Taco Tuesday got moved to Wednesday in LA

Just down the road from my apartment is a Mexican Restaurant called Don Antonio's. They have a $1 taco night on Wednesdays. Kinda weird, but I suppose you don't need to compete with any other Taco Tuesday promos on a Wednesday. The place was packed. I guess I was the only one in LA who didn't know Taco Tuesday got moved to Wednesday.

This Friday there is an amazing underground hip hip show going on in Glendale. The Western Conference featuring Zion I, Haiku d'etat and more. I'm real excited about it, I just gotta convince someone to go with me. Finding kids who appreciate underground hip hop in the adult world is somewhat of a cumbersome task. I'm not looking forward to that.

I saw Zion I about 2 years ago, and they were amazing. I've really liked Haiku d'etat for a while also, but never been able to see them live. What I really appreciate about this class of hip hop is the poetry of their craft. In 20 years or so, when they begin to add American Poetry of our day to the history history books, there will be no doubt that recognition must be given to the underground hip hop artists of this day. They have certainly joined the ranks of some of the most prolific and profound writers of this country. Perhaps the crowd they draw and clothes they wear masks the reality of their talent. Maybe the lifestyles they and their fans live deny them the literary recognition they deserve. Nevertheless, in time, when the dust of subjectivity and stereotype has settled, a future expert of American literature will have no choice but to give this classification of hip hop its poetic plaudits.

Spottieottiedopalicious Angel

Yesterday was the reception for my brother's wedding. The best part about it had to be having all my brothers (real, half and informally adopted) around to watch the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal Basketball game last night. I have logged many fond memories with these brothers watching Laker games; and despite the fact that Laker superstars were on both sides of the U.S. vs. Spain, the family remained undivided in it's allegiance to Redeem Team USA and Kobe Bryant (sorry Pau, but we're Americans). At one point, durring the hard fought game, Kobe get's fouled on a 3-pointer, and makes the free-throw, completing a four point play. Yoshiki and I went super-doodoo-dookie dumb (there really is no other way to describe it) when he hit the shot.

I mentioned earlier that I've been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately. I have an odd connection to him, in that my middle name is Cash, and to the best of my geneological understanding, it comes from the same family. The maiden name of the Mother of my Great-Grandfather, Charles Cash Rampton, aka Grandpa Cash (yes, he was loaded) wash Cash. Apparently, that's where the connection is. Cash has been the middle name of the first born of every boy since Grandpa Cash. It's a good, powerful name, and I love it.

Johnny Cash had a way of putting emotion into a song, the way no one else did. The instrumental aspect of his music was simple. His voice however was original and powerful. The unique aspect of his voice rivals the likes of Bob Dylan, as does his song writting. Throughout his life, professional career included, Johnny felt a deep connection to the working class. His songs struck a familar chord in the hearts of those who knew struggle, strife, vice, hard work, pain and simple pleasure Johnny Cash certainly is a great American Icon.

It's like that and a....

I went to Utah last weekend for my brother's wedding. This beautiful occasion will long hold a place in my heart. Truly, my younger brother has set both precedent and example for me, a wandering soul.

I stayed with my good friend Patrice, who lives in Sandy. I needed to get my hair cut the morning before the wedding, and using my Iphone, found a barber shop open at 7am. I had Patty drop me off there on her way to work. The place was and old school, dumpy looking establishment. Most people don't even notice it as they drive by. The guy who cut my hair must have been 70 yrs old. He took forever!!!! On top of that, he did a bad job. Totally botched the job. I think I'll shave my head.


I was priveleged to comiserate with some close family members as well as old friends at the wedding and luncheon held thererafter. Lots of huggin, hand clappin, picture snappin and "what are you up to's?". I like that stuff in small doses.

That night, I made the short trip down to Provo for the evening. This is very much a pilgrimage for me. It was fun to see old friends and walk the streets of that small, quiet and safe town. It's different in the Summer time. Quieter, more exposed for what it really is. You can walk down the streets at 2 in the morning, barefoot, and it's totally safe and quiet. Peaceful Provo.

I woke up late the next day (no doubt a result of my shoeless parading the night before) and went up to Park City for a hike. It was a hard hike. I met up with my cousin Rick, his wife Emily and little brother Nathan. We rode the Alpine sleds and almost made road kill out of an obease rodent of some kind (possible marmot). After the downhill race, we got some desserts at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory: 3 apples and an ice cream for Nathan, who apparently is forbidden by his mother to eat sugar. He conviniently failed to mention that to me until after he asked me to buy it for him. As soon as his mom's car pulled up, he scurried to the nearest trash can to throw away his remaining ice cream and enter the car with an innocent smirk on his face. Classic!

I made it back down to SLC that night to go to the Hieroglyphics show with my old friend and brother Skyler. It was a sick show featuring the likes of Elucid, JC, Knobody, Tanya Morgan, Blue Skolars, and of course, Hieroglyphics themselves (Souls of Mishcef, Casual, Pep Luv, Extra Prolific, and of course Del the Funkee Homo Sapien). With the exception of the audiences liberal canabas fumigation, it was a sick show. They closed by playing You Never Knew.

I've been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately and playing with my Iphone.

PEACE

Tick.....tick...BOOM!

At 9:30 pm on Friday night, I got a call from one of my good friends telling me to come down to San Onofre to camp for the night and surf in the morning. He was alreadydown there with two of my other best friends from high school. I think I finally left the house at 11:00 to make the 1.5 hour drive down there. One of the guys had requested I bring my camera. The battery was dead, so I decided to charge it in my car with a converter.



I like multi-tasking, even if it becomes hazardous. So, I tried plugging my converter and battery charger in while driving. At first, it didn't work. On the second try, I realized that I needed to flip a certain switch on the converter. As soon as I did, this light went red and started blinking. Immediately it started sounding "Beep.......beep....beep...beep..beep.beepbeepbeepBooom!" like a time bomb had just gone off. It killed my radio!!! Initially I thought it was a fuse. Unfortunately the same fuse that protects the radio also protects the dome light, and the dome light still works. Thankfully I had headphones and an iphone to entertain me.

The guys and I woke up and started surfing at 6:30 am. We surfed for about 2.5-3 hours. It was small surf with the occasional medium sized set. We were deffinately the loudest guys in the water. It was great to surf with the entire felony four again.

As soon as we got out, ate breakfast and took down camp, I started heading back so that I could make it in time to go hiking with a friend. We were going to the Santa Monica mountains, starting at a trailhead that I know of in the Pacific Palisades. We were a bit pressed for time, but determined to make the most of it. We hiked for about an hour and were priveleged to see some beautiful sites. We had an ocean view almost the entire way, and an amazing view of the city when we stopped for water. It was a lot of fun.

I cleaned myself up, went to a birfday thing for three good friends of mine, sat in the hot tub for about an hour, came home, ate some Ben & Jerry's and fell asleep watching Transformers.

Good weekend.

The grass IS greener

I got my new iPhone today. It's great. It's the white, 16 Gig. I really dig having the internet whenever I want it. It was a pain to let everyone know about the number change though. I went with the white because I figured most people would go with the black, and thats the kind of guy I am.

So, while it was taking my phone 45 minutes to send a text to every contact in my phone, I got to sit down and watch some tv. Oddly enough, there was a Warren Miller movie on: Impact. Like all good ski / snowboard movies, it made me feel nostalgic. It caused me to long for my winter days again. Now, that doesn't sound too wrong does it? The only real issue is that I'm smack in the middle of summer, surfing bare-back for two hours after work each day without getting cold. I should be totally loving the now (i.e. the grass on this side of the fence). You know what though, I love surfing now, and I love thinking about snowboarding later. Maybe the grass is always greener when it comes to my seasonal board sports, but I don't care. I hop the fence whenever I feel like it.

Kobe Diem

In latin they say "Carpe Diem". It means "cease the day". In L.A. we say "Kobe Diem". It means "Kobe will win gold in china, come home, win the MVP and the NBA title".

If I could design the perfect woman, baring a few intangibles, she would be Brazilian and speak English with a British accent, ghetto fabulous, 5'10" and blonde. That's it.

Long time, get busy

I haven't posted a blog in a long time. Mostly since life as I know it has been relatively uneventful. I've recently commited myself to a few more worthy tasks that might be of more interest.

I work for a very large aerospace company. Large companies like this always have big, important CEOs who stand at the head of them. Most of us who work for the company may never have the chance to see the man in person, let along engage in dialog with him. My co-worker / friend / partner in crime Chris who started with me at the company, posed an interesting idea. He heard that if you emailed this particular CEO of a $30 billion a year company, he tends to write back. I figured that since most of this spineless corporation would never take the chance we could, we might as well go for it. So, we drafted an email to our CEO to open a discussion regarding the increasing generation gap and what the company might do to better prepare to recieve the Millennials as the flood the American and Global workforce.

With the email drafted over the period of one work day, Chris and I clicked the send button on the email account without reservation. The great principle we had learned of 'Asking for forgiveness rather than permission' seemed to give us courage. Little did we know we would be asking for forgiveness that very day (within 3 hours of sending the email).

Much to our suprise, the email was responded to within several hours. Much to our dismay, we were lightly chastized in the name of mentorship. Though, dispite our mild verbal flogging, we were given several high level contacts, with whom we could work. We promptly appologized for our approach, though in all honesty, we prided ourselves in the bold manuveur. Re-reading over the email, which I had origionally drafted, we saw how our attempt to convey urgency, might have been mis-read as critisicm, demmanding or innappropriate.

Amongst other things, we were accused of possible naivetae in the area of our concern. Chris and I have taken it upon ourselves to become experts in the field of generational gaps in the corporate world so as to supremely dominate any such conversation we may engage in.

Don't ever email the CEO of a $30 billion a year company when the email may appear to tell him how to do his job, unless your ready to feel the whiplash. I wasn't ready for it, but I handled it and both Chris and I agree that we are better for it.

When later explaining the story to our ex-manager and long time mentor / friend Ben, he promptly asked "Did you guys smoke a bowl before you sent this thing?!" We reminded him that he was the one who encouraged us to push boundaries and ask forgiveness rather than permission. I think he's all the more proud of us for having done it.

$30 billion a year or not, he's just a man and I might even intimidate him!