a good laugh this a.m.

nice spice

a and i have really been enjoying the chipotle tabasco hot sauce. now, regular tabasco is very pedestrian and too damn vinegary, but if you have just continued to pass by all their products in the aisle of capsaicin joy, stop and turn around for this one. seriously. it is rich, smoky, and a medium supply of fire to please most crowds. mmmmmm, good.

change o' the season

awoken by the percussive pitter-pat of droplets let go from a puffy grey sky on this chilly monday morning. a reminder that fall is here and a selection of different jackets should be kept at arms length for a little while.

i have several fond memories of fall days growing up. it was always a time of playing outdoors again without feeling weighed upon with the thick jacket of iowa humidity. fall was a break from all that sultry oppressiveness and a reminder that there could be comfort found in the outdoors. although in the heartland, it was about 3 weeks in the spring and 3 weeks in the fall when you really could smile along with the weather.

interestingly enough, as i don't follow sports at all, the recollections of iowa fall that are quintessential to my memory involve either playing football with friends or there is also a couple second flash of driving in a car to go play football with others and seeing the leaves head downward and the smells of autumn in the crisp air that soothe my visions.

to this day, fall holds a strong 1st place for seasons in my book.

keep on keepin' on

one of those catch phrases that i always enjoyed in my early twenties. then there is keep on truckin'. beef had one of his signature large non-folding wallets that had a yellow patch sewn upon the face of the wallet with a comical old bearded man with the latter mentioned catch phrase.

wallets have a story behind them, no? i can recall several wallets that i really liked through the years. i bounced in and out of the velcro phases of wallets a time or two. one of my first wallets was, and i hang my head shamefully but you must remember that i was in 5th grade, a black nylon bi-fold that i bought at the qwick trip gas station. screen printed upon the front was the copyrighted playboy bunny profile face.

at the time, i had no idea what playboy really was other than some nudie mag that seemed to raise the eyebrows of generations--for what reason, i was unsure, but i thought i'd cast my vote by getting a sheath that would hold my public library card and my $5 a week allowance.

but get this-- a boyhood chum of mine, a "good" friend who was notorious for thieving at stores and staying out late with his carousing alcohol-dependent parents, stole my wallet and an atari video game from me in the same night. needless to say, i was crushed. my ego was shot, i lost my library card, my pitfall video game, four bucks and change, and my forlorned friend.

it's my day