We're an Obamanation

Thoughts from Inauguration Day

I popped over to fellow blogger and good friend Will’s house this morning to watch the inauguration. It was nice being with another writer as we watched with our laptops at the ready. While he was writing for Moue Magazine and somewhat live blogging the whole time, I posted just a few thoughts as I watched:

 

I cringed a little when the boos for Bush started resonating throughout the crowd in D.C. After all, the guy did serve our country as a leader during some difficult times, so perhaps the American people should have showed a little respect. On the other hand, he created a lot of those difficulties himself. Perhaps the singing of “Hey, hey, hey good-bye” was a better audios to our former President…

However, props to the President’s Own USMC band for drowning out whatever boos were there.

To be honest though, inside I was booing for Bush just like the majority of America.

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Looking at Obama’s face as he walked down the corridor towards the podium, Will and I couldn’t help but to wonder what was going through his mind. From the stone emotional look on his face, I think his head must be in utter bombardment of emotions, thoughts, and mental preparation for his speech ahead.  Since I believe more people will be watching this one speech at this one moment than any other speech from an American President in history.

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From Diane Feinstein:

“Real and necessary change in our country”

From Rick Warren:

“United by our commitment to freedom”

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John Williams. As if he hasn’t defined iconic symbols enough with his movie scores, he now has defined a presidential office with his arrangement of Simple Gifs.  Brilliantly performed and composed, the piece started disjointed and in disarray, however came together via the recognizable melody of Simple Gifts played, not coincidentally, by a black clarinetist.

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From Barack Obama  himself

“Humbled by the task before us”

“Values are old and true. [They have been] the quiet forces of progress”

“A new era of responsibility.....duties that we seize gladly”

The political analysts summed up his speech with the phrase Obama himself has used time and again: We are summoned to responsibility.

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Perhaps the most interesting image, to me at least, was at the very end of the ceremony. Bush and Obama standing next to each other on capitol hill. Obama wearing a red tie, Bush wearing a blue tie.  I believe Obama said something to the effect of, “we are not just a collection of red and blue states….”

Then president Obama and vice-president Biden stood and watched as Marine One flew former president Bush out of Americans' lives, while the crowd again sang “hey, hey, hey, goodbye”

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And I never noticed Barack was left handed until today. 

Country....

I'll be honest, I've never really enjoyed country music. That is until I got involved with Daddy D productions out at the SC Grand in DePere, WI. Now, I truly despise country....

Ha, kidding!!! It's a brilliantly fun show! What don't believe me?!?

Look at me. Look how excited I am....

Look how....country I am

Wow, this picture makes me want to throw up.....

Anywho, in case that poster is a bit too small to read, here at the details. Come check it out!

6:30 Coocktails

7:00 Dinner

8:00 Show

Come for the dinner and the show, or just the show!

Preferably just the cocktails and the show. That's when it's the funniest.

(yes, funniest, not most funny)

January 30th - February 21st

Matinees February 11th & 21st

See show listings at left for complete details

Yesterday, I Went Running

For a successful run, always start with clean teeth.

Clare Sitting

My five-month-old niece and I don't quite get along yet...

Trackside Seating at Your Own Risk

This past Saturday night, I had the opportunity to witness a sport as sports should be played. If the following video doesn't explain it all, I don't know what will:

I would try to explain the rules of this fantastic event but in all honesty, I'm not 100% on how it all works myself. Here's the basic premise. Two teams of scantily clad women are on the floor at a time. One skater from each team is designated the "jammer" and wears a star on her helmet as an indicator of such. The object of the game is to get your team's jammer through the pack of both teams' blockers.

It's obvious why every heterosexual male should fall love with this event. Chics in mini-skirts, lace panties, and other unique uniforms skating around and knocking each other over is entertaining to everyone, male, female, straight or gay. But besides that aspect of the sport, I personally love the fact that this sport is pure fun.

No million-dollar contracts. No overly inflated egos. No huge corporate sponsors...well, some local Madison area businesses, but it's all in the spirit of promoting and contributing to the sport. This league is what sporting should be: FUN. No one takes themselves too seriously. All of these ladies have day jobs, and many have families and lead perfectly "normal" lives outside of that ring. But in it they are death machines. They use fake names like the Vaudeville Vixens' Chop Suzzy #311, Octopusy #007 and my favorite Juke Boxx #A18. Or the Reservoir Dolls' rock'n jammers Mouse #4 and Rosetta Stoned #420, and the ridiculously gorgeous Little Bo Bleep # #@!% and their coach Busta Crimes.

Those were my two favorite teams, the Vixen's and Res Dolls. However, a friend I was with had a sister who played on the Unholy Rollers and they ended up rocking the shit out of the Res Dolls. The Vaudeville Vixens ended up setting a new Mad Rollin Dolls league record high score of 164 points. For a full recap of the night's events.

Here's what the referee saw that night:

I could go on and on about this Saturday night's rollin rumble. Instead, I'm going to post their 2009 season schedule in hopes that you'll make it to the Madison area to see this fantasticness for yourself.

• Saturday 10 January 6PM: Veterans Memorial Coliseum @ Alliant Energy Center
• Sunday 1 February 1PM: Veterans Memorial Coliseum @ Alliant Energy Center
• Saturday March 6PM: The Exhibition Hall @ Alliant Energy Center
• Saturday 21 March 6PM: The Arena Building @ Alliant Energy Center
• Sunday 5 April 3PM: Veterans Memorial Coliseum @ Alliant Energy Center
• Saturday 25 April 6PM: The Exhibition Hall @ Alliant Energy Center
• Saturday 16 May 6PM: The Exhibition Hall @ Alliant Energy Center

If you're thinking about it, message me and I'll join you.... gotta go cheer on my Vixens.

Oh and I can't complete this blog without thanking the man that showed me the glory that is roller derby. Thanks Albino! (Check him out this Friday as he does his 3rd Annual 24 hour Random Jandom radio show on 90FM)

In with the New, but Keeping the Old

As I sit on the fifth floor of UWSP's Learning Resource Center watching a kid get yanked around on a blaze orange sled, I think to myself, "I cannot wait for him to get whip-lashed off that bright piece of plastic...and why don't they just call this building a library." 

I believe UWSP goes for the three word building titles: Health Enhancement Center, Learning Resource Center, Dreyfus University Center, Debot Dinning Center etc. This way students can refer to them in acronyms, because life is too fast paced for anything but.  Acronyms help people streamline things, keep things in order. 

Over the past few months, this blog has helped me keep my life in order. I'm extremely pleased to go back and read things that happened just months ago that had I not written down, would have been lost to the black holes of my memory. 

I also just so happen to be at a crossroads of where I'm going in life. While I don't like to dwell on the past, we can learn from it. So I take time now and again to go back, see where I've been in hopes that it will help me determine where to go. 

Since I am going, somewhere yet unknown, that means change. Change that I am exited for. Along with a change in life come a change in my blog's format.

Basically this was just a long explanation of why I changed my blog's template....

They Liked Me, They Really Liked Me!

Post London can do strange things to people. I've been chatting with friends who have done the same program I did in past semesters. The biggest change in everyone is just the different way they view things upon returning from this marvelous city of British accents and double-decker red buses.

For those that truly embraced that city, like me, we feel a sense of inadequacy with life back home. There's no hustle and bustle, no excitement around every corner. When I turn down the streets in Green Bay, I know exactly where I am. I miss that thrill of getting...not lost, but discovering a new section of Londontown just about every night I went out.

I miss Brent, specifically Harlesden, and being the minority. Taking in other cultures' lifestyles for a change. I loved it. And of coarse, Bang Radio, the station and all the fabulous people I came to know.

Speaking of which, I was extremely humbled this morning after I read the kind words of my replacement at Bang via his blog.

Here's the good stuff about me...real humble, I know:

Hi everyone, I’m Michael, the new Shawn. Faithful followers of the Bang Blogs will know that Shawn Connelly was that cheery corn fed lad from the American heartland who was living out his bright lights, big city fantasy in London to finish his college radio course with a stint as the station’s production assistant.

But that’s such a modest term for all he did here. He was a jingle-making, promo-editing, ad-writing, note-taking and laugh-inducing wunderkind who sported a mighty set of unruly sideburns. He’ll be a tough act to follow, but I’ll try-though I can’t grow sideburns to save my life!

I am flattered. Thank you Michael!

Suddenly American, Suddenly 2009

1-2-2008

The holidays have their way of erasing time. Two weeks of my life seem like an utter blur. Then all of the sudden it's 2009 and I'm struggling to keep up.

Here's a quick recap of what my life as of recent has entailed. I finished up in the canary islands on Friday, Dec. 19th with a day of chilling in the sun at our sweet Americanized resort.

The next day we awoke early to get to the airport for our 11:05AM flight, which didn't take off until 6:30PM. If I ever get back to the Reina Sofa Airport, it will be too soon.

The next day back in the UK I caught a train out to Oxford where I caught up with long time

friend from high school Joseph Smeall. He's studying music composition and conducting at this prestigious university. We had a splendid day of walking about Oxford and catching up.

Later that evening, we went to a 9 Lessons Church Service where the choir sang many familiar classical pieces. It would have been a beautiful concert service were it not for the crying babies which parents didn't have the decency to remove from the church.

My last full day in London consisted of me finishing up my holiday shopping around London, mostly in Camden.

Then on the 23rd, I flew into a snow covered Chicago O'Hare Airport, got in just in time as well. An hour after I got in they began canceling flights arriving and departing.

I made it home in time for Christmas. From the moment I arrived in Wisconsin, I was taken over by day after day of family get-togethers. It was great catching up with everyone, but I was jet-legged as all hell and those first 72 hours back in the states was non-stop holiday brunches, dinners, and falling asleep on couches.

Now, it's 2009. I'm attempting to figure out exactly what is going to be happening with the rest of my life, and as soon as I know, I'll post it here. Until then, there will not be the day by day updates that my European adventure warranted. Just some random thoughts thrown down which will be hopefully better written and less journal-like.

I hope these entries about my travels have been entertaining and perhaps even a little bit informative. Once I have a bit more of my life in place, I'll be taking some time to reflect more on the past four fantastic months of my life...until then, Happy New Year!

Teide

12-18-2008

I woke up at 6:30 this morning and took the 477 bus to Los Cristianos. After an hour of walking and wave watching there I took the 342 up La Teide, the highest mountain of the Canary Islands.

This island is extremely unique. Due to the differing altitudes as you climb/drive up the montain, there are differing micro-climates. There are completely different plants growing below the clouds, from where the clouds sit, to above the clouds where nothing grows. Once you get above the town of Vilafor, about a fifth of the way up the mountain, everything is part of the Parque Nacional del Teide.

I got off the bus above the clouds at a basecamp/hotel, Parador de Turismo. From there I hiked four hours, eight kilometers, along the sunny, windly, and beautifully serene Siete Cañadas route. While windy at times, every so often I would be surrounded by cliffs and rocks that completely blocked the wind. When they did, I heard a silence like I've never heard.

That eight kilometers led me to one of the other two basecamps on the mountain, El Portillo. From there, I had another four hours of bus journey to get back to Puerto de Santiago, but again. Worth it’s weight in credit crunch.

The Splendor of Tenerife

12-17-2008

Today I took another tour with Manfred. The first one rocked so hard, I couldn’t resist another. This tour went in the opposite direction of the first to the north east side of the island towards La Laguna. There were ocho of us in this little beat up mini-van this time, filled to capacity. I actually had to plead with Manfred to let me go along. But totally worth it.

This tour involved a bit more driving and stopping but we saw some amazing views as we drove high into the Monte de las Mercedes region. Every half an hour or so, we’d stop and take another breathtaking look at the island that lay beneath us.

We took a walk around a cave village, a town in which everyone builds their homes into the sides of the mountains around them. Since these villages are so far removed from the more civilized parts of the island, they are mostly self-sufficient. They farm on terraces built into the sides of the mountains and most homes ran solely on solar power until three years ago when the island government brought electricity and street lights to the village. Manfred was puzzled as to why they would do this, as the inhabitants of these little villages are mostly elderly and sleep early. The government even built a lovely community center six years ago that is rarely used. Manfred assumes they are trying to beautify the area to attract people to live there. Because with the average age of the inhabitants around 55, the area may die out soon.

I could see a huge market for people wanting to live there, perhaps even monthly time-shares. Many people I know from Point would jump at the opportunity to live in a secluded village and sustain themselves for a number of years. I’m going to look at investing in this place….

After another short drive, we ended up in another mountain village where we met with an old shop owner who supplied us with the most delicious goat cheese I’ve ever eaten, some bread, and vino rojo.

He had the most ecliptic collection of random alcohol bottles I’ve ever seen. His collection of extremely old products also made me giggle. Emmet, the Irish guy on the tour, bought some batteries from the shop keeper. Upon putting them in his camera, he quickly realized that they had lost all their charge. To support the old guy, I purchased a Kinder Bueno candy bar. The visit to this little mountain shop was definitely one of the highlights of the day.

From there we drove further up the Monte de las Mercedes and took a hike through the “magic forest.” The vegetation here was quite unique.

And we got some more incredible views.

Our last stop was one of the only white sand beach on Tenerife.

The sand was shipped over from the Sahara desert to create a lovely holiday stop for locals and tourists alike. I was hungry so ordered what looked like onion rings on a bun. A British guy walked up next to me and asked what I had ordered. I said, “clamarie, it looks like onion rings on a bun.” He replied, “yeah, that’s not onion rings, that’s squid.” And sure enough it was, but it was also delicious.

Once I got back to the guesthouse, I grabbed my backpack and Manfred gave me a ride down to the bus station in Puerto de la Cruz where I took a bus to Los Gigantes and met up with Rachel at our next amazing accommodation, Hi! Tamaimo Tropical.

While the place was incredible and had much to do, I have a long day of hiking ahead of me tomorrow. So sleep took priority.

Around Tenerife

12-16-2008

After doing some interneting at a café in La Orotava, we decided to find a beach that actually had some sun. That meant heading to the west coast towards Los Gigantes, which just so happen to be where our next stay was in Puerto de Santiago.

We arrived in Puerto de la Cruz, which is were we needed to catch the bus, but soon found out that the next bus to Santiago didn't leave for another 2 hours. So we spent some more time in la Cruz, walking along the surf side, and listening to the waves crashing against the shore. There were some amazing resorts and public pools. We tried to imagine what this place would look like in the summer, with more sun and figured it must be more lively.

Puerto de Santiago was lovely after we took our hour and a half bus ride there. But before too long, we headed back to La Orotava.

Masca Gorge

12-15-2008

Our guest house owner Manfred runs his own little tours. For €28, he packed four of us into his little red mini-van, drove to the northwestern side of the island, and took us on a guided tour of the Masca Gorge, probably the most beautiful area of this island.

We drove an hour to a tiny town where we met a hiking bus that took us to an even tinier town at the top of the Masca gorge. From there we hiked four hours through some absolutely breath-taking landscape. The pictures say more than I can.

We started in a rainy, misty, wet part of the gorge, but the further we hiked the dryer it got.

 

In the beginning stairs were cut into the rock to make for an easy start, but after those first 100 meters, it was rough, raw hiking. The way I like it.

Quite windy at times...

Through crevasses.

Manfred taught us about water canals that were dug in the gorge in the late 1800's to supply the surrounding villages with fresh water. 

And how their discarded tools were made into part of the trail.

As we broke into the sunlight, we were stalked by a cat who I named Senor Gato. He liked me because I fed him….and probably because I named him.

 

At the end of the gorge, was a picturesque beach, only accessible by boat or by taking the four-hour journey we just took. While a bit rocky, it was a welcome warm sight after the damp walk we just took.

It was a bit choppy, but that didn’t stop me from getting in the water. With the waves crashing against the rocky shore, walking in from the beach was not an option. I had to walk over this concrete walkway out to a round platform in the water. Manfred assured me it was safe and it more or less was. I’m always shocked at how strong currents are in the ocean. I thought I was going to get smashed upon that concrete platform a few times, but my strong swimming held out.

I dried off just in time to board our dolphin watching boat. It was really entertaining watching people attempt to board this bouncing boat as the captain carefully maneuvered the boat to keep it from drifting to far away or from crashing into the platform.

As we pulled away from the gorge a full spectrum rainbow bid us farewell.

 

We eventually pulled up to some fish nurseries where we were able to see some live dolphins pick off the fish that made it through the nets. A few even jumped out of the water for us, but mostly it was dorsal fins and blowholes. But I’d rather see that from dolphins in the wild, than a full body view of a dolphin in a tank.

After a little wait in the ocean side tourist area of Los Gigantes, we took a bus back to the little red mini-van where we drove back to La Orotava.

We walked into town that night and grabbed some dinner with Patrick and Arnita, the other two hikers on our tour today. I don’t know how I became the Spanish expert in our group of four but it was up to me to communicate with the waiter, which with Rachel was rough as she had specific wants. Poor Arnita had to have all her meals gluten free, but she had a small card with all her needs printed in Spanish, which helped a lot. The highlight from this place was the pumpkin soup, delectable.  

It's Also Winter in Tenerife

12-14-2008

We came here for the beaches and the sun, and neither really seemed to cooperate. A bus from La Orotava down the valley to Puerto de la Cruz was pretty cheap and not long so we decided this popular beach would be the way to go.

While the black sand on the beach was beautiful to walk through along the beach, the huge waves and rip-tide justified the red flag being raised which according to the signage around the beach meant “swimming and water activities are forbidden.”

We didn’t see this sign until after we ventured into the water.

Nothing dangerous though. We basically went in enough to say we went in. You could feel the strength of the rip-tide just standing in the knee deep water.  So we really didn’t dare venture too far into the rough seas. A few others dared the waters after us, but before too long the authorities arrived to rope off the beach. But hey, we got in.

Down the street from the beach we found a stadium with what looked like local futbol teams battling each other. Right next to the stadium was a small church with a public tower which we walked up to watch the game from.

Puerto de la Cruz entertained us for a few more hours as we walked. But we eventually took a bus up to La Laguna, a bus which we never actually got off due to crappy weather and took back to Puerto de la Cruz. We got to see some beautiful parts of the island though, through rain-dropped windows.

Upon our return to the guesthouse we decided to cook our dinner, which consisted of noodles, tomato sauce, and cheap wine. That is, until we invited a couple other guests to join us. Then Patrick from Germany brought in some delicious goat cheese and olives which helped to spice up the sauce. Carl, who stays free at the guesthouse and does odd jobs to keep it up, ate with us too. I felt bad not knowing German with Carl because his English was very limited and I hated leaving him out of conversations. All the more reason why I’m diving into German and Spanish when I get home. 

Settling in La Orotava

12-13-2008

The limo ride was the just the beginning of a long day of travel: limo, to plane, to bus, to taxi, then finally to 24 Calles Marques en La Orotava, Tenerife. We arrived at our guesthouse in the late afternoon. After that long day of travel, we just wanted to relax. So we walked around the typically quaint Spanish town and got to know our surroundings. We did a bit of grocery shopping so we could cook at the guesthouse and defray some eating out costs. 

We called it an early night as Rachel had not slept much the night before and I had to work on my final externship paper. 

This is the view from the roof of our little guest house, nestled right in the middle of 

La Orotava.

Leaving London in Style

12-13-2008 (early morning)

Yes, that is a Hummer Limo, and that’s how I got to the airport this morning. Sure I may have put more of a carbon footprint on the earth than I needed to this morning, but once in my life 

won't hurt.

Thursday, at the Bang Staff Christmas party, I was told I’d have a limo at my disposal. Throughout the day yesterday, I kept trying to call Peter, our advert director, to see if that was actually going to happen. However, with each call, I couldn’t get a hold of him. So towards the late afternoon, I was giving up hope.

Then just was we were finishing up our shisha (hookah), I got a call from Peter. He told me I’d be getting a call from the limo service shortly and that we’d work out the details.

So after a call at 6:00pm the previous day, this limo picked up Rachel and I at 3:00am right outside MTH on York Terrace East.

Despite the heat not exactly working and the driver almost getting in an accident, that was the best free limo ride in London that I’ve ever had.... and I have Peter Terry to thank for it!