Finnsurf-Surfing in Finland seems to be similar to surfing in Minnesota, in many ways. I enjoy learning about Finnish culture, and the north shore of Minnnesota, and Michigan's UP are filled with towns, and many other things Finnish.
It seems like the window for surf is small, and the water is cold, and waves are very rare. I like his commentary on surfing as an addiction, and the way it appeals to certain personalities. He will cancel meetings, and lie to make time for surfing.
Great film on Finnish surf, enjoy the teaser above.
Fugazi was a DC punk band, whose songs address the following themes:
Social conformity
Commodification
SocioCultural Icons
Classification as a means of control
"Full Discloure" Fugazi Lyrics
i want out i want a mutually assured destructive life seizing separate culture to take me over moving silent like radar take me over and blow out my mind full disclosure coming sponsored by no one take me over and blow out my mind ejected
It was a nice summer day, and Josh was the luckiest man in the world. He was just done traveling, and now it was a day for family time. The balance of skateboarding applies to life. Finding a balance between freedom and not letting fear get in the way of charging, in life and skateboarding. The death wobbles freak Josh out in both situations.
Josh had idealistic views on life. He thought the open road would lead to promises set in motion by bands like Canned Heat and The Grateful Dead, not to mention the things Kerouac explained in On the Road. But now Josh was listening to Willie Nelson, "Living on the Road My Friend, was going to keep you free and clean, but now you wear your skin like iron, and breath as hard as kerosense..."
The unwashed road lay before Joshua, and pleaded to his itchy feet:
"Got to keep on ROLLLLLLINGGGGG.....
Eddie Rabbit
Well the midnight headlight find you on a rainy night
steep grade up ahead slow me down makin no time
gotta keep rollin
those windshield wipers slappin out a tempo
keepin perfect rhythm with the song on the radio
gotta keep rolling
Ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a better way, for me
ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a sunny day
Well the truck stop cutie comin' on to me
tried to talk me into a ride said I wouldn't be sorry
but she was just a baby
Hey waitress pour me another cup of coffee
pop me down jack me up shoot me out flyin' down the highway
lookin for the morning
Ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a better way, for me
ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a sunny day
Well the midnight headlight find you on a rainy night
steep grade up ahead slow me down makin no time
gotta keep rollin
those windshield wipers slappin out a tempo
keepin perfect rhythm with the song on the radio
gotta keep rolling
Ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a better way, for me
ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a sunny day
He was a legend down in Holly Springs, MS, in more ways than one.
Jr. had 32-36 children, and built a community gathering place with his juke joint.
Wish I could have visited Junior's Place, but it burned down one too many times.
Lonesome Tremolo Blues: Live with Mason Jennings and the Pines
Lyrics
The harness eyes are breaking
What's this world a coming too
If it wasn't for you I don't know what I'd do
My heart is aching, can I take a little booze
I'm waiting at the window
With the lonesome tremolo blues
[ Lyrics from: http://www.cloverlyrics.com/e79939-the_pines~lonesome_tremolo_blues_lyrics.html ]
The world is on fire
The moon is hanging from a string
I wake up in the night, Lift my head up and start to dream
What's wrong with everyone? How far does it gotta go?
Until the dogs of greed, fall down,
And drown in snow
You give them all your time
And you do your work well
But your compensation, is just a fraction of the sale
You fell like a buffalo in the belly of a whale
While the sick and the poor still,
Hanging on the nail
I'm a stranger here and
I'm a stranger everywhere
I could go home but, I'm a stranger there
Aint it hard to stumble,When you got no place to fall
I aint' got no place, babe,
In this world at all
I read this article last night, and wanted to share it with my blog readers. Michael Munger gives great advice on writing in this article, and I especially like his discussion on people who shine, or don't shine, in graduate school: Writers
Most academics, including administrators, spend much of our time writing. But we aren't as good at it as we should be. I have never understood why our trade values, but rarely teaches, nonfiction writing.
In my nearly 30 years at universities, I have seen a lot of very talented people fail because they couldn't, or didn't, write. And some much less talented people (I see one in the mirror every morning) have done OK because they learned how to write.
It starts in graduate school. There is a real transformation, approaching an inversion, as people switch from taking courses to writing. Many of the graduate students who were stars in the classroom during the first two years—the people everyone admired and looked up to—suddenly aren't so stellar anymore. And a few of the marginal students—the ones who didn't care that much about pleasing the professors by reading every page of every assignment—are suddenly sending their own papers off to journals, getting published, and transforming themselves into professional scholars.
The difference is not complicated. It's writing.
Rachel Toor and other writers on these pages have talked about how hard it is to write well, and of course that's true. Fortunately, the standards of writing in most disciplines are so low that you don't need to write well. What I have tried to produce below are 10 tips on scholarly nonfiction writing that might help people write less badly.
I like their core values, and think these things should be applied to the transportation industry, which is also teetering on the brink of collapse. If a person could start a trucking company with these values, there wouldn't be a driver shortage.
One theme in my writing is the 90's rave scene: Here is the founder of Zappos speaking to the rave theme:
But what you begin to understand as you pore over his immensely readable book is that Zappos today is rooted in Tony's youthful pleasures and passions. In fact, Tony found a lot of inspiration in the rave scene, throwing massive parties and embracing the music, lights, and smoke that turned many individuals into a communal, and connected gathering. It's kind of hard to think of Tony as a raver, but then again, what does a "raver" look like? Says Hsieh "It's actually really funny. I've had people come up to me and say oh, I used to go to raves. I would never have guessed that about them. So I don't know what a raver looks like 10 years later in general." But today Zappos has an employee culture that seems very much of one mind, focused on customer service and not in some sort of cookie-cutter corporate way. Zappos really cares that you're happy, and it's baked into their beliefs, their customer interaction, and even the way they hire. "When we hire people we do two sets of interviews. The hiring manager and his or her team will do the standard fit within the team, relevant experience, technical ability and so on. But then our HR department does a second set of interviews purely for culture fit." "We've formalized the definition of our culture into 10 core values. Basically what we're looking for are peoples whose personal values match our corporate values. They're just naturally living the brand. Wherever they are whether they're in the office or off the clock."
The more I read and hear about Zappos mission, the greater respect I have for this company. I heard about it last week, on a Duluth radio station, and thought it would be fun to interview with this company, just to learn more about my cultural connections, and to find a job that intertwines work and happiness...a static abstraction often promised by many employers, but rarely delivered.
"Part of being an adult is doing things you don't want to do..aka-finding a job that doesn't make you miserable, nuerotic, or both....aka work." It appears that Tony, the founder of Zappos, has addressed this very questions, and I respect him for walking the walk, even after he has become very, very successful.
The quote above, contains some of the best, and worst advice I have ever received, by a man who was very tired of punching the company clock. I will keep you posted on my Zappos interview....
