My workout songs

For those of you who know me, you know that I love exercising and working out. After all, that is my chosen profession. You also know that I love music. Go ahead and blame my 9 siblings, but I grew up with an appreciation to good music. If you combine these two loves, you get my workout playlist. These songs are essential to my workout. If I am having a bad day, bad workout, or simply need a quick pick me up in the middle of a 4 mile jog, once I hear these songs I am good to go. Please keep in mind that this is a WORKOUT playlist. You will not be seeing Dave Matthews, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, or Prince. While those guys are on my list of favorite musicians, it's kind of hard to get fired up listening to Purple Rain or Wind Cries Mary.

6. "Orion" - Metallica: This list would be incredibly incomplete if I didn't put any Metallica on it. It's kind of hard to choose from all of the Metallica anthems but I had to go with Orion. This 8 minute instrumental is pure genius. The song has more build ups and explosions than any song I know. While it may not be my favorite song in the Metallica catalog, it is my favorite song to work out to.



5. "Till I Collapse" - Eminem: That's right, I am a bit of an Eminem homer. His songs are so aggressive that they simply have to get on this list. This particular song is features Nate Dogg and the lyrics are incredible. The song starts out with this great motivational message:

'Cause sometimes you feel tired,

feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.

But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength

and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up

and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.

I"m a sucker for motivational lines and this gets me every time I hear it. Good stuff. By the way, this will not be Eminem's last entry on the list.

4. "Hell Yeah" - Rev Theory: This is a fairly new song and new band but they have rocketed to the top of my list with incredibly high tempo song. I can't help but get hyped when I hear this going. I also can't help but think of Stone Cold Steve Austin when I hear it, which is another good motivator.

3. "Lose Yourself" - Eminem: Not only is this song on my top 6 workout songs, it's probably on my top 6 songs of all time, period. I know I will take a lot of flack from various family members for that one, but this song lights me up every time I hear it. The song came out when I got out of the navy. I was taking a big chance getting out and I had a lot riding on my decision to go back to college. This song features this great motivational line:

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment

Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Eminem may have a lot of faults in his personal life and he may have some songs that talk negative about a number of topics. But the guy is a lyrical mastermind and knows how to get his message out.

2. "Paradise City" - Guns N Roses: Simply a ridiculous song. Whenever I hear this song, I envision (a younger) Axl Rose stomping across the stage, Slash wailing away on his Les Paul, Steven Adler smiling and pounding the tar out of his drums, and Duff and Izzy stoicly playing backup. The song was written as an ode to the city of Los Angeles when GNR was on their first road trip to Seattle. The trip didn't go well and they lost all of their gear, but it produced this magical song that will forever be tied to my workouts.

1. "Break Stuff" - Limp Bizkit: I am not a big Limp Bizkit fan. They were not very creative and had a very short window. Fortunately, they made this unbelievable song that makes me want to jump through the roof every time I hear it. It doesn't matter what kind of mood I am in. Listening to this song, especially in the gym, will get me completely wired. Absolutely insane. If I were a UFC fighter or a boxer, this song would be my entrance song. I know putting any Limp Bizkit song on top of any list is a little strange, but believe me when I say that once you hear this song, you will understand. Oh, and if / when you hear this for the first time, try not to get too offended by the "F" bombs being dropped.

My world

For those of you that don't know me too well, I was in the Navy for six years. During those six years, I was blessed to travel around in a 600 foot gray floating dumpster for days, weeks, even months on end. My first deployment in 2000 (pre-911) was basically a humanitarian cruise showcasing our ship and maintaining peace throughout the Mediterranean Sea. The second was in 2002 (post-911) and we actually had to work for 7 months. At one point we were at sea for over 90 consecutive days. In these deployments, I was able to see many places that I probably will never visit again. If you couple this with where I've been on my own travels, I would consider myself moderately traveled. Below is a list of the top places I've been on this world. Keep in mind it will probably change once I go to Cancun in April.

6. Rota / Malaga, Spain: Spain was absolutely beautiful. I absolutely loved Spain and the fact that I could use what I remembered from 4 years of Spanish classes in high school definitely helped my time there. Rota will most be remembered because that is the checkpoint we always stopped at upon getting to the Med. Sea. Rota was a tiny town but had this great Irish bar that me and my friends would go to and play checkers, darts, and drink. The only problem with Spain was that the portions of food were tiny. I always left hungry. Oh well, the price of beer more than made up for it.

5. Split, Croatia: At the time we visited Croatia, I was told we were only the second U.S. Navy ship to go there. The city welcomed us with open arms. I guess they didn't realize the squids would come in and take over the town for a few days. The town was amazing and we realized we weren't in Kansas anymore when we saw a U.N. vehicle blown up on the side of the road. Just a little scary. But again, the beer was cheap and the food was good.

4. Seychelles: This is a group of islands off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean just south of the equator (that's right, I'm a shellback). The island we went to was a resort island and we were there for 2 days. Of those days, I was in a hotel for both. The water was warm, clean, and beautiful. The only problem here is that it was a place where a lot of extremel wealthy people traveled so everything was extremely high priced. I paid $8 for a beer and $10 for a hamburger. It would have ranked higher if not for the empty wallet I had when I left.

3. Nassau, Bahamas: This place was absolutely amazing. I could not find anything wrong with this destination. My fondest memory of here was walking from the ship to Paradice Island with an open bottle of local rum and having a steady diet of said rum throughout the stay. This is also where I blew out my eardrum when I got swept under a wave. It's a little strange to have blood coming out of the ear and not being able to hear for a few days. This is also where I got to see way too much of one of the girls I worked with at the time when she showed up at the beach in a swimsuit...um...how can I say this...with a little extra hair. Not a pleasant moment. But that did not take away from the beauty of the island.

2. Rome, Italy: Up to this point, every visit was pretty fun and care free. But my visit to Rome obviously was a little different as I got to visit the Vatican. Touring through St. Peter's Cathedral was something I will never ever forget. I actually got to travel the spiral staircase all the way to the top of the cathedral and look out to the whole city. Simply amazing and breathtaking. I only had one complaint here though. While walking through Rome seeing the Vatican, the ancient ruins, the Roman Coliseum, and back to the train, I must have walked about twenty miles. The following morning, my feet were so blistered I couldn't even put on shoes. Needless to say I turned down a trip to go back to the Vatican. What I missed that day was the Pope giving mass. An amazing event that I found out after everyone got back to the ship. Oh well.

1. Israel: This is another place that is on the list because of things other than drinking and fun. While in Israel, I got to visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Jerusalum, the Wailing Wall, and was able to see where Jesus is burried. Talk about life changing. Words cannot describe how much this visit meant to me as a person and as a Christian. I have said on numerous occasions that the highlight for me was the Wailing Wall. To see the impact this had on people's lives was simply breathtaking. If you are unsure of what this wall is, I highly advise you to google it. This visit was the highlight of my deployment and ranks as one of the top 6 moments of my life.

My Cars

I have had a total of 6 cars in my life. Quite a coincidence, huh? Although I haven't always been nice to my cars, I have loved every one of them. Below is my ranking of the cars and my thoughts/feelings toward each one.

6. 1989 Ford Tempo: This thing was a beautiful piece of automotive craftsmanship. From the sever hail damage on the body to the thing just dying for no apparant reason, thing car had American inginuity written all over it. This was my second car and my first manual transmission. I remember the day I got it and asking my dad if he could teach me to drive stick and he gave me the keys and told me no. Thanks Dad. But I did learn on my own and after having the car for about 2 years, I crashed it into a telephone pole. Fun stuff.

5. 1998 Ford Taurus: This brown beauty was what I traded in my Jeep for after my first child was born. My wife and I (regretfully) decided that a Jeep was too unsafe to drive my newborn in so we got this turd on wheels. Once again the folks at Ford proved to me what a dud they made and it is because of this and car #6 why I will never own a Ford again.

4. 1987 El Camino: Holy cow, this thing was the reason my girlfriend, now my wife, was embarassed to be seen with me. I absolutely loved the thing and thought it was a nice ride but I have to rank it low on the list because of the embarassement it brought her. Towards the end of the car's life, it did have some issues though, even though it had over 160,000 miles. The rear brakes didn't exist, the electric windows did not roll down, the heater didn't work, and the stearing column moved around in about a 6 inch radius. The kicker though was that I had to peel the window tinting off which left a film on the windows. This film was an open invitation for anyone riding in the car to scribble their name or whatever dirty picture came to mind on that window. Classy.

3. 1983 Buick Skyhawk Stationwagon: This was my first car. My dad told me what I was a kid that he would match whatever I had saved for a car. Well, I saved about $700, he matched, and this was the best he could find. Granted he didn't have to look very far because it was for sale in the parking lot of The Rusty Nail. But I got this car and drove it proudly because at least I had a car. At the time, nothing else mattered. Unfortunately things did not turn out well for this car as I ran a stop sign and crashed it into another car. Not a very good day for me as a 16 year old kid as I watched several people, including a couple of friends, go to the hospital because of my bonehead actions. On a lighter note, the thing had a killer sound system.

2. 1998 Jeep Wrangler: This was the first car that I actually bought. The story goes that I was living in Virginia Beach without my wife while in the Navy. I went car shopping, without my wife, and saw the car I've always wanted. I bought the car, without my wife, and absolutely loved driving it to the Outer Banks and through VB with the top off. Then my wife visited me...SURPRISE! She did not get outwardly mad at me but I knew she wasn't happy. In time though she grew to love the vehicle. I loved the car and wish I still had it but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Oh well, with the way gas prices were last year, I probably would have traded in anyway.

1. 2002 Honda Accord: Flashy? No. Sporty? No. Reliable? Yes. Paid For? YES, YES, YES! Sorry if those yesses sounded a bit orgasmic but it really is quite a good feeling to know that I finally own a car that is completely paid for. Sure it took to me when I'm 33, but I own it and I am not making any payments on it. As the great Ric Flair would say, "WOOOOOOOO!" I currently have about 143,000 miles on this beast and it still rides just as good now as it did 100,000 miles ago. The only maintenance I have performed on this car is changed the tires, front brakes, and oil regularly. Nothing else. I love this car. I plan on driving it until it dies. If it goes to 1,000,000 miles, great. I'm driving it because I enjoy not having a car payment and I enjoy having a car that gets me to where I need to go without any hassle getting there. Great car!

My Childhood Movies

I am a child of the 80's and early 90's. Yes, I got to see first hand the transition from where rock stars wore eyeliner, hairspray, and sang about how great their life was to where they didn't shower, wore nothing but flannel, and sang about how crappy their life was. There will be lists for that type of stuff too. During my wonder years, I saw a lot of movies. After all, it was the time were VHS beat out beta in the battle of VCR's. This list will consist of my favorite movies from this time period which for the purposes of this article will be from 1980 to 1990. Anything before '80 I was too young for, although I have a great apreciation for now, and anything after '90 was in more my middle to late teens and really didn't have much influence on my life.

6. A Christmas Story: We all know the famous line from this movie. Every time my child asks why he can't have a BB gun, I tell him in the voice we all know, "You'll shoot your eye out." This movie is so completely true when it comes to how children view Christmas time and the things that go on in a cold town in winter. Simply a classic!

5. A Nightmare on Elm Street: Admit it, Freddy Krueger scared the crap out of you. The first Elm Street movie absolutely freaked me out. Let's face it, a guy that is completely burned up that has knives as fingers is not exactly what you want to envision when going to sleep. Out of all of the horror movies that hit theaters in the 80's, that includes you Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, Freedy easily had the best. Besides, even DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince were freaked out by him.

4. Fast Times at Ridgemont High: I will admit that when Fast Times originally came out, it was slightly over my head. It wasn't until my early teen years in the later 80's that I fully gained an apreciation for what this movie had to offer. That being said, Phoebe Cates will forever have a place in my heart, and other things, for her award winning role in this movie. Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Nicholas Cage, Eric Stoltz, and Anthony Edwards all had roles in this classic. Great cast, great story lines, and great movie.

3. Caddyshack: GREATEST SPORTS MOVIE EVER! Sure Hoosiers had a more sentimental story line and Rudy was more personal to me, and maybe the end of the movie didn't quite make sense because it actually ended in a tie, but this movie is 100% classic. Bill Murray and Chevy Chase are absolutely brilliant. There are more one liners in this movie than I can get into now. Actually, that sounds like a great idea for another list. I've seen this movie more times than I know and still laugh at something new everytime.

2. The John Hughes Franchise (Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink): Wow. Simply amazing. That's right, one guy is responsible for all of those movies. For me it is completely impossible to rank those seperately since they are all in a class by themselves. I'm not even sure where to begin with this whole franchise. It gave Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Matthew Broderick, and countless others a name. To me, one phrase sums up all of these movies..."You mess with the bull, you get the horns."

1. Stand By Me: It's not too often that, as a man, I get warm fuzzies from a movie. Sure Rudy does it, and maybe Brian's Song. But Stand By Me makes me smile when I see it. We all had that group of friends when we were in our formative years that we always hung out with. We spent every single day together. Then as we got older, we kind of drifted apart just as they did at the end of the movie. This movie takes me to that time and to those friends. This is the only movie that seems to bring that childhood innocence out in me (even though I wasn't that innocent). I can still remember wanting to take walks on the railrood with my friends just as they did in the movie. We knew we weren't going to find a dead body, but we just wanted to do it simply because they did. Classic movie that makes me remember all the great times I had with my buddies growing up. I miss every one of them and am thankful this movie comes as a reminder to how great our childhood can be.

My Children's Toys

I have two little boys ages 7 and 4. One of the great joys of being a parent is not passing on your great knowledge, or grooming your kids to be great leaders and possibly the next CEO of Microsoft. Not at all. One of the great joys of being a parent is being able to play with my children's toys. As we get older in life, it becomes socially unacceptable to play with cap-guns or Transformers or Matchbox cars. But with children, those things now become, not only accepted but, encouraged. Now since I only have boys, I can only list the toys that they play with, so there will be no Barbie dolls, My Little Pony, or whatever else little girls play with these days.

6. GeoTrax Train: If you don't have kids, you probably have never seen this toy because it's a fairly new one. It's really stinking cool though because it allows you and your kid to design different railroads and then run a battery operated train on the tracks. It teaches the kids a little creativity and keeps them busy for a long time, which is the main reason it makes this list. The biggest problem with this toy is when the boys get tired of playing with it, they rip it apart and leave sections of train tracks all over their room.

5. Legos: Everybody, regardless of gender, played with Legos growing up. Who can forget making a small semi-automatic rifle out of that 400 peice lego set you were given for your birthday? Certainly not me. Now I get to do the same with my boys only they enjoy making planes and cars rather than more destructive instruments of fun. But the downside of Legos is they are very small and can hide in the carpet only to be discovered not by the vacuum but by the bottom of your foot when you step on it. This great toy designed to teach my kids creativity would be higher on the list if not for that extremely painful point.

4. Spy Gear: My generation didn't really have too much formal spy gear but the recent movies Spy Kids and Spy Kids 2 have spawned a whole generation of toys that little boys want to have and will make them leave you alone. Any toy that makes your kids leave you alone are great toys. That alone would put this group of toys higher on the list if not for the fact there are so many different peices to have that it eventually costs you a month's salary to get all of them. But that is a small price to pay to have your kids play by themselves in the other room.

3. Transformers: When I was a young child playing in the 80's (yeah that's right), I remember trying to collect every Transformer I could and play with them at my buddy's house. Back then Transformers were made out of metal and sturdy plastic and held together with screws. The only way they got broken is if you attached bottle rockets or fire crackers to them like I did. This incredible toy would easily number 2 on the list if it weren't for the fact they are made so flimsy nowadays. Transformers fall apart so easily nowadays that you as a parent have to actually monitor how your children play with them and you have to actually, and frequently, repair them when they break.

2. Hot Wheels Cars: You cannot go wrong this toy. This is another toy that has transcended generations. I absolutely love all of the different designs they come up with for these cars. I could literally spend hours enacting different situations with these cars with my boys. But just like Transformers, the cars made nowadays are cheap and plastic. They aren't like the metal cars I had as a kid or my (much) older siblings had when they were kids. In fact, my kids have a number of cars I played with at their age 25 years ago. Why, because they were metal! Do you see the trend of how toys are made nowadays? Anyway, I still absolutely love playing with the cars and so do my kids and it's one of those toys that we can peacefully play with for a long time.

1. Wii: The single best gaming system for kids under the age of 10, period. This video game system is so completely awesome. When I was a kid the manufacturers of Wii, Nintendo, introduced their first gaming system. Super Mario Bros was played for hours and days at a time. I'm pretty sure Mike Tyson's Punch Out is still the greatest game ever designed. Nintendo was left in the dust for a while by all the other systems such as Sony Playstation, Xbox and other's. But Nintendo came back with a vengeance with the Wii. What other toy can teach my kids how to keep score in bowling and tennis, while also getting them to jump around and be active at the same time. My 4 year old absolutely goes nuts while playing tennis and to watch him play it is a sight to behold. I never thought a video game could make him sweat and out of breath. It's a great way for them to get some form of exercise during the cold winter months. While the Wii may cost quite a bit of money, it is worth every nickel.

The White Rapper

You have to love the white rapper. All he wants is to be accepted in a culture that doesn't want him. He wants to be surround himself with everything that he might not be. He wants to forget about the fact that rap began as a way to vent about the happenings going on in the black communities in the ghetoes of New York. But there are a chosen few that break down those barriers and not only gain acceptance by the community that never wanted to like them, but actually blow everyone's mind.

6. MC Serch: This is one of the first white rappers to really come through and show he belongs. As a member of 3rd Bass, he brought about a flair the other two members of the group didn't really have. He had an anger about him that made you want to listen to who he was going to tell off next. In "Pop Goes The Weasel", he completely goes off about Vanilla Ice and his ongoing fued with the Beastie Boys was legendary. Lately he has been

embarrassing himself by hosting The White Rapper Show on VH1.

5. Kid Rock: Go ahead and knock it, but this skinny, porno mustache wearing punk from Detroit knows how to get down. Sure his lyrics sound like they were written by my 7 year old but you cannot argue the fact that when he performs he completely rips the roof off the place. He may now be sampling Warren Zevon and trying to cross over to country, but his early start as a rapper and DJ solidified his place on my list. Besides, anytime you can make up a word like "Bawitdaba", you deserve all the accolades you get.

4. House of Pain: I know, they really only had one hit and Everlast has since gone on to perform in rock venues, but that one hit was absolutely huge. When "Jump Around" hit the streets, it didn't matter if these Irish punk kids were black, white, red, Spanish, Albanian, Lithuanian, whaterver. When people heard, and still hear, that opening horn blast at the beginning of the song, you knew pandamonium was about to ensue. And who can forget the great Beavis and Butthead mocking the song in one of their episodes.

3. Vanilla Ice: Most talanted...no. Most legit...no. Entertaining...YES! Say what you will about good ol' Rob VanWinkle but you know when Ice Ice Baby hits the radio, you sing along to the entire song. Sure he completely stole the riff from "Under Pressure" by Queen / David Bowie. Who cares? I sure don't. Besides, you know you've solidified yourself as an superstar when Suge Knight and his posse hold you out of a balcany of a hotel by your ankles and threaten to drop you to a certain death. That's power!

2. Eminem: Ok, this guy is the real deal. There must be something in the water in Detroit that makes white people think they can rap. But Eminem can and completely blows my mind. I do get a little turned off by the gratuitous swearing and hate that comes out of his mouth at times, but he is real, raw, and better than most rap artists in the industry regardless of color. One of my top 6 rap songs of all time is "Lose Yourself". It came at a point in my life where I was at a serious crossroads and oddly enough, this song helped me a lot. He continues to produce ridiculous rhymes and beats and his upcoming album is sure to be one that is worth waiting for.

1. Beastie Boys: Could it be anyone else. Come on! From the time they hit the streets with "You Gotta Fight...", they have proven everybody that a bunch of nerdy white kids from New York can throw down and aren't just 3 kids looking to party. To prove this, all you have to do is look at "Intergalactic". They released this amazing song 12 years after Ill Communication hit the streets and it completely redefined thier sound and brought them to the forefront of the charts again. The Beastie's are a little older now and have settled down quite a bit, but they still rock and are easily the number one white rap artists of all time.

Welcome to the Daily Top 6

If you have found this blog, congratulations I suppose. This is the first post on the blog and I am extremely new at this whole thing so maybe instead of congratulations, you can now consider yourself warned.

The purpose of this blog is simple. We all come across things in our lives that we say would be on our top 5 list, or top 10 list, or whatever. David Letterman has a top 10 list every day. Joesportsfan.com has a weekly top 7 list. Heck, Jon Cusack's character in High Fidelity created top 5 lists throughout the whole movie. But my lists will have a little different twist to them. I have lived through a lot of experiences in my 33 years on this great green earth. Throughout all of my experiences, I have created a sort of catalog of how they rank in relation to other similar experiences. Everything from love songs, hosts on Saturday Night Live, best (or worst) Chicago Cubs baseball teams, or simply my favorite beers that start with the letter "R" will be written about on this blog.

What this blog will NOT be is a regurgitation of other rankings or listings you see on an everyday basis. You will not see who I think should be in the top 6 in the college football rankings. Nor will you see a rankings of the top downloaded songs for this week. You can view that stuff somewhere else and quite frankly, those types of rankings are lame and biased by the almighty dollar. What you will also not see here is any pornography, adult entertainment, shrewd language, racist remarks, or sexism. Again, you can easily find that somewhere else. That is not to say that I might not rank the top 6 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers or rank the top 6 black hockey players of all time. Those subjects are definitely in my crosshairs and will be discussed at some point. You will also not see rankings of things that have not happened in my lifetime because, quite frankly, I really don't care about those things and can't really tell you if President Coolidge was a better president than George W. Bush (although my money IS on Coolidge).

Please keep in mind that I am also just an average guy with a computer. I am not an English professor (although my sister may be and will probably critque everything that I write) that will write with perfect grammar, spelling, or punctuation. There will probably be mistakes so BACK OFF and don't chastise me for grammatical errors.

So again, welcome to a snapshot of what goes on in my brain on a daily basis. I have lots of thoughts and quite frankly, I am bored of keeping them to myself. The first top 6 list will be posted tomorrow. Please, if you have any suggestions for rankings that should be on here, I would love to hear from you.