Living in the land of dudes and chicks has been a great experience so far. The work load is drastically heavier, dating activity has increased exponentially (thanks to a near 2:1 female to male ratio in the local ward), and video game hours logged are way down. Things I miss from the West coast:
- Mexican Food - there's nothing out here to fill the Ajo Al's / Julio's void. I would say I miss In N' Out but they do offer 5 Guys Burgers out here. East Coasters rave about it. I'll admit it's pretty good but a little too heavy and greasy--even for me.
- Straight-shot roads. Sometimes I think I'm following directions only to later realize that I somehow managed to merge onto a wrong road without making any turns or anything. It drives me nuts.
- Phoenix Suns games at a decent hour - they mostly play from 10:30 to 1:00 a.m. so when they lose I'm extra upset.
- Proximity to family and my blogmate, Trifecta. Though the virtual connection methods (e.g. video chat, Xbox live) alleviate that somewhat.
Panda Bear 'Person Pitch' is one of the best albums of 2007. Vocals eerily similar to Beach Boys but a lot of thick, building, musical layers.
Rhymefest 'Man In The Mirror' is pretty fun. 'Fest does a few very cool covers of Michael Jackson songs and even creates some comical fake conversations with the King of Pop himself.
Scott Walker 'Scott 4'. This album came out in 1969 but I'm liking it in 2008. Thom Yorke cites him as one of Radiohead's biggest influences; songs like "How To Disappear Completely".
Sports Thoughts:
March Madness starts on Thursday. BYU got an 8 seed which will make it tough for them to make it past the 2nd round. UofA got a 10 seed and ASU got snubbed. I guess I'll also be rooting for Georgetown this year; I believe they got a 2 seed. I'd like to root for UCLA but they haven't looked convincing throughout the season from what I've seen. I guess UNC has the deepest team but even they barely squeaked past VA Tech the other day. I expect this year to have a lot more "upsets" than last year as there's a little more parity from team to team since such a deep pool of talent got snatched up to play for the NBA after last season.
MLB is just around the corner. This year I'll be able to see NL games in the new Washington Nationals stadium and AL games in nearby Camden Yards in Baltimore. This is a perfect setup. I just hope I can come across some tickets that are as cheap (free) as they were going to Dbacks games last year.
Suns are finally coming into form, and not a moment too soon. I'm gonna be severely put out if we end up with a better record than the Jazz but end up with a 5 seed or below just because of the stupid divisional setup. The Jazz are gay. How much longer can the madness continue for the Houston Rockets. I just watched them beat the Lakers for their 22nd straight win. Keep in mind Yao Ming is out for the rest of the season and it just so happened in this particular game that Tracy McGrady started out shooting 0-9. Something freaky is going on there. They match up against the Celtics tomorrow and the Suns on Saturday. I'll be watching to see how long the streak continues. The Wizards could be a serious threat in the East if Gilbert Arenas comes back soon enough to be a factor by the time playoffs start.
