Mr. Cancun

You may or may not know, but I am currently in Cancun, Mexico. My mom like a month before today decided she “wanted a vacation god damnit” and my sister convinced her that Mexico was better than the south western United States. A few shady internet deals later, my mom had booked an all-inclusive vacation at the Club Solaris Royal in Cancun.

Let me take a time out and explain that this vacation is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. My family vacations when I was younger were long road trips to Yellowstone national park or a trip to see grandma and grandpa in Minneapolis or maybe even going up with family friends to their timeshare in Michigan. Never anything that really cost much money. My dad was (and is) famous for his… which word is more insulting; stingy or thrifty? But he’s not on this trip and my mom decided she needed “a real vacation.” Not that this vacation is costing much for her. $75 a person per a day. And that included all meals, drinks (we’ll get to this in a bit), some free tours, and all the facilities a Cancun resort would have. Oh but she does have to go to a 2 hour time share presentation.

And let me say… i only got here Monday morning, but its been kinda nice so far. And by kinda, I mean definitely. The food is good and abundant, the waves are humongous (and I was riding them in a way that both put the older buff bros on the beach to shame and in a way that would make A. Clark proud), and sun is out and the water is SO BLUE – like I’m talking picture perfect unreal blue. OP was fun last week, but I need the escape from everyone and everything.

But back to my shock. Because like I said, this is unreal and new to me. I don’t exactly feel comfortable here. And its taking away from the relaxation that this trip is supposed to be about. First off, I can’t even truly tell we are in Mexico. In the airport, most of the billboards had big English sentences and phrases. And everyone talks in English. My sister is getting so mad because she is trying to talk to them in Spanish (she’s fluent) and they just talk to her back in English. I feel like I hear more Spanish in the 110 when Tim and Alfredo are telling Nonberg that he eats dick (“come polla” for those who were wondering). Secondly, while the beach isn’t like MTv’s spring break, the rest of the hotel area is. I’m talking a Mr. Cancun contest, a swim up bar (which is AWESOME) and young sexy co-eds playing beach volleyball and drinking heavily and flexing their muscles or showing a lot of skin. So few of these people are college students though. Most of them are like 26-30 year olds. I heard one guy say he had been here for a week already and he had another two weeks until he headed back to the states… SOMEONE needs to grow up a bit… But maybe I’m just jealous that they are here with their friends and I’m here with the lady who birthed me and the girl who locked me in a closet when I cut her Barbie’s hair when we were younger. OH! But on the other hand, there are also a lot of young children too. And its really weird to see like kids playing volleyball in the pool so close to young adults who are downing margaritas and XXs.

Now to the alcohol: Its free and its always available. That being said, I have not gotten to slurring words level in my mother’s presence… yet. I still got 4 more days to go. So we'll see what happens.

God I could go on and on. For example, there are like free shows every night. And when I say show, I mean like Vegas shows. It’s trashy, cheesy and so touristy. I’ll have to post pictures, if possible. But a few images to help you understand and to sum it up: mariachis, a horny MC, a twelve year old girl (“the superstar of Mexico”) singing, refills of rum and coke, a tap dance solo that could only remind me of Butters from South Park, and a guy in an Aztec costume dancing in a not so Aztec manner…

Bottom line, this vacation has been a mix between honestly feeling uncomfortable with people who embrace and love the tourist/American in Cancun lifestyle and truly enjoying the 80 degree weather and lovely ocean and beach. In no way am I complaining. It’s just a new experience for me and I’m trying to relax and enjoy the ride.

I’ll keep the blogosphere updated with at least one more post. But to all of you in cooler climates, I’ll try to send some hot air your way. There’s a lot of it around this resort.

Thinking

So I was thinking again. Yes. Thinking. And I came up with this theory that actually isn't too crazy:

Hip-Hop is the modern form of Shakespearean wit.

By this I mean, Hip-Hop makes use of clever word play and rhyme to convey a message. While the message is not always profound, creative use of language is widely respected and adds to the meaning of the music. My most obvious example is, of course, "Yada Yada Yada" by Tech N9ne (and many of his other songs as well). The most respected rappers (artistically) are those who create sharp-witted rythmic rhyme, such as Mos Def, Black Thought (The Roots), Slug (Atmosphere), Tupac, and the Notorious B.I.G., to name a few.
So yeah, I was thinking about that earlier. Instead of packing.

Be Kind

Los Angeles is known for its drivers. Heck if you see me whizzing around Northfield you would wonder why I was driving so aggressively in a small Midwestern town. Anyway I was driving on the freeway where apparently 80 is the new 65, when a car cuts me off doing 50 when I am doing 70. On the back of this car is a bumper sticker that says "Be Kind". I thought to myself "This guy must have this sticker because he pisses so many people off driving like he does." I love LA dearly, just not the drivers.

The Saints take on Franken/Coleman

The Saint Paul Saints announced their latest promotion today, "Count Von Recount," a two-faced bobble-head doll with Coleman and Franken faces and the body of Sesame Street's the Count. This is why I love the Saints.



In case anyone else is wondering what is going on now in the recount, the Star Tribune reports today that the judges that saw the case brought by Coleman contesting the recount will make a decision soon and it will likely be appealed. So it remains to be seen which will be decided first, Minnesota's second Senator or the outcome the game, which, according to the Saints, will not be official until at least a couple weeks after the game is contested.

Album Review: Dr. Dog - Fate

I'm going to begin this post wondering why I am even beginning this post (does that make sense?), since I'd rather that nobody else knew about the indie music I am enjoying and about which I am planning to write.  Furthermore, I will respectfully request of all you loyal readers that you do not tell anyone about the indie music I am writing about, since I'd prefer to continue to listen to it, and if everybody knows about it it becomes uncool, I will be forced to delete it from my iTunes, and therefore will no longer be able to enjoy it (but I wouldn't enjoy it anyway, at that point, because it would be uncool).  

iTunes tells me that the genre of Dr. Dog's album entitled "Fate" is "indie".  I try not to pay too much attention to the genre of a specific group - I prefer to listen to music that I truly like.  However, as we all know, I'm a pretty indie guy so I think that the simple fact I am now listening to this "indie" album helps with the personal image that I am trying to project to the world.  I'll probably end up playing this album on my radio show, wearing my Waldo glasses everywhere, and feeling elite about this music (and other stuff that nobody else knows about).

I know that Dr. Dog came to Carleton during a previous spring concert, and to be quite honest, I don't really remember much of it at all.  In fact, when my friend mentioned Dr. Dog to me, I thought he was talking about a rap group.  Nobody knew about Dr. Dog, and maybe that was better for the few people who did know about Dr. Dog, because they were probably infinitely cooler when they were even more indie and nobody knew about them.

But, let me tell you, their album "Fate" is currently just about the only thing I'm listening to.  It's a really enjoyable album, and I would recommend it to anyone that has any interest in any type of music at all (but only if you can truly appreciate it, and if you won't tell anyone else so it stays cool).

The album starts with a delightfully mellow song "The Breeze", where Dr. Dog ponders the movement of time, asking the listener if we think we're moving too fast, or if we're stuck in time.  Then, Dr. Dog encourages us to make a snow angel and freeze.  Maybe that's the solution to controlling time.  Snow angels.  Finally, Dr. Dog gets quite deep and recognizes that, in the end, it's the breeze.  And the breeze, ahh, it will blow us all away.  This song ponders a lot; time, renewal, weather patterns, and eventually (I believe) death and the afterlife.  I see "the breeze" as a clear metaphor of somehow moving on.

In the second track on "Fate", called "Hang On", Dr. Dog grapples with some identity issues that he himself is feeling.  This is a common indie theme, but he examines it from a new perspective.  He tells us he is not a stranger, and that we both get it wrong.  It is unclear whether "we" refers to the listener and the Dr., or another unknown subject.  But after this, Dr. Dog explains that he needs his heart mended, but in doing so, he belittles his own profession by explaining that he "don't need no doctor to tear [him] all apart" but rather just needs "you, to mend his heart".  Again, who "you" is is rather unclear: listener? unknown subject?  It's up for interpretation.  Lastly, Dr. Dog once again weaves the subject of varying weather patterns into this track, mentioning how our unknown subject (or the listener, "you"?) thought that a hurricane was just the "rustling of the wind".  Maybe we need a now-discredited Dr. to examine "your" nervous system?  Are "you" feeling numb, and unable to differentiate between varying degrees of wind speed?

Perhaps the best song on the album is the third track, entitled (quite nostalgically), "The Old Days".  This song is catchy, has a lot of repetition, longs for the old days, and does not mention any weather patterns in the lyrics.  I find all of this rather refreshing, like a breeze or the rustling of the wind (but not a hurricane).  The Dr. gets rather prophetic in this song, telling us that "down down down, the moon's going to fall down, thump thump thump, the house is going to fall down", and therefore we must go "back back back, back to the old days".  Finally, as we go back to the old days, we must "wrap up the money, and save it for a sunny day day day".  We are strongly encouraged to both save money with an eye toward the future, but at the same time go back back back to the old days.  Once again, the theme of the speed of time, and even time-travel, is explored in this epic tune (and it's only the third track!).  There are 8 more!

As the album continues, Dr. Dog wrestles with a variety of themes, conquering them all in his own unique, doctorly way.  The sixth track, "The Ark" is evidence of a valiant attempt by Dr. Dog to tackle weather patterns (again!), war, love, religion, and human existence as a whole.  All of these themes are discussed with the back of a rather chill guitar riff that helps the listener to understand these heavy, heavy themes.  After explaining his how he built an ark and rain didn't come, how he built a gun but was unsure about war, how he tried to give more to his love but made her poor, he finally asks the question "what does it mean to be here?".  I can't answer that, but he repeatedly tries, telling us "well, I know, because I can and I will".  However inspiring this lyric is, it still doesn't really tell us what it means to "be here".  But maybe that implied uncertainty is the essence of what he's getting at.

The second-to-last track, "The Beach" discusses weather patterns (again!), alcoholism, fate, marijuana, and memories.  This is some heavy-hitting shit; the ominous and dark guitar that plays in the background as the Dr. examines these themes makes them seem ever more serious.  It works quite well.  With each successive verse, the Dr. explains a situation, such as running aground in a beach during a rainstorm as rain pours through the roof of a boat (how terrible), and then explains how "fate has a funny way of coming around".  It's all deep, as previously recognized, but the Dr. does a good job of linking the themes and creating a bold and profound, yet easily enjoyed, track.

Overall, the album exemplifies the versatility of both Dr. Dog, but also the indie genre as a whole.  I would highly recommend this album to anybody (but don't tell anybody else!).

Alright, I'm off to take photos of my feet and strum my guitar before I hop on my fixed-gear to go buy a new (old?) sweater at the vintage clothing store.

Sweet things you can do with a phone:

Ok,

So when my mom (yes she was helping me out) checked me in for my flight home she told me "Dave, I sent your boarding pass to your iphone." I paused for a moment and then checked my phone. The next thing I know i have a new email that says here is your northwest boarding pass. Sure enough, when I opened the email a bar code appeared and all the information a boarding pass has. There was no way this was going to pass for a boarding pass (tehe) or was it.....?

So I get to the airport with nothing but my phone. I get to the head of the security line and hand my license to the tsa lady. The next thing I told her was that my pass was on my phone. She said well go ahead and scan it the machine. She said she didn't know how to use it, but thankfully its just like a scanner in the grocery store. So I held my phone to this thing and the next thing you know I'm cleared through security.

When I get to the gate I did the same same thing and scanned the bar code on my phone screen. I just think its a cool way to use less paper and take advantage of the smart phones.

When I got to LA I used my phone to take a picture of the new A380 Airbus (The double decker one). Just another cool thing about modern phones, the camera!

Day 4 Nationals Video

Here is the video from Day 4 of nationals. Hope you enjoy it.

O-BA-MA on 60 minutes

Apparently it was all part of the CBS-Obama plan, but I got sucked into watching the Obama interview on 60 minutes after all of the NCAA tourney games. I don't know if anyone else saw it, but I thought Obama performed excellently. The link above has some excerpts and video; Politico also ran a pretty good article before it aired if that's too much.

I thought Obama's response to Cheney's critiques was excellent. Basically he just said that Guantanamo had done nothing to make us safer and that the Bush policies had damaged our place in the world, but delivered it convincingly with some good one liners.

I was a little less convinced that Obama has a solid plan to take on the economy and the whole AIG fiasco, but I think he was trying to connect to all of us "main-streeters" and show us that he understands how we feel about the economy and the Wall Street bonuses, which he did a pretty good job on. One thing he mentioned was that he had taken to reading ten of the thousands of letters that he recieved every day before going to bed each night, which does make it seem like he is at least trying to pay attention to us common folk.

It's interesting that this interview came out a day after Thomas Friedman blasted Obama's (and Congress's) handling of the AIG situation in his column. Friedman said that Obama should have gone on national TV for a fireside chat where he tells us:

exactly how deep the crisis we are in is, exactly how much sacrifice we’re all going to have to make to get out of it, and then calls on those A.I.G. brokers — and everyone else who, in our rush to heal our banking system, may have gotten bonuses they did not deserve — and tells them that their president is asking them to return their bonuses "for the sake of the country."

I think Obama took a step in that direction with his interview, but he is certainly capable (as he showed in the interview) of doing more to instill confidence in the American people. I think Friedman is right that Obama needs to be more of an inspirational style leader, after all, that is why he was elected.

Anyway, enough of my unsolicited political commentary. The U.S. is getting hammered in the WBC, I need to find something better to do.

nationals 2009

Well, nationals is over; it's finally time to relax, and blog about it. I'm spending the day sitting on the couch watching the basketball tournament, but I'll take some time to give an update on the last few days.

The swimming was incredibly fast, see the 18 out of 36 national records that were set at the meet. The tech suits definitely made a difference, if you need more proof see the Santa Cruz 400 freestyle relay, where they decided to wear speedos instead of their tech suits and added 6 seconds from prelims. However, everyone seemed to fare differently using the new suits. I swam my first three races with a Blueseventy, but decided that I wasn't comfortable in it and swam better in the Lzr legsuit, so I switched to that for the last three races. Westby also felt that the blueseventy wasn't working for him and wore a Lzr jammer for his breaststrokes. Some people certainly swam well and even set records in both blueseventies and lzrs, but it seemed like they worked differently for everyone. The whole suit aspect of swimming is getting pretty complicated and ridiculous if you ask me.

Anyway, on to the actual swimming. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out for me. I dropped a little off my 200 IM and 200 breast times from conference. I missed the top 8 in my 400 IM but was happy to come back and take ninth with a better swim at night. I ended up in 25th with 34 points.

The women had a very successful meet, finishing in 17th with 49 points, their strongest finish since the Marsman era ended in 2005. The highlight from the first day was the 200 medley relay which finished 13th. The time was second in Carleton history only to their conference time. The highlight on the second day was Maggie's 200 freestyle. After a great swim in the morning she dropped another eight tenths at night to win the consolation final out of lane one in maybe the most exciting race for Carleton of the weekend. On the third day Kate just missed the top sixteen in her hundred breast but posted her best time ever which was just 0.45 seconds off the school record. On the final day, Kale took the school record in the 200 backstroke back away from Maggie finishing seventh for her first All-American citation, her final swim was the 4th time that record has been set this year.

The other non-swimming highlights included the CBS man stalking the Alexander's all weekend, the senior gifts of ten dollar chocolate bunnies (way better than flowers), the Haucks getting coaches of the meet and the Oles getting what appeared to be a mini-fridge for taking fourth, and dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar, which apparently turns into a salsa dancing club after 11 on Saturdays.

Thank you to everyone who was there cheering and timing and to everyone who wasn't there but was cheering anyway. It was a great meet.

Partay

The last 8 days of my life have been the most debaucherous, unholy, and sloppy days of my life. Which of course means that I've been having a blast since leaving Stadium, living with John, and then coming home. Here's a recap of what remains in my memory:

-Cook-out! We made burgers on the grill, had some PBR, and I got to have a day of spring term before leaving the US. Being able to grill and drink outside is my favorite part of spring term, so I'm glad I got to.
-Injuries! No drunken evening is complete without having someone disappear for 20 minutes, and then find her at the bottom of the stairs with a hurt ankle.
-Doomtree! John Knapp has expanded my musical horizons, and did so yet again this week by introducing me to the Minneapolis based hip-hop group Doomtree. Their "False Hopes" album is brilliant, look em up!
-Nats! Going to Nats was inspiring, I'm ready to start training for next year already. Ted, awesome job! I watched your 200 breast on NCAA live, so I got to see you swim all of your events! Also of note: Jake Koch in the 200 IM, Nelson's 2 firsts, Olaf's Medley relays, and diving was ridiculous.
-Beirut! Last night I went to my friend Aaron's house for his birthday (he's my Facebook husband) and completely owned at Beirut. Me and my friend Clayton got off to a rough start and were looking at 7 cups to our 1, but we made the same cup twice in a row and won. I made 5 in a row the next game, Clayton did the same the next, and the 4th game was closer, I don't really remember it. And then we lost.
-Tommy Emmanuel! I saw Tommy Emmanuel last night at the Orpheum, my favorite venue in Wichita. Tommy is an Australian guitarist who is one of the best 2 guitarist I've ever seen, I couldn't believe my eyes or ears for much of the show.


So now I'm at home, waiting until Wednesday, packing and getting ready. Most of my friends are back at school so the next few days I'll probably try to read the 4 books I have to read before Moscow...