2016 - Best Year Ever

2016 was by far the best year of my life. From our Wedding, to the Honeymoon, to traveling to Iceland, to coaching HS Varsity lacrosse, to more concerts, it was a most splendid year. I consistently blogged for the entire year (43 times to be exact), sometimes falling a little behind, but always managing to catch up (minus the Wedding, Hawaii, and Iceland blogs... coming soon I promise this time). I even started doing some vlogging in early October which was an interesting experience. I am not sure what 2017 will hold for us, but I think the blog and vlog will change slightly, just as it did in 2016.  Now enjoy reading a handful of "best" lists, events, and things that happened in 2016. Check out the top/best lists from 2014 and 2015 if you want to see the years past.

Best Moment: Our Wedding. Some day soon I am going to write a reflection on how this amazing and magical day all happened. As I look back now though, I can say one thing, it went by sooooo fast and I wish I could relive that day and take it all in again, for it was the best day of my life.

Huge shoutout to Melissa for filming and putting together this little video montage from the wedding. Amazing!

Best Vacation: It was a huge year for travel for us. They honeymoon took us to Maui and Kauai Islands in Hawaii. And we went to an Island of opposite climate in September, when we traveled to Iceland with John and Melissa.

Best Songs: I went through and pulled more than 10 songs this year (24 to be exact), as we had many of my favorite artists releasing new albums this year, while I also discovered some new musicians who are now a top some of my favorites. In order of artist name.

Best Album: It was definitley a year with a lot of big releases, but for 2016 I am going to have to give Best Album to a new and upcoming folk musician out of Chicago, Ryley Walker, and his album Golden Sings That Have Been Sung.

Best Movie (Theaters): Despite only seeing two movies in theaters this year, Trolls & The Secret Life of Pets, I am going to give this one to Trolls. Movie theaters get more expensive every year!

Best Documentary: I am going to call this one a tie between Barkley Marathons & Fantastic Lies. While Barkley Marathons was one of the most unique running events I have ever seen, lacrosse will always have my heart when it comes to videos, even when it is about a tragic 2006 "rape" case at Duke University, the top program in the country at the time. Check both of these out on Netflix.

Best TV Show: A few "new" tv shows for you this year that I was able to watch in entirety. A new show that premiered on Netflix, all about being a child in the 1980s and aliens, Stranger Things. Crime mystery Twin Peaks from 1990, although I hear they are doing a remake soon. Peaky Blinders, which took place in the 1920s in England about a variety of gangs and the gangley things they do.

Best Book: Listened to all my books this year on audio tape, but one of the best ones I read was, 11.22.63 by Stephen King.

Best Jcubed Video: The first year since probably 2000, that YaBoys did make a video with all 3 of them in it. I filmed a couple of videos with John and a couple with Johnny, but in none of these were we all together. Wow! It has been 10 Years since we have been on YouTube though, so plenty of content to watch. Still need to finish editing a couple more too.

Best Lacrosse Video: I filmed a little short lacrosse documentary for my former coach and friend at North Central College for their inaugural fall ball.

Best Youtube Channel: Casey Neistat, from New York. Fell in love with his vlog before he ended it this year, but he still makes pretty awesome videos regularly. Quite the inspiration for me and videos.

Best Sports Moment: Despite attending my first ever Bears Game and my first ever Bulls game, there is a clear best sports moment from the year. The Cubs Won their first World Series in 108 years! It was insanely memorable and I found myself enjoying watching baseball. Still gives me the chills. I was also interviewed after a lax game during the spring season, so famous.

Best Concert: Despite not releasing an album since 2013, Deer Tick did an acoustic tour in 2016 that was awesome. We saw them at Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, and then again at the Majestic Theatre in Madison. Ryley Walker, a native Chicago folk singer, opened up for the band and we immediately fell in love with his music as well.  I did record the shows, so hopefully I can get that audio up soon. In the mean time, listen to Mange from the show. During 2016 I also saw: The Weeks, The Tallest Man on Earth, Lady Lamb, New Madrid, The Orwells, Ryley Walker again, Wax, & The Palmer Squares.

And that's it folks. 2016, the best year of my life, the best year ever. I am excited to see what 2017 brings.

See ya there!

Josh

The Great Photo Swap

On Friday October 21st, 2016 I watched The Big Short while working from home. Solid movie. I edited videos for work on the big screen since I got this adapter thing that plugs into bigger screens and I did some other stuff around the place before John came over around 8p. Oh I also found out that a Banana Republic is opening near us soon. Hooray, mostly for Rachel, but also for me since I get the clothes. We had a few beers and hung out until around 9:30p when Melissa and Rachel arrived, separately but within a couple minutes of each other. After chatting for a little bit The Great Photo Swap happened. An event that has been in the making for over a month now and some say will go down as the greatest exchange in all of history. We all traveled to Iceland in early September (link to that blog coming soon...maybe) and did not have the time to exchange photos from our different cameras yet. Well it went down on this night. Once the great photo swap was in full flux, we headed out to Del Seoul, a Korean street BBQ joint right around the corner. I mean, why have we not been going here every week? I've only had it once before (after my bachelor party) and it was good then, but I definitely need to start taking more advantage of this delicious gourmet taco place. Yum. We ate the food back in our apartment and enjoyed playing some cards, eventually heading out to Franks at 1am for a night cap. We put Deer Tick on the juke and indulged in a few beverages before heading back to sleep at 2:30a. 

Song of the Week: Mange, live from the Chicago's Old Town School of Folk. We saw them here back in April and they ended with a Mange send off. Jam

The next morning on Saturday October 22nd, I woke up at 7:15 to head out to Naperville for morning practice. After practice I raced back to Chicago to catch lunch with John, Melissa, and Rach at Kumas Too. Love this place! I got the Metallica burger which included buffalo sauce and blue cheese. So good and filling. After lunch John and Melissa headed back home and Rachel and I went back to the apartment. A little bit later Phil and his girlfriend came over. We jumped on the L and headed to Southport. We had dinner at some place (can't remember the name) and I had a delicious chili soup. We followed up this tasty meal with a pan fried cookie that was topped with ice cream. Yes! After dinner we made the mistake of leaving the bar restaurant we were at because we literally couldn't get into any other place in town. The Cubs were playing the Dodgers in the NLCS at home and all of the places were packed. We walked around the neighborhood for a little bit and eventually ended up at a candy store called Candyality. The candy store that tells you your personality from your candy selection. Jackpot. I got a little mixture of candies in a bag and afterwards ended up browsing at a Jewel down the street which was the most unique Jewel ever with an alcohol section on the second floor that had seats and tables by a balcony. So strange, but a nice spot to rest! Phil and his girlfriend went to see Nick Offerman and Rachel and I decided to head to Wrigley to take in the game atmosphere.

See bonus footage about this blog in my new Vlog. 3rd episode done! Check it out here in our Video of the Week.

We walked over and there were people everywhere. We walked around the stadium twice. There were a lot of dogs out including this one huge black pup, as well as this cute bulldog who would play dead and then try to find the goat! People were selling tickets on the street for $270 and $350 which seemed crazy at the time. The Cubs were winning 2-0 when we left at the end of the 2nd inning. Very cool experience. We cabbed it home and watched the Cubs win the series! They clinched the NLCS and were headed to the World Series for the first time in 71 years. Wow, since 1945! A more detailed World Series Blog right here. In the meantime checkout some photos from the night at Wrigley.

Sunday October 23rd was mostly football and thank you notes for me. After a solid 4 and half months since the Wedding. The Thank You notes are finally being done. Anyways, check your mailboxes soon! For lunch I made some quick pasta with the red sauce, then ran 3 miles around town. My groin was hurting but I powered through at a 6:50 pace with my fastest mile being 6:30. Not too shabby. That night I was able to watch the Walking Dead. It's back! One time I thought the show was over forever, but I am happy it wasn't. All I can say is wow. I won't spoil anything, but that was the most graphic and one of the best episodes I have seen. Love the new direction they are going with the show. Looks to be some promising future seasons to come. Rachel made an out of this world pork roast for dinner with mashed potatoes. She is amazing! I caulked our leaky bathtub again. Whoever designed it did not make it level so the water sits on the ledge by the tub and goes into our wall. This is not a good thing obviously, so I have caulked along the edge of the tub and shower wall. The problem is it is a cheap shower wall and bends, so the caulk can get separated due to the wall moving. I finished off the night by watching American Horror Story which took a little bit of a weird "real world" tv show turn. Not sure if I like it, we shall see!

On Monday October 24th after a days work, I enjoyed leftover pork roast for dinner and watched Monday night football. Also licked and sealed those thank you's. Check ya mail!

Tuesday October 25th was a late start to work, so I got a 4 mile run in in the morning. That night I was up until 2 am editing Vlog #2. Came out pretty decent. The Cubs lost game 1 of the World Series though :(

On Wednesday October 26th it rained and the Cubs won game 2 of the World Series. Woo! I edited a lot of videos and did laundry at my parents. I also had some dinner at my parents where I slept and called it an early night. Pretty sure I fell asleep with the lights on again. Wowza.

Thursday October 27th, I figured out some savings at WF in the morning. I went to work and had Patelli's for lunch, a beef sandwich this time. Pretty good. After a long day at work, I got home and hung out with the wife. She's my favorite!

The final day of the working week, Friday October 28th I watched American Horror Story Season 6 Episode 7, kinda getting grossly weird. I got my haircut and went on a 2 mile run. Speedy! I worked from home and walked down to Wrigley at 5p to catch the first Cubs World Series game at Wrigley since 1945. Crazy! The Wieners Circle was in full Halloween and World Series garb as the Goatbusters. Hilarious. (Read more about the world series in this blog here). After enjoying the first inning of the Cubs game with a super crazy atmosphere I bought a game booklet thing and it came with a W sign. Go Cubs. Once back at our place around 8p, Rachel and I drove down to Morris to hang out with Jackie and Tyler at their place. The cubs ended up losing the game, but we had a fun night with tasty snacks, party games, and some drinks. We headed to bed at around 3am. 

Movie of the Week: The Big Short. About the 2008 financial and house market crash. Top notch lineup of actors. Watch it.

TV Show of the Week: The Walking Dead. It is back... and it is gooood...

Lots of blogs coming soon I promise. Vlogs and other videos in the works too. See ya at Homecoming.

Do Work.

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!