Crazy Lawsuit Game

I heard on the news today that South Carolinian high school students' average SAT score went up by 7 points this year. On a 1600 point scale. So that's 0.4% and also why they noted the points and not percentage. But from what to what? Well they improved from 986 to 993. And that's tied with Georgia. Which are both ahead of DC, dead last in the nation. Yay! I'm not asking you to tell me what you got on the SAT, but I do hope that you beat the average South Carolinian teenager.

If not, you probably don't test well. Or it's economically, racially or geographically biased.

I have discovered recently that a few of my friends have blogs. Emily, actually has had one for over a year, even if she went a month or more between posts, it still counts and she's busy. I'll get her link up and the joint blog by her and her man about their trials and tribulations in Bangkok.

J told me the other day that people think I'm nice. I guess I can be, but I just hide my hate better than most. But if I don't talk to you, even when you're talking to me, or I continually look away and give short monosyllabic answers, then I don't like you. Or your pets. Or I'm in bed and trying to go to sleep and then I don't like anyone but Mr. Sandman.

I'm getting better about letting my anger out. It's a nice healthy release. If something is wrong, I should make it better. This will probably come back and bite me on the ass, but until then, I'll be okay.

This semester is going to be hellacious. I have a Cabinet meeting tomorrow at 8 am. WTF mate? Then I have my CGSO meetings. Then I have health insurance committee meetings. And I have to do research. And I'm teaching a lab. And I'm giving a literature seminar on Nov. 4th. Should be interesting. I'll let you know how everything goes.

*cough*26th birthday tomorrow*cough*

I've seen 2 new Harley V-rods recently. Very nice motorcycles and not a bad way to drop 25 grand. Definitely gets you noticed. And I would like to predict an increase in motorcycles sales in the next few years. Nothing big but when you can get 30-60 mpg, sometimes more, and still be faster than everything on the road, that's hard to argue with. If I was in the market for a vehicle, I would definitely take that 18 grand, buy a used Echo and a new bike, or a new Scion and a used bike. Hybrids are too expensive to realistically purchase for actually poor college students and the majority of lower to middle class people. Although I'm sure the middle classers could afford one if they saved their pennies.

And I'm sure some of you saw where some people in Cali were adding extra batteries to their Priuses? Prii? Prios? and were getting 250 miles to the gallon. Damn. And I'm sure biodiesel will get pumping pretty soon also. Biodiesel is basically refined vegetable oil and can burn in any diesel engine without modification. So if you're continually paying $80 to fill up your dually, consider investing in biodiesel. You have to spend some time and money, but once you're playing fuel chemist at home, your fuel cost drops to around an estimated $0.70/gallon. And you're reusing something that would just be thrown away.

I say we just stop mucking around and go ahead and make gas $4/gallon. It would suck for a year or two, but then car companies would finally start making smaller cars and more fuel efficient cars. And manual transmissions would come back because they get better gas mileage. So basically, our cars would turn into European cars which is quite alright with me. But what would really happen is fuel suppliers would get rich, the government would get rich and everyone else would be hosed and stuck paying craploads of money for gas. So I'm vetoing my gas bill.

Oh yeah, I'm teaching labs again. Just one section though. We were one TA short, or we needed someone to teach 3 labs. So bossman sent an email saying that I should think about teaching to save us some money, around 6 grand or 1/3 what I make, yay. So I went down to see what labs she needed taught. One is 105. That's the non-major chemistry class. Most everyone takes the real chemistry class, too many actually, and for everyone else there is 105. They learn about what the numbers mean on plastic containers, fat content in food, how batteries work, just a general broad overview of chemistry with some "real life" chemistry thrown in. But the reason I like it are NO LAB REPORTS! Generally if you're teaching 3 labs of 101 or 102, then you have at least 60 students, all of which turn in a lab report, from 3-8 pages long, at the exact same time. And you're expected to read each one, write comments, and grade them. And they turn in 3 lab reports during the semester. And we only meet around 12 times, maybe less. But in 105, we have "portfolios" which I still don't really know what they are. They're supposed to have a list of 10 questions and show how they answered the question through one of their labs. Very basic stuff. And it's a chance to get to meet some people from different departments. Some I remember from 2 years ago, the last time I taught a lab, were graphics communications, agricultural education, and a few others, so basically anything not engineering or science related. And they're usually pretty cool, which helps.

The title is what gas was at the BP this morning. The Kangaroo, down the street, (or The Roo as the cool kids say) had it for $2.70. But that's still just a hop, skip or a jump away from $3/gallon.

I'm assuming that this spike is because of ol' Katrina, but I'm not bitching because
a)I rode public transportation into school this morning.
b)My house is not underwater.
c)I'm not dead.

So to everyone in the danger zone, be safe, don't loot and help each other out.

Yeesh, it's hard to follow up that with something that doesn't sound completely meaningless.

I probably should've put that at the bottom. In fact, I will *POOF*

I finished Davy Rothbart's The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas and was very imperssed with his stories. Even though they are only 5-15 pages long, he still makes you feel and care about the characters.

It's short though. I finished it in 2 days. So if anyone sees Davy, tell him to write some more.

And please keep any Gulf residents in mind, especially Nawlins which is underwater to begin with, without the devastating effects of a monster hurricane.

Be safe in the Bayou!

Se7en already fled to his brother's house.

Sometimes. It's just a good nonsensical slang word. I said tubular in the 80's so what's wrong with hella?

I swear that I will have old wedding pics up for my friend in Thailand and cat/new wedding pics up for you and the folks.

J is definitely getting antsy not having the internet at home. But I think using our neighbors' wireless is the key. Just have to talk with him about it.

Tonight we're going to a blender party. You bring a blender drink, margarita, daiquiri, etc... It should be a fun time. Brother is sticking around until tomorrow so that he can partake in the festivities. I think we're going to take a mudslide type drink. We have the irish cream, kahlua, now we just need ice cream and some vodka, vanilla preferably. I'm looking forward to it.

Still haven't sold the kayak. But I have had a few calls about it. I think it's time to drop the price some. Or alot. In fact, if I keep the life jacket and the paddle bag/dry bag, I'll let the rest go for $200-$175. And I think that's what I'll do in the next round of ads.

And another reason not to trust the government U.S. Mint seizes priceless coins. A woman sent the coins to the Mint to verify their authenticity. The Mint said they were taken from the Mint "in an unlawful manner" in the mid 30's, so they took them from her. In 2002 Sotheby's auctioned ONE off for $7.59 million. The US Mint took TEN from Joan S. Langbord.

All I can say to her is, didn't you see the Simpsons episode with the trillion dollar bill? DON'T TRUST ANY GOVERNMENT ESPECIALLY CONCERNING MONEY.

So I lied about the titles.

First day of school and I already made J late. I am in charge of the alarm and seriously dropped the ball last night. And the cat's schedules are screwed up because they've been staying up late with me last weekend and now my brother during the week, so their usual 6:30 breakfast time is pushed back to 8. But it's okay. Cuz I had the house freakin spotless. Vacuumed the whole house, cleaned the cat's litter, dishes, counter, kitchen floor.

I think J is having internet withdrawal. She wants to turn it back on. The reason we turned it off was to save some money. It wouldn't be too bad if we just had DSL but we also have to have home phone service, which we never use. Maybe I'll look into cable or talk to our neighbors about using their wireless.

If you have a secret, but are too lazy to send a postcard to PostSecret then head on over to Slothville and unburden yourself. Just make sure to enter some new info in your haloscan box. Deleting it won't work.

And everyone wish my dad a happy 56th birthday on Aug. 19th (belated) and a happy (30th?) wedding anniversary to my folks on Aug. 25th. Love you guys!

And J's birthday was on Aug. 13th, the big 2-5.

And then mine is on Sept. 1st. Right around the corner, and I'll be 26 yrs. young.

Maybe I'll do those things for titles this week. I can't remember the category of clue from Wheel of Fortune because I haven't watched that show in over a decade.

I was going to talk about how I associate people with the cars they drive. Usually there are no negative connotations that go along with these, unless you drive a car that is performance-oriented and drive like someone's grandmother. That's bad. It's a BMW. One of the most well designed and best handling cars made. Do not take that turn at the suggested 25 mph, you can do at least 40 around that turn. And there are only a handful of excuses acceptable:
1) I have groceries in the trunk.
2) There are other people in the car who think that by driving fast, I'm trying to kill them.
3) There are kids in the car, not necessarily yours, but kids nonetheless.
4) You actually are a grandmother.

That's it. Otherwise go buy a Toyota Camry and keep the extra 20 grand you saved in a lucite box on the hood so that people can still see all the money you have. Or laminate a bank statement. Or turn that bank statement into a huge all-car vinyl and turn your car into a bank statement. Oh yeah, that's showing off.

But instead I want to write an open letter to Clemson and its staff:

Dear Clemson,
Hey, how's it going? My summer has been great. J went to Orlando last week and I miss her, but she gets back tonight, so it's cool.
The reason I'm writing you today is to point out two major shortcomings. During the first two days of school, you move the bursar's office and financial aid to another building with more space. Wonderful. A great idea so that tons of students don't have to wait outside in line. They can wait in line and purchase some lovely Coca-Cola products. But if you put up a sign that says the hours are from 8-4:30, then fucking have someone there from 8-4:30. Some people get up early to beat the crowds. These people are now morons because they didn't know that 8-4:30 meant "um, whenever we get there-whenever we feel like leaving".
The second thing is everyone's favorite, parking services. I ordered my tag online to "avoid the long lines" that I still have yet to see. I did this to avoid tickets. I have still not recieved my tag. Last week you gave me a temporary, which I appreciate, but when I came in today, you did nothing. You said wait. What about parking tickets? We don't have anything to do with that, but they won't start ticketing until Aug. 29th. Huh, so you don't have anything to do with tickets? Then why do I get a parking pass from you? Why do you know that they won't ticket until the 29th? I'll wait, but you better be right about that ticket thing. And for anyone reading this, she actually meant they won't ticket in commuter cuz they're patrolling faculty parking like bloodhounds.

My little brother showed up yesterday and he'll be hanging out until Friday. Don't know what he wants to do all week, but I gotta work, so I hope it involves the couch and TV. He could go work out on campus, I'll suggest that tomorrow.

Oh yeah, score some more "Why the World Hates Us" points for Pat Robertson, host of 700 Club on one of the Christian channels we get. This is a direct quote if you can believe it.
"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."
Um, 10 commandments anyone? It's been a while since I cracked open Exodus, but I'm pretty sure "Thou shalt not kill" is on there.
Also, Chavez is elected. By the people. As in DEMOCRACY. So I guess Pat wants us to take out anyone who we don't like?
Robertson accused Chavez, a left-wing populist with close ties to Cuban President Fidel Castro, of trying to make Venezuela "a launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent."
Hey Pat, check your CIA data. The majority of Venezuela, and Latin America for that matter, is Catholic. So I don't know where you get your data from, but just because you said Muslim and extremism in the same sentence, doesn't make it true.
And it keeps getting better.
"It's clear from the teachings of the Quran and also from the history of Islam that it's anything but peaceful," Robertson said in a subsequent interview with CNN. "Of course there are peace-loving Muslims. But at the same time, at the core of this religion ... is jihad, and it is to subject the unbelievers either to forced conversion or death. That's what it teaches."
Pat, Christians were as much a part of the Crusades as were the Muslims and we see how that worked out for everybody.
Pat Robertson, Spreading Hate Worldwide

I love that smell. The excitement in the air. The kids who look younger and younger every year they show up. The faculty frantically getting syllabi corrected and printed. The TAs hoping against hope for a class not full of morons.

+4 classic rock points if you got the Skynyrd song reference as the title.
+2 Martin Sheen points if you thought the words "morning" and "napalm" were going to show up somewhere.

Eric Rudolph, of ATL Olympic and abortion clinic bombing fame, is getting sentenced today to life without parole. He isn't getting the death penalty because he told them where to find 250 lbs. of stolen dynamite that he stashed in the woods in NC. Huh? So he terrorized thousands of people, gave US Olympics a terrible black eye, and killed a handful of people, injuring hundreds, and we have to pay to keep him alive? Because he told us where some buried, stolen dynamite was? Whatever. My plan is to stay out of the legal system as much as possible. So, yay system.

I almost locked myself out of the house this morning. I've done it before, just get into a hurry and put my cell in my pocket and not my keys, leave, then realize that I'm an idiot. But this morning, luckily, one of the things in my pocket was our spare key (which to my knowledge appeared from thin air, I know I never went to Ace) so I let myself back in and got my car keys and wallet. If I hadn't had that key, I would've had to wait on the Catbus, take it all the way around, walk to our apartment office (not on-site), get a key, either beg for a ride back or walk back to the Catbus stop and then go home and get my keys. And that would've killed at least 3 hours.

Helped with grad student orientation last night. It's lame and I'm fairly certain is semi-pointless, but it is a good idea, I think it lasts a little too long though. But I work it because I'm sort of supposed to, and because I always score lots of free goodies. Last night walked away with 4 t-shirts, couple drinks, and a pizza, and a couple blonde brownies. Yum.

I have an extensive T-shirt collection. The majority are free or very inexpensive. I now realize that I do this so I don't feel bad throwing the shirts away or giving them to Goodwill if they're in good condition. If I paid $20 for a shirt, it would be tough to throw it away or get pissed if it got stained (highly possible working in a chemistry lab and me liking dirt so much), but with these freebies, all I lose are emotional ties and memories. J knew someone whose grandmother made a quilt out of all their old t-shirts. Excellent idea, but I like the long continuous cycle of getting new shirts and throwing the older ones away. And there are different levels of t-shirts. Lowest of the low are the ones for working on cars. If these get real nasty, they get tossed. Next up are the dailies. These get worn everyday and will get worn until I get a real job and have to start wearing polos? suits? NOOOOOOO! And then there are the nicer t-shirts, like my Banana Republic t-shirt, that are worn sparingly everyday and are saved for nice t-shirt occasions. No idea what that is, but I know they're out there. That BR shirt was on sale. And my Gap shirts were on sale for $3 each. I think I have 3 or 4 shirts that I paid full price for. My Napster shirt, my Charlie Brown shirt (yellow with the black diagonal squiggle band), my happy mushroom shirt (which I'm giving to a friend once I'm done with it, won't fit him but I'm sure he'll figure out something to do with it), and the "I like monkeys" shirt that J got me for Christmas.

Sorry, I finally heard his song on the radio and the mere fact that he repeats his name throughout the entire song and it's still catchy is a huge victory for people with monosyllabic first and last names everywhere.

We went to a concessions stand vendor training seminar last night. The CGSO is going to be working for the evil A*r*a*m*a*r*k corporation and selling their wares. Yes, we could get our contract cancelled over that statement so I'll fix it. There, that's better. But we sell all the overpriced goodies to the poor suckers who didn't eat before the concert and/or basketball games. But we do get 10% of the total sales of our stand. So basically They hire these non-profit groups to peddle their wares, give them a small cut, and then write that cut off on their taxes. Sounds like one hell of a scam to me. But there is a new director in charge of the vending this year and he's made some good changes. Previously we could have a hot dog and a pretzel. Now we can have any thing the store sells, within reason. But we can't take any of the food home, like the hamburgers or hot dogs, which we did when we worked two years ago. The reason is typical lawsuit bullshit, but that is that state of affairs today.

But we also get free admission to these events. Ciara is coming here on Sept. 16th and Drew Carey will be here on Sept. 18th. So I am definitely interested in going to see Mr. Carey. There's also a Widespread Panic show upcoming.

I don't really understand the allure of going to see a jam band in an arena. A significant portion of the people who go to these shows go for the illegal treats. And you can't smoke inside the arena. And presumably, you can't smoke your illicit plants outside either because of the police presence. But imagine the munchie sales.

Apparently the big money in concessions is in football games, not surprisingly. They do between 30 and 15 thousand dollars worth of sales. And 6-7 home games. That's a nice 10-20 thousand dollar fundraiser for your organization and you only worked 6 days. Not bad at all.

Okay, off to work. And J saw my note to her at the bottom of the post yesterday. So I scored some major good fiance points. Hope you had fun at the beach today!

So I got an email that a Transportation bill passed through Congress. Okay, but what pet projects were in there? I was reading The Week, which is a great magazine. Editorials from around the country and globe, news briefs from around the world, celebrity gossip, real estate, gifts for the person who has everthing (a few have been a model train in a brief case, "G" Gucci ice cubes) and a story in the back (this week is for Chimp Haven, link in the sidebar, last week was a journalists covering Rwandan refugees in 1994, another was how a deaf person can "hear" with his cochlear implant).

But it said that there were a record 6,000 pet projects attached to this bill. One of which is a $233 million bridge to an Alaskan island with 50 people. Seriously. Here is a brief overview from pacificviews.org's blog, Road to Nowhere. I heard about this last year but figured our government would catch it and not let it happen. Whoops, sorry kids, no new textbooks this year, Alaska's Rep. Don Young (R) wants a bridge for 50 people. Way to go Congress.

I like chimps. They're incredible. And it's possible to understand what they're saying to each other. I'm not sure if they have dialects but I do know that most chimp researchers can speak a little chimp. But Chimp Haven is a place for retired chimps to go and spend the rest of their lives. It's a great project and would like to thank Former President Clinton for getting this taken care of. And it only cost $30 million.

We're having lab clean-up day in lab today. It started yesterday and spilled into today. We're throwing away old vacuum pumps, old samples, and packaging things up in boxes to free up shelf space. I'm still a little caught off guard by all the empty counter space and cleanliness of everything.

And today is officially the last day of me sitting on my ass. I'm gonna clean the house up tonight, laundry, dishes, sweep the kitchen floor and mop(SwifferWet really), and make dinner in there somewhere. Gonna make some Satay Pork stirfry with bean sprouts, pea pods and onion. Should be delicious.

Oh, I also had the idea to make some sausage and cheese balls. I've only had these at southern weddings and pot-lucks. But they are basically cheese and sausage rolled into bite-sized balls and then cooked. But I have no idea what else goes into them. But if it works, maybe ESC will put the recipe up on her recipe blog. Maybe.

I MISS YOU JOAN!

I am utterly alone. (Movie quote, written actually and then crumpled up. Said by a shoplifter/actress)

Joan left me yesterday. She packed up her things and left. I don't know what to do with myself. There are clothes on the floor. I need to vacuum. There are week old dishes in the sink (only 2 though). Shit, I forgot to feed the cats. I'll go shopping for lunch and then go home and feed them. So I'm left with an apartment and 2 crazy cats.

They're so vocal. If they had one of those things that deciphers barks into speech but for cats, I'm sure I would have to talk J out of getting it. They really do talk alot. And alot of it is to themselves. They like to talk when they're using the bathroom, playing with toys, jumping onto our bed. They talk to each other alot too. Sometimes it sounds like chirping and other times it's meowing. Good 'ol Julio and Leon. I was walking them on their leashes yesterday and thought I was gonna have to break up a fight between them and Tiger, whose owner lives upstairs but he pretty much lives outside and he isn't neutered, BAD CAT OWNER! Tiger actually kind of looks like Julio and Leon's father, orange stripes, but Tiger is a little bigger.

The beach was amazing! I still can't believe J didn't want to go. What a freak. But we arrived Friday evening, saw the house, unloaded cars, ate and then drank alot and played card games at the house. There were 10 of us and the house was 6 bedrooms with 10 beds of various sizes. So there were still spare beds even with 10 people. Yes some were couples so they only took up one bed for two people, but we still had sleeping room. I, knowing my pansyness, did not drink a whole lot on Fri. night, so J and I woke up and went running on the beach at 8 am. It was overcast and looked like it was going to be dark and stormy all day, but luckily after everyone woke up and we made breakfast, eggs, bacon and orange rolls, the sun came out and we got in a very good day of sunny beach time. And there were even some waves that we could body surf. I love just being in the ocean and bobbing up and down with the waves. So peaceful.

I religiously applied sunscreen but still got some sun on my face and I forgot my chest so that is a little crispy but after last weeks fake and bake burn, most everything else tanned fairly well, so good sun-day as well. And the hose in the yard never tasted or felt so good after being in the ocean for 4 hours. I think my lips almost turned inside out they were so dry.

Oh yeah, J just went to Orlando for a week. She gets back next week at 11:30 pm on Tues. and classes start Wed. Her one request was that the house is not in shambles when she gets back. I was also considering taking the cats to meet her at the airport, but I'm not sure that's a great idea considering that farthest they have been in a car is to the vet. But if we're going to take them on trips, they need to learn how to be car cats I suppose.

Please keep our family and others in your thoughts today. My godfather succumbed to prostate cancer on Wed. My parents met him when they moved to the bustling metropolis of Vancouver, Washington circa 1977. We stayed on his farm when we took our road trip from Birmingham to Washington. That was when I was 9 and the last time I ever saw him.

I have no idea when to expect pics. Maybe Mon. afternoon. It would go ALOT faster if someone would donate a USB flash memory drive (I know they're like $20) or this thing which is hella cool. Sandisks's new SD memory card and USB drive which is pretty slick. I was trying to stay only CompactFlash which is what our Canon digicam is but looks like that ain't gonna happen since Joan's PDA is SD. But it would kill two birds yada yada yada if I bought this fancy new SD/USB card.

But the pictures are good. Lots of good ones. And a few new cat pics.

We're going to the beach this weekend and I only have to be at work for another 3 hours. As Abe Simpson said, "Call me mint jelly cuz I'm on the lam!"

Apparently I have been stringing you, the readers, along. All the pieces finally came together in my head last night in the puzzle known as "Why it's gonna take some work to get pictures up" aka "why I need a USB memory drive".

Since J is starting school again and we are now a two tuition family, we have to cut back. This means no home phone, but more importantly, no DSL. Theoretically we're going to borrow some bandwidth from our neighbors wireless connection, but that hasn't happened yet and we don't have a wireless connection for my computer yet anyway. So even if I had downloaded the pics to my computer, there they would be stuck. Unless I burned them to a CD, or my non-existent flash drive, and brought them to school. So now they're here. I would either have to upload them to my school website, somewhat involved process, or upload them to my sports car club gallery and then link them from there, what is going to happen when it happens.

That's my excuse. Hope you enjoyed it.

And I'm trying very hard to not think about the beach and how awesome it's going to be. I'm trying to focus on crystals and how they're made and how they interact with light.

Also, we're planning a welcoming party for all the new grad students who get here next Mon. for orientation. There are 17 and hopefully we can snag 1 or 2. That way it will be easier once we (me and another senior grad student) start writing our dissertations, there will be others to keep doing research and it won't be like killing the group by letting us leave. So I'm going to try and use my powers to make that happen. Then after that, we're going to be selling goggles and lab coats to the freshmen, which is our largest fundraiser of the year, so we're also planning for that.

And I still have to do my lit. seminar. And I still don't have a topic. Ugh. Now I'm asking for any seminar topic and maybe I'll either get inspired by one of your ideas or find something chemically to do in one of them. So please, HELP!

The pictures are coming. Hopefully I'll get to them after our Sam's trip tonight. Anyone want anything?

Sweetwater is a microbrewery out of Atlanta. This is their beer lineup. I've actually only tried 3 of their 6, but so far, I'm impressed. The problem is they don't have a distributor up here. So far they are in Chattanooga, Nashville, and I think most all of Georgia, but definitely Atlanta and Athens. So if you're going to visit ESC anytime soon, ask her to buy you some. Good beer though, and great on tap. They do tours on Mon. and Thurs. at 4:20.

We left Thursday and got behind a truck and SUV doing 90, so we made it to Alabama very quickly. Relaxed and watched TV and talked with my brother and grandmother. She had to go to work in the morning so the kids slept in. J actually woke me up at 10 eastern/9 central, but that's okay because then we got to watch the Price is Right at 10 am and not 11. I've always liked the central viewing schedule. Primetime is from 7-9 and the news is at 10. Then you can watch Letterman and be in bed before midnight. Not that I watch primetime, the news or Letterman, but I could and still be well rested.

Then went to lunch at Shoney's. I thought Grandma was gonna cry when we told her we were leaving straight from there. She asked if we were coming back that night. No, the rehearsal dinner is 2 hours from here. But I told her we would be back soon and not to worry.

Mall, pick up the tux, then to find a tanning place because J wanted to find one. And instead of waiting on her, I went also. I used some weird standup tanning bed that had lights all around and straps that you could hang on to keep your arms up. It normally goes for 8 min. but new bulbs, so 6 min. It was hot and the industrial strength fan on top helped, but it was still hot. That was the 2nd time I've ever been tanning and do not plan on making it a regular thing. I can get skin cancer on my own. But I did it naked, really naked. And yes my ass is still red. It doesn't hurt but the front of my legs and my waist are fried. They still hurt after 3 days. J had no problems because she has more melanin than I thanks to her South Koreaness. She tanned, I burned. But it will look good for the beach so I suppose this self-inflicted pain is worth it.

Rehearsal dinner was fun. 80 people and I think only 10 or so people of that were not family. I come from a small family (I have 3 cousins, total) so it's always a tad overwhelming seeing a family that large. J's is large, so I'll get used to it.

I'll get those pics up tonight, promise.

Wedding was fun. J met all the people from all my stories from high school and college, quite literally. Sweetwater beer at the reception, excellent Southern vittles for the food. And thanks to the rain that moved the ceremony under the tent, very nice and cool and not as roasty toasty in my tux as I had previously imagined. And got to see all the grandparents, both sides.

Full disclosure tomorrow. Going to the beach this weekend so I'm extra hard working grad student this week.

Sorry Tupac, couldn't resist.

We are currently giving Joan's possible new PDA a test run. I downloaded a few maps of where the wedding is this weekend and several games, some free, some are crappy demos, but it should be enough to keep Joan occupied during the wedding down times. I also downloaded a mapping program but of course you have to buy maps. Bastards.

Hehehe, juicing grannies. Thanks Varla.

Um, I need to go get a haircut and then go home, shower, finish packing, help J. finish packing, load the car (already checked tire pressure and fluids), say goodbye to the cats, turn around because we forgot something, leave again, stop for gas, then Grandma's house! Yay!

And her brother-in-law died about 3 weeks ago and I wasn't able to make it to the funeral, so it'll be nice to see Grandma. Her time is coming. It's inevitable. I really don't like to think about it, especially since she's my only paternal grandparent left. She's had a full and rich life, even with Wal-Mart sucking her soul for the past 33 years. You know what she got for her 30 yr. anniversary of working there? ONE share of stock and a pin. So that makes, $49.34 (current price for Wally world stock) and $2.75 for the pin, a grand total of $52.09.

Then the wedding and then back home. I should have some nice "Joan in a dress and me in a tux, both looking hot" pics (hot figuratively and literally, outdoor wedding in Ala-freakin-bama in August) and maybe some new cat pics.

Indiana Jones, not telling which one. But they quoted it on X-play last night. Video game show by geeks for geeks, and as I am a video gaming geek, it's right up my alley. But technically I haven't bought a video game since Halo 2 came out, um 6 months ago?

I have too many expensive hobbies.

Anyone remember me saying that I was going to be in a 5K in April? No? Well I was and I got what I wanted out of the experience. Free T-shirt. I will go through alot to get a free T-shirt. And the nice thing is, once it has run it's course, you can throw it away guilt free, unless it's a close personal friend like my Louie the Lightening Bug shirt that Joan hates. I threw away my free SSX Tricky T-shirt (video game) that I got at a demo they had in the student center. Apparently this guy's job is to set up a TV and PS2 and play video games with people and give stuff away. Sounds like a cool job to me.

But I ran in the 5K, started out like a runner, then, oh, .75 miles into it, remembered that I am in fact NOT a runner and my body revolted and I was forced to walk. It wasn't pretty. I passed people in the beginning but was passed by roughly 100-120 other runners. Oh, and my contacts were bothering me too. But I finished in a blazing time of 32:34, so that puts the mile time around 10:29. Yuh huh, that's horrible. But is a nice loooooooow starting point for me to improve upon next April. I'm shooting for 26 minutes, so a full 6 minute improvement. I can do it. I need to do it. And I need to get Joan (who ran cross-country and some track in high school) to get running again and be my coach. Then I'll show that 5K who's the boss.

But here are the race results. Just go ahead and scroll to the bottom for my time. I'm 197 out of 210. And then scroll to the top and look at the first place time in the women's age group 70-99. I got burned by a 75 yr old grandmother by almost one full minute. Ouch. Thank Jebus I'm not that slow in my car.

If you haven't read it, head on over to Rob's blog. He has recently exploded and even took off his comments because of the "haters". But he did a post last week, which is still up and can be found right here, on what it takes to build a popular blog.

He lists 8 topics, of which I think I follow 1, maybe 2, but as he states, he isn't the end all blog, but it is exceptionally well written and always entertaining. Unless he doesn't post, then it's sad.

But one thing he suggests is to find a niche and stick with it. Nazi transexual dwarf, juggling hippo tamer, wine snob Hell's Angel, etc... He has the articulate bouncer blog down cold, and is probably the only one that well written. I suppose that my niche is car racing chemistry grad student. And I don't race enough to warrant an entire blog and NOBODY wants to hear about what I do everyday, I barely do and I'm living it. But I see the tiny light at the end of the tunnel but all that did was illuminate all the obstacles and hurdles I've yet to overcome. But at least I know there is an end now.

So basically, I'm blogging by Rob's #8, the blog is yours. And I can do whatever I want, whenever I want because it's mine. And that feels great. And I don't want a famous blog anyway, but I do like the way that looks in the header, and I really don't have enough time or skills to do a blog re-design, so we're sticking with the template used by thousands.

We should have a "Royal We" day, just like "Talk like a Pirate" Day (which is Sept. 19th and rapidly approaching). No one is allowed to use singular prepositions.
Query: Hey Seth, wanna go get an enema with us.
Response: We do not like enemas, thank you.
Wanna go to lunch?
Where are we going?
Taco Bell.
We ate at Taco Bell last night. We must'nt eat there again.

Yeesh, I'm opening up a spot on my 10 worst posts list for this steamer.