It's Spring Again

Spring is here in full effect.  The weather is turning around, we lost an hour of sleep, and flowers are starting to bloom.  So what's a guy with a bum knee to do?

HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!

So this past weekend went down in the archives as one of the better ones.  I really feel like my knee is coming along great.  I'm 5 1/2 weeks post op and I am hoping to get back to my normal life at the beginnig of next week.  I did a little dancing on Friday night, had some early Saturday hydrotherapy in the pool, and got to catch up with an old friend on Sunday.  Just an overall good time.

So I believe I'm ready to reinsert myself back into the world.  I've been working from home and sitting in the same chair for almost 40 days.  I actually had someone describe me using the following words - "he's a nice guy, but everytime I go over there, he's sitting in the exact same spot."  So sad, but true.

I'm now committed to getting out of my favorite chair every now and then (even though I've worked a nice permanent butt print in the cushion).  Time for this little dormant flower to bloom and hopefully some birds and bees will notice ;-).  Check this old school Biz Markie joint that sums up how I feel about spring.

If you ever see me spinning records in a jacket like that, you have my permission to walk up to the DJ booth and give me a open-handed slap in the mouth.  So here is my Birds & Bees Mix.  You know they say that spring is supposed to be the time to fall in love.

 

 

 

 

 

T.G.I.F.... Finally

Nothing sums up the end of the work week better than T.G.I.F.  The beginning of the weekend usually pops off with a happy hour, dinner & drinks, and maybe a party or two.  Lately, it hasn't been that way for me.  I had surgery on my knee four Fridays ago, and have pretty much been confined to my apartment ever since.  Fridays went by and I wasn't excited at all.  When you're not working Friday just means that your communications through g-chat with your friends are on hold until Monday.  This Friday is going to be different.  I'm planning on venturing out of my apartment into the outside world.  I might even have some fun. :-)

So I'm popping off my first Friday in the outside world with a fresh haircut from MR. (I gotta make sure I'm fresh on my first weekend out), a couple of drinks, and we'll see what happens.  Hopefully, I can gain some sympathy points for my jacked up leg and people won't assume my walk is a drunken stupor or a lame pimp walk.  The good news is the weather is supposed to be great this weekend.

Looks like I'll be chillin out in the park on Sunday afternoon (one of my favorite San Francisco activities).  Or I could move this dumb knee machine (see below) out to the patio and enjoy my rehab in the sun.

Regardless of the outcome, the fact that I feel comfortable enough to leave the house is a good sign in my recovery.

So this mix is a musical representation of a weekend.  Please note that I did not say "MY" weekend.  All depictions of weekend activity in the mix are purely fictional and do not represent the ideals and views of the DJ.  Now that you really want to listen to it... here's the Weekend Mix.

Anything can happen on the weekend ;-)

 

Taxes

This picture graced every kids American History text book growing up so I thought it might be fitting for today's posting.  For those of you who skipped class and don't know what the picture depicts, it's the Boston Tea Party. See this country was built on people complaing about their taxes (if Caliornia had been around back then you can bet there would be some angry environmentalists protesting the pollution caused by tossing all of that tea in the harbor).  There is no day that brings us back to our nations roots than tax day (well maybe independence day).  People running around like the world is about to end, grabbing receipts, filling out forms, and running to the post office.

For this very reason I do my taxes in January and usually have my refund by the Super Bowl.  I don't expect everyone to be as early as me, but I truly believe that there's no need to wait until the last minute.  I recently caught the movie Sixteen Candles (which I would rename the adventures of Long Duck Dong) on HBO.  If you're not up on it (not sure I understand how you wouldn't be), the story is about a girl whose entire family forgets her 16th birthday.  Insert the rest of the typical 80's movie plots (not-so popular girl likes popular guy who shuns the popular people to be with not-so popular girl), add Long Duck Dong, and you have an instant classic.  The point is... that I bet a lot of young girls who were either born on April 14th or 15th have experienced this very thing.  How sad??

Don't let Uncle Sam steal a nice and sunny spring day from you.  Get that stuff done in the winter.

Keeping with the theme of the blog, I put together the soundtrack of your taxes.  The 1040EZ Mix is comprised of songs that could express what your tax return (or lack thereof) could be saying to you.

 

Crown Royal

Please America... don't become fans of Crown Royal.  Why would I make this request?  It's because I recognize that I have a tendency to get annoyed when things that I like hit the mainstream.  I'm not saying that I'm a trendsetter, but I can count numerous things that I've taken pleasure in way before the point when it became the cool thing to like.  Then once everybody was up on it, I wasn't feeling it as much.

For example -

Jessica Alba - I was talking about Jessica Alba like 10 years ago!!!  Back in 2000 when Dark Angel first came out I was a die hard fan and I watched Idle Hands (possibly the worst movie ever made) at least five times because of her.  I used to tell people all the time..."yo, Jessica Alba is the truth!"  In my world there was sliced bread, the wheel, and Jessica Alba.  Now I get mad when someone tries to tell me how hot she is. I TOLD YOU THAT A LONG TIME AGO!!!

Outkast - I get so mad when I'm djing and someone comes up to me and requests "THE POLAROID SONG" aka "Hey Ya" from Andre 3000's "The Love Below."  I have every Outkast album since they first dropped and have been a big fan of the duo since they hit the charts with a Christmas song called "Player's Ball" in 1993.  I like Outkast but many folks like them because of "Hey Ya" and that really burns me up, because in my opinion that is one of the worst songs they've ever made.

Air Force 1's - DAMN YOU NELLY!!! We were rocking Air 1's in Michigan way before you made that song.  Now I have to pay $80 for a shoe that used to cost $65.  I can remember telling someone that I was from Michigan and they asked me..."where are your Air 1's then?"  I keep a fresh pair of white on whites and get a lot of compliments on my olympic Air 1's.  Luckily Nelly isn't that popular right now, so I can still rock my Air 1's without being lumped in with the fareweather Air 1 aficianodos. I almost switched to buying Dunks.

Sorry to go off on that tangent, but recently I've seen a bunch of Crown Royal commercials on television and I'm hoping that it doesn't catch on because it is my favorite drink and I'm afraid that I won't like it if it becomes as popular as Grey Goose did (way overpriced but has a cool bottle).  So I'm gonna need rappers to never reference Crown in any of their rhymes so I can continue to get it at an affordable price.  Just the other day I went to Safeway and 750 mL bottles were $16.  Of course I bought two of them, because you can never have too much of a good thing..... right?

I can't even remember how I came to like Crown Royal.  Maybe it's because I'm from Michigan and that's about as close to being Canadian as you can be.  Maybe it's because as a child I kept my marbles in a Crown Royal bag.  But what is there not to love?  You get a nice whiskey at a reasonable price, and a free bag to keep all of your change and other knick knacks.  I currently have a Crown Royal bag filled with at least $25 in spare change, another filled with things that I use when I dj (magic eraser, brush for my needles, swiffer sheet to clean my records), and another that holds laptop cleaning supplies.  I mean... what other liquor comes with a handy accessory?

Since I had given up drinking for Lent, I planned to enjoy the end of the fast with a celebratory Crown Royal on the rocks (just like I like it).  I went out and had sushi (my first drink was actually a beer) and then I came home and settled in with my Crown.  It's a good thing I was at home because it went straight to my head and I began to write this posting.  I immediately followed that by going to the turntables and recorded the Crown Roayal Mix.  This might be the most eclectic mix I've ever done.  It has a little something for everyone.  Enjoy my ode to Canada's greatest import.

 

 

 

Rules Of Attraction

So I'm going to open myself up to a lot of scrutiny on this one, but I've never been one to take myself too seriously, so here it goes.

So I was watching Oprah the other day (I TiVo Oprah daily... yes... ME.... DeRonnie) and there was the most interesting topic.  The description of ths show read - "Sex: women reveal what they really want" Talk Show (2009) Dr. Laura Berman discusses the latest science behind sex appeal. (HD, CC, R)

This was definitely a Jerry McGuire "you had me at hello" topic so I parked myself on the couch and got ready to be enlightened.  So what did I learn???

I learned that a lot of the rules of attraction are out of my control.  According to the studies, there are very subtle and sometimes unnoticable things that drive our attraction to one another.  I thought this show was soooo interesting and I could write about it all day, but I'm going to focus on what the show outlined as attractive male traits and see how I stack up.

1. Smell - An experiment was run where women smelled the sweaty t-shirts of men, and rated them on how sexy or unsexy the smell was.  I know you're thinking..."how can a sweaty t-shirt smell sexy?"  The science behind this is that men's immune systems are what allow different types of bacteria to live on the surface of their bodies.  The stronger the immune system, the less bacteria, the more desireable the smell.  Women chose the shirts with the less pungent smells as more sexy which was deemed as an innate indicator of them seeking a partner with a strong immune system for evolutionary purposes (better chance of their offspring surviving).

Self rating - I hardly ever get sick (average about once every three years even getting a cold) and have been told that I smell very good.  Score one for the DJ!!! 10/10

2.  Features - Tall men with a more full jaw, broad shoulders, and symmetrical faces score big points with the ladies.  Men's pictures were digitally altered to make them more feminine (thining the eyebrows and the jaw) and women picked their more masculine repesentations more often, especially during ovulation (I bet that's a word you never thought would see on this blog).

Self rating - Average height, some facial assymetry, I definitely don't look like a girl, and I been working out like a champ.  6.5/10

3. Status - Keeping with the idea that women look for a mate that will best ensure the viability of their offspring, status was seen as even more dominant than physical attractiveness.  A guy was rated a 9/10 when women looked at his picture, but throw in a whopping $23,000 salary as a retail clerk and he was rated as low as a 4/10 and no higher than a 6/10.  The guy who was rated a 4/10 with just his picture ended up as high as 10/10 when you throw in his $400,000 salary as a music executive.  Hmmm I ain't saying yall some gold diggers, but yall ain't messin with no broke... broke... oooOOOHH!  Like Tony Montana said, "first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women!"  Science is proving him right.

Self rating - Stanford undergrad, Stanford MBA lean toward a 10/10.  Non-profit career, load of school debt, a roommate, and a "jeans and t-shirts" attitude look more like a 3/10.  Average of the two - 6.5/10

So if I take that in isolation, then it really doesn't matter what I say to a girl, right?  Just smell good, wear a couple extra pair of socks and my Timbos, and rent a ferrari for the evening and I should be in there!

Not quite.  You actually have to say something clever.  This something clever is "the holla".  If I were to rate myself on how well I holla at women I would sadly give myself a 2/10.  I need a real life Hitch to put me through a training course.  Or maybe I can hire a skilled field technician.

The only time I've ever stopped a girl and executed a successful holla was my junior year of high school.  I was taking the ACT and during my break I stopped this girl who I had been admiring for weeks.  We chatted for a little and I got her number only to find that her boyfriend sat next to me in Pre-Calculus (scandalous).  He was kind of a pretty-boy (imagine Prince at age 17).  Maybe she was thinking about the survival of her offspring and not even listening to what I was saying.  So until I get my game tight I will continue to rely on science.

So this mix is comprised of songs about "the holla".  The songs definitely show of the swagger of the artists. The Holla Mix

Whipless DJ?

That's the money I could be saving by not having a car.

I've already saved money from not drinking and from cooking at home during my knee recovery.  Now I'm getting rid of the whip.

For the first time since I was 14 (yes I started driving that young) I am planning on not having a car.  I'm moving to a new building May 1 (in SF) where parking is $300/month (my current building charges $175 and they let me park my motocycle for free).  I know that may be a shock to some of you in Michigan (my homestate) who might pay $300/month for rent, but that's how inflated things are out here.  Luckily my rent will be $300/month cheaper at the new place and since I'll only have to pay to park my motorcylce ($100/month), I should come out on top.  I know that was confusing, so here's what it looks like.

Monthly savings:

Rent - $300

Car Insurance - $100

Parking (only pay for motorcycle) - $75

Total: $475

SO WHAT IF I WANT/NEED TO DRIVE?

I just signed up for Zip Car which I think is amazing.  I pay $8/hour or $60/day (with Stanford Employee Discount) to drive when I need to drive and I don't have to pay for gas or for car insurance.  WOO HOO!!!  I actually walk or cab to most of my gigs in SF so it should work out.  The only limitation is that I've probably made it so I can only date a woman with a car (more on the subject of dating in the next posting).

 

Just one year ago, I would have never thought I could make it without a car.  I was the type of guy who would drive to the end of the driveway to get the mail.  Despite the change in attitude, I have loved each and every one of the cars I've ever had.  I started out with an '86 Grand Am, to a '92 Camaro, and now I'm parting with my 2000 Montero Sport.

Owning (or having the availability of) a car and being able to drive was the ultimate statement of independence in high school as well as college.  Now it's more of a liability in the city with parking tickets, garage fees, and drivers who parallel park by banging themselves into a spot.  So we'll see how well I do without my ride (if I'm able to sell it).  This mix is a compilation of a few car/driving songs.  Goodbye Car Mix

 

The First Birthday I Can Remember

So today is my birthday.  I'm officially 31 years-old.  if you think that's old, listen this ("31 Years-Young" Quick Mix).  I'm excited to have a very chill weekend with no celebrations (which is weird to some folks).  Since I have a huge knee brace on and have given up drinking until Easter, I'm not feeling the public celebration.  I just want to have a day where I do EXACTLY what I want to do.  That may be sitting on the couch.  That may be going out and eating some Burma Superstar, Sushi, or In & Out... not sure yet.

I do know what my birthday won't be like.  It won't be like my 28th birthday when I spent way too much money at Impala.  We got hooked up with the plush VIP area and everytime we finished a bottle the hot hostess would look all sad and say...."oooooh you guys need another bottle?"  Not wanting to seem cheap in front of this very enchanting woman, I had her bring another.... and another.... I think I just paid it off last week.

It also won't be like my 21st birthday when I actually ended the day in tears.  Hears why 21 was so bad:

• First it was on a Monday, and I only appreciate Mondays in the fall when i'm lounged with a cold one watching Monday Night Football.
• It was the first day of spring football practice, so I was sore and I wasn't about to drink and attempt to run 100 routes the next day.
• I had a statistics quiz the next day at 9am so I couldn't really hang out.
• I got treated to dinner at Olive Garden (Italian is my least favorite food).  They brought out a surprise chocolate cake with a candle in it (I don't like chocolate cake or surprises at all).

 

It won't be like my 20th where I drank waaaay too much (Sorry Mom & Dad, I started a year early).  I don't remember how I got home from that reggae party.  I do remember waking up in my room with my clothes completely changed and two girls laughing at me.  To this day I'm very nervous about remembering that night.

Last but not least it will not be like my 5th birthday.  This is the first birthday that I can actually remember.  Now I've been to a bunch of kids' birthday parties since many of my friends have little ones.  They shed a lot of light on my first memory of a birthday.  You see when I'm at my friends' kids' parties we drink, eat, and make the kids do silly stuff so we can laugh.  It ends up being a party for the adults and the kids are just there. Now I'm not saying that I felt neglected at my 5th birthday party, but I definitely was the butt of a very cruel joke.

For some reason my mom thought it would be hilarious to get me those candles that don't blow out.  I don't think I've ever been so frustrated.  I huffed and puffed like the big bad wolf and the candles just kept lighting back up.  I have seen the picture from this birthday party and it is sooooo funny (I'll have to get it scanned).  Just imagine a little DP, jheri curl intact, with a look on his face like "WTF is wrong with these candles?  I mean... I'm trying to get my wish on and these candles are messing everything up."

That is the only thing I remember from the party, but if it went down anything like the kids' parties I go to now, there was an ensuing adult party.  So this mix is the soundtrack from my 5th birthday party.  The Funky Fifth Party Mix with some funk classics that I know my folks would have listened to when I was a young boy.

I'll leave with you with my top three who have celebrated April 5th with me.  Happy B-Day Booker T-Dub, C-Pizzle , & Skateboard P.

 

Knee Update

Here's a comparison shot of my two knees (yikes)!  Not only does my rt knee (pictured on the left) feel 30 years older than my other knee... it looks 30 years older as well.  At least it isn't as bad as the first time I had my ACL totally reconstructed.  As you can see, I have some swelling (hard to tell where my kneecap ends and my thigh begins) but the doctor and the physical therapist tell me that I'm doing a lot better than expected.  I've been to two physical therapy sessions and I'm enjoying the challenge of getting my knee back to normal.  I think it's the push I need to get myself to the ultimate goal of dunking again.  The trainer asked me if I had any goals for my rehab.  When I told him that I wanted to dunk again, he didn't exactly look too confident in my prospects.

As many times as I've injured different body parts (rt. knee, both ankes, left wrist, numerous hamstring tears, etc) there has been one constant heal-all remedy...ICE.  They tell you to put ice on anything if it's not feeling normal.  The worst was when I pulled my groin.  The boys weren't too happy with the cold treatment for that one.  It's like ICE is the new Tussin.  If you don't know the wonderful healing powers of Robitussin, you need to peep the video below.

I spend most of my day with a cold compress on my knee and I have no idea why.  I just know that you can't go wrong putting ice on an injury ('m sure someone knows a circumstance where you wouldn't apply ice).  So of course, being the nerd that I am, I looked it up and found the following about ICE.

• Slows the inflammation and swelling that occurs after injury.
• Helps to relieve the pain by numbing sore tissues (like a local anesthetic).
• Slows the nerve impulses in the area, which interrupts the pain-spasm reaction between the nerves.

 

I guess I'll keep applying the cold stuff.  So this mix is a reminder to keep the ice on my knee.  ICE Mix