5 Awesome Albums by Artists You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

If you have known me for any amount of time you know that music is a huge part of my life. I listen to music in my car, in the shower, in my classroom, and pretty much anywhere I can get a speaker. I have seen many concerts. Many of which have served as reunions with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time.

I consider myself well rounded when it comes to musical taste. If you were to peruse my iTunes, you would surely find something you like no matter if you like rock, jazz, r & b, rap, hip-hop, or bluegrass. For this post, I went through my library and tried to find albums that I really like that are rather obscure. Here they are in no particular order:

The Infamous Stringdusters: Things That Fly: This album is one that I listen to quite a bit. The Stringdusters are a bluegrass band from Colorado. Things That Fly contains songs that are a mixture of traditional bluegrass tunes and some danceable “newgrass” tunes. It is not twangy. They do an awesome job mixing their 5 piece string band and awesome harmonies. For me the highlight of the album is It’ll Be Alright.

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad: Country: Quite a name for a band right? This 5 piece band is an electric reggae band that specializes in bass-heavy dub reggae music. However, for this album they unplugged and recorded an all acoustic album. It mixes reggae with bluegrass to create an awesome sound. While the lyrics are not Beatles quality, they are catchy and singable. The Dub Squad also throw in a cover of the Grateful Dead’s New Speedway Boogie. Get Me Through is the album highlight for me.

The Milk Carton Kids: Retrospect: Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan have recorded this amazing ballad driven acoustic live album. With two acoustic guitars and two unique voices, this album is perfect for a Sunday drive in the summer sun or a relaxing listen after a long day. Charlie is a song that every parent should listen to.

A Tribe Called Quest: Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm: This is a straight up hip-hop album that is infectious in its beats. Musically it contains awesome sections that infuse jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop. The lyrics are clean and Q-Tip’s voice is one of a kind. Luck of Lucien is my personal favorite track.

Buena Vista Social Club: Buena Vista Social Club: Havana Cuba has had its struggles in the past. The Buena Vista Social Club was one Havana’s most popular meeting spots for musicians in the 1940’s. Inspired by the legendary club, Cuban American artists recorded this album in the late 90’s. The album takes you on musical tour through Cuba’s history. Combining Cuban soul and Latin sounding jazz, this is a great album listen to on a hot summer day with a cold drink in hand.

Totally Spaced Out…

Quite a night in the middle of August

When was the last time you looked up?  Not looked up to see if it is raining.  Not looked up to see the spider crawling across your ceiling.  When was the last time you looked up to see the wonderous, vastness of space?  Sure, everyday we see the clouds passing and think nothing of it.  Those clouds range from less than a mile to about six miles above our heads.  On a clear night, we can watch shooting stars.  They aren’t actually stars, they are specs of dust burning up in our mesosphere.  They’re only 30 miles above our heads.  The moon provides light from its purch in the night sky.  It may seem like a long way but it is only about 250,000 miles from Earth.  Our giver of light, the sun, is 93,000,000 miles away.  Thats extremely close in space distance.  In fact, light travels at 186,000 miles per second.  If the sun went out as you read these words, it would take 8 minutes for the last bit of light to reach Earth.

This summer, on our family vacation, Jess, Dusty, Jocelyn, and I laid out under a crystal clear sky for a few hours.  The night was chilly but the show that the heavens put on was spectacular!  I saw meteorites like I have NEVER seen before.  Huge streaks of light burning across the night sky.  Some where so bright that they left a trail in the sky for seconds after they burnt up.  All of this took place on a backdrop of the universe.  The Milky Way was clearly visible that night.  As I laid there watching this celestial show, I began to think about how large we as people are compared to the universe.  My mind began to wander as I tried to conceptualize where we stand in relation to the vastness of space.  It is mind boggling!

My cousin, Tyler, posted this computer animation on Facebook shortly after vacation.  I thought it was fitting to the show that I had just witnessed.

Think about this.  There are about 6,973,738,433 people on the Earth.  On average, adult’s shoulder widths are between 14″ to 15″ in width.   The Earth has a diameter of about  7,926.41 mi.  Seems pretty large right?  The suns’ diameter is 865,000 miles.  The sun is the largest body in our solar system.  It is a star.  However it is only an average sized star.  In fact, it is on the smaller end of average.  The largest star in our galaxy (the Milky Way) is Antares.  It has a diameter of 603,680,000 miles.  That is about 800 times larger than the sun!

Sure the objects in our galaxy are large but it is how far apart they are that completely boggles my mind.  From one end to the other, the Milky Way is 100,000 to 120,000 light years across.  Remember, light travels at 186,000 miles per second! A light year is (obviously) how far light travels in a year.  There are about 30 galaxies that lie within a “local group” that includes the Milky Way.  This local group lies within 30 million light years of the Milky Way.  Oh, by the way, remember the sun is a star.  Well, there are 200 to 400 million stars in the Milky Way alone.  The light we see from stars has been traveling for millions to billions of years until it gleams in our eyes.  When you look at the stars, you are looking back in time.  You are looking at stars that may have exploded eons ago.  They might not even be there anymore!

The universe itself is about 93 billion light-years across.  It is also believed to have around 300 sextillion stars in it.  Each being millions to billions of light years apart.  To my puny human brain it is incomprehensible.

Next time there is a clear night, take a few minutes (or hours…its worth it) to look up and wonder.  Become a kid again.  Its free…

What Penn State Means to Me

As you know, Penn State is going through the most difficult time in its storied, honored, history.  The acts of a few, who were more powerful and deceitful than anyone could imagine, have tarnished the image of an extremely proud and notorious institution.  In the last few months, the media has made alumni, like me, feel like we should be ashamed to call ourselves Penn State alum or “Penn State Proud.”  This is media hype at its finest and I refuse to let it happen to me.

The Penn State that I know, the Penn State that shaped me, had little to nothing to do with the football program.  In fact, football was the least of my concerns when I was there.  From 1995-1999, I was a student in University Park.  I was there to learn about my career as a teacher and to learn even more about myself as a person.

I had wanted to go to Penn State Main Campus since I was a middle schooler.  Sure, my first memories and interests in the school were sparked by watching football games with my dad on Saturday afternoons.  We went to a few and I was awed by Beaver Stadium.  However, I really knew that Penn State was for me when I had the chance to stay on campus for a few days in the spring for 5 straight years when I was in middle school and high school.  I participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science and the prize for placing first in the regional competition was spending a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in May , in the dorms of Penn State Main Campus and presenting your project at the state competition.  As a middle school student, away from home, on a college campus, I thought I would be intimidated or nervous.  In fact, the opposite was true.  I fell in love with the campus.  I couldn’t get enough Frisbee near the old lot 80.  I loved walking through the book store and imagining myself with my backpack on going to class.  The Creamery was located just up the street from East Halls.  We had access to it all.  When my three days were up, I didn’t want to leave.  I knew it was the place for me.

Once I decided that Penn State was for me, I jumped at the chance to go there.  I sent out my application the summer before my senior year.  I clearly remember the November day that I received my acceptance letter to Main Campus.  I was thrilled!  My buddy Craig and my girlfriend at the time were accepted too.  It was perfect.  A few of my other friends were accepted to branch campuses but we all knew that they could make their way to main campus.  This had nothing to do with football.

My freshman year was filled with experiences that I will never forget.  I met friends that I still have to this day.  They were people from all over the state and the country.  We laughed a whole lot.  We did things that were so stupid, that looking back, we were lucky we ended up getting to our sophomore year.

That first year was a time for me to take a huge campus with 40,000 student and make it small. I had met such awesome people, and done so many awesome things, that it felt like Penn State was a small knit community.  Sure, we went to a few football games, but we were making memories with each other and the campus.  Penn State gave me the opportunity to come out of my shell and reach out to new people.  Through pledging two fraternities (and not following through on either) I met some incredible people who still make me laugh all the time.  The boys at Sig Tau will always make me laugh when I think of the stuff we used to do and the times we still have when we get together.  Thanks to them for still letting an old ex-pledge hang around!

I will never forget the CATA Line busses late at night, roller blading to classes, the chiming of the Old Main Bell, the old location of The Creamery, Frisbee on the HUB Lawn, the Blue and White golf courses, working at The Kinder Station with some really kick-ass people, the things that I don’t remember, jumping off of Sig Tau’s roof (at the original house) after a huge snowstorm, Zeno’s, The Brewery, Penn Tower, East Halls, Arts Fest, the Riot, summers at PSU, the $108 keg, laying in a field watching the stars, and the countless other things that we did.  Football just didn’t do it for me.  There were too many other things to do.

The social aspects of Penn State really helped me branch out and become who I am as a person.  However the academic side of Penn State has given me everything that has molded my career as a sixth grade science teacher.  In fact, the academic side is the reason why I met my wife and have the family that I do.

I started out as a dual major in physics and biology.  After my second try at double variable calculus, I decided that  it was time to change tracks.  I entered the field of elementary education.  Penn State offered a student teaching opportunity in Pierre, South Dakota, at a government funded boarding school for Native American students.   I jumped at the opportunity.   After being interviewed and accepted, I was on my way to South Dakota.  While there, I was able to take a bus to the Eagle Butte Indian Reservation to pick up some of our students.  It was an eye-opening experience to say the least.  I saw poverty like I had never even imagined.  However, these students jumped on the bus with a smile on their faces and were ready to learn.  I was exposed to a culture that is so unique.  I felt honored that they were allowing me to teach their children.  Football had nothing to do with it.

Not only did I meet and interact with Native American students, I met and fell in love with my wife while I was there.  She went to Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.  They had the same program as Penn State.

I know that my story and my experiences at Penn State are not unique.  University Park is filled with good, honest people, teachers, and professors who have given their entire life to bettering other’s lives.  To them, I say thank you and keep it up.  The actions of a few, even though they were powerful and deceitful DO NOT represent what Penn State IS.   Notice I did not say “what Penn State was.”  Penn State is still an excellent university filled with people who have passion, integrity, and heart.  Penn State is opportunity.  Penn State is what you make it.  It is not the evil that the media has made it out to be.  The actions of a few are horrid and will never be forgotten.  However,  even though the media doesn’t see it this way,  Penn State is much more than football.  It is a tile mosaic of hundreds of thousands of pieces.  All of them unique and football is but one of those tiles.  Don’t let the media decide what our portrait should be.  We are the artists…We Are Penn State!

A Collection of Thoughts About Being a Dad…

The Fabulous 4

So, I woke up this morning and had a thought.  “I have that blog that I used for a class a few years ago.  I am on summer break from teaching.  I no longer have a large audience of sponges to spew my thoughts to…”  I figured I might as well dust off the old educational blog and use it record my musings… I told Jess this morning that I was thinking about restarting my blog and she just laughed.  Now that I have her full support, here we go.

This blog was originally written to share my thoughts on various aspects of education.  Feel free to go back and read some of the earlier posts.  I am sure you can find something to disagree with me about.  However, today’s entry is going to be about what being a dad has meant to me and what I have learned and what I still need to conquer.  Here are my top 10 (in no particular order):

1.  I love my wife deeply.  However, I never knew how much I could love someone until my daughter, Sophia, was born in May of 2008.  Along with Jess, Sophia and my son Luke are THE most important things in my life.  I would do anything for any of them; especially my children.

2.  My Parents were huge influences in my life.  I always knew that my parents were wonderful in the way that they raised my brother and me.  I truly thank them for the morals and values that I have today.  With two wonderful role models, I can pass what they taught me about life onto my children.  The best part is…both of my kids are nuts over their grandparents!

3.  Being a dad is not easy.  With one kid, both parents have to sacrifice some things they enjoyed in the past.  However, with two, the ballgame changed completely.  Most notably, I have given up leisure activities that I had enjoyed so frequently in the past.  I no longer golf as much as I used too.  I haven’t been out in my kayak in over a year.  I am not complaining.  With the infrequency of these things, I have gained so much more time with my kids.

4.  I could never be a mom.  Jess is an incredible woman.  She manages to raise our kids during the school day by herself.  When I walk in the door, she leaves for work three days a week from 3-6PM.  How she can keep her sanity from one strenuous job to the next is amazing.  The kids are constantly demanding of her and she never complains about it.  When I am at school, I have coworkers to talk to and destress and vent.  She works as a secretary at a church.  When she is there in the evening she is there by herself.   She can’t vent.  It amazes me.

5.  Boys and girls are totally different.  When Sophia was a toddler, she was quiet and enjoyed playing by herself.  She would eat at meal times and have a snack here and there throughout the day.  Luke, on the other hand, is a beast.  That boy eats CONSTANTLY.  He devours bananas like I’ve never seen.  When he doesn’t want something, he will throw it on the floor.  He can laugh and cry at the same time.  He loves his sister and she loves him.  He is already into trucks, playing ball, and dancing while she loves princesses, dresses, and being beautiful.  I love it!

6.  Moms and dads need to get out without kids every once in a while.  Last week, Jess, the kids, and I were at the beach with her family.  We were lucky enough to have Jess’ parents there to watch the kids while we went to Atlantic City to see Phish (I am sure there will be a future post about them).  We met up with Craig Day, Jeff Cunningham, Jimmy and Laura Kalp, and Tom and Kara Patty.  Craig and Jimmy are my great friends from high school.  Jeff was our roommate in college and Tom and Kara are close friends of the Kalps (and we love them too).  This was the first time we have all been together since 2004.  It was truly a great experience.  It was Father’s Day.  We all missed our kids but it was great sharing stories about how wonderful they all are.  Oh yeah, the band killed it that night and we all had three hours to dance our asses off and relax!

7.  It is hard to imagine what my life was like before I became a dad.  Frequently, Jess and I ask each other what we did before kids.  Both of us agree that it is very difficult to remember.  I must have been a knucklehead…

8.  No matter how bad of a day I had at work, nothing can take away the feeling of opening the door when I get home and having my two kids run to me for a hug!  All the stress that I had that day disappears.  Nothing matters at that point except that we are all home and together.

9.  Patience is something that I need to work on.   I tend to get short with Sophia every once in a while.  She acts so mature and grown up, that I sometimes forget she is only 4.  She is just a little kid.

10.  Every kid needs a dog.  We had to put Jake the Dog down last December.  It was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make.  All of us were having a tough time dealing with his loss.  We still talk about him as a member of the family.  Luke has fallen in love with dogs.  Every time he sees one, we have to go pet it.  Sophie loves them too.  They both light up around them.  We will have one sometime in the near future.  I grew up with dogs and so did Jess.  Our kids will too.

There you have it…feel free to share your lessons learned!