A Life Led Out Loud

Looking at the calendar today made me think of what I was doing ten years ago today. I was in Colorado Springs sending e-mails that set into motion every important event of the last ten years of my life.

The trip started listening to 311's newly released cd "From Chaos" in my friend Jerry's Jeep on our way to Denver for Ozz-Fest. Stops at the Paramount Cafe, our friend Chris' house, Starbucks, and Hooters filled our downtime. I e-mailed stories from the concert from Jerry's Mom's computer at her house in Springs to a girl in Emporia that I had known for four years but had not spoken with in two.

In the moment those few e-mails didn't seem as important to the grand scheme of things as they do now. I had no idea then that they would lead me into my first serious relationship, me moving away from the only home I had known, and the roller coaster ride that was my 20's. It feels like I wouldn't be where I am today if I had not sat down and composed those few short, poorly written e-mails.

Listening today to "I'll Be Here Awhile", the closing track from the 311 cd I was listening to at repeat most likely at this very moment ten years ago, I finally see the significance of a song written by a 20 year but not recorded until he was 30. Looking back at who I was at 21, I'm glad to see where I am on the other side of 30. Sometimes I feel like not much about me had changed and sometimes I feel like everything has changed. Maybe it's somewhere in the middle?

Some of the same fears and insecurities still plague me just as they did then. I feel like I'm a better version of myself today than I was on June 22 2001 and I know it will be a daily battle to ensure that I will look back in ten years on this blog entry and feel like I've bettered myself personally and professionally through my 30's. It will be hard work but it will be worth the blood, sweat, and tears so I'm up to the task.

I originally intended this blog to be a scratch on the surface. A superficial look at my happy go lucky music nerd life. I'm ready to dig into the things that scare me and expose the raw nerves. Drag the skeletons out, parade them all around. Welcome to my life lived out loud.

Change is in the air

Since Septemer 6, I've been going the Ideal Protein Diet at ProHealth Chiropractic in Garden City. I had ballooned up to 265.8 pounds, I was feeling the least healthy that I ever had, and my blood pressure was causing me to concerned about an inevitable heart attack or stroke. (171/110 was my last known blood pressure, two months before starting the diet.) I needed to make a lifestyle change badly. Then I heard about the Ideal Protein Diet. (Before photo to the right.)

The diet is very structured. You have a daily vitamin routine along with gourmet food packets that are part of the Ideal Protein Diet. The food packets range from Chocolate and Vanilla drinks, Jello, Pudding, Omelet mix, Cereal mix, Chicken soup, and Mushroom soup that all fit into the diet. (Pictures and more here.) Also two servings of approved vegetables and plenty of lettuce and water. I had heard so much about the results of the diet and now, I have experienced these results myself.

As of October 10, I am weighing in at 224.6 pounds. (40.8 pounds lost!) My blood pressure is also down (134/92) and the measurements also show a drastic change. (After photo to the right.)

Next week I'm uploading a video documenting the food I prepare each day for the diet. It'll be posted to my Youtube account. I will also post my weekly results for the next few weeks as I get closure to my goal of 56 of weightloss on the Ideal Protein Diet.

Measurements Before

Neck: 18 3/4 inches

Shoulders: 54 1/2 inches

Chest: 46 3/4 inches

Bicep: 14 inches

Waist: 48 1/2 inches

Hips: 47 inches

Thigh: 25 7/8 inches

Measurements After

Neck: 17 inches

Shoulders: 49 1/8

Chest: 43 3/4 inches

Bicep: 12 3/8 inches

Waist: 43 1/2 inches

Hips: 43 1/4 inches

Thigh: 23 3/8 inches

Nine Years Later...

Saturday afternoon in the WKBC building. My home away from home.

Nine years ago today, I was 21, working almost the exact same shift at Pizza Hut across town from where I sit now. (11am-5pm then, 12pm-6pm) I fell asleep watching Vh1 and woke up confused watching CBS News. Through sleepy eyes, I tried to figure out why the news was on my TV. Changing the channel and waking up a bit, I realized why as I watched a plane glide into the World Trade Center live on tv.

While the event of that morning are etched in my mind, I don't feel like I need to write them out in this blog. The rest of that day felt so surreal. I looked out from the kitchen at the Hut as I cut pizza for the lunch buffet. Tuesday wasn't a super busy buffet day, but it was steady. This particular day, the handful of people who came in seemed to feel a little guilty for going on with their day to day.

Through the afternoon, the radio was on non-stop, tuned in to Q97, one of the stations I now host a radio show on. I don't remember music, commercials, or any DJ's breaking in. Just ABC News constantly. Planes were grounded at Garden City Regional Airport. People were lined up for blocks at gas pumps due to the fear of rapidly rising gas prices.

After going home, changing clothes, and fueling up the car in case gas prices did rise rapidly, I started catching up with a few friends online, sharing stories of how we found out about the news, our reactions, and the reactions of those around us. We had all heard our parents tell us how they would never forget where they were when JFK was assassinated, and as Tuesday September 11 2001 ended, we all knew that years later we would always remember where we were on that day.

As the week moved on, so did life. The band I was in at the time kept practicing and played our two gigs that weekend as scheduled. I've lived, laughed, and loved much of the last nine years since that day. I can't think of any better way to pay tribute to those who died on that day.

As my friend Rich Redmond would say, "Hug and High Fives!" Thank you for reading. :)

Scrobble

I had some extra time off this weekend due the holiday. How did I spend my extra time off? By going through 4 years of play counts on my last.fm account!

Last.fm has a feature called "scrobbling" which syncs to iTunes, Winamp, or Windows Media Player and logs music you play on your computer. It can even be set up to log what has been played on your portable music player. I could recognize the playlist of the moment, favorite song of the week, and days that I accidentally left my playlist running on repeat when I fell asleep or left for work. I try my best to leave the last.fm scrobbler running so it paints an accurate picture of my listening habits, guilty pleasures and all.

If you want to join in on the fun, or just see what I listen to, here's my profile.

http://www.last.fm/user/joey6ixx

Monday Night

I honestly thought that Monday's Pearl Jam show in Kansas City wouldn't live up to the show in '03. The weather conditions of that night along with the energy from both the band and the crowd seemed like a combination that would be hard to top in an indoor corporate arena.

With a set clocking in at right at 2.5 hours, an awesome setlist full of many of my favorites and only 5 songs repeated from my first Pearl Jam concert in 2003. With just the setlist, performance, and overall vibe, Pearl Jam managed to place themselves within my top ten favorite shows list once again.

The Setlist:

Of The Girl
Animal
World Wide Suicide
Got Some
Unthought Known
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
MFC
Johnny Guitar
Amongst The Waves
Even Flow
Gods' Dice
Present Tense
Daughter
Wishlist
Insignificance
Do The Evolution

Encore:
Off He Goes
Just Breathe
Given To Fly
The Fixer
Life Wasted
Porch

Encore 2:
Black
Better Man
Alive
Rockin' in the Free World
Yellow Ledbetter

They weren't kidding when they said "All Weather Event"...

I can still see the lightning dancing across the sky during the show's opening song "Release", and the water falling from the sky in perfect rhythm with "Breakerfall" upon the thousands gathered at Sandstone Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS on the night of June 12 2003. It was a night I had waited for 11 years to finally happen and come hell or high water, it was going to happen. That night, for the first time, I would see Pearl Jam live.

Four songs, Eddie Vedder addressed the crowd; "Welcome to the wettest show on earth." I watched in soaked clothing and shoes with water running off the brim of my fitted Tribal hat, beading up on the lenses of my glasses with my friend Mike from St. Louis to my right. Mike who is just as big a Pearl Jam fan as I. I was mesmerized by everything going around me. A band that had meant so much to me for, at that point, half of my life. My friend to my side feeling the same rush. The rain that was flowing around us and the thousands of fans that decided it was no big deal to stand in that same rain for over two hours, waiting for Pearl Jam to get the all clear to take the stage due to the lightning and the entire show that was played in a monsoon-esque shower. There is not on element of that concert that did not make it memorable for me.

Eddie complimented the audience, deeming it the best crowd sing along on the first chorus of "Better Man" and praising the KC crowd for their "ability to stand in the rain all night", and that Kansas City had out done themselves on a night that the band would not soon forget.

Lyrics were changed throughout to reference the down pour.

"Don't need a rain coat you're already wet" during "Whipping" from their third disc 'Vitalogy.'

"I can see you on the hill, cold and wet but rocking still" during the cover of Neil Young's "F*ckin' Up."

The rain stopped with the show. With the help of the official bootleg from that night I am able to relive what was probably one of the best concert experiences I have ever had. Now, 6 years and just under 11 months later, Pearl Jam is playing in Kansas City for the first time since that night. Mike will be in from St. Louis and I will be there to see Pearl Jam for the second time. Unless storm clouds can find their way into the Sprint Center, I don't think we'll see any rain this time around.

Like an iPod on shuffle...

It's always been hard for me to explain to people what kind of music I'm into. (Saying I'm into "Good Music" never seems to a good enough description.) So, I decided that in a time where within days I can relive any concert I go to on Youtube, that I could also use this as a way to show how broad my love of music spans by simply posting videos of the artists I've seen this year. I couldn't find for everyone I've seen, but this gets the idea across. :)

Brad Paisley



Blake Shelton



Alice In Chains



Sevendust



Ludacris



Black Eyed Peas