Not Drugs – Art, Graffiti, Music and Culture for the Almost Grown-Up

Week 9 (August 2nd – August 8th)
M run 8.5, T workout (5x1K on the track) 7.5, W run 10, Th run 7, F run 7, Sa run 4/RACE 4 with 2 mile warm up and down, Su run 13
Run 65 Miles

Full Moon Four Miler:

8th place 22:05 (5:31 pace)

Sloppy hand writing led to a murdering of my personal info.

Which one is the Shea?

Kinda TSOed (took shit out) I guess; that was pretty stupid when I think back on it.  Hadn’t raced seriously in well over year and I’m leading through the mile, probably should have sat back on shit.  I remember being out in 5:15, then maybe 16:14, which would mean I closed in 5:50ish, probably pretty accurate. That’s tough.  Ah welp, lessoned learned for a month from now.  There were hot air balloons doing their thing around the course which was definitely an original touch, but other than that the course wasn’t too exciting.  One stretch felt eerily similar to roads I’ve run on in New Jersey:  cookie cutter white house, wide neighborhood road without any hills or even trees on the horizons; just like the shore, sans the seagulls and indelible stench of salt and garbage.  I didn’t stick around for any awards (got 2^nd, well really third but they don’t count the winner, in my age group).  Got my free beer (very pleased they had more than just miller light), watermelon and chex mix, and bounced because the mosquitoes where swarming.

Even Obama hates flies.

I have been deluged by more bugs this summer than any before in my life.  Mind you, I spent numerous summers running around outside all days at various camps, so I’ve experienced my fair share of incestuous abuse.  After every run I look like Gary Busey painted me with a black brush.  Anytime I stop, pint sized blood suckers flock.  Shit, they have bitten my ass through my shorts.  There have been runs when giant flies bash into the back of my head for a quarter mile straight.  I have no idea why these flies do this, its not a way of protecting their territory, I’m ‘running away’ the whole time!  When they finally cease this futile activity they are at least a quarter mile from where they started.  I don’t know much about bugs, but I’d imagine a quarter miles worth of flying, let alone the persistent attacks on my skull, is enough for a life time.  So that’s probably why they stop bothering me, they died.  Now, I cant go freaking out and try to swat at all these bugs, I usually run on the side of the road.  Doing this on the shoulder could garner some unwanted attention and some driver might think it best to remove some lanky shirtless kid spazzing on the side of the road from this earth.  I know if I was trucking along at 50mph and saw me flailing about on some county road, I’d think about ending my misery.  So I just run, and wipe and itch away when I’m finished, and bitch to you about it all.  Thanks for listening, it means a lot.

Hopefully TShea beats her.

This is the last entry coming to you from Wisconsin.  I’ll keep updating on the running and my travels leading up to Labor Day Weekend.  Hmm… I’ll have to consider a title change, because a Dairyland Memoir cannot be written on the East Coast.

TShea

Week 8 (July 26th – August 1st)
M run 7, T run 11.5, W workout (tempo on roads) 8, Th run 9.5, F drunk 0, Sa run 10, Su run 4/workout 8
Run 58

As some of you might have already assumed, the tour of Southeastern Wisconsin fell through.  Funds are running low and a drive across 7 states to Boston is looming.  As a result of this personal financial crisis, life has been uneventful.  Last weekends highlight was marked by sneaking a twelve pack into the hospital and downing 10 local brews while listening to my vinyls.  Unfortunately, my needle was starting to wear about 6 months ago and the vocals all sounded a bit off, hissy if I may, but after beer five or 6 that didn’t really concern me.

This one's for the GF.

Now needing a new needle is surely a bummer, but also an accomplishment.  This lets me know I have been putting this 3 year old Christmas present of a turntable to good use.  It’s a similar feeling to needing running shoes without the leg pain.  It sucks that you gotta dump 60 to 120 bucks into footwear but after logging about 500 miles in one set of kicks, you certainly feel you earned it.  I scored a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10s a few weeks back for a great price thanks to Letham’s high stature at Jack Rabbit Sports, and shit they have been doing me well.  Not Benny ‘The Jet’ Rodriguez well, but hopefully they will come close on Saturday night.  The Full Moon Four Miler will be my first road race since two Thanksgivings ago.  It’ll also be my first night race, as the start is slated for 8:30pm.  I mean, I have raced at night before at the Penn Relays, but that was a debacle that saw me never officially race, as I ran in the wrong heat…still, I count it (running on that ten lane track was a life goal since fourth grade).

And now for something completely different…

This one's for all the ladies.

This morning, like every morning without the World Cup or the Tour of France (that’s American for Le Tour), I turned on Sportscenter as soon as I turned off my alarm.  I saw this. I was amped and this exchange between Winn, an upcoming member of the media/marketing world, and I, a young health care provider, ensued via text messages during the first few hours of our respective work days

Me: Kenny Powers KSwiss commercial.  On the come back.

Him: Yes. Did you make that endless summer mix?

Me: Ya, thoughts?

Him: I found it about 30 minutes ago. I showed up 15 minutes late to work. Boston is playing a free show tonight on the Hudson. Hammered. I’ll have a full report later.

I know its not the type of exchange that sitcoms are made of…but think, we are the future of this bold land and this is where our heads are at.  To that I say: “Hammered. I’ll have a full report later”.

I’ll finish off with giving you some free music….LEGALLY!!!!

J Dilla – Donut Shop EP

Curt@!n$ – The Dissertation: The Wu-Thesis

Wale – More About Nothing

TShea

Week 6 (July 10 – July 17) and 7 (July 18 – July 25)
#6: M run 10, T workout 9, W run 8, Th 10 run, F workout 8, Sa bike 64, Su run 5
Run 50 Miles Bike 64 Miles
#7: M run 9, T workout (repeats on track) 8, W run 9, Th 0, F run 10, Sa bike 20/run 7, Su workout (tempo on road) 10
Run 53mi Bike 20mi

Unfortunately, my absence last week did not mean I was off doing something awesome. Instead,  I went into town to a local bike factory to join in on a metric century ride last Saturday morning and it wiped me out for the whole weekend.  In my defense, it was my longest bike ride by about 20 miles and was around 90 degrees without a cloud in the sky. But now I’m back, but without too much to offer compared to my trip to Milwaukee (I failed to really explore the Dairyland anymore, sorry).  Funds are low and a trip to Madison next weekend is likely, so I’m prepping to hit it hard out there.  It could be my last Hoo–Rah before I leave the flat lands of Southeastern Wisconsin in three weeks for the cities of Rochester, Boston and the Illadelph (I may make a few other stops before school kicks back up too).  To make up for my missed deadline,  I give you this TShea AKA 6ft Unda’s Endless Mix 4 an Endless Summer (just right click and save as…don’t know what you mac-ies have to do) The wonders of Dropbox.

Dilla. Dilla. Mix. Mix. Mix.

As for right now, things are docile and good.  I just copped over a gig of Jay Dee and am trying to listen to as many of his (I wont even attempt to sum up this much Dilla with one word, I’ll just use this parenthesized fragment to communicate its awesomeness) beats before this bottle slips me into yet another sweaty slumber.  I’m also exercising my brain by watching Jackass Vol. 2 on mute…..but that’s about as much exercise as I was doing before my Dairyland Training. Let’s see what else basic hospital cable offers on a Saturday night.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – If I wasn’t reading the book this would have been a lock.

Adult Swim is a letdown; some anime show with disembodied talking dogheads.

This dude needs some PT.

E!, MTV, VH1, Spike offer their typical garbage.
Bravo – House.

Well, Bravo. We have a winner.

I don’t know why I have found myself watching so many medical dramas this summer, it might have to do with living in a hospital.  Shows like House, Royal Pains and Scrubs (this one’s more of a comedy, whatever) have been making me put down the remote more often than the other shit on TV.  On my drive out here I was hoping to frequently experience the irony of watching That 70’s Show while actually in Wisconsin, but it’s not on nearly as much as I would have hoped.  You’d think the local stations would dedicate their late night time slots to shows repping the Dairyland like the aforementioned That 70’s Show and Happy Days (Oh you didn’t know Happy Days was based in Milwaukee, neither did I till I got here, and boy, are the locals quick to tell you about the Bronze Fonz).  I wonder if Kelso will ever be immortalized on the western shores of Lake Michigan.  Unlikely, considering hitting the jukebox and riding a motorcycle is much more accepted by the these cow loving conservative than ripping a bong and driving a VW bus.

This is a bit rough when room temperature is like 80…

Today was my first ever brick.  Yea I don’t have any idea why a bike ride and a run in the same day is called a brick, Letham says it’s a triathlon thing, I believe him, but I don’t want to.  I tried to come up with my own term by combining the words but ruke, rike, bun and bin don’t really work and aren’t terms commonly used in drug dealing.

TShea as a drug dealer.

I love drug dealing.  For a while now I have fantasized about dealing drugs in a big way.  It’ll never happen though, the girlfriend would never approve, ‘nuff said.  Seriously though, The Wire, Weeds (before the whole Mexican theme started), American Gangster, Half Baked, The Wu-Tang Clan and all their solo productions will always be favorites of mine.  If I ever was a drug dealer, I wouldn’t be dealing with the hard shit you know, I don’t aspire to be a Toni Montana or a Marlo Stanfield, but that guy James Franco plays in Pineapple Express seems like a decent guy to be.  He’s not killing any one with his product, if you asked his ‘customers’ I bet you they’d say he does them a service or even a favor by conveniently providing such a wide selection of HIGH quality products.  I wouldn’t use as much as he does, but he still keeps it together to take care of grandma, so he’s still a good guy.  I would dabble in psychedelics a bit as well, Tom Wolfe make them sound so fun.  Which brings us to Ken Kesey and back to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the book this time though, which is more enticing then another muted House. That means I’m down here as well. Until next week.

Dilla will stay though, Dilla will always stay, Dilla Lives Forever.

TShea

So, as you can tell, here at Not Drugs, things have been slow, publically.

What that means is that even though we aren’t posting, pretty much, at all, we are still working to revamp Not Drugs to become more suitable for what we want, and for what we think you want.

From now until mid to late August, Not Drugs will be posting pretty infrequently, because we’re working to modify ourselves and solidify ourselves for what we really want Not Drugs to be.

We thank you for your patience, and we hope that you can stick by us during this short period of time.

Come the Re-Up…you won’t regret it.

Week 5 (July 4th – July 11th)
M run 9, T run 8, W bike 19.3, Th run 9, F run 9, Sa run 5.5, Su bike 43.1
Run 40.5mi Bike 62.4mi

After a soggy ass bike ride yesterday evening I was pretty wiped, too wiped to throw together the 5^th installment of my Memoirs.  Now I am throwing this piece down while watching the best show on television, No Reservations.

Delicious.

There was a Marathon of this show 4^th of july weekend leading up the season premier, and it carried me threw my hangover.  Now Anthony Bordain is not a guy I think I would want to hang out with, because I think he seems like a pretentious hipster who would, despite giving up half a foot to me, look down at me for the entire interaction.

But damn, he can sell a city.

He could go to a moldy basement of a pet store at the Jersey Shore and if some banging hoagies are served there, he’ll have me seeing if I can get there the next time I’m home to the Philly ‘Burbs.  What’s giving him this undeniable pitchman characteristic is how he seems to just travel somewhere on his own and enjoy it.  Yeah, he has his chef friends walking him through cities and a production team researching and setting up his stops, but it makes me feel like everywhere on the earth has something worth seeing, Southeastern Wisconsin included.

I’ve been out here 6 weeks and other than a solo bender in Madsion, I only saw Wisconsin through bike rides past farms and chasing a balloon.  I was selling America’s Dairyland, and myself, short.  I figured I had 6 more weeks to try and enjoy my stay rather than blindly complaining about it.

After a week of very sweaty runs that left my shoes soaked and disgusting every night, topped by a Friday workout that kicked my ass so hard, I have to write this standing. I needed to reward the body.

“This episode is taking me to Milwaukee.”

Damn….ah welp, that was a bit of a disappointment, Tony. Anyway, I made two stops on Saturday (I had four planned but a late start and an impending thunderstorm hindered my ambition).  The art museum on Lake Michigan and a Brewers game, were scratched, but The Miller Brewery wasn’t. It probably should’ve been.

TShea's Brewery Tour Guide.

I have been on a few brewery tours, all of them smaller breweries that made up for their size with great beer and a plentiful of free samples.  The Miller Brewery did the exact opposite.  It Pushed me through a factory, a warehouse, showed me two movies and gave me three 8oz samples.  One of the samples, though, was pretty good. They called it Batch 19.  No idea if Miller brews it, but its only available at a few location in Milwaukee.  Its a  ‘pre-prohibition’ recipe (on second thought, this sounds way too American grassroots for a company once owned by some South Africans).  Anyways, just like the answer I got to my question: “why use rice, corn and oats instead of all barley, which gives the beer a ‘crisper’ taste”… this experience left a lot to be desired.  My next stop certainly made up for it.

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Maxies (take a tour of the site before you read further).

Milwaukee and Ithaca?  Are you serious?  Some dude thought that those two cities were the two places he wanted to open his Cajun restaurants?  Since I’ve frequented the latter, better visit the former.  I had a hell of a time: a dozen oysters, a heaping pulled pork sandwich, cole saw, baked pork and beans, and yellow grits with a gravy that should be on everything served in the joint.  Oh, and two 22oz of some local brews (it was happy hour), another Spotted Cow and a Lakefront IPA.  Like I said, a hell of a time.  Since I was sitting at the bar (my father tells me the only way to go out to dinner on your own is at the bar or with a book) I did my best to chum it up with the bar tender.  I, of course complimented him on the food, realized he’s not the cook, and complimented him on the beer.  I’m not a creative chum-er I guess.  I was especially impressed with the Lakefront IPA, so he tells me their brewery tour is the only one he’s been on where they give you beer before and after the tour.  Damn, did I pick the wrong brewery or what?

As I finished up, the barkeep re-stressed how the Lakefront tour is a must and gave me a few other of his must sees in the city.  In return for his enjoyable meal and bits of local knowledge, I gave him my copy of ‘How I Got Over’ (no, not instead of the tip, although it is that damn good).

This probably means nothing. Ah Welp.

On the drive back I decided to check a local bar out, and maybe collect some more info on what it is that a real Wisconsin-er is.  I mostly talked to them about Harleys and cheese, but did get a few beers for free (glad I adlibbed).  I also found out the Brewers Stadium does this, and that a T-Strom wouldn’t have affected the game at all.

This was my first try at giving Southeastern Wisconsin my best ‘No Reservation’ analysis, and I could have done better, but it was good to get out see if I was missing anything.  And yes, yes I was, and I hope to find out more in these next few weeks.  I’ll probably make it back to Milwaukee again, but look for Green Bay and Madison to play host to future weeks’ highlights.

I’ll close with a bit more on the re-fitnessing (cause I know that’s why you all are tuning in each week).  40 miles on 5 runs is pretty damn solid, I think, especially considering I was at 0 miles in 7 days a few weeks ago.  With how good I felt on today’s ten miler, my private coach laying out some ball busting workouts, and my previously mentioned mastery of the alumni race course…I’m really starting to believe I’ll have my readers rejoicing Labor Day weekend, celebrating a comeback of Philadelphia proportions from mile 1 to the finish line, just behind a kick wall at the end of the Terrace parking lot.

Moooooooooo.

This is technology at its finest. Walk with me through this, because it’s a little hard to explain. I’m gonna do my best, but at the end, you’re gonna go to dropbox.com, download the software, and your life will be changed. Pinky swear.

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So imagine this. I have a folder of files on my computer (for clarity sake, this folder will be The Roots’ new album How I Got Over). How I Got Over, usually, would be a bitch to give someone, intangibly. What I would have to do is compress the folder, upload it to a filesharing website, wait 40 minutes, send it to someone, then they would click on the download button, wait 40 minutes, and then they’d have it on their computer. That process sucks; a lot of waiting with a large amount of errors bound to happen.

Now, take How I Got Over, and instead of going through that same tedious process, full of waiting and fuck ups, you put it into another folder that’s located conveniently on your desktop , wait a minute or two at most, and now you can share The Roots’ new album with anyone else, in the world.

That was really vague, right? You want to know more? Sure thing.

It’s called dropbox. It’s a filesharing system without the need to go through websites or massive upload times, or anything that sucks. You download the application, and place this folder called dropbox right onto your desktop. Inside this folder, are a bunch of other folders. For the most part, all those other things in there are examples of what you can do, and instructions on how to do shit. I’m what those files are for you, but cooler and have a more free use of language. You can pretty much delete everything in the drop box folder, and start fresh (’cause you’ll need all the memory you can salvage). When you’re ready with your blank canvas of a folder, you can start creating new folders. For this, you want to go to your dropbox account via a web browser, because it’s easier.

When you’re there, click on the sharing tab, then click on share a folder. You can share an existing folder (if you’ve already created folders before) or share a new one that you can create right there. With whatever option you choose, after that, you’ll need to type in an email address of another person who also is apart of dropbox, and the invitation will be sent. Once the other person has accepted, you have the ability to, literally, place anything on your computer into that folder you are sharing (it’s located within the dropbox folder). F’n brilliant, right? I know.

You’ve got some limits, though. The free account allows you to use up to 2gb of space. It’s not a whole lot to work with, but there are ways to gain more space. One thing that’s actually a pretty big part of this program is inviting others to join dropbox. With each email address you refer to use dropbox (and they accept) you receive 250mb of space added to your all ready existing space. I have created a dropbox community within the store I work out. I have invited about 7 or 8 coworkers who love it, and I have separate folders for each of them. For the most part, I’ve been sharing music, but I’ve also started sharing pictures, and word documents, and so on, and so on (one key aspect, before you put the item you want to share in the shared folder, you duplicate or copy it, or else you may lose it when your friend takes it from the shared folder…I’ve made that mistake before, just passing along the tidbit).

So here’s the link to your future. Jump on this quickly, and get your friends involved to. It’s literally changed the lives of everyone that I’ve gotten involved with it. Join the pool party now, cause it’s f’n hot right now.

Dwb.

First thing’s first, there will be no playlist this month. I’m sorry to announce that, but it has to happen. The main reason? I don’t wanna force it. There’s been a few really good albums as of late, but not nearly enough good songs for me to put together something solid for you to grab. I apologize for that. But this should be the first, and last time, that I can’t get something out to you per month for you to enjoy. So, again, sorry for the lack of mixtape, but here’s something to make up for it.

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Solid #2

Remember when I said that I knew the new Roots album was gonna be the best album of the year? Well, I still stand by it, I still believe it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time. I just didn’t know another album would come along so quickly and try and duel it to the death. Big Boi (one half of the ATL’d duo called Outkast) took it to the limit with The Roots, and even though I believe The Roots came out on top, Big Boi did not disappoint. There’s been hype for his album, Sir Luscoius Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, for like 47 years (maybe more like like 3) but all that hype around it only spoke the truth. The beats are astronomical, the Boi’s flow is straight unparalleled, and even the guest stars that I kinda detest made themselves bearable to listen to (almost) because of Big Boi’s direction. So, we’re gonna jump right into this album, no intro, just straight banger. Here’s “Daddy Fat Sax” to get your tummy tickled on what to expect:

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It may look like this, minus the hair. All of the hair.

So yeah, that’s the second track on the album. Nuts. And it doesn’t really stop. Big Boi co-produced every song, made sure that each track was well suited for his album, and just put out the most eclectic sounding pieces of tuneage my ears could ever handle. And if you were waiting for some bangers, oh man, is this the album for you. Big Boi throws down some heavy bass tracks, but he doesn’t overdo it, or you. There’s this face that Winn does that is the complete personification of the bass I’m talking about – the upper lip lifts a little bit, it looks like he caught a wiff of something curious, and the head starts to nod hard, but as if in slow-motion. It’s an incredible look that Winn gives, and that’s the sound Big Boi creates.

And speaking of head nod, all head’s should nod with this next track. And here’s a brief intro to the song from TShea and I via gchat…

Tim: ah man when shine blockas drops in…..
gold
me: agree

Killa, with a hard ‘ill’:

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Shine Blockas, Big Boi, Gucci Mane, Bun B, Project Pat

And that’s a Bun B remix (can’t go a day without that man’s voice in my life). The amount of southern flare on this album has Robert E. Lee giddy in his grave. And I dislike southern rap, kinda don’t like 75% of the guests on the album individually, but everything works, for the most part.

<3 The Bun

The reason why I can’t put this on the same platform as The Roots is because there are too many tracks on the album, and not all of them are that good. There’s three tracks I want to skip each time I go through the album, I won’t tell you which ones or go into depth on why, because I don’t wanna put a bad taste in anyone’s mouth while listening to them (I did to TShea, he now has a bad taste for one track that he used to love). In How I Got Over, there’s not one track I want to skip or need to skip; it’s actually the opposite. I can’t play any song from the album but the first one, and then listen to the entire album straight through, because I can’t throw that beautifully structured sequence out of order. Big Boi has some incredible songs, The Roots had an amazing album. That’s the difference.

But not to deviate from this post about Big Boi’s victory… the album is, indeed, really, really delicious (and the skits, oh man, best skits since Wyclef Jean’s The Carnival). I even made the GF go through a vigorous rating poll on various tracks on Sir Luscious Left Foot while traveling home from a nice night of numerous Goose Islands. I obviously am not 100% sure these ratings are true (my memory is slightly fuzzy) but this is how I remember them (by the way, ratings = thumbs up, down, wavering inbetween):

“Daddy Fat Sax” – easy thumbs up.
“Follow Us” feat. Vonnegutt - leaning towards the upper, rather than lower.
“Shutterbug” feat. Cutty – she knows/loves this song, up up up.
“General Patton” – big ups.
‘Tangerine’” feat. T.I. & Khujo Goodie – I don’t think she was pleased. I like it. We’ll call it even.
“You Ain’t No DJ” feat. Yelawolf - TShea likes it, The GF and I don’t. Down.
“Fo Yo Sorrows” feat. George Clinton, Too Short, Sam Chris - Nobody could say no. The GF couldn’t either. Up.
“Night Night” feat. B.o.B., Joi - Another inbetweener. In my haze, I say she ‘upped’ it.
“Shine Blockas” feat. Gucci Mane – I remember being angry when she thumb downed this one. Everyone makes mistakes.

So even The GF believes it’s a great album; much more ups than downs, but some inbetweens/downs nonetheless. I’m gonna leave you with my favorite song from the album, “Night, Night”. And make sure you listen to Big Boi after his first verse. Awesome.

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Yeah,
yeah this is where the second verse is s’posed ta go
I don’t even think I need to hit y’all with anotha verse though, but I…
I think I just might because I…I like to destroy shit.

Dwb.

Week 4 (June 28 – July 4th)
M bike 28.5, T run 5.3, W run (workout) 8.3, Th run 7, F run 6.5, Sa run 9, Su 0
Run 36.1 miles Bike 28.5 miles

Being drunk in a hospital is certainly not Not Drugs, but writing about it for your enjoyment… Not Drugs to a ‘t‘.

Rabid or drunk?

So yea, I’m drunk in a hospital.  Some have argued that a hospital is the best place to be drunk.  Nurses push you around on a bed and you get hooked to IVs and you never suffer a hangover.  Still waiting on the nurses and the rolling bed…the hangover looks inevitable, especially after the run I had earlier this evening.  Speaking of which, I should probably stop running around sunset; I saw a skunk on Friday and a family of raccoons on Saturday during my runs.  Either they are rabid or I’m running too late, I think it’s the latter, but the threats of rabies and inescapable stenches add excitement to Wisconsin living.

This week, Wisconsin Week 6, my half way point, was the best so far.  On Tuesday, I assisted a coworker in her education on how to lift a giant wicker basket 700ft in the air with just hot air (sans a politician… HOOOOOO!!!).  Seriously though, crewing (that’s what balloon pilots call helping) a hot air balloon flight was much more mind blowing than I expected.  Keep in mind, as I’m sure you are, I’m in Wisconsin.  I helped put the balloon together, fill it with hot air and pack the whole show up when it had landed on the side of a state highway.  My coworker/pilot was able to land her craft between a high traffic road and a budding cornfield.  Feeling the pressures of paying back the farmer for lost crops and certain death via a Harley gang rumbling on through, she performed and squeezed her craft into a space the size of a 10ft x10ft postage stamp.  Great and successful time had by all.

Hot Air via TShea.

Wednesday was the first workout in over a year.  The urge to vomit came over me more times than I can recall, but I pulled through.  It consisted of a 2mile warm up, then 4 miles or 25 minutes of 2 minutes ‘off’ and 3 minutes ‘on’, and a 2 mile cool down.  Some of you, well most of you, probably, don’t really understand what all that means, I’ll do my best to put it all into NotDrugs terms.  This workout’s purpose was to improve my capacity for running at a faster, more race similar, pace.  To improve my tolerance.  What else do people my age associate with tolerance….

Every run can be likened to a Saturday night.  So all those runs before, just straight miles at a comfortable pace, were like casually drinking beers.  I can keep doing that and my tolerance will improve, but to speed up the process, I really have to push myself closer to my limits.  I have to bring some harder stuff into the mix.  Yep, workouts are the equivalent to a night of ripping shots or a string of single malts on the rocks.  Those types of nights are impressively effective at boosting your tolerance but are awfully taxing and just dangerous on a continual basis, so workouts every day will just burn me out.  Now the workout I did on Wednesday wasn’t a buy-yourself-a-liter-for-your-friend’s-house-party type of run.  It was a steady flow of American lagers with 5 stiff shots mixed in type of run, a gentle reintroduction to the lifestyle that I loved for 8 years.

R.I.P.

Well I did better than I expected actually, in both comparing my training to heavy partying and in the workout itself.  The success of the workout made the comeback seem a little more tangible.  I’m either on pace for the greatest comeback the blogosphere has ever seen or setting myself up for an epic fail only rivaled by this.  At the end of the run I saw some figure parachuting down to the Wisconsin soil continuing the aerial exploits theme.  The Roots in concert on Thursday made it three days straight days of above the clouds experiences.

My first hangover in over a month will certainly damper my Independence Day but I figure I can pull it together in time for the fireworks.  I don’t think fireworks will ever get old for me, and that makes me feel very American.

Oh and the World Cup, I almost forgot.

Uruguay over The Netherlands.  No team seems to have luck going for them more than Uruguay

Germany over Spain.  If Uruguay has the luck, Germany just has IT going for them.  I’m not sure what IT is, but IT will not only carry Germany to the finals but also to the first European victory of European soil in the World Cup.

Moo.

Dairyland Memoirs; Week 3 (June 21st – June 27th)
M 0, T run 6mi maybe, W run 7.7mi, Th run 5.5mi, F bike 30.5mi, Sa run 6.3, Su run 8
Run 33.5 miles Bike 30.5 miles

So many kicks, so few feet.

I am in the midst of a ‘Summer of ‘09’ throw back sans the gin and friends.  Basically, I’m listening to Wale’s Back to the Feature mixtape, alone and sober on a Saturday night.  This tape was my jam last summer, whether I was painting houses, driving the functioning Red Chariot or Chillin’, the speakers were filled with Wale.  Not just his music, but also his name, Wale!! He says his name an awful lot on all his stuff.  It might be a strategy of his so people know how to pronounce his name correctly. I mean, understandably, it’s not as obvious as Jay-Z or Dr. Dre.  There are no large sea mammals or Pixar movie names spelled similarly to their names.

But anyway, the comeback is officially on. I cracked 30 miles this week, and I’m feeling pretty good.  Unfortunately, as my legs get better at transporting me, my truck gets worse. I had to take it in to get the brakes fixed, but none the less, Wisconsin Week 5 was a good one.

Not the BK, but it could be?

It started with a tornado warning (I said fun?), which required me to cram into a hallway with a bunch of kids that also live in the hospital, for about an hour, while the storm blew through.  No one was harmed.  A couple of houses in the area were hit hard, but as far as I know, no one is lost in Oz.  There have been a few wild storms the past few weeks; all this heavy rain might explain why the grass is so green here.  While my parents were visiting, my dad was legitimately impressed with how nice the lawns out here are.  On Tuesday, I figured I should try running on this wonderful grass (hmmm… all this talk about grass, I should probably towel the door).

The University of Wisconsin Park Side cross country course is the site of the biggest high school race in the Midwest and also plays host to numerous collegiate races.  The day I ran on it, I was the only one out there.  Granted the sun was setting towards the end of the run (awesome) so most people had probably called it a day, but this was the first time I had been on a xc course completely alone.  I had looked at the course map beforehand so I would know how to run the 10k (6.2mile) course, and there were also markers along the way directing me where and when to turn. Despite these I still effed it up, hence me not knowing how long I actually ran.  Not having a watch doesn’t help either.

100% Not the Course.

Running around on the course brought back a lot of memories.  It was my first time running on a course since last year’s Alumni Race on Labor Day weekend, but that barely counts.  XC used to be my #1 life priority for half the year.  Every day during the summer and fall revolved around when I was running, now cross country is nothing but the topic of nostalgic thinking.  That’s almost growing up for you. Ah welp, I’ll be heading back to the course a few more times this summer, mostly for workouts provided by my private coach. I thought the first few runs of this re-fitnessing were hell,  the first few workouts will probably feel 1100X worse, kinda like how New Jersey feels all the time, I guess.

FDA Approved.

The rest of the week’s exercising was much less mentally stimulating and issue free for the most part. Which was great because it allowed me to focus on something that was missig from my life, that I didn’t even know was missing until Thursday night rolled around. It was Slop Night.  If you don’t know about Slop Night, then you have been robbed of a collegiate experience as integral as the Wednesday bar specials.  For you unfortunate souls, Slop Night is when its nachos for dinner; you then throw the chips at the bottom of a bowl and then smoother them with the colorful flavors of beef, beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa and a dollop of sour cream. It’s Best enjoyed inebriated, on a Tuesday, around 11:05pm and self served.  Like I said, Thursday was Slop Night, and the hospital cafeteria had all the appropriate amenities (bonus jalapeños…I paid for those later).  The weekend, then, was pleasantly uneventful, other than the truck breaking again and the World Cup.

The USA, like I said last week, were not good enough.  Played hard, showed well and were the subject of ESPN’s demonstration of awesome power.  There was more of a World Cup following this year by Americans because ESPN bumped SportSCenter to The Deuce, and showed soccer on The ESPN in the morning.  Hype leading up to the England match didn’t hurt.

Uruguay looks strong and should be thinking beyond a semifinals birth.  Ghana is the last hope for not just the host nation, but the entire host continent.  As far as how the other games from Sunday on go, read on…

Argentina v Mexico:  A Grizzly Maradona coaching on the sidelines is more entertaining than some teams play on the field.

England v Germany:  Does every game England play seem to be against a country they once warred with?  They lose this rematch.

Netherlands v Slovakia:  With how bright the Dutch jerseys are, they must be the geriatric favorite.  The old remain happy.

Brazil v Chile:  The Brazilians aren’t as flashy they used to be, their continued dominance is less enjoyable.

Paraguay v Japan:  No clue.

Spain v Portugal:  How do you say ‘Border Battle’ in Spanish?

Enjoy the NBA free agency shit-show starting Thursday.

Moo.

My ‘How I Got Over’ review: It. Doesn’t. Stop.

Those were my words to TShea after the first time I listened to The Roots’ new album, How I Got Over. And, literally, it’s all you need. There’s 14 tracks, which includes 3 tracks of instrumentals/interludes and 1 bonus song, and every track is mixed so f’n well that there’s no one moment where you can pause the album to be like “okay, lemme deviate from this for a second so I can do something so much less important then listening to this album, and then I’m jump back in seemlessly”. No. It can’t happen. This happens to me a lot when I watch Criminal Minds on A&E. There’s always 5 or 6 episodes in a row, but they link each episode so that when the episode ends, the credits roll, and instantly the next episode is already beginning in a picture-in-picture type deal, and then you’re stuck for another hour (which is never really a bad thing). Everytime you start this album, you need to listen to it in it’s entirety, or it feels like you just dropped your grandmother’s china and it crashed into a million pieces…yeah, don’t do it.

The key factor in…wait…hold on…”The Fire” just came on. This song needs to be listened to and listened to only; you’re never allowed to multitask during this song. While I listen, you can too, and we’ll reconvene when it’s over:

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Okay, let’s get back to this…The key factor to this album being as filthy as it is, is the pin-point production. Every sound, every strum, every drum beat is on point. It’s on point, to the point, where I don’t need to make another point. Enough points? Here’s some more. The transitions between each track are really what grabbed me. The Roots use something I think every artist should, a continuous stream of music that connects a variety of songs that aren’t all the same. There’s no fade outs, no filler (not even for a second, no filler, nothing), everything on this album is worth listening to.

And with that, it’s actually hard for me to post any more songs, because it’s not really each song that gets me, it’s every song, in such an order, in such a way, that floors me. As TShea said in his Dairyland post, you need to get this album, some how, some way, because it’s too worth it. Literally, the amount of money you spend on it is fractions of a penny compared to what kind of music you’re getting.

And one last thing, as for all my predictions about what albums and what artists were going to make a mark this year, this was by far my most underestimated prediction. No matter what else comes out this year, this album will be album of the year. There may be better songs that come out on real solid albums, but my prediction, this album will be number one on my countdown in December. It’s hard for me to even grasp something better then what I’ve listened to ten times over already.

(And just a side note, throughout this entire post, and how much praise I give this album, I didn’t even mention that, probably, the best rapper in the game right now – Blu – is featured on two tracks and he has one of the best verses on the entire album in “Radio Daze”. Yeah, this album is that good).

Don’t fail me now.

Dwb.