Music, Etc AND A QUIZ!!

It's been a banner year for your hero so far. A new job, a divorce, a broken foot, some trips, a lot of music. And some music. Did I mention music? Oh, and did I mention the divorce? Yeah. I think I did. Here we go. Please take notes and pay attention, there will be a test.

Staying On Subject

I'm just now back on the training track. After a few light workouts on the treadmill and a nice run on the beach, the old paw is ready for the road again. Today is a nice 6 miler 'round the sparkling city of Everett. I'll let you know what breaks this time. Still probably too late for the Vancouver 'Thon, but I might give it a try if I haven't lost much endurance. Been cycling and working out in the pool to keep the lungs alive. We'll see. QUIZ QUESTION #1: WHAT IS HARBOR SQUARE ATHLETIC CLUB'S OFFICIAL "FAMILY" MEMBERSHIP POLICY?

Lodging

How cool is the Skamania Lodge? Ummmm, pretty damn cool.

Music

The Colleague (is it time she had a new Blog name? Am I ready for that sort of commitment? I am taking suggestions for the name change) and I have long history rooted in music. QUIZ QUESTION #2: WHAT WAS THE FIRST CD THE COLLEAGUE EVER BORROWED FROM GVB AT WORK? In the past few months, we have seen a lot of live shows:

1. Karrin Allyson at Jazz Alley. Great vocal jazz and Sapphire martinis? Excellent! Getting locked out of the parking garage at 2 am? Not great! QUIZ QUESTION #3: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE ONE'S EYES TO ADJUST TO COMPLETE DARKNESS?

2. James Blunt at Everett Events Center. Um. Wow. Yes, I know he is a love-song cliche by now, but this guy can write some sad fucking songs. And live? He actually has some rock to him. Bonus? His home video footage of his time serving in the military in Bosnia. Rip my heart out why don't you.

3. Keller Williams at the Showbox. Ooo, this will forever be the night I met The Colleague's sister-in-law and the drunk girl who had several "affairs" between the bar and the women's room. I think there was a concert.

4. The Presidents of the United States of America. Great show. Fun, long standing Seattle band. QUIZ QUESTION #4: WHERE SHOULD THE KITTY SLEEP?

5. Big Head Todd and the Monsters at the Showbox. My all time favorite band in the best venue in Seattle? Are you kidding me? QUIZ QUESION #5: IN WHAT NATIONAL PARK DID GVB TRULY FALL IN LOVE WITH MIDNIGHT RADIO? (Towse is excused from this question)

6. Dr John at Jazz Alley. Totally fun New Orleans jazz/blues fusion with a LOT of political shots at the asshole who serves as president. Also? Hendrick's martinis.

7. The Feeling, Rocco Deluca and the Burden, and Mat Kearney at the Showbox. Ok...I'm still reeling a bit from this one. The Blog Persona Formerly Known as The Colleague and I had just driven 400 miles from Hood River to Seattle after a week on the Oregon Coast. We were sleep-deprived and probably still a little wasted from the beer we consumed over the course of the trip...but this show was amazing. The Feeling are worth checking out for sure. They play to sold out soccer stadiums in England and have a ton of fun on stage. Plus? They have some good music. Check out their site. Rocco Deluca and the Burden get two awards: the best band name AND the best album name ("I Trust You To Kill Me"). Bonus? Rocco actually fucking his guitar onstage. Nice. Deluca's best quote: "The Blues died when they took the "fuck" out of it. I want to put it back in". Well said. They stole the show. For sure. Mat Kearney? Solid show. But following Deluca? Good thing he is more popular and everyone knows his songs...

8. QUIZ QUESTION #6: WHAT CONCERT WILL WE BE ATTENDING ON APRIL 21ST?

Divorce

You know what's expensive but worth it? Wait...let's make this a quiz question: QUIZ QUESTION #7: WHAT'S EXPENSIVE BUT WORTH IT?

Broken Foot

Back to the point of this damn blog: the foot is healing quickly. I've managed 20 miles or so this week on the treadmill/beach/road. Next offical race will be Beat the Bridge in May. Still hoping for a June/July 'Thon. Any ideas which race I should dig into?

Cap'n Ron is an animal, by the way. He's down 30 pounds, doing long days of 24 miles, and holding a 9:30 pace. A sub 4:00 'Thon is a given. Go get 'em Cap'n. Hope I can be there.

Ink
The GVB Tattoo is in place and all healed up. QUIZ QUESTION #7: WHERE IS THE GVB TATTOO LOCATED?

EXTRA CREDIT: WHERE IS THE BLOG PERSONA FORMERLY KNOW AS THE COLLEAGUE'S LATEST TATTOO?

Madness. March and Otherwise.

YOU WANT A GRADE FOR THAT?
The end of winter term is here, student papers are piling up, and my patience for mixed constructions and clichés is running very, very low. I am officially invoking the “Student-Professor Non Aggression Pact”.
If you don’t complain about the fact that I didn’t really teach you anything this term, I won’t pay attention to the fact that you write at a fourth grade level and don’t understand basic logical premises. Deal?

And by the way, your writing sucks ass. And NOT in a good way.

MODERN MEDICAL MIRACLES
One: Rod Stewart has to be 100 years old by now, right? He looks remarkably good for his advanced age, but really? The Colleague and I were invited by Former Student to a little fundraiser for a program called KidTix. The deal? A luxury suite at Key Arena for the Rod Stewart concert. Ok…Things I don’t understand about this situation:
• Who are these women who still think Mr. Stewart is sexy?
• How far gone are the women who would rush up to the stage to touch him when he limped past them with his walker?
• Why does Key Arena give last call 1 hour before the show ends?
• Why can’t the Sonics make money in Key Arena? Seems like all they have to do is win more fucking basketball games and more people would show up.

Two: 2 weeks into my recovery from the broken foot, things are starting to look up. A nice 4 mile jog on the treadmill at the new club yesterday. Can actual running be far behind?

New club? That’s right. Back to the pool, the weights, and the juice bar for me. Thank god. Things are getting a little loose around the old body. The salt water pool gets a thumbs up for me, as does the outdoor spa. Of course, we had to commit a little fraud to get the “family” membership…sshhhh.

Three: I’ve had a chest cold of varying seriousness for 3 months now. Is this normal?

SPHERICAL ORANGE OBJECTS
I said this last year and I’ll repeat it here: The nickname of the Gonzaga basketball team is the Bulldogs. NOT the ‘Zags. Shut the hell up. Oh, and nice first round torching by Indiana. My bracket lives on…I need to revamp my rooting theories: I root for the Huskies and any team playing against WAZZU and now Gonzaga. If WAZZU plays Gonzaga? I just root for the Rapture.

The new best sportswriter in the country? Bill Simmons at ESPN.com. Bookmark his Page2 column/blog. Seriously.

And? I don’t give a rat’s ass about Syracuse or Kansas State in particular, but how pissed off must their fans be at being left out of the tournament when a team like Stanford comes in and gets crushed by Louisville?

Plus? If The Colleague beats my bracket this year by picking teams based on who she knows at which school, I might have to dump her. Not really. Don’t tell her I said that.

You know I’m hopeless when I am still a bit hurt by the Huskies being snubbed by the NIT. The NIT? Who cares?

SPRING BREAK!
One of the things that sucks about teaching where I do is that my students are, as a group, horribly lame. My spring break plan of hanging out with a suitcase full of books on the (hopefully) stormy Oregon coast is WAY more exciting than anything my students will do. I realize people have to work to pay for school and those obnoxious tailpipes that make their dad’s Civic sound “cool”, but get a little bit of a life, would you? Go somewhere and get loaded and take off your clothes. What happened to Spring Break? Of course, I shouldn’t expect much from a group of students who haven’t seen Borat.

Snow, Music, Beer, Flight, Wind, Snow, Hockey...

Bloggers keep writing in the third person. I feel third person today...

Wednesday:
A little snow flurry turns into a downpour of late season snow north of Seattle. Your hero is almost trapped at his urban palace.

This is only a problem because he needed to get to The Castle to pick up The Colleague for concert in Seattle.

A 30 minute drive? 1.5 hours. Nice. The A3? Kicks ass in the snow.

Wednesday Night:
Big Head Todd and the Monsters at the Showbox? You betcha. Todd Park Mohr is probably the most under-rated guitar player out there. 2 hours of pure rock and roll, punctuated only by Drunk Wife Beater trying to pick a fight with your hero. By the end of the night, and after being threatened by The Colleague, DWB was babbling about how sorry he was etc. His girlfriend for the night? Bye bye.

Thursday Morning
"Welcome to SeaTac, please sit here for hours while the people in Chicago try to decide how to land planes at the busiest airport in the country. We'll be leaving three hours after your scheduled departure, so you could have slept in...."

1 Hour Later
"Your plane is now leaving. Oh, did we forget to announce that? Better dine and dash on that breakfast and get your ass into seat 1A."

2 Hours Later
"I know you've been sitting on the plane for an hour, but we're still waiting for clearance to take off. Enjoy your luke warm water and please don't take out your iPods or laptops."

6 Hours Later
"We're over Chicago. But we can't land, so we're going to keep circling up here in this massive turbulance."

8 Hours Later
Ahmed the Cabbie: "That will be $50."
GVB: "Of course it will be. Thanks for taking the slowest way into town, by the way. I love touring the projects of Chicago."
AC: "Of course, American Infidel. I spit on you."

Thursday Night

Your hero finally finds DVB. Pizza, beer, and a cab ride to the United Center for a Blackhawks game. Or, make that an Avalanche game, because the Blackhawks suck out loud. The 300 people in the United Center agreed. Colorado scored 4 goals in about 3 minutes in the 3rd period. Brutal.