Supposedly, that’s Irish Gaelic (which I’m allowed to rock thanks to my 13th century Kilpatrick heritage, yo)…
So, yeah, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and it’s snowing like a bitch this morning. Luckily the roads stayed mostly clear, and we didn’t get anything near the high end of the 4-8 inch predictions.
Nevertheless, I am pleased that I was able to get my celebrating out of the way this past Saturday with Brozovich at the “Lazy J Ranch” of one John Croghan. John pulls together a nice little crowd of good people, so it was an excellent laid-back time. Plus he had a keg of Guinness. Hard to go wrong there. (Hell, I didn’t even bother to check if it was carbonated or nitrogenated. No need to be rude in the man’s house.)
By the way, John is doing his country crooning thing in Olde Town Arvada on April 4 at the 12 Volt Tavern. He’s guessing he’ll go on around 10pm or so. I’m definitely going to be there. If I’m lucky, John might even sing my request. 
In other music performance news, The Aggrolites are playing in Denver this Wednesday. I love those boys. We saw them open for Madness in Los Angeles a couple years ago and have since collected all of their stuff. Well worth the $13 ticket, I’m thinking. (Here are some YouTube samples for you. Oh, and The Wife’s favorite track.)
Oh, there’s also roller derby on April 5. The Wife was asking about derby last night, so we’ll probably try to hit that, I think. Derby’s always worth the $13 ticket.
That’s all I’ve got, but that’s way more than usual, so I’m fine with it.
Literally.
The Wife and I went to an actual running store and bought actual running shoes yesterday, so that we might continue our attempts at jogging with perhaps a bit less agony. Given that I haven’t called myself a “runner” since high school, and The Wife never has, we popped into our local Road Runner store to take full advantage of their know-how on the subject.
I had gone in with a strong recommendation from my mother, whose duck feet I was dubiously fortunate enough to inherit, so I told our friendly shoe salesman that I needed to try on a pair of Brooks Beasts and that my dear spouse might need a bit more help in finding the right gear since she’s a former ballerina and nobody really understands what’s going on with her feet.
Continue reading ‘New Shoes’
I hate seeing this:
Luckily Denver metro tends to have more pleasantly warm days in winter than bitterly cold ones.
Here’s to having MLK Day off from work!
Going for my walk/run today in 15 degree (F) temps wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. Until my calf started cramping. That had nothing to do with the cold, though. It was ready to go from the activity earlier in the weekend.
Junk I’ve run across:
- Parkour and free running are - without a doubt - the best thing to happen to action movies since martial arts. This article focuses on one of the American early adopters.
- Last Friday there was news of a car found in bits (along with the three people who were in it) in nearby Louisville. Turns out the car was doing over 100 miles per hour. It also turns out the folks taking the ride were drinking. At least they were “doing what they loved.”
- Leonard Cohen is going on tour after fifteen years off the road. I’m sure he’s past his prime, but I might actually go see him. This live disc is absolutely essential, I don’t care who you are.
- What does it say about me that I think this thing looks like a lot of fun?
- Brozo’s pal and mine, John Croghan, is playing some shows in the near future. I told him he should play “More Than Words” by perennial Boston favorite, Extreme. He said he’d do it if I actually came to the show. I’m gonna do my best, even though it’s way past my bed time.
- Another buddy, Wil Herren, has taken off to Dubai, where the rate of construction is only outstripped by the importing of sex workers (or so I hear). Wil’s off to a great start on his travel blog, even if he might be misusing the “pages” paradigm. The captions on the pics are gold.
- Brozo has the run down of our send-off for Wil, if you’re interested in a bunch of past-their-prime white boys rolling between dive bars in a limo.
- Oh, yeah… Go Pats!
- So, Clinton won Nevada, but Obama got more delegates? WTF? No wonder people don’t bother…
- I’m reading The Golden Compass right now. It’s actually good fun, IMHO. Not sure if I’m all that interested in the movie, though.
- I grabbed Superbad onto my TiVo via Amazon Unbox, though. That’s bound to be just about perfect for one of these nights when the television dial is utterly devoid of worthwhile entertainment.
- Speaking of, anyone have the early word on Breaking Bad? I’ve got it recorded, but haven’t watched it yet.
A few years ago a new development popped up near my own subdivision. It was called Bradburn Village and was part of the latest urban development trend of “New Urbanist” communities. All I knew was that the houses seemed really nice (more than just “little boxes on the hillside”) and that residents would have a pub within staggering distance. Some of the more extravagant houses even had carriage house apartments, which is something that catches my eye since we live with my mother-in-law. Alas, the real estate game in Bradburn is too rich for my blood (assuming we would ever be able to sell our current house — not likely in these economic climes).
That doesn’t keep me from walking through the neighborhood (there’s open space between us and them) or stopping into the aforementioned pub for black & tans with bangers & colcannon. I still like to grab the “for sale” fliers to see what’s going for what and pine wistfully when the answers are “perfect” and “too much”.
Then I run across this: The lucky bastards have near-weekly keggers! And of course, everyone who lives there loves it. I’d really like to get a peak in their Yahoo! Group for some real scuttlebutt, but I’m guessing I’d be mostly disappointed.
That social interaction would be a double-edged sword for me, though. Part of me wants to live in a “village” where everyone knows everyone else in at least a cursory manner. The other part of me wishes everyone else would leave me the hell alone. Forever. Give me a glass of beer, though and that second part tends to get out of the way.
As it is, I live in a nice neighborhood in my cookie cutter (though mostly well-built) house. Several of my good friends live within a ~5 mile radius. I have nearby open space in which I can make my jogging attempts. I can still take advantage of some of the amenities in Bradburn, too — I just don’t get to stagger home from the pub, so I take it easy and save the staggering for when I get home later.
Mostly I just like to look at the houses anyway.
BTW: Bradburn isn’t the only example of “New Urbanism” in my area. We also have Stapleton (at the location of Denver’s former airport), Belmar (in near-by Lakewood), Arista (coming soon in even-closer Broomfield) and probably several others. Prospect New Town, in Longmont, was the first one to catch my notice. Too bad it’s in Longmont.
We went to another live Ring of Fire mixed martial arts event at the Broomfield Event Center last night.
Here are a few notes:
- We were part of the posse for the wife of the main event title holder, Eliot “The Fire” Marshall, by way of a friend-of-a-friend relationship. This turned out to be both awesome and stressful. Can’t beat the seats.
- Bossman and I made $1 bets on each bout with the loser picking the next fight. I lost $4-5.
- There were three female fights on this card. They were scrappers, too. I think the “Karate Hottie” should have to change her name since she lost.
- Most of the fights didn’t make it past the first round. One that went the full distance ended up 29-27, 27-29, 28-28. In Colorado, though, the 28-28 judge has to actually pick a winner… Weird.
- I’m still tickled that Brothers BBQ caters the “VIP” tables. They also do a pork sandwich toss (in which the ring sluts and some Brothers folks literally throw pork sandwiches in paper bags into the audience). Awesome.
Continue reading ‘Ring Of Fire 31: Undisputed’
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