the sky is big (er?) in washington

this past weekend we ventured north to rural washington state to visit with some of our dear friends.  i'll post a few more photos from our trip in the coming days.

cd sunday: dave matthews band's crash

the second installment of my top 20 favorite albums brings me to another old favorite.  this album entered my collection at some point in high school.  my good friend jeff plays the drums and bought dmb drummer carter beauford's under the table and drumming dvd.  i had always dismissed dave matthews band for their jam band image, but after watching that dvd i was mesmorized both with beauford's drumming, and the music that they were creating.

jeff recommended that i get this album first, and it wasn't long before i bought all the dmb albums i could find.  but crash remained one of my favorites.  for starters, this is one incredibly talented band.  they are doing stuff on this album that just wasn't done at the time it came out.  they were writing clever and creative music that included strings, and a sax, on top of the traditional drums, bass, guitar, and each were so gifted.

my first roommate in college showed me that during their heyday, you were either a lover or a hater.  i the former, he the latter.  he couldn't understand how anyone could like dave matthews band.  maybe it is too technical?  maybe they lack the radio hit formula?  maybe some of the songs go on too long?

whatever the reason, i loved this album from the get go.  songs that still stand out to me are "let you down", "tripping billies", and of course "cry freedom" came in to new light after my trip to south africa.

i'll be back next weekend with more of my top 20 favorite albums of all time.

1. u2 - the joshua tree

balance

one of the great perks of riding your bicycle in the hills around pasadena means you get some interesting intersections like the one pictured above. when we moved to california i had no idea how cycling would change. when we would go for rides back in virginia, most routes would be rolling hills. here you have the choice of flat, or straight up and straight down.

stapled

i noticed the jagged detail on this telephone pole the other day. interesting.

biking after the station fire

a few weeks ago, taking a long ride on our bicycles was out of the question. the air was so thick with smoke and ash that it occasionally looked like it was snowing on me when i rode my bike to work. we are happy that the smoke is gone and the sky is clear, yet we are also sad that this fire took our forest with it. this la times article and accompanying video is worth a look.

more skywatch friday can be found right here.

sky watch friday at jpl

i snapped this one off during our recent visit to nasa's jet propulsion laboratory.

more sky watch friday can be found right here.

trip through your wires

someone recently mentioned that pasadena should use the palm trees instead of installing or replacing telephone poles. either way, they sometimes blend together creating a jumble of lines.