V A N H A L E N ! ! ! ! ! ! !

i dont know why i didnt post this sooner, but on the night of october 24th, me and molly went to see mutha friggin VAN HALEN!!!!! this is a concert that i had been anticipating ever since rumors of it had started circulating last march... it was an amazing show! we had balcony seats but i didnt care because it was VAN HALEN for crying out loud! I loved every minute of it but the best part was eddie van halens ten minute version of "Eruption", his famous guitar solo.
the target center showing the stage, before people started arriving:

during the concert... sorry for the bad lighting...:

building

just keeping you up to date on the hotel / luxury living building over by southdale... its getting to be quite big and you can see it from every surrounding suburb if you are on the right hill... kind of an eyesore to anyone who has lived around southdale for a long time, but still its pretty cool and i hope to party in one of the hotel rooms there when it opens...

storm shadow

ok, so if any of you are wondering why my computer alias is "shadeone", well first off i used to umm... "paint" on "things" with spraypaint and that was my chosen name to write because the letters fit together so nicely... the other reason i chose this name is because of a GI JOE that i used to play with as a kid named Storm Shadow... he was the most badass ninja ever and i was infatuated with everything about him... every time i would watch the gijoe cartoons on saturday mornings, i would freak out when he came on beacuse he was so cool looking! and plus, ninjas just kick so much ass!! anyways, later on in life i managed to find the original gijoe that i had loved so much in its original 1988 packaging, at a toy booth in a collectibles section at a local car show... i immediately purchased it and ran home to place it in my lockbox for the rest of time...this is the 1988 Storm Shadow, still in its original blister pack, worth over $100 today:

so a few weeks ago me and my friend dustin were waling through targets toy aisle and checking out all the lame toys that have come out since we stopped playing with toys and came across the GIJOE anniversary line.... (a while back you may remember that i posted about gijoe making the figures back to normal size again) the anniversary line is not new gijoe characters, but basically gijoes from past eras modelled with more articulation and WAAAY more detail... i almost had a small heart attack when i saw that they had remade storm shadow to represent his former 1988 camouflage scheme, only with more detail and badass-ness!!! check it out! he now resides on my desk as my protector from evil! i couldnt keep him in the package because he was so cool and i had to try out every last joint movement... yes, i am a dork.

knives galore!

ok so if youve been following my journal since the beginning, you know i carry a knife on me on a daily basis and have gone through a few of them... well i havent posted a knife post in a while so ill show you all my latest acquisitions...first, these pics show my every day carry progression over the past year...

these are the knives i have rotated through... first is the silver Gerber Paraframe... i liked this one for its simplicity and price, but gerber doesnt really have a good reputation and it didnt hold an edge very well at all.... i had to keep sharpening it over and over again... so then i upgraded to the middle knife you see.... the Benchmade Mini Griptilian:

This one was quite spendy but teh blade on it was almost magical... it opened with a slight flick of teh thumbstud and held an edge extremely well! the handle was lightweight and it was somewhat smaller then the gerber so i didnt scrape against it while reaching into my pocket for something else... still, it didnt have that feel that i wanted in a durable long lasting, do everything knife... so i went with the Spyderco Delica 4:

This one is an amazing knife... spyderco was the first knife company to introduce one handed opening on knives and is quite possibly the most popular knife company in terms of every day carry knives... their lineup has hundreds of models for every situation but the Delica i have is their most popular "do all" knife. the blade steel is hair shaving sharp and extreemly strong. the handle has a really good grippy surface, even when wet. plus, it sits in my pocket nice and is very lightweight due to the fiberglass reinforced nylon handles.next up is the Boker Subcom series... I dont carry these on a daily basis but they are some sweeeeeet little knives with the power and handling of a large knife! they are about the size of a money clip and VERY compact. they fit in your hand sooo nicely and have some great cutting power due to the ergonomics...

the second in the subcom series is the brand new Boker Subclaw.... this this is designed for cutting chores like opening boxes and cutting rope as the curved blade draws the knife in instead of pushing it out like on a upward swept blade... it is also VERY useful in a self defense situation... this thing could literally tear you a new asshole in a matter of a second! this is by far the sharpest knife i own and cuts through thick cardboard like a butterknife through butter....

last but not least, we have my every day carry tool knife, the Victorinox Swiss Army Huntsman. I tried a leatherman tool before but it was just simply too heavy and had a few tools that were taking up space and weight that i didnt need... so i went the simpler more compact and lightweight route, the classic swiss army knife! of course i had to have it in black... The huntsman model shown here features all of the tools i need and nothing i dont... it is the best blend of urban and woods survival tools in a small package. you get: large blade, small blade, scissors, saw, can opener, bottle opener, flathead screwdriver, smaller flathead that works on philips, wire stripper, keyring, corkscrew, awl, parcel hook, tweezers and the ever-so-popular toothpick!

thats all in the world of knives for right now! spyderco is coming out with new models soon so stay tuned! i may have more to write about!