The Streak is Over? Yes Please!

On Thursday October 13th, 2016 I finished laundry at my parents after having fallen asleep the night before. I headed to work and had lunch at this new place called Patelli's. I got the double cheeseburger. I basically equate it to a smaller Portillos, quick, simple, and pretty good food! On the drive home I held my phone and did some timelapsing, I really should invest in a phone holder. Once at home, Torie and Alex were over hanging with Rach, so I joined them in some very weird videos about pimples and stuff. I then ate a couple slices of frozen pizza for dinner and enjoyed their visit until they headed out. That night I had this crazy dream that I was hanging out with Ian from Deer Tick. He was talking to me about finger picking and then he began to play my friend Christine's (John's sister) tin whistle. Ian then had me snapchat him throwing the tin whistle into a pool. Dreams are sweet.

Song of the Week: Glycerine off of Bush's 1994 debut album Sixteen Stone.

The next day Friday October 14th, I worked from home and did a lot of work with my new editing program, FCPX. I watched an episode of AHS season 6 and then headed out to the burbs around 3pm. It took me only 90 minutes to get to North Central College where I would be filming some lacrosse for my former coach and current head coach there, Jay. After filming some campus views, a weight room session, and other random things, Jay and I walked over to the train and picked up Rachel. She had taken it from the city and was going to hang out on campus while I filmed the lax. On our walk back we got Potbelly for dinner and then headed over to the stadium to film. This campus is awesome! Super close to downtown Naperville, tons of places to eat, beautiful buildings and scenery, and that small D3 feel. I would totally would go here if they had a team back when I was looking at colleges to play for. And maybe if it wasn't in the town I grew up in, but you know what I mean. It's hard to believe after living in Naperville over 20 years, I have never been on campus, besides in the stadium to play Chicago Select back in the day.

The scrimmage went from 7-9ish and I captured all of it on video, excited to get through the footage and put together a little edit. The team looked real solid for a first year program, hoping to catch a few games of theirs this year. After the scrimmage, Rachel and I headed to Sean and Ashely's to have a few drinks and check out their new house. Great location in downtown napes with a corner lot (I think it was dark!) They had this super cool vintage basement with a shuffle board table. After some drinks and chatting, we eventually we ordered some delicious pizza. Rachel and I headed out after a few hours and got back to my parents around 1:30a. Fun night.

The next morning, October 15th Saturday, I coached my team and picked Rachel up on our way down to visit her Granpda in Kankakee. We had a very nice lunch visit and then headed back toward the city. On our way we stopped at my grandmas. Our cousin Rita was in from Germany, so we spent some time there with her, grandma, auntie wanda, my parents, Aunt Ruth and my bro and his family. We had a little bit of dinner, and also spent some time playing with my little niece and nephews. They are just too adorable (check the vlog). I also one hand held my new baby nephew Leo. I think that means I am ready for parenting. Pure strength. Rachel and I stopped at Jewel on our way back to the city to do some grocery shopping and we stocked up on meats, thanks to those sales. Once back at our place in Chicago, Rachel cooked us up a pretty darn good Blue Apron spicy chicken meal. After dinner we threw on SNL, laughed at some political jokes, and I fell asleep by midnight once again. Just can't hang anymore.

On Sunday October 16th I woke up and did absolutely nothing for a few hours. Then after only 4 weeks of going cold turkey, my McDonald-less streak was over. We picked up a McChicken and McDouble for lunch with a few fries for lunch and man do I love McDonalds. I missed you! Rachel was at Yoga a little bit later and I was feeling like I needed to work off my McD's so I downloaded some running app called MapMyRun and took out on a little jog. I ended up running 5 miles in 36 minutes at a 7:13 pace, which honestly is pretty decent for not having run in months. Also I am not a person who ever times my runs, but I think this may help me stay more on target and do it consistently if I am tracking it. Follow me on the App or whatever you do if you use it! I watched some football that afternoon and Rachel made another Blue Apron meal for us for dinner. This time some pork sandwiches with cucumber. 

Also I think it is official, I fixed (my new) editing program and found out how to make it operate without taking up all the hard drive space. Final Cut Pro ya'll. That night Rachel and I watched the movie Spotlight. Man was that a heavy film. Highly suggest watching the movie that won picture of the year at the Academy Awards this past year. A movie about a controversial topic involving the sex scandal within the Catholic Church primarily based in Boston.

The start of a new work week, Monday October 17th involved me going to work, then doing more work from home since I had a lot going on and figured out this editing program. I made Rachel and I a frozen pizza and salad for dinner as I watched Monday Night Football while working some more. Work Work Work. Oh, also Bush's album Sixteen Stone from 1994 is absolute fire. I suggest this work of art with songs like Machinehead and Glycerine. This was also their debut album. Yes!

The next day Tuesday October 18th involved me getting back on my video game, not like playing video games, but editing and making videos, game, and I started my vlog game.  I officially finished and published my first vlog, check it out here. I did another little timelapse while driving on my way home from work that night and literally ate 1/4 of a pie for dinner. Adulting.

Wednesday October 19th saw me finish Amy Poehler's Yes Please book on tape. Solid read, although I highly suggest you get the audio tape of it since Amy reads the book herself adding to the humor. After work I headed over to Gio's to hang out and watch the debate. Farrell was there and we drank some brews, ate some Chinese food, and watched what was the final debate (and actually seemed the most normal). Afterwards I headed home to my parents around 10:30p and fell asleep doing laundry again, man this is becoming a common theme of my Wednesday nights. I woke up at 3:30a with all the lights on and decided to finish my laundry, but couldn't fall back asleep until 5:30a. Weird sleeping patterns these days.

Thursday October 20th was a long day since my sleep was all messed up from the night before, and I worked 11 hours which didn't help. I had Patelli's for lunch again, this time a chicken sandwich which was mediocre. This chicken was super thin, but their fries were nice and crispy this time. Yum. Once I got home at 10p that night, I enjoyed a Blue Apron Salmon dinner that Rachel had made. It was delicious as always. I was super tired so called it an early night, if 11pm is early?

Video of the Week: Hey a second vlog! All about this week? Check it out! Many more timelapses. Woo!

Movie of the Week: Spotlight. There is a reason this won best picture for the 2016 Oscars. Watch it.

Book of the Week: Yes Please by Amy Poehler. A fantastic read, a better listen, as Amy tells her story of life.

I am trying to figure out what days to start and end my vlog/blog. Hopefully I will figure it out in the coming week or so! Maybe Tuesdays? Maybe Fridays? Who knows! Lots of videos in the queue as well. I am excited to start tackling this all.

Peace out!

Josh

Jazzin' at Journeyman with Ryley Walker

On Wednesday August 24th, 2016 I worked from home and finished the Office Season 2. I know I know. I am way behind in the times of watching it all the way through, but I am doing it. That evening I walked over to Rachel's work, about 2.5 miles, and then we took an Uber of a deal, only $4.12 to anywhere in the 312 (would have been $3.12 but 2 passengers upped the price a whole dollar). We took the uber to the Shedd Aquarium, as we were going to be enjoying a night of Jazzin' at the Shedd with Rach's family. We had attended this event on my birthday a little over a year ago and even though it was like 50 degrees last year we decided it was worthwhile to do again. Rachel and I walked around and saw some pretty amazing stuff while waiting for the rest of her family to arrive. Dolphins, beluga whales, and some loud sea lions (not seals as we were told by some employee who we foolishly asked where the seals were). We enjoyed drinks and a lovely night out on the patio. This trip was less jazz and shedd, but more fantastic weather with a beautiful view. Check out some of the photos while listening to a jam by an artist I saw live the next day.

After the event ended at 10pm we hopped in another $4.12 uber, our driver this time was Alejandro and he was a super nice man who we (rach) chatted with the whole ride home. We had Alejandro drop us off at Frank's. Once inside Frank's we grabbed a couple of beverages from the bartender who was super friendly. We ended up meeting a lady who was sitting next to us and claimed she wasn't a regular (although I would see her again the next night...), Jazzelin, or at least that is how I imagine her name to be spelled. Rach got her digits, you go girl! We were there for a couple of drinks until midnight. To our dismay, we had not eaten dinner that night, and had only had drinks, so we thought stopping at Angelas burritos would be a good way to close out the night.  I got a steak burrito, and Rachel got a chicken burrito. Unfortunately for Rachel when we got back in the apartment she fell asleep. I was kinda being stubborn and thought she should definitely be up to eat this burrito we just paid for. Without thinking it was possible to save the burrito for later, I ate my steak burrito, then ate Rachel's chicken burrito with rice. Two burritos woah! Dinner after midnight is never a good idea. Goodnight Chicago.

On Thursday August 25th, I worked a working man's day and then picked up Johnny from his house around 8:45pm on my way home. We hung out at my apartment with John, Melissa, Rachel, and Jmon until about 10:15pm and thought we should head to the Ryley Walker show at Empty Bottle. It was his record release show for his new album, "Golden Signs That Have Been Sung" and it started at 9pm. If you remember last time, the first band didn't come on until 10pm so I thought we were safe. Only John, Jmon, and I got in my car and headed to the show, the ladies decided to stay home. Once we found parking close to the venue and got inside, we found out we were safe. Well kind of. We grabbed a couple of Old Styles each and walked through the crowd to the front. The first band (actually second band since we missed the first) was super loud. In fact it was the loudest I had ever heard music and it hurt my ears. I have been to a good amount of shows, often times near the front, and my ears have never hurt like this. After that band finished up we noticed Ryley was setting up on stage. We had only been there about 20 minutes, perfect timing! The last time we had seen Ryley play was in April when we saw him open up for Deer Tick at The Old Town School of Folk Music. If you aren't already listening to that show, click play up above there. 

Ryley Walker killed it at his record release party. He played some amazing songs, probably only 6 or 7, but he played for an hour. We initially were stage right and in the perfect spot to be right in front of Ryley, but moved over to stage left during the first band we saw because they were so loud. At first we thought this was a mistake, but then we were blessed with the keyboardist right in front of us who had some of the most unique and hilarious facial expressions the whole show. These guys just feel and live the music, you can tell by how they jam on stage. Eyes closed, nodding their heads, smiling, looking as if they are having happy dreams sleeping. John gave Ryley Walker's band a nickname, The Professors. All of these guys looked like they could be college profs, and it was true. Ryley Walker and The Professors got on right around 11pm and played until midnight. Our favorite song by him is The Roundabout, check out the 16 minute version of it farther along in the blog. After the show, I waited in line for his vinyl, but it sold out literally 2 people in front of me... damn. Great show Ryley. Chicago's son! Check out some pics from the evening.

Hey look, there I am front and center either filming a song or sipping on my beer. Cheers!

When we got home from the show, we decided to walk over to Frank's. 2nd night in a row, dang! After a few PBRs there and our Deer Tick songs finally coming on the Jukebox, I did what was thought no man could do, went to Angelas again and got ANOTHER burrito. Steak Fajita this time and boy did it taste good. After I finished my third burrito in 24 hours I thought to myself, how could I have possible eaten 2 the night before. The boys called it a night with a sleepover on a weeknight. Scandalous!

The next morning, Friday August 26th, I dropped Johnny off at home and got Jimmy John's before work. I ended up working late and slept at my parents. Pretty tired but was still up too late, past midnight again.

On Saturday August 27th, we had a tryout for the team we formed at work. After the tryout around 11:30am I headed out on a 90 min drive to Michigan City to Torie's parents lakehouse. Torie was kind enough to allow me to join on this girls weekend. Initially I was going to go up to The Trailer with Nolan, but that fell through last minute. To my luck most of the girls were not able to go on this trip, so there was room for me. I arrived to their place, which was right on the beach, we chilled on the deck enjoying a drink, and headed out to lunch pretty soon after. It was a super cool house with a literal one minute walk to the beach. We had lunch at the Tree House. A local spot with a pretty nifty sand area set up in the back for volleyball and wiffleball, it kind of looked like someones backyard with toys thrown about. We ate lunch out on the deck and while we were eating a stick bug crawled up to our table. Check him out in the pic below, friendly little guy. After I ate my "manwich" as it was labeled, I mean I had to do something to feel manly on this girls weekend, we headed back to Torie's place. Oh, this girls weekend included Rachel, Alex, Nikki, and Torie of course. Torie's sister Melissa joined later on in the day. Oh also how could I forget Torie's golden Ranger and Melissa's goldendoodle Ruxin. After a drink we headed to the beach where I swam and then skipped some stones while the girls relaxed soaking up some rays. At one point a beach cop rolled up on his ATV and asked if we had our beach passes... please man, get out of here.

Look at Ranger looking at himself up above. What a pup! I think I had a few more beers than I originally thought from lunch to the time we ended up leaving for dinner. At this point there were 6 of us and we drove about 20 minutes over to the distillery in Three Oaks Michigan. Dinner and a tour would be at Journeyman's Distillery that night at 7:15pm. The tour started without us while we were getting a drink (whiskey for me), thanks friends, but luckily we caught up only after a couple of minutes. The tour really wasn't all that great as they showed you the back room and the tour guide, Tim?, was literally whispering so it was tough to hear. After spending about 10 minutes in the back room with all the barrels and machinery, we headed to the tasting room. This is where the tour takes a turn for the better.

So now we were in the tasting room, where we were going to sample over 10 different types of liquors they make. We were in this room for about 30 or 40 minutes I would say, sampling all their whisky, rum, vodka, gin, and pretty much everything except tequila. At the moment it seemed like a good idea to try them all, well no it really never did. On top of having all of these different tastings,  Nikki wasn't going to drink hers, so I thought it would be good to double up. Mistake. The tour guide was nice but we couldn't really hear him as I said before. After all of the tastings and partially hearing some interesting stories from the tour guide, we headed out to have dinner.  It was around 9pm or so. I ordered a burger and maybe ate half of it since at this point all of those liquors were rumbling about in my stomach. Not to mention the 6, or 8? beers I had prior to coming here. Now granted that was over a period of like 5 hours, but it was still all in my system with only that manwich from before. I ended up having to leave the dinner a little early to catch my breathe and relieve myself outside. Oh man. Journeyman Distillery! I suggest the tour, I don't suggest getting a drink before hand, and I also suggest the burger for dinner. Check it out peeps! Also is it spelled whisky or whiskey?

Needless to say, I was asleep when we got back to Torie's that night, maybe around 10:30pm? Early night at least! The next day, Sunday August 28th, we had a tasty breakfast thanks to Torie's parents. They were very welcoming and super nice and caring. Thanks for hosting friends! I of course need to give a final shoutout to the cute pups Ranger and Ruxin. Rachel and I headed back home after breakfast around 11am, just a quick 24 hour trip for us. The rest of the day we ended up getting some things done around the apartment, relaxed, and ate a frozen pizza for dinner.  Mr. Robot Episode 8 of season 2 was also watched that evening.

The next week was here, Monday August 29th, after a day of work, Rach and I cooked stir fry together and watched 8 episodes of season 3 of the office. Productivity my friends.

Tuesday the 30th of August started with me driving Rachel to work for the second straight day. I got to work around 10am and had a pretty long day getting home a little after 10pm. While at work however, Beth and I went on a little trip to find a practice field and stumbled upon the largest playground ever. I mean this thing had everything including a wheelchair accessible ramp. There were slides, swings, monkey bars, and bridges galore. This place would be paradise as a child. As we were leaving I chased down and caught a gorgeous grasshopper. Back to my bug catching days just as John and I did in childhood. That night when I was home, I ended up cooking a quick buttered noodles dinner for myself. Sleep time.

Wednesday was the last day of August and I drove Rach to work for a third straight day! What is this magic? After being at work for a half day I took off to work from home the rest of the day. I stopped at Target to get some things for our place and some goods for our upcoming trip. I watched a fair amount of YouTube videos and then Rachel and I made a delicious marinara Italian sausage, pepper, and onion pasta sauce for our pasta dinner. It was succulent and we gobbled it up while watching Mr. Robot Episode 9 of Season 2. Man this show is good. I have said it before and I'll say it again, if you aren't watching yet, be sure to do so. A small amount of packing was done this night. Progress.

Oh you didn't know? We are taking off for foreign lands in a couple of days,

Next stop, Iceland.

See ya in a couple of weeks.

Josh

PS: I still owe you blogs about the wedding and the honeymoon. I haven't forgot.

And the Academy Award Goes To...

Song of the Week: Go! by Common who just won an Oscar for his song Glory in the movie Selma. Turns out my Aunt and Uncle went to highschool with him! Amazing!

Tuesday February 17th, Rachel and I had some soup and bread for dinner and watched the movie Pay it Forward. Such an inspiring movie about a boy with a plan that in the end, comes true. Although I thought the end of the movie was rushed, it got the point of the movie across even more.

Wednesday February 18th, after work I did some organizing and cleaning, find old toys such as this home made toy bomb that was made with batteries from probably 1999. Oh childhood. I also finished the second novel in the Mitch Rapp Series by Vince Flynn, Kill Shot. Got to love how much of a badass that Mitch Rapp is. 

On Thursday February 19th Rachel and I made a delicious stir fry that we enjoyed whiling watching an episode of Mad Men season 5. 

Friday February 20th was another record setting day. This time I set a new personal record, shooting 98 mph with my right hand and 92 mph with my left hand. Both are 1 mph more than I shot a week ago. At this rate I will hit 100 in 2 weeks, but probably not unless I get into shape! After work I headed home and did some more cleaning and organizing.

I began Saturday February 21st with an early morning practice. After that practice I headed home and then Rachel and I went out to The Other Side bar for some lunch. We split a hamburger and chicken tenders while I enjoyed a Sheep IPA beer. This bar was really cool and I will definitely be back, considering while I was there they played great music (no country or rap), had delicious and inexpensive food (a hamburger and fries for $6.99!?), and the staff and environment was warm and welcoming. After that we headed over to my Aunt Jan's for a little family game night. We played games similar to charades and then charades as well. We enjoyed some pizza, whiling having fun with the family. Sophia & Nikolas were there as well and cute as ever. Baby Nikolas is always laughing and smiling, such a good baby! I also was able to play a little prank on Emma and Anna by changing their sign "Coat Service" to "Goat Service." Ahh I'm so funny. We played some spoons to end the night and then Rachel and I headed home and then went to bed.

Sunday February 22nd was another early morning for me as I had to go coach. After a scheduling meeting which was terribly designed and unorganized, I came back home and chilled before making some delicious chicken alfredo pasta for dinner. After dinner, Rachel and I planned on having the 87th Annual Academy Awards ceremony on as we did other things, however, we ended up watching the whole show in its entirety with Neil Patrick Harris hosting. With having only seen The Lego Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, & The Grand Budapest Hotel I thought all the Oscars given out were appropriate, but really I have no clue since I haven't seen any of the other movies. I filled out an Oscar sheet and only got 5 of the categories correct. There were some great inspirational speeches, focusing on giving thanks and loving your parents, suicide prevention, equality for women, equality for all people of other race, gender, sexual orientation, & religion, and being yourself & being weird. The big winners from the night when it came to total number of awards won was The Grand Budapest Hotel  and the film Birdman. I can't wait to get my hands on all of the films that were nominated and see if the winners were truly deserving. 

Here is a list of all the nominees and winners.

With that being said, here is a picture of Rachel and I from game night that I am now posting in honor of the Best Picture: Birdman.

Monday February 23rd was a simple day. I wrote my blog, then Mozilla crashed and I lost it all, so I had to rewrite it, losing some of the original spunk it had. Went to work and then went home and watched The Walking Dead episode from the night before and started to watch a 30 for 30 about the Russians side of Miracle on Ice, interesting perspective and awesome coaching techniques so far!

Video of the Week: Live performance of Oscar nominated Everything is Awesome. I had no idea it was written/performed by Tegan & Sara as well as The Lonely Island!

Movie of the Week: Oscar winning short film, Feast!

Coaching is about to get real busy.

Talk in 7.

Josh