My friend Patti and I did some kayaking out in Long Island sound this afternoon. Amazing weather and nice, calm waters.  A perfect way to wind down after a stressful commute. 

There's only a few people I know who enjoy their commute.  My friend Steph is one of them.  From my understanding, she gets to cruise through scenic country roads on her way to work.  I'd imagine I might enjoy that as well.  For most of us, the commute involves sitting in traffic with a bunch of  miserable drivers on some major highway like I-95 and dodging street repairs and building construction. It can get depressing.

My commute starts off okay.  I usually get to cruise past the traffic in the Naugatuck Valley and then along most of RT 34.  By the time I get to downtown New Haven it all changes and the quality of my drive plummets.  Some jerk might cut me off, the road could be backed up due to construction, or a pedestrian will dart in front of traffic and nearly cause an accident.  Typical events like these could easily set a bad tone for the day.

There's a few ways I stay positive during the drive into work:

• Music (lately it's been The Beatles, Vampire Weekend, or Franz Ferdinand... played loudly)
• Coffee
• Fresh Air (always drive with the windows down)

Still, once I get downtown, my mood can easily change for the worse no matter what I do to prevent it.  And then I think about how it's quite possible that I could be doing this for decades to come.  Some days I wish I could ditch the car and walk to work, or at least take alternate routes. Unfortunately, it just isn't possible for the time being.  Any tips from my fellow commuters on how to improve this unfortunate part of the day?

Update: Some responses I received from my twitter followers below the cut:

• @chobson - Avoid highways, take local roads whenever possible. It'll be a few extra minutes, but it's much less agitation.
• @mindymunizaga - I enjoy my morning solo performances way more than I probably should...you can call me and we'll do a duet.  Speakerphone ftw!
• @criana - podcasts are good if your driving or audiobooks. Map out alternatives around heavy traffic.

Then Steph sent me this pic from her drive into work this morning.  As well as this one, this one, and this one.

Working in downtown New Haven means that my coworkers and I get to see a lot of unusual things going on outside of our window.  This past week, while working hard on revamping the company ecommerce site, we noticed a slightly unusual showroom customer pull into the parking lot.  Typically, the showroom customers appear to be well-off - coming in with BMW's or other types luxury vehicles.  The guy however, came in on a bike with custom tin-foil rims.   Mindy couldn't resist snapping a photo:

What:
Aleksander J. Tomczak Memorial Benefit Concert
When:
Sunday Aug 17, 2008
at 3:00 PM
Where:
Coon Hallow
Nutmeg Ave
Derby, CT 06418
United States
Tickets:
$20

Info:
From my friend Alexis:

We will be holding a Memorial Benefit Concert for Alex featuring One Jack Move, and opening acts Josh Dellinger, and David Roberts on Sunday August 17th at 3 PM at Coon Hallow in Derby! Ticket will go on sale on Monday August 4th, and they will also be for sale at the door. All tickets are 20 dollars. We will also be selling refreshments and T-shirts and there will be a 50/50 raffle. Make sure you bring your blankets! All proceeds will go toward Alex’s final expenses and the Aleksander J. Tomczak Memorial Scholarship Fund.  Please pass the word!

For tickets, please email Alexis.Tomczak (at) hotmail.com

My original plans were to check out the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT with my friend Mindy.  But somehow or another we missed the exit, and ended up taking a 200 mile road trip through New York and the Litchfield County instead.   It was a fun, relaxing, destination-less drive. We passed a few abandoned insane asylums, discussed the feasibility of the vegetarian lifestyle, blasted a few Beatles albums, and passed a few apple-eating deer.

As we were heading back we stopped for a quick bite to eat at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in downtown Torrington.  It's worth a visit if you've never been to a 19th century style tavern, but I'd recommend checking it out on a Friday or a Saturday night when there might be more people around.  While we both enjoyed the food, the lack of other patrons and the dead silence that resulted made it feel a bit creepy. 

(Source: NYT; Photo:Kevin Mazur) 

So last night, while I was home relaxing.. Paul McCartney joined Billy Joel on stage for the "Last Play at Shea" - the final concert at Shea Stadium before it is to be torn down.  It was two of my favorite singers/songwriters side by side, and I missed it.  I found out about the surprise performance a few hours prior to the show, but it was too late.  Needless to say, I regret not buying tickets in advance.  But I have an idea for next weekend that could make up for it.

McCartney wasn't the only one to join Joel on stage.  Roger Daltrey of the Who, Steven Tyler, and Garth Brooks came on to play a few songs as well.  Videos are floating around on YouTube.

On another note: I went to see  a Brian Wilson concert in Torrington this past Wednesday.  It felt like more of a tribute to Wilson than it did a performance.  His band did the bulk of the singing and he hardly played an instrument, but they were playing HIS songs, and it was an honor to witness it.  If you aren't familiar with Brian Wilson's life and work ("God Only Knows", "Good Vibrations", "Wouldn't it Be Nice", etc.), you should read a bit about him.  He's the genius behind the music of The Beach Boys, and one of the greatest songwriters/producers in American pop-music history.

For the past month or so I've been advocating that my friends listen to Vampire Weekend, an indie-rock band from New York that's been enjoying a great deal of attention following the release of their self-titled album in January.  My brother recommended I give them a listen earlier this year and I've been a fan ever since.   They've describe their genre as "Upper West Side Soweto" - sort of an indie pop/punk sound with an Afro-pop influence.  It's really great stuff.. without a doubt one of the best debut albums I've come across in a while.

Ironically, as I was writing this post, I received a message from Ezra, the lead-singer in the band.  It happened because I was chatting with a girl from New York who happened to know him.  She got excited when she heard me listening to them, so she ended up sending him a text, and in response I received a message telling me to "rock on".

Give the album a listen.  You'll enjoy it.  Start off with "Mansard Roof", "A-Punk", and "M79".  Below is their most recent single/video, "Oxford Comma".

My trip ended much too quickly.  Monday morning I was back in Connecticut, and back at work.  But as quick as the trip was, it was worth every penny.  Two days away was just enough to hold me off for a while.

My last day there was more casual than the day before.  We went to downtown Scottsdale for lunch then took a drive down RT 87 to Saguaro Lake.  By night I was back at the airport ready for my flight home.

A few more pics, all from Saturday:

The flight here was terrible.  My "window seat" lacked a window, the plane had no pillows or blankets, it felt like there was an hours worth of turbulence while over Oklahoma and Texas, and the woman next to me was praying the rosary like it was Armageddon.

It was worth it.  Friday night was kept low key, partly due to the fact that it was almost 2 AM by the time I arrived.  My friend Kristen and I grabbed some fast food from Jack In The Box (great stuff), had a quick chat, then called it quits for the night.

Saturday we started the day with some coffee and then took a 2 hour road trip up north towards Sedona.  The terrain changed fast - from flat desert and tall cacti to jagged red mountains in what felt like the matter of a half hour.  I drove most of the way because Kristen wasn't too crazy about driving in the mountains. The views were amazing so the drive seemed to go by very quickly. 

We pulled over at a rock formation to the south of Sedona called Bell Rock.  A lot of people go here looking for a Vortex - a place where people have reported feeling inspired by a beneficial source of energy.  Needless to say, I'm a bit skeptical about the existence of such a thing, but I wasn't there for that, I was there for the hiking.  We tried to make our way towards the top, but in 110 degree heat we couldn''t get very far so we had to turn back.

Once our attempt at hiking was over we made our way to downtown Sedona where we lunch and cooled off at a Mexican restaurant named Oaxaca. 

From there we did a bit more driving, and then found ourselves hanging out along a river and watching people jump off cliffs at Slide Rock State Park, just to the north of Sedona in the Coconino National Forest.

To sum it up: it's been an amazing weekend so far.  Videos here and pics below:

Hiking around Bell Rock

A jumper at Slide Rock State Park

It's a Friday night, and I'm sitting at JFK looking for ways to kill the time as I wait for my flight to arrive.  I think thunderstorms are to blame for the delay.  It's no excuse, we should have braved the weather.  I had only planned on spending 48 hours at my destination!  Delays simply aren't acceptable.

Where am I going?   Arizona.  There I'll be meeting up with a friend who I haven't seen since 2005 and then roaming around in the desert for two days.  Why am I going?  I couldn't really tell you.  I have a friend there that I've been meaning to visit, and I've really wanted to take a vacation for a while now.  Those would be two good reasons, but I'll only be there for a day and a half.  Two miserable nights of travel for 36 hours of fast paced leisure. 

People question the wisdom behind these fast-paced trips, but for me, it's worth it.  I'll get to see a part of the country I've never seen before, and I'll spend some time with a great friend who I haven't seen in years.  I'm considering this a preview trip.  If I like what I see, I'll come back.  I gave this very little planning... I actually just booked my flight 4 days ago.   Few people know I'm even going to be away this weekend.

There's a forecasted high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow.  I can hardly bare 80!   I'm told it's no so bad because of the lack of humidity, but we'll see.

I'll be posting quick little updates throughout my trip, via the blog, twitter, and YouTube.  You can find it all here on the right hand side of your screen under "Recent Thoughts" and "Recent Video".