Day 360 | Thursday, December 23 | 2010

Tired of Driving...

Day 334 | Friday, November 27 | 2009

Sapphire...

Here is the one-eyed dog that my grandma has had for about 10 years (or more?). Her name is Sapphire because of her gorgeous blue eyes. Are sapphires really blue?

Update: I verified that sapphires are really blue.

Anyway, Sapphire is such a sweet dog. She is really calm and mellow and very people-friendly. Unfortunately, she recently has lost vision in her left eye.

Today was a good day -- watched a movie with Grandma, spent time with family, went to the Pimentel guitar shop with Jim, met Robert Pimentel for a drink, and then dinner with uncle Jim at a place called The Sweet Tomato. It was pretty good.

Day 200 | Saturday, July 18 | 2009

Howl...

Today marks the 200th day of the year; the 200th entry of Beans With Garlic.  So what better way to signify this occasion than to have this elegant mug howling into the summer air in celebration.  

This is Penny Kraus, the loving and quirky family dog of the Kraus family.  I will not go into too much vivid detail, but Penny has quite the 'personality' of her own.  She is one of the rare dogs of the Earth that can talk and her voice, too, is unique.  Pinging in your ears, her voice resonates with discordant shrill tones.  She also has this obsession that she is my girlfriend.  I don't know what life would be like for me, though, without Penny.   She is truly one of a kind.

Día 146 | Lunes, 25 de Mayo | 2009

Thoughts of Jumping...

Today we spent about 8 or 9 hours on the road.  In Ecuador, everything moves so slow.  The drive was probably only about 200 miles at the most.  Factor in the poor roads, the mountains, and stopping for lunch -- you can see why it takes so long to get from here to there in this country.  We stopped for lunch in Baños de Ambato.  Ate at a place called Café Hood (where the food is good) and then roamed around the city for a bit.  It was a nice feeling to walk around and not necessarily have to think about what assignment we were needing to finish.  

The rest of the bus ride cut through the Andes and our group watched a couple of movies during the trip.  

We finally arrived in Puyo and had horrible Chinese food for dinner.  Billy (one of the guys on the trip) seemed to really like this food however.  Our place we are staying at tonight is really cool -- I am definitely starting to feel like we are in the jungle -- lots of palm trees, bugs, and interesting flowers.

Day 18 | Sunday, January 18 | 2009

Zeus...

My day was looking pretty dismal until I saw this face.  I had spent most of my day inside trying to figure out some of my planning for the future but I got very little done.  It was one of those cases where you sit inside all day, all cooped up in a small room and your head begins to pang.  I was frustrated with the day, myself, with life.  Thoughts of all of my life's grievances and slight failures dominated my brain.  Negativity set in and the lens that I viewed the world was distorted.    

Things got better after my parents and I went downstairs through the hotel lobby and out to get a bite to eat.  Down in the lobby, we met a man with perhaps the biggest dog I have seen in my entire life.  The man's name was John and his dog Zeus (which was a Boerboel -- some kind of South African breed) was sitting there with him in the lobby.  I asked John if I could take a picture of his dog and then we struck up a conversation.  He told me all about Boerboels and a lot of things about his life -- how he had grown up in the Air Force (with his dad being a pilot), moving around, traveling in Europe, about how he would later become a pilot in the Air Force, how he and his wife have traveled the world a great bit, and then a little bit about photography.  It was a real nice encounter and it helped me feel a little less camera shy -- that is, initiating a conversation with a complete stranger and attempting to capture something about them, or in this case, something about a part of them (Zeus) that I could.  All around, it changed my mood and I was feeling better about going out and back home. 

We ate at El Rancho Grande (an awesome Mexican food restaurant in West Chester) and then I headed home to Athens.  I just got back a few minutes ago and I am relieved to be home.  The roads for the past 50 miles were pretty disorienting.  There was a moment of brief terror as I was passing a snow plow about 10 miles outside of Jackson.  There wasn't enough snow on the ground for the plow to efficiently operate, thus sparks were streaking across the highway where the plow met the asphalt.  As I passed the plow I squeezed the wheel hard and just barreled through.  A big wave of relief went through me as I made it past the truck and enough distance away to get back into the non-passing lane.

Anyways, it's good to be home and safe.  I am about to meet up with Caitlin to go to sleep or maybe stop by a friend of ours' party and then go to sleep.  I'm exhausted.

March 2008

March was a great month.  I feel lucky to have been a part of South by Southwest, to travel down to Texas, and to be around such great music.  

March signified some endings and some new beginnings for me.  It was the last time I played in Southeast Engine, a band that I had dedicated a large part of my life to for almost three years, and it was a time that I returned back to Ohio University as a student (I had taken a year break from studies).

Here are some memories of being a part of Southeast Engine:

1.)  Our first tour in August of '05.  It was just me, Rem, Leo, and Box.  It was sweltering that summer and I was intimidated of being in the band.  We played a hilarious show in Cleveland for a radio station and had an interesting time at a nearby Cleveland Hotel.  Box did tai-chi in the hotel pool at 6:00AM and Leo had his famous "Hello Cleveland" moment.  Our New York show was equally sweaty.  I remember playing "Try" in the basement of the Lit Lounge to about 30 people (which was great being that we were an unknown band from Ohio playing in New York for the first time).  Whether he was inebriated it was hard to tell, but my friend Jeremy approached me after the show and was so complimentary to us it was as if he thought Southeast Engine had invented rock and roll.  This was my favorite memory of the band.  This tour along with the short 10 day tour we did in the spring of '06 were my favorite times on the road with the band.  The tour down south was extra hilarious because Ben Froehlich rode as our friend and confidant, but more importantly our manager.  He offered us invaluable knowledge for weeks, if not years, to come.

2.)The day we heard that Misra Records wanted to sign us.  Disbelief and jubilation followed.  All of a sudden we all started listening to bands on Misra's label.

3.)  Playing CMJ in October of '07.  

4.)  Covering "Margaritaville" on August 17, 2007 at the Union Bar and Grille in Athens, Ohio.

5.)  Playing "Please Come Home For Christmas" at a X-mas show at Donkey in December of '07.  Before the show I purchased 5 Santa hats for us all to wear.  I tried to get the sax solo down for that show as well.

6.) Dressing up in a tight black shirt, a black bandana, black pirate boots, and wearing fingerless gloves for a show at the Union with Southeast Engine back in the fall of '05.

I am sure there are tons more memories but for now,

7.  The CD release show for A Wheel Within a Wheel. 

*****Sleepers*****

This ended up being used for a story in the AthensNews to show how exhausted the band was.

*****Leo means business*****
This is also one of my favorite memories -- we all took dopey photos of each other holding up this giant lollipop I bought from a Cracker Barrel in Texas.  

*****Give me back my milk money!*****

*****It's not fair!*****

*****South by Southwest (band photo in front of a brickwall)*****
These were our official band photos for South by Southwest.  I thought it was funny that they were both in front of a brick wall.  

*****SXSW II (band photo in front of a brick wall II)*****
This was outside of the Victory Grille (I think) in Austin.  I was trying to look like Dustin Diamond from Saved by the Bell.

*****The Human Cannonball*****

Jessie released his record The Human Cannonball when we got back home from South by Southwest.  He is such a great musician and a wonderful human being.  

*****Poor Bastard*****

This has nothing to do with the band but I feel for this dog.  It appears that he had some sort of treatment for his tail.  We saw him on our walk back to the house we were staying at in Austin.