Double Down

Tuesday I did not want to go to work. But I did. I ate a scone for breakfast.
Lunch came quick and I was rather hungry. I was on the brink of eating crap food just because, however I decided to go to Whole Foods and get an entirely plant based lunch. I bought whole wheat pita, black beans, a red pepper, hummus, avocado, and spinach. I made it into a pocket sandwich thing and it was the bomb. It was so good in fact that I ate it for dinner as well! I did not take a picture though, sorry about your luck.
After work I ate the above mentioned sandwich and then headed out to The Bongo Tree to hang out with Joe and Zach Daulton. We were going to work on tracks for Canoes live show, but we ended up just sitting around listening to tunes, drinking coffee and talking about everything you can imagine. It was a great time and I didn’t end up leaving until around 11. Whenever I am out there I always forget that I am an hour from my apt and I stay too late. I ended up getting back to my place around midnight and went to sleep.

Wednesday I had a bunch of regulars come in including Chris, PJ, and Jason. We sat outside talking for quite a while just enjoying the weather and our different coffees.
For lunch I ended up making a spinach based salad with all the same stuff from the pita pocket plus red onions. I toasted a pita and had it on the side. WTF, SO GOOD. I tossed it so that the hummus coated all the lettuce like a dressing. Stuart stopped by work at the end of my shift, and we shared iced americanos and sat outside as we watched the storm come in. I was going to cook for a friend, but they bailed so I cooked for Stuart and myself. I prepared pasta with zucchini and we bought rosemary bread at Whole Foods to go with. I put a ton of red pepper flakes in the sauce and they torched us. It was awesome. 

We watched some tv then Stuart went to study while I watched the mid season finale of Breaking Bad. Holy crap, it was so good. January can’t come soon enough. I fell asleep before 12 and had a great night of sleep.

Laborless Day

Monday morning came all too soon. I slept through all my alarms, and instead of waking up at 8am, I woke up at 10:20am. I rushed through getting ready, forgot to slap on deodorant, got gas, and started my drive up to Pickerington to see my friend Madeline. I arrived at her family’s house around 12:30. She was giving their Jack Russell terrier, Sampson, a bath.

Madeline had never been to First Watch so obviously we went there for brunch/lunch. I switched it up and had the bacon and onion hash. Ser gerd. After FW we drove to a trail which we proceeded to walk on. There is a huge tree that she likes and we went and sat on it, followed by a couple of swings. We talked about a lot of things and then headed back. A side note, while we were heading back to the trail I stopped and picked a couple black walnuts off a tree and told her to pick a tree across the field for me to try and hit. I threw the first one, it was off to the right. The second one arced high and looked as if it was heading to the right but then dropped and cracked on the tree. Bullseye!
Once back to her place, I participated in a game of poker with her family while she made a blueberry pie. I actually held my own in the poker match, I was pleased. I had to leave at 5:30 to head home so I went all in on a hand and lost. Driving home sucked for a plethora of reasons including being very tired. I stopped to fuel up and purchased a Monster Java. It was so sugary it made my teeth hurt, but it kept me awake for the remainder of the ride home.
I arrived at my parents house at 7:26 and they had started eating without me, even though I told my mother when I would be arriving. This kinda annoyed me a bit, and the fact that there were basically no onions for my cheese steak. I guess after spending time with Madelines family (they are amazing) I was excited about coming home to mine, but then it was like oh well we started without you, there may be some food left. Boo wah, I’ll shut up now about that.
After dinner we watched Jim Gaffigan and then I headed home. A good Laborless day.

Single Saturday and Sunday Funday

Saturday started with a quick shift at work, followed by breakfast at First Watch with Luke, Michael, Stuart, and Justin. I ate so much food, and it was amazing.
Saturday I literally just laid around all day. I played a lot of piano and took a nap as well.
I went to Crossroads at 6:30 with Michael. The service was fantastic, one of the best I have been to. The thought I carried away from Chuck’s teaching was, “What if we lived like everything was on loan from God”.
After church Michael and I went to Whole Foods and bought a list of items to make a new chicken recipe Derek gave me to try. It was a honey, dijon, soy sauce, beer and shallots glaze on pan fried chicken. The chicken turned out a little dry, but the glaze was money.

Michael then left to go hang out with some friends and I stayed home played some more piano and then skyped. At around 11:30 I went and met Michael at Habit’s then we went and ate Skyline before heading home. I skyped some more until around 2:30, then I fell asleep.

Sunday I woke up around 9:50, got ready and went to church at Journey. I had told Adam I wasn’t playing because I was going to be camping. Because of the show and work, I didn’t go camping but I still didn’t play. Service was good, Tom interviewed Brian in a series called Confessions which looks at the inner working of volunteers at Journey. I went to lunch with Michael and the Schermerhorn family at Westshore Pizza. Afterwards I went over to the parents and drank a tea while they ate. Soccer at 2:30 had a good turnout, almost 20 people and good level of play. It was very muggy, but we had a great time regardless.
After soccer, it was back to the parents where I took what Luke and I refer to as a “coma nap”. I was out for about an hour and a half, and when I woke up it was tough to get going. I drove home and took a shower straight away.
Adam and Jess were at Rusty Bucket with Justin and Annie, so I went over and had a buffalo chicken sandwich and a Rogue Hazelnut Brown. Heaven was obtained.
After eating we went over to Adam and Jess’s place, toured the new basement and then played a cool board game called Dumb Ass (pardon my french). Coffee was consumed and we left at 11:30, Justin and Annie drove me back. When I got back to the apartment, Stuart was watching Louis C.K. with JayPaul and Christy. We watched some more while they ate then we all just hung out and played games until real late. Sleep came quickly and heavy when I hit the bed.

Bubby Hux

Don't ask

Real Friday (It's pronounced Ree-al)

Friday was a real Friday. I worked. I ended up leaving work around 2:00 and went directly to the bank. I had intended to go home and nap after work, but I will jump the gun and tell you that it didn’t happen. Upon arrival home I made some lunch, leftover eggplant parmesan on two pieces of toasted sourdough. It was so good. 

I skyped for a little bit, then cleaned up and played some piano. Before I knew it, I needed to get ready and leave. I arrived at Madison around 6:15.
The Getaway decided to backline the show, so as the first band we set up in the cramped confines of a small front stage. We played at 8:00 and I feel like we played great. The sound at Madison is really solid and the stage sound guy, Blake did an outstanding job for us. This was our first show as a four piece and I could not have been more happy with the set. I really don’t feel like we missed the second guitar that much. Sure, certain parts may not have dropped as heavy, but the ease of it being just me and the 3 other dudes was the best. Luke left around 9, while Doyle and I stayed until the end of the night. My favorite two other bands were Radio Rescue and BoyMeetsWorld. Really great guys, and solid music. We left at around midnight maybe? I forget. From there Madison we went over to Dancing Wasabi and had sushi. I haven’t had sushi in forever and it hit the spot. 

After sushi we went back to the apt and hung out super late. Real Friday was a good day.

Real Thursdays (And The Truth Contained Therein)

Well here we are on an actual Friday. Not first Saturday, just plain old Friday. What is a five day work week? Can someone tell me how to function on this fifth day at work? I don’t know what to do with myself! I have just been numbly making coffee for customers on what has actually been a pretty busy morning. I think thats normal protocol for an actual Friday.
Since today is actual Friday, that means yesterday was an actual Thursday. It was a weird feeling. Work was good, I was out of eggs, so I ate some cereal with almond milk at work.
The morning was actually decently busy. At one point at 4 customers in the shop. Yes, you did read correctly, 4! At once! Lately in the morning I have been playing the same albums at certain times. This week, I’ll listen to something more chill like Band of Horses or later Copeland albums.
Then when I have coffee I kick it into gear with either Tokyo Police Club or Ra Ra Riot. I repeat Champ and The Orchard albums for several hours, often until I go to lunch. They are just grooving this week. As I type Champ by TPC is playing.
I took a lunch at 1:00 and FaceTimed for a few before sitting down at the piano and playing through most of the songs that will be on Canoes next release. It was very therapeutic and by the time I finished it was time to head back to work! I sat outside for a bit before trying to tackle the trim situation on our countertop with Mel. Neither of us know squat about wood working so it was quite the task. We couldn’t figure out the angles for the corners. By the time 6:00 rolled around, we had made little progress. Towards the end it was just becoming comical how much I sucked at it.
After work I went by the apartment, then hit up Panera for a loaf of sourdough bread, then Kroger where I grabbed a bottle of Ravenswood Zinfandel. Dinner was Eggplant/Zucchini parmesan that Derek prepared. It was out of this world. It was his “low fat” version as Rachel isn’t able to eat a lot of fatty foods due to some gallbladder issues.

Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan  

Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan

Wine.

After dinner we grabbed a Sierra Nevada Tumbler (Autumn Brown Ale) and sat outside with talking with the Midas and Levity (their two golden labs). I had to head out around 9:20 to meet up with Luke at Journey and load up the piano and his amp for the show tomorrow. We talked for a bit and I headed home. Doyle was waiting to pick up some tickets at the apt when I got back and we talked for a bit before I headed in to bed. I wasn’t there long before I started a Skype session and that lasted a while. A long while. I fell asleep around 2:30 happy as a clam.
Here are some pictures from yesterday of things I photograph often

Please look at how he is sitting on his back leg. So weird.

Daily iced coffee with cream picture pt. I

Daily iced coffee with cream picture pt. II

Afterthought: Yesterday morning I read a really great article and I wanted to pass it on. Its called Fifteen Ways Twenty-Somethings Ruin Their Twenties Enjoy!

Which of The Standard Lines Will We Use

I didn’t realize I had run out of chicken eggs until I walked into the kitchen at 6:45 to prepare them. This was quite the disappointment especially since I had plenty of turkey sausage crumbles! When I opened the fridge door I thought for a brief moment that I could hear whimpering coming from the sausage, as if it was longing to be mixed with eggs and eaten by me.
I was able to spend some time outside reading before some of the regulars came in. I saw this beautiful spider in its web so I snapped a few pictures.

My coffee was amazing yet again as I enjoyed my last pour over of the Klatch Costa Rica. I am anxious to get more really good coffee in the shop (I know I said that yesterday, blah blah blah)
Chris Arnett stopped in around 11 and ended up hanging out until I took my lunch around 1pm.
My lunch break was actually very productive yesterday. I worked out, showered, made fajitas, and talked on FaceTime. Huxley was all about cuddle time, so we did a bit while FaceTiming. He didn't want me to go back to work.

I didn’t end up going back until just before 3 and when I got back my Mother and sister Kate were sitting in the garden talking. I made an iced americano and joined them. 

I just love the way this looks. I literally put cream in this just for the picture.

Kate had to leave shortly after but Mother stayed and talked till after 4. I realized I hadn’t seen her since vacation, which ended august 11. Crazy. It was really nice to catch up about a lot of things with her.

After she left, I sat outside and read a bit, then cleaned up inside up until 6, at which time I left.
After my insanely long commute, with loads of traffic, I got home at 6:03 and played some piano, until Jarrod came over to watch Newsroom. We had to wait for Evan, so we watched an episode of Wilfred until he arrived. It was the finale of The Newsroom and boy oh boy was it great. Plenty of cheering and omg’ing from Stuart and I. It is going to be hard to wait until June for season 2. 
May I digress for a second? Thanks. Huxley loves Mac products. More specifically, laying on Mac products. His current favorite is Stuarts new MacBook Pro. At 15 inches, its the most Mac he can love on. He was kind enough to allow me to snap a few pictures.

After they left, I made some pasta with garlic parmesan sauce and some bread. I followed that up with watching a documentary called Forks Over Knives. It was about the benefits to replacing your current eating with a plant based diet. Very eye opening. I am already pretty close to this with the exception of fish, chicken and some dairy products. It would be an undertaking, but I am thinking about giving it a try. Go watch FOK, it was fascinating.
After I watched that I laid down in bed, anticipating a phone conversation, but ended up falling asleep, I was so tired!

Meanwhile, On A Tuesday

Good morning from Cincinnati, Ohio. More specifically The Coffee Garden in Hyde Park, Ohio.
I hope this morning finds you the reader (or myself in the future) well. Let’s talk about yesterday shall we?
The morning started off well, I only had 3 eggs left so I prepared them with 2 yolks instead of the normal 1. I enjoyed another cup of the Costa Rica La Manita Ben gave me Sunday, it is quite spectacular. Sunday’s coffee experience was a sort of awakening for me. I really want to bring better coffee’s into the shop. Right now it is just the Coffee Break stuff, and while its not the worst coffee one could have, it is nowhere close to the stuff I am drinking now. I want customers that come in here to at least have the option of experiencing coffee this way. I spent some time looking at different coffee’s that I would want to bring in as well as additional equipment I may need to really make our pour over bar pop. Groban likes his girls to pop.

At about noon, the shop was over-run with a group of women who paint art under the “Art Circle at the Essex Studio” title. I would say their ages range from 55-75 maybe even 80, who knows. 

They are opening their art exhibit “Blossoming” this coming Friday at the shop. I am super upset that Canoes booked a show that night, so I will not be able to make the grand opening! UGGHH!

I gladly took my lunch at 1pm and used the time to finish write out a song idea and catch a nap with my buddy Hux.
Afternoons at the garden tend to have two speeds, fast and slow. Yesterday afternoon was slow, thats about all there is to say about it. I spent some time outside reading. I decided to start reading through the bible. I am ashamed to say that I have never read it all the way through and as someone that claims a relationship with its author I think its about time. I want to get perspective and see the big picture. Lately I feel there has been a lot of “passage picking” where someone will take a verse or portion out of context and exploit in anyway they see fit. I see this by both believers and nonbelievers. So I will read it through, my goal is 90 days. I’ll try to update my progress on here. I didn’t read all of the “assigned” portion yesterday, but read some more this morning and plan to spend a chunk of the afternoon doing the same.
As I was leaving work at 6, Doyle showed up, and we marched back inside where I made him a hazelnut americano with cream which he seemed to enjoy. 

We headed back to the apt and started to watch a Sunny, but then Caleb showed up so we headed up to practice.
Practice went well, we ran through the set twice and I felt and feel really good about it. I played through the new song I wrote for the guys and I think we may try to work on it in the future.
Caleb wasn’t feeling well so we wrapped practice by 8:45 and hit the road.
Doyle and I watched two episodes of Sunny including Mac’s Big Break, which is probably my favorite episode right now. Doyle left and I watched two episodes of Wilfred before heading to bed. I was awakened by Ms. Clark’s post midnight call. This lasted about 20 minutes then I entered into a deep sleep.