Red Zeppelin
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Thursday: April 02, 2009 - Goodbye Rick Astley
My April Fool's rick-rolling was such a success that I'm both delighted and saddened to report you will never be rick-rolled again (at least here). After delivering 250+ rick-rolls yesterday I think it's only fair to officially retire rick-rolling now that I'm nearly certain I've hit everyone with it at least once. So goodbye Rick Astley, it was a good run.
I came SO CLOSE to hitting a deer yesterday. While this would have been even more potentially dangerous on the GW Parkway or even on Wisconsin Avenue, the near run-in was more embarrassing in how it happened: I was walking. Headed into Georgetown through Rock Creek Park, I was completely lost in thought and about to cross under Spray Paint Death Bridge (which I named back when I used to run regularly through there) when BOOM, I look up and I'm about a foot away from this deer's butt. I guess technically it was a doe since there was an antlered deer about 10 feet away. Our telepathic conversation went something like this:
Me: Yo deer. I mean, Yo doe.
Doe: Yo. I didn't see you there.
Me: I know, thanks for not attacking me.
Doe: No sweat, bro. Thanks for driving the speed limit around dusk on the GW Parkway. We'll call it even.
Me: Awesome.
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Friday: April 03, 2009 - Rare Friday Update
It's rare there's a Friday update but this is an important one. Yesterday I signed up to take an art class on Monday nights. I've wanted to take one for a while since I'm clearly a gifted artist and I thought I'd meet more "normal" (as normal as you get in a class where you learn to draw triangles with faces) on a Monday night than a Saturday morning with soccer moms.
The reason for this entry is the problem this poses: The Cubs open their season at 7pm, the same time my class starts. This means I will not get to see the game as a live broadcast. What does this mean for you? TELL ME NOTHING. I don't care if Zambrano has a no-hitter going into the 9th or if he blows out his shoulder on the first pitch. Don't call, text, IM, ESP, nothing me until I give the word. The first Cubs game of the year is my second-favorite day of the year (after FSU's opening game) and ain't nobody going to spoil it for me.
In other news, I got my second marriage proposal of the year. Also in other news Marc, Annie, and I went to the "friendliest bar in town" (Mr. Smith's) last night and it wasn't really all that friendly. It did answer a major music theory question: Would the world implode if every note possible were sung at the same time? No, the world will not implode but thanks to the key change in Living on a Prayer we were able to at least find out. We also tried out Old Glory which was pretty lame. I'm too old for cover charges. [Comments: 4]· permalink ·
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Weekend: April 05, 2009 - Cherry Blossom Weekend
On Saturday I met up with Annie and Marc for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The crowds were both daunting and retarded and what should have been a twenty minute metro ride turned into a 75 minute one since I missed the second train twice while trying to push past the idiots who didn't realize it behooves everyone to let the people off the train before you try to get on. Eventually I made it and we walked down to the tidal basin for a very relaxing stroll through the mall. Eventually we coerced Becky into picking us up and we went to the Luna Grill for some grub. Any place with pictures of Led Zeppelin can't be all bad. After Becky went back to work we headed down the street to The Big Hunt, a place I'd been once before but have no recollection of with whom. It's still driving me crazy. I also left my debit card there--the first time in my life I'd ever "lost" it.
On Sunday I met back up with Becky for the Verdi Requiem at the Kennedy Center. While it was certainly awesome, the best part was the mom sitting in front of us conducting along with her mini-score, much to the embarrassment of her 14(ish) year old son. The performance was good (not as good as the CSO/CSC in 2001) but it was totally worth the trip. After the concert we went to the old standby, Front Page, and then back to The Big Hunt so I could pick up my card. They had a HUGE stack of cards so if you also left yours there they likely still have it.
The Cubs season kicks off in 4.5 hours. Exciting. [Comments: 3]· permalink ·
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Monday: April 06, 2009 - Best Of Times
Ah, it's here. Finally. The Cubs opened the 2009 season with a pounding of the Old Men Astros. Their magic number is down to 161.
I missed most of the game because I was at my first art class. The class is kind of a free-for-all where you can bring in a picture and then find something you like about it and paint it. Since I didn't realize I needed to bring one I used a sample and tried to draw something that looked like a head using the colors in my sample. It's not very abstract at all but I am proud of my palette-knife work in the yellow section. I also drew a cityscape but, like any good artist, I threw that one away because it looked so much like a cityscape.
There's really only one woman in the class with any talent and it was more fun to watch her than work on my own pieces. There was one particularly unartistic guy who had already given up trying to emulate anything and wound up with this hideous...something. I don't know what it was but I can tell you what it wasn't--art.
I got home around 9:30 and immediately turned on the game to see the Cubs were winning 3-1 going into the 8th. And lo and behold, which pitcher is about to enter the game? That's right--MARMOL. MARMOL tears right through the heart of the Astros lineup. Boom. Then the new closer, Gregg, comes in. He looks like he's throwing t-ball batting practice (yeah, yeah). He does his best to Cub it up and gives up a bunch of hits and run but thankfully the Cubs make like a senior at the prom and pull it out.
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Tuesday: April 07, 2009 - Semantics
So last night I watched The Chronicles of Narnia before watching the Cubs lose in extra innings to the hated Astros. I signed up with Netflix on Friday and thought a good way to get acquainted with popular culture would be to watch a movie about a set of books I loved growing up. Nostalgia fail!
Anyone with any sense of imagination has already come up with a better image of the book than that movie. My biggest complaint with the movie is this: they're eating animals. Ok, the animals are clearly not like Earth animals--they talk and have lives and whatever. If you're going to serve the humans meat, whose meat is it? Clearly, not meat of your allies--I have a hard time believing they'd cannibalize their friends and they're sure not going to eat the meat of the "bad" animals. So where did it come from? Same goes for the leather armor--that would have had to have come from the skin of some animal. Boo. I can believe a talking lion but I can't believe some cow would be like "here boy, skin me and wear me to war". Whatever. Final Grade: F
I also got Big Love and the first episode was pretty boring. It's no 6FU that's for sure. Who would want three wives anyway? That's thrice the nagging. [Comments: 3]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: April 08, 2009 - The Song Remains The Same
Last night I had a dream. Oh, crazy dream.
I was going to be on Jeopardy except that it was being held at the stage of The Price Is Right and quite literally everyone I have EVER been friends with was in this dream. There were so many people in it that when I finally woke up at 5:20am I scrolled through my iPhone to see if anyone was left out and with the exception of maybe four people out of 200, everyone had some role. Anyway, so everyone is helping me in some way prepare for this game show. The preparations take months and finally I'm getting ready to leave for the airport (I'm at my parents' house for whatever reason) and Chompy is standing next to me at the door. It's the middle of winter and everything is covered in snow and ice. I open the door to leave and Chompy runs out. She stays like 10' away from me but won't come in. Ultimately she runs in the street and gets hit by a car.
Yeah. [Comments: 5]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 09, 2009 - Thirsty Thursday
Last night Becky and I set off to celebrate the first Thirsty Thursday at the Mad Hatter. The original plan was to go to Front Page but with $2 Coronas every douche bag and slut in the greater DC Metro region was there so we down to the Mad Hatter instead. I got to try my hand at c*ck-blocking for the first time and did pretty fair. I'm a much better wingman. Everyone at the bar was small--I felt like giant among men which does not happen often. It was like a hobbit festival. A douchey hobbit festival. A doubbit festival. Next Thirsty Thursday is at the Zoo for "Grapes with the Apes" and after that a party at the Swedish Embassy. I didn't actually get into the Embassy party yet but Becky did so I'm sure with her billions of connections I'll find a way in.
Next week I have a meeting at the New Zealand Embassy to see if I can get a piece performed while Steve and I are there. It's not looking good but what good are fame and influence if you don't at least attempt to use them.
I have no Easter plans for the first time in my adult life. I guess that's not entire true since I believe Brisland (at Marsh Sands) was discovered on Easter and there were no formal exploratory plans that day. Maybe Chompy and I will have an easter egg hunt with squirrel-flavored eggs for her and iced venti vanilla latte-flavored ones for me.
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Saturday: April 11, 2009 - Happy Easter
Happy Easter! To celebrate Easter, Chompy and I are going to go on a drive down the backroads so she can enjoy the fragrant spring and I can finally get to experience driving on the beltway without (as much) traffic. I've always kind of wondered what happened if I was able to get the Taurus up to 60mph and today I might get to find out.
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Sunday: April 12, 2009 - Easter 12 of 12
12:00pm: I forgot it was 12 of 12 or else I would have taken a picture of when I woke up...which was like 11am. Oops. Now you'll have to settle for another Breakfast of Champions picture.
12:30pm: Picking out a nice cake to bring to Briecca's for Easter.
1:00pm: Rifling through the second season of Weeds. I wrongfully assumed every season would be on Neflix Instant or I would have rationed a little bit better.
2:30pm: Chompy being rudely disturbed from her mid-afternoon nap.
2:45pm: On my out to Sterling I'm reminded that DC has the best springtime ever. Take that, Springtime Tallahassee.
3:30pm: I forgot to pull off my tape before leaving so I came back in to do it. The piece is coming along nicely.
4:00pm: Here's my backlog of National Geographics that I'd been waiting for three months to get. I guess I can stop calling to complain now.
4:15pm: Looking good. I have the pink shirt on and it only comes out of the closet on Easter.
5:15pm: Brieccooty making deviled eggs. There were no deviled Cadbury Cream Eggs.
7pm: After dinner we walked to CVS through the bowels of Sterling to get Easter candy. All we found was this weird pig balloon, which might have been the weirdest thing I've ever touched. Ok, that's not true but it was still pretty weird.
10pm: Feeling the pangs of anxiety as closer Kevin Gregg warms up. MARMOL was already out of the game at this point. Gregg only gave up one run in the 9th and for him that's really good.
11:00pm: Chompy patiently waiting to go out while the Cubs game ends.
BONUS: Brian playing with Booty. We noticed that we've spent our last three 12 of 12s together.
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Monday: April 13, 2009 - Uncle Sam
Every great hero needs an arch-villain. I finally, after 13 months in DC, found mine. She takes the form of a 17-year old girl who probably enjoys cutting herself. She is in my art class and her newest piece is called "Dismembered Man". Clever. Hold onto that teenage angst sweetheart. I can't even fathom the horrors you've seen growing up in Georgetown but my heart goes out to you.
So there I am mixing up some reds and blues for my piece. It's an early mix and the reds and blues are very bright. The girl, herein "Cutter", walks past me. She says something like "Nice patriotism Uncle Sam." I respond with, "And I call the piece 'These Colors Don't Run'" to which she replies "THE WORLD!" to which I reply, "I see the double-sarcasm was lost on you." Unlike negative numbers, sarcasm is apparently not canceled out when using it twice. I hate this girl and her painted-black jean jacket and hundreds of jelly bracelets.
A lesser man would have rubbed it in her face thatI was he was going to get a piece at a show in Georgetown but I accepted he accepted the honor with humility. Why? Because I'm he's a grown-ass man.
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Tuesday: April 14, 2009 - Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Memory: So there were are at the Day of Percussion. It's February, 2003. A small group of us had trekked from Tallahassee to DeLand, Florida for a mini-concert at Stetson University. As it were, Matt Flynn and I were dressed in identical clothing: a navy blue polo shirt, khaki pants, and the same tennis shoes. We both had huge afros at the time and except for the fact he was ripped and at least four inches taller than me we were twins.
Playing in a mixed group with college students from across Florida it got to be solo time. After hearing a couple other people from lesser schools attempt to make music I leaned over to Matt and say, "I'm going to make them say 'Jesus Christ'". And so I did. When the actual concert came, I naturally tore it up and within a measure of my finishing Matt leaned over and whispered "Jesus Christ...Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."
To this day, when something is beyond awesome, I have no choice but to quote the Book of Mormon and say it. I'm not a biblical scholar but I'm reasonably sure it's not breaking a commandment with the "of latter day saints" suffixed to it.
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Wednesday: April 15, 2009 - Happy Tax Day
If somehow you haven't seen this graph that shows how the government spends money you should check it out. If you ever wonder why DC is such a dump, you can see our allocation from your state-livers: it's right above the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The taxes we pay as residents here are absolutely ridiculous. Keeping the homeless off the mall requires significant funding so yeah, you're welcome. There are a lot of scary numbers on that graph. Seriously scary. Srsly.
Last night I went to Galaxy Hut with Annie and Sam. Somehow we were there for like five hours. I also had a screaming match at the post office (which gets more funding than DC) with some woman. I was so enraged by her that I felt like I was recording the voice-over for a cartoon snuff film. I didn't realize my city-vocabulary had come back after just a year of living here.
Speaking of living here...tick-tock. [Comments: 6]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 16, 2009 - Happy Birthday Ricky!
Happy Birthday Ricky! It seems like just yesterday we were at your bachelor party. I didn't even know it was your birthday then. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in NYC in a few months. You need to put some new pictures up on Facebook so I can stop recycling ones from like four years ago before you got all ripped. Anyway, happy birthday!
Last night's Thirsty Thursday adventure was at the National Zoo for the Grapes with Apes fundraiser. Becky and two of her co-workers picked me up around 6 and we raced off to the zoo via scary backroads. As far as I could tell there was only one exhibit open and it contained the new she-baby gorilla. Both Becky and her friend Dori (Dory?) won books by answering questions about various primates. The closest I got was sampling the every-classy Monkey Bay wine. How people drink sweet wine is beyond me.
After having what probably amounted to 2/3 of a glass of wine we drove to Two Amy's on the border of Glover Park and Cleveland Park. We waited for about ninety hours for a table and then had some pizza. The food was pretty good but let's face it, after ninety hours of waiting just about anything is good.
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Friday: April 17, 2009 - Bars of Georgetown
Last night Marc and I set off on our first tour of the bars of Georgetown and in four hours we knocked off Chadwick's, The Guards, J. Paul's, and The Tombs. Because it had been so nice all day I just wore a t-shirt but by the late evening it was extremely cold and I regretted that decision.
Chadwick's was down on K Street and filled with the regular Georgetown nightlife people. It looked like they had a nice restaurant but we obviously were not there to eat. People seemed to enjoy their brunch.
The Guards was on M and kind of like a less trashy Old Glory. The basement was like a frat party and had more exciting than the first level, which was playing non-radio Led Zeppelin songs. Any bar that proudly plays No Quarter is a keeper in my book.
J Paul's was probably the nicest and it was quiet enough you could talk easily. This is probably the one I'd be most inclined to return to.
We got to The Tombs right before close and it's a total college bar. It wasn't as dark or creepy as I was expecting and they probably had the best beer.
Because of our good planning we parked right by The Tombs however we got a little lost walking back and went blocks and blocks out of way before we found the car right next to the bar. I should hire someone to follow me around with GPS. [Comments: 1]· permalink ·
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Weekend: April 19, 2009 - Tourist Checklist
I have officially moved back into DC-tourist mode. With my departure imminent I brought out my checklist of things I'd like to do in the greater DC metro region before I leave. On Sunday I went to see the Chesapeake Bay. I did not accomplish my mission of eating crab cakes while at a restaurant on the bay itself so now I might have to go back. Annapolis was the closest city on the bay and it only took about 45 minutes to get there. I'm not a big shellfish person (ok, at all) so trying to talk yourself into doing things is tough. It's hard to peer-pressure yourself. Annapolis is a quaint little town that is not surprisingly filled with sailors and teenage moms. The Naval Academy has a really beautiful campus, made even more beautiful by the fact the triple option is run every play of every football down come fall.
On Saturday I did nothing, which frankly was pretty disappointing. I sent a mass text to watch baseball and got zilch back. I tried to play basketball but even though it was a beautiful day there were only two other guys there who didn't want to play with a stranger. Because I only have either a) boring or b) plan-ahead friends I spent my time watching a couple movies from Netflix.
The Departed: Predicable but pretty enjoyable. To show how infrequently I watch movies it was like an hour in before I realized that Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio were two different people. I'm sorry but they should have cast people that looked more different. Final Grade: B
The Untouchables: I don't have a law degree but I'm pretty sure you can't swap juries mid-trial with the judge in the next room. And CPAs can miraculously can handle shotguns with no training? And random dudes get to counsel with the judge in the middle of trial to lie? And the defense attorney changes the plea from Not Guilty to Guilty without consulting the defendant? Really? Final Grade: F [Comments: 7]· permalink ·
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Monday: April 20, 2009 - Birthdays Abound
So many birthdays today! Abby turned the big 6, and I picked her up to celebrate after making a quick run to PetCo in Bethesda to get Chompy some food and presents appropriate for a dog who is turning 42 in human years. I'm sad that this will be the last birthday I get to celebrate with Abby so I'm glad Jamie let me take for the day. It was unfortunately too rainy to go to the park or even really run around in the back yard. Tuesday is supposed to be nice (and it is) so we can get in some more activity of the outside variety.
It's also my cousin Kevin's birthday (not picture) and Marc's 26th birthday. Now you're rounded up to 30. Aren't you lucky. You're also the first "new" friend to get a custom picture. Too bad you don't read my blog or else you'd see it. Banking on that fact, I used a picture of you with some hot girls. I'm excited for your party on Friday and double-excited it will be in Georgetown. That's me being selfish. Anyway, Happy Birthday Marc!
I had my art class and found out that I will not have a piece at the local show. Oh well. The class culminated with two pieces being used as examples: one that could be sold for money and another that was "art". Mine was used as the example that people would pay money to buy but "was not art". Ouch. Ah, the joys of being invalidated. Adding insult to injury was that Cutter's piece (untitled, of course) was used as "art". I love abstract art and I don't need my paintings look like anything but it was total crap. She is choosing to go to art school at AU and said the same thing I said for my masters, "Yeah, I really wanted to go to Michigan but FSU offered me so much money..." It's how you cover up the fact you didn't even get into Michigan without having to explicitly lie. In her case it was NYU. Whatever, dude. I'm bringing out the big guns next week. I'll show you guys art if I have to take a dump on a piece of wood and smear it into smiling squares.
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Tuesday: April 21, 2009 - Progress Update #1
I spent a good part of the afternoon working on the oily bits of the vase painting. Since I know nothing about oil painting it's going by really slowly. It takes an epically long time for it to dry so when I make a mistake I have to write down where it is so I can go back and fix it sometime in the future. I'm hoping to have it done on Friday so that I can start a new one. I like painting but I like finishing painting even more.
The Cubs won last night over the 2004 Cubs aka The Cincinnati Reds. This year Steve (finally) invited me to play in his fantasy baseball league. It's my first experience playing a sports fantasy game and it makes you root for your team differently. You still want them to win but you might want certain players from the other team to score more runs against your team before your guys come back in the bottom of the ninth.
Sorry, not ever blog entry can be as riveting as yesterday's. [Comments: 1]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: April 22, 2009 - Night Moves
I've always moved around a lot in bed while I sleep, claiming far reaches of the bed as my own like European colonists. Recently, however, I've started doing something really aggravating. I've started rolling up my t-shirt 80's-style and then scratching the middle of my torso. I scratch so hard that I wake myself up. I then roll down my t-shirt (90's-style) only to do it again a few hours later. This has been going on for the four nights--the same four nights I've watched Planet Earth while falling asleep. I have to assume it's because each episode has had some segment on bugs and although I haven't had any bug dreams maybe they're the trigger. Weirdy.
Vase to Vase is almost done and I'm looking forward to doing the last stage of it, getting it framed, and hanging it up in my dining room. I know realistically I will not do either of those things since my walls here do not like having things hung on them and fall apart when I try. Framing is expensive--I remember in Tallahassee getting a picture I got in Uruguay for $10 framed and it cost like $220. What a scam. [Comments: 6]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 23, 2009 - Busy Thirsty Thursday
I don't have what you might consider a "busy" life. My days are full but they don't really require me leaving a 400 foot radius of my bed except to get coffee or food. Yesterday, however, was actually full of activity--even for a normal person who doesn't work at home.
Working backwards, Becky and I had Thirsty Thursday in Shir/Arlington at Hard Times and Something Grill. It was an early night and even after dropping her off I was home around 10pm.
Before that I went to visit Kathy in Centerville and pick up some stuff. I made it in 45 minutes, which is unprecedented. I saw where Baby is going to live and his/her onsie that says "I'm As Cute As A Garnet and Gold Bug". Unfortunately that didn't help me figure out if Baby was going to be a Dude or a Chick.
Before that I was on the phone with several people, lastly being Steve as we discussed New Zealand. He offered this gem of a quote: "You don't understand--it's not the same as Dad being wrong, or you being wrong. I have a degree from the University of Chicago. Whenever I'm wrong the world makes a little less sense." Winner!
Ok, maybe my day wasn't that exciting but with a series of events this coming weekend it should be a story-filled next few days. [Comments: 2]· permalink ·
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Weekend: April 26, 2009 - Catch-Up!
Happy birthday Tree (Mark Peterson). You probably thought I would forget again this year but I did not. This picture is circa 2000 and I was pretty proud of myself for even finding it. Happy Birthday!
On Saturday night we went out for Marc's birthday celebration in Georgetown. After dinner at Pizza Paradisio we started to lose membership in the going-out club and after a little while it was down to four. I find it frightening that despite having a decided age advantage of at least four years that I'm never the one that's tired or ready to call it a night.
On Friday night Marc, Annie, and I went out to National Harbor to try to watch the Cubs game at National Pastime but unfortunately a combination of being constantly lost and a wait of an hour plus caused a severe change of plan. We elected instead to get lost again on our way back and then go to Old Town. After dropping Marc off, Annie and I headed to Tortoise and Hare (I think?) where some post-ska band was playing and we stayed for maybe 20 minutes.
On Sunday I did a lot of reading and writing (no 'rithmetic though) and watched a couple of movies: 300 and Usual Suspects.
Usual Suspects: I was not expecting Kevin Spacey to be the boss. I was so smug halfway through when I thought I had Handsome Man figured out to be him only to wrong at the very end. Final Grade: B+
300: They should have just called this movie Guys With Rockin' Abs. Not particularly partial to man-abs, the story was pretty stupid and the fantasy aspect made it doubly-lame. Final Grade: F [Comments: 1]· permalink ·
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Monday: April 27, 2009 - Ciao Dude!
That's all you need to know. [Comments: 11]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 30, 2009 - Take Only What You Need From It
Come May 26, I will be the newest faculty member at the University of Endrinal Massachusetts-Lowell. I was up there the past two days getting an introduction to the city and the university. Chris and I also celebrated our first Wicked Wednesday with an age-appropriate amount of beer and several games of NCAA 2009. Upon my return last night I drove nearly straight to Silver Spring to play a steel drum / conga duet with Anne at her school for International Night. In the spirit of International Night we went out for Mexican food after rocking the house.
Because I'm teaching part-time I'm sure I'll have ample time to remain both the preeminent composer of steel drum music and Mark Cuban Jr. If anything I'll probably have more usable hours in the day since I will have to forgo getting 10 hours of sleep a night.
As time is of the essence, I'm going to keep my apartment in DC through July and only move the most important things with me in a few weeks (Chompy, some pictures of myself). I feel like I don't have much stuff anymore but as I look I see that I do.
I love it when a plan comes together.
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My April Fool's rick-rolling was such a success that I'm both delighted and saddened to report you will never be rick-rolled again (at least here). After delivering 250+ rick-rolls yesterday I think it's only fair to officially retire rick-rolling now that I'm nearly certain I've hit everyone with it at least once. So goodbye Rick Astley, it was a good run.
I came SO CLOSE to hitting a deer yesterday. While this would have been even more potentially dangerous on the GW Parkway or even on Wisconsin Avenue, the near run-in was more embarrassing in how it happened: I was walking. Headed into Georgetown through Rock Creek Park, I was completely lost in thought and about to cross under Spray Paint Death Bridge (which I named back when I used to run regularly through there) when BOOM, I look up and I'm about a foot away from this deer's butt. I guess technically it was a doe since there was an antlered deer about 10 feet away. Our telepathic conversation went something like this:
Me: Yo deer. I mean, Yo doe.
Doe: Yo. I didn't see you there.
Me: I know, thanks for not attacking me.
Doe: No sweat, bro. Thanks for driving the speed limit around dusk on the GW Parkway. We'll call it even.
Me: Awesome.
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Friday: April 03, 2009 - Rare Friday Update
It's rare there's a Friday update but this is an important one. Yesterday I signed up to take an art class on Monday nights. I've wanted to take one for a while since I'm clearly a gifted artist and I thought I'd meet more "normal" (as normal as you get in a class where you learn to draw triangles with faces) on a Monday night than a Saturday morning with soccer moms.
The reason for this entry is the problem this poses: The Cubs open their season at 7pm, the same time my class starts. This means I will not get to see the game as a live broadcast. What does this mean for you? TELL ME NOTHING. I don't care if Zambrano has a no-hitter going into the 9th or if he blows out his shoulder on the first pitch. Don't call, text, IM, ESP, nothing me until I give the word. The first Cubs game of the year is my second-favorite day of the year (after FSU's opening game) and ain't nobody going to spoil it for me.
In other news, I got my second marriage proposal of the year. Also in other news Marc, Annie, and I went to the "friendliest bar in town" (Mr. Smith's) last night and it wasn't really all that friendly. It did answer a major music theory question: Would the world implode if every note possible were sung at the same time? No, the world will not implode but thanks to the key change in Living on a Prayer we were able to at least find out. We also tried out Old Glory which was pretty lame. I'm too old for cover charges. [Comments: 4]· permalink ·
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Weekend: April 05, 2009 - Cherry Blossom Weekend
On Saturday I met up with Annie and Marc for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The crowds were both daunting and retarded and what should have been a twenty minute metro ride turned into a 75 minute one since I missed the second train twice while trying to push past the idiots who didn't realize it behooves everyone to let the people off the train before you try to get on. Eventually I made it and we walked down to the tidal basin for a very relaxing stroll through the mall. Eventually we coerced Becky into picking us up and we went to the Luna Grill for some grub. Any place with pictures of Led Zeppelin can't be all bad. After Becky went back to work we headed down the street to The Big Hunt, a place I'd been once before but have no recollection of with whom. It's still driving me crazy. I also left my debit card there--the first time in my life I'd ever "lost" it.
On Sunday I met back up with Becky for the Verdi Requiem at the Kennedy Center. While it was certainly awesome, the best part was the mom sitting in front of us conducting along with her mini-score, much to the embarrassment of her 14(ish) year old son. The performance was good (not as good as the CSO/CSC in 2001) but it was totally worth the trip. After the concert we went to the old standby, Front Page, and then back to The Big Hunt so I could pick up my card. They had a HUGE stack of cards so if you also left yours there they likely still have it.
The Cubs season kicks off in 4.5 hours. Exciting. [Comments: 3]· permalink ·
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Monday: April 06, 2009 - Best Of Times
Ah, it's here. Finally. The Cubs opened the 2009 season with a pounding of the Old Men Astros. Their magic number is down to 161.
I missed most of the game because I was at my first art class. The class is kind of a free-for-all where you can bring in a picture and then find something you like about it and paint it. Since I didn't realize I needed to bring one I used a sample and tried to draw something that looked like a head using the colors in my sample. It's not very abstract at all but I am proud of my palette-knife work in the yellow section. I also drew a cityscape but, like any good artist, I threw that one away because it looked so much like a cityscape.
There's really only one woman in the class with any talent and it was more fun to watch her than work on my own pieces. There was one particularly unartistic guy who had already given up trying to emulate anything and wound up with this hideous...something. I don't know what it was but I can tell you what it wasn't--art.
I got home around 9:30 and immediately turned on the game to see the Cubs were winning 3-1 going into the 8th. And lo and behold, which pitcher is about to enter the game? That's right--MARMOL. MARMOL tears right through the heart of the Astros lineup. Boom. Then the new closer, Gregg, comes in. He looks like he's throwing t-ball batting practice (yeah, yeah). He does his best to Cub it up and gives up a bunch of hits and run but thankfully the Cubs make like a senior at the prom and pull it out.
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Tuesday: April 07, 2009 - Semantics
So last night I watched The Chronicles of Narnia before watching the Cubs lose in extra innings to the hated Astros. I signed up with Netflix on Friday and thought a good way to get acquainted with popular culture would be to watch a movie about a set of books I loved growing up. Nostalgia fail!
Anyone with any sense of imagination has already come up with a better image of the book than that movie. My biggest complaint with the movie is this: they're eating animals. Ok, the animals are clearly not like Earth animals--they talk and have lives and whatever. If you're going to serve the humans meat, whose meat is it? Clearly, not meat of your allies--I have a hard time believing they'd cannibalize their friends and they're sure not going to eat the meat of the "bad" animals. So where did it come from? Same goes for the leather armor--that would have had to have come from the skin of some animal. Boo. I can believe a talking lion but I can't believe some cow would be like "here boy, skin me and wear me to war". Whatever. Final Grade: F
I also got Big Love and the first episode was pretty boring. It's no 6FU that's for sure. Who would want three wives anyway? That's thrice the nagging. [Comments: 3]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: April 08, 2009 - The Song Remains The Same
Last night I had a dream. Oh, crazy dream.
I was going to be on Jeopardy except that it was being held at the stage of The Price Is Right and quite literally everyone I have EVER been friends with was in this dream. There were so many people in it that when I finally woke up at 5:20am I scrolled through my iPhone to see if anyone was left out and with the exception of maybe four people out of 200, everyone had some role. Anyway, so everyone is helping me in some way prepare for this game show. The preparations take months and finally I'm getting ready to leave for the airport (I'm at my parents' house for whatever reason) and Chompy is standing next to me at the door. It's the middle of winter and everything is covered in snow and ice. I open the door to leave and Chompy runs out. She stays like 10' away from me but won't come in. Ultimately she runs in the street and gets hit by a car.
Yeah. [Comments: 5]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 09, 2009 - Thirsty Thursday
Last night Becky and I set off to celebrate the first Thirsty Thursday at the Mad Hatter. The original plan was to go to Front Page but with $2 Coronas every douche bag and slut in the greater DC Metro region was there so we down to the Mad Hatter instead. I got to try my hand at c*ck-blocking for the first time and did pretty fair. I'm a much better wingman. Everyone at the bar was small--I felt like giant among men which does not happen often. It was like a hobbit festival. A douchey hobbit festival. A doubbit festival. Next Thirsty Thursday is at the Zoo for "Grapes with the Apes" and after that a party at the Swedish Embassy. I didn't actually get into the Embassy party yet but Becky did so I'm sure with her billions of connections I'll find a way in.
Next week I have a meeting at the New Zealand Embassy to see if I can get a piece performed while Steve and I are there. It's not looking good but what good are fame and influence if you don't at least attempt to use them.
I have no Easter plans for the first time in my adult life. I guess that's not entire true since I believe Brisland (at Marsh Sands) was discovered on Easter and there were no formal exploratory plans that day. Maybe Chompy and I will have an easter egg hunt with squirrel-flavored eggs for her and iced venti vanilla latte-flavored ones for me.
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Saturday: April 11, 2009 - Happy Easter
Happy Easter! To celebrate Easter, Chompy and I are going to go on a drive down the backroads so she can enjoy the fragrant spring and I can finally get to experience driving on the beltway without (as much) traffic. I've always kind of wondered what happened if I was able to get the Taurus up to 60mph and today I might get to find out.
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Sunday: April 12, 2009 - Easter 12 of 12
12:00pm: I forgot it was 12 of 12 or else I would have taken a picture of when I woke up...which was like 11am. Oops. Now you'll have to settle for another Breakfast of Champions picture.
12:30pm: Picking out a nice cake to bring to Briecca's for Easter.
1:00pm: Rifling through the second season of Weeds. I wrongfully assumed every season would be on Neflix Instant or I would have rationed a little bit better.
2:30pm: Chompy being rudely disturbed from her mid-afternoon nap.
2:45pm: On my out to Sterling I'm reminded that DC has the best springtime ever. Take that, Springtime Tallahassee.
3:30pm: I forgot to pull off my tape before leaving so I came back in to do it. The piece is coming along nicely.
4:00pm: Here's my backlog of National Geographics that I'd been waiting for three months to get. I guess I can stop calling to complain now.
4:15pm: Looking good. I have the pink shirt on and it only comes out of the closet on Easter.
5:15pm: Brieccooty making deviled eggs. There were no deviled Cadbury Cream Eggs.
7pm: After dinner we walked to CVS through the bowels of Sterling to get Easter candy. All we found was this weird pig balloon, which might have been the weirdest thing I've ever touched. Ok, that's not true but it was still pretty weird.
10pm: Feeling the pangs of anxiety as closer Kevin Gregg warms up. MARMOL was already out of the game at this point. Gregg only gave up one run in the 9th and for him that's really good.
11:00pm: Chompy patiently waiting to go out while the Cubs game ends.
BONUS: Brian playing with Booty. We noticed that we've spent our last three 12 of 12s together.
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Monday: April 13, 2009 - Uncle Sam
Every great hero needs an arch-villain. I finally, after 13 months in DC, found mine. She takes the form of a 17-year old girl who probably enjoys cutting herself. She is in my art class and her newest piece is called "Dismembered Man". Clever. Hold onto that teenage angst sweetheart. I can't even fathom the horrors you've seen growing up in Georgetown but my heart goes out to you.
So there I am mixing up some reds and blues for my piece. It's an early mix and the reds and blues are very bright. The girl, herein "Cutter", walks past me. She says something like "Nice patriotism Uncle Sam." I respond with, "And I call the piece 'These Colors Don't Run'" to which she replies "THE WORLD!" to which I reply, "I see the double-sarcasm was lost on you." Unlike negative numbers, sarcasm is apparently not canceled out when using it twice. I hate this girl and her painted-black jean jacket and hundreds of jelly bracelets.
A lesser man would have rubbed it in her face that
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Tuesday: April 14, 2009 - Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Memory: So there were are at the Day of Percussion. It's February, 2003. A small group of us had trekked from Tallahassee to DeLand, Florida for a mini-concert at Stetson University. As it were, Matt Flynn and I were dressed in identical clothing: a navy blue polo shirt, khaki pants, and the same tennis shoes. We both had huge afros at the time and except for the fact he was ripped and at least four inches taller than me we were twins.
Playing in a mixed group with college students from across Florida it got to be solo time. After hearing a couple other people from lesser schools attempt to make music I leaned over to Matt and say, "I'm going to make them say 'Jesus Christ'". And so I did. When the actual concert came, I naturally tore it up and within a measure of my finishing Matt leaned over and whispered "Jesus Christ...Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."
To this day, when something is beyond awesome, I have no choice but to quote the Book of Mormon and say it. I'm not a biblical scholar but I'm reasonably sure it's not breaking a commandment with the "of latter day saints" suffixed to it.
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Wednesday: April 15, 2009 - Happy Tax Day
If somehow you haven't seen this graph that shows how the government spends money you should check it out. If you ever wonder why DC is such a dump, you can see our allocation from your state-livers: it's right above the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The taxes we pay as residents here are absolutely ridiculous. Keeping the homeless off the mall requires significant funding so yeah, you're welcome. There are a lot of scary numbers on that graph. Seriously scary. Srsly.
Last night I went to Galaxy Hut with Annie and Sam. Somehow we were there for like five hours. I also had a screaming match at the post office (which gets more funding than DC) with some woman. I was so enraged by her that I felt like I was recording the voice-over for a cartoon snuff film. I didn't realize my city-vocabulary had come back after just a year of living here.
Speaking of living here...tick-tock. [Comments: 6]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 16, 2009 - Happy Birthday Ricky!
Happy Birthday Ricky! It seems like just yesterday we were at your bachelor party. I didn't even know it was your birthday then. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in NYC in a few months. You need to put some new pictures up on Facebook so I can stop recycling ones from like four years ago before you got all ripped. Anyway, happy birthday!
Last night's Thirsty Thursday adventure was at the National Zoo for the Grapes with Apes fundraiser. Becky and two of her co-workers picked me up around 6 and we raced off to the zoo via scary backroads. As far as I could tell there was only one exhibit open and it contained the new she-baby gorilla. Both Becky and her friend Dori (Dory?) won books by answering questions about various primates. The closest I got was sampling the every-classy Monkey Bay wine. How people drink sweet wine is beyond me.
After having what probably amounted to 2/3 of a glass of wine we drove to Two Amy's on the border of Glover Park and Cleveland Park. We waited for about ninety hours for a table and then had some pizza. The food was pretty good but let's face it, after ninety hours of waiting just about anything is good.
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Friday: April 17, 2009 - Bars of Georgetown
Last night Marc and I set off on our first tour of the bars of Georgetown and in four hours we knocked off Chadwick's, The Guards, J. Paul's, and The Tombs. Because it had been so nice all day I just wore a t-shirt but by the late evening it was extremely cold and I regretted that decision.
Chadwick's was down on K Street and filled with the regular Georgetown nightlife people. It looked like they had a nice restaurant but we obviously were not there to eat. People seemed to enjoy their brunch.
The Guards was on M and kind of like a less trashy Old Glory. The basement was like a frat party and had more exciting than the first level, which was playing non-radio Led Zeppelin songs. Any bar that proudly plays No Quarter is a keeper in my book.
J Paul's was probably the nicest and it was quiet enough you could talk easily. This is probably the one I'd be most inclined to return to.
We got to The Tombs right before close and it's a total college bar. It wasn't as dark or creepy as I was expecting and they probably had the best beer.
Because of our good planning we parked right by The Tombs however we got a little lost walking back and went blocks and blocks out of way before we found the car right next to the bar. I should hire someone to follow me around with GPS. [Comments: 1]· permalink ·
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Weekend: April 19, 2009 - Tourist Checklist
I have officially moved back into DC-tourist mode. With my departure imminent I brought out my checklist of things I'd like to do in the greater DC metro region before I leave. On Sunday I went to see the Chesapeake Bay. I did not accomplish my mission of eating crab cakes while at a restaurant on the bay itself so now I might have to go back. Annapolis was the closest city on the bay and it only took about 45 minutes to get there. I'm not a big shellfish person (ok, at all) so trying to talk yourself into doing things is tough. It's hard to peer-pressure yourself. Annapolis is a quaint little town that is not surprisingly filled with sailors and teenage moms. The Naval Academy has a really beautiful campus, made even more beautiful by the fact the triple option is run every play of every football down come fall.
On Saturday I did nothing, which frankly was pretty disappointing. I sent a mass text to watch baseball and got zilch back. I tried to play basketball but even though it was a beautiful day there were only two other guys there who didn't want to play with a stranger. Because I only have either a) boring or b) plan-ahead friends I spent my time watching a couple movies from Netflix.
The Departed: Predicable but pretty enjoyable. To show how infrequently I watch movies it was like an hour in before I realized that Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio were two different people. I'm sorry but they should have cast people that looked more different. Final Grade: B
The Untouchables: I don't have a law degree but I'm pretty sure you can't swap juries mid-trial with the judge in the next room. And CPAs can miraculously can handle shotguns with no training? And random dudes get to counsel with the judge in the middle of trial to lie? And the defense attorney changes the plea from Not Guilty to Guilty without consulting the defendant? Really? Final Grade: F [Comments: 7]· permalink ·
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Monday: April 20, 2009 - Birthdays Abound
So many birthdays today! Abby turned the big 6, and I picked her up to celebrate after making a quick run to PetCo in Bethesda to get Chompy some food and presents appropriate for a dog who is turning 42 in human years. I'm sad that this will be the last birthday I get to celebrate with Abby so I'm glad Jamie let me take for the day. It was unfortunately too rainy to go to the park or even really run around in the back yard. Tuesday is supposed to be nice (and it is) so we can get in some more activity of the outside variety.
It's also my cousin Kevin's birthday (not picture) and Marc's 26th birthday. Now you're rounded up to 30. Aren't you lucky. You're also the first "new" friend to get a custom picture. Too bad you don't read my blog or else you'd see it. Banking on that fact, I used a picture of you with some hot girls. I'm excited for your party on Friday and double-excited it will be in Georgetown. That's me being selfish. Anyway, Happy Birthday Marc!
I had my art class and found out that I will not have a piece at the local show. Oh well. The class culminated with two pieces being used as examples: one that could be sold for money and another that was "art". Mine was used as the example that people would pay money to buy but "was not art". Ouch. Ah, the joys of being invalidated. Adding insult to injury was that Cutter's piece (untitled, of course) was used as "art". I love abstract art and I don't need my paintings look like anything but it was total crap. She is choosing to go to art school at AU and said the same thing I said for my masters, "Yeah, I really wanted to go to Michigan but FSU offered me so much money..." It's how you cover up the fact you didn't even get into Michigan without having to explicitly lie. In her case it was NYU. Whatever, dude. I'm bringing out the big guns next week. I'll show you guys art if I have to take a dump on a piece of wood and smear it into smiling squares.
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Tuesday: April 21, 2009 - Progress Update #1
I spent a good part of the afternoon working on the oily bits of the vase painting. Since I know nothing about oil painting it's going by really slowly. It takes an epically long time for it to dry so when I make a mistake I have to write down where it is so I can go back and fix it sometime in the future. I'm hoping to have it done on Friday so that I can start a new one. I like painting but I like finishing painting even more.
The Cubs won last night over the 2004 Cubs aka The Cincinnati Reds. This year Steve (finally) invited me to play in his fantasy baseball league. It's my first experience playing a sports fantasy game and it makes you root for your team differently. You still want them to win but you might want certain players from the other team to score more runs against your team before your guys come back in the bottom of the ninth.
Sorry, not ever blog entry can be as riveting as yesterday's. [Comments: 1]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: April 22, 2009 - Night Moves
I've always moved around a lot in bed while I sleep, claiming far reaches of the bed as my own like European colonists. Recently, however, I've started doing something really aggravating. I've started rolling up my t-shirt 80's-style and then scratching the middle of my torso. I scratch so hard that I wake myself up. I then roll down my t-shirt (90's-style) only to do it again a few hours later. This has been going on for the four nights--the same four nights I've watched Planet Earth while falling asleep. I have to assume it's because each episode has had some segment on bugs and although I haven't had any bug dreams maybe they're the trigger. Weirdy.
Vase to Vase is almost done and I'm looking forward to doing the last stage of it, getting it framed, and hanging it up in my dining room. I know realistically I will not do either of those things since my walls here do not like having things hung on them and fall apart when I try. Framing is expensive--I remember in Tallahassee getting a picture I got in Uruguay for $10 framed and it cost like $220. What a scam. [Comments: 6]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 23, 2009 - Busy Thirsty Thursday
I don't have what you might consider a "busy" life. My days are full but they don't really require me leaving a 400 foot radius of my bed except to get coffee or food. Yesterday, however, was actually full of activity--even for a normal person who doesn't work at home.
Working backwards, Becky and I had Thirsty Thursday in Shir/Arlington at Hard Times and Something Grill. It was an early night and even after dropping her off I was home around 10pm.
Before that I went to visit Kathy in Centerville and pick up some stuff. I made it in 45 minutes, which is unprecedented. I saw where Baby is going to live and his/her onsie that says "I'm As Cute As A Garnet and Gold Bug". Unfortunately that didn't help me figure out if Baby was going to be a Dude or a Chick.
Before that I was on the phone with several people, lastly being Steve as we discussed New Zealand. He offered this gem of a quote: "You don't understand--it's not the same as Dad being wrong, or you being wrong. I have a degree from the University of Chicago. Whenever I'm wrong the world makes a little less sense." Winner!
Ok, maybe my day wasn't that exciting but with a series of events this coming weekend it should be a story-filled next few days. [Comments: 2]· permalink ·
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Weekend: April 26, 2009 - Catch-Up!
Happy birthday Tree (Mark Peterson). You probably thought I would forget again this year but I did not. This picture is circa 2000 and I was pretty proud of myself for even finding it. Happy Birthday!
On Saturday night we went out for Marc's birthday celebration in Georgetown. After dinner at Pizza Paradisio we started to lose membership in the going-out club and after a little while it was down to four. I find it frightening that despite having a decided age advantage of at least four years that I'm never the one that's tired or ready to call it a night.
On Friday night Marc, Annie, and I went out to National Harbor to try to watch the Cubs game at National Pastime but unfortunately a combination of being constantly lost and a wait of an hour plus caused a severe change of plan. We elected instead to get lost again on our way back and then go to Old Town. After dropping Marc off, Annie and I headed to Tortoise and Hare (I think?) where some post-ska band was playing and we stayed for maybe 20 minutes.
On Sunday I did a lot of reading and writing (no 'rithmetic though) and watched a couple of movies: 300 and Usual Suspects.
Usual Suspects: I was not expecting Kevin Spacey to be the boss. I was so smug halfway through when I thought I had Handsome Man figured out to be him only to wrong at the very end. Final Grade: B+
300: They should have just called this movie Guys With Rockin' Abs. Not particularly partial to man-abs, the story was pretty stupid and the fantasy aspect made it doubly-lame. Final Grade: F [Comments: 1]· permalink ·
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Monday: April 27, 2009 - Ciao Dude!
That's all you need to know. [Comments: 11]· permalink ·
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Thursday: April 30, 2009 - Take Only What You Need From It
Come May 26, I will be the newest faculty member at the University of Because I'm teaching part-time I'm sure I'll have ample time to remain both the preeminent composer of steel drum music and Mark Cuban Jr. If anything I'll probably have more usable hours in the day since I will have to forgo getting 10 hours of sleep a night.
As time is of the essence, I'm going to keep my apartment in DC through July and only move the most important things with me in a few weeks (Chompy, some pictures of myself). I feel like I don't have much stuff anymore but as I look I see that I do.
I love it when a plan comes together.
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Good Things Take Time...
208 days until FSU Football (2010)
Random Picture...
A ha! Here's the real Ocho Rios. Apparently 90% of their tourism industry consists of hordes of cab drivers clammoring for business. I got to use a one-handed wrist grab escape to make one let go of a too-long handshake while hanging out with Kristin.
A ha! Here's the real Ocho Rios. Apparently 90% of their tourism industry consists of hordes of cab drivers clammoring for business. I got to use a one-handed wrist grab escape to make one let go of a too-long handshake while hanging out with Kristin.
Time Machine:
02-09-2009
· 02-09-2008
· 02-09-2007
· 02-09-2006
02-09-2009: Here's something I don't understand: Why is taxpayer money called "our" money? The government is always saying "Oh, we're spending your money so well, blah, blah blah." It's not our money--it's your money. We paid it to you so it's yours. When your employer gives you your paycheck, it's no longer HIS money, it's YOUR money. And you can spend your money any way you want. For some reason, though, when the government spends THEIR money they like to pretend that it's ours and they have our best interests at heart. Neither case is true so I wish they'd stop saying it and acting that way. I realize it's a little bit different than the employer-employee example in that the employee does not dictate how much money they make but still, once the money isn't in your possession it can hardly be considered "yours".
I'd also like a law to be put in place where you could only complain about the government proportionally to your tax burden. If Warren Buffet wants to complain, step aside! We all pay varying amounts for the same amount of government services (they don't keep Warren Buffet any safer than they keep me) so it doesn't really behoove us to work hard for some sort of reward. I feel like more of a libertarian with each passing day. I took the day off blogging but only because I was thinking of you. 02-09-2007: On the bright side, at least I don't live in Oswego, NY where they got eight feet of snow. Down here in the Deep South we've been battling upper-60 storms that bring no rain nor clouds. In fact, we've had some of the nicest weather in recent memory while the rest of you toil at your stupid schools or stupid jobs in -30 weather with freezing snow.
Tomorrow is my bon voyage party at RD even though I'll still be working there for a while. We're going to Bonefish (mmm). The last time I went somewhere nice to eat was Georgio's with Jamie and her mom and frankly, the food wasn't all that great. The problem with Georgio's is that the first time I went there I thought the food was awesome but I've been severely disappointed every time since. Alas.02-09-2006: Since there's so much going on today let's take a break from the Percentages List. First, today is a Write The Caption day.
I got my ass kicked in Karate by this 18 year old girl who was studying to be a tattoo artist. She was almost done with her studies but she was still having problems "drawing straight lines". Super. We learned our first two kenpos tonight. I keep trying to get people to grab my wrists so I can do my new move but as pchris demonstrated at poker tonight, it's hard to do in practice without the crucial nut-kick.
Congratulations to elena who got her first (sanctioned) kill of the year and to tchris for finally ending the game at midnight and getting his first (sanctioned) win of the year.
Tomorrow we're going to take a five hour lunch and go to Gordo's. I'm pumped.
I'd also like a law to be put in place where you could only complain about the government proportionally to your tax burden. If Warren Buffet wants to complain, step aside! We all pay varying amounts for the same amount of government services (they don't keep Warren Buffet any safer than they keep me) so it doesn't really behoove us to work hard for some sort of reward. I feel like more of a libertarian with each passing day. I took the day off blogging but only because I was thinking of you. 02-09-2007: On the bright side, at least I don't live in Oswego, NY where they got eight feet of snow. Down here in the Deep South we've been battling upper-60 storms that bring no rain nor clouds. In fact, we've had some of the nicest weather in recent memory while the rest of you toil at your stupid schools or stupid jobs in -30 weather with freezing snow.
Tomorrow is my bon voyage party at RD even though I'll still be working there for a while. We're going to Bonefish (mmm). The last time I went somewhere nice to eat was Georgio's with Jamie and her mom and frankly, the food wasn't all that great. The problem with Georgio's is that the first time I went there I thought the food was awesome but I've been severely disappointed every time since. Alas.02-09-2006: Since there's so much going on today let's take a break from the Percentages List. First, today is a Write The Caption day.
I got my ass kicked in Karate by this 18 year old girl who was studying to be a tattoo artist. She was almost done with her studies but she was still having problems "drawing straight lines". Super. We learned our first two kenpos tonight. I keep trying to get people to grab my wrists so I can do my new move but as pchris demonstrated at poker tonight, it's hard to do in practice without the crucial nut-kick.
Congratulations to elena who got her first (sanctioned) kill of the year and to tchris for finally ending the game at midnight and getting his first (sanctioned) win of the year.
Tomorrow we're going to take a five hour lunch and go to Gordo's. I'm pumped.