Cole World

(Please excuse the formatting of this post. I accidentally uploaded the pictures wrong was too lazy to re-do it. Hopefully it will be better next time!)

Pictures in order:

1. Nesto the Owner.

2-3. J. Cole

4. Big K.R.I.T.

5. Triple Threat Society (L-R: Homework Jones, Louie V, Irv Da Phenom)

6. Curren$y

Hello, folks. Not much to blog about today. The weather is frigid and Kansas is being sucked in more and more by the arctic air. I suppose it's a testament to my willpower to make it through these trying winters without losing any appendages or decaying skin patches due to frostbite, so I'll take what I can get.

This is a bit of a rewind post but hey, I need to catch up when I can! Upon my arrival in the Sunflower State back in October, I was lucky enough to catch two pretty good rap concerts. The first concert was a tour entitled "The Smoker's Tour" featuring several artists, with the most well-known fellow being Curren$y from New Orleans, LA. Before Curren$y (AKA "tha hot spitta") hit the stage the crowd was blessed with some music from Bit K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA and of course, Kansas City's own Triple Threat Society consisting of Louie V, Homework Jones and Irv Da Phenom.

The nice thing about the rap and hip hop concerts that come to Lawrence is that most of the gigs are in smaller venues, allowing the artists to connect with the fans. It's a cool thing, for me anyway.

The next concert was the B.E.T. Music Matters concert about a month after my return. This concert featured one of the most up-and-coming artists in the game right now, J. Cole. He's the first artist that Jay-Z signed to his new Roc Nation label, so he obviously has a lot of support behind him.

One of the opening performances was from Nesto the Owner, straight out of Kansas City. This guy has been on several tracks with well-known artists from the area, including Tech N9ne, Kutt Calhoun, Irv Da Phenom and many others. It was a great concert to say the least.

Anyway, I'll just post a few of my pictures from each event. Nothing too great, but this provides a reason to put some pictures up.

Big K.R.I.T.

Curren$y

Hello, Folks

Hi guys. Please excuse my absence. I'm struggling with finding stuff to blog about as of late, so the posts are few and far between.

Just a quick update of everything since I've been back from the great state of Wyoming...

I came back and worked for a couple of months at the grocery store, Dillon's, where I've unfortunately been employed since sophomore year of high school. I'm thankful for the time there with extreme schedule flexibility and great co-workers (for the most part). But, it was time to get the heck out of there. I've since taken my talents to South Iowa Street at Peoples Bank. I'm enjoying it there. It's very laid back compared to the fast paced corporate world of Kroger/Dillon's. So, I plan on sticking it out at the bank for a little bit until I determine what my next adventure will be.

Just in case I decide banking isn't for me, I've applied and accepted a position at Yellowstone again for next summer. The job would be the same thing as next year, and likely at the same location. I'm up for any location, so I'll wait to hear more about that later on.

As far as running is concerned, I've been on a hiatus for about 3 weeks now. I got a nasty bug a few weeks ago, which took me out for a week and after that the weather took a turn for the worse. After missing a week of running and trying to jump back into it with crappy weather, it makes it a bit tough.

I've been snapping a few photos, but nothing great. I'll post a couple images here that I recently had printed to fill a frame that I received from Jake for Christmas. Other than that, being the rookie photographer that I am, I find it tough to find my creativity during the winter months, so hopefully I'll come up with something before spring arrives to put on here.

Lastly, I've been considering setting up a Twitter account. I'm not sure why. It seems like that's where all the news in the world comes from now, which is slightly ridiculous, but I don't want to miss it!

Until next time!

'Tis the Season

Happy Holidays from the Kucza household. It's been awhile since I've put up a post, so now is the perfect time. Because it's Christmas time, I will post this Christmas card that I created. Each image of the family members is from a different picture in the past year. With me being away for a few months and Jake living out of town, it's difficult to get everyone together for a family portrait. Of course we can't forget how busy Ma and Pa are. Constantly escorting the young ones around town and then filling up the gas tank (stomachs and vehicles) to continue on. We'll have to work harder to get that accomplished next year! I'll definitley attempt to start updating a bit more on here, but no guarantees...

Until next time!

Jake gets love from Big K.R.I.T.

Jake was spitting some K.R.I.T. like it was his religion and got a nice point from the artist himself.

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It's Almost Time

Wild beast found roaming the park

Yellowstone River

Bison in Hayden Valley

Grand Teton Sunset

Grand Teton sunset

Howdy. As you can see from my lack of posts the internet at Grant Village is dreadful. I am occassionally able to connect for a couple of minutes before losing signal. As you can guess, this makes it nearly impossible to upload any sort of photos or to even make my way to updating this puppy. My apologies. I feel like I've been apologizing all summer for the lack of quality internet connection. So, when you're disappointed about my quality posts, just think to yourself, "It sure would have been amazing had this kid updated daily...". Well, I didn't.

First off, I would just like to acknowledge Jake's posting of my web cam performance the other day. So tastefully put together, with great commentary. Thanks to him for taking time out of his busy schedule to watch a fool run around a delayed live stream of the world's most famous geyser. Except, I'm pretty sure his schedule isn't that busy. Whenever I talk to him it seems as though he just got done playing a game of FIFA or just got done running. Maybe I'm missing something... Oh yeah, he does have a full time job. Man, I hope I don't have one of those any time soon. (Dang, I sound like a responsible adult).

Presently, I'm coming to you live from the Bozeman Public Library. I thank them for the speedy internet access. As I mentioned in my last post, I receieved a new stereo unit for my beastly Pontiac Vibe from Ma and Pa for my day of birth. I made my way north this morning to get that puppy installed. It took them approximately 18 minutes to get the Vibe from the parking lot, to the garage and right back out with a new CD player securely attached to my dashboard. Props to Sound Pro for that. Not like I have many readers that reside in the Bozeman area, but if anybody comes across this page that needs any sort of home theater, stereo installation, etc. done I recommend these fellows. They were speedy, and did superb work.

Yesterday evening I went down to the Tetons to catch the sunset. I was mildly disappointed by the fact that a few of the prescribed burns in the area created a smoky haze that took over the mountain tops, making it difficult to get any good pictures. Don't worry -- I didn't get too upset. I just chose to work with what was provided. I was provided with a great view of some fall foliage and along the river providing some great color. Even if the photos didn't turn out too great, it was still neat to watch, that's for sure. There were loads of people stopping their vehicles to snap a shot of the beauty that was taking place as well. I felt like a chump when all the professional photographers showed up with their lenses the size of Texas standing like tripods. I decided to depart a little sooner than I wanted in order to make most of the drive with some daylight remaining. It's a lot easier to dodge animals when it's light, rather than sneaking up on the rear end of a bison's brown fur in the pitch black Wyoming night. Trust me. Well, my plan didn't work out like I thought it would. Within about 30 minutes I had to slam on my brakes as a young deer darted across Grand Loop Road and had to dodge the speeding silver bullet that was coasting along at 40 miles per hour. I missed him. He missed me. Thankfully. My biggest worry was the fact that my camera flew off the passenger seat along with my water bottle. Don't worry -- no harm done.

I'm not sure I have much else to talk about at the moment. The weather here is glorious, it's been well over 70 degrees for high temperatures for about a week and a half now. Usually there is snow on the ground by this time of the year, so no complaints there. The park has almost no traffic due to the end of the season coming, so it's a bit easier to drive from location to location without the fear of rear-ending a tourist.

I suppose I shall be on my way. I have a bit of a trek to make back to Grant Village. The drive is about an hour longer than coming from Canyon. So, off I go with newly installed car stereo with a direct USB plug-in allowing me to jam comfortably for hours on end. Thanks to the 'rents.

Until next time...

One Year Away from 1/4th of a Century

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

I've been working in Lightroom for the past few days. I'm far from an expert, but this is what I've come up with. I worked on a couple of photos to see if I could "bring back the color" and make it a little more vibrant. This is probably rookie stuff for all of you photo editors out there, but hey, I do what I can.

Other than working on the photos as of late, I've been doing a bit more running in the Grant area, which is nice with the roads and stuff. I did a little trespassing work and went down a service road that is only for the National Park Service, but it was a nice little incline and added some good time and distance onto the run. I'm hoping this running at 7,700 feet will pay off at some point!

I drove down to Old Faithful tonight to retrieve my birthday gifts that were so graciously sent by my family members. Thank you all. It is much appreciated. Mom and Dad, I've already began looking for an appointment to install the stereo so I can ride out from Yellowstone in style. This leads me to my next topic -- many of you have asked where I will be riding out to. That, I do not know. I would imagine I'll land back in Kansas for at least a few days/weeks. I would enjoy relocating to Bozeman for a little while as well. I think it would be great to experience the spring and summer up here. Anyway, I still have about a week and a half to figure that out. That's plenty of time, ain't it?

Back to the birthday goods. Grandma Linda, thanks for the book. It's mighty slow down here at Grant Village, so I will have some literature to keep me occupied. Bill Bryson is actually quite popular up here amongst my co-workers, which is kind of cool. I believe when I arrived in Canyon there were a few of us all reading a Bryson book. Susan, the lens filters are magical. This may make my pictures stop sucking. I'll work on getting some posted to see what kind of magic can be worked. Grandma, the cookies must have a little Kansas dust in them because I've already eaten half of the box you sent. Did I mention I also gained 8.3 pounds tonight? Oops.

What else? Paula, I'm still waiting. Don't you rush one bit. Also, tell Joe I'm sorry I didn't make the trek down south to Salt Lake City while he is there. The vibe needs to rest up for a journey to Billings, Montana tomorrow. I'm headed to a Tech N9ne concert as soon as I'm off work. It should be great to have a little bit of KC flavor in Big Sky country.

Jake, I've received a copy of NCAA Football 11. Don't practice too much, or else playing online won't be fun at all when I return to the world of high speed internet and flat screen, high-definition televisions. I appreciate your sportsmanship.

Oh yes, Sarah, I enjoyed the novel. I'm glad mom will cook any meal I desire upon my return. I will think of a glorious concoction that I can treat myself, as well as my siblings to. Noah, I have to be honest, I have no clue what I'm going to do with a zip lock bag full of coloring supplies. When I figure something out, you'll be the first to know! I am glad you were thinking of me and my artistic talents!

Alright, I really must head back to Grant so I am able to awaken from my deep slumber that now takes over my body at the ripe old age of 24. I will also then need to get my sweet Air Jordan's properly prepped in order to represent Kansas the right way when there is an insane amount of rap music taking over Billings, Montana tomorrow evening.

Until next time...

Death Canyon and Static Peak Divide

Top of Static Peak Pass (10, 790 feet)

Phelps Lake (7200 feet)


Static Peak Divide (if you couldn't read that)

Luke looking at some sort of fire. I still haven't figured out if it's a forest fire or something else...
Overlooking Phelps Lake

Autumn, have you arrived?

Death Canyon

Yesterday I had the day off and decided to go down to the Tetons to do some hiking. I don't know a lot of hikes down there, so I asked around the workplace and found that Death Canyon was supposed to be a pretty tough one. Needless to say, that's what I did. Luke, a co-worker from Canyon, also had the day off, so he met me down here at Grant early in the morning. We drove down to find Death Canyon not knowing much about it, other than we could hit up Static Peak Divide once we reached the ranger station located at the end of the Death Canyon trail. Were we rather under prepared as far looking at a map is concerned? Yes. But, we figured we could stay on the trail, and as long as we got back to the car by dark, we'd be a-ok. We were (otherwise I wouldn't be writing this...).

It is a 3.7 mile hike to the end of the Death Canyon trail, and then 3.7 back, obviously. I'd heard this hike was quite strenous, as I mentioned above, but I was surprised with the difficulty. It definitely wasn't a strenuous hike as all the websites I'd seen had ranked it. You start with a nice view over Phelps Lake before you head down into the Canyon to start coming back out. My photos probably do a poor job at portraying the beauty of the color changes of the trees and plants on the sides of the trails, but I did my best.

We reached the ranger station in 1 hour and 23 minutes, which was decent time, I thought. We figured we'd hike hard, to make sure we could at least attempt to get to Static Peak. Since we ended up not starting until 11:45am, we didn't know if we'd have enough time to make it that far. We packed our headlamps just in case it was after dark on the way back down. The ranger station had a sign next to it that said the divide was only 4 miles away, so we were feeling good about our chances to make it. What we didn't know was that it was 4 miles up hill, the entire way. Nothing like a little challenge, right?

It was a nice workout to get up the side of the mountain, and very challenging to say the least. We kept a decent pace for most of the way up. Once we had reached tree line it was getting a little tough to stay focused on getting to the pass because it felt like it was going on forever (kind of like my run-on sentences. Sorry to all the teachers in the family for that one!). At one point, right after realizing we were past the tree line, we stopped to overlook Phelps Lake again, and we were actually higher than the planes that were flying into the Jackson, Wyoming airport. We could see all of them below us flying in to land on the runway. That was a neat view.

Long story short, we made it to Static Peak Divide in just over 3 hours and made it back down in 2 hours and 45 minutes. The trail guides had said it would be a 10 hour hike, so we definitely made good time. It ended up being about 17.4 miles round trip because we parked 1 mile away from the actual trailhead. So, that comes out to just under 20 minutes per mile. Not bad considering most of the trail wasn't even on flat ground. I'd like to go back again and get to the stop of Static Peak which is over 11,000 feet. I think that'd be a great view from the top. The strenous rating I would say applied much more to the Static Peak Divide than the Death Canyon. The views and experience were definitley worth the struggle to get up the mountian/canyon.

Sorry this is a bit of short description of a great day of hiking, but as I've preached all season, the internet here is shaky, so I want to get this posted before something happens and I have to wait another week!

On a side note: I have to say, it seems like the Chiefs did well last week, but now they're trailing Cleveland at half time. They better get this figured out, because when I get back to having cable, I need to at least be in good spirits while watching them.

KU? Well, I don't think I'm going to talk about them. I do have a joke though!

Question: How many batteries does it take to beat KU's football team?

Answer: 1 double A. (A little crack at the loss to North Dakota State... and you might as well

throw Southern Miss into that mix as well...)

On another side note: The beard is making a comeback. Since my move down here to Grant the managers are less strict apparently on enforcing the "no beard rule". Thanks to the managers that I'll only know for two weeks, you have allowed me to continue to scare the ladies off with my mountain man apperance. I do appreciate it!

Until next time...