On Tuesday I cancelled our DirecTV service. It’s crazy to think we have been a customer for thirteen years. We originally switched to DirecTV because we hated Cableone, and DirecTV had Tivos. DirecTV Tivos have been gone a long time now and we’ve been dealing with their shit DVR, while watching our monthly bill going up ever year. It’s stupid that you have to threaten to cancel ever year to keep your bill down. Fuck that. I’m not playing that game. This year our bill creeped over the $130 mark. Now that we have another cable provider, Midco, I thought I would look into them. They’ve been a great internet provider so far.

So now I’m paying around $130 for cable AND internet. I’m pretty much saving the $65 that I was paying for internet. And guess what? They have Tivos! We finally have and awesome DVR again. So we basically switched to DirecTV to get a Tivo and left DirecTV to get a Tivo again.

I wish cable and satellite providers cared about their customers and offered better DVRs like Tivos. The user interface is so much better. I guess they’ll feel the pain soon enough as fewer people subscribe, and more people cut the cord. If I lived alone I would have cut the cord years ago. I never watch TV. All the alternatives are getting better. Someday soon we will cut the cord, just not quite yet.

New Miserable Experience was a great album. “Hey Jealousy” was basically an anthem song for 1993. I still remember listening to this album on the way to my first party with a bunch of coworkers. I had a crush on a certain coworker, so I was totally going to the party that night at her apartment after she invited me. One of the first person I met at the party was her big buff boyfriend who could kick my ass with his pinkie finger. It was still a fun night. It was my first time hanging out with a bunch of coworkers. It was a little weird getting drunk with my boss, but everyone was cool. After the party, I probably shouldn’t have driven home, but my dorm room was just a few blocks away, so I drove home continuing listening to New Miserable Experience. It’s weird how certain songs, or album bring back certain memories. I listened to this album a ton in 1993, but all the memories are from that party.

A year ago today my favorite band, Motion City Soundtrack, announced their breakup. It’s been a weird spring. Most springs in the past I’ve been looking forward to seeing where MCS was touring. They were a hard working band and were constantly touring. It was great. I was able to see them fourteen times, and I’m still kicking myself for missing a few other shows that I could have seen. It was also the main reason of their demise. For smaller bands to make it these days they have to be constantly touring. As you get older you just want to be home. I totally get it.

I don’t think a day has gone by since last 3.11 that I haven’t listened to some MCS. I’ve been reading their Reddit page and every week someone posts a song to discuss. That always leads me down the rabbit hole of all the amazing MCS YouTube videos. From old live performances, acoustic performances, to even some ukulele covers. All of them are so great because the songs are so great.

Whenever I try to listen to some new music I’m always like, “This is good, but not MCS good. Why don’t I just listen to MCS.” You would think I would get sick of MCS, but I don’t.

Currently the lead singer, Justin Pierre, is working on a solo album. I’m looking forward to that, and if he does any local Minneapolis shows, that would be great. Someday down the road I sure hope there is a reunion show. I will be right there in the front row, just like I have many time in the past.

The current political climate of our country is scary. I keep hoping smarter heads will prevail and someone will be able to control the child that we elected as president. It’s not looking like that’s going to happen. There really isn’t anything I can say that hasn’t been said already.

Since the near future looks bleak, lets look back to the past.

A couple weeks ago Dave Winer posted his top 10 albums from when he was a teen. I think the music you liked as a teen sticks with you and will always be your favorite. My teenage years were 1988–1994, while my all time favorite band Motion City Soundtrack is more recent, I still love early 90s music.

I tried to limit my list to ten, but that just seemed too difficult. I love all these albums so much. I did stick with the rule of only one album per band though. My goal is to revisit each album more in depth in future posts.

So here’s my top tenish (really 18) albums from when I was a teen:

• Frank Black – Teenager of the Year
• Frente! – Marvin the Album
• Gin Blossoms – New Miserable Experience
• Green Day – Kerplunk
• The Juliana Hatfield Three – Become What You Are
• The Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray
• Letters to Cleo – Aurora Gory Alice
• Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
• Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
• Nirvana – Nevermind
• NOFX – Punk in Drublic
• Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
• The Posies – Frosting on the Beater
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
• Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
• Soul Asylum – Grave Dancers Union
• Sugar – Copper Blue
• Weezer – Blue Album

2016 was the year of health problems for me. Nothing really major, but I saw more doctors in 2016 than any other single year in my life.

It all started last January with a toothache. Toothaches have to be one of the most painful things. I went to my dentist and he couldn’t find anything wrong and gave me some pain pills. The pain never went away so I went to another dentist because mine was on vacation and she couldn’t see anything wrong. The pain never went away, so I thought maybe it was in my jaw, so I went to a doctor. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with my jaw, but my blood pressure was high.

My toothache finally went away, but then I started dealing with my blood pressure. I had an EKG done and something was off, so then I had a stress test done. Everything seemed fine then, but I was put on blood pressure medication. After a few visits the medication was doing it job and my blood pressure was great.

Then I came down with gout. The cause was most likely my blood pressure meds. They took me off the blood pressure meds, and my lifestyle changes must have worked because my blood pressure was fine and I no longer need to be on blood pressure meds. Yay!

So then during my next teeth cleaning, my dentist discovered an abscessed tooth. So the year ended with me getting a root canal to fix the problem that started in January.

2017 starts with a clean bill of health for me. No pain and I’m on no meds. I have a dentist appointment next week. lets hope this year is better than the last.

I’m not a big fan of Christmas songs. I’m actually not a big Christmas fan at all. I find this time of year to be pretty depressing. All weekend I’ve had one Christmas song stuck in my head though. It’s probably one you don’t know. It’s this one:

It’s from Tiny Stills. If you don’t know them you should. Kailynn West is basically Tiny Stills. She is the drummer of Motion City Soundtrack’s fiancé. Not only does she write great music, she is a great person.

When Motion City Soundtrack announced their final tour I was so hoping that she would open for them. Sadly she didn’t, but she did open on Motion City Soundtrack’s very last show because of a cancellation. She wrote all about it here.

When Motion City Soundtrack played their final Minnesota shows she did fly up to visit. I saw her just chilling out during the pre show vip activities. I wanted to say hi, but I was too shy and didn’t want to bother her. I did spot her in the picture that the band took during the show though.

I wasn’t sure at first, so I asked her if that was her. She asked me if I was playing where’s Waldo with her.