RADLIBS: THIS AMERICAN LIFE EDITION

The Man himself...Mr. Ira Glass

It's been almost a year since I first blogged about NPR Podcasts. (http://petechat.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-obsession.html) And I still really love them. This American Life is my favorite NPR show. How do you describe This American Life? Well I think Summer from the OC and the Onion did a pretty good job from Wikipedia:

This American Life was referenced in the television series The O.C., prompting the character Summer to respond, "Is that that show by those hipster know-it-alls who talk about how fascinating ordinary people are?" and, with a dismissive snort, "Gawd!" This reference was itself repeated in a segment of the 2007 Live Tour episode, when Glass, a self-confessed shameless fan of the teen soap opera, described his experience responding to the aforementioned line.
The Onion, a parody newspaper, published a satirical story on April 20, 2007, entitled "This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence".

So I saw this link on Radar (another website I like to check) where it would make a TAL mad lib for you. I did it and it really made me laugh. So here is what I got.

In today's This American Life ...
Act 1: Peter , an expatriate Filmmaker and regular This American Life contributor, finds out he has Elephantiasis when he's about to go on a road trip to Whittier, CA. He takes the road trip anyway.

Act 2: Ira talks about sorting mail when he was a kid, and how the experience taught him the importance of Trusting one's instinct. Years later, this lesson comes in handy, as it figures prominently in a commencement speech he gives at Yale.

Act 3: When a crew of Factory Workers who are also practicing Mormons find out that refugees from Sweden have been forced to settle in their hometown of Dallas, Texas, they decide to buck the trends and bring them into the small-town fold. Cross-cultural understanding blooms in unexpected ways, as the two groups meet nightly in the local PF Chang's to discuss a shared love for A-Team reruns.

Finally, Act 4: Ira talks to Hannah, who was raised as an orthodox Jew and who made a pivotal break with her faith at a Boston Red Sox game.

The Crazy thing is that this sounds like an real episode they would have.So be a little bit of a hipster and try it out. I know it's not for everyone.

http://thislife.org/

http://radaronline.com/features/2008/06/this_american_life_stories_ira_glass_create_your_own.php

Feeling the Love with the Angels

It’s Sunday night. The Angels have completed a three game sweep, and I’m listening to my favorite Ice Cube song. What better time to blog.

So this year in interleague play the Angels are playing the NL East. That means an extra trip to the east coast for my beloved Angels. I had wanted to see a game at the Phillies new stadium and here was a chance to not only do that but to see the Angels as well. I ordered the tickets on line and Dan and I headed up to the city of brotherly love.

This was a two fold mission. Watch the Angels play the Phillies and get my hair cut at the chop shop. After being in Washington for two and a half years I still haven’t found a place where I think they do a good job cutting my hair. When Jenn lived in Philly I would get my haircut at this place called the Chop Shop. They consistently gave me modern haircuts at a great price. I could explain to the person what I wanted and they would do it. So since I have lived here I have only liked the haircuts I got from Mary who has been cutting my hair since high school (she cut three generations me, dad, grandpa for Jenn and Marc’s Wedding) back home and at the Chop Shop. Despite our best efforts to get to the CS in time. The good people of Pennsylvania weren’t about to let us get through traffic. We called an audible and headed for the Stadium.

Philadelphia has a cool sports complex that has the Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey facilities all in one area with a common parking lot. With the exception of the old Spectrum they are all rather new.

Even though they have been doing it for ten years (I remember the first interleague game I went to was Angels Padres to see Wally play) the concept of interleague play is still novel. It’s cool to see your team play against someone they play only every four years. So the place was packed and I had to get “standing room only tickets”. Now I had been warned about going into enemy territory wearing Angels gear. This isn’t Baltimore or DC, Philly fan takes this very seriously. But after wearing my Angels gear to Yankee Stadium and my Lakers gear to the Sixers Lakers game, I knew I could expect some heckling but if I cheered respectfully and politely I wouldn’t have any major problems. So I wore my muted heather grey Angels T-Shirt and took my Angels hooded sweatshirt. The Angels and Phillies having the same colors probably helped as well. We found a place to stand in the pavilion behind left field and enjoyed the festivities.

I know that words and even a few pictures will not be enough to fully illustrate the scene that unfolded before us. To give you an idea though, on one side there was a rowdy bachelor party and on the other side was a group of foul mouthed drunks, who were having a very good time. Despite the fact that a young family with two small kids was right next to us, the filters were not on. In addition we had a perfect perch to people watch, and let me tell you there was no lack of strange, amusing, stunning, and just bizarre people to take note of. In order to avoid getting beat up by Phillie Fan (PF) I made sure to let the guys around me that Vlad Guerrero has six kids, lives with his mom, and enjoys roasting goats. As one guy said to me “He’s pretty well living the dream.” I guess it depends on if he has a dog.
As we were standing there watching the game we noticed that the group standing next to us was quite eccentric. It was a wide range of PFs out enjoying the game and life. How do I know this? Well, they let it be known. This apparent group of friends (although they might have not even known each other) were laughing, swearing and taking random pictures of each other with their SLR cameras. My favorite was this guy with a moustache. He had clearly had too much to drink and been out in the sun too long, but that didn’t put a damper in his joy or enthusiasm. He just kept telling those gathered around “I’m Aces, I’m Aces.” Yes my new friend…you are aces. Throughout the evening Dan updated me on the the stus. They were aces most of the evening.

The game itself was great. Vlad got the Angels on the board first with a towering home run. I cheered but I did it politely. PF tried to do their best to encourage whoever caught the ball to throw it back. No chance. The groom’s brother who was standing next to us had an eloquent way of describing how he would personally react if others made a similar demand.

Joe Saunders was pitching a gem of a game. Vlad hit another mammoth home run to virtually the same spot. It was good times for the Halos. It was however not good times for the Cubs fan. I am not the only person who has the pet peeve that you do not wear the gear of a team not playing in the contest. That is to say, if I am going to a Nats vs Yankees game I am not wearing my Angels hat and jersey. That just sort of bugs me. Well nobody told the poor cubs fan that.

Our new friends just hammered away at the guy. And there was nothing he could do. He was stuck in line getting absolutely lit up. We of course got in on the heckling and it was great.

The Phillies made a game of it, and even tied the game. The crowd was going crazy. I was impressed by PF they know how to cheer and the place was rocking. However some bad base running led the Angels to get the third out and prevented the Phillies from taking the lead. Erick Aybar came up in the next inning hit a two run home run and I told Dan, never doubt the power of the rally monkey.

The good guys won and we headed out to the parking lot and proceeded to sit there for twenty minutes trying to get out. It was a total disaster but once we were out we headed towards Gino's for a cheese steak (which is the second of three total components of a man's afternoon), We got to Gino's (redacted 6/26/2008 it was actually Pat's thank you DJN) devoured a cheese stake, got a little lost trying to get out of the city (the same exact thing we did when we went to the sixers game last year). http://petechat.blogspot.com/2007/03/lake-show.html

We made a last pit stop to complete the third component and then headed back for the Commonwealth and good ol southern hospitality.

Special thanks to Joe Biden and the people of Delaware for their tolls (and lobster bites), that guy who didn't let us merge on to exit 17 and made me miss the Chop Shop. Those many minxes who were at the game for no other reason than to watch the game. The guy in the adjustable Giants hat. The awkward couple standing next to me having a DTR during the sixth inning, the good people of Philly who haven't won anything in 25 years but still love their teams. And of course Dan Nelson who drove the whole way, with a terrible co pilot (yours truly).

I didn't even have to use my AK...I got to say it was a good day.

Save It

I thought about what to title this post and then "save it" came to mind. I have just watched my Lakers lose game six and the NBA Championship. They got out played and they lost. This is a premeption to the emails and G-Chats I expect tomorrow. It's pretty simple. I was over confident. I think the Celtics difficulty in the first couple of rounds made me think they weren't a good team. Wrong...they are very good. I was impressed by their defense. They beat the Lakers. The thing I learned from these playoffs and this series in particular is that I want to be a more consciences fan. I don't think I have and certainly never will get nearly the sense of joy from a team losing than I will from my team winning. I see no point in rooting vehemently against the team my friend wants to win if I have no vested interest in the game.

Here is my mea culpa. If I have ever been rude and rooted against your team simply to stick it to you, I apologize. After spending the last week listening to the most annoying and irritating comments from all sorts of sources, I realize that is not the kind of fan I want to be. The only time you will hear me make a disparaging remark about one of my friend's team is when they are competing against my team. I apologize to Josh Rose for calling him after the Lions lost on Monday Night football in 1994.

I am as passionate as ever about my teams (Niners, Angels, Lakers, and Cougars) but after the year I have had I have a much better perspective. Sports is a great way to feel connected to your community, a way to connect with your father, a distraction from the cares of the world, a way to feel part of a team, and that sort of thing. I still can not fully trust a man who doesn't like baseball. But sports (especially watching them) is not the whole world. Tomorrow I'll wake up, go to work, hang with President Bush, maybe dance at a party, and the world will go on. These playoffs have been great to root for my team, have a great time with my friends, and overall have a good time. This isn't loser talk, because I sure wanted the Lakers to win. I am not satisfied with second place, but I do realize that it isn't the end of the world. Tomorrow I will be living and dying with the Angels, with the 49ers and the Cougars just around the corner, and the Lakers shooting hoops again by Halloween. That is how this works. You see probably the best thing about sports is that there is always next season.

-Peter

The End of an Era + Monday Haiku

As long as I have attended Institute in the Washington DC area, I have pretty much exclusively attended Brother Ken Alford's class. He is by far the best institute teacher I have ever had. I have gone to his class on the Old Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, and this last semester was the best yet as he did his class on Church History. Now I know quite a bit about church history, and I think that my friends may even have been slightly impressed when I answered questions that nobody else knew (although there were times when I was way off). My interest in church history makes me very curious and I would ask a lot of questions in Bro. Alford's class. And the amazing thing...he could always answer them.

Brother Ken was also Dr. Ken and Col. Ken. After more than 30 years in the Army, Col. Alford has retired and will be teaching religion at BYU. He had a retirement ceremony and I attended. They listed his many accomplishments (he did not invent the internet, but he did tell the Army how important it was) and I found out that he graduated top of his class at BYU.

After the ceremony there was a short reception, and Matt and I went and checked it out. I thanked Bro. Alford for his great classes and wished him the best of luck.

So call that reason number two to go to graduate school at BYU. (Number one of course being intramural flag football)

Lakers Still Alive

Shower In A Can Winner

Hulk Smash Sonic Clap

Why I Take Public Transit

I know I complain all the time about not having a car here in Washington (although 4.00 gas prices make it easier to deal with) but if I was driving myself I wouldn't have the amazing experiences I have on public transportation.

So after a long day at the office that included being interviewed on camera by BYU's Washington Seminar ( I made sure to wear my nicest suit and my new cuff links so keep that in mind)I was happy to take the metro switch to the good old 10E bus and head home. I was deeply engrossed in the Star Wars book I was reading (yes I'm a huge nerd I'm just gonna embrace it) when I realized we had stopped. Why might you ask? Well earlier in the day we had a huge rain storm. There had even been tornado warnings (incidentally as I type this, it is pouring rain with thunder and lightning) which had even knocked trees down.

Thus our bus ran into a little problem. A big tree had fallen across the road and we had no choice but to turn around.


I had full confidence in my Metro Bus driver. She recognized that it would be difficult to back down the road so instead she decided to back into the driveway turn the bus around. That proved to be problematic. The funny thing was that I was all but oblivious to this as I was just sitting on the bus. Then I noticed that people were getting off the bus, traffic was piling up in back of us and three cars were trapped in between us and the tree. The brain trust got out and noticed that one of the wheels wasn't touching the ground. Not touching the ground meant no traction. The men on the bus decided to see if we could push the bus and get it moving. I removed my jacket (remember I was wearing my nice suit) and prepared to push the bus. We quickly noticed that no matter how hard we pushed the bus wasn't going anywhere because it was stuck on the curb.

It was at about this point that I thought to myself, I better start to document this. It is for situations like these that I keep my camera with me most of the time. I knew this was notable as residents of the apartment building in which the bus was stuck were standing on their balconies watching the proceedings.

Eventually our bus driver realized that it was a losing battle and she called in for reinforcements. I was taking pictures thinking wow this is kind of funny. I called Dan to tell him what he had missed. I am sure that the driver wasn't so keen about me photographing. I think she was a little embarrassed. I asked her if a tow truck was coming and she says "Why? So you can take more pictures." I assured her that there was no malice form me just something to put on my blog. I'm not sure she found it as amusing as I did.Sensing that it could rain any moment I decide that I couldn't wait for the tow truck and decided to just walk home. I called McMary who was happy to come rescue me. I was ready to go through the tree (remember nicest suit) but then noticed that here was a downed line of some sort. So I took a little bit rougher of a route.
I told Mary I would meet her half way on Arlington Ridge Road. I called my dad because I knew he would get a kick out of this story (I was right, he did) and then it started to absolutely pour rain. My nicest suit drenched. Luckily I found an awning to stand under and McMary and Katie Mags came to the rescue.

Thank you public transit for giving me so much, not the least of which being blog worth material.

RTB!

Arrgggh. The Lakers series is driving me crazy. I have severe anxiety about it. Blah.

So last week my Melanie told me that Ben Folds would be in concert and and wanted to know if I was interested in going. I really like Ben's Music and have 8 of his songs on my iPod. So I was like "Sure. Of course."

When I was a senior in High School my sister Jenn introduced me to Ben Folds Five. I thought it was very cool and made sure to get the CD. I remember driving to a USC football game with some of my friends and put the CD in. They were like the is crap. I guess I was just ahead of my time.

Whenever I get dumped (happens fairly often) I listen to "Song for the Dumped" and feel better about myself. Still waiting for the Black T-Shirt. So the Larger less powerful robot, McMary, Miss Beal, Emily G. and myself went out to Wolf Trap to enjoy the musical stylings of Ben Fold's. Now as far as I know there were never five members of Ben Fold Five, which is funny in a ironic way. So it is Ben ( I call him Ben like I know him) and a couple of other guys just jamming away.

The opening act was Julia Nunes. Apparently she is a "youtube sensation". Whatever. I spent the whole time talking to my Best Friend JJ and my friend (and JJ's wife) Jennifer. Apparently all the Bad Karma JJ and I created by running roughshod over primary and scouts growing up is coming back to get JJ, as he has been assigned to teach the young people of his ward and they neither respect, fear, nor listen to him. JJ and Jenn had real seats so we bid adieu and agreed to check out an amazing Indiana Jones Golf Course some time.

We blended in quite easily. Can you tell?

It was my first time seeing a concert at Wolf Trap. It was a cool place to come and sit and bring a picnic with you. The first thing I noticed about the crowd was the absolute lack of diversity (no old civil war ships). It was like being back at BYU. Everyone looked exactly like me or the group I was with. My favorites were the couple sitting just behind and to the right. The guy was chugging an Adult Beverage directly from the bottle. It was awesome.

Ben came out and rocked the stage. He is such an amazing piano player. He plays soooooo fast. One of the weird things about Wolf Trap is that they have someone who signs the whole show in American Sign Language. Call me ignorant but I didn't know deaf people went to concerts. My friends suggested perhaps they can feel the vibration (MARKY MARK, Feel it baby, YEAH YEAH). So after Ben notices this, he decides to have a little fun with it. He starts saying bad words over and over and the poor girl is just signing her little heart out. Then he starts this little song he makes up and uses these really hard words. It was great.

No Angry Dwarves, and 3 happy faces. "I never get served."

I really only have one criticism of the concert and that was that Ben didn't play many of the songs I knew. He totally rocked and was really great, I just had hoped that he would have played more songs for us casual fans to sing along to. He played Landed which is Melanie's favorite and since it was her Birthday it was a given. Ben came out for an encore and played the fastest version of One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Face. It was speedy.

I briefly looked at buying T-Shirt but didn't love any of the ones they had. We made it back to the car and headed home, having won at the Battle of Who Could Care Less.

Landed

Real Quick

There are a few things that have happened in the last week or so that I have been meaning to blog about, including my trip home from work yesterday and the Ben Folds Concert but after last nights Laker loss I wasn't in the mood, but I did want to mention one thing. My phone is still not working so I have forwarded all my calls to my Blackberry. You can call me no problem but I'm not getting text messages and I have virtually no phone numbers saved. So if you texted me over the last week and wondered why I haven't replied, now you know. If you want my Blackberry number just call or email me.

Have a great weekend.

Frustration

I am in reality a very happy person. I have sisters who love me. A dad who believes in me. Really great friends who understand me. A boss that trusts me with his wheels. A place to live close to lots of fun. A basketball team that is in the NBA Finals. A haircut that means business. I mean truly I live a charmed existence and yet even someone as optimistic as I am can not help but be frustrated by a few things that I have either experienced or heard about.

I told the photographer make sure I look really smug. Mission accomplished.

• My phone took a shower and now I can't get text messages. Yes my flag football team Shower in a Can finally won a game in which I made a few key contributions on defense including a QB sack on fourth down and a few (like three) deflections of passes. However the football gods required a sacrifice and apparently it was my phone. It started to absolutely pour rain and my phone has not been able to fire up yet. I'm able to forward my calls to my Blackberry but if you have tried to send me a text in the last 24 hours I haven't gotten it. Oh frustration.



• In addition to having my phone take a dip, in the midst of what seemed like hurricane (not to confused with Hurrencane) conditions I lost my football. The football that I had won so many flag football games in college with. It had a ton of sentimental value but someone picked it up and alas it was not me.



• HMMM. Wondering how to phrase this diplomatically. Totally frustrated by girls who don't know what they want and who send mixed signals. Seriously girl, make up your mind one way or another. No more vacillating, no more we're pals, no we're more than pals. Enough already.



Much like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, Prince Charming is not walking through that door. If he did, he wouldn't be here for you.




• I got pretty fired up (which for me means getting kinda mad and then really quiet. I'm pretty easy to read, if I'm quiet in a group setting chances are I'm mad) at a dinner party on Friday night. I have noticed that many of the young ladies I interact seem to have a list of qualifications they feel their suitors should meet. I understand this myself. I have certain things at varying levels of importance that I look for but for some ladies they seem to take this to the extreme. Even I have my shy moments (I know hard to believe) but I would say for the most part if I want to ask a girl out and I sense that I have a better than average chance she'll say yes, I'll call her up no problem. Not all guys are like that. I'm not sure girls realize that a guy is pretty well putting himself out there when he asks her out. In fact in most cases by him asking you out he is indicating at least a rudimentary interest in you. You should be flattered even if you aren't necessarily interested back. Don't get so hung up on how he asks you out because you know what? There are a lot of other girls he could be asking out, a lot of Ultimate Fighting DVD's he could be watching , a blog he obsesses about way too much, and a number of other things he could be doing. Instead this guy has risked humiliation and chosen not to pursue his other interests but to spend time to get to know you better. I do not begrudge that you would prefer and hope he is good looking, smells good, has a testimony, and dresses nice (Wolf Shirts are especially classy) and has nice teeth. I want those things myself. But the dumb things like "he emailed me", "he didn't come up with a creative enough first date", "he didn't tell me it was a double date." That is a sign of disrespect? Really? Are you serious? This is not a sign of anything. In fact chances are that if he did all those things differently you'd find ten other reasons why he wasn't "respecting you". Instead set the stupid things aside and be excited that you're going to be entertained, fed, and possibly adored for a few hours. If you don't want this, say no. Don't go and stop complaining. In return we guys will go back to watching the Office, practicing our arm bars, or going to the driving range. It's cool, either that or we'll find someone who is more relaxed and realizes it's just a date... and has very little deeper meaning beyond that. ( Oh it feels good to have the rage back.)
• Seriously? That guy? You're joking? Really? Whatever.

Well I guess that is it. I am frustrated that my phone is waterlogged, my football is AWOL, girls give mixed signals, and that lists with what I consider "stupid" expectations exist. Other than that not too many frustrations. Have a wonderful week!