Loyal Ladies

On Thursday October 6th of 2016 I finished Stranger Things by powering through the last 4 episodes before work. Phenomenal show, highly suggested you watch! It is on Netflix, about childhood, aliens, the 1980s, and only 8 episodes, so go watch now! I can't wait for season 2. That night for dinner we had leftovers and I worked on re-editing the lax highlight I made for a kid. Still trying to figure the ins and outs of this new program, FCPX.

Update as of 10/18 - Holy cow I am back! It feels so good to be editing videos again and I have definitley found my editing program. There will be a new piece to the blogs, and it is called a vlog. Videos of my life and events from the past week. I am not trying to make this a vlog where I just talk to the camera the entire time, in fact I don't really do that at all in this first one, but instead me telling a story of how my days are spent. This first week isn't great, but I will be working on my editing skills with each edit and hopefully it will get me to doing more videos (there is quite the stack of videos from the past 6 months to get through). Enjoy

Friday October 7th was a work from home. Some serious activity was going on outside of our apartment. Obama in the building? Or should I say alley? There were a plentiful amount of police in our alley, blocking off the streets, and eventually a long parade of police vehicles followed by 10 black SUVs with American flags on the front made its way down our back alley between the buildings. Police were monitoring the alley, turning people back and sending them from the direction the parade would be coming. They also took out all of our trash bins, I guess in case of any hidden explosives? With all of this and the helicopters overhead, I think it's safe to say that someone important, probably the president may be in town? Later in the day I found out he came back to do early voting. Thanks Obama!

Later that evening Beth and Grace made their way over. I met them halfway from the L, oh Beth has been blogging it up. Read here! After chatting for a bit, I picked us up some Wing Stop to enjoy with Rach before heading out for the evening. Gotta love Wing Stop wings, they had some new korean spice flavor, solid. After we ate, we headed out to DOC wine bar. Our first time here despite being within 100 feet of the place on Clark. It was pretty chill. The song above (Loyal) played when we were there, and immediately became the theme to the night. After sampling the wine flights named Ferris Bueller (reds) and Risky Business (whites), we walked over to Headquarters, the beercade. In the meantime, the Cubs won game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. Once we got to HQ we were super satisfied as there were not that many people there. We immediately made our way to Q*Bert to shatter the record board, then played a ton of other games including but not limited to: Pacman, Ninja Turtles, Pinball, & Skiball. After a drink or two we headed out and started walking back home. Before getting home, we made a pit stop at AliveOne bar on Halsted. A fun little bar with a small dance room in the back with a live DJ. Yo DJ, spin that track. Grace dominated the dance floor and then we walked back home to call it a night.

Rise and shine. I woke up early the next morning on Saturday October 8th at 7:15am and drove back to Napes to coach the squad. After a 2 hour practice I made it back to the city around noon. I jogged a quick mile over to the farmer's market to meet up with Rach, Beth, and Grace. We walked about the zoo, saw some animals, including a crazy tongue flicking cow, ate a large popcorn, I jumped over a table, and we enjoyed a lovely sunny fall day. I know I say it every time I go to a zoo now that I am an adult, but some of these animals look so darn sad. Especially the large Lions and Jaguars that just pace back and forth looking out at the humans. Poor guys.

After a beautiful walk back, we were at our apartment where I took a quick power nap then woke up and made some delicious burgers for dinner. Sure I cut the onion entirely too large, but it was still delicious. Rachel made this amazing Apple strudel pie thing in the crockpot for dessert. It was honestly so tasty served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I had like 3 bowls of it before we headed out. We surely need to make it for the next party we attend. Yum. Beth and Grace are still here despite saying they may leave. Around 8 we Ubered it over to Brian's new place. My second Uber (from my phone) ever. His place was pretty dope! The ceilings were like 10 feet high and his kitchen sink was huge. Megan was out of town, so it was just Brian and their dog Crede. The gummy I had earlier was starting to kick in as SNL came on. It was a pretty funny episode providing laughs for us all as we indulged in a few select brews. I guess it wasn't funny enough though since Rach, Grace, Beth, and I were all asleep on the couch by the end of the show. Thanks to Brian for the lovely photo. We cabbed it home and went to bed. Fun night.

The morning of Sunday October 9th started with some Marathon watching. It was the 2016 Chicago Marathon, and our friends Aly and Torie were running this year. I went out early and saw the leaders of the marathon pacing at that 5 minute mile. Crazy fast. Rach and Beth joined me to cheer on Aly and Torie. Both were doing amazing and kicked butt that day. Torie's 7th marathon, finishing in 4:54:01 and Aly's 2nd, finishing in 4:17:52. Awesome work ladies. Maybe I'll try to enter the lottery and run next year? Always gets me in the mood after watching friends and strangers putting in work. Props to Beth for getting this great shot of Torie seeing Rachel.

I headed out to Concordia Chicago around 11 to watch my Cats go 3-0 in a fallball tournament. The boys looked good, almost mid season form. Excited to see what the spring holds. I drove back to the city and hung out with Rachel at home. Beth and Grace had headed back to the burbs via train at this point. Rachel made us a salad for lunch and then a bit later made us a super tasty apple and chicken pasta dish for dinner. We put up our two couches on the list of craigs. Kinda tired of leather, if anyone is interested holla at yaboy before they're gone! That night we watched the second presidential debate which in my opinion was extremely boring. I am tired of watching the two argue and Trump never answering any questions. Like the entire internet says though, Ken Bone, the man in the red sweater who asked one of the final audience questions, won the debate.

Monday October 10th was a rough one. I kept waking up in the middle of the night, having to use the bathroom. I didn't feel well at all so I took a sick day and watched a few episodes of the show The Sixties on netflix. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the history of big events in the 1960s. Tom Hanks is a director or producer or whatever as well, well produced sir! This made me think that I want to start learning more about our Nation's recent history. I feel like they don't teach it at all in high school and I really have no idea. Who's with me!?

The next day on October 11th, Tuesday I drove to the burbs after dropping Rachel off at work and did laundry at my parents. Later I had 18 kids at cats fall ball (the most yet), a kid hurdled a box net, and I worked late. I got home around 10 and had fish and rice for dinner made by Rachel. She really is the best always making nice meals for us. Love you Rachie! The Cubs also pulled off a miraculous 6-5 win that night to advance to the national league finals. Chicago! Our neighbors put up a great little sign.

Wednesday October 12th was a simple day that involved me finishing the book 11.22.63 by Stephen King. I had finally gotten through all 30 discs of this book on tape and really enjoyed it. I am going to go ahead and say this is the longest book I have listened to. It is about the assassination of JFK, time travel, and what would have happened if it didn't happen. Exciting story that I would recommend you all to read (or listen like I do). After I finished work I had a Cats meeting and then slept at my parents. I fell asleep in my childhood bedroom with the lights on while doing laundry. Must have been tired.

So If you didn't notice, I am trying out this whole Vlog thing. I am still doing my blog in entirety at this point, but maybe will make the transition. Anyone like a video aspect instead of all the text and photos? I am not comfortable at all talking to the camera yet, so maybe I will make it a double duty type of thing for now.

Video of the Week: Awesome timelapse all about Chicago. I hope to make something similar some day. Would be neat.

TV Show of the Week: Stranger Things - Like I said up above, if you haven't watched this new series yet. Catch the first season on Netflix right now. Aliens.

Book of the Week: 11.22.63 by Stephen King. The final day for JFK. Plus you can't go wrong with Stephen King. Read it!

See ya next week.

Josh

Bachelor Bridal and Deer Tick Festivities

The past two weeks have been extremely eventful. One Bachelor Party, one Bridal Shower, two Deer Tick Shows, and three wins from the Cats. Some might say the best two weeks of the year so far! Read about it in more detail below!

Song of the Week: New song by Deer Tick. Card House. Rachel and Beth both said this was a "salsa-esque" song and they are right. Love this new jam by DT.

The first week this blog covers took place during Spring Break, so I had a little break from coaching lacrosse and was able to get some things for the Wedding done as well as rest my brain a little bit! Also if you didn't notice, this blog is covering a two week period. The blog will now switch to a 2 times a month blog because of the business! 

Saturday April 2nd is the bachelor party. The weather is crazy as it snows, blows, and shines. I have the best family and friends who all made it out! John, Johnny, Adam, Brian, Grant, Sean, Gio, Farrell, Rob, Phil, and the out of towners Nolan and Cameron. The day started around 1pm as we headed over to the Revolution Brewery, but then found out they don't serve food, so we quickly went out and got Chipotle to eat at the brewery. We had a couple of tasty drinks before heading to bubble soccer. Knocker ball, aka bubble soccer, was extremely fun and we all got way sweatier than anticipated. The game was also a bit dangerous! The game started by myself running full speed at Rachel's bro Phil. We collided and I launched probably 10 feet in the air and smashed the ground. I immediatley began laughing. It was so fun, I continually laughed as we all smashed into each other. What fun. The grond was astro turf so it burned the knees a little to get up and your knuckles would rub against the plastic of the ball, ripping your skin off. Bloody knuckles! John also busted out his Gopro video, so we will have to get that out soon. You really only needed about an hour of gameplay, and we played games like soccer, generals where you need to protect one person, and sharks and minnows.

After the fun, we left sweaty and out of breath to go shower. After showering we met up at Brian's where we enjoy some BP, Mario Kart and Deep Dish Pizza from Lou Malnatis. After a few hours of enjoying time together, we headed out on a little bar crawl of sorts.

We started at Sluggers where I dominated my first round in the batting cages, but only to be witnessed by Brian. My second round was with the fast pitch, which was quite the struggle, only connecting a couple of pitches. My final and third time in the cages was a disaster, with everyone watching, I think I maybe hit one ball, although still made some great cuts. There's always next year. After having fun in the cages, we cabbed it over to headquarters where I set records on Q*Bert, we played some ninja turtles, and NFL Blitz.

After Headquarters we took the short walk over to Delilah's where I run into a couple old NV teammates, Hamilton and Bogart. After a drink or two there, we then go to Atlas Brewing Co, before walking over and finishing up at Prost where we get huge unnecessary beers pretty much by accident.  We walk back and skip the last three bars on the docket (Burwood Tap, Dukes, & Franks) as well as The Wiener Circle b/c it was late and the line was too long. We decided to get some Papa Johns and Wing Stop. I finally get to to bed around 2:45 am! Great night, thanks to all the gents who came out and made it an awesome time!

Our wedding invites went out on Monday 4/4/2016. Rachel did an amazing job with them! Yahoo! Check ya mail boxes peeps. During the next week the Cats win 3 straight and set a school record for goals scored in a game with 22 vs North. 

All these activities lead up to The Deer Tick Acoustic shows on 4/7/2016 at Old Town School of Folk Music and 4/8/2016 at the Majestic Theater in Madison. On 4/7 I headed back home to the city and Rachel was kind enough to get us some Jimmy Johns subs for dinner. We ate them until Beth got to town and then we jumped in her car and headed to the show. After struggling to find parking we finally found some and walked over to the venue around 6:45 for the 7:00p show. Before heading into the theater, I scanned the DT merch table and picked up 3 new 7" vinyls for a couple of their side bands, as well as a Deer Tick book, and the tour Poster. John, Melissa, Brian, and John's friends Kenny and Pete met us at the show and then we all headed in. The theater was pretty small, maybe holding 200 or 300 people. Everyone had their own little seat and it was a very intimate setting. We were set up stage right, a little farther right than I thought, but still with a pretty decent view.

Ryley Walker opened up for Deer Tick, a local Folk musician who put on a great 40 minute performance. We were going to be in for a real treat with the acoustics sounding amazing in this venue. Finally Deer Tick came on around 8:30p. They opened up with a Merle Haggard song, Today I Started Loving You Again, to honor the late country musician. They played an amazing and unique set including their new song Card House, a circus-esque Thyme by Dennis, a penny whislte (recorder) version of Smith Hill, a Chicago classic Clownin' Around by Dennis, and they ended with a 11 minute Jam of Mange where Robbie Tick went all out of the keys. Dennis was rocking his Kanye Tee for its final time. I was able to record the entire show via audio, and a few songs via video, so will be working on those as long as my editing program quits not working... and hopefully get them out in a week or so. They ended up ending the show with what I am calling a Mange send off. Each member left the stage one by one after playing some sort of solo during the song Mange. John left first, followed by Ian, Robbie, CR and Dennis was the final member to leave. The lights came on and we headed over to Half Acre Brewery and had some beers before heading home. Melissa and John were going to drop us off but instead we decided to get some Wiener Circle. We got the Trump Super Pac which had 4 three inch dogs, a fry and a drink. Finally we walked home and hit the hay around 1 am. 

Woke up Friday April 8th for work and struggled to make it through the day. With word that practice was cancelled. I headed up to Grayslake around 3:30p and made it to John's around 5p. We then walked over to Twister Burger and I got myself a Buffalo Blue Cheese burger with fries. So tasty. Around 6:15 we decided to depart for Madison. The show started at 9p and it usually takes about 2 hours from Grayslake to get there. On the drive up we went through multiple snow showers, then the sun was out, the sky turned a strange orange red color, and then it would be super snowy again. It was some of the craziest weather John or I had ever seen. We finally got to Madison around 8:30p and found parking near the Capital Building on a street we call bum alley. We parked there last time when we saw Delta Buds in June of 2015, and the homeless frequent this street.

It was bitter cold out on the walk over to the venue. Once inside, we immediately loved this venue. It was very similar to that of BlueBird in Denver, with a couple of different levels. We established our ground, front row on the second level right in the middle of the stage, giving us some prime seats. Although I prefer a up and close experience at shows, these standing seats from a bit back were perfect. Ryley Walker came out and put on another killer performance, getting the Madison crowd bumping. Right when he took the stage, John and I knew we were in for a different type of show compared to the one last night. There were probably 600 or so people there, with drinks flowing, people were being loud and routy. Around 10:15p Deer Tick took the stage and again opened up with a Merle Haggard song. With the crowd going, this show was more similar to a normal Deer Tick show, however all the band members were sitting. The backdrop of the Majestic was really cool as well with the lighting. It reminded me of the MTV Unplugged Nirvana show and was a really neat and different experience compared to the night before. I again recorded the whole show via audio and parts via video and will get those up once edited. In the mean time, someone from the front row posted some songs so check them out. Deer Tick ended up jamming for almost 2 hours! Playing about 8 more songs compared to the night before in Chicago. I guess when you only play one set you can play longer! They again played a jam version of Mange, which went on for 13 minutes. Robbie Crowell stole the show on the keys, putting on a top notch performance. At one point during the show John McCauley went on a little tangent about how Deer Tick should get a hot dog warmer and sell hot dogs at the Merch table. He also ripped into some obnoxious fan which was pretty funny as well. Some other top songs from the night included The Rock, Christ Jesus, Make Believe, Pale Blue Eyes (Velvet Revolver Cover), and Houston TX.

One of my favorite lines from McCauley was at the end of the show when he says, we'll see ya next time Madison, and next time we'll bring hot dogs! Check it out in this video below. 

The show ended at about 12:15a and we walked back to our car and then decided to take a little longer but safer way home since it was icy out. We got back to Grayslake around 2:30a and then I continued on to Naperville. Finally getting into bed at 3:45am. What an amazing night! Cannot wait until these guys come back and be sure to stay tuned for the release of the full shows! 

I had to wake up at 8 on Saturday 4/9/2016, to catch a bus with the Jv boys and ended up having to coach the JV team and got my 15th JV win by dominating 9-1. The varsity came out hot in a physical game as well and we won 12-6. The boys were kind enough to play some Deer Tick on the way home as well. 

Sunday 4/10/2016 was the Maluta side Bridal Wedding Shower. We had it over at Zachary's in Palos Heights. So many friends and family came to make the day very special for Rachel and I. It was a beautiful and lovely day (despite the weather), filled with delicious food, fun games, sweet amazing presents, and love from family and friends. We cannot thank everyone enough for their kind gifts and love for us! A special thanks to my Aunts Jan, Ruth, and Lillian for setting it all up. Thank you all!

TV Show: The Walking Dead season finale was intense. A new direction with new leaders? We will wait until next season to see, but hopefully they change the show up a bit... kinda getting old...

Bloodline Season 2 Trailer is out. Looks great and can't wait!

Video of the Week: Old Deer Tick and Joe Pug video just posted. Check it

Thanks for reading. See ya in two weeks! Lots more of life headed your way!

Bring on Spring with Music

It is officially February 8th and I still have not had McDonald's this year! A pretty big accomplishment from the McChicken spokesman, however, I have a feeling this may change very soon with lax season right around the corner.

January is officially over and so is my no alcohol streak. Although it unofficially ended in the middle of January, only ever had a couple glasses of wine on that one night for 30 days. 1 day of drinking out of 30 ain't bad! On to the next challenge for February, no candy... This may be a tougher beast to handle. Bring it!

Song of the Week: Every Planet We Reach is Dead by the Gorillaz off their amazing 2005 Album Demon Days. If you haven't lately, go ahead and listen to that album cover to cover. Pretty amazing. Also I discovered that the Gorillaz is only 2 guys. One guy who does all the music and one guy who does all the animation. Snap!

I have recently started an account on both soundcloud (yaboysjcubed) and bandcamp (yaboysjcubed) and have been enjoying both music streaming sites. I have also found myself buying more music for smaller bands that I enjoy that I cannot attain at the library (hence the bandcamp account). Gotta love supporting the artists you enjoy.

Hey! It's black history month AND the ground hog didn't see his shadow the other day. That means spring is here and so is this adorable? photo of me as a young Punxsutawney Phil with a young Squidl! Speaking of Squid, check out her latest blog post about the joys of being an Aunt!

On Thursday Feb 4th, Rachel and I hit up Dukes for buy one get one free Apps and 3 dollar Great Lakes Beers. Some delicious burger bites, wings, and waffle fries. Told you the non-drinking streak was over!

Continued my dining experiences at Hooters the next day for lunch. I feel like I have been to one before, but this may have been my first time ever at Hooters? I failed to get the wings though, so I guess I will have to return...

Saturday February 6th 2016 was met with a morning lax practice for FV and then followed up with some Yoga Sculpt with our fav class/instructor. It kicked my booty again, but I had a great time. Still feeling sore today from it. Rachel and I enjoyed the evening with friends at Headquarters, the beercade, where we set some records and posted up playing Q*Bert all night long. While Rachel went to use the bathroom, I had just finished a game up and someone behind me asked to jump on. I said sure no worries. 30 minutes later, the dude had absolutely obliterated my scores and set a record on the machine for the night. When I told him it was pretty impressive, he responded with, "I didn't date very much in high school." Q*Bert Legend.

Check the scoreboard above! Rachel accidentally put her name in as ARM, I am JWM, the legend is DAV..

Super Bowl Sunday was enjoyable, the big SuperBowl 50, first time using numbers instead of roman numerals. Rachel and I walked over to Brian's to hang and watch the game with him and Megan in Wrigley. Rachel made a couple of tasty apps, bacon wrapped potatoes and what I am going to call a loaf of bread that was sliced into little bites, while Brian provided the left of beverages from New Years still. I partook in too many drinks and was feeling it this morning. The Super Bowl was pretty fabulous. Peyton Manning can now exit on top (let's hope he retires) and Cam Newton can try again next year. A super defensive game that some may say was a bit boring, but I thought both defenses were exciting to watch and it is always better in good company! The commercials this year were meh, alright. Highlighting the top ones, golden retriever dad driving a golden retriever pup around, obviously the bizarre puppymonkeybaby one, Heinz and the weiner dogs running, and then the dogs who sneak into the grocery store to get their doritos. Go Titans!

Video of the Week: Meant to post this crazy music video last week, but forget. A pretty solid song, but a really really really strange video. Check it.

Bonus video for this week! Video shot with an iphone and some fishing string. Maybe I should upgrade to the 6 and I can make videos like this!

TV show of the Week: Rachel and I started Game of Thrones! So far we are 4 episodes in and are loving it! Winter is coming!

Gas is still on the decline, as I picked some up for $1.399 a gallon. Let's see where it is next week. Until then.

Yaboy Josh