Making The World A Better Place

Making the world a better place isn't going to happen by any big idea or huge movement. It's going to happen by everyday people and companies working together. A major thing I wish the United States would see is how much better glass products are rather than plastic. I visited Europe a few years ago and most of all drinks were bottled in glass rather than plastic. The glass is much easier to be recycled than plastic and is much more organic. Melting and reshaping glass is much simpler than trying to recycle plastic products. Oh yeah, as far as driving, manual transmissions should be required. Think about the typical American driving experience. You get in your car, you turn it on, you put it in drive and that's that. This allows for pretty much anyone to be able to be on the road. Which could be dangerous. To pass your driving test in Europe you must first pass it driving a car with a manual transmission. There's a reason DWI rates are lower in Europe. Think about it. Could you imagine a person under the influence trying to shift gears, or even get a car going in manual? No way. It makes it tougher on the person but it also keeps them off the road.. depending how "gone" they are. Also driving manual makes you a lot more focused on the road, the conditions, and what's going on around you. You don't have time to text, read the newspaper, and have your thanksgiving feast while driving. Americans put down manual transmissions. Why? Most of the time the reply is because "it's too much work." Yeah, and that's why America is the way it is...

Check Your Tire Pressure

No but seriously. Check your tire pressure. Hi, Rudy here with your weekly automotive tip (haha). Going down the road I cringe every time I see a poorly inflate tire bulging out at the bottom due to the extreme weight of what's above it. Ironically the driver most likely complains about his poor gas mileage. Did you know that if your tires are properly filled your gas mileage could improve by up to five miles per gallon? For some reason people look at airing up their tires as this big monstrous task that maybe they should just leave up to their mechanic. Well uh, it doesn't require a lift or anything crazy like that! Just a compressor. If you or your father doesn't have one you can find one at most local gas stations, car washes, and any place where cars are serviced. Be sure to also have a tire pressure gauge as well. To find what pressure (psi) is optimal for your tires just look at the face of them. Somewhere you'll see the reccomended pressure. After finding this check what the current pressure rating is by using your pressure gauge. If it's low, put a little air in and recheck the gauge, if it's too high do the exact opposite!  Expect to spend up to a minute or so on each tire. I recommend checking them every week or so, it just takes five minutes. Filling up your tires to the right pressure will only make them last longer, perform better and save you some gas money so go and check yours right now, RIGHT NOW I SAID!

December 23rd

My band plays a lot of shows every year. Some good, some alright, some just plain dumb. The show matters a lot on the venue which it is held at, who is running it and most importantly, who shows up! Club Infinity is a venue I always look forward to playing. This place really has it down. The sound guy know's exactly what he's doing and owns most of the sound equipment in the place. You can always count on getting a great sound there. Also if you're headlining there, like how my band does sometimes the lighting guy also does a phenomenal job. The room's just big enough to pack people in there to make it look bigger than it is. Playing there is also nice because it's closer to drive to. Which doesn't mean much for me, but mostly to local fans. When you tell your friend's at school you're playing at a club downtown most don't feel like making the drive. Club Infinity always seems to make them want to go. It's close, it's convenient and it has a bar for the parents and a kitchen for the kids. Great place to see and play a show. My band will be headlining the annual Christmas show there this year. Come and see us December 23rd, live at Club Infinity!

Thanksgiving Traditions-

I don't really have any major thanksgiving traditions. Something a little cool my family does is switch who hosts Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year for example my aunt hosted thanksgiving and therefore my family will have everyone over on Christmas. Kind of a cool way to spread all the holidays out evenly and get together at each other's houses. Besides that I think I have the general thanksgiving experience. Turkey, stuffy, mashed potatoes, gravy, lots of drinks, lots of corn and turkey. One thing we do every year is watch Christmas Vacation. I love this movie. Not only is it a classic and very funny but it also gets you right in the mood for Christmas which is ultimately right around the corner! This year we hung out at my aunts awhile before coming home and watching the movie. Besides stuffing my face I helped my Uncle set up his new wireless router, and external hard drive. Knowing as much as I do about technology I've sort of become the I.T. person in the family. It's nice being able to help everyone but at the same time, sometimes frustrating. My family tends to not always be the most patient folk when dealing with fragile technology. Either way I enjoy helping everyone out!

Favorite Holiday

My favorite holiday of all time... hmm you know, I'm probably going to have to say Christmas. I love Christmas for many reasons. The snow, which we don't have too much of yet, always sets a good mood. The lights are another big thing I like about this holiday. The lights and how they glow onto the snow and into the cold and dark nights make neighborhoods look like cheerful winter villages. Also finding, cutting down and decorating the tree is always nice. Then there's Christmas Eve. Even though I'm seventeen now Christmas eve feels just as cheerful and magical as it ever did. Plus it's my moms birthday. Normally for Christmas eve we visit my grandparents in Cheektowaga. There we exchange gifts and eat a huge dinner which my grandma probably spends a week on preparing. (Seriously). Driving home from there is always really nice. Being out on Christmas ever seeing all the decorated houses and what not, it's nice. I've always like Christmas and I can't wait to have kids sometime way down the road in my life so I can watch them enjoy it as much as I always have.

Recording in NYC

This winter my band will be recording our third release. The first was a four track disc recorded in 2009. Listening to it now I cringe. The stuff sounded great for how old we were at the time and what we were capable of as musicians but nothing like our second release and debut album. This one we spent months and months of just writing. The songs we would throw around and play at shows to see how they'd work out. We had a few winners in there and I think the album really showed how much we had progressed as musicians. We spent days here and there during the summer of 2010 recording it and the process was always interesting but most importantly fun. We recorded it in our producers basement so it was nice to let other members record their parts while working on our own in a different part of the house. It was a great experience to say the least. This year we will be recording four brand new songs which we've written over the past six or seven months. We've wrote, thrown away, changed, and written more and better parts to find what we like the best. Now that we have what we feel to be a solid set of songs we're going to be recording them over christmas break. The drums will be recorded at the goo goo doll's studio in Buffalo and the rest will be recorded and produced at our producers studio in New York City. Words can't describe how excited I am for it!

Where's The Snow?

Blame global warming, blame lake erie, blame whatever.. the fact of the matter is that it is December Twelfth and we've only had one snowstorm so far this year. Where is it?! Normally by this time of year we're sledding down bunny hills, skiing doing larger ones and shoveling our snow covered driveways. But as I look out the window I still see the leaves of fall, and the grass of summer. Very odd isn't it? Then again, as I think... do we really want all the snow? Do we want all the salt on the road, the ice to slip on and the slippery conditions? Well, personally, I think I do. I love the winter for a little bit. That's right,  I said a little bit. December and January are great. The cold weather and snow provide the perfect scenery for Christmas time leading up to and after New Years. Cutting down the Christmas tree wouldn't feel right without the cold snow packed underneath you as you lay there cutting it down. While the snowfall this year has been light I think we're in for quite the beating. Warmer temperatures have caused Lake Erie to warm to abnormal temperatures. With the cooler winds blowing in snow is inevitable. I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the worst winters we've had in a few years; that is, if it comes at all!

New Vs. Used

A common misperception in today's economy is that buying used items is almost always cheaper than buying new. Honestly I have to say there are some used gems out there that are a great buy and will save you a lot of money. Although, In my opinion it's actually better to buy something new and just get the best deal on it that you can. Cars may devalue a couple thousand dollars when you drive them off the lot, but at least you know what you're paying for. Used cars can save you tons of money, but you don't have a clue what they've been through, or how they've been treated. The same goes for all electronics. That four month old Apple MacBook looks great and especially for two hundred dollars less than market price! Don't get me wrong here, I love finding used stuff which I can save money on but sometimes if we really need something to be reliable and we're going to use it a lot we should maybe just buy it new. That way we know how it has been treated and taken care of. Not to mention if you have a decent job, financing also makes many things affordable and accessible. Buying used could save you hundreds of dollars, but it is also filled with risks and uncertainty. Buy smart. 

Favorites In Media

My favorite book ever has to be Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The reason I like it so much is because I feel I resemble the main character, Holden in a few ways. For instance Holden very much so values innocence but yet he isn’t exactly innocent himself. I connected with this book very much, especially because of what I was going through when I read it. I believe something which can make any book better is when you can find a personal connection in a way to the story and or characters. Then in a way it almost feels as if the book was written about or for you. Either way, Catcher in the Rye is a great story and it qualifies as a book I wouldn’t mind reading again!

Favorite movies? That’s a tough one. I guess to answer this best I’ll have to say my current, recently released favorite. Then I’ll talk about my favorite classic and then one of my other favorites! So currently, my favorite, recently released movie is Horrible Bosses. Yeah yeah it came out many months ago but having it on Blu-Ray is like relieving the humor and entertainment I experienced in the theater every time I watch it. What makes this movie so great is the unexpected writing style of it combined with the great actors, semi-adult humor and action. Everything about this movie is just straight out done well. My favorite classic movie of all time is a tough one as well. Honestly, I’d have to say Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I love this movie. Watching the day unfold and how Ferris manages to get away with things is hilarious. Also another favorite movie which goes along with the time of the year right now would be, National Lampoon’s, “Christmas Vacation.” The movie follows the Grizwald family through their very interesting and stressful holiday season leading up to and including Christmas. It’s a very funny story perfect to watch with the family for the holidays!

I surprisingly don’t have a “favorite” genre of music. I will admit I find myself listening to rock alternative more than other genres but honestly I like anything besides modern country music (regurgitated pop music). In one day I could go from listening to the soft, mellow acoustic stylings of Bon Iver, straight to the hard rap of Kanye West. Some of my current favorite artists are Coldplay, The Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, The Killers, Mac Miller, Drake, Kanye West, Bon Iver… as you can see a huge diversity in music. As far as classical music it’s not that I don’t like it or anything, I just don’t find myself listening to it often. I respect the genre greatly though.  To sum it up, there aren’t many genres of music I dislike and the genre I find listening to most often would be Alternative/Indie/Rock.