trick or sweep

Friday night was a break from the world series 'action' and we were primed for halloween festivities. We gathered at Jake & Christie's new hut for the pre-party, before making our way to the Boulder Theater to catch the Motet play the songs of Jamiroquai. We were among the first to arrive, but the theater soon filled to capacity and there were plenty of tricks & treats on the night. I can't say I was super impressed with band, they kind of played Jamiroquai tunes then broke into their own jams and what not. It really didn't matter because everyone was having a blast. The walk home to Steph's place was a rainy one.



Saturday I had a self-imposed exile so I could get some homework done. I (sort of) had a fire going all day, but all I had were these enviro-logs made from recycled waxy cardboard which burned about as bright as the Rockies in game 3 that night.

Sunday morning Steph & I went to the Rock Creek pumpkin patch to finally get some pumpkins. With halloween looming right around the corner, it was do or die time. The place was huge, you had to drive around to get to the different patches. They also gave you clippers at the gate so you could cut 'em right off the vine. Fun stuff - we wound up with three. That night I started on the homework I never quite got around to saturday and watched another bummer of a Rockies game as they lost the world series to the Red Sox in game 4. A Red Sox win was almost inevitable, but I was especially bummed that we had tickets for game 5 on monday. Regardless, I'm still stoked for the Sox win, even though it was a tad bittersweet coming at the expense of the Rockies. And it was especially enigmatic witnessing first-hand their ride to being crowned NL champs for the first time since becoming a team in 1993.

so far rox 0, sox 2

Well, the Rockies were spanked by the Beckett and the Sox in game 1, 13-1. Last night they faired better against Schilling, only losing 2-1. However, if their bats don't wake up soon, they're going to be in trouble. As long as they win at least one this weekend I'll be happy, otherwise there will be no game 5...

luckily...

...Steph's co-worker has a nice hook-up through MLB, and she was kind enough to save us a pair of tickets!!!

oink oink my good man

I was a bit saddened yesterday to learn that my favorite pig got roasted by british law enforcement. On the flip side, I was elated to find out that this particular little piggy was a firm believer in reincarnation, and will rise again in honor of yet another lovable animal.

sox & rox tix, CU & CSP

Being in class is getting in the way of watching baseball these days, for the past 2 thursdays I've had people texting me the scores. No games were on friday, so I finally saw Transformers which was pretty cool despite the silly story line and human actors. Saturday morning we headed into town for the CU/Kansas game. It was a 3.30 game so we had plenty of time to tailgate beforehand. The game was sold out since it was parent's weekend and Kansas was ranked 15 or so. After the game started though, I was able to score a ticket for $20 and headed in to meet up with the rest of the gang. It was a fairly close game, but we still lost 14-19. After the game we walked back to jacq's and I decided that I was heading "into the wild" because I was carrying all of this gear with me. Steph & I headed back to my hut and caught the rest of the Sox victory over Cleveland to tie up the series at 3 games a piece.



Sunday we watched Hot Fuzz which was hilarious, then I packed up my car and headed down to Colorado Springs for the CAR convention. That night after driving through a snowstorm south of Denver I set up the booth at the Broadmore then we headed into DT CSP (that's downtown Colorado Springs) to an irish pub to get some grub and watch the Sox claim the AL pennant. Rox vs. Sox in the world series. My head is still spinning - who do you root for when you're two favorite teams play each other? It happened earlier in the summer, and I cheered and was bummed on every play.



I couldn't sleep a bit sunday night, since world series tix for the 3 games at Coors Field were going on sale the next morning at 10am. Luckily our booth was right next to the free wifi hotspot. Well 10am came, and 9 million hits later, the Rockies ticket site was taken offline with only 500 tickets sold. The wifi in the convention hall crashed as well. Tickets went back onsale Tuesday at noon and we tried again, but they eventually all sold out by 2.30. Luckily...

return of the reviews

It's been a while since I've put some reviews up, so here you go:



ween - La Cucaracha: The boys are back with another collection of offbeat yet heartfelt material. Songs are a little bit latin, a little bit country, a little bit creepy, a little bit reggae, a little bit emo, a little bit 70's prog rock, a little bit funny, and a lot of fun with the pitch correcting software. I find myself enjoying different songs more than others on different days. Go figure.



the orb - The Dream: Youth is back in the mix for the most orb-y sounding orb offering in recent years. A couple of tracks feature female vocals that are reminiscent of Cydonia's lead off single, 'Once More'. And if you score a copy of the japanese release, it includes a Transit Kings style send-up entitled, 'Let The Music Set You Free'. Up the orbs!



radiohead - In Rainbows: Much less busy than the over reaching and underwhelming Hail to the Thief, we find the reclusive lads exploring more of the sparser territory that made Kid A & Amnesiac most appealing. Not every tune is a winner, some going nowhere fast and making you wish for some more send up anthems from the OK Computer days or the heavy electronics which made Kid A and Amnesiac classics. Looking forward to the higher fidelity cd release and bonus material. Price paid: £0, and worth every pence.



film school - Hideout: Dron-y, monotonous, post-shoegaze, which is why I dig it. It's a good disc to help keep pace with while running.



les savy fav - Let's Stay Friends: Yeah, this one rocks. It's been 6 years since their last proper studio effort (not counting 2004's 7" compilation Inches since it's a comp). And they've gotten better with age. Singing about bands named after pots & pans and what it was like to be the king all with brutal honesty and tuneful energy puts this on the fast-track to being one of my favorite releases this year. Another good one to run to. The cover art kinda sucks, though.

purple reign, purple reign!

Ummmmm, wow! It's still kind of hard to believe, but the Rockies have made it into the world series, and we were there to witness the last game of the NLCS sweep against the Diamondbacks. We scored tix from one of jacq's old college buddies who had bought them in anticipation of the cubs making it farther along. And due to a fedex snafu, we almost didn't get them in time. It was a late game, starting at 8, which was actually nice since we avoided any traffic, took our chances with some two-hour maximum street parking over by the skate park since getting a parking ticket was cheaper than paying to park in a lot.

Never I have I seen more brooms & people rocking the purple in my life. If you were in the market actually shopping for a broom, you were shit out of luck monday because 50,000 Rockies fans beat you to it. The energy at Coors Field was different than the wild-card playoff we had witnessed two weeks earlier. That was a do or die elimination game and every pitch was a nailbiter. Now, hot on a winning streak, everyone were expecting another triumph and only a loss would have been more surprising. And even if we did lose, we still had 3 more chances to take home the NL championship title, so the atmosphere was celebratory all night and especially after we took the lead in the 4th. Even when the D-backs beat up on our middle reliever Fuentes and dwindled our lead down to 2, we weren't worried. After Tulo threw out denver's new enemy Eric Byrnes at first for the final out of the series, the place went nuts. I was so excited I even puked. We stuck around and partied behind the TBS broadcast desk for the awards ceremonies on the field, then joined the army of revelers partying out on the streets. And to top off an already memorable night, we didn't even get a parking ticket.









Now if only the Red Sox would get their shit together so we can play them in the World Series...

virtual sports bar

Another casual weekend spent mostly watching sports on the teletron. Friday we had the Red Sox victory over the Indians, and another nailbiter Rockies win in the 11th. Saturday morning I went to Sam's club and stocked up on supplies, did some homework, then got the house ready for my 'sports bar party' with the fam. I had 3 tv's set up downstairs so we could watch the Sox & the Buffs. It was happy hour all night and we feasted on all kinds of food, including some killer hot wings courtesy of the sauce pictured below. Too bad both games resulted in losses. Sunday was miserably cold & rainy - a good veg out on the couch day. Stephanie picked up a variety of fire logs (one with 'crackling effects', one made from coffee grounds, and a couple made from recycled waxy cardboard), and we settled in to watch yet another sterling Rockies win over the Diamondbacks.

mary's danish

Whoever's decision it was to have Dane Cook do the MLB Division & Championship (I wished it was still called the pennant race, but then hey, we wouldn't have wild cards...) adverts should be hog tied, cooked over a vat of steaming schlaw, and thrown in a dump for unsavory creatures to nibble at them. Seriously, the guy's a douche.

sweeps week

Spent most of last week watching the division playoffs while doing homework. Three cheers to the boy in the stands who caught that foul ball before the Angels could and kept the Sox alive friday night while I prepared a birthday feast for Stephanie's b-day. Saturday we did some errands, then met up at 7 Eurobar downtown for happy hour drinks & merriment before heading over to the West End to catch the Rockies game. Three cheers for them as well for their sweep of the Phillies. The only downside was that we had game 4 tickets for sunday night. As soon as they won, me & steph took a cab back to her place because there was a rumor flying around the bar that potential world series tix may go onsale. Such was not the case, but it was time to call it a night anyway. The next morning some folks came over to Steph's for a b-day brunch, and we watched the Red Sox complete their sweep of the Angels. I decided it would be good luck to wear some socks that were red. The only ones I could find on such short notice had snowmen & xmas trees on them, but they seemed to do the trick.

rocktober fest

Since I was heading to the NL Wild Card Tiebreaker game between the Rockies and the Padres, I left work yesterday around 3.30 and met up with dylan at my place. We had some victory brews that he won over the weekend from a co-worker who was an oklahoma fan (ha!). Victory beers are tastier than regular ones. Seemed like everyone had the same idea, traffic into denver was stop and go, but we made it with some times to spare. Parking around the stadium was a bit steep - $40, which was more than I spent on two tickets (which reminded me to call steph and have her pick up some tix for game 4 of the next series - justin case). This game had completely sold out earlier in the day. We had seats up in the upper right field in the purple row which was pretty swell. The purple seats are the row of seats in the stadium that are exactly one mile above sea level, the rest of the stadium has green seats.



What a game! It should have been over earlier (way before the 13th inning and ~5 hours), but we were robbed of a home run that bounced back onto the field and was ruled a double instead. The crowd was electric, and my head still hurts a bit from all that hollering.

CU later sooners!

The Rockies lost friday night (after 11 straight wins), but on the upside, the Red Sox clinched the AL East for the first time since '95. After the rox game on TV we hit the hay since we had an early tailgate for CU the next morning. FSN interviewed Matt and filmed our tailgate crew being festive. It was homecoming and we faced a tough opponent - #3 Oklahoma. After CU put up the game winning field goal to make it 27-24, the place went nuts and we all rushed the field. After the game, steph and I got some dinner on the Hill, and then bumped into coach Hawkins. I gave him a high-five and congratulated him on the win.





A little later on, there was a low-key musical event over at the Fiske Planetarium on campus - a live PA by one part Orb, Thomas Fehlmann, and some other fine folks. The night started out out nice and chill, then gradually moved up in tempo, with Mateo and Fehlmann kicking out the tech-y house jams.





Sunday, me, dylan, and brendon all got up bright and early and headed to the boulder reservoir to cheer on the ladies, who were all running the Boulder Half Marathon. We brought all of the leftovers from saturday's tailgate, and started all over again. After the race we headed to the Southern Sun for some grub and called it a night, but not before securing a pair of tickets to tonight's NL wild-card playoff.