Friday, June 30, 2006
Mare Binimum
J said that yesterday. It was funny. We also played soccer yesterday and I, the spaz that I am, kicked myself in the ankle and it still hurts. I also kicked the ball into the nasty retaining pond nearby. A tree brach was almost torn asunder when a friend dropped by and asked what we were doing. Relayed the info and he offered to go into the mire cuz he was on his way to go swimming in Lake Hartwell. Really? Sure. So he took off his shirt and ventured into the brown murky water. The cloud of black that surrounded him with every step was enough for me to know that my Plan B would've been much cleaner. But he gets the ball, gets out and then everyone smells him. Not pretty, but fortunately his windows were down and he was only 30 seconds or so from the lake. Thanks again and I owe you a big one. I would buy him some cookies or something but he is a Muslim and sticks to Halaal which is like staying Kosher for Jewish people. This is under Haraam, or unlawful foods:
And I think that everyone should go by that one too. I'll leave the decision about drugs/intoxicants up to you.
Germany/Argentina game today at 11 am. This is two soccer powerhouses and a quarterfinal game, so it should be good. The World Cup is slowly coming to an end and then we can get back to no soccer on ABC and very rarely on ESPN. And definitely no soccer highlights on SportsCenter.
Did anyone notice that I double-posted? The first paragraph from my last two posts are roughly the same, or at least covered the same topic. Guess I was sleepy or lazy those days. I haven't been in a very creative place recently and my posts have been definitely been reflecting that.
And now to respond to comments:
Ruthie-Thanks for the offer and enjoy Sacramento!
ESC-So it's the Gwinnett Mall that has the bubble tea? Where is the Gwinnett Mall? Don't answer that, I'll let google take that one. Here is the link and then click on "Event Supps" for the schedule. Basically we'll be at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds from 7-8 am until 6 pm Sat. and Sun. We'll be huddled under the orange Clemson EZ-Up and I'm the black Focus #21, class "FSP". Or send me an email if you really might show and I'll send you my cell phone #. Although I wander what would happen if I posted it publicly?
Tom-Were you expecting anything besides nerds/dorks/geeks/Mole people at the premiere of the new Superman movie? Especially with a DLP(digital light processing) projector?
Donkeys, monkeys, elephants, etc.
And I think that everyone should go by that one too. I'll leave the decision about drugs/intoxicants up to you.
Germany/Argentina game today at 11 am. This is two soccer powerhouses and a quarterfinal game, so it should be good. The World Cup is slowly coming to an end and then we can get back to no soccer on ABC and very rarely on ESPN. And definitely no soccer highlights on SportsCenter.
Did anyone notice that I double-posted? The first paragraph from my last two posts are roughly the same, or at least covered the same topic. Guess I was sleepy or lazy those days. I haven't been in a very creative place recently and my posts have been definitely been reflecting that.
And now to respond to comments:
Ruthie-Thanks for the offer and enjoy Sacramento!
ESC-So it's the Gwinnett Mall that has the bubble tea? Where is the Gwinnett Mall? Don't answer that, I'll let google take that one. Here is the link and then click on "Event Supps" for the schedule. Basically we'll be at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds from 7-8 am until 6 pm Sat. and Sun. We'll be huddled under the orange Clemson EZ-Up and I'm the black Focus #21, class "FSP". Or send me an email if you really might show and I'll send you my cell phone #. Although I wander what would happen if I posted it publicly?
Tom-Were you expecting anything besides nerds/dorks/geeks/Mole people at the premiere of the new Superman movie? Especially with a DLP(digital light processing) projector?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
What's it called when a guy is gay for a girl?
The gay marriage episode of the Simpsons was on Monday. Homer's question is answered by Lisa "Straight". "Look at me, I'm straight as a one dollar bill, la-di-da!" It's much funnier delivered by Homer.
So this weekend we'll be in Gwinnett County, GA at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds for the ATL SCCA's "Doublecross Challenge". It's essentially two autocross courses side by side and the first one to the finish wins. I've never done this before so it should be a good time. Except for the being outside all day in 91 degree humid weather.
The first night we're staying with some other people in a hotel room but then they have to go stay at his aunt's house. So that reduces the number of people splitting the hotel room by some, which means we'll be camping the second night. Only problem is there are hardly any good places to camp around that area and the one state park near there (Fort Yargo) only has 7 tent campsites. There is some private fishing lake near there also but they want $9/person to camp. So I don't know what we're going to do, but we'll figure it out.
Nothing too exciting this week. I've been looking for tuxes, I rented our "getaway" car for the wedding, a Cadillac so I'll fit in very nicely down in Orlando, still need to find somewhere to stay for our first night as a married couple.
Hopefully today's lameness doesn't leak into tomorrow's.
So this weekend we'll be in Gwinnett County, GA at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds for the ATL SCCA's "Doublecross Challenge". It's essentially two autocross courses side by side and the first one to the finish wins. I've never done this before so it should be a good time. Except for the being outside all day in 91 degree humid weather.
The first night we're staying with some other people in a hotel room but then they have to go stay at his aunt's house. So that reduces the number of people splitting the hotel room by some, which means we'll be camping the second night. Only problem is there are hardly any good places to camp around that area and the one state park near there (Fort Yargo) only has 7 tent campsites. There is some private fishing lake near there also but they want $9/person to camp. So I don't know what we're going to do, but we'll figure it out.
Nothing too exciting this week. I've been looking for tuxes, I rented our "getaway" car for the wedding, a Cadillac so I'll fit in very nicely down in Orlando, still need to find somewhere to stay for our first night as a married couple.
Hopefully today's lameness doesn't leak into tomorrow's.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
You dirty rat
The ATL region of the SCCA is having a "Doublecross Challenge" this weekend. It's going to be two identical autocross courses next to each other and whoever gets to the finish first, wins. There are also going to be timing lights like drag racing so that will be another factor. I've never done this before but I'm sure it will be fun. We're guaranteed 10 runs and we don't have to work the course. And there is even prize money, so hopefully one of us will walk away with something. So I'll be at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds most of this weekend.
We had an Office Space moment in lab yesterday. I shouldn't be telling you this; it's fairly sensitive group business so I'll talk in code. We have a couple Miltons. There are lots of problems with their TPS reports. Payroll has fixed the glitch so we'll see if this problem works itself out naturally. I couldn't believe it when other group members told me that was the solution to the problem. If you didn't understand this, please go pick-up/order a copy of Office Space created by Mike Judge of "King of the Hill" and "Beavis and Butthead" fame. And also has a new movie "Idiocracy" coming out. It's gonna be a good one.
We had an Office Space moment in lab yesterday. I shouldn't be telling you this; it's fairly sensitive group business so I'll talk in code. We have a couple Miltons. There are lots of problems with their TPS reports. Payroll has fixed the glitch so we'll see if this problem works itself out naturally. I couldn't believe it when other group members told me that was the solution to the problem. If you didn't understand this, please go pick-up/order a copy of Office Space created by Mike Judge of "King of the Hill" and "Beavis and Butthead" fame. And also has a new movie "Idiocracy" coming out. It's gonna be a good one.
Friday, June 23, 2006
People are Strange
Just got back from lunch. Most of the group usually eats together across the street at our local Aramark dealer. I try and not buy food from there if at all possible, only because it's expensive and Aramark is a minion of the devil. But they have shaded tables that are lovely to eat under. So we're sitting and chatting and then Newlywed says to me "Is that what you were talking about?" So we all look to where he's pointing and sitting there is a woodchuck/groundhog/marmot.
This isn't the actual one we saw and thanks to the MA Audobon society for the pic.
I have started seeing more and more of these brown critters roaming around Clemson recently and never knew what they were. My guess was a nutria,
but they have long hairless tails and our rodents have bushy tails. Same order but different suborder. But thanks to some internet detective work, I think we solved the mystery of the unknown varmint.
This morning I took a field trip out to a junkyard up the road in Norris, SC. It's Harris Used Auto Parts. Old school. Don't even accept credit cards. I had to drive a few minutes away to find a bank and ATM (I don't trust gas station ATMs for some reason). But I went into the office and said I had called before about the Tercel parts. I receive a blank stare but she suggests I go talk to the guy on the loader. It's a big bulldozer thing that can move cars around. So I find him and his son riding around and ask him about the parts. He points me in the right direction (I saw the Toyota section on the way in) and then I ask if I pull it or they do. "It's up to you." But I'm guessing the price will be better if I pull it, so I go get my tools (always take your tools to a junkyard and some work clothes, I also had my headlamp which is great if you need two hands for a job) and walk over to the Tercel section. Several dead Neons over there, some dead Explorers, minivans, trucks, Hondas of all kind. I couldn't see where it ended but it looked pretty big. So I find a Tercel sitting on the ground since its wheels have already been harvested and open the door. Not too bad inside, so I move the driver seat which isn't bolted down (I think someone removed the carpet) and get ready to lay on the floor on my back since the brakelight switch I'm looking for is on top of the brake pedal.
But before I lay down I do a preliminary inspection and realize that I do not want to lay down on the floor, so I quickly do an inventory check for something long in Tercs (our Tercel) that I don't mind getting dirty. Eureka! The sun shade! So I walk back to my Tercel, get it, lay it down and I'm in and out in 2 minutes. But I notice they have a couple other Tercels. J wants a replacement hood so I check those out. Great condition actually, but wrong color. But I see a headlight surround that J broke on the Sentra she hit. See this post for the full story. (After reading that post I didn't do a good job of describing the accident. Cest la vie) And Tom see this post for the infamous bolognadillas.
So I pull that off and take my prizes back to the office to see what the damage is. The lady behind the desk has no clue. (I think she answers the phone exclusively and does the final money transactions) So she calls one of the Harris brothers and I tell them what I took and he says $30. Done. I forgot to ask him how much he wants for the hood, but I can give him a call back later. I also saw a Focus in there so I might be heading back at a later date.
Oh one last key part of the story, I'm sweating like mad. Full sun inside a dead car with manual labor in a tight spot and sweat is dripping off of me. But she turned the air on in the office after I got there and it feels like heaven. I don't even care that she doesn't know how much to charge me; I just want some electrical relief.
Tomorrow morning we're having a pancake breakfast at my house. I invited our undergrad (named after a season, I'll call her Autumn) Autumn and her dude over to our house for breakfast. What started this is that she has only tried to make pancakes once and it didn't turn out well, so I'm gonna give them both a crash course on pancaking. I make pretty damn good pancakes (J doesn't like pancakes so don't ask her opinion) but I even make good pancakes over campfire (to which new visitor Tom can attest) so I'm confident in my pancake abilities. And we're going to watch the Germany/Sweden game.
I read in The Week that only 11% of Americans were planning to watch any World Cup games and of those 11%, 56% didn't know the Cup was being held in Germany. So math time. The CIA estimates 298,444,215 Americans in July of 2006. So 11% is 32,828,864 Americans who planned to watch the Cup.
Of those almost 33 million only 14,444,700 knew it was being held in Germany, so to the 14.5 million Americans who are actively watching the Cup you already know the US is eliminated and that the refs have been awful (not just for our games either) but I think we need to cheer on Australia. They are one of two teams who speak English (other is England) and never ruled our country and we really like Aussies. So on Monday at 11 am, either send out good soccer (football to the rest of the world) vibes or call in sick or watch it on the internet over your lunchbreak but please cheer on the Aussies. They're taking on the Italians who were intrinsic in knocking us out of the tournament, so we need payback and the Aussies are the ones who are going to avenge us!
One last thing. The expected cumulative TV audience for the Cup is projected to be 32.5 billion. That's over 5 times the population of this planet. Damn.
This isn't the actual one we saw and thanks to the MA Audobon society for the pic.
I have started seeing more and more of these brown critters roaming around Clemson recently and never knew what they were. My guess was a nutria,
but they have long hairless tails and our rodents have bushy tails. Same order but different suborder. But thanks to some internet detective work, I think we solved the mystery of the unknown varmint.This morning I took a field trip out to a junkyard up the road in Norris, SC. It's Harris Used Auto Parts. Old school. Don't even accept credit cards. I had to drive a few minutes away to find a bank and ATM (I don't trust gas station ATMs for some reason). But I went into the office and said I had called before about the Tercel parts. I receive a blank stare but she suggests I go talk to the guy on the loader. It's a big bulldozer thing that can move cars around. So I find him and his son riding around and ask him about the parts. He points me in the right direction (I saw the Toyota section on the way in) and then I ask if I pull it or they do. "It's up to you." But I'm guessing the price will be better if I pull it, so I go get my tools (always take your tools to a junkyard and some work clothes, I also had my headlamp which is great if you need two hands for a job) and walk over to the Tercel section. Several dead Neons over there, some dead Explorers, minivans, trucks, Hondas of all kind. I couldn't see where it ended but it looked pretty big. So I find a Tercel sitting on the ground since its wheels have already been harvested and open the door. Not too bad inside, so I move the driver seat which isn't bolted down (I think someone removed the carpet) and get ready to lay on the floor on my back since the brakelight switch I'm looking for is on top of the brake pedal.
But before I lay down I do a preliminary inspection and realize that I do not want to lay down on the floor, so I quickly do an inventory check for something long in Tercs (our Tercel) that I don't mind getting dirty. Eureka! The sun shade! So I walk back to my Tercel, get it, lay it down and I'm in and out in 2 minutes. But I notice they have a couple other Tercels. J wants a replacement hood so I check those out. Great condition actually, but wrong color. But I see a headlight surround that J broke on the Sentra she hit. See this post for the full story. (After reading that post I didn't do a good job of describing the accident. Cest la vie) And Tom see this post for the infamous bolognadillas.
So I pull that off and take my prizes back to the office to see what the damage is. The lady behind the desk has no clue. (I think she answers the phone exclusively and does the final money transactions) So she calls one of the Harris brothers and I tell them what I took and he says $30. Done. I forgot to ask him how much he wants for the hood, but I can give him a call back later. I also saw a Focus in there so I might be heading back at a later date.
Oh one last key part of the story, I'm sweating like mad. Full sun inside a dead car with manual labor in a tight spot and sweat is dripping off of me. But she turned the air on in the office after I got there and it feels like heaven. I don't even care that she doesn't know how much to charge me; I just want some electrical relief.
Tomorrow morning we're having a pancake breakfast at my house. I invited our undergrad (named after a season, I'll call her Autumn) Autumn and her dude over to our house for breakfast. What started this is that she has only tried to make pancakes once and it didn't turn out well, so I'm gonna give them both a crash course on pancaking. I make pretty damn good pancakes (J doesn't like pancakes so don't ask her opinion) but I even make good pancakes over campfire (to which new visitor Tom can attest) so I'm confident in my pancake abilities. And we're going to watch the Germany/Sweden game.
I read in The Week that only 11% of Americans were planning to watch any World Cup games and of those 11%, 56% didn't know the Cup was being held in Germany. So math time. The CIA estimates 298,444,215 Americans in July of 2006. So 11% is 32,828,864 Americans who planned to watch the Cup.
Of those almost 33 million only 14,444,700 knew it was being held in Germany, so to the 14.5 million Americans who are actively watching the Cup you already know the US is eliminated and that the refs have been awful (not just for our games either) but I think we need to cheer on Australia. They are one of two teams who speak English (other is England) and never ruled our country and we really like Aussies. So on Monday at 11 am, either send out good soccer (football to the rest of the world) vibes or call in sick or watch it on the internet over your lunchbreak but please cheer on the Aussies. They're taking on the Italians who were intrinsic in knocking us out of the tournament, so we need payback and the Aussies are the ones who are going to avenge us!
One last thing. The expected cumulative TV audience for the Cup is projected to be 32.5 billion. That's over 5 times the population of this planet. Damn.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Squirrel Fight!
I haven't seen a good one in a while, but I did catch a bird/squirrel fight on the way to my car last week. It was great. I hope your local university campus has as much interesting "wildlife" as mine have had. I could've done without Samford's cockroach problem.
Which reminds me. HOLY SHIT! So I'm naked and sleepy getting ready to hop in the shower. No contacts or glasses so I can see outlines and colors. I close the curtain and turn the water on so it can warm up. Weigh myself with a little eye squishing I can make out the numbers. Step in the shower and my right heel steps on something. Weird, was it my razor? Nope there it is. Hairball? Beats me so I look down and see a brown spot crawl under the curtain. Ew, was that a roach? He's a dead man. So I pull back the curtain and then see two fuzzy claw things protruding out the front of the thorax. Oh shit, I just stepped on a scorpion. Well there is no searing pain so I suppose he didn't sting me, which is surprising maybe the water soothed or stunned him. So I jump out of the shower, dry off the bottom of my legs (with J's towel, it was just lying there and it will probably be dry when she takes a shower), go get my glasses and begin the extraction. He isn't moving much so I scoop him out and plop him in the toilet and double flush him, just to make sure.
Not a pleasant way to start the day but we all made it out alive. And I still think small insects can either breathe underwater or can survive for very long times without O2 so I'm sure he is okay.
Then watched the rest of the England/Sweden game, which was great and can't wait for the Germany/Sweden game on Sat. But today is going to be one of the better games of the tournament so far. Argentina/Netherlands. Two power house soccer dynasties facing off to see who will get first in their group. It's going to be an amazing game, I can feel it.
So a friend found my blog yesterday. I should've told him about it, but I'm not telling anyone and seeing how long it takes for people to find out about it. An internet experiment if you will. Another reason I don't tell people is because he felt left out of my posting. Example: From this post
He is the "other" friend. For one thing we got home at 3 am and not much happened after that. But we did have a great time with them earlier in the day. I just left out the story about the styrofoam story from lunch and the walking around Academy story. Sorry but I can't post everything. And I didn't post about Pony because, like you, he may find this site and be offended that I would publicly air my grievances instead of coming to him with them. It isn't like it's hard to find this site, so I choose silence over offense. Not the most entertaining choice but I stand by my decision.
Thanks for visiting Zoe Master!
Which reminds me. HOLY SHIT! So I'm naked and sleepy getting ready to hop in the shower. No contacts or glasses so I can see outlines and colors. I close the curtain and turn the water on so it can warm up. Weigh myself with a little eye squishing I can make out the numbers. Step in the shower and my right heel steps on something. Weird, was it my razor? Nope there it is. Hairball? Beats me so I look down and see a brown spot crawl under the curtain. Ew, was that a roach? He's a dead man. So I pull back the curtain and then see two fuzzy claw things protruding out the front of the thorax. Oh shit, I just stepped on a scorpion. Well there is no searing pain so I suppose he didn't sting me, which is surprising maybe the water soothed or stunned him. So I jump out of the shower, dry off the bottom of my legs (with J's towel, it was just lying there and it will probably be dry when she takes a shower), go get my glasses and begin the extraction. He isn't moving much so I scoop him out and plop him in the toilet and double flush him, just to make sure.
Not a pleasant way to start the day but we all made it out alive. And I still think small insects can either breathe underwater or can survive for very long times without O2 so I'm sure he is okay.
Then watched the rest of the England/Sweden game, which was great and can't wait for the Germany/Sweden game on Sat. But today is going to be one of the better games of the tournament so far. Argentina/Netherlands. Two power house soccer dynasties facing off to see who will get first in their group. It's going to be an amazing game, I can feel it.
So a friend found my blog yesterday. I should've told him about it, but I'm not telling anyone and seeing how long it takes for people to find out about it. An internet experiment if you will. Another reason I don't tell people is because he felt left out of my posting. Example: From this post
Then went to the Purple Onion for some late night munchies and then home to our other friend's house.
He is the "other" friend. For one thing we got home at 3 am and not much happened after that. But we did have a great time with them earlier in the day. I just left out the story about the styrofoam story from lunch and the walking around Academy story. Sorry but I can't post everything. And I didn't post about Pony because, like you, he may find this site and be offended that I would publicly air my grievances instead of coming to him with them. It isn't like it's hard to find this site, so I choose silence over offense. Not the most entertaining choice but I stand by my decision.
Thanks for visiting Zoe Master!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Croissanwich
If you like spongy croissants and fast food, I would highly recommend one of these from Burger King. It's been 4 years since my last relapse.
Went to Anderson, ate at Fazoli's, went to PetSmart (cat food and a couple toys), and then tried to go work-out clothes shopping but since we didn't know any good, cheap athletic stores, we went to Old Navy. Ugh. Don't go there for athletic attire. They had two types of shorts. Exact same style (think long basketball shorts) but one had a number on it. Ooooooh. So I got a new brown belt.
My friend Subaru moved into a new place this weekend and for some reason didn't ask me to move. I'm not too worried about it though. But it's a 2 bed/2.5 bath place and the master bed is in a loft type thing. The only thing upstairs is the master bed and bath, but there are doors so I guess it isn't a real loft. But their house also has a weird outside room. There are sliding glass doors that go out into a 10x8 space that is outdoors surrounded by walls. If you have seen any prison movie, it's much like the hole except it's wood siding instead of concrete and there is no roof. Or more accurate it's like the pit where they killed Kirsten Dunst and her "mom" in Interview with a Vampire. But without the metal grating on top. It's get full sun for about an hour and gets partial sun for another two, so a good place for easily burned people to lay out? I have no idea what this room is for but I suppose it would be a good place for some indirect sun plants and maybe a chair? They also have very high ceilings which I want just because I want to hang stuff from there and use the unused space.
What would I hang? Anything I damn well please. But maybe a mobile?
Or maybe a model airplane?
I don't know but I do know that I would need a big ladder to get the job done though.
But the main reason he picked this apt. is the garage. It's a one car with a little extra space in front of the car. But now we don't have to work on cars in parking lots and if we don't finish leave them outside! Yay! But there is lots of wall space in the garage, so I need to come up with some good auto-themed wall hangings. Maybe blow up some pictures I've taken at various events. Or make a collage of pics. Don't know yet but I did snag a cool Bridgestone poster which will go up shortly. I think we'll pop its cherry by putting a new clutch in Tercel, but we'll see.
What would you hang from your ceilings if you could? Or hang on your huge wall?
P.S. Subaru also asked me if I was watching any of the games, to which I answered "as many as possible" then realized "oh. What sport?"
Basketball? Uh, no.
Hockey? Seriously? Hockey? No again. (Sorry to all hockey fans, I've never lived anywhere that got more than 1 inch of snow/year, so I haven't been exposed to it)
Baseball? Not since the strike of '93. Same goes for basketball too. If you make millions per year and strike, I don't care.
Then what have you been watching? Uh the biggest sports event in the world right now, the World Cup, of course. And we have two big matches today:
Ecuador vs. Germany (1 and 2 in their group respectively)
Sweden vs. England (2 and 1 in their group)
and the first game starts in about 15 minutes so set your VCR, DVR, Tivo or find a TV with cable somewhere quick.
Went to Anderson, ate at Fazoli's, went to PetSmart (cat food and a couple toys), and then tried to go work-out clothes shopping but since we didn't know any good, cheap athletic stores, we went to Old Navy. Ugh. Don't go there for athletic attire. They had two types of shorts. Exact same style (think long basketball shorts) but one had a number on it. Ooooooh. So I got a new brown belt.
My friend Subaru moved into a new place this weekend and for some reason didn't ask me to move. I'm not too worried about it though. But it's a 2 bed/2.5 bath place and the master bed is in a loft type thing. The only thing upstairs is the master bed and bath, but there are doors so I guess it isn't a real loft. But their house also has a weird outside room. There are sliding glass doors that go out into a 10x8 space that is outdoors surrounded by walls. If you have seen any prison movie, it's much like the hole except it's wood siding instead of concrete and there is no roof. Or more accurate it's like the pit where they killed Kirsten Dunst and her "mom" in Interview with a Vampire. But without the metal grating on top. It's get full sun for about an hour and gets partial sun for another two, so a good place for easily burned people to lay out? I have no idea what this room is for but I suppose it would be a good place for some indirect sun plants and maybe a chair? They also have very high ceilings which I want just because I want to hang stuff from there and use the unused space.
What would I hang? Anything I damn well please. But maybe a mobile?
Or maybe a model airplane?
I don't know but I do know that I would need a big ladder to get the job done though.
But the main reason he picked this apt. is the garage. It's a one car with a little extra space in front of the car. But now we don't have to work on cars in parking lots and if we don't finish leave them outside! Yay! But there is lots of wall space in the garage, so I need to come up with some good auto-themed wall hangings. Maybe blow up some pictures I've taken at various events. Or make a collage of pics. Don't know yet but I did snag a cool Bridgestone poster which will go up shortly. I think we'll pop its cherry by putting a new clutch in Tercel, but we'll see.
What would you hang from your ceilings if you could? Or hang on your huge wall?
P.S. Subaru also asked me if I was watching any of the games, to which I answered "as many as possible" then realized "oh. What sport?"
Basketball? Uh, no.
Hockey? Seriously? Hockey? No again. (Sorry to all hockey fans, I've never lived anywhere that got more than 1 inch of snow/year, so I haven't been exposed to it)
Baseball? Not since the strike of '93. Same goes for basketball too. If you make millions per year and strike, I don't care.
Then what have you been watching? Uh the biggest sports event in the world right now, the World Cup, of course. And we have two big matches today:
Ecuador vs. Germany (1 and 2 in their group respectively)
Sweden vs. England (2 and 1 in their group)
and the first game starts in about 15 minutes so set your VCR, DVR, Tivo or find a TV with cable somewhere quick.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Almost a week!
I'm sooo sorry blog and my blog readers, it's been almost a week. For some reason the computer at school would only let me go to clemson websites and I finally called a computer guy and he helped me figure out what was wrong.
So now I'm back and better than ever!
So much soccer! If you haven't been watching the biggest sporting event in the world, I pity you; there has been some brilliant goals and incredible ball-handling (hehe). Brazil has been looking like the world champs. Argentina looked incredible vs. Cote d'Ivoire and Serbia-Montenegro (which that country no longer exists, the Montenegrans voted to become independent, the last little part of Yugoslavia). The US has yet to score a goal (the other team kicking it into their own goal doesn't count) but is somehow still in it. They need to beat Ghana and Italy to beat the Czech Republic to advance to the next round. And then battle Brazil! So we're screwed, but that shouldn't stop you from watching the other games. We're almost to the second round and that's when it gets exciting. No draws, just sudden death overtime and then penalty kicks.
South Korea pulled out a draw with France to keep their hopes alive, the Aussies battled fiercely against the Brazilians and almost got a draw, but they are in great position to get 2nd place in their group (F) as long as they don't lose to Croatia.
Our summer student got an ipod last week and it has been fun showing her the games and stuff like that and it's currently hooked up to our sound system which has GREATLY expanded our listening regime which usually consists of sports talk radio, classic rock (Clapton, CCR, Doors, Stones), classical music (mostly Baroque) and O.A.R. (hippie jam band). It can get a little old, so a 30 GB ipod Video is a much welcome change. I think she even has a Law & Order: SVU episode on there.
Yes they're great, but they're also expensive and I haven't started looking into how hard it is to format movies and music into ipod-friendly formats. I know it's possible, just haven't started looking.
I haven't been visiting blogs either much this week. I'm starting to get better about time-management so I'm trying not to visit my forums and all my blogs on the same day. Spreading it around to even out the time I waste on here. I think it's working.
See you tomorrow!
So now I'm back and better than ever!
So much soccer! If you haven't been watching the biggest sporting event in the world, I pity you; there has been some brilliant goals and incredible ball-handling (hehe). Brazil has been looking like the world champs. Argentina looked incredible vs. Cote d'Ivoire and Serbia-Montenegro (which that country no longer exists, the Montenegrans voted to become independent, the last little part of Yugoslavia). The US has yet to score a goal (the other team kicking it into their own goal doesn't count) but is somehow still in it. They need to beat Ghana and Italy to beat the Czech Republic to advance to the next round. And then battle Brazil! So we're screwed, but that shouldn't stop you from watching the other games. We're almost to the second round and that's when it gets exciting. No draws, just sudden death overtime and then penalty kicks.
South Korea pulled out a draw with France to keep their hopes alive, the Aussies battled fiercely against the Brazilians and almost got a draw, but they are in great position to get 2nd place in their group (F) as long as they don't lose to Croatia.
Our summer student got an ipod last week and it has been fun showing her the games and stuff like that and it's currently hooked up to our sound system which has GREATLY expanded our listening regime which usually consists of sports talk radio, classic rock (Clapton, CCR, Doors, Stones), classical music (mostly Baroque) and O.A.R. (hippie jam band). It can get a little old, so a 30 GB ipod Video is a much welcome change. I think she even has a Law & Order: SVU episode on there.
Yes they're great, but they're also expensive and I haven't started looking into how hard it is to format movies and music into ipod-friendly formats. I know it's possible, just haven't started looking.
I haven't been visiting blogs either much this week. I'm starting to get better about time-management so I'm trying not to visit my forums and all my blogs on the same day. Spreading it around to even out the time I waste on here. I think it's working.
See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Two times
I'm here. Gotta get back into "work" mode after the vacation.
I'll check in later this week. Maybe tomorrow morning.
I'll check in later this week. Maybe tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Happy Belated 666!
So if you didn't notice the date (or those stupid The Omen movie ads on TV), yesterday was 6/6/06. I have no idea if this date was celebrated by Satanists but it is the classical "mark of the beast" number from various sources. But I hope it was good for everyone.
Thankfully the Senate voted to reject amending the Constitution today. I emailed my Senator and told him how I felt, whether he cares or not. He has enough GOP backing to not give a shit about what one dissenting voter thinks but I told him anyway.
BURN! That's gotta hurt the GOP and in an election year to boot. So thanks to everyone who voted for those certain Repubs and for everyone who let your Senator knew how you felt on this issue, either for or against. Thanks for taking part in democracy!
We ate at Cheesecake Factory tonight and finally got the chance to partake in the Balls of Doom aka the deep-fried mac & cheese appetizer. Very good and cheesy. If you plan on taking these balls on by your self, don't get an entree. These babies'll stick wit ya. I even scored a free espresso. The server guy came by and saw the dregs of the coffee in the bottom and said "Oh, sorry, that normally doesn't happen. Would you like another?" Um, sure. So it came and apparently "the boss" made this one so it was going to be good. Yep, still there. But isn't it inevitable to get a few grounds in the espresso? I don't really inspect the bottom of all my espresso cups but I seem to recall dregs in the majority. It's no big deal, you just can't take it as a shot (not recommended anyway) unless you want a little extra fiber.
Called our friends who are cat-sitting while we're down here. The cats have started to get into things they normally ignore. We keep some flower/dirt/fertilizer stuff on the bottom of the shelves in our kitchen and they apparently spread it all over the kitchen. It was bone meal which is a P source (as in phosphorus) since it's Ca3(PO4)3. Ah chemical formulas, like a warm blanket. But they're starved for attention. They don't even want to play; they just want some lovin'. And then some playtime. Awwwww, poor kitties. WE'LL BE BACK SOON LEON AND JULIO!
Wedding nonsense: Picked our photographer today, picked our florist, J and I finally saw the ceremony/reception site, and yesterday we found the officiant who is oddly connected with our family (his son went to the undergrad that I went to and then transferred to my brothers, and he used to preach with the president of my undergrad that my g'folks are real good friends with, small world indeed)
Car nonsense: I have seen so many cars with nice wheels down here. Lots of ricers but lots of normal people with very nice wheels on their rides. No pics but just been noticing.
Oh and I'll get up the story that Emily was talking about from the time we stayed in the Disney Empire for Grad Night.
Thankfully the Senate voted to reject amending the Constitution today. I emailed my Senator and told him how I felt, whether he cares or not. He has enough GOP backing to not give a shit about what one dissenting voter thinks but I told him anyway.
Most bitter to the amendments' authors was the loss of support in their own GOP caucus. Two Republicans changed their votes from yes in 2004 to no this time: Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska did not vote Wednesday because he was traveling with Bush.
All told, seven Republicans voted to kill the amendment. The five others were Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, Olympia Snowe of Maine and John Sununu of New Hampshire.
BURN! That's gotta hurt the GOP and in an election year to boot. So thanks to everyone who voted for those certain Repubs and for everyone who let your Senator knew how you felt on this issue, either for or against. Thanks for taking part in democracy!
We ate at Cheesecake Factory tonight and finally got the chance to partake in the Balls of Doom aka the deep-fried mac & cheese appetizer. Very good and cheesy. If you plan on taking these balls on by your self, don't get an entree. These babies'll stick wit ya. I even scored a free espresso. The server guy came by and saw the dregs of the coffee in the bottom and said "Oh, sorry, that normally doesn't happen. Would you like another?" Um, sure. So it came and apparently "the boss" made this one so it was going to be good. Yep, still there. But isn't it inevitable to get a few grounds in the espresso? I don't really inspect the bottom of all my espresso cups but I seem to recall dregs in the majority. It's no big deal, you just can't take it as a shot (not recommended anyway) unless you want a little extra fiber.
Called our friends who are cat-sitting while we're down here. The cats have started to get into things they normally ignore. We keep some flower/dirt/fertilizer stuff on the bottom of the shelves in our kitchen and they apparently spread it all over the kitchen. It was bone meal which is a P source (as in phosphorus) since it's Ca3(PO4)3. Ah chemical formulas, like a warm blanket. But they're starved for attention. They don't even want to play; they just want some lovin'. And then some playtime. Awwwww, poor kitties. WE'LL BE BACK SOON LEON AND JULIO!
Wedding nonsense: Picked our photographer today, picked our florist, J and I finally saw the ceremony/reception site, and yesterday we found the officiant who is oddly connected with our family (his son went to the undergrad that I went to and then transferred to my brothers, and he used to preach with the president of my undergrad that my g'folks are real good friends with, small world indeed)
Car nonsense: I have seen so many cars with nice wheels down here. Lots of ricers but lots of normal people with very nice wheels on their rides. No pics but just been noticing.
Oh and I'll get up the story that Emily was talking about from the time we stayed in the Disney Empire for Grad Night.
Monday, June 05, 2006
It's a small world afterall
The last time I actually rode that ride was almost ten years ago.
So we're down in Orlando (aka O-town). Mostly wedding stuff. Arrived midnight:30 on Friday. Saturday consisted of sleeping in, meeting with a florist where I met a lovely orange cat named Sam who also wears a harness because he has a penchant for dashing outside and hiding under cars, pretty flowers too and if we go with her we get to special order flowers from Holland! I feel so worldly. (Please excuse all grammatical errors in the previous sentence) After that went over to a friend's house for a Mom/Brother joint B'day Bash. It was fun but the brother kept yelling at his 2 yr. old niece and everyone else for that matter. J told me afterwards that that's how he's always been. Yikes.
The aforementioned niece is an okay kid. She is starting to speak (I got her to say puhple) and is generally a sponge. I've always hated baby talk and have refused to do it, so when we were sort of going over the alphabet I said I like ice cream, intruder and insipid. It was insipid that caught everyone's attention. I'm just trying to expose the kid to new words here people. But they always say how good I am with her and I'll make a good father one day (awwww). This really confused me so I had J get to the bottom of it. Apparently it's mostly because I actually pay attention to her and am patient. She actually started screaming NO at me at one point during the magnadoodling, so I wrote down "NO" and explained to her that the spoken language corresponds to the written language. Screaming NO is the same as the written NO, albeit more emotion involved. She then got distracted and stopped yelling at me. And I only see the kid for 6-7 hours every 6 months, if that, so why should I not be patient and attentive? It's being around the kid constantly and actually being responsible for it that determines if you'll be a good parent or not.
I've been stuck at the UCF library for the past 6 hours (no house key and I had to leave the house) and I actually did some work! But J just called and said they're home, so I have to go see if I can remember where the car is and how I got here. Wish me luck. (Suburban Orlando looks the same everywhere, but Target is 2 minutes away!)
So we're down in Orlando (aka O-town). Mostly wedding stuff. Arrived midnight:30 on Friday. Saturday consisted of sleeping in, meeting with a florist where I met a lovely orange cat named Sam who also wears a harness because he has a penchant for dashing outside and hiding under cars, pretty flowers too and if we go with her we get to special order flowers from Holland! I feel so worldly. (Please excuse all grammatical errors in the previous sentence) After that went over to a friend's house for a Mom/Brother joint B'day Bash. It was fun but the brother kept yelling at his 2 yr. old niece and everyone else for that matter. J told me afterwards that that's how he's always been. Yikes.
The aforementioned niece is an okay kid. She is starting to speak (I got her to say puhple) and is generally a sponge. I've always hated baby talk and have refused to do it, so when we were sort of going over the alphabet I said I like ice cream, intruder and insipid. It was insipid that caught everyone's attention. I'm just trying to expose the kid to new words here people. But they always say how good I am with her and I'll make a good father one day (awwww). This really confused me so I had J get to the bottom of it. Apparently it's mostly because I actually pay attention to her and am patient. She actually started screaming NO at me at one point during the magnadoodling, so I wrote down "NO" and explained to her that the spoken language corresponds to the written language. Screaming NO is the same as the written NO, albeit more emotion involved. She then got distracted and stopped yelling at me. And I only see the kid for 6-7 hours every 6 months, if that, so why should I not be patient and attentive? It's being around the kid constantly and actually being responsible for it that determines if you'll be a good parent or not.
I've been stuck at the UCF library for the past 6 hours (no house key and I had to leave the house) and I actually did some work! But J just called and said they're home, so I have to go see if I can remember where the car is and how I got here. Wish me luck. (Suburban Orlando looks the same everywhere, but Target is 2 minutes away!)
Friday, June 02, 2006
Parliament
Why is there an i in that word? I had to google it just to make sure and I know that's how you spell that. I'm blame the Brits.
I was in a funk last night and it had nothing to do with George Clinton. We're leaving for Orlando today and I was just blah. We had to clean (bathroom, kitchen, dishes for me) and then pack (which I haven't done) before we even left and we're having to leave the kitties for over a week. I'm sure they'll be okay, a friend is going to be watching them, Protege's girlfriend actually, but we still won't get to see them for a while. I wish we could take them with us, but the longest car ride so far has been to the vet 3 minutes from our house, so we don't know if they're road trip cats or not. But that's a safe NO.
We're planning on going to the beach and to Wet N' Wild while we're down there. I haven't been to a water park since the end of high school when I went to Blizzard Beach. Should be a good time if I remember to bring sunscreen.
I dusted the dash of Tercel this morning with a maxi pad. I stupidly left the windows down last night and it of course rained. I parked under a tree so it wasn't too bad but the shift knob was slimy so I searched for a napkin in the glovebox. Nope, but there were a few pads (J's car obviously). So I pull one out and started wiping. Worked very well, then decided to see how it would do with dust. Pretty damn good. So if you're ever in a car cleaning emergency, I recommend maxipads. Maybe Kotex will put that in their next ad to gear it towards men a little more.
Big things on the horizon for Clemson chemistry grad students. No, I'm not president anymore but we're trying an overlap period where the old officers (me) show the new officers the ropes and what goes into the little that we do. So I still get to at least suggest ideas and I even delegated some tasks yesterday. I do need to tell the new prez that she needs to delegate especially since she's super busy with other stuff, or she'll get burned out. But we're planning an ATL jaunt which would include a Sat. at the aquarium, free time for dinner (and bar-hopping/clubbing), hotel and then Six Flags on Sunday. Also planning a Greenville Drive (Single A farm team for the Boston Red Sox) family outing where we would provide dinner and I hear the new stadium finished this summer is really nice. And a softball/picnic thing and maybe getting some more branded items for freebies (coozies with our logo) and something for graduating students (like a mug or something, maybe a Nalgene) but we need to see how much money we blow on the other things.
One last thing. Everyone knows Hooters right? So someone has decided to tweek this idea a bit and has come up with "Dipsticks" an all female quickie oil change place in Greenville, SC. The ad actually says that guys can come "get their engine revved". We discussed this and as long as the women know they're being objectified (ala Hooters girl) then it's okay. And I think the angle they're taking with women is that another woman won't lie to you. They also have "fresh-baked" cookies all day. I still haven't swung by to see what the devil is going on and probably ever won't, but it's out there.
I was in a funk last night and it had nothing to do with George Clinton. We're leaving for Orlando today and I was just blah. We had to clean (bathroom, kitchen, dishes for me) and then pack (which I haven't done) before we even left and we're having to leave the kitties for over a week. I'm sure they'll be okay, a friend is going to be watching them, Protege's girlfriend actually, but we still won't get to see them for a while. I wish we could take them with us, but the longest car ride so far has been to the vet 3 minutes from our house, so we don't know if they're road trip cats or not. But that's a safe NO.
We're planning on going to the beach and to Wet N' Wild while we're down there. I haven't been to a water park since the end of high school when I went to Blizzard Beach. Should be a good time if I remember to bring sunscreen.
I dusted the dash of Tercel this morning with a maxi pad. I stupidly left the windows down last night and it of course rained. I parked under a tree so it wasn't too bad but the shift knob was slimy so I searched for a napkin in the glovebox. Nope, but there were a few pads (J's car obviously). So I pull one out and started wiping. Worked very well, then decided to see how it would do with dust. Pretty damn good. So if you're ever in a car cleaning emergency, I recommend maxipads. Maybe Kotex will put that in their next ad to gear it towards men a little more.
Big things on the horizon for Clemson chemistry grad students. No, I'm not president anymore but we're trying an overlap period where the old officers (me) show the new officers the ropes and what goes into the little that we do. So I still get to at least suggest ideas and I even delegated some tasks yesterday. I do need to tell the new prez that she needs to delegate especially since she's super busy with other stuff, or she'll get burned out. But we're planning an ATL jaunt which would include a Sat. at the aquarium, free time for dinner (and bar-hopping/clubbing), hotel and then Six Flags on Sunday. Also planning a Greenville Drive (Single A farm team for the Boston Red Sox) family outing where we would provide dinner and I hear the new stadium finished this summer is really nice. And a softball/picnic thing and maybe getting some more branded items for freebies (coozies with our logo) and something for graduating students (like a mug or something, maybe a Nalgene) but we need to see how much money we blow on the other things.
One last thing. Everyone knows Hooters right? So someone has decided to tweek this idea a bit and has come up with "Dipsticks" an all female quickie oil change place in Greenville, SC. The ad actually says that guys can come "get their engine revved". We discussed this and as long as the women know they're being objectified (ala Hooters girl) then it's okay. And I think the angle they're taking with women is that another woman won't lie to you. They also have "fresh-baked" cookies all day. I still haven't swung by to see what the devil is going on and probably ever won't, but it's out there.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Raisin toast sittin' on 22s
So we've previously covered ricers and also breifly touched on what I'll call the "VIP" car scene, focusing on mostly the Acura TL just for our friend Smoove D. Essentially ricers that graduated from Civics and Cavaliers to Escalades, Mercedeses (Mercedi? how bout Benzes) and Rolls Royces.
So J and I were in CVS yesterday so J could print up some pictures of the cats for her scrapbook project du jour. My only complaint is that most of the pics she chose were from when they were kittens, but there will be other cat books, I guarantee. So to kill time I wandered over to the very thin magazine section. No Grassroots Motorsports. No Sport Compact Car. But they did have the big 3 for car reviews, Motor Trend, Car & Driver and Road & Track. They also had a spinoff publication of DUBS which is entitled RIDES. Essentially the same thing. SUVs, high dollar luxury and old school cars, all with ridiculous sound systems and huge chrome wheels. Some are also experimenting with different colored wheels and even different finishes (one in marble).
But then my eyes befell something that completely threw me off. I had heard rumors but never seen pictures. The 28 inch wheel/rim. It's freaking huge. It actually makes a Hummer H2 look small. The story goes that the H2 is the only vehicle that can accomodate 28s in its massive fenders. I believe it, although I'm sure some full-sized truck might be able to squeeze in a set. So since this post is worthless without pics, here we go:
The Maximum Green Hummer by Geigercars
Damn.
Here is TIS's white Hummer on 28s. TIS stands for 20 inches strong. (20 inches used to be the standard, now they look amazingly tiny)
And finally the coup d'etat, an unnamed Texas sheriff commissioned his own Hummer on 28s for runnin' down poor folks in his unnamed county. And they supercharged it, upgraded the brakes and suspension and now this think makes 700 hp, has 8-pot brake calipers up front (my car has one-pot) and its electronically limited top speed is 155 mph. Damn. I can definitely see Jack cruising around in this bad boy.
I could also comment on the hip-hop cultures conspicuous consumption, but I won't. I wish I could find a picture of Mike Jones' Ice Age (His label is Ice Age Entertainment) chain. It was massive and cost roughly 350k. But it would go nicely with his Hummer on 28s.
Also I hear that 28s are the limit. Tires will barely fit on a 30 inch rim and I can't imagine the DOT would approve of them either. But they do look good in a display at a car show. They really are like a wagon wheel.
So J and I were in CVS yesterday so J could print up some pictures of the cats for her scrapbook project du jour. My only complaint is that most of the pics she chose were from when they were kittens, but there will be other cat books, I guarantee. So to kill time I wandered over to the very thin magazine section. No Grassroots Motorsports. No Sport Compact Car. But they did have the big 3 for car reviews, Motor Trend, Car & Driver and Road & Track. They also had a spinoff publication of DUBS which is entitled RIDES. Essentially the same thing. SUVs, high dollar luxury and old school cars, all with ridiculous sound systems and huge chrome wheels. Some are also experimenting with different colored wheels and even different finishes (one in marble).
But then my eyes befell something that completely threw me off. I had heard rumors but never seen pictures. The 28 inch wheel/rim. It's freaking huge. It actually makes a Hummer H2 look small. The story goes that the H2 is the only vehicle that can accomodate 28s in its massive fenders. I believe it, although I'm sure some full-sized truck might be able to squeeze in a set. So since this post is worthless without pics, here we go:
The Maximum Green Hummer by Geigercars
Damn.
Here is TIS's white Hummer on 28s. TIS stands for 20 inches strong. (20 inches used to be the standard, now they look amazingly tiny)
And finally the coup d'etat, an unnamed Texas sheriff commissioned his own Hummer on 28s for runnin' down poor folks in his unnamed county. And they supercharged it, upgraded the brakes and suspension and now this think makes 700 hp, has 8-pot brake calipers up front (my car has one-pot) and its electronically limited top speed is 155 mph. Damn. I can definitely see Jack cruising around in this bad boy.
I could also comment on the hip-hop cultures conspicuous consumption, but I won't. I wish I could find a picture of Mike Jones' Ice Age (His label is Ice Age Entertainment) chain. It was massive and cost roughly 350k. But it would go nicely with his Hummer on 28s.
Also I hear that 28s are the limit. Tires will barely fit on a 30 inch rim and I can't imagine the DOT would approve of them either. But they do look good in a display at a car show. They really are like a wagon wheel.
Who Links Here
