Sufjan!!!

Sufjan has come back from his sabbatical with a vengeance. It started with the release of All Delighted People last Friday and then the announcement this week of a new CD; The Age of Adz due October 12th. Sweet Sassy it is nice to have him back, there is no one out there right now that does a better job of songwriting. Whatever the song topic, be it a person, event, place, or emotion he is able to convey them through his lyrics so beautifully without being derivative, corny, or predictable. The song below illustrates that perfectly..... You have to skip ahead to the 11 minute mark, but trust me its worth. This is by far the best song I've heard in months. Enjoy!

Sun Kil Moon- Carry Me Ohio

I can't get enough of this song lately..... and I can't post actual music so YouTube has become my muse.

The Real World

I have been in graduate school for the past 3 years and it is now time to leave the nest. My first year of grad school a veteran grad student compared graduate school, or I guess any form of higher learning, with the stockholm syndrome. At first, you are miserable and hate your kidnappers (school), but as time goes on you forget about your horrible conditions and begin to sympathize with them. I'm realizing that I may have reached this point. I have been yearning to leave for years now and now that my time is finally up I'm a little hesitant. My working situation may be a hell hole, but it is a hell hole that I am familiar with. I know the routine and all the ins and outs, and if I leave.... everything will change and I will have to adapt to something new, which I say boo to. After having said all of that, I think that I'm ready to take the plunge and my employment options line up like this:

Whole Foods (Is it so wrong for me to still dream of being a hipster?)
Coffee Barista (See Whole Foods)
Some sort of random job (probably the most realistic choice)
Community College Professor (Eh? I could do that)
Chemistry Job (Kill me please)
Cool Chemistry Job (Doesn't exist)
And the Final choice: Back to school to do something I really want to do, public health anyone?

We'll see what happens, and now for your reading enjoyment, and A story that only happens in movies.

Here.

Spoon Jam

Some News

I recently injured my right hand attempting to do some white water tubing and the result has made typing rather difficult.... So today we have news links. Here are two stories I found interesting today while procrastinating at work.

Story 1: Higher Ed is a waste of money : as a grad student I find myself a little more interested in this article than I probably should be. The title sums up the article pretty well, and I found myself agreeing with most of it.

Story 2: Anne Rice quits Christianity: I still don't know how I feel about this one, but its definitely interesting. To be honest I find myself sympathizing with her much more than I thought I would. There are people much smarter than me that have said that the church is the greatest stumbling block for christianity, and I guess it certainly rings true in this case.
And now to lighten the mood a funny picture!

Avoiding Work

So i've recently started reading the Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, which is a very heavy read. Right now I'm on page 51 and I've had the book for almost a week now. But either way, I love Dostoevsky, his writing is amazing, and his life is equally as interesting. He was arrested in his twenties and sentenced to death in a Russian prison for his association with government radicals. He was allegedly pardoned from his death sentence as he was lined up to be shot. He finished his sentence, had a radical conversion to Christianity and a gambling problem and wrote some of the best novels ever. Here's my favorite quote from the Brother's Karamazov so far...... "Strive to Love your neighbor actively and indefatigably. In as far as you advance in love you will grow surer of the reality of God and of the immortality of your soul." Love It!!

Update

So it has been a little while since anything has been on here, life is a bit busy right now..... so here's whats been keeping me busy in no particular order.

1. Latte Art...... I was first introduced to this when I started as a volunteer barista at Everyday Joe's. Needless to say I am a bit obsessed. Every latte is a blank canvas. Here is my best creation so far.








2. Ally's camera: See facebook, enough said.
3. Geek Love: This is a book that was given to me from a dear friend of my wife's. It is about a family of circus freaks, but it somehow manages to maintain a very simple human emotion.
4. New Planet Beer- Gluten Free Beer that doesn't suck! Colorado is very good to us.









5. Transference: The latest (semi-old) album from Spoon. Spoon has perfected being Spoon.
6. Teaching: Today I compared a compound to Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Kidman.
7. Oregon Roadtrip: My latest obsession.... Trying to unearth every little nook and cranny that Oregon has to offer and make the best road trip possible out of it..... Here's one thing I can't wait to see.....