Austin City Limits!!

We leave Friday for the ACL Festival!

Super excited, but kinda bummed that we will likely only be at the festival on Saturday. Tickets sold out soo early and even though we got ours when I returned from Europe, we had to buy the more expensive single day pass. We are missing some good bands on Friday (Vampire Weekend, G. Love is always fun, etc.) and we will likely miss some great ones on Sunday, such as The Kills, Against Me!, Foo Fighters, and most importantly: Silversun Pickups. Ugh. Another time.

My good friend who lives there will ironically and randomly be coming back to Indy the same weekend, but we have some other friends out there. We can enjoy the city and normal nightlife on Friday and then see some great bands on Saturday. Sunday, we will relax and enjoy the town more before heading out in the evening. I've been to Austin once before and I loved it. Different than the other U.S. cities that I tend to like...the more Euro style or traditional, vertical cities such as Chicago, San Fran, Boston, NYC, or even outdoor towns such as San Diego, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, etc. Austin is fun. Unique sophistication with lots of outdoor activities and young, vibrant, active people in good shape. Very open and free-spirited and welcoming. An island oasis in Texas. Nice feel, good vibe, great town. We're going to have a blast!!

So, we will be at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday. As you can see from the schedule above, lots of the good bands are playing at the same time! We'll probably be running around like recently decapitated crackhead chickens!

It promises to be a good time. I'm sure we will do our part to "Keep Austin Weird."

Positivity

• inspire
• love
• passion
• joy
• bliss
• fun
• peace
• friends
• family
• running
• travel
• music
• people
• writing
• imagery
• stories
• driving
• speed
• blue skies
• food
• mountains
• river
• ocean
• spirituality
• together
• sweetness
• alive
• competition
• biking
• outdoors
• trees
• chemistry
• sexy
• discovery
• drinks
• dancing
• explore
• laughing
• smiles
• play
• flirt
• adventure
• sunshine
• festival
• beautiful
• bold
• impulse
• spirit
• joi de vivre
• learn
• art
• cutiful
• smile
• life
  

Conquer the World!

Ah, autumn nostalgia...

Life is grand!

(Well, most of the time)

It's about fun, adventure, relationships with friends and family. It's about finding, having and appreciating that person in which you can conquer the world. Side by side. Above all else.

It's about passion. It's about the mountains. Oh, the mountains.

Here's a cool story about a great songwriting band in the vein of Simon and Garfunkel, The Be Good Tanyas, The Sundays, The Indigo Girls. It's about a sing-songy band called The Weepies. I say, you gotta love XM Radio, Slacker.com and Imeem.com. I would otherwise not have found my way to this band. Or the Silversun Pickups. Or tons of others. Thanks to this amazing summer, to those girls from Brazil that gave the tip to go to Rock in Rio Madrid music festival and some great friends. Thanks to a healthy family. Thanks to a body that hasn't completely broken down despite all of the abuse I have thrown its way (disguised as "living").

Life is grand.
(More of the time than not...if you don't get in its way.)

Khakis

You're not your job.

You're not how much money you have in the bank.

You're not the car you drive.

You're not the contents of your wallet.

You're not your fucking khakis.

You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

--Tyler Durden (Fight Club)

Crazy Ones

So, I just read a column by a colleague of mine that I find very inspiring. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a direct link to the article because it is in a small community paper. In the article she references a poem that is beautiful enough to be repeated here:

Here's to the Crazy Ones!

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who
see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or, sit in silence and hear a song that hasn't been written?
Or, gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kind of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Rafting & Rock Climbing

We have changed our end of summer adventure. Originally, we planned to do a single day crossing of the Grand Canyon. This is still on the list, but for a variety of reasons, we are going to delay it until next year.

As we looked at the timing, we didn't want to fly, drive, hike, and jet back home and complete the adventure in a blur. It becomes then only about the single event. About a checklist. And that's not the purpose of a list or life. It's about friendships, nature, beauty... the journey. We want enough time to truly enjoy the experience. To smell the roses.

Instead, I believe that we will take a long weekend to West Virginia and go whitewater rafting and rock climbing. We've been rafting before, but I don't believe we have done the Gauley in the Fall when the timed dam releases create more waterflow and therefore a faster, more adventurous ride. Also, Keith and I haven't been rock climbing for more than a year. It's time to get back out even if we (that really mean's me) are weak and shaky and can't climb anything difficult. It's about the beauty of the experience anyway. And, aside from the hillbillies... the mountains of West Virginia are stunning.