Innocent When You Dream,..

Rough gravel,..
and a long journey through the desert,
without water.
Cigar smoke and scotch.
Chain smoke for five days straight without cough.
Corporate oil drilling spilled in the ocean by a drunken tanker.
God must be away on business.
A foreign accent speaks broken English.
Hot water in a cold, cold ground.
Apples crunching with white peaches.
Warm home and a broken window.
Soft sandy beach and a sun burn.
Long trail out to the wilderness and a grizzly growl.
A summer surf and a shark attack.
A duet with a tenor and Tom Waits.

Brewin',..

Brewing beer is something that my dear friend Daren and I have been experimenting with for the past year. We have made I.P.A., double I.P.A., pale ale, lemon ale, and most recently a Hoppy Red Ale.
Interestingly enough, brewing beer has been in my family for many generations. My great great grandfather was a brew master for Steam beer, which I believe is what we know now as Anchor Steam. My father has told me stories about tasting beer right from the vats at the brewery.

More recently, summer of 2003, driving West on highway 80, hills rolled on forever like waves that roll onto the coast. We were riding through Iowa, into Nebraska to visit Steve, my Dad's brother. My two Australian friends and I blasting the Chili Peppers, eating jerky, drinking red bull, smoking cigs...the reason for the road trip across this vast nation was to deliver a car from New York to Colorado for my old Boss.
We drove out of the rolling hills of Iowa into the flatlands of Nebraska. My uncle was extremely hospitable and my aunt and cousins welcomed us and it felt like we had just said goodbye last week, when it was really the previous year. We pulled the car into the drive way and walked up to the door, leaving the baggage in the boot. Stretching as we walked to the door, all the kinks of the road rolled out of our shoulders as we stepped into their home. After we settled in and had dinner, my uncle invited us downstairs. We went down into the basement and he offered us a beer that he had recently brewed. I do not remember much about the beer, but that it was a pale ale and it had a unique taste, a home grown, home brewed tatste. Maybe because he told me he brewed it, or maybe it is, as Greg Brown says about canned goods, "Ah, she's got magic in her - you know what I mean, she puts the sun and rain in with her canned green beans....'Cause these canned goods I buy at the store, ain't got the summer in them any more." Home Brew has a taste, a home made taste and this taste is not like anything your local grocery store sells, and trying this for the first time was a memorable experience.

Dave, my mothers brother, has brewed his fair share of beer, I believe since he was my age. He gave me a 5+gallon carboy to help me get started with my brewing. Two years ago he brewed a seasonal holiday beer to go with his annual Christmas party. It had hints of spices, nutmeg and cloves and a rich ale in the front. This year I am going to brew a winter beer for those cold California nights.

I know, I am brewing on a much smaller scale than my great great grandfather ever did, but I am carrying on the tradition and that is whats important to me.

Relax, have a homebrew.

Townes Van Zandt fills the room,..

Changes,..

I am a teacher. I have been for about a month and I love my job. I get to hang out with kids all day, it is tough and my head hurts at the end of the day and my body is exhausted, but it is a good hurt and a good exhaustion because teachers change lives and their lives are changed by students. But once I hit the trail on my bike ride home, I am rejuvenated and the positive energy is taken out of the exhaustion and hurt. What does it mean to have new change in life?
I have lived with my girlfriend since January, which has been wonderful and still is and I love her and she is an amazing partner in my life. We moved into a larger 2 bed room apartment in August from a smaller one bed room apartment. What does it mean to have new change in life?
Jill wanted to buy kittens, so 2 weeks ago she did. They are a positive influence to our living environment. They were new when we picked them up two weeks ago, but they have grown and now they are growing larger. Isabel and Sylvester arrived in my life a week to the day before my childhood cat died from cancer. She was seventeen years old and in pain so it was for the better. I pondered the irony of this over the past week, but new life comes and old life goes. What does it mean to have new change in life?
I am taking tomorrow off school to celebrate my uncle's wedding. He is a dear friend of mine and he is an important person in my life. We have traveled together, backpacked, camped, seen concerts, taken road trips and toasted many a drink. He is taking on a new exciting journey with Victoria. I am happy for them and they are wonderful together. Maybe one day we will figure out what all this newness means.
There is a beautiful world around us with opportunity to discover new ideas and new places and new people and cultures and music and friends and relationships. Opportunity to breathe a new breath each moment and to live a new day each day.
I remind myself that we only have one life. Only one life.
But what does it mean to have new change?

Ben Harper's new album lifeline is on the stereo.

every morning,..beatutiful

Crisp air,
muscles wake up.
mind, wind and body in tune,..
balance.
Eyes water and legs pump and petal.

Sun comin' up
crickets gone to sleep
sprinklers splitter,
make plants survive,
where in natural conditions,
they wouldn't.

The air is cool and feels good inside lungs.
The sky is ocean blue and the moon is faint.
The grass is freshly cut and the stars are still out.
Also, the sun rises and the daylight begins
but ends on the far side of the world.

Round and round the wheels
cut through the wind
and arrive at the destination
as a friend of the environment;
friendly, clean and no pollution.


Listening to David Francey

It's Far Away,..

"Everybody off of the train!" yelled the doorman with broken English and a big grin across his face.
"We have arrived."
I looked over at Josh, he had a puzzled look in his eyes.
"Tim," he whispered from the next row over. "Are we really here?"
"Yeah,..uh..I believe so." I told him, in thought that my confidence would make him certain that we were in the right city.
I could see the sky through the glass window of the train and beyond through the glass window of the station and it appeared to be a mix of Blue and Grey and the wind looked like it was blending them together. Clouds and clear and sun and faint moon.
"Josh" I whispered back with a hint of pressure in my voice.
"Grab your bag..." I paused and looked around the station once more to try and take in how real this was "...lets go."
Josh looked at me with frustration, he knew that I packed lighter than he did, and snapped; "Give me a second to get my pack on man, relax."
I began to walk away towards the entrance of the station, I knew I would find something there while he was getting ready.
As I walked down the row between the train and another empty track I listened to the sounds of pigeons above and the rats below.
Josh approached me and knocked me on the shoulder,
"Hey bro, let's go." He spoke in a mellow tone as he walked passed.
"Excellent." I smiled and looked back at the empty train and isle and beyond to the endless tracks where so many trains have arrived and departed.
We walked out of the station and paused as we looked up at the skyline of Shanghai...

Listening to Ali Farka Touré - In The Heart of The Moon

Marathon Training,..

Nobody ever told me that training for a marathon would be easy, but I did not expect it to be to this demanding. The running is not the difficult part, the lungs, legs and heart are fine while running. It is the recovery on legs after my longer distance runs; 10+ mile days that takes time. My longer runs occur on Saturdays, and it takes until about Tuesday for my legs to recover completely. The good thing is that Sundays are easy 2-3 miles and Mondays are cross training days, so I can swim or bike. I have a schedule that my brother, who is an avid runner and running the same marathon with me in October, gave me in June. Jill also gave me three different marathon strategy books for a Christmas gift that I still have yet to truly break in the spines of. Since June 25th, I have followed the schedule my brother gave me almost exactly. There was a three day period in July where a summer cold caught up with me and I stayed away from the schedule.

I am excited and nervous at the same time for this to happen because October is coming around the corner soon and come September, I will have an extremely busy schedule. As the weeks continue, the weekend runs will get longer and longer and I hope to be able to fit them in. I am confident that I will be just fine. My mind is prepared for this, come October, I hope that my body will be up for the challenge.

Listening to A Perfect Circle

Free The WM3!

Since 1994 three young men (at the time) have been behind bars for murders that they may not have committed. The West Memphis Three are Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. I will sum up the story briefly and there are some great resources that will allow you to research in more depth.

A week after three eight-year-old boys were found dead in a creek in West Memphis, Arkansas, the police told the public that Damien, Jason and Jessie were the murderers. That they were defiantly responsible for these horrific crimes, with NO EVIDENCE!
Jessie Misskelley, who is mentally handicapped, was interviewed and questioned for a long period of time (12 it says on the web site) "without counsel or parental consent, audio-taping only two fragments totaling 46 minutes." The three of them were arrested on June 3, 1993 and convicted of murder in early 1994.
This is a quote from the website:
"Although there was no physical evidence, murder weapon, motive, or connection to the victims, the prosecution pathetically resorted to presenting black hair and clothing, heavy metal t-shirts, and Stephen King novels as proof that the boys were sacrificed in a satanic cult ritual. Unfathomably, Echols was sentenced to death, Baldwin received life without parole, and Misskelley got life plus 40."

It has now been 14 years and they are still in prison for these crimes that they did not commit. Damien waits in solitary confinement for lethal injection.

Within the past week, new evidence has come up linking NO DNA to these three men, however a hair has been found in a tangled in a knot used to tie up one of the murdered boys. This hair matches the DNA of the step father of one of the victims, I hope this is a step towards the WM3's new trial: Click here.

This is a tragic case and I take the stance that, since nobody knows for sure who committed this crime and the original trial was not a fair one, these three men deserve a new, fair trial.
Please view this website and look at the facts. Take a close look at what this means and what this is.

FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE

Listening to Comes A Time - Neil Young.

New Toy...

For about seven years now I have worked with PC computers. I have used them mostly for word processing, music, pictures and simply surfing the internet. It was about four years ago that I got my first PC lap top. after three years of use, the motherboard fried due to unknown reasons. I looked into buying a Powerbook. After spending all of thirty minutes at the Apple store I decided that there was no way that I would be able to afford the computer that I wanted, I did not have the money.

The next weekend I took a trip to a few different computer stores to see what other deals I would be able to find. In the PC world, the deals are endless and cheap. I found a wonderful deal on an HP computer that I have had for the past 7 months.
But living in the capitalistic society that we live in, and since I have recently been hired to work as a third grade teacher, I decided to treat myself to a MacBook.
For the past four days now, I have been transferring all my files over to it and setting it up. I am not going to deny that it is a toy, but it is a solid machine. Plus, I got a fantastic deal on it,..an 80 gig iPod video for $150, 100$off educational discount and a free printer.
The computer world seems much simpler with a Mac? or is that how they want me to think?

Listening to Wilco - Summerteeth

In Lake Tahoe

Today was a vibrant day. I slept in for a bit and around nine I got up and went for a beautiful morning run up to the base of Heavenly Ski Resort. I thought about how much I love Tahoe and the mountains in California in the summertime, the way that the snow melt is still up on the high peak, the way that the air is just as crisp as in the ski season and as clean with the warmth of the sun,..I love looking up all around the lake and seeing the mountains that I have hiked and snowboarded and camped with family and friends.

It is easy to think about past winters spent in these mountains while here in the summertime, just as in the winter time it is easy to think about the summertime spent in the sun by the lake and in the lake to refresh from heat.

This afternoon we did just that; my parents, Jill and I went down to Tallac beach and camped out. Now my summer schedule of classes is not too intense, but it is still class and there is work and tasks to be completed. I needed to release some stress and a day like today was what I needed. I was contented on the beach in the sun. I read in the sand and swam in the clear water when sweat broke, I got a bit of shut eye and ultimatly it was the relaxing afternoon that has been a long time coming.

Thank you Lake Tahoe for 26 years of memories in my life.

Truly keep it blue.

Listining to Kate Wolf's Anthology.

Movin' Out

For the past 7 months Jill and I have been living in Pleasanton California. Come August 18th, we will excitedly move out of our one bedroom apartment. The city of Pleasanton is not the problem; the apartment complex management is the problem. We live in a complex of about 500 units (Stoneridge Apartments) and if our apartment burned to the ground, the L.A. based corporation, Lyon Management, would not care one bit. (based on multiple phone calls to L.A. to deal with them). Within the first week of moving in here, both my car and my girlfriend’s car were broken into; they stole her car and totaled it, and stole my car stereo. So we may be a bit biased.

After weeks of dealing with this ordeal, we contacted the head manager of Lyon Management down in L.A. and she would not give me the time of day. She did not even consider my suggestions to put up necessary security lights in the car park and possible surveillance. She basically told me this is my problem, they will not change and I need to deal with it; without ever apologizing for our distressing experience. We have also had a miserable experience with the on site management, maintenance not fixing the problems with the unit and other security issues. I understand that having 500 units in a complex is a lot, but come on people, give us at least a time frame to fix a air conditioner or leak in the sink (don't tell us you will show up if you are not going to).

We are now moving to a new complex in San Ramon, three miles away from the schools where we will be working, into a two bedroom/two bath unit on the corner that backs up to a grassy field at the edge of a golf course. The complex has only 190 units so the management is much more personable and we already have a great vibe about it.

It has been a frustrating experience, but I try to look at the positive side of it all now, we are safe, alive and movin' out! I have also learned many lessons from dealing with the bad side of this that I will certainly be able to apply to similar life experiences to come.

More good to do...

Xavier Rudd is an extremely talented musician from Australia. He has recorded many songs that address the current condition of the environment, songs of peace, songs for the land, songs for humanity and songs about connections made between people throughout the world. He has been a major influence in my life for the past two years. I first found out about him through a dear friend of mine from Colorado whom I spent the summer working with in the Adirondack, NY. Xavier has a new album out called "White Moth" and he is currently on a world tour. I had the chance to see him at a small venue in Santa Cruz, CA last month. He is a one man show, he plays the udu drums, bongos, Dobro guitar, acoustic guitar and steel guitar, harmonica, step drum, didgeridoos/yidaki and he uses his voice during jams to complete his sound. The show that he puts on is a work of art and the number of instruments that he uses while jamming is mind blowing to see live and if you have a chance to see his live show or even pick up his new album, I would highly recommend it.

He has a new single out called "Better People" and it is a song about the people in this world who make a difference and play their part in making this world a better place to live in. It is truly a great song.

Only One Life,..

My girlfriend, Jill, gave me a book for my birthday in May by Alfredo Jose Estrada called "Havana: Autobiography of a City". I picked it up a few times since she gave it to me but have only read the first two chapters. Now, I am setting a personal goal for the next two weeks; to spend time with it and enjoy the rest all the way through. It is summer time and I need to read a more books for me, instead of the courses I am taking.
In the two chapters that I have read there is a passage where Estrada describes the Malecon, the sea and other idiosyncratic details of Havana. This passage brought me right back to the streets (I traveled through Cuba a few years back). It is interesting because he continues after this passage with the idea that Havana is a city that one does not have to visit to have a picture or an image in their head, he says that people just do. This is true, no matter what the image is; an old 50's ford, a cigar, salsa dancing, the skyline, the Malecon or an old copy of The Old Man and The Sea, Cuba is in all of these and more. Anyhow, here is the passage that brought me back:

"Beyond the Malecon is an endless carpet of ocean, stretching to the horizon. Depending on the weather, its color ranges from gunmetal gray to pale turquoise. On a clear day, the dazzling light glints on the waves and the spray comes over the seawall like a handful of glittering coins. The sky is a peculiar shade of blue not found anywhere else, a brilliant, almost translucent cobalt that the early settlers tried to emulate in pottery... It is a city that assaults the senses...In the morning, the brine of the sea air is mixed with diesel fumes, roasting coffee, cigar smoke, and the sweetish stink of last night's rum."
(Estrada,6)

Havana is a unique city,..I have yet to come across one like it...I'm off to read a few chapters.

('Only One Life' is a quote we saw scribbled on the wall in La Bodeguita del Medio while drinking mojitos next to the ghost of Hemingway on our last night in the city.)

Listening to Josh Ritter: Live at Vicar Street, Ireland