Leprechaun Dance

School started on Monday and it is as painful as I remember it being last year. There are a few upsides I suppose; seeing some of my technical writing buddies, chilling out on the Quad, etc. But, for the most part attending class makes me want to light myself on fire and run through endless shards of bee-covered glass. Luckily my cereal box of doom is not without a salvatory toy at the bottom. I have a few things I am giddy as a goat about. In no particular order, here they are:

• Football season!- OK, this one may be an a particular order. Next Thursday, the real football season kicks off as the University of Utah hosts Utah State. I will be in attendance and if you do not know who I am cheering for then you do not know me as well as you think you do (Here is a hint: Not Utah State). As much as I love the other sports of the world, football is different. I don't know what it is, but it is different and I can't wait to spend every Saturday and Sunday (and Monday, some Thursdays, and the occasional Friday) watching it.
• Football season! Pt. 2- As part of the kickoff festivities, my buddy Marcus and I will be traveling to San Francisco to attend the 49er's home opener against the Seattle Seahawks. We really splurged to get decent seats (Ninth row baby!) which basically means that Mr. Cody will not be able to afford vacations like this for a long, long time. (PS- If somehow under God's will I have a computer by that time, there will be blog! Oh yes, there will be blog.)
• Fantasy football!- Haha. This is not a joke. But yeah, I will stop with the football stuff now. (Go C.Titty Brigade!)
• How I Met Your Mother season 5 premiere (Sept. 21 on CBS)- It's going to be....
• Supernatural season 5 premiere (Sept. 10 on the CW)- If you are familiar with this show you might have heard it is infamous for the crazed female fans of it's two hunky male leads. This is not why I watch the show, I swear. When my friends explained the show to me they said it was about "two hot young brothers who drive around the country in an Impala hunting demons". I laughed, then I sat down and watched and episode, and then another, and you get the story. I was hooked. Let me count the ways that this show is awesome. (1) Great storyline. (2) Always funny and clever. (3) Features tons of classic rock. (4) One time, I was watching it at night and I got so freaked out I had to turn on every light in the house. (5) Tons of action. (6) Impromptu lip-syncing. (7) Did I mention they are killing demons? So that is seven reasons I love the show right there and I promise it's not because I think the guys are hot.
• The Sounds & Foxy Shazaam on Oct. 30.
• Passion Pit on Oct. 7.
• Dirty Projectors on Nov. 7.
• The Australian Pink Floyd Show on Sept. 16.
• My sister gets home from her mission on October 20th or something like that!
• Picking flowers in Sardine Canyon on breezy fall mornings.
• Listening to the Best of The Beach Boys the first day it snows in Logan (I will not even joke around and make a prediction on when that will be).
• Lighting myself on fire and running through shards of bee-covered glass the first time I go to school and realize I forgot to write a paper.

So that is what I am excited about in my near future? Are you excited for me to blog about it? Oh, by the way, the title is what all of this stuff makes me want to do.

DEAD Pt. 2

I came home from work a few short hours after writing the previous post and my computer was dead. Again. Eff.

It's Alive!

After two long months, I am finally in possession of a working computer. It feels great. Sort of. I took my computer to the Mac store at the Gateway last week (if you are wondering why it took two months for me to take the computer there, don't ask. It is a very long story) where I was told the hard drive was not partitioned (?) correctly when I had the new hard drive installed. Shawn, by far the most helpful Genius I have met there, fixed that problem and had me rolling out of there in twenty minutes, which beat my previous Mac store time by about an hour and a half. So, I have a computer that turns on, which is an improvement. I can download music again, which is glorious. But, my computer has a tendency to freeze and think about stuff for looooong periods of time. This is why I bought a Mac so this wouldn't happen. Am I surprised by this? No. But '07 Cody would be. Would I be surprised if my computer is dead when I get home from work today? No. Would I be surprised if I got a call from "The Ring" guy giving me a creepy "seven days" threat? A little. My response would be something along the lines of "Wait, is that for me? Oh. OK. My computer? Yeah, that sounds about right. Mmhmm. Actually, it may be a little generous. OK. Thanks. Buh-Bye." Am I going to drop 300 bones so I can send the thing out to MacLand and have the hard drive, CD-Rom, et all. taken care of? Undecided. Unde-flippin-cided.

Let's Stay Together

(Insert picture of me hugging the front of my car, resting my head on its' dirty, dented hood here.)



One day, when I own a working camera, I am going to make things like that happen for real.



So after all the excitement, chaos, and hubbub associated with Cash for Clunkers and me getting a new car, I finally decided to keep the Monte Carlo a little bit longer. Let me explain.



Thursday was my first day-off work since I came home from Chicago, and I set it aside specifically for car shopping (Also, for sleeping, but that is no real surprise). I met my dad at Murdock Chevrolet in Bountiful, which received the honor as first dealership due to years of family business there. We test-drove the Cobalt (ahem? No power locks or windows? Wha?) and the Malibu (Really nice car for the price. My main problem is two of my friends drive Malibus. I need to be a original. I can honestly tell you that my food tastes worse at a restaurant if anyone at my table orders the same thing. Is this a disease or is everyone else like that?). They were nice cars. I liked them. I love my car. I had hoped for some time to think it over until the salesmen alerted us that CfC would be ending in four days. I told him we would hurry. Moving on.



Next, I picked up my sister and we went to the Honda dealership where I was told my clunker was not clunky enough. Hmmm. OK. We then went to Toyota. Same story. I didn't really feel like being told no by anyone else. With only two real options and only a handful of hours left to decide, I backed out. My great visions of driving a new car with new tires, new windows, new paint, and a new smell were gone.



As I drove home that night I played REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You" as a caressed the dashboard of my old friend. OK, I didn't really do that. (Or did I?) I didn't. (?) I remembered all the good times the Monte Carlo and I have enjoyed together. Moving up to college and all the subsequent apartments. Impromptu dance parties. Road trips. Getting pulled over a dozen times. I look forward to my butt sticking to the leather seats on hot days. Or getting off work at eleven and finding my door froze shut in January. I'm glad that I can still smell the mixture of blueberry gum, gasoline, and air freshener and my friends can still complain about the passenger door not opening. I may use some of the money I had planned on using for a new car toward fixing up my old friend. But, then again, maybe I won't. I might keep things just the way they are.

Ugh.

Why are you doing this to us? Please just go away and leave us all alone, Brett. I hate being an NFL fan today.

New Car?

With the Cash for Clunkers program plus a CD rolling over next week, it seems like now might be a good time for the Codester to get an upgrade in the vehicle department. I am pretty excited about this prospect, but also a little sad. The Monte Carlo and I have been together since I was 16, and I am not sure I want to think about life without her. But, she is getting old and I am probably (definitely) not going to get this kind of trade on her ever. (Just as a fair warning if I clunk the Carlo, there will be a minimum 12-paragraph, 6-photo farewell post on this blog.) So, what do you guys think? Should I go for it? Any suggestions? Or should I just flip off the window of opportunity and drive the Mount Carl until the wheels fall off?

The Lolla Review

So I am still on a high from my Chicago trip and I think it deserves more than one post. I decided to write down a few of my thoughts on the bands who performed during Lollapalooza. Here are my Top 5 (plus one) Bands.

Honorable Mention- Santigold

The outfits were loud, the crowd was thumping, and the music was outstanding. But what really pushed this act into greatness were the backup dancers. Too good to be described in words.

5. Ra Ra Riot

I am going to be completely honest, there is one rather large reason this band is ranked ahead of Santi and that reason is featured in the pic above. (I will give you a hint: It is not the lights or the microphone. The music was also really hot.

4. Hey Champ

The total surprise hit of the three days we spent at the festival. We walked to the stage on the first day just to see where it was and boy were we rewarded. Great dancing music with heart. Sadly, lead singer Saam Hagshenas (pictured above) said they only two songs available to the public at this time. It won't be that way for long.

3. Kaiser Chiefs

I have always had a special place in my heart for Kaiser Chiefs (By always I mean the last two years). They seem like a tight group of British guys just out to have a good time. I was excited to hear a few of their songs but didn't have very high expectations for their set. My expectations=completed shattered. Kaiser Chiefs is a great live band. Lead singer Ricky Wilson climbed on the rafters, jumped into the crowd, and even joined the ASL interpreter to sign "Kaiser Chiefs." It was a romp and I loved it.

2. Passion Pit

The crowd was by-far the best for this super-fun falsetto pop group from Boston. Way more crowd-surfing. Way more jumping up and down. The crowd singing along to the chorus "higher and higher" on Little Secrets was awesome. These guys are still new and can use a little tweaking up their stage presence. They really have no where to go but up.

1. TV On The Radio

They flippin' blew my mind. Tunde Adebimpe's energy. Jalell Bunton going mad on the drums. The horn section. Dancing Choose. Wolf Like Me. Kyp Malone's beard! They were secretly the band I was most excited to see and they didn't disappoint me. Not even a little bit.

Honorable Honorable Mention- Other Lives (can't wait to pick up one of their albums), Ben Folds (play something we know, Ben!), Vampire Weekend, Snoop Dogg, Coheed and Cambria (love the hair, bro), Portugal. The Man (I didn't like them as much as the guy in the Eeyore tank top did, but they were good), Alberta Cross, Kings of Leon (would have been better if we were closer).

Meh- Thievery Corporation, Hockey (the sound cut out on these poor guys after about two songs), April Smith, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears (were next-door stage neighbors to a rap group that totally drowned them out), Gomez, Carney.

Disappointing- Andrew Bird (Snooze-fest 09), The Killers (Don't get me wrong, I still love the Killers. When they played they were very good. Unfortunately, every song had a 30-second pause before the next and Brandon Flowers would not shut up. I think he is still there on that stage going on about their plane ride to Chicago. Shut up and play, dude!).

Poop- Peter Bjorn and John (Could never reel me in), Joe Pug (Not your fault, Joe, I had no clue you sang country), Los Campesinos! (Their music was OK, but the lead singer really freaked me out), White Lies (I'll pass, thanks)

Overall, it was a great experience. I know if I would not have went this summer I would have persuaded myself to go eventually. Would I do it again? I don't know. For all the good times, there were the times we pushed through nine billion people to make our way from one end of the park to the other. There were the times we chugged ten bottles of water a day and saw a girl faint. There was the day it rained and we all got covered in mud. There was all the second-hand weed inhalation. There was the time we nearly had vomit thrown at us. Somethings might be best experienced once.

Por fin.

The long-awaited day has finally arrived! With all other options exhausted, I finally had my little sister, Pookie, e-mail me her favorite pictures (of me) from my trip to Chicago. So this is basically a tag-team operation you are about experience. She picked out the shots, I lived them and am going to talk about them.

Never fear, desperate ladies of the blogosphere! This sexy drunk-looking homeless man is none other than yours truly waiting for our ride at the airport.

God was watching over me. JK people. This right here is the Crown Fountain at Millenium Park. Absolute must-see if you go to Chicago. This 50-foot pillar rotates pictures of scenery and several residents of the Windy City. It really gets fun when the people pucker up and....
...squirt little kids. It is a blast.

Here I am with some gigantic art sculpture near the train station. If you could see the whole thing you might think that Godzilla dropped his favorite red ninja star. Well, that is exactly what happened.

The enormous shiny bean at Millenium Park. Chicago is home to some great modern art, as well as the most beautiful artitechure I have ever seen. It seem like each of the sky-scrapers has it's own story and symbolism, yet they all complement each other so well. Our first night in the city I walked the streets in awe as we continued to pass building after building. Seriously, it is SLC times 1,000.

We took the opportunity to take a family photo with the help of the Bean.

Oh what a time we had. If you notice most of these pictures are bright and white it is because the camera's settings just loved to change as it bounced around in my pocket. Bleh.


Here I am with Jerusalem, our phenomenal tour guide (lover of booze, fried chicken, and Oprah) on the double-decker bus tour we took on our one full day of sight-seeing we had. I would totally recommend this to anyone. For only $29 you can see the whole city in about 2 and half hours, get on and off as you please, take other tours to Wrigley Field, Chinatown, Oprah Store, etc, you get a free (crappy) T-shirt, coupons, and if you are lucky enough to get a guide like we did, you will laugh you face off. Let me explain. At one point of the tour, Jerusalem got especially excited as she pointed out the sales and restuarants of a certain street. As she does this a branch comes up behind her and she totally does a Matrix moves and dodges it without missing a beat. True story. I kid you not, it was amazing.

Here I am at Lollapalooza. (Can you find me?) This is where we spent three days enjoying great music and enduring miserable weather. As you can see Lolla provides great views of (A) the Chicago skyline, (B) the bands performing, and (C) shirtless dudes. It was a lot of fun, but it got mad the later in the day it was. We had great views of the up-and-comers, but it became Sardine-apalooza for most established acts like Snoop Dogg, Santigold, and Kings of Leon.

And then I came home and wrote this blog.

Creepy Amazing Music Video #4 & #5

Since I am slacking big time on posting some pics from Chicago, I decided I would put up TWO music videos for ya from two of my favorite bands I saw at Lollapalooza. The first is "Cold Dust Girl" from Hey Champ. Please be warned that the video contains a few images that are PG-13. (I will just tell you right now that two girls kiss) So you may want to just play it and check your Facebook on another tab or something because the song is really kickin. Second is "To Kingdom Come" by Passion Pit. If you want to go buy a really fun album go pick up Manners, the first full-length album from these guys. It's great. (A small parenthetical side note. I was under the impression that the name of this song was Eyes As Candles. Somehow when I *ahem* downloaded *cough* this album a few track names were switched. Let that be a lesson to us all about *ahem* downloading *cough* music.)

I'm Back Baby Doll!

Well guys, I really fudged up this time. Everything was in place for some great live photo-blogging from the Windy City, or so I thought. My dear mother lent my her computer and her laptop, but I forgot to pack the oh-so-important cord that links the two together. Whoops. That's my bad, guys. My bad.

Now, you are probably asking yourself. Why don't you just put up the pictures, you big schlub? Well, remember the broken computer? Yeah it is still kaput. It should be up and going by the weekend but will still be without a CD-ROM drive. But don't you worry faithful readers, I will find a way to get the pics up and that is a promise. I just wanted to put this up to let you know that I am here and I still love you.

I'm Peacing Out!

HA! I did a Google Image search for "peace out" and this was the first picture to show up. Even though, I have no affection for this human on any level (except the unintentional comedic level) I could not resist. Fun Fact: Two of twenty pictures on the first page were of Miley, beating out one of Britney and one of Martin Sheen. :)

Just as we all wish Miley would peace out of our lives, I am peacing out of town for a week and into the unknown of Chicago. But will I be peacing out of the blogosphere, you ask? NO....hopefully. I received great news today that my computer is fixed and ready to rock. So as long as (A) I have Internet access and (B) my computer lives longer than a week. Who am I kidding? Longer than a day. An hour. I will take what i can get people! Since both of those things are FAR from guaranteed, you have a 50/50 chance of some great blogging from ChiCity. Stay tuned.

Peace out!

PS- If any of you have ever been to Chicago and have suggestions of what to do, text me or throw something up on here.