talking about, read this. Labels: blog 4 Comments Welcoming Tucker ... -- Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Please welcome the newest member of the How's Your Edge family, Tucker. Boston Terrier / Black Lab mix. 37 lbs according to his papers. He came from the Second Chance Animal Shelter in Brookfield, Mass. Great facility, great staff. We're psyched. Labels: blog 0 Comments I love Air Max ... aka Pick Ups -- Monday, August 13, 2007 The Nike Air Max. Amazing shoe, great concept. The am87 is one of my all time faves. I'd be hard pressed to choose between a nylon tongued dunk and an air max 87. Here's the latest pickup. Air Max 1996. Or one of the air maxes from 96 as it doesn't look like the usual Air Max 96. You know, the shark toothy looking one. This one reminds me more of a Burst. If you have any info, hit me up. Just needs a little magic eraser. Then they'll be good to go. Not bad for an eleven year old sneaker. After some investigation (good old google), I have determined they are Air Burst 2s. AIR BURST 2 604055-141 WHT/MIDNT NV/LT ZN GRY/VRSTY RED Dope. If my conversion is correct, these shoes are being sold for $140 in DS condition. Not bad for a $15 ebay pickup. Ps. My wife described them as "goofy football cleats." What does she know? Labels: blog 0 Comments While walking the dog ... -- Sunday, August 12, 2007 Here are some interesting sites I saw today while walking the dog. I thought this was a dude with a weird hat, but Melissa correctly identified it as a stickman with a giant blunt. Note the sweet throwup above it has 420 incorporated in it. Melissa can read graffiti like a pro. Wooster Collective, here's a gem! Oh ps, this is on the back of an elementary school. Weak. There is an older couple up the street that have green thumbs. They are pros with the garden, but not so good with lawn maintenance. Hell, who am I kidding? My lawn is green, but is mostly crab grass. This flower was nice though. I've never seen cotton rope used to hook a stalk to a stake. It doesn't seem very handy, especially when wet. The flower looks DOPE regardless. Briggs did not stop to smell it. Sometimes he does. He rules. Labels: blog 0 Comments Drive Daily - Part II ... -- Saturday, August 11, 2007 Today was spent hanging with Sweet Pete and hitting up various shops in Boston. Concepts, Bodega, Niketown, ... wherever we wanted to go. I decided I was going to document the trip with pics in order to help out my fellow NikeTalk bros. Here are the results. Much larger than a Venti or the Dunkin's Bucket Click here for more details ... Today was spent hanging with Sweet Pete and hitting up various shops in Boston. Concepts, Bodega, Niketown, ... wherever we wanted to go. I decided I was going to document the trip with pics in order to help out my fellow NikeTalk bros. Here are the results. Much larger than a Venti or the Dunkin's Bucket I saw this giant cup floating atop a new Dunkin's Donut location in Brighton. I was pretty amused by its giantness. Impressive, eh? Next up was the Watertown diner. Food was required and it was noon. Breakfast food seemed appropriate. This place was pretty cool. It was basically a regular diner that happened to have soy milk and a few vegan options. I went with the pancakes. Pete called me a loser for getting the short stack (then again, I did get a coffee soy shake to go with it, and a large cranberry juice). Extra syrup, please The largest mound of bacon I have ever seen Then, we went to all sorts of stores. Concepts, Bodega, Puma, G-Star, Niketown, Barneys, ... We even tried to hit Laced but couldn't find parking. We topped it off with a trip to Re-up. I entered every store with my camera but somehow forget to take pics in ANY of them. DOH. Here's me driving by The Collection. Yeap, that's the new name of the Natick Mall. The Collection. How stupid is that? What rocket scientist PR firm came up with that crap? Lame. Nieman Marcus and Nordstrom. Maybe sales racks will be overflowing with Nike Everything to the right of that junction box didn't exist 18 months ago So that wraps up my Saturday. NikeTalkers will appreciate these, I'm sure. Labels: blog 0 Comments Much Love to Drive Daily ... -- Friday, August 10, 2007 My wife has a blog called Drive Daily. In it, she talks about all the thoughts that occur to her driving to and from work, around town, or out of town. The road is her muse, it inspires her. She's volunteering all weekend so no blogging for her. However, luckily for her and all of you, I had the camera as I was driving around Concord, MA. What's this I see? Click here for more details ... My wife has a blog called Drive Daily. In it, she talks about all the thoughts that occur to her driving to and from work, around town, or out of town. The road is her muse, it inspires her. She's volunteering all weekend so no blogging for her. However, luckily for her and all of you, I had the camera as I was driving around Concord, MA. What's this I see? Why, it appears to be a boy in a tiger suit. Was he coming from a school play? Was he on his way to Lion King try outs? No idea. But I knew I needed a better pic. My wife would get a better pic if it was her blog. Better, but not best. Then to my delight. Him and his bro got on their bikes and rode off. Good times. This last pic was the best. But it doesn't show one crucial item. When the kid got on his bike, he spent 15 seconds trying to figure out what to do with his tail. It's hard to see, but he actually tucked it into his front belt. Now he won't run it over. Sweet. Much love to Drive Daily for the inspiration. Labels: blog 1 Comments Fred Perry ... Shave Your Head! Today was a good day. I found some shirts and hooked up some friends. You can't complain for $20 each. I know, I know. Made in Portugal isn't as good as Made In England, but I'm not picky at this point. Especially at $20 each! Enjoy. Glen Gubernat would be proud. Labels: blog 0 Comments Brian Murphy ... Merch God?? -- Wednesday, August 08, 2007 A friend was asking me about How's Your Edge? shirts so I did some surfing on ebay, attempting to find one out there. I didn't find any, but I did come across this sweet auction. Click here for more details ... A friend was asking me about How's Your Edge? shirts so I did some surfing on ebay, attempting to find one out there. I didn't find any, but I did come across this sweet auction. Description: Yo this is a Mental shirt from sometime in 2004 or 2005, I'm not 100% certain. What I am certain of is that this is an awesome colour of yellow which looks good on everybody. Word is that this shirt was a friends only release who knows. "Is it a walnut? A brain? A wrinkley butt? No clue." - Brian "Howsyouredge.com" Murphy, Merch God Payment is due at most 3 days of auction's end. Paypal only please. Shipping will be $8 flat for North America, more to Europe so message me if you think you will win it. Be sure to check out the rest of my auctions. A lot of good merch from Mental, The Wrong Side, Shipwreck, Have Heart and more... http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZebimbib Thanks for looking and good luck. It's official. My status has been upgraded from hardcore kid to merch god. All hail me. Labels: blog 2 Comments Nike Tech Pack -- Wednesday, August 01, 2007 Normally, I would prefer not to regurgitate blog entries from other sites, but this pack has caught my eye. I'm feeling a little emo over it. Anyone who knows me, knows I like a nice tech jacket, but something uber simple. One or two colors, some water proof zippers, maybe a little wind stopper tech. Well, Nike must have heard my prayers. Click here for more details ... Normally, I would prefer not to regurgitate blog entries from other sites, but this pack has caught my eye. I'm feeling a little emo over it. Anyone who knows me, knows I like a nice tech jacket, but something uber simple. One or two colors, some water proof zippers, maybe a little wind stopper tech. Well, Nike must have heard my prayers. Ooooooh, so good. You can check out more pics over at Hypebeast. Nice. Labels: blog 0 Comments Rockers NYC - No Thanks! -- Monday, July 30, 2007 I don't care who is behind Rockers NYC, but they really need to hop off the "punk" band rip off tshirt tip and do something original. Check these latest shirts for a sign of the (unoriginal) times. Obvious Bad Brains Rip C'mon, Meat to War? LAME! It was funny when Cold World only released rip off shirts. At least they put some thought and energy into making cool/fresh rip offs. This is just blatant and SAD. Update: Found this other "gem" on ebay. Labels: blog 2 Comments I Love Summer ... -- Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Summer is here, time to shine. Thanks for not forgetting me back in the day, AJ. ps. The flyer on the the records was plastered all over Bradford College in 1998. Courtesy of my wife's lab parter aka Sassy's girlfriend of the time. Small world. Hence Reach The Sky being highlighted. Labels: blog 2 Comments My Bane Collection aka My Sickness -- Friday, July 06, 2007 No back story. No nothing. Just pics. Click here for more details ... No back story. No nothing. Just pics. 16 sweatshirts (one crewneck), 4 hats, 65 shirts (5 longsleeves), 1 patch, 4 wind jackets, 6 million memories. Labels: blog 5 Comments Yard Sale Find -- Monday, June 18, 2007 There was a small yard sale up the street. Mostly full of weird movie memorbilia. I found this little gem and will hopefully be selling it to a NikeTalker soon. Click here for more details ... There was a small yard sale up the street. Mostly full of weird movie memorbilia. I found this little gem and will hopefully be selling it to a NikeTalker soon. Shipping shouldn't be impossible. It comes most of the way apart and comes with directions on how to reassemble. Any offers? ;) Labels: blog 0 Comments Dead Note Tour - West Coast, October 2006 -- Saturday, June 09, 2007 I've been sitting on these pics for a too long. Just tonight, Hallee told me to quit being lazy (probably for the fourth time) and I finally got around to putting up some pics. I'll let the pics do the speaking. Enjoy. Click here for more details ... I've been sitting on these pics for a too long. Just tonight, Hallee told me to quit being lazy (probably for the fourth time) and I finally got around to putting up some pics. I'll let the pics do the speaking. Enjoy. October 14-20, 2006. Six awesome days. Great dudes. Great times. Labels: blog 0 Comments Guess the part ... -- Monday, May 21, 2007 My wife's car was rattling. Probably the exhaust. As she pulled out of the driveway, she heard the rattling stop. Of course, this was after she heard a CLANK. Then I found this in the roadway. What do you think it is? If you give up, it's a catalytic converter heat shield. My friend guessed without even seeing it. Awesome. Labels: blog, VW 1 Comments This weekends mission ... -- Friday, May 18, 2007 This is my weekend mission. I will come back victorious. Labels: blog 0 Comments Here's a Masterpiece ... -- Wednesday, May 09, 2007 This masterpiece was found at the school behind our house by my wife this morning. It's genius. Click here for more details ... This masterpiece was found at the school behind our house by my wife this morning. It's genius. Dear, Shania I don't mean to steel your boy look but my mom emptyed my closet and gave me my brothers clothes but I thought why not have fun! so I tried my best to look like a boy! From Diane ps. my new name is Dylan! If you can't see the genius that is this masterpiece, you need to go back to school. This could hang in the Louvre or could have a place of honor next to the Dead See Scrolls. Genius. Labels: blog 0 Comments More Flyers and Stickers ... -- Thursday, May 03, 2007 The other day went so well, and sparked such great discussion that I whipped out some more flyers and stickers. Enjoy. YOT - We're Not In This Alone Rush out and get those cassettes now! Click here for more details ... The other day went so well, and sparked such great discussion that I whipped out some more flyers and stickers. Enjoy. YOT - We're Not In This Alone Rush out and get those cassettes now! DHU does it the best! 3 Band Bills Are The Best The Swarm, Buried Alive and Bane. 3 bands. A festival of mirth and mosh. What more do you need? Of course, The Swarm didn't make it. Reach The Sky played instead. Then Ian turned the show into a benefit for the Fallen Worcester Firefighters. Lots of raffling and stage diving for a good cause. 1999 was a good year. The End Of An Era National Edge Day Words cannot describe how amazing this show was. Mosh. Bane, The Sheist ... FULL BLEED! When Chachi printed up these flyers, he made sure to let me know about Full Bleed. You'll notice no white borders. It's black to the edges. Yeap, full bleed. He was very proud. The show was very long. But dope. Of course, The Sheist didn't play this show. Ah Chachi. Best dude. 1998 stylee. Before Fests, There were Shows with a Million Bands Bane Stickers, A Little From Each Era Enjoy the pics. Let me know if you any more requests for flyer or sticker pics. Peace. Labels: bane, blog, hardcore, Straight Edge 1 Comments Flyered/Stickered Memory Lane ... -- Tuesday, May 01, 2007 Last night, I was feverishly looking for some old stickers. I needed one for comparison. I couldn't find an unstuck sticker, but I did find these. Click here for more details ... Last night, I was feverishly looking for some old stickers. I needed one for comparison. I couldn't find an unstuck sticker, but I did find these. A Promo For AJ's Zine A Long, Great Day Which I Missed Did this show actually happen? It must have been 1998. It's not on my list of shows though. I can't imagine why I would have skipped a Worcester Bane show. I mean, I did see them the next night. February 21th 1998 @Reflections New Bedford Mass: Get High, Lynchpin, All Chrome, and Bane (Bane's 50 show, and 2 year anniversary) Unless it was 1999. But I don't know if Fragment was still playing in 1999. My records are pretty shotty for 1999 though. Sucky. Memories of My Youth So Much Beef I had a little trade with Rev the other day. GI Joes for a Warzone on Clear!! Well, not really. More like banner space for shirts. Close enough, though. This In My Eyes sticker came along with the shirts. It was real odd looking. Check my comparison here. In My Blurry Eyes The original is metallic bronze, pretty crisp. The one rev sent was mustard yellow and seemed fuzzed out. A little bit of a bummer because I could use more of that "Nothing To Hide" sticker. Labels: blog, hardcore 2 Comments End Of April Pickups ... -- Monday, April 30, 2007 Click here for more details ... Labels: blog, Hypebeast, Sneakers 0 Comments Whatever happened to prints? -- Monday, April 23, 2007 Found a few prints in my house. Got the green print from Casali. Click here for more details ... Found a few prints in my house. Got the spaceship print from my good friend Casali. It was screened for the In My Eyes record release show. But I can't recall who screened it. Check that signature and let me know what it says. The Bane/Strike Anywhere one was screened by Hunter down in RIX. Looking good. Noah? More people should screen posters for shows, bands, good times, ... Look into it. If you have prints, hit me up. AIM: howsyredge Peace. Labels: bane, blog, prints 1 Comments Ten Yard Fight - Tour 98 Shirt ... -- Thursday, April 12, 2007 A weekend or two back, I helped my brother move out of his house. As a thank you, he was generous enough to give me a few items from his shirt collection. One item was a Sam Black Churck 2xl Longsleeve. No pics. I'll spare you. The other was a Ten Yard Fight - Summer Tour 1998 shirt. I had one, but this one was different. Click here for more details ... A weekend or two back, I helped my brother move out of his house. As a thank you, he was generous enough to give me a few items from his shirt collection. One item was a Sam Black Churck 2xl Longsleeve. No pics. I'll spare you. The other was a Ten Yard Fight - Summer Tour 1998 shirt. I had one, but this one was different. First off, the shirt brand is different. The colors are obviously different too. Mine was the darker blue while Jason's was lighter blue. Jason's shirt appeared different on the front too. The letters seemed larger, and the alien/football player seemed more crisp. Finally, there is the back. Mine had THICK, bullet proof ink. And an extra white border around the graphic. Jason's was normal print. Not super thick, with no run off white boarder. In fact, it didn't have any white ink at all. One less screen. If anyone has more info, please let me know. I'm curious why these two vastly different shirts were made for the same tour. Thanks. I'll be asking Clevo too. Labels: blog, Boston, Straight Edge 1 Comments Skate Or Die -- Wednesday, April 04, 2007 This weekend I was hanging with my brother and his girlfriend. We were moving them from one street over to another street. It was a pretty easy actually. While moving, I saw something in a box that caused me to stop and stare. It was a mid 80s Lance Mountain black Future Primitive deck with a weird hole drilled into the middle (later, I learned it was a warped deck made into a clock, done by Powell - Peralta. She won it in a raffle. Wow.). My mind was blown. Of course, I forgot to get pics. It looked like this. But I did get pics of the last deck she rode. My mind was again blown back. What about those risers? And 63mm Blind wheels. Jason Lee would be proud. Then she pulled out this shirt. Read it and weep. Check those signatures. Let's see who signed that bad boy? Jim Thiebaud, Kevin Harris, Steve Saiz, oh and Mike Vallely. Let's just say I never would have guessed. So this blog post goes out to Ne Ne. Props. Ne Ne, if you are read this, thanks for sharing. I'm sure my friend will hound me forever after these pics. Labels: blog, family, Skateboard 0 Comments More Dunks Stuffed -- Tuesday, March 27, 2007 I received 2 more pairs of Nike Dunks to stuff. Not sure why I procrastinated so long in getting the work done, but I did. Thankfully, the final product looks great. Hopefully, the customer thinks they were worth the wait too. Judge for yourself. Labels: blog, Dunk, Hypebeast, Nike 0 Comments March 5th, 2007: Bane, Verse, Ambitions, I Rise, Soul Control @ The QVCC -- Wednesday, March 21, 2007 Doors were at 6pm. The show was supposed to start at 6:30. Here's the crowd being a little restless because the show didn't start until 7:30. This was courtesy of Bane jack knifing the van at the end of Pete's driveway and holding up the backline. First up was Soul Control. Jim C, Matt Dude and dudes. Real dudes. Good band. Great set. Before I Rise hit the stage, I decided it was a good time to play with various settings on my camera. After all, if I'm going to get any better, I should probably know what all the little buttons and doo hickeys do. Black and white. More black and white. This time in color. This time real blurry. Hey, still blurry. I Rise had a great set. Kids were moshing, Pauley Edge was singing along, the home town scene was super supportive. Also nice to see Nicky X'd up. You almost wouldn't know he was straight edge based on his hair. HA! Ambitions was up next. Same reaction as the night before basically, and pretty much the same set. This time, no Misfits cover though. Verse hit the stage next. The guitarist had a blow out in his pants, but that didn't stop him from rocking out. It didn't even phase Sean. Drafty Bane rounded out the night nicely. The crowd was super young, but a lot of the older songs still got a great reaction. Possibly one of the smallest turn outs I've seen for Bane in Worcester since 98. This didn't stop Bane from having a blast. And it definitely didn't stop the kids from having a blast. At one point, Raio stole my camera and started taking random pics. I think he does this with every camera he can find. Also, Amanda P felt the urge to do the same thing. She however wanted to take pics of muffin tops and beards. Most of those pics came out super blurry so they got the ax. Here's what made the cut. Mikey covering a beard Amanda P demonstrating her style in an XL Bane hood Tour tradition. Stevie would have captured it better. Labels: blog 0 Comments Bane, The Geeks, Down To Nothing, Ambitions, ... @ The El N Gee 03/04/2007 -- Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Way back on March 4th, after the Celtics game, I grabbed Bedard and we headed to New London, CT. The Geeks, Ambitions, Down To Nothing, Bane and a few other bands. Here's the crowd at various points through out the night. It was a little weird. It seemed real empty, but finally during Ambitions and Bane, it really filled in. Fuzzy Deep thinking Upping the Artsy Fartsy scale More Arty Super Arty First up was Down To Nothing. Literally, someone else played before them, but I missed them. Down To Nothing rips. Dave is a pos man through and through. Then The Geeks hit the stage. The Geeks ripped too. Ki was dropping knowledge on people, and the residents of CT were appreciative. For a dude who isn't a native English speaker, he still did a great job of saying insightful ideas. Some deep philosophical shit too. Ki was also front and center singing along to every band. He is probably the Korean Pat Flynn. After The Geeks, another band played. They talked shit on Bane merch. Here's the Bane Merch that was worthy of shit talk No pics of that band. But they did smash a cake over someone's head and made a super slippery mess on stage. Here's Stevie working his super roady skills. Next up was Ambitions. CT is lucky they have such an awesome band. And the new songs are starting to grow on me. THE ILLUSION!!! Wrapping up the night was Bane. They set it off correctly, and the crowd was into it. Overall, great set. Good mix of old and new. Best Pic I Took All Night Here are some goofy/ chill shots. Enjoy. Goofy Bastard Illin w/ Canada Great night, great dudes, chill venue. Good times. Labels: bane, blog, CT, hardcore, Straight Edge 1 Comments	Swap Lists: $newlyAddedSwap / $totalSwap Shirts: $newlyAddedShirts / $totalShirts By band(s): END_HTML; $queryDisShirt = "SELECT distinct(band) from shirts where DATE_FORMAT('$minus7','%Y-%m-%d') <= DATE_FORMAT(stime, '%Y-%m-%d') order by stime DESC"; $resultDisShirt = mysql_query($queryDisShirt); $j=0; while(($rowDisShirt = mysql_fetch_row($resultDisShirt)) && $j<10){ $name = strtoupper($rowDisShirt[0]); echo " $name \n"; $j++; } PHP?> Collections: New User: $name\n"; } $minus7 = date("Y-m-d", mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m") , date("d")-7, date("Y"))); $query = "SELECT co.name from collection_owner co, collection_image ci where co.uid=ci.userid AND DATE_FORMAT('$minus7','%Y-%m-%d') <= DATE_FORMAT(ci.tdate, '%Y-%m-%d')"; $result = mysql_query($query); while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)){ $name = $row[0]; echo " New Picture: $name \n"; } PHP?> The last 5 reviews added to the Review Section: ParseFeed( "/home/howsyou/www/reviews/atom.xml", "rev", "", ""); PHP?> The last 5 Interviews added to the Interview Section: ParseFeed( "/home/howsyou/www/interviews/atom.xml", "rev", "", ""); PHP?> Previous Features It's All About Networking ... 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