me in the emergency room

what we have here is my feet in the emergency room. all it took was stepping on a 4 inch long 1/8th inch wide nail, piercing my shoe, through my sock and into the middle of my left foot. ouch. i was at the garden plot doing some work... and i just got out of my car near the garden and BAM - right into me. so, i pulled it out, unloaded some soil from my car, then spent over an hour at the emergency room.

tetanus shot - check

antibiotics - check

vicodin - check (this is not a bad thing)

then i returned to the garden b/c, seriously, i had a little more work to do. we're talking about the well-being of peppers here... come on. a man can't ditch out on tending to the peppers when a mere nail enters the foot. we're talking about the livelihood of summer '06 teetering on the brink of disaster, and dammit, i stand for the peppers.

peace.

another good omen

2 rainbows in a week?

my grandfather

*click on the picture to get a better view

I'm blown away right now. I just found a letter from my grandfather when he was mayor of Mingo Junction, OH. I was googling his name, and I came across this letter from his desk. This is incredible. It's amazing to see where you've come from, and I'm fortunate enough to have some absolutely incredible blood in my family.

This letter is from my mom's dad, Albert Olexia. Grampy is still alive and I believe he's 87 now and still taking it one day at a time, as he likes to say. He's also known among my friends for another one of his sayings. Every time I walk into my grandparents old little house in Mingo, Grampy asks me "What's the word, Rusty?". I look at him knowingly, but shrug and say "I don't know, what is the word Grampy?". At that's when it comes out... My 87 year old grandfather smiles, looks at me, and says...

"Let the good times roll".

And when he says that, I can't help but feeling that I might be the luckiest person alive.

a good omen

here's the latest sign from boulder. this was taken wednesday at the farmer's market... i'd say it's a good sign. in a year and a half in L.A. i never saw a rainbow, go figure. boulder, what a great place.

roto-till this...

WHO KNEW GARDENING COULD BE SO EXCITING?
click on the image to get the full effect.
feel free to click on "comments" below and leave a message...

hilarious - this cabbie is awesome

ok folks, this is an impressive display of brilliant impromptu bullshitting. so, the bbc in england was doing a news report on music downloading, and they hurrily dragged the "expert" on stage for a news interview... however, instead of the "expert", they got his cab driver! so, here you have a french african cabbie bluffing his way through an interview on a subject where he doesn't have a clue. amazing. cheers to this.... what a guy. check out the links...

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=386136&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/video/cabbie.wmv

down the tubes

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

***Edited 5/12 b/c i was pissed when i wrote this.

This is crazy. Big Brother, Big Sister, and the whole
Fan-Damnily are looking at your phone calls. Since
2001, the National Security Agency has been making a
database of all your phone calls, and attempting to
make a database of every call made in the United
States - WITHOUT your permission. do you care?

the things around me

Here are the things going on in my world, in no particular order.

New shoes. I should get them soon. See above. They're out of control, but what the heck. When I'm 60 I'll wear rockports... might as well mix it up now. Actually, I won't wear rockports when I'm 60. nope.

Brewing Beer. Starting my first batch of Dank Village Brown on Saturday.

Gardening. Peppers and tomatoes. Kale and squash. All kinds of things. We're making some salsa later this summer... It's name: The Magic 13. Why? 13 kinds of peppers.

Granola. Not making it, but damn I sound like a hippie already.

Job. Working a tech company, also considering my other options with regards to Grad School and I also have another job interview at an interactive design company called texturemedia (texturemediadesign.com).

Exercise. Not getting much of that. Ha. I love the mountains, but there will be no surfing here. I felt really fit surfing 2-3x a week. Fly-fishing is not quite the aerobic exercise. The hiking is great though.

Friends. Great people here in town, making new friends as the weeks pass, and looking forward to visits from friends across the country.

Live Music. Festival season is upon us. What's that mean? Telluride Bluegrass Festival... Oh yeah. I'm not making it to Bonnaroo this year, but I couldn't think of a better alternative... And being in the mountains sure beats a hot muggy 100+ degree tennessee field. Also, my first trip to RED ROCKS is coming soon. I have tix for the Ben Harper / Damian Marley show. Oh yeah.

Wearin' grooves on my ipod click wheel. Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock", Rocky Votolato's White Daisy Passing" , Ben Harper's new record "Both Side of the Gun:, Daniel Pettys and his loopstation (my house), Josh Rouse's song "Quiet Town", Peter Tosh's "Can't Blame the Youth", and all kinds of other stuff...

Hmm... That's it for now.

Have a good night everyone.

that's one heckuva bluegill

JENNA CATCHES HER FIRST EVER FISH: ROCKY THE BLUEGILL.

the current reality of loss

Although life is continually interesting and I'm an extremely positive person about things working out in the long run, sometimes it's just tough. When you lose someone you're close to, it hurts. There are no two ways around it. Even though I move forward every day, keeping momentum, and trying to live every day with awareness... Some things I just can't shake from my mind. I'm sure with time and circumstance, things will change (maybe in a direction I never imagined), but I'm just in that phase where I've lost someone I love, and I think about it often. I'm not depressed, I'm not going into extreme emotions, but I'm living deep with the current reality of loss.

"He forever goes before us to prepare a place for us. He is on the road we tread. Wherever life is leading us, He has gone before. Perhaps we have no clue about what lies ahead; we know who is ahead of us, so the future is not quite unknown." -David Adam

a night at the southern sun

Tonight was a brilliant night at the local brewery, the Southern Sun. The Sun, as it is affectionately known, is a fine establishment and gathering place for the local children-of-the-earth crowd. The beers at The Sun are ridiculously good... and tonight they had my favorite on nitro tap: Korova Cream Stout. Korova is kind of like guinness in color, very dark and creamy and easily drinkable. It just doesn't get any better than beers with friends chillin at the Southern Sun in Boulder. cheers! Also, check the audioblog for a recap as we rolled out of the parking lot. It cuts out a little, but that whole bit about catheters and being in a bubble is referring to the magician David Blaine.

ideas coming into reality

My friend Jess just sent me an email about dreams and I figured right now might be a good time to talk about some of them. So, if you have any thoughts about dreams, like concrete dreams to attain, not dreams like
you're being chased or you're naked in public, or you're losing your teeth...

Anyway, my dreams are very project-oriented. Like, I don't have dreams to be a Fireman or a Doctor or something to that effect. But I do have lots of dreams. It seems like my life is split into missions, adventures, and projects to run after... things like trips, ideas coming into reality, and unique endeavors. I guess I am no ordinary dreamer. Everything I dream, I plan to make happen... Or, I guess, do my part in the job. We get the dreams, God makes them happen. Or God gives us the dreams, and helps us make them happen. Something like that. But anyway, what is there to lose? Why work a 9 to 5 without the quest for doing something more? I'm the only one in the world that is wired to be me... So I need to be. Be like this... Here are some things in my head lately.

Go to jamaica with jess and crew and meet with old roots reggae legends,
record them, make an album and a visual book and/or documentary.

Own a brewery, start out with one fantastic beer (currently I'm thinking a Belgian-style ale in the shade of Chimay), market the hell out of it, and sell it at the best restaurants in america. And then add addtl beers for the best convenience stores in the country. Circle K included.

Travel through eastern europe, or new zealand, or asia and make a picture/journal/designer-type book with caroline.

So, there are some ideas. I hope they spark some new ones in you. Peace.