Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Wow, I suck

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. With the draft being just two weeks away I have been amazingly busy and it's going to be crazy for a while, even after the draft because of Hawaii, moving Cheryl and all our stuff out here, finding a place to live, summer tournaments and showcases to cover, weddings, etc. But I can't complain. Life is good, even if I've been bad about posting the details here.

I'm going to Florida tomorrow for the weekend and I'll only post something if I see an alligator...

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Ranking NOFX Albums

I was talking to my friend Matt today about the new NOFX CD and how much I like it. We were talking about how it compared to their other albums, so I decided to rank them, starting with my least favorite (though I like all listed here, obviously) and going down to my favorite. NOFX has been a band for almost 30 years and they're still putting out awesome, important music. They're definitely one of my favorites and it makes me proud and happy that my friends and I still listen the same stuff that bonded us in junior high.

So, here's my order, with the caveat that I only focused on post-S&M Airlines full-lengths (because, let's get serious, who likes Maximum Rocknroll, Liberal Animation or S&M Airlines?). I also thought it would get too hairy to try and rank EPs (though The Decline would be No. 1), live CDs and B-Side compilations.

Here they are with Haiku reviews...

9) Ribbed
Silliness begins
You can hear the potential
Just a bit too raw

8) Wolves In Wolves Clothing
Big disappointment
I still have the CD, but...
Erased from iTunes

7) White Trash, Two Heebs & A Bean
Hefe's first full-length
Guitars still sound too '80s
Getting close to greatness

6) Heavy Petting Zoo
Too slow, kinda meh
The cover grossed out my dad
Songs you don't hear live

This is where it gets really tough for me....

5) Pump Up The Valuum
Lots of great songs here
Don't be fooled by the low rank...
I still love this disc

4) So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes
Sixteen diverse songs
In just 32 minutes
Mike's bass never better

3) Coaster
25 years strong
They're just as good as ever
Could be number two

2) The War On Errorism
Really good balance
Angry, but still funny too
Cheryl loves this one

1) Punk In Drublic
Ahh, my first real love
Takes me back to junior high
Good times, Oi! Oi! Oi!

Picture Party!

I've heard from a few different people lately that one of the things they like about my blog is when I post pictures of what I've eaten lately. So I decided to do a post cleaning out the pics from my camera phone, which includes a few restaurants (both new and old) as well as a few other funny things I've seen lately. Enjoy!

First, the food...


This is from a Persian kabob place I went to a couple weeks ago with my buddy. The meat on the left looks like a turd and wasn't very good. The meat on the right is lamb and was just okay, but kinda fatty. Also, I was expecting (hoping?) the bread underneath would be like nan, but it was hard and crunchy and tasted like sesame seeds. Really nothing special, overpriced, won't go back...



This is a sandwich from Which Wich? on The Ave. That place was amazing and I was glad to find out it's a franchise and there's one in Raleigh. This is their sandwich called "The Elvis" and, as you can see, it's peanut butter, honey and banana. So delicious!



This lovely spread is from my very favorite Vietnamese restaurant on The Ave called Thanh Vi, a true Seattle gem that I miss and always try to hit up when I'm back home. I used to eat there all the time when I worked on The Ave (no joke...10 days straight at one point, which I've never done with any other restaurant). Love this place. Great food, cheap, very friendly (the woman there remembered me after not being in for more than a year—even asked about Cheryl). Just writing this is making me wish I could go there tomorrow! This is a "small" bowl of pho & a beef Vietnamese sandwich. Normally I would just get one or the other, but when I get the opportunity to visit Thanh Vi these days, I have to pig out and get both.


Last night I got a serious craving for some authentic, taco-truck tacos. My favorite Durham food blog, Carpe Durham, loves taco trucks more than I and apparently Durham is thriving with Mexican food on wheels. So much so that the Carpe Durham peeps have made a "Tacomentary" about the situation...




So I drove up to North Durham and got me some tacos. The drive took about 15 or 20 minutes, of course I had to take out cash because I never have any and I got a little freaked out by a Dog The Bounty Hunter-looking dude with a Hells Angels belt buckle at the gas station, but once I bit into my first taco, I knew the voyage was worth it! I got four tacos because I'm fat I couldn't decide what kinds I wanted to try. I got Mexican barbecue, asada, pastor and chicken. Pastor and asada were the best, chicken was the worst because it was dry, but all were delicious and hit the spot.



This is a Chicago dog & cheese fries. I love Chicago dogs—loaded up all the way, but I've only had them before at Matt's Famous Chili Dogs. This was was actually in Chicago. Granted, it was just in the airport, so I'm not really counting it until I have one from in the city somewhere, but it was still pretty dang good. I really suck at eating local cuisine though. Didn't have crab cakes when I was in Baltimore and didn't have either a Chicago dog or deep-dish pizza when I was in Chi-city. Lesson learned: I've had tons of North Carolina barbecue to make up for past mistakes.

And now for something completely different!


Cooper is awesome!



Wacky space toilets at O'Hare. I've never seen these before. There's disposable plastic film that rotates on a new cover for each use to ensure a clean, sanitary seat. Fernando—was this a deciding factor in moving to Chicago?



A license plate I saw in the Starbucks parking lot the other day (click on it to make it bigger). Did a double take. The young, Asian female kinda mean-mugged me she noticed I was taking a photo, but that's what you get...