Category: Friday Fives

1. Ever flown in a balloon?
Yes. On a couple of occassions. In Craig once as part of a news story I was doing and then in Crested Butte on a lark in college as well.

2. Ever done something you were so scared off you hid in an attic?
Yes. Well not in an attic. We didn’t really have an attic at the childhood homestead. And I never did something that caused me to run away. However, there are many of these kinds of stories. Over time, as the statute of limitations expires I have begun to share some of them with my mother.

3. Ever built your own vehicle (real or imagined.)
Yes. One fall in my youth me and a child hood friend Clancy made a seiries of go carts that could make it down the hill at East Elementary and run right into traffice at a busy intersection. (see above question) These crafts were quite elaborate, with a body made of old trash cans and wheels from lawn mowers and a pully system to assist in steering.

4. Ever done something that made the headlines
I was once made the Craig Daily Press “Citizen of the Day.” So eat that Lono!

5. Would you rather publish your diary or make a movie on your most embarrassing moment?
Let’s go with the movie. My diary is pretty bizarre and I couldn’t explain it to everyone. A movie is a simple glimpse into my sick, twisted head.

1. Who is your latest crush on?
Allison Krause from Union Station. And Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies.

2. Do you have a favorite super hero?
As a boy, The Green Lantern and as an adult The Tick. Both perfect heroes for very different reasons.

3. How about a favorite cartoon or cartoon character?
Lately, I have been obsessed with this gem of a cartoon: Chopping Block. I also enjoy Medium Large and the wit and wisdom of The Comics Curmudgeon. Spend some time at TCC in the forums and you will discover some great web comics.

4. Ever solved a crime?
I spend an awful lot of time at work unravelling things, but not really crime solving. I was an Explorer Scout in a Law Enforcement club when I was 16 and 17 but I didn’t really participate or have a good time with being a mini-cop. I think I would be a good private investigator – I am kinda snoopy. But I have never solved a crime.

5. Would you rather: have the power of invisibility, or be able to produce sparks from your fingertips?
I go for the sparks. They can be a great distraction and if used correctly they can be a great crime deterrent. Although invisibility could be great if you want to get your freak on.

1. Do you still listen to the radio?
Not much. At least not terrestrial music radio. I stream AM760 in the mornings to listen to David Sirota, but that is about it for my radio.

2. Do you have a streaming music outlet that you suggest?
I found this great streaming public radio station out of Alaska called Whole Wheat radio. Lot’s lf independent artists with a folksy, country bend.

3. Do you listen to any podcasts?
I used to listen to the Don and Mike show, then the Mike O’Meara show as a pod cast. But he has been cancelled. I used to listen the Adam Carolla show on podcast, but he got cancelled. Adam is still podcasting but the content is not safe for work, so I have kind of gotten out of the habit.

4. Have you ever downloaded a video podcast?
No. There are some interesting, newsy, techy, geeky, DIY video podcasts out there, but I have never taken any of them in.

5. Do you read (listen to) any audio books?
I am not in the habit. I tried one or two during a recent road trip. But audo books just don’t really do it for me.

Rainy day weather:

1 Coffee or tea?
Coffee for the rainy days. Cocoa for the snowy days. Bourbon for most days.

2. Slippers or big ol socks?
Slippers or often just flip flops. My feet get hot and only the bottoms of my footsies get cold.

3. Soup or casserole
Casserole every time. Why? Usually more cheese. Mmmm. Cheese.

4. Movie or sports
During this bought of rainy weather, sports. More specifically baseball and The Rockies. It has been a tough few days as they seem to have fallen in a slump before the momentous Rocktober hits.

5. Bar soup or body wash?
Body wash – Dr. Bronner’s 8-1 Eucalyptus to be specific.

Please feel free to post your responses in the comments section below.

1. Why is the music of the Beatles important to you? (Or the opposite, if you are not a Beatles fan.)
I discovered the Beatles just months before the death of John Lennon while in high school. As an obsessive teen ager, this death impacted me as I was reading a book about The Beatles and had just purchased the “Double Fantasy” album. As a result, the band has always had a place in my heart. And heck, they rock some pretty great songs as welll.

2. Do you have a favorite Beatles song or album?
See my blog for the “Hey Bull Dog” post. I dig this song. It is very raw and rollicking. I also really like “The Long and Winding Road.”

3. Who is your favorite member of The Beatles?
John. It has always been John for me.

4. Who is Eleanor Rigby anyway, and what makes her so important? She was briefly the Queen of England but is now a greeter at the Liverpool Wal-Mart. She collect marbles and raises parakeets on her small coastal retreat.

5. Do you have a favorite Post Beatles project/song/album/band?John Lennon “Rock ‘n’ Roll is a favorite album. Wings “Live and Let Die” is a rocker. And ELO with their promise to pick up where “I Am The Walrus” makes them a great post Beatle band as well.

1. How bad will the Broncos be this year?
I am not expecting a winning season – plus Josh is pretty far behind on his other homework and I don’t think he is supposed to be outside when the street lights come on, so it can be complicated if he has to go home before the games are over.

2. As Autumn quickly descends, what is your favorite part of this time of year
It is sold out this year, but the Great American Beer Festival is always a nice introduction to fall. Maybe I will find a way to attend. As mentioned above, another great part of Autumn is football. Plus the weather. Autumn weather is my favorite. Autumn is the Majikwah Spring.

3. Who is your favorite weather forecaster on the television
It used to be Angie Austin on Channel 2, but she is now deployed to lifestyle and entertainment beat. That leaves some boring competition. I can’t remember the dude’s name but he does the weather on weekends on Channel 7 and he is the most boring waste of the Men’s Wearhouse suit that has ever been on screen.

4. Do you set your watch/clock to be a teeny bit fast so that you are never late?
Set to on time. My watch synchronizes with the atomic clock in Ft. Collins at 12:00 am each night. This little Casio gem is always on time. Now, for me? I am starting to run a bit late for things and that is starting to bug me.

5. Name one big thing you plan to do in the rest of 2009.
A trip to the ranch is in the future in December – ho ho ho. And if the Rockies get to world series, Rocktober fever will be a big thing in my future.

1. If you could go back in time to change one choice in your life, what would it be?
I probably would have stayed in the Army (I had the chance to be posted in Belgium at SAC-EUR, and I turned it down. That would have been a sweet assignment.)

2. What would you like your dying words to be?
Step 5: Enjoy.

3. If you HAD to change bodies with someone you knew for 1 year, who would it be?
Odd question. Bodies and not experiences? Is this some mystic Freaky Friday like event? The quesitons that follow this question are perplexing and many.
I think I would like to live the Obama experience, changing bodies for a time to see all the madness, mayhem, stress, strain, celebration and life going at 100 miles an hour. Either that or with Bruno the dog. He gets to sleep a lot. I would like more naps.

4. Choose your favorite license plate combination. What does it read?
First off, Eddie has to tell his recent license plate story. It is golden.
Then, for my offering. Hyndai1 (lame but I love my car) – or – EARTHBNG (I’m a local)

5. What fantasy world would you live in (i.e., movie, tv show, book)?
Not that pot crazed HR Puff’stsuff world, that is certain. Nothing that involves lots of clowns.
I read some books by Jasper Fforde in which the characters live inside books while solving book related crimes – I wouldn’t mine that, being able to live, work and vacation inside any book.

Don’t blame me, blame the food network.

1. Do you have a favorite dive hangout (great food, cold beer and decor that would trouble grandma.)

One of my favorite dives is Phil’s place down in Curtis Park. Also really dig the wings at the Piper Inn on Parker Road.

2. Paula loves her butter. What is the oddest thing you have cooked with butter?

What a simple and yet complex question. I think I recall in Germany an amazing fried mashed potato dish – I didn’t cook it, but it was divine, accompanied with black bread and Hungarian Goulash.

3. Did you have a favorite dish from Grandma?

My Grandma Mathis made the best fried chicken, cook in a cast iron skillet – which is now in my possession.

4. Have you ever been charged for water at a restaurant?

I have not, however I understand this is coming into vogue in LA and NY. Just a matter of time before us land locked folks are paying for water. Damn communists.

5. With just four ingredients, what can you cook.

Vampire chicken
Celery, 40 cloves garlic, one whole chicken, onions.
Stuff garlic under the skin and in the cavity of the chicken. Make a lattice with the celery on the bottom of a crock pot. Place the chicken on top and scatter sliced onions and then cock on slow for about 8 hours or so.
It is insanely good. Serve with bread, using the roasted garlic as a spread for the bread.

show me the funny

1. If I were to poll others, what would they say is the funniest thing you have ever done
I made a comment about a friend and an imagined posting on Craigslist. I am not going to detail the joke – due to readership – but yes, it is a funny joke and still in rotation in some form a month or so later.

2. like comedy? Who is your favorite comedian? Why?
Yes, I like comedy. As a teen, while most folks were building their rock and roll chops, I listened to comedy albums. Favorite comedian? Currently, probably Adam Carolla. From the past, Steve Martin and Lewis Black.

3. favorite funny writer
Sara Vowells

4. favorite funny movie
This is a big category. I think I will list a few: Blues Brothers, LA Story and Python’s Meaning of Life.

5. what’s so funny?
Pratfalls, physical comedy and well paced rhetoric, like the Marx Brothers. That translates in the modern age into reruns of Two and a half men. Tightly written it is like watching an old comedy from the 30s and 40s. It is better than you think, especially the first two or three seasons.

1. What was your first car?
A 1969 Ford 500. Blue and White, a family hand me down. Three on the tree and lots of horsepower.

2. What happened to it?
Handed it down to cousin Drew’s family. Last heard it was still in commission.

3. What is your favorite car you have had of all of them?
I have to say, the current set of wheels. I love “Trogg,” my 2008 Hyundai Tucson.

4. What is your dream car?
I wants ta Ferrari. They pretty. Let me touch the pretty, pretty car.

5. Would you rather: be hit by a car or fall from a building?
Let me fall and just die. I know too many folks who have something all fucked up as a result of being hit by a car (backs, hips, etc.. )