Today I am going to share one reason why I love the Decemberists:



This video was taken and uploaded to YouTube by my friend Lauren. It was taken during the Decemberists Saturday show in Boston this past weekend.

But never once in the employ of these holy men
Did I ever once turn my mind from the thought of revenge
JK

Well I am back from an exciting weekend in Boston. My blog this evening will be about brewery tours. While I was in Boston, my friends and I went to Sam Adams and Harpoon. Two very different breweries that provided two different experiences.

Our experience began Saturday morning at 10:30 when we arrived at Sam Adams. We were 30 minutes early for their 11 am tour. Sam Adams was a more structured tour where Harpoons was more of a tasting. At Sam Adams they took us in the research and development plant and showed us their brewing areas. The provided us with a lot of information about their company, their beers and the brewing process. After about 40 minutes the tour was over and it was time for the tasting. The tasting was OK. We were only given three samples (the Boston Lager, White Ale and a new research beer(which sucked!)). Sam Adams did have a great gift shop. We all picked up a set of their perfect pint glasses (which are amazing!). We left the brewery about 12:30, which gave us plenty of time to get to Harpoon for 2.

At Harpoon, we stood in a room that overlooked the brewing plant. As i said previously, Harpoon was a tasting, not a tour, so instead of taking us around and telling us how great their beer is, they let us drink it. For 45 minutes we were able to try as many samples as we desired. Within the 45 minutes there was a brief intermission where the bartenders talked about each type of beer. I am a big fan of Harpoon, especially the winter warmer, so I was very excited about trying some newer beers. After the tasting, we perused the gift shop, which was not that great. They did sell a lot of their beers but the merchandise was sub par.

After all was said and done we visited two of Bostons greatest breweries in one day and survived. If your asking for a recommendation, I would say it depends on your interests. If you are interested in learning a lot about beer then I would say go to Sam Adams. If you are interested in drinking a lot of great beer then Harpoon is up your alley. Personally I prefer Harpoons beer over Sam Adams so I would say Harpoon is the choice.

Here all the bombs fade away
JK

It is sad to say but I am more excited about something other than leaving for Boston today. I have become enthralled with the notion that I am going to Mountain Jam this year. WHOO HOO me!! Mountain Jam is a music festival run by Warren Haynes (Grateful Dead, Govt Mule) that is from June 1-3. Some of my favorite bands are already playing there, including Umphrey's McGee, Gov't Mule and Spearhead. A great time will be had by all.

here is a link to the festivals website: Mountain Jam
























You've got to hide your love away!!
JK

If Google was a woman, I think I would marry her. Today Google unvailed a set of themes for their personalized home pages. You can view a sample of a theme below. The pages are another way to customize your personal space but they are also dynamic and will update as the day goes by. Check out below

5 p.m.

830 p.m.
















JK

I am going to drop some philosophy on everyone today. I don't know about you but I get sick of people blaming the world and their surrounds for their problems. I have currently adapted an existential view of my life. Existentialism says that you are the only sole proponent that is in charge of your existence. Therefore all your choices and freedoms are defined by yourself. In this form of philosophy there is no blaming your professor for your bad test grade. You should have studied more!

The main principle behind this philosophical movement is that whether you make a good or a bad choice, that choice will define yourself. Choice is all that we have, without confirmation of our acts.

Existentialism goes a little further by stating that anything outside of your existence is considered nothingness. Therefore the tree in the forest that makes the sound when it falls down is considered nothingness. I personally agree with this way of thinking because I feel that I am in charge of my destiny and everything else is nothingness.

I dont care if it rains or freezes, as long as I got my plastic Jesus
JK

What does it mean to be a friend? Is it someone you share an acquaintance with through a job or a class, that call you when they need a favor or have a question to ask you. Is it someone that you will acknowledge as you walk pass them on a routine basis. Is it someone that you spend time with in a relaxed setting like a bar or a restaurant. I guess it could be a little of everything

I feel that a friend is someone who helps you forget about the harshness that is reality. I am not saying that I have a hard life, because I don't. I have been quite privilege my entire life, but we all do go through tough times whether it be job related, school issues or relationship problems. In those times we need to surround ourselves with people that help us escape those realities and help us cope with them. I think a friend is best summed up as someone you put in charge of your well being.

JK

In the movie "Stranger than Fiction" Will Ferrell plays a IRS agent who is trying to figure out who the voice is in his head. The voice in his head is narrating his life to him, as if she was telling a story. With the help of an English professor played by Dustin Hoffman, they set out to determine whether the story is a comedy or a tragedy. See most comedies end happily, people live happily ever after, but most tragedies end in death.

I implore everyone who reads my blog, to figure out what story their lives most closely resembles, whether is be a comedy, tragedy or even a drama. I would say that I live in a comedy.

Have you ever transcended space and time?
JK

I hope everyone filled out their brackets this year for the NCAA tournament. I usually complete about a dozen of them a year and that was no different this year. I started my yearly pool with all my friends to see who is the master of college basketball.

If you r hoping that I disclose the winner of the tournament I am sorry but I have no concrete answer. In my polls I have picked 4 different winners, including Kansas, Florida, Texas A&M and Texas. Regardless of who wins, this time of year is spent rooting for the underdog. I am hoping to some day see a 1 seed get beaten by a 16 seed, with the improving competition in the NCAA, I think that could possibly hear in the near future.

Once the tournament is all said and done I hope for the sake of college basketball that many of the star freshman in the college ranks are not going to be one and down players and that they stink around for a few more years. I am not speaking of all freshman since Kevin Durant and Greg Oden should already be in the nba, but mainly players that have good freshman years, such as Brandan Wright from UNC and Scottie Reynolds from Nova, players who have had great freshman seasons but are a few years from contributing in the NBA. Time will tell


JK

The main thing i want to talk about this evening is hospital waiting rooms. i think they are unnecessary. Why do I think this? Well I happened to be in the hospital today getting a shot in my fantastic ass *hurt soooo bad". Before I was administered my shot I was brought into the examining room and made to wait for about an hour in the room. Which is OK, because I'm usually a pretty patient person (3P's, wow I am a nerd). Being left in this tiny little room for what felt like an eternity got me to thinking about how often I have been made to wait in an examination room and came to the conclusion that waiting rooms are unnecessary.

If I knew I would have been stuck in that room for an hour I would have declined and stayed in the waiting room (TV). I would definitely prefer the comforts of the waiting room to the tight constraints of an examination room. Which gets me to my point, why don't hospitals just bring you in the examination room when a Doctor can actually see you and not so you can count the ceiling tiles?

Rule #76: No excuses play like a champion
JK

I am writing this blog to inform the world or the few people who actually read my blog that I am now an employed e-learning developer. I was offered and accepted a job today with Keystone Distance Learning Center in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. I am very happy with the opportunity to earn job related experience with a fantastic company and also to earn a paycheck doing so. I will be starting a week from today meaning that instead of basking in the sun on the beach for spring break I will be sitting in a cubicle doing work. To be quite honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Also I saw the movie "Zodiac" last night with my girlfriend. I would reccomend everyone to see this movie. It was a very interesting well produced movie about the Zodiac Killer who terrorized San Francisco during the 60s and 70s. The movie is quite long (150 minutes) but it is not at all boring.

Girl I wanna lay you down
JK