Music you didn't ask for

I used to love year-end lists, I guess mainly because I thought they kind of validated what I liked. But then I realized that the weird stuff I liked tend to fall off of the radar of most everyone else, especially when it came to music. There is nothing more subjective or diffuse than music because of two things: people shake the junk in their trunk to different stuff; there's sooooo much stuff out there to make you shake the junk in your trunk.

Anyhow, I still troll the year-end lists of best albums because I love finding new stuff. Last year I came across my absolute favorite album for quite some time in Lord Huron's Lonesome Dreams (if you haven't given it a listen, do so now...and see these guys live if you ever get the chance. You will not be disappointed). While most of my list for this year actually came from either bands I knew and loved already or learned via SiriusXM, one great discovery was made just under the wire and has been in heavy play mode ever since.

So, here's my list, hoping the one or two of you who read this might find something new. If nothing else, Sophia likes what I play (and what's better for a dad's ego than for his daughter to tell him he's got great taste?).

1. Vampire Weekend, Vampires of the Modern City


2. Cayucas, Bigfoot


3. Arcade Fire, Reflektor


4. Daft Punk, Random Access Memories


5. Yo La Tengo, Fade


6. The Mother Hips, Behind Beyond


7. Typhoon, White Lighter


8. Atoms for Peace, Amok


9. Foxygen, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic


10. Volcano Choir, Repave


11. Wiped Out, Paracosm


12. Dr. Dog, B-Room


Happy 2014, y'all!

I am a very fortunate human being

I am a very fortunate human being. I am married to an incredibly loving, nurturing, supportive woman. I have two children who are far more intelligent and kind than I could ever expect to have the right to be. I am able to go to work and earn an honest wage at a place whose sole endeavor is to make the world better and healthier, all in the name of education, which I believe is any human’s greatest pursuit. I am surrounded by family and friends who value one another so selflessly and openly. I cannot take this for granted.

One Fan's Sense of the Myth and Legend of Lance Armstrong

In the summer of 2004, Lance Mania was in full swing. Lance Armstrong was about to embark on a record-setting sixth straight Tour de France victory and his dominance in the sport of professional cycling was unchallenged by the rest of the pro peloton.

I was one of those who fell in line, ordering packs of the ubiquitous yellow Livestrong wristbands that were more a symbol of being an Armstrong fan than anything having to do with supporting cancer research. The fact of the matter was Lance Armstrong was easy to root for. He had charisma, he overcame cancer, he embodied that ballsy American arrogance swagger that all Americans love but the rest of the world hates, and he rode the hell out of his bike with a ferocity that even his greatest rivals admired. He was in the same atmosphere as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. He was a sporting god. A deeply flawed sporting god.

I have always loved watching the Tour de France, long before I ever realized how much I loved to ride a bike. Back in the early 80’s when CBS offered limited coverage on the weekend with John Tesh giving commentary over his own synthesized musical score, I sat hypnotized by the coverage of the pro peloton winding and weaving through the undulating French countryside. The scenes of Greg Lemond battling Bernard Hinault or Laurent Fignon for tour supremacy while Claudio Chiappucci would make his fleeting yet heroic attacks made me alternately gasp and cheer in amazement. And then there was the group of North Americans sponsored by the corner convenient store, led by a  burly Mexican named Raul Alcala, a scrappy American named Davis Phinney, and the beautiful climber from Idaho, Andy Hampsten, who gave all of us Yanks a few moments to cheer and dream that an American on an American team would someday wear the maillot jaune in Paris.

After Lemond’s body gave way (after accidentally getting shot by his brother-in-law on a hunting trip) and Hampsten never could piece together that one, great tour, the American dream in France faded and the Tour became dominated by Spain. Yet in 1993, word began spreading of a scrappy Texan whose cockiness knew no end, nor did his talent. In 1996, Lance Armstrong, still known more as a one-day classics rider than a grand tour contender, was listed as a potential challenger for the yellow jersey but withdrew in the rain after the sixth stage. I remember turning to my brother and adamantly saying, “Lance Armstrong will win the Tour de France within the next two years.” About four months later Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer.

I had mostly forgotten about Armstrong over those next couple of years. Americans named Julich, Hincapie and Andreu had become the names of note, and Armstrong’s return couldn’t be anything too serious. And then he finished fourth in the 1998 Vuelta a Espana, Spain’s version of the Tour. The field for the 1999 was considered incredibly weak – no Marco Pantani or Jan Ullrich, both out for drug issues – and the Tour really was there for Armstrong to take…and he did just that, winning by a staggering 7 and a half minutes. The die was cast and America was hooked. Our cancer boy defied all odds and won the most beautiful and challenging sporting event in the world.

In the following years we were treated to classic moment after classic moment. The Look. The Field Crossing. The Musette. The Catch. There were indications that performance enhancing drug use could have been happening at the time. In 1999, Armstrong tested positive for cortisone, but he quickly produced an approved prescription for cortisone cream for his chapped ass and all was OK. His team was an infallible armada clad in the red, white and blue kits of their US Postal Service sponsor, always hitting every impossible climb with ferocious speed and undying relentlessness. It looked…impossible. But it was real, and unbelievably impressive. Perhaps that was the problem that the vast majority of us never acknowledged.

I defended Armstrong to those who would question his legitimacy. I said “Why would anyone who came so close to death be so willing to put such damaging chemicals in their body once back to full health?” I said “How great is it that at a time when the world hates Americans they cheer for a team with the US and US colors all over their uniforms.”

As we all now know and will get greater detail thanks to (seriously?!?) Oprah Winfrey this Thursday, Lance Armstrong was a doper, like much of the rest of the peloton during his racing career. What sets Armstrong apart in terms of his guilt is how horribly he treated those around him who attempted to tell the truth. Armstrong was and is a good old boy from deep in the heart of Texas. In short, an ass hole.

To this fan, Armstrong’s admission comes as a total surprise. Not that he actually doped. I think every fan realized this years ago and most who truly followed the sport figured it out while he was still winning. The surprise is that he is actually admitting to it. I figured he was taking this to the grave, either because he grew to believe the lies or because he had so much tied to it through litigation that financially he couldn’t let it out.

But looking back, as a cyclist, there are those great moments that no amount of doping can replace. Armstrong was a truly great cyclist and the fact that so many of his peers have confessed does speak to his doping keeping him on a level playing field rather than giving him an advantage. Doping did not help carry him across that rugged field outside of Gap. Doping did not lift Armstrong from the tarmac to not only chase down but pass the entire field after that fan’s musette pulled him to the ground on the Luz Ardiden. Doping did not drive Armstrong to chase down Andreas Kloden after Armstrong tried to gift the stage to his then teammate Floyd Landis, only to see Kloden snatch it away. Each of those moments came courtesy of Armstrong’s amazing bike talent and his unquenchable desire to win. Just like Michael Jordan. Just like Tiger Woods.

Just like those ass holes.

Who's Really Getting a Free Ride?

As we enter our product consumption holiday season, an editorial from the New York Times about America’s poor renewed the debate about these people “getting a free ride” according to the Sneetches with stars upon thars, a.k.a. the 1% and those electeds who stump for the 1% (typically one in the same). I find it very hard to believe that anyone below, at, or near the poverty level is privileged to much of anything that is free, so I’ve been thinking a lot about this claim that has come from the likes of Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, JonHunstman, and other pundits.

Make no mistake, I am not among those living at or near poverty, but I am a lot closer to that level in terms of income than the 1% to make damn sure. I’m also no economic expert (I took two courses in college) so I profess no advanced standing among that circle either. But I am a citizen doing a little extra in order to  interact and help among my community.

I find it very contradictory that the group of people who are receiving the greatest tax advantage in our country is accusing anyone of getting a free ride. I will grant that most surveys show that the vast majority of the wealthy did not inherit their fortunes (although a close examination of some of these surveys show them to be flawed and open to interpretation as to how much of one’s fortune was inherited versus expanded upon. For example, if I inherited $1million but used that $1 million to build into a $20 million fortune, is my wealth inherited or earned?). But how many of today’s wealthy were born into middle class or upper-middle class families between 1940 and 1975 (when the middle class ruled) that could still afford a top-level education? How many were born into families of poverty and still rose above?

There is no arguing that the wealth gap is at an all time high, and those with the wealth claim that they are the ones creating jobs and purchasing goods and services so they should have less of a tax burden because of the economy-spurring responsibilities they bear. Why is it then that as the wealthy should continue to get more while our economy continues to decline, consumption continues to drag and unemployment continues to rise? President Obama has nothing to do with this; it is simply a matter of the wealthy claiming to have a responsibility and then either opting not to enact that responsibility or that responsibility simply is a fallacy.

But back to the poor being freeloaders. Back in July, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann claimed that 47% of American pay no taxes. This was in response to aquestion in which the questioner framed their inquiry around a quote from the Bible (Matthew 22:21) that states, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's," a passage about paying taxes in Judea. I love it when people use Bible text to argue against people who use theBible to suit their own needs. Anyways, the question targeted how large private corporations are getting away with paying little to no taxes and Bachman turned it around to be an attack on the poor.

Of course the notion that anyone, even the poor, get off free is totally wrong. If they are getting paid above board, they have Federal Income Contributions Act taxes withheld (by the way, this is the one tax Republicans want to INCREASE). Plus, anything they purchase, from gasoline to groceries to clothing, is subject to taxes. But even still, the notion that 47% are not contributing appears wrong. In fact, according to the Brookings Institution, the poorest fifth of US citizens gave 16% of their annual income back through local, state, and federal taxes in 2010. Not seeing much of a free ride here.

So, how does one rise out of the poverty class? I mean, we all aspire in some small way to join the 1%, or at least increase our wealth to where the current 1% resides (somewhere north of $380,000 per year). My family currently is part of the top 25%, which seems pretty dang elite considering I work on a half-time basis and my wife is an RN on hourly wage. But how to the poor move up? It’s not simply by hard work and good intentions because we’re all fighting to make ours and there are only so many winning lottery tickets, pro sports jobs and elite entertainer spots to go around.

The obvious starting point is education, typically the #1 target of budget cuts by the right, which makes sense. What better way to protect their wealth and standing than by diluting the field of those who can threaten to take away from them. Schools in poor neighborhoods are typically the worst. And I say this living in the state that has consistently been among the bottom five states in education over the past ten years. Sure, there are more school options with open enrollment, but having kids go to schools outside of their immediate neighborhoods requires transportation, often a luxury not afforded to the poor. So, the poor are not receiving any advantages in terms of education, meaning no free ride there.

How about small business loans? Again, this well is being sucked dry as banks, the bastion of the 1%, have pared back small business lending by $47 billion (what’s with the number 47?) since the recession took hold in 2007. Besides, how many banks will offer significant loans to those with little to no education and even less collateral to try to start the next great business? And most great business is based around tech where the superstars were dropouts from Harvard and Stanford, not South Mountain Community College. Again, no free ride to be found.

So, I am at a loss, but as I said, I’m no expert. However, I find it very hard for this country to truly prosper and be strong with such an economic divide. I’m not saying we all should be rich. I mean, yes, I do believe that the rich should be paying more in taxes (or at least pay what they should and not hide behind dated tax codes, corporate loopholes or gifting to fellow family), but I don’t think that we should all be millionaires. And for the record, I’m quite happy and comfortable living at our current means and don’t expect more because I’m due something. Wealth and fortune should be earned and those who have earned it are deserving of that wealth, but it does not entitle them to extra privileges that others are not afforded. Their wealth is the privilege, not a tax advantage or the ability to sling accusations that others aren’t paying their fair share.

I find it very wrong that the mega rich are slinging claims of anyone getting away with living large or living free in this country while they themselves are asking demanding more for less. And the wealthy aren't getting any free ride either, but I sure see those folks getting complementary this and "don't worry about it" that a lot more than anyone else these days.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
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Hurry Up and Wait, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Create My Own Momentum

Hurry up and wait. This is an expression that is widely used in the film industry to describe the momentum that happens on sets. The film crew (you know, everyone BUT the actors, a.k.a. the people who really make a movie) busts their humps to get a scene set before the “talent” saunters out of their trailer to share their “craft” with the world. In other words, a never ending cycle of LeBron James’ “Decision” special.

Anyways, the crew kills themselves to get things right and then the actors come in and take all sorts of sweet Jesus time to do their scenes and get it right before the director yells cut, the producers check to see that no overtime in incurred, and the crew kills themselves again. The world of unemployment is much like this.

Because I had been through a layoff and job search before, I knew that the key to remaining as positive as possible was to keep myself occupied. I haven’t always been superbly successful at this (I hit one gawd-awful week-long funk in early September), but by and large I have done pretty well. In addition to searching for the next great job, I developed a proposal for a community-based program, launched a bike program at my kids’ school, received a grant for said program, co-chaired the school’s garden project, started this blog, co-coached my son’s First Lego League Team, and reintroduced myself to the practices of household maintenance. And I got to ride my bike a whole bunch, which is nice. For an unemployed guy, I’ve been pretty busy.

When I do search and apply for jobs, it’s in rushes of clusters. I would seem to find a few interesting possibilities in a row and hurry up and blast off the resumes. And then I would wait. Hurry up and wait. Egad.

This hurry/wait phenomenon took a different turn for me over the past month. A few weeks back, I received an email from a former colleague at ASU probing my interest in possibly returning to that institution in a limited role. Never being one to deny an opportunity to explore options (and honestly harboring no ill will or reason to not want to return) I expressed interest and agreed to meet with my old boss to discuss this potential post.

That same week, I was talking with a fellow parent at my son’s Scout meeting and we discovered that we had a mutual acquaintance and he mentioned how this acquaintance was looking for someone with my general skill set. Again, I expressed interest in meeting up with this person and see what suggestions he might have. I met with him a few days later and what was supposed to be an informal “good to see you” meeting quickly became a formal job interview with another department director from his firm.

Then that night I received an email from a parent from school who also happens to be an editor for the Phoenix New Times. She had seen an earlier post of this blog, complimented my writing and asked if I would be interested in writing for the New Times’ art and culture blog Jackalope Ranch. I figured she was drunk but I had to take her up on her offer.

I had gone five months with nary a smidgen of interest in my services outside of my own do-gooder efforts, yet in the course of one week I felt like LeBron the night he became a free agent. This was niiiiiice. And it was fast. Perhaps too fast?

Jackalope Ranch immediately sent me on my blogging duty and I now am featured weekly, producing a cycling-centric blog called, aptly, Cycle.

The other two possibilities have, well…aged.

I had the initial meeting at ASU with my old boss and colleague where they outlined what they needed and asked if I would be a) interested in coming back, and b) interested in this job. The situation actually sounded really good and the half time commitment meant I could continue playing Mr. Mom and work on those other projects that I had invested time and energy. They expressed that they would like to get me started fairly quickly to get me up to speed and ready for an upcoming event. Then Thanksgiving came…and went.

The other interview with the old acquaintance also went very well, there was some good chemistry happening, and they seemed to like my answers. But both gentlemen continually bracketed the interview with caveat that their search was in the infancy stages. After the meeting, I sent off my usual “Thank you for your time” emails. All is quiet on that front ever since.

In the middle of all of this, I coordinated the first bike safety rodeo for the school’s bike program. It was by all account a huge success. We had 50+ participants (31 students), gave away 14 free bike helmets (thank you Phoenix Children’s Hospital!), and were welcomed by a board member of the National PTA who formally announced our grant. I even had a commitment from Ironman to have a pro racer come and speak to the kids, but she couldn’t get away from her race commitments in time.

Hurry up and wait.

Well, as of this afternoon the wait is officially over – kind of. Today I met with the Dean at ASU and formally accepted the half time position back at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. And I have the best title EVER: Special Advisor to the Dean – Coordinates Advisory Boards and Community Groups. Picture that on a business card, pal! And I am going to be communing with alumni and community partners who have hiring authority or influence for major firms, companies and organizations across the Valley.

So while I am no longer officially unemployed, I am not yet a member of that highly vaunted full-timers club. But I like this set-up. I’ll be bringing a bit of cash home and getting back to work (both are really nice for the old ego) while I continue to write about cycling, develop the bike program, and continue this great bonding experience with my offspring. Heading into the holidays I feel like the wind is at my back and I have no need to complain.

What Do We Work For?

I used to be fond of pointing out that we (when fully employed) spend more of our waking hours at our jobs interacting with our co-workers than we do at home with our families and friends. The employed must be devoted and focused on earning their keep. It has become an American social norm, no matter how much some advocate for flex schedules, a four day work week, or mid-day siestas.

Jobs easily consume us. It’s understandable to fixate on the things in our jobs that drive us crazy. I’ve encountered some people who actually prefer to live in their state of unpleasant drama at work than find their happy place. I was guilty of this myself some years back when I was younger and full of answers but empty of chutzpah to do anything about it. We become obsessed with the negative work crap we can’t control.

I recently realized that there was a time when I absolutely hated going to work when things got bad at the office. I would get this feeling of dread and nausea as the morning alarm went off and I joined the lines of other ants marching towards their daily cubicle homes. I wasn’t experiencing anything unusually bad at those jobs, just your run-in-the-mill crappy days filled with typical jackass co-workers, idiot supervisors, or damned missed deadlines.

While crappy work days will always occur (again, when fully employed), there eventually came a point when I ceased having those nausea-filled days of dread. It never occurred to me exactly when that time was until I started doing all that great inner-reflection that comes with being jobless. Those ill feelings went away after I was RIF’d from my position with an internet broadcasting company in the autumn of 2001. That also was when my wife and I welcomed our first son, Lucas, into our family. In the time since, I have had many heartburn-inducing challenges at my jobs, but I always had a greater purpose. In fact, that greater purpose sometimes became the thing I dreaded to return to. But that’s life.

So, here I now sit, on the outside of those conversations of employment-based venting and frustration. And I don’t want to seem unsympathetic to those who are fortunate to be employed and subjected to those crappy days, jackass co-workers, idiot supervisors, and damn missed deadlines. BUT…

I am really freaking sick and tired of hearing people who are fortunate enough to be employed bitch about those crappy days, jackass co-workers, idiot supervisors and damn missed deadlines (and I am not alone). There is no such thing as a perfect job. There never will be. Sure, not everyone works simply to provide. I’ve gotten to know quite a few people who truly do live for their work. But being fairly compensated for your labor has become a precious commodity these days. The employed are lucky and there is not a single person who has lost a job over the last three years who wouldn’t do anything to reverse that circumstance.

So, to anyone who has a job and a bad day, before you go off about how bad you have it, take a few seconds to consider who you are venting to…and go have a kid. Raising children makes any job seem easy.

Employment...errr...Election Day

It’s an odd feeling to be an unemployed voter, especially as we sit in the midst of this horrible period of our nation’s history in terms of employment. Over these last weeks leading up to today’s General Election, there’s been so much rhetoric thrown around about the state of our economy and why there aren’t more jobs and who is to blame that it becomes easy to forget what voting for a candidate truly represents. 

I know that a majority of people in the country right now feel the fault of our current situation falls squarely on the President and those in his party. But it’s impossible to place total blame there as this miserable economy was created before this President ever took office.

I know that those on the left blame the previous President and those in his party. But there has been some time rectify this economy somewhat, and let’s face it…President Obama has not been super duper in terms of reaching out and leading the middle class that he claims to champion. Besides, it was a Democrat Congress over the last two years of President Bush’s administration when this recession took hold.

So, here we are today with what is, in effect, a referendum on the rehiring or firing/hiring of a few select people who have decided to direct their careers towards public service and leadership. I, one of the unemployed, get to be a hiring manager for a day. Well, one of (hopefully) millions of hiring managers across this country. Sure, I have in mind a specific set of skills and ideologies that I believe shape the ideal candidate for each position, and my desired qualifications are going to differ from at least half of the other hiring managers providing input today. So be it.

I don't have the answers (even though I sometimes act like I do, often to the great dismay of my wife and family). Heck, if I did I probably wouldn't be searching for a job right now. But, it’s kind of weird thinking that I have some infinitesimal amount of influence on some good (and some not so good…and some downright horrible) people hoping to obtain employment to, in part, represent me. The depressing thought is that, most likely, those who will be awarded these jobs will have absolutely no interest in representing me in any way.

Should make for an interesting next couple of years, if nothing else.