The Best of 2015

2015 was another fantastic year of life! Although my last blog was on June 9th, I had blogged for a year and a half, eventually going on a little bit of a hiatus. Good news my people, The Blog is back in 2016! It will read a little different than last years, but I hope you enjoy it just as much.

In 2015, Rachel and Josh attended amazing concerts, went on a handful of vacations, witnessed friends get married (Adam & Brandy / Gio & Kelly), coached a bunch of lacrosse, watched a lot of TV, helped a lot of people move homes, enjoyed fantastic times with friends and families, and continued to plan their 2016 wedding. Now here are a handful of "best" lists, events, and things that happened in my 2015 life!

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Best Music Album: Cosmetics - Diamond Rugs

Best 10 Songs: All songs released in 2015, put in order of bestness

Best YouTube Video: Also was a top 10 song, based on my life and bringing Rachel and I great joys. Also leading to other great Lil Dicky videos and songs. Check him out!

Best TV Shows: Bloodline / Master of None / Better Call Saul / Mr. Robot - I suggest everyone watches these 4 new TV shows that are currently only one season long. Added two bonus shows, The Killing / The walking Dead, that I also watched this year and really enjoyed.

Best Jcubed Video: The only one that was filmed in 2015 and included all 3 members of Jcubed.

Best Jcubed Video Honorable mention: Road to Rado (watch the series), filmed in 2014.

Best Lacrosse Video: A tie between a HS rivalry game from 2015 and a gopro video filmed in 2014!

Best original movie: Found this 2014 gem this year and it helped me rediscover my love for old video games which led to me playing them way too much and even watching people play them.

Best Movie: 007: Spectre? Didn't see too many movies that came out this year, can probably count them on one hand.

Best Moment: John McCauley at City Winery on August 11th, 2015. John McCauley at city Winery! Amazing! Vanessa Carlton makes appearance. After the show, we had a chance to meet the man himself. I am wearing my red LSD Tick shirt and John smiles at me as I approach him. He points to my shirt and goes, you know what that is? I said yup, LSD. After that we just ask him to sign our poster and for a picture with him. I think I told him like 10 times how it was such a great show. When we met him for a second time awkwardly later, I ask him how the new album was coming with Deer Tick and he said they have just been dicking around a lot. I need to have stuff to ask people when I meet them. I had so many ideas before and after, just nervous I guess. But he was super chill and a humble guy. Really nice and he is only 29. 

Best Sports Moment: Blackhawks win their third Stanley Cup in 6 years on Monday June 15. After watching the boys bring us the cup at Rachel and Josh's apartment, the gang below heads to Wrigley after the big win, but get turned around by the police and end up bar hopping our way back to the Wiener Circle.

Best books I read in 2015:

Leading with the Heart (book) by Coach K and Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy.

Best Concerts: By far the greatest year of concerts as a whole, even though Deer Tick didn't play in 2015.

Diamond Rugs x2, New Madrid x2, Justin Collins, Dawes, Delta Buds, Delta Spirit, T. Hardy Morris, Lucky Boys Confusion, Samantha Crain, John McCauley, Lady Lamb, Tallest Man on Earth x2, Vanessa Carlton

Best Vacation: Bahamas and Smoky Mountains

Fri Oct 9 - Head out for the Smoky Mountains / 11 mile hike over 5 1/2 hours in rain / Charlie's Bunyon & The jump off, fog rolled in / Newton's bald and clingman's dome / Stop at Buffalo Trace Distillery on way home

Other Notable Events in 2015 while the Blog was away

Sat June 13 - Brew to be wild that night. Hawks win!

Wed June 17 - Go out on boat with Scott,  navy pier fireworks

Thu June 18 - Hawks Rally, Rachel and I meet up with Beth and Emily

Wed July 1 - Go to Jazzing at the Shed with Rachel and her parents. See fish, big otters, a beluga whale's penis, which was the size of a penguin. Beautiful evening view of the skyline with some jazz music playing.

Sat July 18 - Hit up the farmers market across from Old Town. We walk through Rachel's old apartment and see it being renovated. We struggle to travel about with the L being closed at parts. We make it to Yoga class with Torie and Nikki just in time. My first yoga class hooray.

Fri Aug 7 - I find out I got the NV Head Varsity Job.

Sat Aug 8 - Agreed with Torie the night before to run 16 miles with her. So I wake up at 7:30a and meet up with her and end up running 15 miles. A new personal record, thought I was gonna die. We head to a family party for Rachel's extended family. I hit a bunny with my car on the way home, first road kill.

Fri Sept 11 - White sox game with Emma and Anna, Beth, Aunt Jan and Uncle Gary, Rachel and friends meet us there a few innings in. I miss a t shirt thrown right at me. Fireworks after the game!

Sun Sept 13 - Our engagement photos in Lincoln park!

Nov 2 - Buy tickets to iceland

Nov 15 - Auntie Wanda's 90th Birthday Party, go out in city with NC cousins, up until 330. Hit up Franks bar for first time.

Dec 13 - Watch 5 Harry potter movies in a day.

Dec 20 - Christkindl Market

Goals for 2016

1. Let things that do not matter go, we can't worry about every little issue that we come across.

2. Have a workout plan, stick to it, and get in shape for the wedding/honeymoon!

3. Put together a food plan in order to eat healthy, save money, and stay lean!

4. Learn how to play some general chords on guitar and perhaps be able to sing a song with it.

5. Maintain friendships and spend more time with those friends

6. Listen to more music and attend more concerts

7. Learn some basics of piano/keyboard

8. Edit more videos and film more videos (jcubed / lacrosse / music)

9. Try something new or stop doing something old each month - starting with no alcohol for January!

10. Return of the Blog on a weekly basis

I am very excited for what should be the best year of my life! Marriage, trips to Hawaii and Iceland, varsity coaching career, and more to come!

Josh

Pivotal Moment in My Coaching Career

Song of the Week: Blue Mountains by Diamond Rugs. Still on my D.Rugs kick. Squids Favorite

On Tuesday April 7th, still recovering from the awesome week of Diamond Rugs concerts, I hit up McDonald's after work and got my pregame McChicken. We pulled out a convincing 15-0 win over a newer team in the area. Go Cats.

Wednesday April 8th was a day where I continued my poor eating habits and had 2 mccchickens for lunch. After my 3 practices for the day, I picked up Beth and we headed to Buffalo Wings & Rings for some quality dining to support the womens NV lax team. I had a fresh brew to go with my wings that made sweat drip from my head. I called it an early nights sleep that evening.

Thursday April 9th was a stormy day in which my practice got cancelled. This was nice since I was able to head home early and get a lot done at home. For dinner Rachel and I had a left over Grinder she got from Chicago Grinder & PIzza Co earlier that week to go along with a tasty salad. I made myself a banana split for dinner and couldn't have been happier with my choice to top it with sprinkles. We loaded up Goodfellas that night and enjoyed the 1990 gangster classic film.

On Friday April 10th I enjoyed leftover salad for lunch then headed to my practices. After NV pracitce, I hit up Gio's with Dario and met a new friend Will. After drinking a couple of Lagunitas IPA's I headed home, and shredded up the expired pork I had cooking in the crock pot. Once I added my Stubbs BBQ sauce, I had no fear of the potential diareahha that could head my way from eating this expired pork. Luckily it was only a little brown and smelt only a little sour so I finished it up. Headed to bed after having Rachel upload this video for me! Another highlight vidoe in the books. Get them while their hot folks!

Saturday April 11th was my first weekend game of the year. The cats took on Stevenson and we pulled out another 13-6 victory. 5-0 on the season. Great start! I then headed over to Rachel's parents to celebrate her birthday since we won't be around next weekend. We got a mid afternoon bonfire going which was awesome. For dinner we helped her dad make a delicious skirt steak salad. We then loaded up Into the Woods which I did not realize was as musical. I got through about half way before dozing off. Just a bit too much sun on this day. 

We spent our Sunday April 12th, heading down to Kankakee to visit Rachel's grandparents. We picked up panera on the way and had a great visit with them! My first FV game of the year for my 8 grade boys ended up as an 8-6 win. Big year as we play in the A division as a B team. I watched Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World as Rachel did her taxes. I prepped a frozen pizza, too easy.

Monday April 13th was a pivotal moment in my coaching career. The cats were off to a great practice in lovely weather, the sun was drying the recently rained on ground and some worms were about. One kid had a great idea to put a worm in another kids glove. Eventually I figured out who it was and I gave him the ultimatum: 100 pushups or eat the worm. All of the kids started the chant, "Eat the Worm! Eat the worm!" Holding the worm, the kid is staring at it, then goes for it. The whole team went absolutely bonkers. That's right, bonkers. He made his choice and swallowed the worm whole. Incredible. A hilarious and amazing moment.  That night I cooked up some soup for dinner while watching the end of Blow.

Movie of the week: Goodfellas. You need to watch this classic if you haven't seen it. Set the stage for wiseguy movies everywhere.

Video of the week: A Jcubed classic that involved a lot of rain, since it has been raining lately.

Off to Maryland this week to see Adam get married! Growing up!

Josh

Diamond Rugs

Tuesday March 31st 2015, I woke up at my brothers place and we headed to Home Depot to rent a stump grinder. Yay heavy machinery! We then worked on his yard for the rest of the morning, making a lot of progress moving dirt, digging up plants, and grinding down stumps. A man's man dream. Naturally on the way to work, I picked up some McDonald's. After work I finished Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. Solid read about a Giant named Bean. Rachel made us some spectacular lettuce wraps for dinner, so tasty. We watched an episode of Better Call Saul that night.

On Wednesday April 1st I edited a bit of video in the morning and then worked. That evening I watched The Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones. Suggested by Gio, this was a pretty sweet action film about a very dangerous man!

Thursday April 2nd was finally here. We have been waiting all week for this day! After work I picked up Jmon on my way home. Once Rachel arrived home, we made a tasty chicken alfredo for dinner, with secret incredient cayenne pepper. After gobbling that up and just listening to some D.Rugs tunes, John arrived and had a bowl of pasta. Then we began to pregame, and friends Todd & Luke came over. Johnny put in the beautiful and most amazing gumball rule in our 3 man drinking game. Right before 9pm when the show was starting, we walked over since it was super close to us! 

The venue of Lincoln Hall was very tiny and since we arrived right on time, we got to our usual spot, front row, slightly stage left. 

Justin Collins opened up for the night. Immediately we thought we recognized Rob Crowell on bass next to him, but we weren't sure. Finally Rachel just yells out, "Is your name Rob?" He smiled and laughed, definitely Rob, keyboardist of Deer Tick and Bassist of Diamond Rugs. With the volume turned up and the beers being passed, Justin jammed out and went hard, veins popping out of his arms and neck. Rachel and a few other girls got him to take his sweater off by yelling to take his shirt off! Justin lost his favorite sweater that night. After this though, Rachel was not satisfied and got on Justin to show some nipple and take his other shirt off. He smiled about that, but we were persistent. Todd then leaned over and started the "Just a Nipple" chant with us. No nipple, but a great show!

A band from Athens, Georgia called New Madrid was on next. They were some super cool indie psychedelic rock, but we couldn't really understand any of the lyrics. These guys were jamming as well though, reminding me of some classic rock. They had a couple of long haired guys, who I will meet later in the week, and the Fro on bass! Despite not being able to understand any of the lyrics and it being really loud, I really enjoyed these guys. A girl pushed her way to the front and a guy kept yelling "And she smiles!" At the time, I think we all thought this was some type of sexual reference about the girl, but I later found out (on Saturday) that this was the title of an amazing song by New Madrid. Fantastic.

With Diamond Rugs on next, we needed to keep the beers flowing since their song "gimme a beer" was bound to be played in the first few songs. When they were tuning their instruments, Rachel jumped on stage and took a photo with our man T. Hardy, one of the lead guitarists and singers in D.Rugs. At some point during this time, people were going to the bathroom or something, and I ended up having 4 beers in my hands, Rolling Rock & Modelo's all night. Now, we have been waiting all night for this, but for some crazy reason, this is where things went very blurry for everyone in attendance that night. 

They opened up with Voodoo Doll, but the speakers were so loud and our brains were bouncing all over the place, it seemed very loud to us, as if the instruments were playing incredibly louder than the vocals. No one can be certain, but we blamed such things on the venue that night! Diamond Rugs played an amazing show and we were definitely feeling the music and enjoying our time in a Diamond Rugs kinda way. John McCauley kept opening up beer bottles in McCauley fashion, with his signature gold tooth. They played almost all of their songs and ended with an encore of three amazing songs: First was Totally Lonely, written & sang by Justin Collins, check out the video of it below, second was killin' time, which you have been listening to and doing since you started this blog, and third John & Rob played Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant, one of my favorites.

After the show, Rachel kept telling us how excited she was for Diamond Rugs to come on next! I had to explain to her how they had just played. Jmon, Rachel, & I were some of the last ones in the whole place, just hanging around the front of the stage. 

Now this may seem crazy, it may have been the musical trance of the diamond rugs, or some other type of phenomenon, but we all remember everything in detail before D.Rugs went on, and then after D.Rugs went on, but not so much of the in-between. 

After the concert, we headed outside, John had already been out there, since he was not feeling well and actually missed the encore of the show. We will get back to his side of the story shortly. 

Rachel, Jmon, & I leave the venue, and we are walking when we realize Jmon is on the phone. Before the show he told us we had one job that night, to make sure he doesn't call his ex. Low and behold, he was on the phone with his ex. I took his phone and tried to combat it, but it was too late, the damage was done. After Rachel grabbed the phone and said hi, she then took off on a full speed run toward the golden arches. Now when Rachel wants to run, boy does she run! Finally when we caught up with her, she was in the mcdonalds, an order had been placed. We then walked outside, 3 mcdoubles, 3 mchickens, a 20 piece nug, & a large fry richer. We then began to walk back toward my place, when we finally ran into John. He then told us this:

John exited the concert a bit early, after feeling queezy from having too many beverages, he ended up missing some of the best jams, but he was in for another treat. Once outside, he was approached by a man assumed to be a hobo. The hobo kept pushing his chest and coming after him. John tried to get a way but this hobo was persistent on getting in his grill. Finally John convinced the hobo to follow him across the street to a bar. John said, listen mr., let's go inside this bar. Once the hobo was inside, John closed the door and then sprinted in the direction of my place. A classic drunk hobo escaping tactic! Incredible! Once he sprinted for a whole city block, he realized he didn't know where was was and started to walk back to where we were. 

We then walked home, had our McDonald's and called it one hell of a night! D IAm On Drugs killed it. If you want to a see a real rock 'n' roll show in 2015, go see the Diamond Rugs. Oh Jmon also found a David Lee Wells rookie card on the ground, in plastic wrap, when John's car was magically moved that evening, one of the best find ever! Forgot this gem until now! Did I mention Rachel and I finished off the gummy supply that night? Appropriate.

Totally Lonely - Diamond Rugs w/ Justin Collins Live Lincoln Hall Chicago April 2 2015

Listen closely at the beginning, you can hear Rachel & I calling for Chinese Restaraunt, clearly not that song coming up lol, and then you can hear us ask where John & Jmon are! Proof we were at the show and alive. Hoping more vidoes like this surface.

On Friday April 3rd, we were all lucky to have the day off, not have a job, or skip school so we didn't have to worry about getting anywhere. Once we were all up and recollecting the great/not so great due to the sound quality and lack of memory, Diamond Rugs show, we headed over to Chipotle to get some burrito bowls for lunch. After lunch John & I drove Jmon back to his place. We then returned to my place and watched Inside Llewn Davis, a great film about the struggling life of a musician, in which nothing really happens, but is an awesome movie anyway. 

Brian then stopped over at my place to play some Mario Kart. I came out the ultimate champion against him and John. After Mario Kart, Nikki came over and then Rachel got back from church. I sampled some of Nikki's sushi that she brought over, my first sushi, not so bad I guess! We then ordered a pizza and it was going to be delivered by Vernon. Finally Vernon arrived with our pizza and we indulged in the pizza and bread sticks. After we played some Cards Against Humanity, Adult Questions, & other fun games. It was also on this day that I bought 2 tickets to go see Diamond Rugs & New Madrid again in Iowa City on Saturday. I made the ultimate decision, regardless of who was coming with me. Now enjoy another great D.Rugs song, a wild video of them playing a few years back.

Saturday April 4th was about to be another amazing Diamond Rugs kinda day. After driving to work and streaming the first Bulldogs conference loss in history, I headed to my parents place. I was lucky enough to get a double whopper from Burger King for dinner. Shortly after, I got a call from Brian and he told me a pretty bad ass story how he was just in a pizza place in the city and realized Deer Tick was on. He then asked the owner of the place, who he has never actually said anything to before besides his order, if this was the radio or his own personal playlist. They then had a solid 10 minute convo about how it was his own playlist and Deer Tick is awesome. Also how Diamond Rugs is in town and McCauley's other side band Middle Brother is sweet as well. Pretty cool stuff.

Beth agreed to head to concert with me, best sister ever, so we headed out around 5pm. A three hour drive ahead would put us there around 8, an hour before the show was to start, perfect. After nothing but the rolling hills of corn, we arrived in Iowa City, Beth's first time to Iowa, and my first return since Rachel and I didn't meet up there. We headed into the show around 8:15pm. No one was at the entrance, so we just walked up the stairs to the venue. Gabe's was a small little pretty narrow place on teh second floor. When we got up there, no one was really up there. John was testing out the mic's so we got to watch that for a few minutes. Then someone approached us and asked us if we were here for the show. We were then told that we couldn't come up until the doors opened. I asked when the doors opened and the guy looked at his watch and said, well I guess that was supposed to be 15 minutes ago, but you can't be up here. We said fine, no worries, and then headed back downstairs and decided not to sit in the bar. We walked around the Pedmall, as I recalled some of campus from my time there before. After exploring a bit of the heart of Iowa City, we headed back to the show around 8:50p. Door opening at 8 for the 9pm show ended up turning to the doors opening at 9:20 for the 9:30p show. Beth and I enjoyed a PBR as we watched the opening band, Sapwoods perform. They were a local Iowa City band and were pretty decent. After sitting for the opener, we then headed to the stage for New Madrid to perform. We posted up in the 2nd row for the entire shows.

It was about to get interesting, seeing New Madrid and Diamond Rugs from a more sober perspective. Also in a different venue, perhaps the sound quality would just be better here. Let the show begin!

New Madrid took the stage, walking right past us, since the entrance to the stage at this small venue was directly off the front of it. Once they set up and began to rock out, I fell in love with their music, again. The lead singer was hanging from the rafters and the fro was bobbing that fro of his. Beth and I were pretty sure the Fro's dad was right next to us. They played a fantastic show, I told myself I must get their record after this. As the guys were clearing the stage, I congratulated them on the show. I just loved how the music got me nodding along, closing my eyes and just listening to the guitars and drums playing together as one. Beth and I talked to the bassist Ben for awhile, he recognizes me from somewhere and tells me I have a sweet shirt. It was the awesome DT shirt Rachel got me for Christmas, Or my birthday, I never remember gifts. I told him I would see him later when I buy his album after the show.

Diamond Rugs then took the stage and absolutely rocked it. They jammed song after song after song. Telling funny stories throughout. McCauley had his signature mic stand beer holder and opened up all his bottles with his teeth. He also drank his beer with just his mouth while playing guitar. The fans were pleasant and there was a super friendly chick dancing next to us, but she knew all the lyrics like myself, so I was cool with it. Check a video I made from the show. Also this show definitely confirmed the Chicago show was just as badass. Love it.

Diamond Rugs Live @ Gabe's in Iowa City, IA on April 4, 2015 - Video taken by myself and Squid!

A couple of quotes from the night:

Ian Saint Pe - "We ain't trying to reinvent the wheel, maybe just put some new rims on it"

John McCauley - "I once saw a very disturbing video of a man castrating himself in a motel room. Now I understand castrating yourself, but what makes it so disturbing is who would do that in a motel room?"

John McCauley - "It is Easter tomorrow, so I think it's appropriate to play a Christmas song"

John McCauley - "We are Designer Drugs!" It said designer drugs on one of the posters for their name.

This show immediately jumped into my top 3 concerts ever, just behind Deer Tick at BlueBird & Deer Tick at the Metro. Loved every second of it, Diamond Rugs knows how to put on a show. I picked up the New Madrid album Sunswimmer after the show. I talked to Ben again how I loved the show and will see them when they come back to the midwest. Amazing! Check out my favorite jam, And She Smiles.

After the show, it was time to drive the 3 hours back home. Leaving around 1:30am we drove and made it back to Naperville around 4:45am. After dropping Beth off I continued onwards home to Chicago where I arrived to sleep at 5:30am. What an awesome day. Good night. Check out some pics from the night, Beth's iphone has way better quality photos than mine!

Sunday April 5th, Easter Sunday. I woke up around 9:30am. 4 hours of sleep, a pretty good bargain for the night I had. We then celebrated Easter at my grandma's and then over at Rachel's Mimi & Papa's. Both were fun times with family and delicious food. After another decently long day, we headed back to Chicago and got home around 7pm. Not needing a dinner since we had 2 very delicious Easter lunches that day. Rachel finished season 7 part 1 of Mad Men just in time for season 7 part 2 to start! We watched Mad Men while I edited a lax video for a kid. Then headed to be a bit after midnight.

Monday April 6th was another early rising and departure for work. After the work day, I had my first official season Fox practice and then headed to NV practice. I ended practice an hour early like a good coach for the kids to go watch the National Championship for Basketball. Duke won unfortunately but I only watched the last 20 seconds so it was pretty important to me obviously. Called it an early night, thinking about Diamond Rugs & New Madrid and how awesome the shows had been. Wish I was seeing them again tomorrow in Indy with John. 

And that my friends is why everyone should start listening to Diamond Rugs, New Madrid, & Deer Tick. If you are not yet, then do yourself a favor and load it up right now! See you all at the next show.

Yaboy Josh