Crazy Lawsuit Game

Eh, nothing right now. I'm going to make pancakes for dinner and then grade all the papers that my students just gave me.

J will be hanging out with a friend tonight, and that is why I will be making pancakes. J doesn't like pancakes. Maybe I'll do a list of foods J doesn't like tonight, both for a post and just in case I ever forget I could go back and check.

I haven't done a reverse title in a while.

Scorsese finally won for best director and also picked up best picture. Nice, congrats Marty. It's been a long time coming. The Lives of Others beat out Pan's Labyrinth for best foreign film, which means I will wait until I see Lives of Others to make any judgements, but I really like Pan's Labyrinth. We picked up Flags of Our Fathers at the local mega chain rental place last night. I hear the other side of the story, Letters from Iwo Jima, is better, but that one isn't out on DVD yet. It took me a while to get into Clint Eastwood, but I think around 12 or 13 I finally caught on. He's a badass and is probably one of the coolest grandpas in the world. The same can be said for Scorsese.

Just added a few past foreign film winners to my Queue. I still can't believe J has never seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And has anyone not seen Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella)? It is one of the few movies that has been able to draw a tear from my stone soul. So amazing.

Well, we finally got Subaru's Subaru back together! Hooray! Go Team! The problem turned out to be that we couldn't get the throw out bearing onto the pressure plate. So we pulled the tranny off some and we put the bearing into the plate. Then as we slowly moved the tranny back into position, we dropped the clutch fork (that moves the bearing in and out when you press on the clutch pedal) onto the bearing and made super sure that it was in the right position. We started throwing everything back together but I was so confident that the problem was fixed that I left before we had a running/moving car. But I knew it was fixed and an email this morning confirmed it.

So it's official, we're at least intermediate auto mechanics. The next biggest jobs would be wiring (which I equate to black magic) and a complete engine overhaul. That and actually opening a differential or tranny and fixing gears, but most people trust guys with lots of experience for jobs as important as those. It feels good to have overcome our difficulties. And we saved Subaru at least $500 doing the clutch install ourselves.

Labels: clutch, Martin Scorsese, Subaru

We just got done watching that. It's "The Devil's Backbone" and was directed by Guillermo del Toro. Did anyone see Mimic? I never did but he also directed that, Hellboy and Blade II. Not as good as Pan's Labyrinth, but still pretty good. Plus it's in Spanish, so it's good practice for my rapidly dwindling Spanish speaking skills.

We also watched the Departed. Scorsese making a comeback to the genre he helped define with Casino and Goodfellas. For the box-dwellers, he also made The Last Temptation of Jesus Chirst (which took my college roommates and I 4 different video stores to find), Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. Those last two I've never seen but I'm not proud of that and I'll see them very soon.

I'm currently doing laundry and watching Arrested Development, and if you've never seen it, go out and buy all 3 seasons in one convenient set. Next on the lazy Sunday agenda is cleaning the shower and bathroom sink.

Oh crap, I think I'm supposed to help Subaru with his transmission again. Doh, guess I'll be doing that too.

Labels: Arrested Development, Guillermo del Toro, Martin Scorsese

If you get that fairly obscure quote then you have seen Trainspotting way too many times.

However, no joy yet. We weren't able to finagle Subaru's transmission back onto the engine. But I saw Protege out at the Research Park this morning and he said that he had an idea about how to get it to go. Lube, lube everything and then we should be able to pop that sucker into place. Not bad and it's worth a shot because for the 1.5 hrs we tried yesterday, we barely made any progress and tried every idea our minds could come up with.

According to Facebook I'm currently reading "To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf. Wow, it's such a fanciful writing, it's a mental workout just reading it. And it is apparent why she is regarded as one of the greats. Even with so many commas, commas here, commas there, it all makes sense and flows. Sure I have to reread the occasional sentence but I like it. I'm only about 40 or so pages into it, but hopefully I can finish it this weekend. I was planning on attending an autocross on Sat. but Protege backed out and I don't have any tires that are worth driving 3 hours one way to race on, so I'm staying home, cleaning and getting some work done.

I want to be rich. So does most everyone. But J and I just want the Office Space dream. To do nothing and be happy. There's more to it than that but that's where the dream starts. But what got me really thinking about it and finally spurred me to get off my ass and get involved was this article about 4 "secret" millionaires. Here are their "secrets" with my comments:

• Get educated for a high-paying job; max out your retirement accounts; take some risk; buy disability insurance - well sure, I still think insurance is a scam but I guess that's because I've never really had to use it
• Buy (and hang onto) real estate; invest in your 401(k); watch your spending - Again retirement accounts, and you need to watch your spending, ALL your spending, it is possible to nickel and dime yourself into the poorhouse
• Contribute to retirement accounts; have a good-sized emergency fund; drive older cars; watch your spending - huh, retirement accounts, I sense a theme, emergency fund can be interpreted as SAVE, the drive older cars bit I'll discuss below
• Buying food at a grocery outlet. That sounds scary, so we'll ignore that one and I'm not even sure if there is one around here. I am NOT shopping at Big Lots every week. On the other hand, you shouldn't shop at Whole Foods every week either. They're delicious but pricey.
• Using half a cup of laundry detergent for each load versus a full cup. Half a cup of laundry? Sounds like my clothes won't get as clean, but I guess I could use 3/4 a cup.
• Buying cleaning supplies at a dollar store. My cleaning supplies cost a dollar at the grocery store, thank you. How about you clean less and use less cleaning supplies? Yeah, thought so.
• Cooking most meals at home (although they eat out once a week as a family for about $30 a pop.) This is what actually sent me on this kick. J and I gave up eating out for Lent (I think it's a Catholic thing, not Lent, the giving up thing) so we'll be cooking at home more than we were. Hopefully this catches on because I think anything more than eating out once a week is excessive in my book. My family rarely went out to eat. Mostly big occasions and visitors. But we took advantage of Domino's 2fer Tuesday deal alot. The way around not eating out during Lent according to J is it's okay for us to eat out if someone else invites us out, because then we would just be anti-social. Whatever. Don't blame me when the Pope sends down a bolt of lightning for eating at Applebee's.
  
• Using plastic grocery bags to line small wastebaskets. Who doesn't do this? Does anyone really spend money on tiny grocery bags? If you do, stop it, or go out and buy smaller trashcans for your house. We have one regular sized kitchen trashcan and 3 or 4 grocery bag sized cans around the house. Also good for wet clothes on trips and disposing of used kitty litter. You know the grocery bags are free right? And also recyclable if they don't contain cat poo or other trash.
  
• Waiting until movies come out on DVD. It's "cheaper and quieter, too," she says. Very true especially since movies in SC are up to $8 a person and don't even get me started on the over-priced candy, drinks and popcorn. If you watch enough movies, maybe Netflix is for you. Or the other more corporate one with stores all across America.
  
• Buying clothing at Ross and shopping early in the day for the best savings. I personally enjoy looking through racks and racks of clothes to find something I like, it's like a treasure hunt, and I also care very little about clothing or "fashion". I also rarely buy anything full price in stores. I'm still proud of my $3 Gap t-shirts. But this isn't for everyone, J hates doing this.
  
• Avoiding discount warehouses. "I stopped shopping (at Costco) about nine years ago when I realized I was overspending in a feeble attempt to save money." Yep, figured this one out a couple years ago. $35/year to shop in bulk just to end up throwing away 14 apples because you only ate 4 out of the bushel. Bulk doesn't always equal savings.
• Own a home; stay out of debt (other than a mortgage); contribute to retirement accounts; invest automatically - Definitely invest and save automatically, you won't even have to think about it and you may not even miss it

They also talked about the differences between the richies and the brokies. Richies own houses, brokies don't. Richies have little debt and the debt they do have are mortgages on their houses. But one article led me to an article about values. You don't need that new CLK 63 AMG. A 92 white Toyota Tercel will get you there too, albeit with less comfort and a little slower but MUCH cheaper. Everyone feels like we're in America and Bob over there has the new 450 GB Ipod and I want one too and dammit, I should have one. So we whip out the plastic and figure we'll pay it off in time. Just because we live in America doesn't mean we're entitled to all this stuff. It's been proven time and time again that the majority of the wealth lies with a very small minority. It's slowly trickling down but not fast enough for most.

Personally I would much rather retire a couple of years earlier than get the new Iphone right when it comes out. Sure I can afford a Wii, but I know I don't need one. My PS2 and Xbox still work just fine (I think the Xbox is hurting though). It comes down to values and what you really think is important and what actually is important. The basic human needs are: Shelter, Food and Companionship. Not Blackberries, Dubs, Whips, Blahniks, Iced Double Mochachinos or Astrolabes.

I think you just need to find a balance. Find the line and cross it occasionally but you can't put your future in jeopardy to live on the other side of that line. Live within your means. Live below your means. Live well below your means for a few months out of the year and see what happens.

The areas I need to work on is: Gadgets and cars. I want them all. Each and every one. But I'm slowly coming to the realization that they're luxuries and I'm going to need to give up something else in order to get them. So think about your finances. Anything you could live without? Anything you could live without to get something you really really want?

Also I added my new fancy gmail email address to my profile. Woohoo! Thanks go out to my good friend Dave for inviting me.

Labels: advice, finances, reading

I try and support transgendered people but I don't really know how. I am a good listener though so that's a start. I knew if I was trapped in a woman's body I would a) want out, and b) play with myself way too much.


We were helping Subaru out with installing a new clutch. On the way back from Sandblast whenever he got on the throttle and the turbo spooled up, the clutch would slip for a few seconds and then engage. Not good. So he decided that he would try and install a clutch this week, and hopefully get it done, before the autocross on Saturday. So he overnighted a new clutch and all the components that go with that. He talked to another Suby guy who said that 3 guys could do it in about 3 hours. Right. But we were fairly confident that we could get it done. Since he's on sabbatical for the week, he had pretty much everything taken apart, all that was needed was a 10mm hex wrench (which I stole from another group at the research park, I'll bring it back, don't worry) and then to take the transmission out, replace the clutch, put tranny back in and then he could finish up the rest by himself today. Good plan but of course we ran into a few issues.

First issue, that transmission is a behemoth. At least 3 feet long and a good 150-200 lbs. So not something one person can really handle. Second issue, we had some trouble getting the clutch out, but we finally did. Third issue, there was something called a pilot bearing that is right in the middle of the flywheel. The new clutch came with a new one so Subaru wanted to replace it but we could not get it out. Couldn't even get it to budge. I would've said fuck it and put the new clutch on and start wiggling that tranny back into place. He likes to be thorough and wants it replaced, so we call it a night and all head our separate ways.

I felt so down-trodden. I hate doing multi-day installs. Protege's turbo install we knew would be a multi-day job right from the start and we weren't on any deadlines, so no biggie. But we "need" to get Suby back together so that it can race on Saturday. It's tough for us to do mid-week installs because of work and familial obligations, but hopefully we can get it done in the very small window we have tonight. Theoretically Subaru should be able to install the clutch and that stupid pilot bearing today so all we have to do is show up and throw the tranny in there. I just wish it was that easy.

So today the first thing I searched for was transmission jacks. I plan to still work on cars in the future and am not sure if I'll always have an extra set of hands to help out, so I'll have to rely on better tools.

Ooooh, that's nice. And only $180 + shipping. Here's one for $150 + shipping. Not bad and would help out immensely. I foresee one being in my garage in the future, assuming there is a garage in my future.

Another search was for Renegade Hybrids. They're some crazy guys that jam strange engines into a variety of Porsches in search for more power and reliability. In this month's Sport Compact Car (magazine), they featured a Porsche 914, this one actually:

It's a 914 with a nice widebody kit on it. I'm a sucker for widebodies if you were wondering. But it's powered by the exact same engine we were wrenching near last night, the Subaru WRX's turbocharged EJ20.

Turns out the power to weight ratio is better than the Lotus Exige S, which is the big brother to my current dream car, the Lotus Elise.

So of course I went to Renegade and priced their conversion kit. It's right at $7500. Then went over to ebay and priced some Porsche 914s, $2000 - $7000. And then all you would need is an engine from a Subaru WRX which I can't imagine is more than $3000. So even if we take the higher end of the 914 range, and add in a few thousand for incidentals, we're only at around $20,000, a full $12-15 thousand less than a used Elise, and a much faster and more unique car. Hmmmmm. Sounds like a definite possibility. Assuming I have a garage and 20k laying around that I can blow on a car.

Here is a video of the Porscharu in action. It's an .avi file so it will probably open in Quicktime.

I'll let you know if we got Subaru's Subaru back together tomorrow.

Labels: clutch, Porsche, Subaru, tranny, transmission jack

Google/Blogger (Gloggler?) just informed me that I have 672 posts so far. Which begs the question, which post was 666? Let's find out. It was this one that talked about my soccer rage. Coincidence? I think not. If I had known I would've at least posted up a pentagram. Or found the "How evil is your blog" quiz.

I was reading Rob's blog yesterday and was looking through his links. I found this one about an English teacher in Sometown, USA. It was interesting reading someone's blog who is a better writer but uses the same technique, not that I'm putting either one of us in a labeled box, but I saw a few similarities.

J and I will be peddling over-priced Aramark food tomorrow at the Duke/Clemson basketball game. Aramark was also the "sponsor" of the Triple Threat Challenge I was in last week.

In the shower (remember how I'm a shower thinker) I was thinking about my new water heater and I don't think the water is hot enough and I will need to fix that tonight. I was also thinking about corporations and how they're evil and the mantra of "if you can't beat them, join them". I don't like that. It's a very defeatist attitude and only encourages more people to do the same. But being an extreme person, I went the other way and figured if you can't beat them, move to an island and have nothing to do with them, or at least minimalize contact as much as possible.

So I was going down my checklist of things that I would need while living in my tropical paradise. Computer with internet access, lots and lots of books, maybe a TV but more so to watch DVDs than to watch TV, clothes, kitchen supplies, towels and sheets, pillows, and that's about it. Oh, and J of course, assuming I can convince her to come with me. That's what the TV and computer is for, sweetens the deal and I'll need at least a computer to keep you all posted on my journey.

Don't really know how I'll make a living. I know we won't need much money because we'll have a garden and maybe a small farm for eggs and goat milk. But we'll need to pay for our internet access, or maybe we'll steal wifi from a surrounding resort or internet cafe? I'm sure we would come up with something. Maybe rent some boogie boards or beach chairs. Maybe even run a small eco-friendly hotel, but that is going to require some significant start-up money.

We'll call that Plan Q, because I know we'll have to go through a few other plans before we finally take the plunge and give it all up.

It's in the Playboy Forum and the article is titled "One Nation, Under Corporate Control: Why Doesn't Our Government Serve the People? Four Prominent Authors Discuss How Corporations Took Over America"

The four authors are Cornell economics professor Robert H. Frank, author of "Luxury Fever" and co-author of "The Winner-Take-All Society"; David Sirota, a campaign strategist and author of "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government-And How We Can Take It Back"; Paul Stiles, a former Wall Street trader and author of "Is the American Dream Killing You? How 'The Market' Rules Our Lives"; and Louis Uchitelle, a veteran New York Times economics reporter and author of "The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences"

And Sirota estimated that 2/3 of Democrats are not in a corporation's pocket.

So they don't recommend any books, but I'll probably read some of theirs. Let's see. They all sound pretty good but I'll probably start with academia and read the Cornell prof.'s books. Luxury Fever sounds good. Hopefully our library has them.

I'm gonna grab some dinner. J and I are giving up eating out for Lent (it's a Catholic thing to give something up, I think) so of course we went to the Olive Garden for dinner last night.

Prof. Farnsworth from "The Farnsworth Parabox" episode. It's a good one. Parallel dimensions and all.

I had some great discussions yesterday. My friend Tom in the 'Ham and I chatted on AIM and we discussed our plan to require birth control injections when you pick up your welfare check. He thought it was a good idea but it would never get passed. I disagree. We just need to come up with a way to spin it for each group so that they see the good in it. And as J pointed out the majority of the people who would be voting on this are old people and rich people and a handful of a melting pot of people who actually care. J pointed out that poor people (the people who are directly affected by this ruling) don't vote and wouldn't really have any say in the matter. Unless they got a job and got off of welfare, which should be the goal of every welfare recipient in the first place.

I was also telling J that she should read the editorial in Playboy this month (I resubscribed this year and I have truly missed it. I'm not lying when I say that even if they took out the naked ladies, I would still read Hef's mag). It's about how our democracy is run by "the market" and our capitalism run amok has now turned our government into a corporatocracy. And it isn't just Republicans that are in the corporations pocket, it's either 1/3 or 2/3 of the Democrats too. J was pointing out that with those jokers in power and getting their kickbacks and gifts, why would they change it? I didn't want to hear her pessimistic logic and rational thinking. I wanted what faint spark of hope that is hiding deep within me to remain intact and not be snuffed out. I have to believe that the system works and that one day enough voters will want an overhaul and do away with all of this and REALLY change things. I have to believe that, I just have to. If not, all hope is lost and I might as well leave right now cuz when it all comes crashing down, I won't want to be here. All the richies will have left to their resorts in Cabo or their private islands in the Caribbean and will leave the majority of the American people to fend for themselves.

The editorial was an interview with 4 economists and they mention some books that I'm going to have to read and educate myself on this topic so that I may educate others. I'll get you their names and the book titles tonight.

In the "educating consumers" vein, I found this post from the Anti-Advertising Agency. It's called shopdropping, the opposite of shoplifting. It is a grassroots effort by PeopleProducts123 to educated consumers about where the products they are buying actually come from. Sure Coke comes from the store but where does its ingredients come from? For example, here is the new and improved packaging for lightbulbs. Easy to do and not really illegal, so get out there and educate! The More You Know...

Labels: bad government, educating consumers, mandatory birth control

The Super Bowl halftime show inspired me to download some Prince songs. They remind me of the "middle aged" club, Bell Bottoms, in Birmingham. They loved playing some Prince. That and they're pretty good songs.

J is flying down to Orlando today so I'll either relay her review of Allegiant Air or get her to do a guest post on here. I'll miss you!

In honor of VD yesterday, we went out to eat at Acropolis, a very good Greek/Italian place downtown. J had the spaghetti and I had a combo platter which was some fries, gyro meat, souvlaki, and some chicken that was all very good. I still hate VD and know that it is a fake holiday. I try and make J feeled loved and appreciated year-round. I don't need some stupid holiday to guilt me into doing it. I will be nearly completing her Friends collection by adding seasons 1 & 2.

I'm not a trend-setter. I don't think I'm a trend-killer but I'm close. I bought some Steve Madden shoes the other day. They're surprisingly comfortable and they look good too. But hipsters have been sporting his shoes for years now. If anything I'm above trends. I've been wearing my weird and "hip" t-shirts for years now. I even had a hat that had mesh on it. But I no longer wear hats. Just don't like them. Or more acurately, I don't like the majority of hats that are out there. No Clemson hats, too trendy (around here at least) and most I don't like, no major sports hats, they don't need any more money from me. My last purchased hat was a USA rugby hat that was on clearance for $10. Simple and understated. Supported a relatively unknown sport and one of my favorite countries. Win/win. So maybe I need a curling hat? Or a luge hat?

The hat I had and should've taken was my Red Bull hat. You can't buy Red Bull clothing anywhere. There is some stuff now but it is always affiliated with a specific team. Like Red Bull Racing or their MLS team, the NY Red Bulls (which always reminds me of Dave Chappelle's "Red Balls" skit with Tyrone Biggums), no straight up Red Bull stuff. At least not for normal people. Their sponsored athletes get it out the wazoo. But for a time there I was in the warm loving embrace of corporation Red Bull. I've talked about it before here. But I really should've taken the Red Bull hat they provided me with. It's definitely on my list of regrets. Have I shared my list of regrets with you? Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Hehehe, I have talked about that before. D'oh!

Off to work, I have to leave about 11:30 to go pick J up from work and then take her to GSP.

Labels: Acropolis, hat, Red Bull

There was a girl who was hit by the CATbus around 12:15 this afternoon. No details but we do know that she was trapped under the bus and was then air-lifted to an area hospital.

This is a quote from an eyewitness:

Yeah, I saw the whole thing. She was walking in the crosswalk when the CAT bus hit her. She looked pretty mangled and I heard troopers say she might lose a leg if she survives from the injuries. It was gruesome and disturbing to watch something like that.

So please keep this girl and her family and friends in your thoughts. I'll update with more details when I get them.

Update: Unfortunately she didn't make it. My heart fell when I heard. Local story.

Update #2: WYFF 4 News sucks! They jumped the gun on the story! She's alive! Hooray! Apparently there were "conflicting reports". Right. But she is in stable condition and was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital and her name may or may not be Kellie Jureka and she may or may not be a freshman physics major.

Update #3: She has a Facebook page, (you may or may not be able to see it) if it is in fact the girl from the above update. From some other accounts it sounds like she was trying to catch the bus and ran right in front of it. Whatever happened, I hope she makes it out of this stronger and wiser and comes back and kicks physics ass!

Update #4: An eyewitness account from a guy on the bus who struck Kellie

i was in the bus.... it was horrible, the worst thing i've ever seen in my life

if she does make it she is going to be screwed up for life

to clear some things up that i read:

-she wasn't on the phone
-it was DEFINATELY the drivers fault - he turned into her.... if he had went straight and slowed down a little he woudl have missed her
-he didn't brake till he hit her
-he had AMPLE time to slow down or turn away from her instead of into her... she didn't walk out right infront of it.... the bus was a ways down the road when she walked out..... not like he didn't have anytime to react
-she was in the middle of the road when she got hit... he turned that way and she was walking to the left... so he turned into her!
-the driver was an elderly man
-the bus was not going around anything or get moved after the accident... he turned into her... i can't figure out why
-she was out in the open walking from the right side of the road to the left and she was pined under the right side of the bus right under where u go to get in and under the right front tire some.... once again... if he went straight and slowed down he woudl have missed her

this is a PERFECT example of why they should test these drivers on some type of course before letting them drive.... nobody on the bus said to slow down or anything b/c it was so obvious that we assumed that he saw her.... i saw her WAY before he started turning into her or anything.... i have no f-in idea wtf he was thinking....

Yikes. The driver has already quit by the way.

Regular posting will resume tomorrow.

Labels: accident, CATbus

It really is, and it usually isn't pretty. However it can sometimes provide some healthy motivation.

I haven't posted about Anna Nicole's passing because I figured Hef had it under control. And there are such bigger stories in the world, despite what Fox News and other mass media reports on. Some guy killed 5 people and injured 4 in a mall shooting in Utah yesterday. Awful. You always need to keep your eyes and ears open. Trust no one.

So J was reading my blog last night and claimed that I didn't tell her about it. Then this morning I was thinking about that. I know I talked to someone on the phone right after I got done eating and I'll bet dollars to donuts that it was her. But my stupid water logged cell phone can't help me out.

Good news: All I had to do to reactivate my old cell phone was plug in my SIM card. There wasn't even a "SIM card insertion fee" or anything!

More medicinal marijuana news, it now helps with well, I'll let the experts sum it up.

Conclusion: Smoked cannabis was well tolerated and effectively relieved chronic neuropathic pain from HIV-associated sensory neuropathy. The findings are comparable to oral drugs used for chronic neuropathic pain.

The link to the abstract is here, but apparently Clemson doesn't have a subscription to Neurology so I can't read the full article, not that I would or would even feign comprehension. So Nixon's and the DEA's stance that marijuana has no medicinal purpose (hence the Schedule I status) is rapidly being filled with holes. Here's a link to what is neuropathic pain?

We went to the Greenville zoo on Saturday also. It's a very nice little zoo and it is adjacent to a city park which makes it seem larger. There weren't tons of animals and some were inside since the high was in the high 40s or low 50s. The lions are in storage somewhere while they get their new habitat built, scheduled to open this summer. The orangutans weren't out because the sign said they would only be out if the temp was at least in the 60s with light to no wind, so we didn't get a chance to see the new baby orang.

There were 2 African elephants, some Lemurs, ring-tailed of course, a Colobus monkey who was keeping his naughty bits warm by rubbing them, very funny and bright pink, alligators, snapping turtles, some Gibbons who were being very vocal and 4 very cute tortoises. A sleeping ocelot was in there somewhere too. A gorgeous owl, pot-bellied pig, ducks, swans, chickens (yeah chickens, I guess cuz they're cheap?), goats (the pig, and goats are petable but the signs encourage you to wash your hands afterwards), snakes, lizards...


There we go. The leopards were very pretty although they looked sleepy and bored.

It is set up so it is a big loop. You can get to other places by taking short-cuts but if you're not paying attention, it is very easy to see everything without actively thinking about where you're headed. Cuts down on map costs too.

J wants to get into zoological care and maybe go to vet school so she is planning on volunteering at the zoo, which I think is a great idea. She loves animals and knows lots about all kinds of different ones. She doesn't really want to just be a local vet and only do cats and dogs, so zoo is the way to go. I told her that I can't wait to travel around to different wildlife preserves with her.

Labels: cell phone, medicinal marijuana, Zoo

Since J went to sleep at 10 pm on Friday, I hung out and watched TV until about midnight. So with a fresh 8 hours of slumber under my belt (or under my head as it were), I hopped up around 8-8:30 on Sat. Early yes, but I did it with no alarm so it's like I slept in. Decided to help out the cause and do some laundry. I didn't check the pockets since there weren't any jeans or pants in the load. BIG MISTAKE! As the load finishes, I get the urge to make a phone call. So I pick up J's phone and give mine a call. No ring. Is it on vibrate? Is it here? Maybe I left it at Fike when we worked out last night? Give them a call and no dice. No silver phone turned in. Shit, then where is it? Did I leave it in some pants pockets? The laundry finishes and I go to throw it in the dryer. Motherfucker. There staring back at me is my very water logged now useless excuse for a cellphone. Like an idiot I try and immediately turn it on, like it's some super phone that can be used underwater. I hear some popping and sizzling. Oh, maybe I should've dried it out before doing that.

Great. So now I'm at the mercy of Cingular (AT&T) for a new replacement cellphone. When J replaced hers, they hit her up for $150. Not me. I've been suckered too much in my life to take this one with my pockets open. I'm going to ask how much it would be to replace my Motorola L2. If it is anywhere over $75, I will then ask how much it would be to reactivate my old cell phone, which even still has some phone numbers on it and is now fully charged. If I can't be responsible for new fancy technology, I don't deserve to have the fancy new technology. I'm just glad it wasn't the ipod. Although, according to the Simpsons, all the ipod will one day rise up and enslave humanity, whipping us with those cute white ear buds. So maybe I should've washed the ipod. I like the plural of ipod being ipod.

Other than that, good weekend. Installed a new oil dipstick and accessory belt on Focus and threw on some camber plates. Now I need an alignment. I'll let you know the final alignment specs once I get them.

Labels: cell phone, ipod, weekend

Anyone else listen to Primus? If you like wacky lyrics and some funknasty bass lines, I highly recommend them. Wynona's Big Brown Beaver was a popular single in '95 or so. Les Claypool is one of the minds behind the music, as it were. And if anyone lives in Lawrence, KS, he'll be playing at the Wakarusa Festival this June, whatever the hell Wakarusa is.

So I signed up to play on an intramural soccer team. Our first game was snowed out so our first actual game was last night. It's 20 minute halves and the field is pretty small. What that means, especially if you're playing the AFROTC, is that once you get the ball you have time for one touch, maybe two before you're swarmed, but some of our guys were still convinced they could dribble past their whole team. Not gonna happen. Maybe Pele but not you. We got waxed, 4-nil. Yep a big goose egg for our first game. But the high point, for me, was that they did not score while I was on the field. Go me! There was some smack talking, a little pushing, and once again I came to the ugly truth that I'm a horrible trash talker. I'm not that creative and definitely can't think fast enough for it to be remotely effective. But I still try it nonetheless. I already felt stupid telling J this story and don't really want to share it again, but I will, just because I know you'll appreciate it. I have to warn you though. It's pretty bad.

I kept hearing their team, when we had the ball, say that their team should run through us to get to the ball. Classy. So I decided to make my presence known on the defense and the 3 goals in the first half was a fluke and they would not get another if I had anything to say about it. So the ball is passed near a guy I was covering at the time. I ran half around him and half through him, looking at the ball the whole time. He screams "Jesus Fucking Christ!", which I ignore and go cover the guy who actually got the ball. They missed a shot so it was our goal kick. The guy I ran through just happens to be near me so I stare him down. He starts saying "Are you serious? Are you serious?" so I respond, out of breath mind you, with "It's Tapdancing Christ." He walks off and says something like you're picking on a guy half your size (he was about 5'3" or 5'4" and probably 130) so I say "Half my size? We got a math major here!"

Ugh, that makes me shudder it's so stupid. I'm really not good at the smack talk. I should just keep my mouth shut and play my game. But we shook hands after the game and it's all good. Just part of the game and no hard feelings. Most of them seemed like nice guys. I didn't appreciate their keeper come flying in against one of our guys with both cleats up especially since our guy is maybe 5'6" and their wall of a keeper was at least 6'3". But he's the keeper so he can do almost what he wants. That's just soccer.

All in all, it was great to play some semi-organized soccer and get to run around, get knocked down, and play some good hard-nosed defense.

We had serious trouble keeping the ball on their side of the field and we had some various other problems. Hopefully we can somehow get that sorted out or some of the other teams aren't as tough, otherwise this is gonna be a rough season.

Labels: Primus, soccer

Homer's response to Bart complaining that his heart hurts. I can relate. I just took on Fernow St. Cafe's "Triple Threat" Challenge. It's just a one-time thing to spice up everyone's week. It was supposed to happen last week but it got snowed out. Of course, after seeing the pics from Upstate NY where they got 6 feet of snow, school being cancelled for 1-3 inches seems a bit silly.

That's alotta snow.

But the challenge was to eat a triple decker burger with whatever toppings you want and a 22 oz. soda for $5.49. The burgers are 6 oz. (pre-cooked weight I assume but didn't have my pocket scales with me) and there are 3. My burger order went bottom bun, meat, cheese, bottom bun, meat, cheese, meat, mayo, mustard, lettuce, top bun. There will be pictures. The manager of Fernow was snapping pics like mad, so hopefully they'll be up somewhere. Since, as a human, my jaws are unable to unhinge themselves

(image stolen from http://reptilia.org/images/Snake_photo_gallery.htm)
I decided to cheat a little bit and dismantle the monstrosity. I took off the bottom bun, patty and cheese slice. I slathered that in ketchup and casually enjoyed my half burger. Yum, delicious. J hates ketchup, by the way. Then I look up and still have a massive double burger to conquer. Ketchup it up nice and dive in. I work around the edge, taking bites, wiping my mouth from the oozey goodness of my chosen condiments and then start running out of edge, so then I dive into the middle. I'm almost 2/3 of the way through and then I hit a wall. I had been trying to eat fairly fast so my stomach wouldn't know what's going on. But it figured it out and told my brain to "STOP!". No stomach! This is for a gift card and a drawing for a $100 Nike giftcard. So I press on. Slowly but surely, one bite at a time.

FINISHED! Phew, sleepy, too full, feels like post-Thanksgiving dinner. I have definitely over-eaten. And of course was encouraged to by everyone's favorite food provider monopoly, Aramark. Fill out my raffle ticket, snap a finished photo and get my Fernow St. Cafe gift card. WTF? The fliers say that you will get a gift card but they cleverly leave out how much the gift card is. I just found out it is for $4. I paid $5.82. So I'm out $1.82 and am waay too full. Great. But I still have a chance at that Nike giftcard. Hopefully I'll get it so I can enjoy the handicrafts of Asia's youth.

Ugh, I need a nap. Or to purge. I'll get my SC snow/cat pictures up this weekend.

Labels: Fernow, Triple Threat

J was watching "The Hills" on MTV last night and I was making dinner and half watching/listening to it. J knows to call me for the good parts. But I just wanted to point out to anyone who watches that show what a GIGANTIC DOUCHEBAG that ass Spence or Spencer or whatever the hell his douchey name is. Why are all the guys on that show cock stains? I haven't seen one positive male role model on that show yet. And the girl who picked her man over Paris should still be kicking herself. I think hearing that the girl who went in her place got to go hang out at Coco Chanel's house was enough of a kick in the gut.

So DocintheBox tagged me the other day to come up with 6 weird things about myself. Great.

1) I have never had major surgery. Only an ingrown toenail fixed and some molars taken out. That's it.

2) I haven't been to the dentist in at least 4 years. I know, I know, I need to go and will before the semester is up. I promise.

3) I can sleep pretty much anywhere in any situation. School and airports have taught me to sleep sitting upright. Now if I could sleep with my eyes open I would never have to wake up. My first college roommate taught me how to sleep with the radio and lights on. Thanks Jameson for staying up until 4 am while I went to sleep at midnight.

4) Not weird but some of you may not know. I lost my virginity at 20, didn't drink until 19-20, and have only had sex with 3 people, all women.

5) I am fairly addicted to technology but have immense amounts of respect for people who don't have TVs in their house.

6) Ugh, almost done. I have a great knack for getting crappy songs that are stuck in my head unstuck. The trick is sing a song you love and know really well to yourself until that song is stuck in your head, so at least the bad song is out and is replaced by one you actually like.

I tag: No one. I am a tag killer. I stop the insanity. I completely accept the consequences of my actions.

Pictures! No snow pics yet but they're coming. For now just a few wedding pics:

J and I entering the reception.


Garter toss! Pictured are J's brother, Protege and his fiance, my first roommate from up here and many others.


Bouquet toss! Pretty much all of J's Orlando friends, her (and my new) niece, Protege's fiance again, and Subaru is in there too.


J's crazy Grandpa from Queens, J looking uber-lovely, and Subaru's wife


Banquet hall, calm before the storm.

It was an amazing time and everyone had fun. I'll get some more up and those "cat in snow" pics I promised.

And lastly, our tiny Christmas presents:

Labels: The Hills, wedding

I'm thinking about adding a couple new links to the sidebar. Ran across them yesterday while surfing ye olde internet. Both very antiestablishment, for which I am a sucker.

First one is Graffiti Research Lab. They have transcended the traditional paint can and are getting hi-tech with their graffiti. Examples:

With these being throwies, little magnetic LED clusters.

And also with everyone's friend, the laser and projector.


Very cool and while not permanent, definitely makes its mark.

The second is the Anti-Advertising Agency. They are exactly what they say they are. They feel the world is too saturated with ads and are taking a stand. For example, this video shows how to make your average TV into art, also not permanent but I might try it for my next party. They also have some "You don't need it" stickers so you can help out the cause. Example of the sticker in action. Seem like a good idea and I'm all for less visible advertising cuz once they figure out how to beam ads into our dreams (product placement at its finest), it'll be all downhill.

Yes I now loves scarves. They're great! Warm and comfy. I only have two and one is being washed so I'm down to one scarf. My labmates were discussing the other day about how Bossman and I are the only ones who can pull off scarves. Huh? I thought everyone could but I'm still a scarf newbie, so maybe I'm wrong.

No pictures yet. I need to get some stuff up on ebay also. Hopefully I can get to some of that tonight.

Some doctor who goes to the beach in February tagged me.

Sean, I'll get to it tomorrow, but for now, go read his post.

I missed the kick-off, some of the 2nd quarter and all but the last minute and a half of the 2nd half of the game. Football! See? You don't have to like American football at all to enjoy the Super Bowl. It's just another excuse to get together with your friends and enjoy each other's company. Don't overdo it though, you still have to go to work the next day.

I'm glad Peyton showed all the naysayers that he could step up in the big game and get it done.

And once the Pro Bowl is over next week, no more American football until September or so. But now I have soccer games to play in and papers and dissertations to write. Oh joy!

The drift event that I helped out with on Saturday was a success. Lots of spectators and I heard the organizers made enough cash money so they can pay for the next one up front and not have to depend on spectator fees to turn a profit. There were some very good drifters but it was a practice day so anyone with a RWD vehicle could've paid their $120 (girls half off for Valentine's Day, there were 4 or 5 out there tearing it up) and shown up with some extra wheels and tires and slid around. The asphalt was like a cheese grater though. I heard by 3 pm that each of one team's 5 cars were on their 6th set of tires. Yikes. That's alot of rubber being laid down and going into my lungs. It was fun. At one point I was literally the only corner worker. The pressure to get cones set back up is much lower for drifting. Instead of denoting the course and a 2 second penalty for hitting cones during autocross, the cones are merely to denote the course for drifting, so if one gets knocked over, no big deal. Some of the photographers out there helped out too. I took a little break and sat in Tercel for a bit, had some lunch and warmed up a bit. Not because Tercel's heat works, but just because she was in the sun and was nice and warm inside. The high was supposed to be around 49 F (10 C) but the wind would not stop blowing.

The only thing that saved me was my scarf. I am now completely sold on scarves. Lunch time!

We missed out on snow last year so I was stoked that we got a healthy dumping of it this year. But as the snow was melting, helped along by the falling rain, I was a bit miffed. I didn't get to enjoy the snow as much as I would've liked. Sure I built a snowman and threw a few snowballs, but that gets old fast. There are much cooler things to do in snow like sledding, skiing, snowboarding, etc... And then I realized that today was the perfect chance for a 5 day weekend of skiing. Except for the fact that J sent our snow gear (pants, jackets) to her friend who is getting married mid-Feb. and is going on a honeymoon in Colorado. Why she needed them in late January instead of J bringing them down with her is a question we don't pose. And the other fact that J and I had work today. Then it hit me, you know who doesn't have to worry about work? Hippies and rich folks. Sure hippies work part-time jobs and have some income but mostly live off the land, so if they get a whiff of a snow storm, they can up and head to their local ski slope and enjoy the winter windfall. Same goes for the richies. If they work, they most likely own their own business and can either close up shop or tell their workers to open up and run things. They could also afford the peak season rates for ski gear and lodging, where the hippies can crash with friends or just sleep in their car. I didn't really ask J but she made it abundantly clear that she would not be sleeping in the car and we have no friends who live near the slopes, so I guess that means we need to become rich. I'm working on getting out of here and then making better money but even then we still have some sizeable student loan debt. So J keeps putting her hopes in the Powerball. Um, I guess. I don't really have any problem with it, per se, cuz she doesn't blow tons of money on it. Just a few bucks occasionally when the jackpot gets around $100 million. It would be nice but I cannot seriously expect to win the lottery, so we'll just have to see if this "grad school and career" thing pans out. I think it will.

So to the fortunate people who went skiing up near Boone, NC this weekend and other Southern ski slopes, count your lucky stars and I hope you truly enjoy the opportunities that you're given. Same goes for everyone else too. Also, please keep dear Nanner in your thoughts. She's going through a very rough patch.

It is now raining but it had been snowing. I got up, threw on some long johns and jeans and made my snowman. Unfortunately I should've made it sooner, the snow was going from powder to slush right before my eyes.

Clemson is on a 2 hour delay which is why I'm still at home.

I'm planning a photo post for tomorrow or maybe tonight if my soccer game is cancelled. Huh, dictionary.com just told me that cancelled with -ll- is the British spelling of that word. Looks better to me. The l needs a friend in between all those damn vowels.

Yes I'm finally on an intramural soccer team. It's with the guys that I occasionally play with on Saturdays. Our team name is "Turkish Rebels" cuz most of the guys are Turkish. Attention FBI, I am NOT a Turkish rebel. I'm a white college kid who loves America. But if the Christian Right gets their way, I will move elsewhere.

J just left for work. I'm concerned some for her but mostly for everyone else on the road. Southerners don't know how to drive in snow and ice. It's a practice thing; we don't ever get any and that coupled with the fact that they can't drive very well in the first place, makes me concerned.

Phew, J just came back after sliding through two stop signs. Praise Jebus!

Okay, you guys might luck out and get that photo post sooner than you think.

Today is definitely a work at home day. But I do have to teach this afternoon. Hopefully this stuff will mostly melt by then.

Labels: snow, soccer