i really wanted to do a spring cleaning of my drawers and cupboards but it was 85 degrees and they say its gonna be 64 degrees starting wednesday. and its gonna rain.
so i hiked. i didnt wanna. but id been sick and i was still a little sick. sick enough i needed to bring some kleenex. plus nature never agrees with my sensitive nose.
and i dont know if i was raised right or what, but when im with a lady all i focus in on is her. sometimes a hot woman will walk past when im on a date or with a friend and she will be talking and all of a sudden she will stop talking and say “i will just let you soak that in.”
and i will say soak what in. and they will say that ridiculous fashion model who just strolled by. and i will say something like, the only woman in this room is you. and they’ll say oh please, save it.
but its true. its good to have tunnel vision.
i bring this up because usually when i hike runyun canyon im with karisa and shes beautiful as we all know and typically shes fun to be with. a tad less fun when hiking cuz she makes me mountain climb and do push ups and eat weird honey concoctions and she frowns at my lack of stamina and etc.
but i always like to be with her and its easy to block out all the other distractions around our periphery. but america, yesterday i was shocked, shocked i tell you at all the fine young women crawling around that mountain.
i hiked alone and mama mia on a hickory stick. i felt like i was at the playboy mansion as they were holding auditions. every type of woman in every type of skin tight outfit was out there with their water bottles and headphones and ponytails and spandex and like a dream every corner brought out a new one.
it was almost as if Someone Above was all, psssst if you come here more often this is what i will reward your eyes with.
i hiked around places id never been to before and at every bend i was treated to a new view. on the left was the hollywood sign and behind it in the distance a snow covered mountain range. and to the right all the buildings of westwood and behind that the shining ocean. twas awe inspiring.
i sweated, i listened to howard in my ear buds, i worked off that days fast food, and when i got home i took the longest shower. and thanked Jah for all that nature he blessed LA with.
everyone now knows the famous email i sent her a couple years ago telling her how much better LAist was performing compared to the best LA Times blogs and not everyone would have taken such an email with the right attitude, but meredith always did seem to take things exactly for what they were.
she gave me so much freedom, bestowed so much trust, but also had such great advice. dont get me wrong, i really like my new boss, but i think even he would admit that theres something special about meredith thats hard to mimic.
there are very few people who i am afraid of letting down. ive already let down my mom so much that i know she can handle any embarrassment that i give her. and the Lord, well, He knows ALL of my sins. for some reason i wanted meredith to have this illusion that i was doing everything right. who knows why? so i operated from a place of fear – but not fear of failing, fear of having meredith feel like i failed.
maybe i just didnt want her ever to be embarrassed for taking a chance on me.
our blogs were up something crazy like 70% last year. we had major challenges on almost all of our top 10 blogs. from bloggers being poached, to internal struggles, to natural growing pains. but the biggest blow to the blogs we got was when she was offered a job with CNN to run the worlds biggest news site.
not because she wrote a lot on them, or did anything magical to them – its more of an emotional thing. its hard to say. the womans touch but not really. something bigger than that, but in the same vein.
when she told me she was leaving i said, i always said id follow you everywhere. and she said Atlanta. and i was all, nice knowin ya! perplexed i said The Constitution? and she said, no dummy CNN! and i was all, yeah they need you.
like i said, i like her successor, a fellow who worked with her before at the nyt and was her right hand man at the times. so its nice to have two good bosses in a row. three if you count LAist. but i know that streak is a very lucky one.
i have many stories about meredith, but one valuable lesson she taught me was that as great as the busblog is, this is neither the time or the place to bust with those tales. infact her first order to me, even before my first official day at the times was a very gentle one. she said disengage. and like a day later she had to repeat herself because im pretty much the opposite of disengage. and i miss her.
What are your projections for Soriano this year? Will Marmol last the year as the closer?
Fonzie will hit .299 with 40 homers 80 ribbies and 40 stolen bags. Marmol will stop trying to break the speed guns, settle down, and be the most dominating closer in baseball as the Cubs march to their first world series flag since 1908. And they will be the main reasons why it happens. The fact that Fukudome will figure out MLB pitching and win the batting title will be an afterthought.
Allan Hough: Hey Tony, in Austin last week I saw Bill Murray hailing a cab in a Jenny Lewis hoodie, and I feel like it was probably one of the best celebrity sightings of all time. What do you think?
Lemmy in a Jenny Lewis hoodie would have been something, but we all know Bill is totally down with the kids.
Will Campbell: Fair enough: I challenge you during the upcoming Bike To Work Day in May to ride your bike to and from. You game?
when i was in college i brought this punk rock girl over to the crib so as to wine and dine her. i threw on some zeppelin, tossed some hot dogs into the mac n cheese, lit some incense, and cracked open two 40s. she had the best rips in her stockings which i was fixated by so i didnt notice that the whole time she was scoffing.
later she said she was bored of me because everything i was discovering she had fully enjoyed in high school. i feel the same way about bicycle riding, dodgeball, pillow fights, 80s music, and vinyl. i live mere minutes from one subway station and work 1 minute from another. if you want me to, i will ride my bike to the subway take the bike on the subway with me (even though i usually hate people with bikes in the subway) and then ride it two blocks to work.
the only city ive truly enjoyed riding my bicycle in is Amsterdam.
jackassjimmy: Do you make themed playlists for your computer, iPod, friends?
no. i hit shuffle. im mildly obsessed with trying to stay up with new music. so i always have new mp3s in my computer and the only way i find that i will listen to the new stuff is if im just always clicking shuffle. i used to make playlists when i ran to music but now i just listen to howard stern when i run. and the last cd i made was one for ettienne who asked for one after the earthquake hit chile. she said she realized she knew so much about latin music but very little about whats happening right now in the indie scene and knew i could hook her up.
Lurker #2: Why is it that the older I get, the worse I spell?
each step you take toward not giving a damn is a step closer to enlightenment.
g/d: 3 songs that make you feel like you belong, here there or anywhere?
here comes a regular, replacements
cartoon, soul asylum
dumb, unplugged in ny, nirvana
Not that hungry: Where did that airport sushi joint get the f-ing whale meat?
Maybe the best thing about Los Angeles (and there are many great things about LA) is that you can get pretty much anything you want here, no matter what it is. 85 degree temps in March? No problemo. $3 korean tacos for your new bff eliza dushku? easy. some whale sashimi late night in the wesssside? not a problem.
when i was a kid i used to watch the dodgers play on monday night baseball. id see those palm trees in the bullpen and sigh at its unpossibleness. this town is full of magic where anything can happen and you get pissed when it doesnt.
jessica: why didn’t you toss it up for my birthday? is it because i’m too old now?
deep down im a terrible person. anyone who truly knows me would agree. also last friday, your birthday, i was engulfed in my last full day of rock at sxsw. i soaked so much in that day that i got sick and didnt really even go to sleep that night. when i got off the plane saturday my true love said i was babbling and pale and hallucinating and insecure and completely spent. im still a little sick. all due, i believe to that deep breath of rock i inhaled on friday from noon to 7am saturday. so im sorry i didnt give you proper recognition on your big day, but usually people who expect good things from me are routinely disappointed.
Sass: What do I do with my blog that’s not a blog anymore?
join me in making a secret one.
Keir: Imagine you played in a band with some guys back in the ’90s. Then imagine you haven’t played since about 2001. Then imagine that you’ll be playing with those same guys this weekend, for the first time in 9 years. Since everyone will be green, do you go with old-school hits first, or charge straight into new stuff no one’s ever played before?
in texas i saw stone temple pilots, a 90s band, who hadnt released a new album with that original lineup since almost that long, and played in public for the first time last friday. they mixed their new songs with their classic old school ones and although it would have been weird for them to just play their greatest hits, i have a feeling when they first jammed together after that long layoff they probably only played their greatest hits together, and some covers, and allowed the new songs to sit in the background and ferment for a little while. they’ll have their day.
theres two more busblog yahoo fantasy leagues forming and drafting this weekend.
these will be the final two leagues that i will be rocking.
and yes im the commish so you know all will be kosher.
we have one draft Saturday at noon, and one on Sunday at noon.
so if you like baseball, wanna play fantasy, and want to be in a league (or two) get your ish together
League ID#: 457247 League Name: busblog2010 Password: blogger Draft Type: Live Standard Draft Draft Time: Sat Mar 27 12:00pm PDT Max Teams: 16
League ID#: 457293 League Name: busblogleague2 Password: blogger Draft Type: Live Standard Draft Draft Time: Sun Mar 28 12:00pm PDT Max Teams: 16 New Players Become Available: Wait until called up to Majors Max Moves: 50 Max Trades: No maximum Trade Reject Time: 2 Trade End Date: August 15, 2010 Waiver Time: 2 days Waiver Type: Continual rolling list Can’t Cut List Provider: None Trade Review: Commissioner Post Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules Max Acquisitions per Week: No maximum Min Innings Pitched: 25
i left the STP show at the austin music hall early cuz thats what you do when 2000 bands are playing over 4 days.
because of that i missed their encore when Robby Kreiger of the Doors joined the band on stage for the classic tune with all the famous lines
my favorite being, well i woke up this morning and got myself a beer.
its funny that there was all this Doors stuff going on because as i left the show and described how shocked i was at how good Scott Weiland was, i often compared him to Jim Morrison, in the sense that he was wild, unpredictable, and ridiculously handsome.
but then i saw this video this morning and i was all, meh.
