Guster & Submarines

Last Saturday (March 10th), my friend, Robbie texted me and said "Brian we should go see guster tonight!" I replied, "Hey stranger! You're a Guster fan?" But my fancy iPhone decided that I actually meant to say, "Hey stranger! You're a hustler fan?" Ooops! Fortunately I read the text before I actually sent it. :)

Long story, short, we got tickets and headed to In the Venue after a stop a Crown Burger. It was Robbie's first time there and he was quite taken with the ambiance and the burger.

At the show we hooked up with my nephew and his friend, Eileen. Instead of the normal standing only room there were chairs filling most of the floor. I've been to tons of concerts at In the Venue and never have I seen chairs. By the time we got there they were all filled of course. But we did find a great standing spot not too far from the stage where we could lean against the wall.

Up first was The Submarines. I had never heard of them but immediately decided that I liked their sound. They are a pop duo out of LA and during their whole performance I kept thinking how the girl looked and moved like Ellie Goulding. Here are two of their songs that I recorded. Of course I didn't end up recording my favorite song of theirs.

I believe this was the first of Guster's acoustic shows. It seemed that they hadn't really figured out how it was going to work. But that made it even more fun. I had forgotten just how crazy they are! They took requests and sometimes they couldn't remember how the songs went. See the X-ray Eyes video as an example. Also they took questions from the audience. My favorite was "What's wrong with your hair?" To which he replied, "What's wrong with your hair?!" :) Anyway, check out the recordings I made of them below:

My Kind of Town

New York, New York. It's my kind of town. At least I hope so! I've never been to the Big Apple but soon that will all change. I just booked my flight for a short visit next month. Stay posted to get all the details upon my return. I can tell you that I will be seeing a few shows and that the one I'm most looking forward to is Evita with Ricky Martin.

Going with the Flowrider

Another first here... After hitting the gym last night for spin class my friend, Stephen, really wanted to try the Flowrider at Provo Beach Resort. I can't really say that I was super excited about it but I'm usually up for trying new things and challenging myself. I've never been surfing or snowboarding. Nor have I hardly stepped on a skateboard. So needless to say I was not a natural. :)

Thanks to some help from Stephen and the lifeguard I was able to stay up for about a minute on my final attempt. And just when I was ready to give up. My friend, Chris, came too. Stephen is a little camera shy so there are only videos of Chris and I.

Discount Tire -- Take 2

Since it seems that the Internet is full of people who have complaints I wanted to spread some good will to a company has always provided great customer service to me: Discount Tire.

Last week I had taken my car into Discount Tire in Orem to get my tires rotated. I wanted to make it through the winter with the tires that came on my Accord when I bought it last summer. The front tires were getting too worn but I thought still good enough to rotate. Well the guys at Discount Tire said that the legally couldn't because they didn't have enough tread left. I was kind of bummed out. I wasn't expecting to have to get new tires just yet. So Lance, the store manager, said that if they had some used tires that would fit my car they would put those on for me free of charge. Mind you, I didn't even buy the tires on my car from them. I have gone to them for years though for my two previous cars. The Orem store didn't have the right size but Lance made a few calls to other stores and found two that were the right size. He told me to come back the next day and that he would have one of the guys pick them up from the other location. I was still shocked that they were doing this for free. Lance confirmed that there was not any charge. Even after they got my car all fixed up I was still expecting the surprise charges for something. But it never happened. The tires they put on my care were practically new. Now that is some awesome customer service. I'll be back.

Oh and this is not the first time I've had such a good experience with them. See my Discount Tire post from Sept 2009.

Lions, Tigers, and Brian. Oh My!

It's official! My plane ticket is purchased. I'm going to Africa this fall. I know it's a long ways away but that will give me lots of time to be excited, right? Nevermind the shots that I will have to get. I'll be going on a guided tour with two of my friends in South Africa for 8 days.

As I was getting my necessary information to book the trip I needed to look at my passport for how my name was listed. In the process I got a good look at my photo. Ugh! I get to keep that for several more years since I just got it in 2009.

Yoga Beginner

Last night I had made plans to hang out with a friend. Sometime in the afternoon he texted and asked if I would go to yoga with him. I told him that I had gone spinning during lunch, that I had plans to play racquetball with my brother in the evening, and that I would be too spent by the time to do yoga. Never mind the fact that I was still trying to get over my cold. The short story is that he was very persistent and I caved in. I mean, I have wanted to try yoga. I just didn't feel like this would be a good time for my first impression. Being the awesome friend that I am I went. It wasn't easy -- far from it! But it really wasn't as bad as I had expected. I wasn't as uncoordinated and unbalanced as I thought I might be. There were a few times that I needed to rest or when I fell out of the poses. But all in all I felt like it was a success. I actually look forward to going again. That is assuming that I can still walk tomorrow. So here is to trying out new things! :)

American Fork Half Marathon

Two days ago a friend and neighbor liked the American Fork Canyon Half Marathon & 5K page on Facebook. I decided to look the page and as a result the website. So far this year I hadn't really committed to any bigger runs. As I looked at the course description I thought if there was a half marathon that I should start with that this was the one. The majority of the course is downhill. Although I've never run this far in any one time I think I could do it. I may not be speedy but what's new? The half marathon isn't until June 23rd. So I have time to prepare. And I recruited two running buddies to do it as well.

Anyway, the point of this entry is to announce that I have registered for the American Fork Half Marathon! Let the training begin.