Music Purchases – July 2007

I forgot to enter these, but it was a crazy busy month. I didn’t much care about any new stuff and none of this can exactly be called “new”…

Maroon 5 – It Won’t Be Soon Before Long

The first time I heard Maroon 5, it was pretty much wuss-rock and I didn’t care for it. Then it started growing on me. My friend Mick has done several shows with them and has said that they are really nice guys – perhaps some of the nicest. I made some playlists where I sadly used a couple of songs and have come to enjoy it a bit more. When the new album came out – they of course, overplayed the first single (“Makes Me Wonder” and again, I didn’t like it. His semi-falsetto voice with the pop-rock music does get more tolerable with time. The new album feels very similar to the first though, I’d probably recommend just some singles.

Fall Out Boy – iTunes Essentials

Cynthia pretty much verbally abused me for NOT having any FOB on my iPod and I really could not recall one song. The iTunes covered three albums and I actually have like the iTunes Essentials collections. Instead of a “best of” album that usually pairs hits with crap – they do a decent job. Fall Out Boy reminds me of early Green Day, when we thought that rock had gone the way of… well… Maroon 5. It’s gritty, simple, and it rocks. I like guitar heavy rock where I can still understand the lyrics. I also like a simple drum kit – kick, snare, a couple toms and you can hear them. Simple bass lines compliment the drums. Old-school rock. Not a bad one in the collection and will probably make me look a little deeper into some of the other cd’s.

Today is Tuesday

Life: Work:
Weight: Hours of Sleep:

Today is Monday

Life: Work:
Weight: Hours of Sleep:

Today’s Ride

Distance: 29.8 miles Time: 2:18:42 minutes
Avg Speed: 12.9 mph Top Speed: 31.3 mph
Calories Burned: 1,779

Today is Sunday

Life: Work: N/A
Weight: Hours of Sleep:

Today’s Ride

Distance: 13.9 miles Time: 1:02:22 minutes
Avg Speed: 13.4 mph Top Speed: 31.3 mph
Calories Burned: 841

FIRST RIDE IN TOO LONG!
I have been so busy for such a long time that it really felt great to get back on the bike. After updating some blog information, I ran out – hoping to beat the storm – I did. It was a nice ride.
So, what would be an animal that you would NOT think that I would see on my ride? A bunny? Ducks? Cranes? No. Camels.

Happy Anniversary to Jill & Donald

Has it already been a year? Hardly Seems like it 🙂

Happy B-Day to: Mollie

My newly married cousin in Colorado – moving to upstate New York soon.

Today is Saturday

Life: Work: N/A
Weight: Hours of Sleep:
FIRST TIME UNDER 200!!!!

A nice day trip North to Taos

I had to go deliver a computer to Brownrice Internet up in Taos and it was a great excuse to get out of my daily grind and drive north. I waivered between going classy in the Caddy or stylin’ in the Subaru – I opted for the new car.
My luckily-for-me-unemployed friend accompanied me for the trip. Two and half hours each way would have made for a lonely day by myself so I was happy to have the company. She had never been north of Santa Fe so she was excited as well. For it not to be monsoon season yet, it is incredibly green starting just south of Santa Fe. I alway liked driving to Santa Fe in August and September as the sides of the road were green. They have done a lot of work on 285 north, it’s kind of pretty. It was sad that a lot of the roadside stands and shops have given way to casinos. There seems like there was one every ten miles heading up to Taos, and more being built.
When you crest the highway that overlooks the Taos Valley, it’s pretty impressive. While driving we were talking about how Blake’s Lotaburger is pretty much the best burger in the world and when we saw one on the south side of Taos, we stopped for lunch. Brownrice was just up the road and the computer set up took only about 30 minutes. We moved the computer to the rack and started off for the plaza. Luckily, I made a quick phone call and realized that I had not turned the computer ON after moving it. I’m glad I checked 🙂
We went to the Plaza and walked around there. Lots of galleries, lots of tourists. The landscaping around there struck me as being different from say, Santa Fe or Albuquerque, in that there were natural flowers and plants along the sidewalks that just made it nicer. I found Kit Carson Park – home to the Solar Music Festival and a few others.
I have had Taos Cow ice cream but she had not had the experience. I asked the people at Brownrice and was told that the only place in town that had it was Cafe Tazza – if you want the real stuff you drive up to Arroyo Seco. It was staffed by two eclectic young hippie girls that apparently were upset about some gun-wielding government agency shutting down a sit-in of peaceful sun lovers the night before. The language was peppered with lots of f-in’s and they really didn’t show any interest in getting us some damn ice cream. They had just received their shipment and it was too frozen to scoop so they only had Ginger or Mexican Chocolate. Ginger just didn’t sound too good and she opted for the Chocolate. It was soooooooo good.
We finished walking around and started back south. We decided that the Simpsons would be a great movie to watch and had passed a theater in Espanola that we would be at by around 5 pm. Sure enough – perfect timing. See the review here.
We went on into Santa Fe and down by the Plaza. They were either setting up for – or tearing down a Spanish Market so the plaza and nearby streets were filled with empty tents. This made parking a bear, but we found one on Shelby in front of what used to be Julian’s (sp?). It’s now something different – that was sad as I really liked the old place we spent several anniversaries there. We walked around, tried to go in the Chapel at Loretto (closed at 4:30 pm), and I tried to find someplace fun to eat. We ended up on the balcony at the Ore House. Two orders of ceviche on the patio was kind of nice. I’m sure that our waitress hated our two apps and two waters order! I think it was Don Curry playing guitar.
The drive back was nice. I didn’t check email all day and opted not to call the factory. My dad came to stay for the weekend so I’ll get to visit with him.