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

Blackhawks, Bulldogs, & Eagles

This past week was jam packed with another quick snowfall, a new computer, tasty food, a full moon, & a weekend full of mascots.

I was blessed with this past week with a plentiful amount of wisdom, check the links below:

Awesome inspiring video by Brandon Todd on putting in work to be able to dunk a basketball at 5'5

Rashard Mendenhall retires at 26 and explains why

Beth understands life backwards. My sister is amazing!

Pretty inspiring words from Kurt Vonnegut himself

I woke up Wednesday morning to my mom telling me how beautiful it looked outside. I threw on some pants and took a few quick pics outside, then decided to head to Knoch Knolls woods and took over 400 pictures! Good thing I wore my boots, as I had to traverse an overflowed river that covered the untraveled trail.

Wednesday afternoon, we headed to IKEA for work and I picked out a new desk for work for my new mac that is coming in. Things are getting official! My boss was nice enough to pick up the tab for Portillos for lunch. I had a delicious double cheeseburger. Mmm tasty, and then to follow up this meal, I had my mom's favorite beef stew for dinner after work. Yum Yum Yum.

This past week I was able to finish up another Izzy video set to The National, I Need My Girl. Cannot wait to see these guys live in a few weeks. This footage is from when John and I filmed Snow Mounds with my GoPro.

Friday, March 14 was here before I knew it. I headed into work and was super excited when UPS dropped off my new 21.5" Apple computer. I put my desk together from IKEA the day before and set it up. I finally have a place upstairs at work! Making moves! At 3, just after finishing setting up my computer, I headed to the city to catch the Blackhawks game with Rachel's Family.

I got to the city and met up with Rachel's brother Rob at his apartment. We waited for everyone else to get downtown and then met up at a local bar to grab a few drinks and dinner. Since it was Friday, the good Catholics at the table with me ordered a bunch of non-meat appetizers. I was on a different meal plan though, and ordered the chicken salad. It was Patrick Kane bobble head night, but after eating dinner and taking a cab to the game, we just got to our seats in section 321, in time for one of the best parts of Blackhawks games, the National Anthem.

I took another 350 pictures at the Hawks game, just a few are displayed above. One thing I realized while at the United Center, as I looked up into the rafters and saw all of the championship banners hanging. It is pretty amazing and awesome to have lived in the city of Chicago for the past two decades, as both the Bulls and Blackhawks have had some incredibly talented teams. I have lived in a great time for Chicago sports, as greats like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Phil Jackson, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, & Duncan Keith have won championship after championship for us. 

The Blackhawks played a mediocre first two periods and after an entertaining, hard fought third period, came out on the short end of the stick, losing 3 - 2 to the Nashville Predators. We then teased Rachel that she was bad luck, as it was her second game, and again the Hawks second time losing when she was there. As we were leaving, one of Rach's bro's friends came up to talk to us and Rachel noticed that he and his girlfriend had PK bobbleheads. Rachel then decided to say, "I see you have one too many bobble heads there..." Kind of in a joking matter, but then the girl said, "oh do you want this? here you go!" and gave the bobble head to Rach. I can determine two things from this occurrence, one, she was a very nice girl, & two, most definitely not a big hockey fan. Needless to say, the Patrick Kane bobblehead was the talk of the night and many a joke were made with him as the subject.

After the game we took a cab back to the bar we had lunch at and had a few more drinks with Rachel's parents and brothers. A few hours later, after a lot of great conversations, Rach's parents took off, and I stayed at the bar with Rach's bros until about 2am. Her brother Rob then took us to a vienna hot dog stand just around the block. He picked up a dog and fries for me, and I ate them on the walk back to his apartment, as I had to head home because I had practice at 8am the next day.

I got home around 3:15am and went right to bed, only to wake up 4 hours later to head to practice with my Fox Valley team. My team had a great practice, & I was very satisfied. After heading home, my Dad and I drove out to Elmhurst to catch Adrian College play Elmhurst College in lacrosse. This was my first game as an alumni! It is kinda sad that it took 3 years to catch a game, but to be fair Adrian has not played in Illinois since I graduated, the Aurora game was canceled earlier this year, & I am always coaching in the spring, making it near impossible to see any games. 

It is crazy to think that the seniors on the team now, were just little freshman when I last saw them play and was a senior myself on the team. Wow does time fly! Adrian started off slow like always, but played hard to a convincing 14 - 4 win. I took a few pictures during the game (seen below), but mostly took video. I am working on a game highlight that should be out later this week. Stay tuned!

Alumni nation: Josh, Hammy, Jeff

Another alumni Jeff came to the game, so it was good catching up with him and watching as well. I would have to say that the Adrian teams that I played on were better than the current team, but maybe that is just an alumni talking ;)

Go Bulldogs!

After the game, my dad and I met up with my mom at Culvers to have some lunch, just like the good old days at Darien Sportsplex, when we would go to Culvers with my Grandma and Grandpa, and anyone else who came to watch after we won indoor lacrosse games at Darien.

Sunday, March 16th was another day for lacrosse. This time I headed over to Benedictine University to watch the Eagles take on the Trine Thunder. The weather for this game, just a day later, was about 30 degrees colder, especially with a strong wind coming across the field.

The game had a decent pace, with both teams going back and forth. Finally in the final 3 minutes of the 4th quarter, BenU tied the game up at 7. The game went into overtime, but again, both teams failed to find the back of the net. This lead to a second overtime, in which both teams had chance, but BenU was able to notch the final tally with an excited double overtime win! Nolan and I have been working on an inspirational piece about overtime, so hopefully the video that I took at the game will do the trick. Check out the game winning save & goal below!

After the game, I could not feel my feet or hands, and I headed over to Gios to warm up by a fire and have a few beverages. He was kind enough to make me a warm tea and we snacked on snacks most of the evening while talking about the game and watching documentaries about Caddyshack & National Lampoon's Vactaion. We ordered a little bit of sushi & chicken fried rice for dinner. Not too bad!

Leaving Gio's I was able to remember that the Full Worm Moon was out on the 16th of March, & I snapped a few photos.

The past week I watched the Matrix trilogy. I do not think I had ever seen number two or three before, but was not disappointed. All of the movies were action packed and a pretty good watch while laying in bed. The three movies reminded me of Bruce Lee movies and other Asian fighting movies I watched in college with my roommate Dave, and thought these were kind of the "american" version of those. Pretty cool "matrix" scenes throughout with the slow mo fighting and dodging of bullets.

I also frantically put together a photo order from walgreens and shutterfly on Sunday. It included another 13 11x14 pictures, which I have a pretty cool plan for once I get my own place, and a 16x20 of a shot from Vegas. Hung a few more 8x10 photos from Europe in the basement. I'll post it once complete.

With the weekend over, St. Patrick's Day was upon us. March 17, 2014 was a busy day at work with a plentiful amount of social media postings. The best part of the day was again, what I had to eat:

For Lunch: Subway

For Dinner: Portillos, thanks to my wonderful and amazing team mom who brought it to me.

Then after an accuracy shooting class that I taught, the Master's Open took place. Probably our lowest amount of guys yet, but it was St. Patty's day, so I am sure a few of the guys were unable to drive to the facility.

Second Dinner: McChicken & McDouble (no picks)

On my way home from the Master's open I saw at least 6 cops, which involved 3 different pullovers. The last 4 cops put on their lights in my rear view, but ended up pulling a car a few cars back, must have been something serious with 4 squad cars for one pull over! 

One last thing: Check out this crazy juggling video! Insane!

This week I plan to edit the 2 lax games I filmed and stay super busy at work with social media and website work. Nothing too crazy planned for this week ahead!

YaBoy Josh

Champions

What do the Chicago Blackhawks & the Naperville Apaches have in common?? Besides being both ridiculously good looking, they both are champions.

The Blackhawks became Stanley Cup Champions for the 2nd time in 4 years on Monday night, scoring 2 goals in 17 seconds in the final 1:16 of game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. 

The Apaches were crowned Brewtown Showdown Champions of the men's division this past weekend, after defeating the other top 3 teams on Sunday all in a row. After stomping on all the teams they played in the first day, the Apaches continued this trend and walked all over the dragonfish from Michigan. Then in the semifinal, they took on a tough Stark Enterprise team composed of mostly d1 & d3 commits from the Milwaukee area. After an intense game that was non stop action, the Apaches met Coyote Logistics in the final for the 2nd straight year. A back and forth start, that was followed by a Naperville Apache streak to end the game, gave the Apaches their second straight Men's Division Brewtown Showdown championship. 

A fun filled weekend with lots of lacrosse, drinking, and candy. My gopro was checked off my head for the first time, and despite having the gopro knocked off, and then it running out of battery before my goal in the championship, just before halftime, it was an awesome and successful weekend.

Go Hawks, Go Apaches. 

Oh and LaxAllStars just featured my From Camera to Camera video which splices GoPro footage from my camera and from that of the Badgers goalie in the fall. I was lucky enough to play him again this weekend in Brewtown, hoping to trade footage again and make another one! 

Here is what they had to say about my video. 

 "While ONE of the Wisconsin Badgers teams have made the move to the MCLA, they still are big enough to have two GLLL teams as well. Recently our buddy Josh sent over this video in our tipline, we absolutely loved it!

An Attackman from the Naperville Apaches and the Goalie from the Wisconsin Badgers both had GoPro’s in a game against each other this spring. When they finally exchanged footage, this was the result. Nice work gentlemen!

This footage really gives a great view of the game from different perspectives and multiple angles."

Here is the Article of Dueling GoPros

Josh