As I mentioned yesterday I'm going through updating my music library in iTunes. A long time ago I went and put all of my CD's on my hard drive, hell I even did most of Susan's also. It's just so much easier to carry around one device to listen to and have all my music on it. Plus, I wanted a back up of all my music. Dogs chew on them, kids get paw prints on them. Etc.
Yesterday I said that when doing this the first time, well my quality sucked. So I'm redooing - IT ALL!!
Plus it's a way to go back and listen to stuff that I don't normally listen to. Wonder what the hell I was thinking when I bought this or that and why. Plus I get to refresh my memory as to why I hate certain songs ( typically those that Susan has as you'll soon see )
Well if anyone ever actually reads their Facebook posts, you'll note that last week (Thursday ? ) I posted I was revising my iTunes Library.
Why? I have no fucking clue... I'm bored and dorky like that. Actually I realized that when I went through and burned all of my discs to the ol' hard drive that I really didn't select a high enough recording quality.
Why did I do such a thing? No clue.. it goes back to my I D 10 T problem.
I don't claim to be an "audiophile" but, it sucks when you're listening to you're mp3 player and rocking out thinking your the shit, but then you put a CD in the ol' VW Van's stereo, and this antique system just kicks the shit out of the state of the art ipod currently connected to the home stereo.
Why? How's that happen? Because that CD is a way better recording.
Clutch according to Wiki- was formed back in 1990 out of Maryland. I pretty much got turned onto them in the late '90s after the release of The Elephant Riders and seeing them live a few times in Huntington tour support for that disc.
But since then, well I've never really followed the band.. The damned radio stations around here suck for new music. I mean serious if it's not Linkin Park or Nickelback or Skynnard it's not played around these parts. So I lost track.
Well recently I heard the latest track off of "..Cousins.." - 50,000 Unstoppable Watts (check out the video below) Decided to purchase this disc before going to the beach.. Hey you can only listen to Susan's audio books and the Disney Channel on Sirius for so long. ( yes this review has been in the hopper for awhile )
.... have gone by since I last posted something while on vacation.
Yes this is a "catch-up" post, and as you can guess, prior to taking the last two months off I originally had all these dreams of grandeur about what I would post.
Afterall I did a lot of things this past summer...
Did pretty much a century ride in Lewisburg - hell I even wrote about it twice (here and here) - don't expect to see part three. I've killed way too many braincells since I originally planned to finish it. So I'm just not going to write about it all and keep it where it belongs - to myself.
That is beach math for you.... I will not claim that my sunburn is severe, or even the worst that I've ever had... far from it actually, although I have developed a slight rash... cool
No, I'm only pointing out a simple fact that when I go to the beach, drink beer, that I always get a sunburn. The severity always varies...
Today, the issue is behind my knees, and my "love handles". I actually covered those with sunscreen I swear I did.
Yeah, I know, in the pics I've got some ghetto action going on....
I'm hip like that.
I also found a video on YouTube dealing with sunburns. You can check it out after the jump.
Today, I have no idea what's on the agenda... maybe a visit to the light house or the park, or both, but being from West Virginia, you know we will be stopping at Wal-Mart to restock the cabinets fridge.
Well I went and did it again. You know purchased something that I knew I wouldn't really enjoy but yet hoping I would find that gem in the rough.
So while at Target the other day I found this baby for $9.99, I thought what the hell how bad can it be.
Well I found two good things about it.
One, the album cover is cool.
Two, if I don't want the kids or Susan in the room, well I can just put this disc in the player, and they are gone.
quickly.
I don't know much about Job For A Cowboy, other than what I've learned on MetalSucks and through other media outlets. I do not own any other discs of theirs (it is also unlikely that I will own any in the future). But what I do know is that they are a Death Metal band - whatever the hell that means. Seriously, I remember seeing pictures of Iron Maiden's Eddie and thinking that looked like "death" to me. There's five dudes in the band consisting of two guitarist, bass, vocals and drums.
Also they have a new fan and you can read about this new fan here at Metalsucks.
So let's kick this crappy review off:
Track One: Unfurling A Darkened Gospel- 3:43 of pure speed. Grunting unintelligible vocals, that intermingle between screeching unintelligible vocals. The music is fast and that's a plus, it's produced well, and works. It's the vocals I can't get into. This is major problem for all music of this type for me. Two Stars.
Summon The Hounds - cool title for this 3:52 that is track two. Again the music is good. Cool riffs, and well produced. Vocals bring it down again for me. I'm just not a fan of this type of screaming. Two Stars.
Track three comes in at about 3:53 and it's one of the better songs... Constitutional Masturbation. Screaming/Grunting vocals... but this time they work a little better with each other. Plus it works well with the music...or maybe I'm just delusional and like the name of the song. Three Stars.
Regurgitated Disinformation - Two Stars.
March to Global Enslavement- Drums and guitars start out in beating rhythmic tandem. This is more of a chant when the vocals kick in. This is a better song, but not much. I can't give it three stars because I don't like the title that much. Two Stars
Ok interlude.... Here's a video on YouTubeI found... check it out and it will give you a good idea of what I'm talking about with this band.
Video Here
Track six is another cool title, you'll have to judge for yourself about the music, Butchering The Enlightened. If the last song was aptly named it would have gotten Three, or if this song had the music as the last it would get a three, but it's the vocals. Am I showing my age when I say that about new music? I think I am. Two Stars
Lords Of Chaos... One Star..... should have started off with music and not vocals.
Track eight is another two star beast of speed - Psychological Immorality, actually this song isn't too bad I'm going to bump it up a notch. Three Stars.
To Detonate And Exterminate - is what the kids want to do to this disc. Actually they'll do the detonating and Susan the Exterminating... Two Stars
Ruination the title track is track ten at 4:56. The drums start out almost in tribal rhythm. The guitars have a slower different tone... time change.... hmmmmm starting out good.. the screaming is slow and goes well with the slumbering Black Sabbath'esque tone of the song. By far for me the best song on the disc. I would listen to this again, and again, (just not back to back)Four Stars.
Job For A Cowboy obviously isn't my thing. If you're a fan of this, more power to you... I'll grow old and graceful with my metal and not this. Give these guys credits, this is a well produced disc, and a lot of work went into the CD Jacket... with multi-page booklets with lyrics (yes you will need those).
Check em out if they're in the area... this is probably a great band to see in a bar setting..
Well I'm going back out to the beach, at which point I'll put this CD in the Boom Box wait a few minutes while the crowd clears out. This clearing out of the crowd is much like sticking a bar of soap in pepper covered water. Once cleared out, I'll have a nice spot to flop my fat ass down. Oh and yes I still call it a "boom box".
Palmetto Amber - from Palmetto Brewing Companyof Charleston, South Carolina... how fitting for my vacation.... Purchased this six pack from the Publix here on Folly Beach for about $8.99 if memory serves me incorrectly.
"Our quality beer is truly handcrafted. We make each batch from start to finish using only the choicest blends of two row barley malts, hops, ale, yeast, and filtered water. Made fresh in our brewery in the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina. We hope this beer will be enjoyed with food and friends."
That's straight from the bottle.. If you go to their three page website, you can also find out that this beer is their biggest seller.
My vacation beer purchased from Publix on Folly Beach...
It's Monday, so when I would normally be waking up to feed the dogs at 4:30AM (yes that's when Coco begins licking your head telling you it's time to get up). I am now waking up at 6AM ~ course Sunday I slept all day it seemed. Vacation.
08.15.09 John Derek Chapman ended his life as a free man.
This post is not about that night as I was not there.
This post is about the night before.
The night before as you well know is reserved for that all important event known as the Bachelor Party.
Although this night was probably relatively tame in regards to some Bachelor Parties, it was still fun none the less.
Andy and Becca showed up and bearing a great gift of a WVU themed Corn Hole game. Homemade.
Family members.
Todd Swann...
The cast of usual characters.
Beer
KISS music
and otherwise just an overall drop in the maturity level of the homestead.
I don't really have much to say about the evening, and am just going to post a bunch of pictures from the festivities. Maybe a few comments here and there. But overall, I'm at the beach, the sun and sand are calling my name. Ok it's actually the cold beer in the fridge that's calling my name.
I found a cool homemade video for the theme of the post... check it out from You Tube Enjoy the video and pictures after the jump:
Congratulations are in order as Mr. Chapman is getting married today to his betterhalf of almost a year now. This is good and it's about time Mr. Chapman has settled down. I hope his new bride understands full well the job she has in trying to reign this "Wild Child" in. (yes that's a great W.A.S.P. song).
Well as the wedding begins about the time of this post going up - 6:00PM -it reminds me of one of the last times I visited Derek in his new crib. It was a trip I took with Todd Swan and we had a weekend retreat away from any Estrogen. This is an actual post I wrote several months ago, but just never posted for reasons I cannot explain. I did post the photos, and you can link to them here.
well for starters I haven't done shit this week.. Just ask Susan she reminds me every day.
Lewisburg part ii - was indeed just that: Part Two of an as yet to be determined number of parts. I simply got lazy while recollecting my memory of that day's event and decided that the story was too big and way too boring to be summarized all in one post - trust me you would have lost interest. So I would simply make more parts as I see fit. I just forgot to mention it.
First I want you go scroll below without reading, and hit play on the you tube video from a band called Maylene and the Sons Of Disaster, and their new song Step Up (I'm on it). It's got a pretty good southern vibe with some hard edge metal thrown in to boot.
Go ahead, I'll wait.....
waiting....
still waiting....
that's more like it... we're rocking now....
Ok, now that we're back with the southern rock / metal groovin', I found a six pack of this lager at Kroger's for what I think was about $7.00. I don't remember exactly what it was as it's been about a month since I purchased the six pack. I picked it up on my way to go watch the UFC 100 (?) Pay Per View.
I have to say I was quite impressed then and I am again today. I have been saving this lone bottle for awhile to do this review.
What follows are my BeerAdvocate ratings and review:
After eating Applebees we arrive back at the Super 8, about 11ish. Now I ask you readers, have you ever stayed at a hotel where there is a dog convention going on? It seems that on this night at this hotel a K9 Search and Rescue group was staying at this location also. I think there was more dogs than people this Friday evening. If there was not ten dogs barking there was one, and if there wasn't one dog barking, there was ten.
Oh well....
Back in January I had set a goal for myself to ride a Century. For those that don't know, Riding a Century usually implies - riding 100 miles (get it Century / 100 Miles ?? ). That was one of my few goals. Once Susan had suggested we come to Lewisburg I thought to myself, yes I can get that goal pretty easy. (I won't count the 100 Miles to Nowhere as that was on a trainer)
Well as the weeks led up to the ride I began waffling. I was constantly asking myself; do I have enough energy to ride 80 miles? Do I even want to? How long will it take? Will I have any time left over in Lewisburg to take some pictures and enjoy the scenery? All of these questions simply was masking the fact that I'm just lazy. But yet I asked them and I was concerned about them, albeit some more than others.
So as the weeks drug on, laziness prevailed and I decided I would simply do the 50 mile ride, after all that's pretty common for me and I know I can do it. A few days prior to the event I guess I started doubting, what it was that I really wanted to do.. After all I had set a goal of 100 miles. Why not do it? Where am I going to get a supported group ride? Why do I want to ride that far, heck why ride fifty, the sooner I'm done, the sooner I can get back and sit at a bar.
Turmoil...
Well Saturday morning arrives non too soon, luckily we were awakened by the alarm and not howling dogs. We head to Shoney's for breakfast, and then to the College there in Lewisburg where the Wheels Of Hope Ride starts and stops.
The Route:
As I mentioned begins at the College, and does a short Prologue loop. This loop is shown heading toward Ronceverte on the image above, then looping back into town along US 60, before heading North towards I64.
This first leg - the 21 miles proceeds northward to the Airport for about 8 miles I guess to the first rest stop. Now if your doing 21 miles like Susan it is here where you would turn around and head back. The 50 mile ride is big large loop that eventually intersects with US 60. At this intersection, if you're doing 50 you turn to the left back towards Lewisburg.
Turning Right would put you on the 80 mile course. This "lollipop" section is approximately 30 miles that heads you towards Dawson with a short loop before turning back to Lewisburg along US60 (the way you came).
You eventually finish up back at the college.
There are several rest stops along the way, with fruit, sandwiches, cakes, cookies, very well stocked, and all the intersections are manned with local emergency responders. Very well organized.
Arriving at the College around 7:30ish for the 8AM ride, there are several people already here gathered about. Working on their fancy road bikes, etc.. Several people wearing their Astana gear with dreams of being like Lance. (remember the Tour was going on this date, actually today was when Hincapie almost got the Yellow Jersey)
Many fancy bikes, not being a roadie, I couldn't tell you how fancy some of these bikes were. To be honest, they may have not been all fancy at all. Susan and I however would be riding mountain bikes, albeit with slick tires, and yes there was a few other riders whom had chose to ride mountain bikes with knobby tires.
My trusty steed for the day was my first high end mountain bike that I purchased from the Vienna Bike Shopin Vienna West Virginia way back in like 1996 or 1997. A Trek 8500. This bike is just a shell of it's former self, the paint is all but entirely chipped off due to my alcohol laden sweat over the years. It is now mostly a salt crystallized aluminum frame.
I use this bike mostly for riding on the roads, I have put some riser bars on it (is that what they're called), I've also swapped components out here and there. But overall it makes a great bike to ride to work on occasion or just beat around the back roads of West Virginia.
Recently my blog host, has started running a "Question Of The Day", to help prevent writers block and all that. So I thought I'd participate (don't expect me to do so everyday or possibly ever again) in today's question:
What is your most cherished possession? Submitted by Hometown Girl.
You know after thinking about this for all of two point five seconds.
Similar to a Seinfield episode, it's about nothing. Well sort-of, I mean each Sienfield episode did have an underlying theme, so I guess I too do have that going for me.
The second part of the Lewisburg write-up is still under construction, it's just taking longer to pull the boredom out of my mind than I planned. Actually starting it has been the problem. So as I continue to work on that, here's some filler for you:
This is a Caveman Recipe of the Week. (yes I realize I owe you a recipe or two).
Pictures from my trip(s) to Pipestem.
Mostly not much to look at, just some views from the lodge outover the canyon. Was able to take in some bike riding and I included pics from those or more specifically "it" as I forgot the memory card it seemed on both other occasions.
Enjoy if you wish.
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