I'd like to appologize for the lack of posts lately, as I have been off enjoying my second honeymoon with Junior.
Anyways, a few quick updates...
-I bought some new shoes to CrossFit in. Exciting hu? They are the Nike Zoom TRE AD's and actually, they are from Nike's skateboardig line-up of shoes. Why these shoes?
Most workout/running/cross training shoes these days have large, cushioned heals which are ment to absorb shock and lessen the wear and tear on your joints. This is terrific if you are going to be running long distances, but not so great if you are doing things that involve maximizing the force you exert against the ground. In short, the cushioned heals absorb the force, which limits your ability to perform certain things at a maximum level.
Also, a raised heal changes your center of gravity, which causes you to rely more on your quadricps, and less on your hamstrings are glutes. Again, this can be good for things like jogging, but bad for balance, delivering force, and many power/olympic lifting exercises.
Lastly, with many running shoes (and to some degree, even these shoes) the soles are shaped in a way that facilitates a natural roll/rocking motion from heal to toe. This makes it harder to stay on your heals in movments that involve driving through your heals for power.
So why skateboarding shoes? If you think about skateboarding, it is very dependent on manipulating the board through very percise amounts of pressure and force, thus it elimintates any of the things mentioned above.
Oh, and they are themed like the Marty McFly Hyperdunks, which makes them pretty sweet.
-The DJIA is trading below 6,800 right now. On the bright side, Seattle sports have been on an upswing over these last few months!
-No speeding tickets lately, which is probably due in part to the fact that I am actually following the speed limit these days. Still, just to be safe, I think I am going to pick up a radar detector since spring is just around the corner (knock on wood). Safety first!
-Despite having somewhat of an odd shaped head, I think I'm going to go back to the shaved noggin circa 2006. I figure between the two showers I take every day and the cost of haircuts/hair care products, I'll be able to save the equivalent of 8 hours a month. That's an extra day off every month! In all seriousness, having a shaved head just makes life easier, just ask Britney.
Wow. What a worthwhile and amazing update. I'm sure you will agree and are extremely excited for my next, worthwhile and amazing update. Stay tuned.
Since I was already heading down to Portland for the show last Wednesday, I thought that I might as well take Thursday and Friday off and make a much needed mini vacation out of the whole trip. The following is a recap of the highs, lows (sadly), and random observations from my 5 day excursion to Portland.
-Saw Nate Moceri for the first time since 7th grade, who is currently living with B-unit. It was great catching up with him and recalling how cool we were back in the day. For the record, if you didn't get a CCS Magazine in the mail every month or didn't own a pair of Vans, you weren't cool.
Note: B-unit still owns a pair of Vans and has a new CCS Magazine sitting on his desk.
-Received was easily the best service by a waiter while down in Portland at a place called The Fat City Cafe.I came inside from being on the phone about 1 minute behind A-Mac and he already had a cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Within seconds of sitting down (keep in mind, the place was pretty busy and he was the only waiter), the waiter had come by again asking me if I would like anything to drink. Orange juice and coffee please.
In no more than a minute, I too had a cup of coffee and a glass of OJ sitting in front of me. Fantastic. And it didn't end there. Our food was brought in a timely fashion and during that time I never once reached empty on my cup of coffee. Talk about being Johnny on the spot. Lastly, we had ordered some lunch for a friend to-go and it was brought out to us in a box right as we finished our food. Quite frankly, I don't think I've ever had a waiter that was even in the same ballpark as this guy.
-Another Fat City related note... Ordering a cinnamon roll, a side of hash browns, a blueberry waffle, a biscuit and a farmer's sizzle (hash browns, eggs, veggies, mixed together with gravy on top) is entirely to much food to eat in one sitting. I am still regretting this.
-Worked out at the 24 Hour Fitness with B-unit on Thursday. Went over some form stuff with deadlift, cleans, and squats. It's always great having someone knowledgeable on hand to critique what you are doing (or not doing). After that he had to work with some of his client's so I went along and did a CrossFit workout to finish up the day.
Was planning on doing "Fran" but wasn't able to locate a pull-up bar near the barbells. This ended up being much worse as your legs don't get a rest. Following my WOD, a guy came up to me and asked where I CF'ed at. Apparently he owns a CF gym in Seattle and doing thrusters and burpees makes you stick out like a sore thumb.
-Random quote from someone else who saw me doing my workout:
You have very nice thruster.
Umm... thank you? I think.
-Cat & Bird seemed to enjoy this video immensely (especially the balloon part):
I'm pretty sure all 13,000 views are from them watching it.
-Nate's birthday was on Friday so we took him out to a place called The Good Foot over on the east side of Portland at the advice of B-unit (who had to depart for San Diego earlier that day). Apparently, Fridays are Funk/B Boy night and it ended up being pretty awesome. Some of the B Boyz were pretty impressive and the music was fun to dance to.
Needless to say, we got Nate smashed. On the way home (I was the DD for the night) the five of us rocked out to some Daft Punk in the car, followed by another five dude dance session to Daft Punk once we got home. While that was probably my first (and hopefully last) all dude dance party, it was pretty much the highlight of the entire night.
-Learned that one of CWA's founders passed away last week at the age of 89. Always a sad day when news like that comes along. His love and postive influence well be felt at CWA for generations to come. RIP Sam.
-I'm glad my nickname isn't poo pile.
-Found out that my drivers license expired a few weeks ago. Whoops. Didn't have any problems with it until we tried to get into a bar downtown on Saturday. Luckily, the back door was open. Thanks Poo. I think that is the first time that I've ever snuck into a bar.
-We started out on the east side Saturday night and met up with Cat's roommate there who works for a large athletic apparel company that isn't named Nike and starts with an A. They were having a going away party for one of her bosses and so the place was packed with employees. Around 10:30 we decided to finish our drinks and meet up with some friends in the downtown area.
At that point I sent a text to my friend Fitz to see where he was, and recieved a reply that there was a shooting and that SWAT and the police were swarming the place, but we should still come down to the bar he was at.
We later learned that a gunman had opened up fire outside of one of the bars there and had injured 7 and killed two. Damn...
Note: learning this was easily the lowlight of the trip.
-While walking to one of the downtown bars we passed a guy playing a guitar on the street. It wasn't until I was a few steps passed him that I recognized that he as playing "Wagon Wheel" by OCMS. I quickly turned around and emptied my pockets into his donation hat. Randomly hearing one of your favorite (and somewhat obscure) songs while drunkely making your way down a city sidewalk late at night? Worth every dollar.
-When you know you will be sleeping on couches and floors for 4 nights in a row, always, always, ALWAYS, bring your foam roller along with you. I didn't and my back hate me for it.
-Lazzeri meat balls are nothing to rave about. The verdict is still out on Paccione and Moceri.
-Also on that food related note, Fitz and Drew opened up my eyes on the cooking possibilites for the Paleo diet. Stay tuned for the results of my first Roast.
-Flooding a second story house is not fun (don't worry Adam, we didn't flood again). Even worse is when it starts leak out of the ceiling below. For the record, this was totally the result of a failed attempt by a landlord to fix this matter and the involved tennants should not be blamed.
If you tell your landlord that your toilets aren't flushing correctly and they send someone by that takes one look at the toilet and tells you "that is how toilets are supposed to work," and then your toilet floods the next day, that is their bad, not yours.
-Made it down to Portland in 2 hours flat and back in 2:10 without having to re-fill my tank. I think I am just going to start makin weekend shopping excursions down there for food and whatever else I need. I'm pretty sure my tax savings could pay for my gas bill at the current gas prices.
In conclusion, Portland is a pretty great place and I'm looking forward to my next visit down there. Maybe next time I'll try filling up my gas tank while I'm there. What happenes if you try to fill up yourself? I guess I'll just have to find out...
-There is something positive to be said about having the leader of your country being in good physical health. It really does feel good knowing that our President (Elect) could take any other President out there in a 1v1 basketball game.
Seriously, how confident would you be if Obama was at an impass with another President and just said,
"Listen, this discussion isn't going anywhere. How about we just shoot for it?"
Is there anyone out there that you would even have to worry about hitting rim?
-I'm test driving the Paleo diet for a month. So far it sucks. Almost every meal requires me to cook 2 or more items. I guess this wouldn't be so bad if I had the slightest clue on how to cook things. Until now, my only real stove-cooking experience involved boiling water in order to make pasta and the such. Sadly, all of that type of food is cut out in the Paleo diet. The over/under of my lasting on this diet is about 3 days.*.. which would be Wednesday. Wish me luck.
*To be fair and not hold back any information, I should probably state that there is a candy bowl with almond roca in the reception area at the office. Everytime I pass by it takes every ounce of willpower I have to not eat any. This will be my downfall... it is really only a matter of time.
-Can anyone tell me what the difference between chopping, cutting, dicing, slicing, and mincing is? Are they just fancy words that cook book authors use so they don't sound repetitive, or is there actually a difference?
-Bill Simmons has it made. Half the stuff he puts out there is directly from his readers. There has to be at least a hundred people out there who could start ghost writing for him and no one would be the wiser. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this already happened a la The Princess Bride.
"Well, Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts', he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia."
Except in Bill's case, he is probably broke and living in Vegas.
Side note: I can't wait for someone to make a movie about this. Can anyone say Nicholas Cage?
-My new favorite word is "Pood."
Pood (n): a Russian unit of weight, equal to 36.11 pounds (16.38 kilograms).
It is extremely fun to say. Just try it...
...did you try it?
......when you tried it did you also stick your neck out?
It's like a natural reflex for me when I say it.
Pood... Pood... Pood!
-Fiat is considering buying a stake in Chrysler right now. I'm pretty sure that would spell doom for the Dodge Viper. This saddens me.
-Speaking of cars, mine is back from the dead. Long story short, the fuel sensor went haywire, which prevented my car from starting as a saftey precaution. Thank you Mr. 4 year/50,000 mile warranty!
Back in the day at Voyager Elementary School we used to play a lot of soccer at recess. Typically, we would play 2nd-4th grade against the 5th graders. This would usually amount to a 20-30 vs. 8-12 scenario and if it wasn't for one factor, us younger kids would have always been slaughtered by the much more talented 5th graders. This one factor was Danny Waltman.
Danny Waltman was a 5th grader. Probably the best 5th grader at that. He could dribble past anyone and score from 50 yards out. Okay, maybe not 50 yards out, but he was amazing. To make things fair the teams fair, he would always play with us younger kids.
When I say "play with" I choose those words carefully, because that is exactly what he would do. Despite the fact that all of us sucked (except for maybe Andy and Drew) and he could easily dribble through the entire opposing team (this is no exaggeration), he was always a team player and would do everything he could to make us feel like we were actually doing something to help the team. I'm pretty sure the first legitimate soccer recess goal I ever scored came off of a Danny Waltman assist.
At some point near the end of his 5th grade year I can remember sitting with him by the wallball courts and him telling me that he was moving and that he wouldn't be going to Kopachuck Middle School, which was right across the way. This pretty much meant that I would never see him again.
To get to the point of all this, Danny Waltman was my hero in elementary school. If there was anyone that I wanted to be like during those years on the playground, it was him. Throughout the years I've always wondered what happened to him, that is until today when Facebook informed me that another elementary school friend of mine had joined the Danny Waltman Fan Club.
Holy S***!!!! Danny Waltman?!?!
Apparently, Danny went onto be a 4 year starter at Bellarmine Prep. He also attended the University of Washington where he made second team All Pac-10 his senior year and was voted Most Inspirational by his teammates. Currently, he plays in the Major League Indoor Soccer League as a goalie for the Detroit Ignition.
I don't think he himself is on Facebook, and I probably will never get a chance to talk to him. But on the off chance that he decides to Google his name and this page pops up...
Danny,
Thank you for being my hero all those days on the Voyager playground. You were an inspiration and role model to us all.
Sincerely,
-The little asian kid that used to follow you around at recess... and was really bad at soccer
Note: This is a recollection from my elementary school days and might not be 100% accurate, but is it the best I can remember things. I'm a little hazy on how the teams were split up grade wise (it may have been 1-3 vs 4-5) and I can't recall exactly why I was never going to see Danny again. I do however clearly remember sitting down with him by the wallball courts and him telling me that he was going away.
How bad is my car in the snow right now? It sucks so bad that I was unable to get over the 6 inch incline to make it into my driveway. As a result, I've had to park my car on the street for the last two nights.
Further exemplifying my car's suckyness, I tried to move it just now and was only able to succeed in sliding the car back 15 feet, at which point my car was stopped by the pile of snow that my neighbor made when he cleared his driveway.
To top it all off, I may have succeeded in applying a nice dose of curb rash to my wheels while sliding backwards. I'm crossing my fingers that the thick layer of ice that was encasing the curb prevented any major damage.
I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to move my car for a few days. That, or I am going to have to spend a few hours with my invisible shovel to clear the area surrounding my car tomorrow. Ugh... I should have bought an Audi.
The following quotes were all taken from separate articles in today’s Wall Street Journal.
“President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are intensifying work on a stimulus plan that would dole out roughly a half-trillion dollars over two years on tax-rebate checks and an array of "green" projects from home weatherization to renewable energy.”
“Their focus is on passing a separate, half-trillion dollar stimulus program that Mr. Obama said Sunday would be the largest infrastructure program since the Eisenhower administration's construction of the interstate highway system.”
“The Marine Corps is on pace to expand its force by tens of thousands more than two years ahead of schedule, a rare bit of good news for a military stretched thin by the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Large scale public works projects…
Increased military size…
Handing out money to the plebes…
“Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you, Six Degrees to the Roman Empire!!!”
Okay, so maybe I’m not being serious here. Maybe I'm just trying to fill the void in my life that HBO left when they decided to cancel "Rome" after two seasons due to production costs. But if I was being serious...
- Would Obama be granted a Triumph if he brought the troops home from Iraq? According to Wikipedia, these are the qualifications needed for one:
Win a significant victory over a foreign enemy, killing at least 5,000 enemy troops, and earn the title imperator.
Be an elected magistrate with the power of imperium, i.e. a dictator, consul, or a praetor.
Bring the army home, signifying that the war was over and that the army was no longer needed. Of course this only applied to the Republican era when the army was a citizen army. By the imperial period, when the army was professional, the proper triumph was reserved for the emperor and his family. If a general was awarded a triumph by the emperor, he would march with a token number of his troops.
In the Republican period, the senate had to give approval for a triumph based on the above mentioned requirements.
Assuming that being elected President covers whole “power of imperium” issue, I figure that the senate would be willing to wave the whole "kill 5,000 enemy troops” requirement (while he is in office) so long as Obama were to actually bring them home.
Side-note: If we actually had Triumphs, would Bush have brought the troops home months ago? Even if he did, would the Senate have given him the finger and denied him the honor of a Triumph?
- Would the UFC replace Celine Dion as main attraction at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace? If they matched up UFC fighters against convicted Terrorists would it be in violation of the Geneva Convention? Would watching this event on PPV make me a war criminal?
- Obama mentioned something a while back about creating a Civilian National Security Force. Would this be like the Praetorian Guard? Can Russell Crowe be part of this? “PRAETORIAN!!!”
Okay, enough of this. Time get get serious. Back to work…
I work for my dad. He also happens owns the business. Since the state of Washington is a community property state, I guess that also implies that I work for my mom.?
As a result, my mother tends to visit my office frequently. These "visits" typically involve her bugging me for 30 minutes, using our postage machine to send out personal letters, and then "borrowing" whatever supplies we have in stock (i.e. pens, yellow note pads, ect...).
Today, she stopped by in order to make copies of some X-mas card she put together. In her attempts to do so, she jammed our printer and had to be escorted out of the office before anything else was broken. I'd feel bad about doing this, except she then decided to then plant herself outside my door for 30 minutes and make faces at me while I tried to eat my lunch.
If my mom was 20 years older I'd probably try to get her to audition for a part on The Office as Michael Scott's mother. I'm pretty sure they could make an entire season around this.
- Michael's mom moves into town. She decides to visit him at the office and brings treats for everyone. Everyone loves her except Dwight, who saw her slip a pen into her purse before she left...
- Michael's mom calls Pam to set up an appointment with Michael under the title "Important Client Meeting." Michael, thinking that he actually has an important client meeting scheduled, is stressed all day becaue he has no idea what the meeting is about.
- Michael's mom decides to redecorate The Office with the help of Angela. Phyllis is left out of the planning committe and becomes unfriendly with Michael's mom.
- Jim takes Michael's mom out on a date. Michael's mom procedes to tell Jim embarrassing stories about Michael. Jim procedes to tell Michael's mom that he thinks Michael needs to get out more often.
- Michael's mom attempts to set Michael up on a blind date. Reluctantly, Michael agrees. At the same time, in an attempt to patch up her relationshop with Phyllis, Michael's mom sets her up on a blind date also...
The storyline possibilities really are endless here. Hell, I think you could even make a whole separate TV show about this. Are any TV execs out there reading this? This needs to happen, if only to get my mom from stop bugging me at work.
YMCA Turkey Bowl: Our team won, no thanks in part to myself, as my hamstring decide to go on strike midway through the first game. CJ threw for roughly 20,000 TD’s, half of which were on short passes to this ridiculously quick guy named Chris who would run past 7 defenders and into the end zone before they could grab his flag.
CWA Turkey Bowl: My team won, twice. This time, I’d like to think that I had some small part in it due to my team picking skills. The best part of the whole event was Todd showing up and pulling out the hit stick on an interception pass that was 30 yards downfield at the time of “The Hit.”
My Hamstring: Still hates me. When did I turn into an injury prone old man? This sucks.
Thanksgiving Dinner: My mom decided not to make mashed potatoes this year and went with some fancy rice dish instead. If she ever decides to pull this stunt again it isn’t going to be pretty.
Thanksgiving Dinner Discussion: When asked what I was thankful for, I decided to go with the controversial “I’m thankful for our President, George Bush.” After all, the guy has served our country for the last 8 years. Despite what you may think of him, can we at least give him a little bit of respect?
This made my sister go crazy, at which point something along the lines of
“Are you serious? George Bush CAUSED 9/11. Have you not seen Fahrenheit 9/11?”
came out of her mouth. She then followed this up by saying that the Bush family gave money to foreign oil companies, which had terrorist connections, which meant that our President caused 9/11.
Apparently, she mistook the “6 Degrees to Kevin Bacon” game for the “6 Degrees to Causing 9/11” game. It’s one thing to draw connections or even state that George Bush could have done more to prevent 9/11, but to blame the President for actually causing 9/11? Get serious.
CWA Masa Reunion: Good times. At some point in the night I made the decision to walk the 1.8 miles home. Luckily, Zeyad drove by and came to my rescue by taking me the rest of the way. Sadly, he was unable to save me from the extremely painful Saturday that I went through, which was obviously caused by my hamstring injury and had nothing to do with tequila shots.
I had a seriously awkward experience today and I find that I must share it with you. This awkward experience also brings up another issue that I have been debating whether or not to talk about, because frankly, it's kind of disgusting. If you are female, you may find some of this a little gross. Then again, I find this a little gross, so whatever. Okay, that's my disclaimer. Onto the potty talk...
If aren't aware, I work in a smallish-sized office building. It is a very nice building and about three other companies share the space with us. Along with this shared space is two private, single bathrooms. One for men, one for women.
Typically, there are a few hunting and golfing magazines sitting on top of the toilet, which I expect is standard with offices like ours. Today however, instead of golfing magazines, there were three editions of Playboy sitting on top of the toilet. WTF?
Not that I have anything against Playboy, or beautiful naked women for that matter, but who leaves Playboy magazines in restroom, at a place of business? If you want to sneak one in there, that's one thing (still pretty weird), but these were obviously left there for other people to read. One thought is that maybe someone accidentally left them there? Doubtful considering there were three of them. The second thought is that it was a joke? It isn't April fools though.
The awkward part of this is that I'm easily the youngest guy in the building. All the other men here have to be over 50... which means one of them decided to buy three Playboys and stick them in the men's room, for their, and others enjoyment. This is extremely creepy and I really am trying not to think about it more then I have too right now.
As the youngest, I hope I don't get blamed for this. I'd throw them away myself, except I really have no desire to touch them. Also, there is a small part of me that is waiting/hoping for someone else to see them and get mad about it. Hopefully, that someone won't be one of our clients.
Really now, who in their right mind would think that Playboy would be appropriate office restroom reading material? A house with a bunch of college guys? Sure. But an office? Wow. This boggles my mind. Which reminds me of the second thing I wanted to discuss...
If I were to go into a stall at a public restroom, say at a stadium, movie theater, or even a school, I'd almost expect (sadly) to see that someone had some piss poor aim (pun intended). What I don't expect, is that when going into a restroom in a small business office (where only 10 or so people that use the restroom) that I would find the same.
Again, WTF? The reason I would expect this in a public place is because there are probably a lot of 3rd graders out there who probably don't care if they lift the toilet seat. But 50 year old men? Come on now, give me a break. At the very least, feel free to clean up after yourself.
On the bright side, we are moving offices this month. Well, in actuality we are just moving to the other side of the building. Luckily, there is a separate bathroom over there and I am hopeful that these issues will not carry over.
I'm sitting in the dealership service department right now waiting for my car to undergo it's 12,000 mile check-up. I brought my laptop along as I figured it would be a good chance to write a little blog update to help make the time pass. So without further adu...
- The blue leather chair that I am sitting in is pretty comfy, except that it is so low to the ground that I feel like I'm a little kid. It's kind of like the effect you get when you sit in a chair where your feet can't touch the ground... except in reverse. I don't know if that makes sense, but if you have ever used the men's bathroom in the University of Redlands athletic center, you probably know what I am talking about.
- There is an older couple sitting across from me (I'd venture to guess they are 80+) and the old man is reading the newspaper to his wife. I get the sense that this is an everyday occurrence for them. For lack of a better description, they are extremely cute.
Note: The word cute will never be used on this blog again.
- A lady just sat down with her complementary cup of coffee and breakfast bar. Her attempts to open up the breakfast bar packaging quietly are failing miserably. Just open the damn package already.
- I watched 24: Redemption last night. It was a last minute decision as I wasn't sure if I wanted to devote the next 24 Monday nights to watching Jack Bauer yell at people. Then I remembered the amazing invention known as DVR.
- Another reason why I am choosing to watch this season's 24... My boss/dad definitely had "New 24 Season Starts" marked down on his calender. He is addicted. I haven't seen him so into a show since the X-Files. I look forward to dropping random Jack Bauer references into our conversations over the next few months.
"Jon... Jack Bauer is on line 1. He says it's urgent."
- There is a sign by the complementary coffee stand that says "This costs more to maintain than a BMW." Apparently it hasn't exceeded the 4 year/50,000 mile warranty yet.
- I ran for the first time in 3 weeks on Saturday. I am happy to report that my foot was pain free. Just in time for the 3 Turkey Bowls that I am playing in this week. Food and Football. What could be better?
- Can't think of anything else to write about right now... time for another cup of coffee.
- Okay. I'm back! Wait... this blog isn't in real time is it? Nevermind.
- I really want to sneak a picture of the old couple sitting across from me for the blog, except turning my macbook towards them isn't exactly subtle when they would be able to see themselves in the picture preview. Then again, the lady is now snoozing with her head on the arm of her chair and the old man is thoroughly engaged in his newspaper.
- Nevermind. My car just pulled up. Ugh... It looks clean. I forgot to tell them not to wash it. Last time they washed it they put about 1000 new swirl marks on my car. Hopefully they vacuumed.
Back in August I received a speeding ticket for going 92mph in a speed zone that was less than half of that. Honestly, I deserved the ticket. If I was a better man I probably would have conceded that fact and just paid my $411 fine. Sadly, the prospect of being bent over by my car insurance wasn’t to appealing and I decided to go with a traffic lawyer to fight the ticket.
When I contacted my traffic lawyer I originally thought my ticket was for 72mph and not 92mph. At this point I was told that I was lucky that I wasn’t cited for reckless driving and that my chances of getting out of the ticket were slim.
A week later I received a phone call from my lawyer informing me that my ticket was actually for 92mph. So not only was I extremely lucky for not receiving a reckless, but I was lucky that I didn’t end up in jail that night. The only reasonable explanation for why I lucked out is that the officer probably had somewhere else to be (talk about being lucky). Needless to say, at this point my chances for having the ticket dismissed went from slim, to very “this is a complete shot in the dark” slim.
Worst case scenario, I was looking at a $411 fine, sky high insurance rates, and a second ticket on my record (I currently have 0, but if this one stood, a deferred ticket that I received a few months back would have been added back on. Best case scenario, I was looking at a $250 lawyer fee and the not-so-great feeling of knowing that I probably deserved the worst.
Well, as it turns out, I received a call from my traffic lawyer today informing me that my ticket was dismissed. While I am surprised and somewhat elated by this news, I still have that not-so-great feeling of knowing that I just dodged a whole round of bullets.
According to Albert Einstein,
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Respectfully, I find that I must disagree with this statement. Expecting to get off scott-free every time I decided to drive like a complete donkey is insanity. Knowing that one day I’ll probably be handed a “worst case scenario” is just the reality of some of my bad driving habits.
What’s really insane is that even knowing all of this, I’ll probably continue to speed. I’ll probably find some way to justify it to myself and even feel good about it from time to time…
Ugh… is this what alcoholics go through?
“I can handle my driving.”
“I’m not hurting anyone”
“It was just that one time I drove to fast (and got caught).”
I suppose it is…
Being good at driving fast is just about as awesome as the ability to take a large number of shots, down a beer-bong, or shot-gun a beer. It’s all great and fantastic until you wake-up the next morning in the hospital, having no recollection of the previous night, with nothing but your boxers and a pair of dress socks (that you got for free with your tuxedo rental) on. Not that this has ever happened to me before…
My poor Blackberry Curve is dieing. It keeps passing out on me and won't eat anything. I am guessing that it has something to do with the number of times that I dropped/submerged the poor thing.
On the bright side, the Blackberry Bold was just released for AT&T. I guess all that is left for me to do is to bury my Curvy mistress and choose between the Bold and the iPhone.
I'll probably end up going with the iPhone just because that is what all the cool kids have. Well, that and it's a lot cheaper than the new Blackberry.
RIP Curvy. I'm sorry that I abused you so much. Thank you for making me a better text message-er. You deserved a much better life than the one that I gave you.
- I didn’t make the 40 laps around CWA needed to run a marathon on Saturday. In short…
After 28 laps my thighs cramped up.
After 32 laps my joints couldn’t take the pressure from running on concrete anymore.
After 34 laps my walking was reduced to a pathetic waddle.
After 36 laps my body called it quits.
In total, I made it 23.5 miles before my body decided to stand up for itself and tell my brain to shut up.
While most of my body has returned to working order, I think I have a stress fracture in my right foot. Either way, I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be running on cement anytime soon.
Note: I should probably add a blog label for all the posts that involve me doing something stupid... ugh.
The last thing that I will say about trying to run a marathon is that my biggest regret isn’t that I wasn’t able to finish. It’s that I made the poor choice to wear cotton boxer briefs instead of spandex.
- I really enjoyed The Simpsons Halloween parody of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Come to think of it, I think I enjoy almost all things Peanuts related.
- Last Friday I went to watch the CWA Football Team take on the Life Christian Eagles. Long story short, the CWA Tarriers scored on a 4th and goal play from around the 3 yard line (with seconds left in the game) to give them the victory, 39-35.
My favorite part of the whole ending occurred during the timeout prior to the ensuing Tarrier TD. From the Life Christian huddle I heard one of the players yell:
“Just like last year, guys!” (Last year being the year that Life Christian stopped the Tarriers on a 4th and goal play from the 1 yard line to seal the win.)
Needless to say, those words would probably be burning a hole in my head if the Eagles had made the stop. Thankfully, they didn’t, and CWA came away with the victory. GO TARRIERS.
- I’m still uncertain on who I will vote for in the 2008 Presidential Election… which is today. Here is what I am certain of:
I, Dunkie, will support the next President of the United States of America, regardless of which nominee wins, until such time that he gives me a legitimate reason to lose all faith in his ability to make intelligent decisions that impact my life and the people I care about.
That’s about as far as I will go into politics here…
- My body is adjusting well to adding a Crossfit workout session in the morning. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I don't actually have to wake up an hour earlier due to daylight savings working in my favor.
- Safeway has extended their sale on Stompin’ Steakhouse Chili through the 11th. Exciting.
- Lastly, in honor of the Presidential Election and The Great Pumpkin, I leave you with this quote:
"I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin." -Linus van Pelt, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
The One Heart Cafe (aka my annoying neighbor) is moving out of the Merlino Arts Building. Words can not describe my excitement upon hearing this news.
It's not that I have anything against the people that frequent the cafe, or the cafe in general, it's just that I can hear everything that goes on there... from my room.
Needless to say, I will not miss the late night political discussions, crappy wifi, or "bring your own musical instrument nights" that have caused me headaches over the last 6 months.
Peace out OHC. I wish you the very best in your new location.
It usually takes me a while to organize my thoughts and write something down that is worth posting. Lately, I've been pretty exhausted with life and my brain hasn't had the energy to put anything together. As a result, I've decided to just post a bunch of thoughts without going into a whole lot of detail about any specific one.
In no particular order...
- Allowing the MLB Playoffs to be shown on TBS, which doesn't broadcast in HD, was an absolutely horrible idea. Bud, how did you let this happen?
- I received a speeding ticket a few months ago. The officer told me that he locked me in at 82 mph, but when he handed me the ticket it said 72 mph... nice guy right? Well, I found out last week that he wrote me the ticket for 92 mph and not 72 mph. Apparently I can't read numbers. Sadly, I don't think that is a valid argument to fight a ticket on...
- Haven't spilled any coffee on myself in over a week. It's the little victories in life that keep me going...
- I attended the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra's season opener at the Pantages Theater last weekend. The evenings theme was A Night in Old Russia and featured music from Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky. This was probably my fifth time attending the symphony in the last two years and I'm finding that I actually enjoy it. Still, I doubt that I will be adding Mozart or Tchaikovsky to my ipod any time soon.
- Two weeks ago I was rooting for either a Red Sox vs. Dodgers or Rays vs. Phillies World Series matchup. In retrospect, I should have rooted harder for the Red Sox/Dodgers.
- Jamie Moyer's performance in game 3 of the World Series was nothing short of epic. I hope the Phillies win the World Series just so my inner Seattle Fan can live vicariously through him for an evening.
- I strained my left pectoral muscle last week. I've been trying to lift around it but that isn't working out so well. Today, I found out that it is a little worse than I thought/hoped and I can't even do pushups. It's looking like I'll have to give it 3-4 weeks of rest for it to heal properly. I'm pretty bummed about this.
- For those that are interested, Stompin' Steakhouse Chili is currently on sale at Safeway.
- The stock market was up 899 points today. I thought that was at least worth mentioning.
Note: Anything below a 500 point swing in the DJIA doesn't even make me blink anymore. I don't know if that is good or a bad thing.
- My new favorite song to work out to is Let it Rock by Kevin Rudolf (ft. Lil' Wayne). I've been listening to it on repeat for the last two weeks and I'm still not tired of it. Only 10 more weeks until it surpasses the Numb/Encore remix by Jay-Z & Linkin Park as my all-time favorite. Have I mentioned that I routinely listen to playlists that don't exceed 3 songs while working out? Is that weird?
- My new pet peeve is seeing police officers talking on their cell phones while driving in a marked vehicle. Seriously now...
- I realized last night that I have an odd habit of curling my wrists and putting pressure on them while I sleep. After Googling it I found out that this is a symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome. This probably isn't a good thing.
That's about it for now. Hopefully my brain will start functioning again and I'll be able to write something with some substance in the in the next few days. Until then... err nevermind. I've got nothin'.
Every day I walk over to the place next door and buy myself a 24oz cup of French Roast coffee. I then mosey back to my office and settle in for the day as I enjoy my morning coffee and read the Wall Street Journal.
About once a week, I somehow manage to spill my coffee. On a good week, I will be leaning forward and the desk will come to my rescue. On a bad week, my shirt becomes an embarrassing brown spotted mess.
Up until today, I had a few theories about why I kept spilling my coffee. They ranged from not securing the lid properly, to me just being a complete dumbass. As it turns out, it was more of the latter.
What I discovered this morning is that due to the height of a 24oz cup of coffee, the cup (which is made out of paper) is very susceptible to outside pressure when the coffee level drops below the midpoint. Therefore, holding the cup near the top causes the paper to flex, thus creating a small gap between the top of cup and the plastic lid. What results from this is the phenomenon known as the embarrassing brown spotted mess. Note: Please do not confuse the "embarrassing brown spotted mess" with the "embarrassing brown spot." While both are brown and embarrassing, they are completely different phenomenons.
Warning: Both phenomenons should be avoided at all costs.
Last Friday marked the 3 year revocation anniversary of the Phi Sigma Tau Fraternity Charter by the University of Redlands. In the immortal words of Bluto,
"They took the bar. The whole ****ing bar." -Animal House
To commemorate this depressing day I had fully intended to revisit the events leading up to our extinction in the form of a blog tribute.
Sadly, when I attempted to access my Redlands.edu e-mail address to find some saved photos and reinstatement petition letters to use in my blog, I found that my e-mail had befallen the same fate as my fraternity. The University of Redlands had shut it down and it was no longer active. Attempts to revive my poor e-mail address were met with this reply:
Jeff,
There was a short time after the accounts were deactivated that we were able to reactivate them. However that time has expired and we are now unable to reactivate.
-Bruce E********
Work Order No.: 24685
To me, this is almost more depressing than losing the fraternity charter. At least with the fraternity I still have things such as my pledge book, fraternity letters, and random relics that were passed down to me by my big brother to hold onto. Not to mention the friends, brothers and lifelong lessons I learned while being in a fraternity. But as for my e-mail address, there is really no other way to describe this loss than straight up heartbreaking.
My Toshiba laptop that I had throughout college succumbed to the blue screen of death years ago, and with it went a treasure trove of college term papers and photos. While I took this loss pretty hard, I never had a printer in my room and would always e-mail papers to myself and print them out in the Fletcher-Jones Computer Center. Therefore, my Redlands.edu e-mail had essentially become a backup of every paper I ever wrote in college, as well as many other gems.
In order to commemorate the loss of my Redlands.edu e-mail, I’d like to read off a list of things that perished along with it, and say a few parting words about some of them.
Random Papers: From Government 101, to Comparative Literature, I will no longer be able to revisit countless papers from my four year tenure at the University of Redlands. While I probably wouldn’t even want claim to have written half of these papers, it would still be nice to be able to look back on how my writing style has developed/regressed over the years.
My Senior Capstone Paper: I spent countless hours throughout my senior year on this paper… ok, that’s kind of a lie. I wrote the paper in about a week at the end of my first semester, and never turned in a rough draft which was 30% of my grade. As a result I failed the course and had to repeat my capstone class second semester and revise the paper. I think the second time around I spent about one night editing the paper and ended up with a B+ in the class. Thanks Professor Pedace!
Viagra offers: I’m pretty sure I had over a thousand offers for Viagra sitting in my spam box. Luckily, I have about 366 of the same offers in my work spam box to browse through should I ever feel the need to reminisce.
Pledging photos: Granted that it may be in the best interest of my pledge class that these pictures have been lost forever due to their somewhat compromising nature; these were always good for a few laughs and will be greatly missed. Breakdown!
Phi Tau Petition Letter: This may be The Heart of the Ocean of my lost e-mail collection (wow… that’s two Titanic references on my blog now). After losing the fraternity charter for the second (and final) time during my four year tenure at the University of Redlands, I wrote this letter as President of the Fraternity in an attempt to regain our charter. Included with it was a petition that contained signatures from over 500 students that had been collected in support of the letter.
It is definitely one of more memorable things that I ever wrote in college and while it ended up being a failure (as is evident by the fact that the Phi Sigma Tau Fraternity is not recognized as an active fraternity at the University of Redlands), I am still proud of the attempt and the contents of the letter.
As for The Heart of the Ocean reference, there is a small chance that I saved a paper copy of these somewhere in one of the fraternity notebooks that I have packed away at my parents house. I’ll keep my fingers crossed…
Silly e-mails from Mom: My mom used to forward me silly e-mails that pretty much feel into the category of spam. Usually these consisted of some goofy animation bouncing up and down on my screen. While these were always somewhat annoying, they were usually good a small chuckle. Luckily, much like the Viagra adds, she still sends these kinds of e-mails to my work e-mail… and I totally just talked about my mom and Viagra in the same sentence. I am going to go shoot myself right now.
PokerRoom.com Account: I used to work in The Fletcher-Jones Computer Center as part of my work study. Basically, I would sit there for 5-10 hours a week doing homework, playing online poker, and occasionally answering a question about how to print something.
My pokerroom.com account still has about $20 on it, but since I can’t remember the login or password, and I can’t request that they send me a new password since my account was linked to my Redlands.edu e-mail, I’m pretty much up the creek on this one. RIP Andrew Jackson… Facebook: While I haven’t yet lost my Facebook account, it is certainly tied to my Redlands.edu e-mail. Will this cause my Facebook account to eventually go inactive? Only time will tell…
In retrospect, assuming that I can locate the paper copy of the PST petition letter and my Facebook account doesn’t decide to vanish, losing my Redlands.edu email isn’t so bad. Maybe it just pisses me off that a private University with a $100 million dollar endowment can afford to send me requests for donations every month, yet decides that it is much too expensive to keep my poor e-mail active.
On second thought, that’s exactly what it is. F-U Redlands. You can take your Och Tamale and shove it up your Gazump. Until I get my e-mail and/or fraternity charter back I am officially going to boycott sending you any of the donations that I wasn’t planning on making in the first place. Take that Redlands, Rah, Rah, Redlands!
If you have 15 minutes to spare in your day, I highly recommend that you take the time to read "The Lost Kids of Willows" onESPN.com.
I don't even want to attempt to summarize it, as I don't believe my words would do the story justice. Suffice to say, it is a very well written article and will most likely bring tears to your eyes.
Knowing that I was running low on your ultra soft goodness, I decided to stop by the local Thriftway and pick some up on my way home from working out. After locating the toilet paper isle, I found the 12 pack of Charmin Ultra Soft big rolls that I was looking for and tried to stuff it into my red handcart. To my dismay, I found that in all of your infinite softness, you decided to package the 12 pack in a 3x4 fashion, rather than go with a 2 deep 2x3. In other words, your 12 pack of big rolls doesn't fit in a shopping basket.
After walking up and down a few isles I remembered why I never shop at the Stadium Thriftway. They never have anything I need, except for the awkwardly shaped package of Charmin Ultra Soft that was already under my arm.
Giving up on finding anything else that I needed, I decided that looking like that guy that is on an emergency toilet paper run wasn't so bad, and I went to check out. While paying, I quickly realized that the cashier was making no attempt whatsoever to put the toilet paper in a bag. Terrific... this now meant that I had to walk out of the store with nothing but my large, awkwardly shaped package of Charmin Ultra Soft that didn't fit in a basket, or a bag.
Let me just say that walking out of a store with, and only with, a large package of toilet paper is pretty damn awkward and embarrassing. There are probably other things that are much more embarrassing to purchase at the supermarket, but at least they fit in a freaking bag.
Seriously Charmin, is there any reason why you decided on the 3x4 rather than a 2 deep 2x3? In large quantities they would stack the same, wouldn't they? Please figure this out or I may be forced to discontinue my usage of your amazing toilet paper to avoid these embarrassing situations in the future.
I'd like to appologize for the lack of posts lately, as I have been off enjoying my second honeymoon with Junior.
