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Sunday: November 02, 2008 - Long Weekend Have I really not updated since Wednesday? Jeez. Going backwards, I worked all day Sunday with a quick trip to the off-leash dog park with Chompy in the morning. Because Chompy would be gone in a heartbeat without a leash on, it wasn't really fun at all. I should have gone to the fenced one in Adams Morgan but I wasn't really in the mood to drive anywhere to get my dog all muddy. I also picked up a new one for the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished File while at Safeway. I was standing in the 15-items or less lane behind a woman who no less than 200 years old. She asked me three times if the coupon she was holding had an expiration date and each time I told her "Yes, it expired yesterday". Upon reaching the cashier she attempted to use the coupon on some ribs anyway and the cashier told her it was no good. The woman made a big deal of how desperately she wanted these ribs but she simply could not afford the $4 to get them. Eventually she finished up and I quickly checked out. Being the wholly good person I am, I bought the ribs that were still sitting behind the cashier and caught up to the 200 year old woman (not difficult with my gazelle-like speed). I wasn't going to make a big deal about it and I tried just handing them to her and then she started yelling at me. And when I say yelling, I mean yelling. Most of it was unintelligible but I got the gist of it. I was a huge asshole for making her feel poor. Whatever. I wanted to tell her that if I lost $4 I wouldn't even notice but it occurred to me that would help nothing so I just walked away. Out of the corner of my eye I didn't see her go give the ribs back so after all that bullshit she probably ate them. Whatever, I'm not going to spend $4 to get yelled at again when I can get it for free. Bad investment on my end.

On Saturday, FSU's season essentially ended with a heart-wrenching loss to Georgia Tech. I don't even want to talk about it. They better perform better at FriendFest 2008©, that's all I've got to say.

I might have had my worst guitar lesson ever on Friday. There was one point where the ghost of Bach appeared and attempted to break my guitar over his knee but, being a ghost, found it impossible.

Finally, on Thursday, I hung out in Glover Park and broke in the Gin And Tonic (formerly the Grog and Tankard). I knew eventually I'd get to hang out without an hour-long drive in VA and it finally came. Sweet. [Comments: 2]· permalink · · ·

Monday: November 03, 2008 - For the love of Chompy
For the love of Chompy, do not vote for McCain. I don't care if you don't vote for Obama but please, for Chompy, vote for someone else. You see, if McCain is elected then Sarah Palin will live RIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM ME (see red square; I am the blue square). Sarah Palin likes to shoot dogs from helicopters (see picture) and Chompy would be less than a five second trip from her house. So please, vote to keep Chompy alive. Don't forget that some of us actually have to live with the assholes you keep electing.

Last night I went out to Sterling to have some steaks with Brian. Naturally, we went to Longhorn, and lamented there not being one in a more central location. Traffic was pretty bad getting out there and the GW Parkway was the worst I'd ever seen. After dinner we went back to his house and I showed my skill at World of Goo. It took me 22 minutes to beat one of the levels and by the time it was over I had to go home to protect Chompy from Sarah Palin. [Comments: 13]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: November 04, 2008 - Looks Like We Made It Thanks to the 93% of Washingtonians, coupled with the educated and urban poor of America, Obama won the election last night. Special thanks to you who elected to keep Chompy safe and out of the scope of Sarah Palin. I waited in a four-block long line at 8am but it moved quickly as a whopping 93% of my non-state voted (correctly) for Obama. Most of you don't live here, but if you did you'd know we've already reached our quota for old drivers and hot moms. I don't have a law degree but I can understand that there simply was not room for McCain and Palin here.

Now, onto more serious matters. I am absolutely convinced I could be a starting cornerback for a college football team. I'm not talking about FSU. I'm not talking about Temple. I'm not talking about Western Iliinois. I'm not even talking about the Colorado School of Mines. I'm talking about a tiny, Jesuit university in the middle of nowhere in Illinois: Quincy University. I know damn well I would not make it onto teams at FSU, Temple, WIU, or CSoM but I do believe that at QU I could be a starter. What are my qualifications you ask? Well, I WENT to FSU. I've watched a lot of football. I'm mean and like hitting people. I'm reasonably fast. I'm smart and rarely fall for the play action when watching on Tv. I'm over six feet tall and weigh in the mid-160s. Not huge but let's look at the roster. Any team with a 5'8", 144lb DB would start me. Sorry Steve, I'm on the team. [Comments: 13]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 05, 2008 - Rained Out Ab woke up me at 6:30 by laying on my chest and very delicately squeaking. When I opened my eyes she acted as if she hadn't seen in me in years, went nuts, and demanded to pee. I don't wake up at 6:30. Maybe she didn't get the memo. Jamie and I tried to play tennis but it was too rainy so we hit up a new diner in Georgetown (much better/cheaper than my regular one but a little further away), made a quick shopping trip where neither us bought anything, then grabbed a coffee before I relinquished Ab back to Spring Valley.

I worked-worked into the early evening, took a break for dinner, and then hit the scores. Writing music is usually really fun but every and now then you get a day where nothing is new and the only sections left of each piece are "grinders"--amusical bits of noise that you unfortunately need to make smooth transitions between the geniusy sections. In four hours of working on said grinders, I got six measures. And not six measures of like full-orchestra. Six measures period. One day some theorist will be looking at the piece and say, "these two measures don't make sense--surely the composer was trying to capture some sort of semiotic reference from earlier in the piece where he's describing some sort of water-thing" when really I just cranked them out because I really had to poop. Ah, you theorists. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: November 06, 2008 - Credit Due Ever since we moved to Daylight Savings Time I've done a great job of normalizing my schedule. Since May or so I'd been waking up at around 10am and going to bed around between 12:30 and 2am. DC is more of an "early to bed, early to rise" town so I'm pleased to report that I've been getting up at 8am and going to bed between 11:30 and midnight. Last night (and the night before) I went to bed around 11pm because I feel like everything is kicking my ass right now and sleeping is always a good alternative to staying up and complaining. I did watch VT beat Maryland as I was falling asleep though.

The anti-weekend is coming up. There is nothing fun on the docket and since SMT is this weekend I don't even have the core of people to whom I can bitch.

Random flashback: About a year ago I was coaching a girl's soccer team. Yep, it's true. [Comments: 6]· permalink · · ·

Weekend: November 09, 2008 - Early Call At this point I think we can officially call the 2008 College Pick 'Em Season for JBull. Way to go champ! FSU slaughtered my least-favorite school, Clemson, and Jamie and I witnessed the death and destruction first-hand at Mackey's.

On Friday was Annie's birthday and a bunch of people trotted out to the Black Rooster Pub. Pretending like I wasn't a million years old I stayed out too late and paid for it on Saturday morning. I spent the rest of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday work-working and working on scores. Exciting, I know.







I also added a countdown timer until Lost starts January 21 (in the green navigation bar). [Comments: 6]· permalink · · ·

Monday: November 10, 2008 - Rant Day You know what pisses me off (today)? The fact that Prince comes right after Primus on my playlist. There I am, getting huge or wrangling semicolons or putting obvious accent marks in for lame-o performers and rocking out pretty hard. I'm going for a good hour or two and then I hear it--a live version of John the Fisherman with the introduction of Rush's YYZ. Because I downloaded the song illegally like ten years ago in college it's mislabeled as YYZ, probably by some then-17 year old (like I was) who didn't want to listen past the first 10 seconds. Anyway, it comes on and I KNOW it's coming--Prince. I hate Prince and I'm not ashamed to say it. I hate all his stuff much in the same way I hate U2--it's not from a lack of interaction with the music--it's from the interaction with the music. Just knowing that Prince is coming up on my playlist makes me have to stop working to change it. Yeah, I could just delete the Prince off the playlist but I like to have all the un-retired songs on there just in case. Plus, if I removed the Prince, it would go next to Procol Harum which would remind me of hanging out with Don in college and drinking beer and watching X-files. That doesn't really inspire me to do work either. [Comments: 1]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: November 11, 2008 - It's Just Fact Yesterday afternoon I was editing a steel drum piece from a few years back; making edits and whatnot to prepare some new parts. As I'm listening to the recording I have this thought: I might be the best the entire world. Unlike my belief about playing corner for Quincy University, I have solid evidence that I might be the best composer for steel pans in the world: people buy it, people play it, and while I've heard individual songs that are better than individual songs of mine, I can't think of anyone who has out-written me with any sort of consistency. Even having avoided the genre for a few years to "round out", I'm all but certain that no one has stepped up to overthrow me. I'm particularly fond of the arrangers who have no creative skill but think they're awesome because they started with a good song and didn't ruin it. That's not composing, bitches. But yeah, if you're reading this and think you're better than me in any way...uh, why don't you go ahead and bring it?

To say I've been in a lousy mood the past couple of days doesn't do justice to the word "lousy". It's just one of those periods where you'd like to say to the world at large, "Seriously, can you stop taking a dump on me for five consecutive minutes so that I can at least catch my breath?" and then the world at large is all "Hah! Now hold still so I can get most of this load on you." Oh well, it's almost FriendFest2008 (see the counter in the green bar). [Comments: 5]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 12, 2008 - November 12 of 12
8am: Checking the morning traffic numbers to make sure I'm not destitute (I'm not yet [yet]). Yeah, look at that trend upwards. Bam.


10:30am: I totally yelled at the guy in front of me at Starbucks. They were out of soy milk and he wouldn't let it drop. I'm sure if they could shoot soy milk out of their nips for you they would asshole but they can't so order something else or go home.


11am: It's a gray day in our nation's capital.


12pm: Oh my God, Chompy ate my lunch while I was photographing the gray day in our nation's capital. YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE CHOMPY.


12:30pm: Gross. I should have made chicken noodle soup at home but I was feeling lazy and stupidly through that Chicken Out might cook the chicken all the way through. Hah! At least they have good brownies.


1:30pm: Aww, Chompy tried to make amends by doing two loads of laundry and then putting herself back in her cage. How sweet.


3pm: I thought I'd try to get myself into a picture. It looks like I'm missing half a leg but I'm not. Otherwise I would have never made it back to that spot before the timer went off.


6:30pm: Wow, it gets dark early now. Look at all those ghost orbs--massless spirits (that's for you Steve).


7:00pm: After getting my fourth free Starbucks of the day I saw this trailer in the parking lot. I guess it's supposed to solicit pity about Hurricane Katrina but personally I think we've done PLENTY on that front.


8:15pm: Everyone else gets to play video games on Video Game Night but me. Boo hoo, life's rough in Glover Park.


10:45: Chompy sleeping with the Gingerbread Man.


12:30am: Trying to finish this stupid piece but doing a much better job of gChatting. Wow, my chair has seen better days.


Bonus: I got the tickets for FriendFest2008 and two parking passes. Now we can party and force two people to stay sober enough to drive us to and from the game. Not it!

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Weekend: November 17, 2008 - FriendFest 2008 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy (making that graphic). FriendFest 2008 is coming in a mere four days. I'm thinking that FSU is going to be crushed by Maryland so maybe next year we could have FriendFest 2009 at like Blacksburg or somewhere we actually might get to see our team win. I can you tell you guys right now it's going to be cold. I guess that only applies to Tim (who I only had one picture of [and finding that one took almost an hour]) since he's the only one that still lives in a temperate climate. Four days!

I know no one on planet Earth but me cares, but I'm totally #3 in Pick 'Em after moving up from #15 just a few weeks ago. Had Troy won like they were supposed to I could have been in #2 but alas.

Since everyone has stopped reading by this point anyway, the Cubs are playing an exhibition game against the Yankees in April. Who's down for a trip to New York (perhaps my next home)?

Speaking of doings things, does anyone want to see The Eagles on Thursday night? I'm not really a huge fan but I feel like seeing them is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities because hey, they're getting old and could start dying off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're always on tour--I want to go and can get good tickets; I have connections (thanks HGA). [Comments: 9]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: November 18, 2008 - Speeding Ticket DC Fathers, lock up your daughters. Mothers, cover your sons' eyes. Mike is tooling around Georgetown at 36MPH.

Yesterday I got a speeding ticket in the mail...sort of. I actually got a "You didn't pay us for your speeding ticket" and now you owe $100..ticket. If you know my driving, you know this is hilarious because not only do I not speed, I rarely even go the speed limit. This ticket would be more believable had it been on the Toll Road for not going the minimum. As it is, though, I was driving 36MPH and that gross abuse of general safety was enough to merit a speeding ticket.

I (of course) was not pulled over for this ticket so some parked object or overhead device clocked me blazing through DC at 36MPH. There's no appeal, no points off the license, no nothing. Just $100. Because there was no easily findable appeal process I paid it last night. I understand that the city needs money but I think it's really crappy of them not to have sent me the first ticket when I could have paid $50. It's not like I'll see $100 worth of improved city police services. There's one cop in Glover Park and his only job is ask me what I'm doing outside when I'm out with the dog. Oh, I'm sorry officer, I was standing on my property with my dog. Enjoy your $100 Christmas bonus. [Comments: 5]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 19, 2008 - Unfortunate This morning, chasing Chompy outside, I fell down the cement stairs and gave myself some pretty awesome cuts and bruises. By "pretty awesome" I mean bloody and painful. I do not do well with blood except in emergency circumstances and since my life was not in danger I took the opportunity to weird myself out while leaking life's red nectar. I'm not a very clumsy person so I don't really remember the last time I fell accidentally and in karate it was always (ok, usually) expected so I had kind of forgotten how crappy it is to have a physical injury; namely the kind that you inflict upon yourself.

I just wrote another paragraph about today's post-lunch drive but it made me sound cruel and petty (neither untrue) so I deleted it.

FriendFest2008 starts tomorrow when Tim arrives from Georgia. Here's a heart-warming story about an FSU football player. Go State! [Comments: 5]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: November 20, 2008 - Happy Five Year Blogiversary Since it's my 5 Year Blogiversary I thought I'd give everyone an updated that didn't suck: one that was totally correct with both spelling and grammar. In order to do this, I decided to use a lot of pictures (I know that comma wasn't totally necessary). Anyway, our first picture was from when I was...5 and in kindergarden. It was letter people day, and I was, obviously, the Letter M. Note that the eye patch was not because I was a pirate but in fact because I had a lazy eye.

With FriendFest 2008 about to kick off, I figured a nice long entry filled with pictures would give me an excuse not to update (not that I need excuses). Have a great weekend and I'll hopefully see you at FriendFest 2008.



Age 4: Look at that straight hair. Ah, those were days.


Age 5ish: I am so cute! Look at my small features. Damn puberty and repeated nose-breakings.


Fifth Birthday: Living the good life and opening presents.


Age Ten: Steve and I dressed in matching Cubs outfits before a game.


Sixth grade band trip. I'm the frail-looking one in case you weren't able to figure it out.


Seventh Grade: My partner, Brian, and I won the Science Fair but lost at "State" because we didn't have some form signed or something. Enter my lifelong love of disorganization.


1994: Frightening to think that I even survived high school at all. Frightening.


1997: Girls love nerds. Remember that, nerds.


1997 (college): Sitting around and thinking how busy I was. This picture might confirm (if the rest haven't) that I am the least-photogenic person on the planet.


2000: Hooray, at least I started listening to better music. Definitely growing in my body by now.


2001 (college): At Matt and Rosemary's wedding. Highlights aside, that might be the best my hair has ever looked.


2001 (grad school): Kathy and I were very ambitious. We had a bobble-headed dog who was named Cathy.


2003: Grad school living. Kathy, Brian, Me, and Chompy sitting around doing absolutely nothing. I have to assume Mark C. took that picture since he rounded our group until he married.


2004: School's out forever. Roadtrip (and looking good).


2005: I was an emo kid for Halloween. I just realized this now but I like having no sleeves on shirts.


2005: Steel band trip to Miami. This picture has the most number of friends in it out of all my pictures.


200?: Me and Chompy, hanging out.


2006: Getting ready to go snorkeling. This picture is infamously on a deck of playing cards. I don't know where those cards are.


2006: Me and Steve along with my grandma. I look an electric bassist who can't read music.


2007: Oops, got a little out of order. Marty, Chris, Me, and Jamie watching FSU win back when they used to win.


2007: Let the record show that the cowardly reaction I have is only because I had just gotten the yellow belt. I'd man up now and take one of Christine's kicks to the face now (or I guess at least attempt to block it).


2007: FriendFest 2007 in Bloomington, Indiana.


Today: I'm looking cranky because this took way too long to make. On the bright side, I'm over wearing bandanas.

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Weekend: November 23, 2008 - FriendFest 2008 FriendFest 2008 officially started Friday at 7:30pm when I picked up Tim from Reagan Airport. Despite snow flurries he arrived on time and we headed back to Georgetown for a fancy dinner. You might think having a companion might entice me to try somewhere new in Georgetown but we went to the old standby of Billy Martin's where we gorged ourselves on food and drink before heading back in the blistering cold to pet Chompy and play football (I lost every single game).

On Saturday "morning" I took time on a driving tour of the couple miles or so around my house and wound up being a little late for the poker game. Fortunately, although close, no one rioted and broke down my door. F-Chris' friend Will won and there are ample pictures on Facebook (link later). While picking up the mid-game food I was stopped by a woman sitting in a Charger with the grill replaced by large metal teeth. She said, "Can you put it in?" twice and, thinking she trying to solicit me for sex I kept walking. Finally she said, "The pizzas. Can I have them?" I said no and kept walking. I hope Obama cracks down on the people expecting handouts. After the poker game we layered up and drove to College Park to begin the frigid tailgate. There was a good number of FSU fans there (two shirtless) and it was an old-fashioned whomping of the Turtles. It was so cold that Tim and I apparently looked like bank robbers. They might not have money anymore but we could certainly rob them of their pride. Kathy and F-Chris gave us a ride back to DC where Tim and I had some beers and played football (I lost every single game).

On Sunday, Tim and I did some sight-seeing around the Mall and took the requisite pictures posing in front of various monuments. Around 2:30 we headed out to Mount Holly, PA for the handoff of Tim to P-Chris and Elena. It took me three hours to get there but we made it safely. We went to Five Guys for dinner and then hit The Gingerbread Man for a round of pints before going back to C&E's for a little Wii. Elena took us all to school in MarioKart. After lamenting both the economic state and the Florida State, I made the drive back to DC. It only took two hours, which baffles me because I was crawling down the hills of Pennsylvania. I guess Tim was weighing us down.

Happy FriendFest 2008. Now I need to restart the FriendFest2009 Part A counter. If you're my Facebook friend you can see all the pictures here. [Comments: 1]· permalink · · ·

Monday: November 24, 2008 - FSU UF This Saturday is Rivalry Week in college football. Florida comes to Tallahassee in a game where the spread is a shocking 15 points. I love me some FSU but UF is going to absolutely crush us. Last year we couldn't tackle them and had no offense and lost to the Run N' Gun Up The Score offense of Urban Meyer. He might be classless but he knows "style points" = "winning by 100". Last year FSU lost 45-12 and while I think they'll fare better this year I'm not willing to even concede they'll cover the spread. I do think they'll be competitive the first half but by the 4th quarter all the Rhodes Scholars in the world won't be able to keep up with Percy Harvin. I predict the final score to be 45-28 UF over FSU. Oh well, at least Harvin will be gone next year and Tebow the year after that. The next game in Tallahassee I can almost guarantee an FSU win. For now though...ugly.

Last night I went out with the HGA to Lucky (Club/Bar?) There was salsa dancing (from CDs I might add [lame]) and a horde of Sex-In-The-City type girls there (doubly lame). I know I'm missing the point: to be seen. And that's what DC is all about: being seen dancing to taped salsa music. Might be time to start the Leaving DC counter. On the bright side, I finally learned how people "bet against" things in the stock market, a concept that had wholly eluded me until last night. Between the doom of talking with P-Chris, Elena, and Tim on Sunday and the gloom of the HGA, Costa Rica is looking like a good landing pad. Como andas? [Comments: 2]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: November 25, 2008 - Put a Ring On It One of my weirdest memories is driving back from church with my family sometime in 1997; right before I left for college. I don't remember the exact circumstances around the event but for some reason we were not listening to Olides, as we always did, but were instead listening to Tubthumbing by Chumbawamba. I remember my dad singing along in what I will delicately describe as clumsy and lumbering. I remembering thinking how out of place it seemed as he tapped along to non-existing beats on the wheel as he sang with the chorus.

Flash forward 11 years. Yesterday I was listening to NPR on my way back from Starbucks and they were discussing Beyonce's new single Single Ladies. Pathetically catchy, I was singing along with the chorus (If you like it, you should'a put a ring on it) while tapping along on the wheel. Although my tapping was deadly accurate my singing was clumsy and awkward enough to remind me of the cyclical nature of life. [Comments: 2]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 26, 2008 - Happy Thanksgiving














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Thursday: November 27, 2008 - Why I Hate ESPN












Even if you find this offensive, you have to give me some photoshop credit, no? [Comments: 4]· permalink · · ·

Weekend: November 30, 2008 - Thanksgiving Weekend I took this picture on Black Friday only because I thought the "for Women" was a waste of lettering. I didn't realize they had closed the Dress Barn: For Men. I got some Christmas shopping but avoided the big-ticket-item stores like Best Buy because I knew they would be infested with poor people stampeding for things that were marked down after being marked up. That's the problem with the poor--they don't even realize such things.

Thanksgiving was boring at best and here are some photos to document just exactly how boring it was. I got a lot of good score editing in so the weekend wasn't a total loss. On Friday night I met up with Rebecca's gang (plus Jack) in Ballston and we had some drinks and had an ol' fashioned throw-down for who was going to have a more insane bachelor/bachelorette party. I'm pretty confident Jack and I will take care of business but apparently Rebecca's cousin, and maid of honor, is a wildcard. Also, since 2/3 of my "team" has access to secret governmental information I would have to think that will put a lot of things off-limits.

On Saturday I watched FSU get destroyed by Florida (as expected). I think the vaunted FSU defense is now outdated in that it just can't stop the spread offense. And FSU's offense...wow. Chompy could catch more passes than any of the FSU receivers. Not so sure I would have called for a fake field goal if I had been calling the shots but why would you want points when you could have none AND potentially get the only person on the team who can score points hurt?

Saturday night I went out with We're-Not-Driving-To-Sterling group of Baylis, Marc, Annie, and...someone else to the Brickskeller for fancy beers. Things started to fall apart around 1am but Baylis and I held strong while everyone turned into pumpkins and went home.

Yeah buddy (that's for Ricky). [Comments: 5]· permalink · · ·