Aging

Every once in a while something happens to remind me that I'm not as young as I used to be. It might be a conversation with some young whippersnapper who has never heard of The A-Team.

Or it might be meeting someone who thinks Green Day was the first punk band.

Today, however, it's the fact that after playing basketball yesterday (for the first time in a long time) I can barely lift my right arm above my head. My trapezius feels like it has a flaming golf ball embedded in it. My feet hurt, too.

That's right about where it hurts - only on the opposite side. This sucks.

Hotel Cafe

Well, Andrew, Eric and I had a memorable night.

We decided to go to the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood to catch Tom Morello, utterly oblivious to the fact that KROQ 106.7 FM had been talking about the show to all of LA county all day long. And the venue holds about 250-300 bodies max. We arrived a few minutes before 8:00 (the alleged time that the doors were to open) and found a line that stretched most of the way around the block. Long story short: we were about 10-20 spots away from getting in. We spent 4 hours in an alley in Hollywood, which was way more fun than it sounds like because Tom's a cool guy and he came out three times to play a song for us and I got to shake his hand the last time (!!!).

And he also made a bunch of his friends come out to entertain us too so we got to hear "Take My Picture" from Rick Patrick (singer for Filter) and then Mike Einziger (lead guitarist for Incubus) came out and played a couple of times with different folks.

I think the highlight of the night was Ben Harper's alley mini-set of two songs with his Innocent Criminals on percussion. It was pretty sweet. Especially when he played "Burn One Down" and roughly 75% of my fellow alleyfolk burnt one down. At least that's what it smelled like out there. A little later I got to shake his hand after getting a picture of Andrew with him. Playing it cool, I said "Thanks for doing what you do," and he said "Thanks for listening." Luckily I was able to maintain control of my bodily functions since I was still stuck in the alley with no access to basic sanitation equipment, but I was pretty excited. He was really cool - he stayed around for about a half hour signing autographs and talking to his fans.

So anyway, I got some great pics with my phone but can't figure out how to email them to myself. I think I need a 12-year-old to show me how.

UPDATE:

Thanks to Andrew for scouring youtube to find some footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwvAtlKI66o

We're visible for about the first 20-30 seconds.

Reflections on computerlessness

Update:

I've officially been mathematically eliminated from contention in our pool. Darcy can still win, though. Go Kansas and UCLA!

Well, our computer is in the shop (needs a new motherboard, apparently; and God bless Dell's warranty program whereby one can extend a warranty that has been lapsed for an entire year...) so I write from the Fuller library 4th floor computer lab.

In this age of information it's pretty crippling to not have round-the-clock access to the internet. I'm used to being able to check scores, read movie reviews, and search wikipedia for information on the life and works of Goethe on a whim in the middle of the night. Now I'm forced to go to the internet rather than having the internet come to me. I feel like I've been transported back to 1996 (but with slightly less acne). And in case anyone has forgotten, 1996 sucked. Nicholas Cage had just won an Oscar. Nicholas Cage! I swear by the Beard of Zeus, if Nick Cage ever wins another Oscar I don't want to be alive to see it. The music scene was only a little less depressing - Hootie and the Blowfish and Mariah Carey were powerful forces to be reckoned with. The only saving grace was that we were all collectively and joyfully oblivious to the perfect storm just over the horizon that would become the pop tart/boy band craze in a few years. That and Coolio had just released "Gangsta's Paradise." Yep, that "Gangsta's Paradise."

Godspeed, Dell service technicians - I can't take 1996 much longer.

My Final Four

It's been a while since I've last blogged. You see, due to my unequivocal commitment to putting out a quality product, I refuse to blog unless I have something profound and moving to say out of respect for my readers (both of you - even though I know I just lost Robin by posting a sports-related blog).

Well, I'm still very much alive in my March madness pool. I'm feeling confident because we're headed into the Sweet 16 and my Final Four are are still intact. I thought I'd give a quick run down before one of them is eliminated tomorrow.



North Carolina (not surprisingly). I'm feeling pretty good about this pick since I don't think anyone's been within 20 points of them in the second half so far ... the road's about to get a lot tougher in the days ahead. Looking forward to a potential Tennessee-UNC matchup in the next round.







I have a well-documented Big 10 bias. That's the only way I can justify picking Wisconsin to upset Kansas next round. On the plus side, I think I'm the only one on the pool to pick them to make it as far as the Sweet 16, so every win from here on out is gravy. Seriously folks; WI has had one of the elite NCAA programs in the last five years. Where's the love?






Go, Cardinal! My other blackhorse Final Four pick, Stanford, is dependent on their inside game, anchored by the Lopez twins. Who both, incidentally, have girls names (Brook and Robin). Nothing spells tournament success like a duo of androgynous centers banging the boards. In other news, I'm probably going to lose...







Yes - I picked a Final Four matchup between Stanford and UCLA. And I have UCLA beating them for a fourth time this season. In other news, I'm a sadistic jerk. UCLA over UNC in the final - 76-72.

10 books that have changed my life

I've been reading quite a bit lately, which has caused me to contemplate the transformative power of the written word even more than I usually do. Which has made me think about which particular books have been most influential in the development of my worldview. Which made me decide to post a blog on the subject. Here they are in no particular order:

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Simply the best novel I've ever read. Profound and moving on many levels.

An American Requiem by James Carroll. James and I aren't all that different. Except that I didn't become a young and idealistic Catholic priest active in the peace movement in the 60's. And I'm not Irish. And I don't write columns for the Boston Globe. On second thought, strike that: James and I aren't very similar.

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky is smart. More people should listen to him.

1491 by Charles Mann. An apt subtitle might be, "Chances are, anything anyone ever told you about early American history is wrong." That can be a little disorienting for a history major.

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut. My first introduction to the humanistic, Jesus-loving agnosticism of Vonnegut - a force that continues to be a bit persuasive to me still.

A General Theory of Love, by Lewis, Amini, and Lannon. 3 Psychiatrists get together to write a book about the physiology of emotion. Sounds like the setup of a really lame joke or a really boring book. But it's not the case at all. I didn't think that anything could make me interested in neuropsychology. I was wrong.

Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink. Walter Wink's another guy that people should listen to. I doubt he's as smart as Noam Chomsky, though.

God and Empire by John Dominic Crossan. Engaging and powerful. Highly recommended. Unless you're a closed-minded fundamentalist. You're not a closed-minded fundamentalist, are you?

The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg. This, along with the previous two have done a lot to shape my faith into its present form.

Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom. This made me start wondering if I, too, could do that psychology thing. Let's hope that I can.

Honorable mentions go to Night by Elie Wiesel and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Until next time...

Me And Julio Down By The School Yard

Well, it sounds like Julio Franco is finally going to be retiring - too bad it's against his will. Nobody seems to be very interested in a first baseman who will be 50 at the end of the season (DOB 8/23/1958).

Franco had his MLB debut on April 23, 1982 for the Phillies. At the time I was 4 months and 9 days old.

His (presumably) last at bat was on September 17, 2007. 25 years 4 months and 25 days elapsed in between. That's just stunning. He's been playing ball with people who are significantly younger than his career. I can picture him at his 30 year high school reunion. All of his classmates are showing pictures of grandchildren taking first steps, talking about recent vacations and so forth, while he reeks of pine tar, is preoccupied with an impending 14 game west coast road trip starting next week and won't shut up about situational lefties. Stupid, stupid situational lefties.

What are some possible explanations for this behavior? I would like to advance two theories: 1) He owes some bookie somewhere a lot of money. 2) He's waiting for social security to kick in. (Too bad he's Dominican. Don't say anything to him, though.)

Feel free to contribute your own hypothesis.

Happy Valentines Day

One of the homeless guys that hangs out in front of the now defunct Amy's (fast food with a flair) just asked if I would be his Valentine. I told him I would. He got very excited. I kept right on walking. I might have even quickened my pace a bit.

Just in case anyone was wondering what was going on in my life at the moment.

Blessings.