Night of the $6 concert

Went and saw The Hold Steady and Sonic Youth tonight at the TLA, and it was a pretty mindblowing show for a few reasons. The Hold Steady opened and absolutely killed it, I just wish that they would have played longer (and louder...). Sonic Youth was also sounded really great and did two encores. Oh and they were giving out posters on the way out.

This was a hell of a way to start my vacation, and I'm off until the middle/end of next week with nothing major planned. I do want to hit LBI one day (and probably bike end to end and back), I forsee a bowling trip, and I'm also planning on some speaker installation/subwoofer box building/other car stuff. And who could forget everyone's favorite: laundry. It's almost weird, but I actually feel bad taking a few days off from work because we've been making really good progress and we're already getting together our first paper to be published (and more are on the way). Just a mental note - I still need to check with the ECE Office to see if I'm actually getting my degree next week.

So, if you've got any bright ideas or just want to spend a little quality time with your favorite Vacirca (and who wouldn't?) you know how to reach me. Oh and also, stop stalking me. It's not good for you.

When enough really is enough

Have you ever just had one of those moments when everything just makes more sense? When you can make decisions at the drop of a hat and completely balance life's asshole of a checkbook? I'm not even talking drug induced quasi-intellectualism here, but the real awe-inspiring 'what the fuck have I been doing' thing. Time to cut the dead weight and move on, to stop pushing boulders up hills. August 2008 goes down as a shitty month in my book, but here's to enjoying the last few weeks of Summer. Let's go ahead and make something of it.

Hmm...

After doling out a kidney and a few other body parts today, I've got my car back. Now I can get back to thinking about...things I don't want to think about anyway. At least the weekend's just about here.

If anybody's got any bright ideas for this weekend, let me know before it's come and gone.

JUICE

...fool for a lifetime.

After driving around in my dad's car for the last few days, I can safely say that after having my car for a little while, driving an automatic sucks. Not only is it boring as hell but I definitely have a problem with going into autopilot and then blinking back into this world a few miles down the road. If everything goes according to plan, I should have my wheels back tomorrow afternoon.

So quick rundown:
-Kevin Nealon is and will always be hilarious.
-Phils won tonight, going to the game tomorrow.
-I still need to set up travel arrangements for CA.
-Even though I'm broke I want to sneak onto this Paris trip too.
-I can't stop listening to Dude Ranch.
-Fuck you.
-I'm sorry. I meant fuck you.

Valley Forge Conquered

More later, but for now just know that it was one hell of a ride. Check another one off the list.

On the eve of battle.

Tomorrow, or rather in a few hours, is the second attempt at a ride to Valley Forge. This time it won't be dark and we might be able to actually make the turn off to get there instead of winding up 10 miles past it. I'm also going to go ahead and predict less encounters with crackheads in the woods and wildlife flying into my chest, but I've been wrong before.

So where does it all go from here?

What. The. Fuck.

This weekend started out pretty strong...and took a turn for the absolute worst. After spending 10+ hours upside down in my car installing an amplifier yesterday, the huge reward was a blown speaker in the front door (it was already bad, I just had no idea b/c the old unit wasn't driving it hard enough). So upon ripping the door apart today to take a look, figuring out what it was, and doing surgery on it I discovered that my driver side door has some sort of leak and the whole thing is fucked. There's $170 and a ton of work out the door (literally).

Oh, on top of that my wireless card on my computer just decided to stop working - the third one in under a year. I don't know what the hell I do to these things, but I'm done using them. I'm running a cable first chance I get. In fact, instead of buying another card, I bought a step ladder so I can reach the ceiling and run a cable along it.

On the plus side, the amp install did turn out awesome, my mom gave me some fresh tomatoes and peppers from my uncle's garden, I went swimming last night, and I put a new front derailleur on the road bike and tuned it all up. Also, the boss is out until Thurs. this week, so I can pretty much go in as much or little as I want. Oddly enough, I'll probably go in early b/c I'm planning on making a pretty slick antenna and getting started on writing a paper to be published, both of which are pretty exciting.

Alright, time to go do something and probably drink some more champagnes.

Flash! Guten tag?! (dead, drink)

Alright, so taking the headset on that bike apart forcefully wasn't such a great idea, but it had to be done. I think I managed to clean up all of the tiny ball bearings, and if not then I'm sure I'll step on them at the most inopportune moment. I did, however, finish building up a beater road bike to dish off to somebody, and maybe now I can clean up this boneyard a little bit. If I drop one more wrench or bike part on my laptop...

Just a tangent thought here, but holy shit is life that much better when you don't mind going into work every day. Having a great boss works wonders, and I'm actually making progress on some things - a huge change from the past two years of complete bullshit. I'm really looking forward to my California trip that's coming up too. We might only be there for a few days, and for work, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to make the most of it (and my boss already told us he knows a few good bars out that way).

So looking forward, I think this weekend might be time for another attempt at Valley Forge even if my ass will never forgive me. Also, I need to clean up my act a little bit - this plateau I'm on right now is demoralizing as hell. Let's push forward, eh?

Would anyone really do that much for a Klondike bar?

Today shaped up to be one hell of an adventure. Two trips over the bridge, carrying TV's and pianos, throwing a frisbee, and of course an Old Henry. And now of course the usual insomnia sets in.

I'm definitely thinking of taking a long ride tomorrow, maybe this time I'll actually make it TO Valley Forge instead of going several miles past it. I could definitely use the exercise, and it's probably a good idea for me to get outside and think things over a bit, too. These days I can never sort through whatever the hell's going on in my head. For now though, I'm going to go fiddle with my bike(s). Do me a favor and entertain me a bit if you're up and reading this.

It's alive.

So I spent most of the night working on my bikes, which almost borders on being too productive for a week night. I installed new cranks on the road bike, trued the wheels on that bike and on my fixed gear, and did a bunch of little repairs here and there. There's just something about working with your hands that makes everything seem worthwhile. I think I'm going to stay up the rest of the night and see if I can't frankenstein a bike together from this pile of spare parts.