There are some awesome collaborations out there. Mash ups also abound and are wealthy in awesomeness. Some of these can be considered mash-ups, but the fact that both artists involved actually came together to perform it make it awesome in a whole new way.

10. Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson – Scream : This shatters previous standards of awesome on so many different levels. Never again will 2 individual pop powerhouses be siblings and only cross paths in such an epic way as this.

9. Babyface & Eric Clapton – Change the World : Babyface’s solo artist career was short lived, but he remained a powerful force in the background of the early 90s music scene. This was a great step forward for young people who weren’t familiar with Clapton too.

8. Eminem & Elton John – Stan : Blew the stereo-types out of the water with this 2001 Grammy performance. I missed Dido, but that was up there too.

7. Moby & Gwen Stefani – South Side : I think time has a lot to do with this one. Both were peaking in their careers and the song seemed to fit perfectly in both of their individual careers.

6. Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page – Come With Me : I took Puff Daddy with a grain of salt when he broke out after Biggie’s death, but man, did he prove me wrong. He had some high style and some reigning class.

5. Finger Eleven & The Alkaholiks – Daaam : Maybe I’m biased, but I think it’s an awesome cross genre collab.

4. Aerosmith and Run DMC – Walk This Way : A musical first where the two bands crossed genres and did it well.

3. Jay – Z and Linkin Park – Numb/Encore :Following DJ Dangermouse’s mashing of Jay-Z, these two put the theory to practice, in an awesome way. I truly regret not seeing them in Philly for the FREE G8 concert.

2. USA for Africa – We Are the World : Almost too much going on here, but it was just right. The All Star collaboration done after 9/11 is a close competitor, but none of those people had staying power.

1. Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson – The Girl is Mine : This song is the last remnant of their relationship. It’s awesome to see these two powerhouses come together, but then inevitably destroy each other.

Honorable mentions:
Warren G & Nate Dogg – Regulators : Classic song, but neither made it big enough to call it an epic match of collaboration.

Santana & … Anyone : There are some great collaborations there…but they all have Santana, which tells me 1 thing. Santana has no talent besides playing terribly flashy guitar solos over basic melodies.

Rockwell & Michael Jackson – Somebody’s Watching Me : Not really much of a collaboration, but the fact that someone as big during that time as Michael Jackson, lending his voice and melody to some no name dude remains a mystery. Perhaps it will remain that way.

Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Pop_Collaboration_with_Vocals

I’ve taken a few pictures of the sti(c)kman.  I first saw him in Philly with Kallie.  Then down in DC, and I think I saw him somewhere in pittsburgh too.

I recently came across a similar work of graffiti art called the "Toynbee tiles".  I vaguely remember seeing something on the street at the corner of Smithfield street and Forbes Avenue, but I never paid much attention to it.  Apparently the tiles are in a lot of major cities, and speculative roots are in philly.  It’s this weird license-plate sized box that makes reference to toynebee‘s idea about striving towards the future and always having goals that are almost impossible.  There’s also something in there about colonizing Jupiter like the movie 2001 space odyssey.

Here’s a link to the post gazette story – http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06151/694320-42.stm and to the wikipedia article – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles

Note to self – Call off work the month of December.  You will not be able to get anyone to do any work, even if they are in the office, so just avoid the frustration completely.  That’s basically how I feel right now.  I had my first project fail last Saturday, and now I have to finish it tomorrow, when I was supposed to be off.  and when I say "have to" I mean, failure is not an option with this project.  I coined a new phrase with this project, "Screw dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s, I’M JUST GOING TO WRITE IN ALL CAPS."

How about that open mic that Ben and I were supposed to play last week didn’t happen.  The BBT, or Bloomfield Bridge Tavern actually had a fire back in October and they’ve been closed for repair, even though they still have shows booked on their site.  Oh well.  We ended going over to Jordan’s and just playing there for some friends.

Speaking of going over to Jordan’s, we had our first Beer snob Christmas party this past Tuesday.  I think there were 12 of us total, all brought a case of a micro brew or import beer and we went around swapping bottles to build our own mixed case.  Lots of fun.  I took a mix case of Left Hand Brewing.  I had an ESB at in philly and really enjoyed it, and come on, it’s a left hand.   You had me at "Hello."

I’m off to Kallie’s Mom’s place near Sacremento from the 24th until the 30th.  So crazy to be in a relationship where our families are across the country from one another.  It’s sure fun at times, but there are certainly downsides.  Not sure of any plans yet, just spending time with family in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and probably Lake Tahoe too.  I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Aside from that, I’ve been getting involved with a small group from Bellefield and going to the Open Door.  Probably look to get baptized (finally) in the new year.  Keren just got baptized last week, and it was a pretty emotional thing for sure.  I’m so blessed to have such a great family and great support structure.

My how the time flies.  I was originally going to title this post “Wake me up, when September ends”  but we’re way past that point already.  The alarm has been ringing all month long for me to wake from my slumber, but I’ve been dreaming and watching everything move at the speed of life.

First off, the race went very well. I did it in just under 2 hours and andy did it in just over 80 minutes. I learned that I do not have the mind of a competitive runner that day. I definitely want to keep working and pushing my physical abilities though. I’m hoping for an 80 minute run next year. I was able to clear the taxi at the end though, something that I guess no one else was able to do. Here’s a picture of that.

Things with Kallie continue to grow. She got a job here in the ER at Children’s Hospital and starts November 10^th. She’s also got a nice place a few blocks from my house in the Bedford hill apartments. We’ve been traveling since she’s come here, so we haven’t had a chance to find a church together yet, but it’s certainly a top priority. She still has a lot of logistics on her plate, and I’m sure she misses everyone from Philly, so I’m trying to stay supportive, encouraging, and respectful. I am finding that I can suck at all 3 of those.

How about 4 people I know got engaged 2 weekends ago? Tis the season? Keren was one of them. They’re planning their big fat greek wedding already. Sounds…interesting.

I’ve just been so jammed packed with activity and travel that I haven’t had much time for music or for trying for my MBA. Work has been stressful as well with the market in the shape it’s in. More updates to come as they are revealed.

Birthday is coming up…turning 26…I was telling Kallie the other day, I’m actually feeling good about this birthday, and that’s highly uncharacteristic of me. I’m seeing 26 as a point of distinguished and responsible status and I’m happy to reach that level. No definite plans though, usually I take the week off and travel somewhere, but I don’t think I have money for that this year, with that $1500 truck bill I had last month. I really have to track down those holes in my pockets…

When I was in 5th grade or so, the whole Jansport and Eastpak fad hit.  Everybody was using these $40-$60 back packs, and you weren’t cool unless you had one.  Josh Smith was really the one that gave me the most peer pressure about it.  I begged my mom to buy me one.  They had a lifetime warranty and if there was anything wrong with it, you just sent it back for repair.  You could also stab a pen through the bag and it would "heal" itself.  How awesome was that?  Anyway, my mom was very reluctant to get me one, but one day, she caved. 

When I picked my mom up to drive out to Philly a few weekends ago, she noticed I still had my eastpak.  I think she was pleasantly surprised that I had stood behind my words and promise to take care of it.  I was surprised she remembered the whole ordeal.

I’ve sent the bag back for repairs once since I’ve had it.  The middle compartment zipper had broken and torn.  I think it took a month to get it back, but it came back with all new zippers (they had "JS" imprinted on them…so I think Jansport bought eastpak or something), new stitched leather bottom, and new zipper pulls, when I didn’t have any on them when I sent it to them.  Awesome.  I’ve never been happier with a bag.  Thanks, Mom.

So, here’s the story of what I’ve been going through with my truck.  I don’t consider this a closed issue until it’s back in my possession safe and sound.

Friday night my truck was making a weird whistling noise as I headed out to Philly to spend the weekend with Kallie and bring back her large items.  I had thought that I shouldn’t risk driving it with the noise, but plans were already set, so I went for it.  I get to the West Chester / Downington exit a little after midnight, and I had to stop because the noise had grown into the worst grumbling/grinding noise, and I knew something was about to break severely.  I called AAA, and they sent someone out named Josh.  The last time I got AAA the dude’s name was Josh.  within a few seconds of him hooking up the truck, it started to rain and Kallie showed up to pick me up.  So it all went pretty smoothly there, which kept me pretty calm.  Josh had asked me where I wanted it towed to, I had no clue, so he suggested a sunoco dealership down the road, so I said sure.  I had a little cringe at the idea of vulture like mechanics waiting at the Sunoco for they’re latest meal from the turnpike.

So I call the place first thing in the morning.  They don’t normally work Saturdays, contrary to what Josh had said.  They did have a guy in though, and he said he’d take it for a spin to see what was wrong with it.  He said he couldn’t find the keys though.  I told him they might be in the gas tank.  He said he’d check there and get back to me.  By noon I’m wondering if he found the keys or if he had been able to look at it, because I’d like to get it to somewhere else if they couldn’t.  I called them, he said he found the keys in the gas tank and they’d take it for a spin in a bit.  Around 2 they call me, tell me it’s the rear end/differential that needs replaced.  I asked for just a ball park on what he thought it would cost, and he said that he’d have to get back to me Monday because he’ll have someone look at it to see what the options with it were as far as getting a new one, rebuilding the current one, or what else he could find. 

Alright, so I told my boss Saturday I’d be out of the office Monday, but I’d keep him in the loop.  Monday morning comes around, Sunoco says that it’ll be $800 for the part and $400-$500 for the labor, and could take a couple days.  That was a blow.  I said go for it though.  I also called my mechanic back home and asked them what they thought, and they said $800 sounded reasonable.

Also Monday, Kallie’s car needed to get inspection and emission done.  So i took it to this guy down the street from her.  It wouldn’t pass because her left tailout is busted and the check engine light was on.  I authorized him to do a diagnoses on the engine, and he told me that if I drove over to Jersey, I could get a tail light for $60 instead of him having to get it from the dealer for $120.  The check engine light was on because the front catalytic converter is going bad, but he had some sort of tool he could run to find out just how bad it was.  I drove it over night and Tuesday he cleared me there as soon as I could get the tail light from New Jersey.  Wasn’t too much hassle, and I just worked from Kallie’s place.

Tuesday morning though, Sunoco called me to say they ordered the wrong part and the right part was going to be $1200.  I said no way, my mechanic says $800 is good.  He says he called all over the place and that’s all he could find.  I said I wanted to call around and see what I could find on my own.  He started trying to convince me just to go with the $1200.  Josh no likey.  I called Serah’s father in law who lives out there to see if he knew of a good mechanic.  He got me in touch with someone who did some research for me and said that $900-$1200 would be a range they could find a rear for my truck.  I found something online for $950 +$150 shipping.  Then I called Lacey’s back home to see if they could help me find a part and maybe i’ll get someone to drive it out to me.

  By this time, 10:00 am, I had to call off work to deal with this.  Lacey’s calls me back and actually found a place in North Philly that had what I need for $850.  Only snag is that it has to be a garage that buys it.  So i call the Sunoco and the guy is not happy with me, almost like he’s offended I’m telling him how to do his job.  He said I can go buy a part on my own and bring it in, but if it doesn’t work I would have to take it back and get the right part.  He was not willing to talk to the place to make sure it was the right part to avoid that situation.  It was basically $1200 or nothing in his mind.  I call AAA to see if i can get it towed somewhere else for free, and I can if I can produce 2 things:  1) proof that I don’t owe the mechanic money (I don’t think I do…) 2) They can’t fix my truck.  (Hmm….well, they can’t get the part they quoted me and they can’t get the $850 part I need).  So I call the Sunoco back around 4PM to see if they’d agree to helping me out there since this was getting so difficult, and the guy that I had been talking to all day leaves at 2pm.  I asked if there was someone else I could talk to and he said no, and basically hung up on me.  So much for trying to resolve this amicably.

So I go back to Chuck’s, where Kallie’s car was, to get her car squared away, and I ask him if he’d want to work on my truck since he’s basically awesome.  He said yep.  He gave me his buddy’s towing service number.  A quick call there and $110 later, bam, my truck is at Chuck’s place by nightfall.  I have no idea how that is legal, since I never provided proof of identity, pretty sure no one was at Sunoco to sign off, but whatever.  Now my truck is at Chuck’s so Kallie can walk to pick it up instead of having to find a friend to drive her to West Chester.

Talked to Chuck this morning, got him in touch with the place with the part, and I think he’s got it all under control.  I’ll check back in with him later today, but so far so good…Sunoco called…I kinda don’t want to return their call…thoughts?

you know, I should really make an effort to make personal updates what I have something to say instead of these dull posts that just fade into archives and the history of me never to be read again, as if they were a polaroid photo where everyone has red eye…

anyway.  Drove out to delaware this past saturday with mumsy to check out serah’s new house.  It’s actually pretty cute.  I like it.  small 1 floor house, but the basement is huge and unfinished, so they can easily double their living space and equity.  good stuff.  Kallie met us there then we headed down to DC together to hang out with friends.  Then up to Philly for some more friends and socializing.  basically the weekend was a lot of driving and a lot of people.

So…Kallie’s moving to pittsburgh…not entirely sure when, but it’s going to be great.  Gotta help her find a place, since we both think it’s probably not wise for her to move in.  Well…she needs to a find a job too…that would be helpful.  Thinks are in the works though.  Things go well on that front though.  I’m excited.

Training continues for the urbanathlon on sept 27th in new york.  I’m actually going to NY next week for work on the 9th, 10th, and 11th (great day to fly out of NY, right?)  and I plan to do a trail run of the course.  I’ll see if i can get into WTC 7, since it’s right across the office.  I hope they at least let me look at the stairwell to see what I’m up against.  crazy stuff.

so Friday5.org puts out 5 questions every friday for bloggers to answer, so I think i’ll play along.

  – I try to use rechargable batteries where i can, but I’ve used a few AA in my wireless keyboard and mouse from time to time.

  – My sister gave me her old eliptical machine that needed some sort of belt replaced, but I was too lazy to fix it.

 - I’m at my desk at work, I have some spare printouts from meetings that i won’t use again…

  – I don’t even know what that is…plastic knives??

- Well, Erik filled the dishwasher with hand soap earlier this week, and i found out the hard way and had to clean that up.  I’m also driving to philly and back to see Kallie and Tim, so that would be 10 hours of driving i normally wouldn’t do.

New blog topic!  This category will be for the short posts where something particular made me smile.

Kallie and I flew from California to Philly Friday, and Saturday all my family was getting together, but I wasn’t planning on flying back until Sunday night.  I called my family while Kallie and I were in the car, and Deirdre thought that I was on my way there to surprise them.  After realizing how bad I wanted to be there, Kallie and I decided to make an impromptu road trip and got home around midnight.  Kallie and I get to spend an extra day with eachother since she’ll leave Tuesday morning, but the essence of this post was the text message i got from US Airways saying that I would have been stranded at the Philly airport until midnight Sunday since the flight was delayed more than an hour.  I love how perfect everything worked out.

Alright, first things first.  I ran my first ever 5k on Saturday.  I finished in pretty much 30 minutes flat.  I crossed the line at ~30:09 and I was in the back of the starting line, so take some time to cross the line.  It was on mount washington’s grandview drive, and then part of that hill that connects it to the liberty tunnel, so there were some crazy hills that i was not prepared for.  I definitely walked some of those hills.  I also ran 6 miles in an hour last thursday, so I’m feeling a little less worried about Urbanathlon.  My goal was just to finish it without being last, but if i keep going like this, i might actually be able to build a goal time and work on shaving time off of that.  I know the stairs are going to kill me, so i might start practicing on the 44 stories of the office building.  Wish me luck!

Now, as some of you may be in the loop, i’ve encountered a wonderful lady friend.  Ask me someday about how we met and i’ll tell you the story in person.  Anyway, we’ve had nothing but fun in the past month or so.  We’ve got a lot to learn about each other, and a lot of tough ground to cover, but I think she’s amazing.  I’m flying out to the state of california this friday to meet her family and such since her brother is getting married.  We’re going to go to disneyland and have a great time.  I’ll report back when I get back. 

Finally got my raise i was expecting at work too.  I’m going to keep trying to make more than twice my age, then i can retire with my goal of making 6 figures.  I’m not driven by money, i would just like to say that i made 6 figures.  Work’s getting better too.  I’ve got a lot of projects, so i’m keeping very busy. 

Going to the warped tour with erik on tuesday.  I havent been there since i was in high school I think.  can’t say that i’m excited to spend my day off there, but oh well.  Maybe i’ll take a book and read on the lawn.  How old would that make me look?  fun stuff.

Josh Hall project show coming up on august 24th…and we have yet to practice.  tim is talking about staying out in philly for an extra week.  I’m going to be away until the 11th, and andy has family coming in around the 15th or so and they want to take a trip that would have carried into the show, but he’ll come back for it, even though he wants to be away for as long as he can before…so basically it comes down to us MAYBE getting 1 or 2 practices together…this is going to be interesting for sure.