GarwoodSpaceCenter

be careful what you wish for

2012-01-18T14:01:00.003-05:00

Current Mood: still somewhat aghast

Yesterday afternoon I was at work. I had just completed a routine lay up (layers of composite materials put under vacuum) and was mixing the two part resin to inject into the part which would complete the process. My boss (Prof S) came up to me with what he called "bad news".

He's a pretty sarcastic, joking kind of guy so I didn't even stop what I was doing. Then he proceeded to tell me that the higher ups, the powers that be, have stopped our research project.

I laughed, and asked him what new project we'd be switching over to. That's when he told me that was it. Funding stopped, project canceled, done. Zip, zilch, bagel. Nothing to switch to, no warning, scale down, or trail off, just stop what you are doing and go home, because there's no more research to be done here. No hours to be worked or money to be made, because it's all gone.

When the job was first presented to me (about a year ago) I was told it was dependent on funding, but I thought once the semester started we'd be in the clear until probably summertime? Apparently, not. Felt like the rug was pulled out from beneath me.

I can look at this from a few different angles-

Projects in aerospace can be somewhat ephemeral. Especially small budget college research groups in a time of defense budget cuts. Even larger programs can and do get canceled, sometimes with little or no warning. Better get used to that, if this is supposed to be my field. I've never had a job vanish like that- I always quit on my terms, usually because I was moving or for school.

All that time and effort I spent re-arranging my schedule and rides to fit in 20 hours of lab work? SUDDENLY FREE TIME. My classes are getting harder, so I should have more free time to study and do group work. Still, do I fill that free time with sleep, video games, and flex time for school (I picked up extra classes this semester, so that's helpful...)

Or do I immediately look for another job? Not much at the airport now, and I don't really have transportation to get to a more normal job (cashier, waiter, etc.), even if I could find one and if they were flexible with my schedule. Last time I job searched, it was pretty bare bones (although, in a roundabout way, not having a job helped me have time to do well in school which led me to this job...)

Is it too late/do I want to try and find a class to TA? I don't particularly like teaching. I would have to TA a full semester for credit before I could get paid at some point in the future.

Those summer internships I applied/want to apply for? Here's hoping they pan out! Could/should/would I go back to summer conferences if not?

I wasn't making a TON of money, and I'm not in danger of becoming homeless or anything, but it sure was nice contributing to the finances and being able to go out to eat and buy gifts and such without worrying. So here comes the money worry (again). I just want to be done with school so I can get a job and make real money, full time.

I was getting a little burnt out at work from the work, and at the same time really starting to like my coworkers. Former problem solved, latter - well, at least I'll still see these guys around school.

In the past months, I usually had not worked the full 20 hrs/week possible, usually because I was too tired, had too many classes or studying or exams or improv or places to be to really hit that mark. And I was okay with that, again, a little bit of burnout. Now...now I'm done. Do I regret not working those hours? Would that little bit of money made a difference? Am I going to need it later? Would I have learned something in those hours? Could I have done more?

*headdesk*

Can't imagine what my life would be like right now if I was single, working a real job, and suddenly had no job for reasons beyond my control. I would be a basket case. Whole lot more respect for people out there who have to deal with this kind of crap.

a little respect, and a fresh candle

2011-12-06T23:25:00.006-05:00

Current Mood: still laughing, seriously look at them

A series of fishes and the people who look like them.

I am dying over here, would you look at them

BACK IN MY DAY...

2011-11-26T23:30:00.003-05:00

Current Mood: is it okay to get all reflective about college, when I'm still in it?

The summer before my freshman year of college I got a form letter from Purdue letting me know who my first roommate would be. I didn't know the guy, he was randomly assigned from a pool of people that (from what I was told) matched my preferences on smoking, sleeping and study habits, stuff like that. I was so excited for school that I super geeked out and emailed the guy that day to make sure we both didn't bring a microwave, stuff like that. He seemed pretty laid back, and I was pretty optimistic.

Sidebar: guy's name was Jason Lee, and it seemed like everybody *but* me assumed he was an asian guy. I never thought that until everybody started saying something. I guess I watch too many Kevin Smith films?

At any rate, when I first met him he was this giant all-american wrestler from a rich suburb of Chicago. A lot of the first week of school we hung out and got to know each other, which was pretty cool.

I only bring this up because I think if that happened now, I probably would've gone and found him on Facebook that day. I would've known what he looked like, what kind of music and movies and sports he liked, and we probably wouldn't have had anything to talk about that first week. How the times have changed...

I can see the light

2011-11-25T22:03:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: crankin' these out while I can

I'm juuuuuuust about done with half of my "junior" year. Scratch that. I have 1 and a half years left before I (hopefully) finish my first undergrad Purdue degree and then I plan on being done with school. For good. Forever. Until I can convince a company to put me back in school and get an advanced degree :)

Classes are going pretty well. My first few semesters were straight As, and now I've dropped in a few Bs. Still pretty good, though. And the classes are getting harder and I have work, so I'm not beating myself up too bad.

I don't feel like the classes are fluff anymore, either. I'm starting to really get into the "meat" of the curriculum, and I feel like I already know 1000% more about airplane stuff than I did. Granted, I still have a ways to go, and I'll have to recall it all for my FAA A&P exam at the end that costs like $600 and is a 5 day oral/written/practical...but more on that later.

Because I had so much transfer credit from my previous life as an engineer:

A) I am a super duper senior with a victory lap, so I get to schedule first, awesome
B) I'm super old and married and sometimes that's weird
C) I don't have to take any more than about 13 credit hours (12 being the minimum) from here on out*

*so what do I do? I'm working, for one, plus I'm probably going to end up being a TA at some point, PLUS I've decided to sign up for an additional course on aviation fuels, another experimental course where I get to job shadow airplane mechanics at the nearby general aviation repair facility, and next year I might take Air Traffic Control classes...just because?

I think I have more desire/interest in EVERYTHING about this major than any one thing. I'm not the best riveter or wrench turner, but by the time I'm done I'll have had a little bit of everything. Here's hoping I can translate that into some job, somewhere, for somebody? Ideally a big aero company like Boeing or Lockheed.

This major is so much smaller than engineering, and everybody is so nice (nobody's graded on a curve, and I think that's part of it? Plus with work, I'm there ALL the time and see students and professors more than I would normally, methinks). And, strangely, the other day I felt a little strange thinking about how people will soon be graduating! Rabon, for instance, only has one more semester, geez. Where does the time go? Here I am, complaining about being so old and yet, everybody's supposed to stay the same? Ugh.

I'm way more connected to my professors than I ever was in engineering. Again, probably partially because of work, but it's pretty cool when they say hi to me by name in the hallways. And I get to use work with my hands and rivet and weld and light stuff on fire in lab. So that's pretty cool too.

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with my major switch. I just wish I had done it sooner...

aaaand scene

2011-11-24T21:44:00.001-05:00

Current Mood: call me butter, baby, I'm on a roll

I always make myself guilty about not writing here more. So I get here and the only thing I can think of at the time is about what I've been doing. And the only way for me to avoid writing 800 pages is to break up tiny little sections of my life and write about those.

Improv!

So I'm done with the Ship of Fools, and I miss those idiots like crazy. I went from practicing Wednesday and Friday nights (7-9pm) with shows about twice a month to one or two shows a month with practice just before. Old group, everybody was a student who lived nearby, new group everybody is older with family and lives around the state. Old group, people missed a show and we all got worried - usually it was because of an exam. New group, people sometimes are free for some shows, but mostly it's a small core of locals with a rotating group of others. Not that that's better or worse, just different.

Fools are about to do the holiday gift exchange - a tradition I started - for the first time without me. About ready to bring in the first new members since I've been gone. In six month's they'll do the first Awards Show without me, another thing I started. I'm happy for them, I really am. But boy howdy do I miss some of it.

I went back for an Open Forum meeting/practice, and after 5 months it seems like everybody is new! I mean, sure, part of that is I stuck around way longer than anybody else, but still...
Halloween party, where Jenny and I met? Older Fools were mostly nowhere to be seen, and I wonder if I was sort of the connection point between the old and the new?

That would make sense. Renee went to Maryland to go to school and be with Paul. Andrew moved to China to teach. Eric's moving to Indy. Stu moved to North Carolina. Taylor moved out of my apartment. Gavin/Becky are still on Co-Op, so I hardly see/saw them anyway. Brant is working strange hours/raising a baby! Not improv, but other Andrew moved to TEXAS to get his PHD in AEROSPACE ENGINEERING - he's going to be a friggin' Doctor of Rocket Science, how cool is that? Still, I feel like I'm hemorrhaging friends. I miss them, even though we didn't hang out all the time.

Improv! Focus. Anyway, it seems like the group will be okay, at least for now, since I've left, and above all that's what I wanted. Some interesting group dynamics developed but it sounds like they've worked out their problems. Steven told me he finally understood my intense passion for finding new blood, because you roll up and join the group and then before you know it you're a seasoned vet, ready to graduate, and wonder what happened. And that's even though I stayed for like, 7 years.

My sendoff was epic, and I really am happy for every second I was with that group. And my new group is great too, but I think I'm still finding my place with them. I went from respected elder to just...a performer. And in some ways, that's nice, because I don't have to arrange shows or handle conflicts or worry about money or advertising. I just show up, make with the funny, and make a few bucks. Which, admittedly, is sweet.

Would I ever do improv for a living? Probably not. I wouldn't want my hobby to become a job, and I doubt I could do it at that level, anyway. But when I leave Purdue, I think I'll be searching for some kind of outlet - whether that's improv or stand up or even some sort of podcast or webshow. I've had too much fun to quit now.

worky work and the funky bunch

2011-11-23T20:54:00.005-05:00

Current Mood: *headdesk*

Trying to take a bite out of the backlog of "one post a month" goal...

In just a few short weeks I'll have been at my research assistant job 1 full year. Yay! No more "rookie".

Things are a bit different than what I expected. When I first started I was pretty worthless, mostly cleaning the lab and doing gruntwork for the upperclassmen that already worked there. I tried to find ways to be useful, but scheduling problems and lack of access (seemed like I was the only one who didn't have a lab key?) made progress very difficult. I felt a little bit like a loner, to be honest.

Then after gritting things out for a semester, it seems like everything changed. I didn't apply for a University Residences job (breaking a 5 year streak) and instead worked full time at the lab for the summer. Most of the older students left, and three new guys (my age, sort of) joined. I knew them a bit from class, but I wasn't that close to any of them.

Summertime, we busted our asses. We gutted the lab next door, cleaned and re-tiled it, moved equipment, and painted everything. Got some funding for new machines and got some donations/expert advice from a company in Indy that does composites. Made a ton of projects and some of them were great, others crashed and burned. Working there M-F 9-5 was a different beast - much more productive but very tiring. Got to know my coworkers a lot better - we all get along quite well and don't have problems like the previous employees did, apparently (I heard there was a girl involved, and things got messy...).

From the way Professor S. talked about things when I was hired, I thought I might be doing some engineering type things, working on papers and equations. Reality? Not so much. I pretty much do the same things as everybody else, and I guess that's okay, I don't know that I would really be qualified to do composites engineering stuff right now anyway. Sometimes I get a little hesitant at work because we change what we are doing so frequently, it's hard for me to get used to a routine. Our projects are very iterative, but with small changes, and sometimes I have a hard time keeping track of it all.

Because of my class schedule I don't work as much as my supervisor and Professor S would like, and sometimes I can't tell if they're just joking with me or not about a lot of things. Also I missed the chance to TA for our composites class (the very class I took last fall that led to me getting this job), though I may be a part of an Advanced Composites class in the works next year?

At any rate, most of projects are progressing pretty well. I like my teammates a bunch, even though they're much different than me (totally guy's guys, waaay different music [dubstep??], things like that). There was talk of trying to patent one of our projects, but the fervor of that seems to have died down...

Anyway, unless something majorly unexpected happens, I should have this job next semester as well. Beyond that, well, I'd love to have an internship, something different for the summer. I'll be applying to a few places, but if not, I'll try to work there again in the summer. I don't know that composites are what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it's a big area of development for aviation so I know it'll be great for my resume when I graduate. Also I think my mechanical/shop skills have improved simply by being there, which is good too.

I am getting pretty worn down some days, though. Between class and work I'm at school pretty much from 8am to about 6 or 7pm most days, sometimes longer. I feel like I live at the airport! Now I have a bit of spending money, but the apartment is a mess and I don't have the free time I would like to relax at home. Good thing I retired from the Ship of Fools, eh?

Not a very coherent post, but for anybody trying to keep up with my life maybe that's something.

start with the corners, then fill out the border

2011-06-26T19:36:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: waiting/anticipating

What a whirlwind week it has been. Well, weekend, really.

First off, the big news - after weeks and weeks of applications, applications, scanning and writing, more applications, and a few interviews, Jenny was offered a job on Friday. She will be teaching 2nd grade in her own classroom at a school here in town. That is pretty much the very best case scenario that either of us could have hoped for- no co-teaching, not on the other side of the state, not even moving grade levels. She likes the principal, they have a Science Club, and did I mention it is seriously close? Closer than her current school. I know she will kick ass there and I'm not an especially sunny optimistic guy but I have to believe that the two years she has spent at her old school has helped her prepare for her first year on her own. It'll probably be tough in the fall, with lots of extra time spent at the school, but we got through student teaching okay so I think we'll be okay. This school does not have the extra school hour her old one did, and it's in a different district - old school was high poverty, high mobility and lots of intervention... new school is likely to be overeager parents and professor's children, so I think things are about to be flipped upside down.

Many many thanks go to everybody who helped Jenny look for job openings everywhere, and I can't believe how awesome her old bio professor has been going to bat for her with the local administrators.

ANYWAY. Now that Jenny has a job and it's in town, we are green lights for finding a new place to live. We have to be out of current apartment in 25 days, so looking for a new place ASAP. So we're moving, losing a roommate, and moving some of Jenny's teaching things to her new room.

Wedding stuff is getting crazy. Yesterday was 4 weeks until wedding and we still have a checklist of just about 95 things to do. Take a day off work to go to the courthouse and apply for a license. Get rings, tuxes. Finalize rehearsal dinner plans. Pick songs to get to DJ. And so on. If you've been married recently, you probably know *exactly* what I'm talking about. I'm sure we'll get it all done, but geez. I'm not nervous to get married, but I'm hoping everything goes well the actual day of the wedding. WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING. Feels like that's all I talk about sometime.

We were so worried about job stuff that we'd put off really doing stuff like getting the a/c fixed in our shared car, or planning a honeymoon, so that stuff is back on now. Y'know, like we don't have enough going on...

This weekend Jenny's family threw us a cookout/bridal shower. I guess co-ed showers are becoming the norm these days but it was really great - she has a giant family and they all pitched in to get us some really nice things. My mom and grandma were the only ones who could make it, so I felt like my family was a little under-represented. But I guess in 4 weeks it will also be my family too, right?

Job stuff has settled down somewhat, which is good. I feel like I'm kinda getting into a groove, getting used to the hours and the tempo and stuff. I don't know that I've made any world-changing discoveries (yet) but I think I'm pretty consistently working through the assignments and projects my boss gives me. It's very different than working there in the summer - during the spring I was trying to grab a few hours here and there and it felt like it was hard to get anything done. Now, I have 8 hours in a row plus 4 other guys there so it's much more productive. We goof off a little bit and Fridays are mostly clean-up days, but I get along pretty okay with the other dudes. I'm pretty sure I will keep working there in the fall.

Super ready for football to start back up again. I hope the CBA talks continue in time for the offseason to get back on track.
Pretty ready for school to start in the fall, too. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 4 more semesters. 2 years. Gonna try to find an internship for next summer, too. Building my resume up so that hopefully when I'm all done here somebody will look at me and say "that's the guy I want to design/invent/maintain/repair my airplane/rocket/spaceship". Or something like that...

welcome to the rest of your life

2011-05-29T10:26:00.005-04:00

Current Mood:

I like to think I'm a pretty mature guy, pretty grown up in my actions and deeds. But the truth remains that many days I still feel like a kid. I get the feeling that might change this summer though.

Tomorrow's my 25th birthday. Now, around my mid teens my birthday started to feel like much ado about nothing, in that the day itself didn't mark any sort of significant change in my life. I never felt any older than the day before. Other than the big milestones (18, 21) nothing *really* changed and even when it did, I rarely took notice. I didn't go out on my 21st (not that I'm complaining - I just don't care that much about alcohol I guess). And tomorrow's not much different, but I'm now halfway through my 20s, and that marks me as a quarter century old. That feels pretty old to me. Not OLD old, but certainly not a kid anymore, right?

I'm about to start my 8th year of college. UGH. I'm getting "Adult Continuing Education Plans" emails in my inbox instead of "Beware the dangers of drinking". I don't stay out late and today - A Saturday of a Three Day Weekend - I got up before 8 am, voluntarily. I try to eat better and sleep regularly. Just about everybody I started school with in 2004 is graduated, dropped out, gone to grad school, has a Real Job, and/or has a family - something different than perpetual undergraddom like me.

I'm getting married in a little less than 2 months. That's a grown up thing, right? I've been with Jenny for five and half years, so long that the idea of getting married doesn't really seem like that big of a change (which is something I like, means I'm not freaking out or worried about it). We're just gonna keep on doin' our thing after tying the knot, I imagine. Still the same people you guys like, I hope. If I completely change and become a different person that sucks, tell me please? Most of the wedding details have been settled but we have more work to do... just about every weekend from now until then is booked with some kind of wedding thing so I have my summer pretty well planned out.

Last summer I "worked" "40 hours" at a "full time position" but to be honest I was in a salaried position and got my work done just fine by being in the office from about 1-4pm. I wasn't slacking, but it wasn't a very demanding job. It was pretty rad. Now? Now I WORK forty hours, Monday-Friday from 8-5 at the Composites Lab. Like clockwork. And it is exhausting. I'm not trying to say I have the worst job or anything (far from it) but I don't know how people work 60,70, or 80 hour workweeks without going crazy.

All in all, baby steps, methinks. But I get the sneaking suspicion this is a turning point in my life, and I may look back on this summer as a blurry jumbled "line" dividing something resembling adolescence/early adulthood with the next vague and uncertain stage of life (adulthood? mid-life?).

*Edit* ^ugh. that sounded really dumb, didn't it?

A Photo Essay on Cincy's Baseball Mascots

2011-05-29T08:51:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: Santa

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. I get a big kick out of good SportsCenter commercials (e.g. most of them), I really like the Cincinnati Reds, and I *love* Mr. Redlegs and his crazy laudanum eyes.

and for the record - in the era I grew up in, Mr. Redlegs looked like this:

but I recognize the one true original Mr. Redlegs

and know in my heart of hearts he's destined to forever be with Rosie Redlegs

just like Mickey and Minnie Mouse were made for each other.

Gapper? He can get the hell out of my city.

shelter from the storm

2011-03-11T11:11:00.003-05:00

Current Mood: made it to Spring Break!

Not all is doom and gloom in the land of Ryan, despite the tone of the previous posts.

I just spoke with Professor S, and he was remarkably okay with my most recent time card being significantly deficient in hours. Almost as if he runs a lab full of student workers who regularly experience exams and projects right around spring break? So that eases some of my immediate concerns.

And I didn't even write anything about how excited I am for next semester. I will be married by then, so all the craziness of that will be done. I'll have much more experience at work, so I'm hoping things there will be relatively smooth sailing in the fall as well. Especially if things (namely funding) pan out for me to work in the composites lab in the summer as an internship from the higher up funding/govt. think tank that sponsors some of our projects - that would be great! It would be my first summer since 2005 I would not be working for University Residences (in fact I already applied but turned down an SA Billing spot with them last week - time to take the plunge!).

But maybe the most exciting thing is that I'll drop from 18 credit hours (currently) to 12. From 5 labs (currently) to 3. That means less 12 hour days, more time to fit work in without working super late most nights and weekends. Plus I think I've finally decided to retire officially from the Ship of Fools/Purdue Improv Club, which will free up a significant amount of time (though I expect some of that to be filled up again with improv if I follow through on my plan to join One Size Fits All).

So, the big stuff like where I'm going to live and how I'm going to pay for school and bills remain unanswered, but I should be less busy!

what makes you think this would be any different?

2011-03-06T04:04:00.001-05:00

Current Mood: aggravated

Still can't sleep, so I'll start this one too.

So my classes are pretty crazy. But that's only half the story. My boss wants me to work 20 hours a week and I don't know if I can do it. I get to school every morning at 7:30am and I try to go to work between classes and then after classes but I get so fed up or frustrated or tired or hungry that I usually can't make it past 6pm or so.

Still, I usually end up needing to work on the weekends to get to 20 hours. And I'm rapidly running short on time to study for tests, to make up classes (occasionally I have missed classes for a funeral, sickness, etc. - normal life stuff). I don't want to let my professor down - he did hand pick me for this position, but my god, how does anybody do this?

Mentally, I'm spent. I was spoiled last semester, I had all sorts of time to come home and just relax and dick around on the internet and decompress, read comics and watch Modern Marvels and clean up the apartment until my neurotic brain was appeased. I knew it was a little excessive, but now I've had to cut so much of that crap out just to stay on top of it and I still can't let go some days that I'm not caught up on reading every post from some website.

I've always had that problem, trying to make sure I've checked and read and understood and explored every nuance of a site or magazine or whatever is in front of me. Probably helps explain my capacity for details but seriously, when you're worried that you're missing out on some Facebook updates, does that mean it's time to ask for help?

Anyway, work is physically draining, too. I carry heavy things, I have to use all my weight to close or open certain latches, and some of the rolls of material take every bit of arm extension and muscle to cut through. I sweep and mop, take out trash, move things, lift things, and some days it's friggin' hot in there. I'm losing weight (probably doesn't hurt that my schedule seriously has cut down on the time I have to eat, no joke) at a noticeable pace.

Ironically, being exhausted from a 12 hour day actually does help me get to sleep, sometimes! But I still have sleep issues. If I don't get to sleep (not get to bed, actually get to sleep) by like, 10:30pm, I can barely get out of bed. I'm amazed I haven't fallen asleep in class yet. I dread any day I don't have Mt. Dew because I feel like I need it to get going.

But I haven't really said anything about work yet.

I'm the new guy, the Rookie, so I get teased a little bit and get assigned to do a few undesirable things like cleaning and copying things. But it's not that bad, and I generally try to do it with a smile because honestly I'm glad to have this job, I really am. I didn't even apply for it! Don't tell my boss, but I would probably be doing this for less for the experience.

But I'm older than most everybody there. And I don't act like a hot shot know it all, so a lot of times they continue to haze the previous "new guy", which is somewhat amusing to me. I spent the first few weeks shadowing everybody, getting to know how to operate a lot of the machines in lab and getting to know certain procedures.

After a time I got assigned my first project, with is a legit science assignment. I am doing research. Without getting too technical, we have a process to make composite panels. My job was/is to build a device to purify the liquid resin we put in with vacuum pressure, then run a series of layups to see if the panels have less air pockets in them. If it works, this would be a way to increase the strength and decrease the defects in the repairs we make. Maybe it sounds boring, but I think it is super cool. And it's *my* project, warts and all. And just the other day the professor wanted me to start designing and modeling a new inlet port.

He said maybe I could get a patent. And a coworker said some of my research could be published in a journal - somebody last year got to fly to Paris on the University's dime to present a paper.

How fucking cool is that?

I don't know if I will get that far - there's been some budget rumors floating around (great, another job in jeopardy, like there hasn't been enough of that going around lately). Try not to get my hopes up, but it shows how much potential there is where I'm working, which is definitely a good thing.

For now I will keep trying to stay positive, stay on top of my hours. My prof. said he thought I had a different skill set than some of the other guys in the lab, that he thought I had great potential and could do some special things for the program. I can't tell you how much that helps to hear, but now I just have to make sure I live up to the hype.

I think my goal when I started typing was to type and put words onto screen until I was too exhausted to stay awake. That was probably a dumb idea.

he's still right, folks

2011-03-06T02:07:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: blech

Work is exhausting. Actually, let me back up. This semester is exhausting. I'm taking 18 credit hours. Minimum full time is 12 credit hours, and I think I only ever had 1 other semester that was this many. I don't remember which one, though, all my semesters are seriously blurring together because I have been in school a long time at this point.

I have 5 classes, and each one has a 3 hour lab (one is 4, actually). Every day of the week. I've never had this many labs and it's grueling. To be fair, I don't actually have as much homework in the typical sense, and unlike some classes I have taken the lecture material and the lab work match up pretty well most of the time. We talk about timing magnetos, then we time magnetos, for example.

The level of hands on-itude in this major is blowing my mind. There is a very good chance by the time I am done here that I will get my A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) Certificate, meaning I am qualified by the FAA to repair and inspect airplanes and their engines. Not what I want to do for a career, but that's still pretty great. And it is a ton of practical knowledge for anybody in my field, knowledge that I'm honestly surprised is not required for engineers (my former major), even though there's a part of my brain that is telling me that's just a cop out justification for my switch to an easier program.

Well, maybe academically easier. I feel like my math skills are starting to atrophy from lack of use. There's just not much theory going on, which is what I was told going in but seeing it day to day is somewhat shocking from the viewpoint of where I was. Every component we need to look at and touch, install, take apart, repair, test, and reinstall. Some of it is very difficult just from a motor skill perspective. I have never welded, never soldered, never riveted before. Some of it feels almost...outdated? But despite what you may hear about sexy composite structures, there are aluminum aircraft flying today that are 40, 50 years old with plans to be in service another 30 years. So this is relevant knowledge.

Some days I am stunned by how long we spend on a subject. Something that would be assigned as light, almost trivial reading for homework in engineering is explained over and over in technology. They hold our hands like and avoid the word "formula" if they can.

Other days I'm bowled over by the brevity. Professors will mention some aspect of an airplane, or how something works, and we get the cliffs notes version, when in engineering that entire theory, concept, whatever was an entire month's worth of work. And I'm left there with my mouth hanging open, wondering when we're going to get an assload of problems working out the enthalpy of a closed system carnot cycle efficiency heat engine with a partial properties chart. Nope! Just point to the right colored box on the diagram!

I'm doing pretty well, and it feels great to be "smart" again. My counselor was gushing over my grades last semester. It made me feel smart. And at the same time, not? Does that make sense? Or one of my professors will make a comment about "those engineers". "Those engineers don't understand that we need X" or "Those engineers won't bother to check for Y". I cringe on the inside. I was one of them. I was set to be one of them. And I still wish I was, until I think about my 301 final and how badly I cried when I realized I couldn't understand the first problem after an entire semester of trying.

I've taken flight lessons, but I'm not a pilot. I've taken engineering classes, but I'm not an engineer. I'm in a technology program, but I don't think of myself as a technician. I do research but I'm not a scientist. I'm not a mechanic, or a manager, or a salesman. I'm a little bit of everything and some days I wonder where I fit in. Or where I will fit in.

Now they're redesigning the AET curriculum, and I'm hearing rumors it's trying to be molded to more of a core curriculum for the rest of the campus, the A&P will become optional, it's going to be more engineering minded, whatever. I don't know. I want to be done, I want to get my degree, get my certifications, and get a job. Get money and fix some of the crap I have going on. I don't want to worry that the class I'm in will be the last of it's kind and if I fail it won't be available again.

I hate that I'm somewhat desensitized to failing a class. I couldn't fathom that until I got to college. Now, it's still an awful thought, but it's happened so many times it just leaves me with a numb feeling. Engineering has really screwed me up.

Gosh this is a clusterfuck of thoughts pouring out.

I do like my major, I really do. It's super cool when I get to the airport in the morning and the runway lights are on. The other day an F-18 landed 50 feet from where I go to work. I inspect and service actual aircraft engines. I'm doing very well and I'm in such a better position than I ever was in engineering. I just still have so many semesters left, and this routine is starting to grind me down. A week until spring break and I am exhausted.

Here's a good analogy: I feel like I'm an athlete that couldn't cut it at a big school and transferred to a junior college. Now I'm doing better, but I wonder if I can make it to the pros?

I'll get to my thoughts about work soon enough, this is enough for now. I just can't sleep and I figured typing this is better than nothing.

Emeril, he is not

2011-03-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: crazier and crazier

I'm gonna write about how nuts I am when I think about making food. Don't read this.

Sometimes I wonder if other people think like I do, because I get the feeling I'm a little strange when it comes to certain things. Cooking (or as I am more apt to label it most of the time, "preparing food", which is in and of itself probably a pretty good example of what I mean when I say a little strange) is one of them.

Some people get all jazzed about cooking, and I guess they get some sort of excitement about the pleasure of food and experimenting with flavors and stuff? I don't get any of that. I feel like a food consuming robot hell bent on efficiency. Here's a little snapshot of my thought process.

First, there's a very accurate mental inventory in my head at all times of every food item we have in the house (and sometimes more importantly, what's not there - and in that case it better be on the store list). It's just something I do, and have done since I started living on my own. I'm the apartment quartermaster, and if somebody finishes off something and doesn't tell me and/or put it on the store list it angers me greatly. So I'll skim through my mental list and come up with a handful of candidates for the meal in question.

Here I start to weigh the relative options of going out to eat or ordering food. How much money do I have? How far away is the place, and is there anything going on on campus that would increase the travel time? When was the last time I ate out? Is it on the far side of town - do I need to do anything else out there while I'm there? Do they have something there that I can't or won't make here? But this post is about me making food so just know that that runs through my head.

I'll ask anybody I'm eating with their preference and narrow it down. I'm usually pretty indecisive at this point. Have we eaten this thing recently? If not it's pretty much fair game. I don't keep many foods in the house I don't want to eat.

I'm pretty insistent just about every meal is somewhat balanced. Since I'm a grownup now I try to put fruit and or vegetables in every meal, even though I hate a lot of them still. *shrug* So it has to be a complete meal or else I need convincing. This is the health portion of my decision.

I factor in how much effort it will take to make the meal vs. how much return I will get. By that I mean if I'm the only one eating, I'm sure as hell not going to make a giant spaghetti meal, no matter how delicious it sounds, just for me. I'm just not willing to make the effort. I will wait a week or longer until I have the right number of people, because then all of that work feeds more. Preheating the oven takes the same amount of time, boiling water takes the same time, cooking time is the same, but suddenly I feel extremely pleased with the efficiency of the whole operation.

I also have to balance how much time it will take to make vs. how much time I have before go to class/work/bed, etc. And what time it is in the day. If I think I can wait until the food is cooked because sometimes I come home from work ready to eat my own arm. Portion sizes - can I make leftovers? If so, will they be eaten in about a week (I am pretty unforgiving when it comes to leftovers) - can I take it for lunch or can I reuse the parts in another meal? Is there anything in the fridge that has to be finished off soon? Even stupid efficiency bullshit like can I finish off a box or bag if I make X instead of Y.

Nothing escapes my critical questioning. In the summer - should I save this meal for dinner so that I don't heat up the apartment with the oven? In the winter - can I save money with a crock pot meal, even though it is a ton of work to prepare? Dozens of ideas and scenarios run through my head.

If I have made my decision and the utensils/pots and pans required for that meal are dirty I get super pissed. If I'm gonna take the time and effort to make some food, I do not want to have to clean things then. Of course in that scenario, chances are very high if they are dirty the sink is also full. So now I have to the dishes to clear the sink to clean the pots and pans to make food.

THEN, once all that madness is settled and I'm actually ready to make something, it's a whole 'nother set of parameters that take over. My new goal is to try to make the food come out the same every time I make it, as consistently as possible. To use as few dishes as possible, in the right order, while still keeping everything sanitary and food safe. And then the holy grail for me, is when I can make everything - the main course, the side dishes, the drinks and table settings, all line up so they finish at the same time, so all the timers ding together and everything is served at one time. Boom.

One meal done. Dad always made it look easy.

I know some people who open the fridge, pick something, nuke it, and are happy. Must be nice.

Maslow was right, as always

2011-03-04T15:29:00.004-05:00

Current Mood: ramblin' man

I don't update my blog as much as I should. And when I write "should" I mean "as much as I feel like I should" or "as much as I would like to". And when I say "like to" I guess what I really mean is that it is not as high a priority as other things, which sometimes is a pathetic excuse, but in this case I really feel like it means I am out in the world doing things and learning and working and such. Yay for me?

Part of that also is that I really can't seem to condense my thoughts enough to post something with any brevity, so I procrastinate because I don't always have the gumption or energy to write out everything I'm thinking with the level of detail it deserves, so I end up stalling and stalling until I find a chunk of time, and then I write WAY too much for the casual blog that I have...which is probably what I'll end up doing right here. Fair warning.

My self imposed goal was 1 post a month and I missed last month, so I'm aiming to finish this post and then get another one in before March is over. FYI.

So why am I so busy all the time? I think when last we talked (where'd this conversational tone come from? boy I am in a weird mood today) I was all angsty and nervous about my new job, and I'm probably going to save that for the aforementioned later post... the super short version is I'm not repairing Marine helicopters but I am working very hard, learning new things, and I have my own set of projects to work on that I will describe later.

Moving on.

Life is pretty good right now, but there are some big things looming on the horizon. There are, as of this writing, 141 days until I get married. ! My role in things so far has been pretty low key - I have my tux stuff figured out and from here on out it's mostly just a matter of wrangling up the male half of the wedding party, spending time with them, and offering to help my fiancee with... well, whatever she may need. I'm trying really hard not to be one of *those guys* who sits on his ass and assumes the woman will take care of it all - I have seen up close and personal how expensive and time consuming and exhausting and detail laden this can be, and my woman isn't even close to what you could call a Bridezilla (thank god). Suffice to say the whole engagement process has been a little different than I guess I would have imagined it would be, but I'm not complaining and things seem more or less on track so far. Okay, so maybe we're a little behind and between us we have some wonderful things to work around, but I'm sure every couple has some of that.

Bleh, I bet you are all sick of reading about that, right? What else... my apartment lease ends 1 week before we get married and I have zero idea where I'm going to live after that. I'm probably retiring from the Ship of Fools improv troupe at the end of this semester and possibly joining the adult (read: professional non collegiate) troupe across the river, One Size Fits All. Which makes me feel like crap some days because I worry about the shape of the club for the next year. What few school friends I have in town from my earlier life as a Purdue Engineering student are getting ready to finish and spread into the wind, which is bittersweet. I still have two more years (and 6 more weeks of this current semester) of school, which is great but also sucks, honestly. Can I claim Senioritis at this point? Maybe some advanced mutation?

Probably the hardest thing to deal with, though, is that my fiancee is getting RIF'd (Reduction in Force - we're not firing you, but we don't have a spot for you anymore, as I understand it) at the end of this school year. And because of state budgets, tax dollars, union arguments - a sum of political and economic crap - she also does not have a chance to teach summer school, which was experience and money we were both looking forward to. Because of previously mentioned factors, it's going to be very difficult at best to find another job for her in the local area at all, much less one that is in education, that is in a good school, full time, with benefits, where she would have her own classroom, with a principal that she feels comfortable with, with co-workers that she would get along with and befriend and develop a meaningful career (not that all of those things are present at her current job, I'm just listing some things I would like for her to have).

It's looking like *if* she can find a teaching job, it may be somewhere else in the state. Forgetting for a moment how expensive it will be to try and find two places for us to live, I'm not exactly thrilled at the idea of spending our first year as a married couple (weird to write that, ack) hours (?) apart. I mean, I would absolutely do it if that's how it worked out - I need to be here to finish school for 2 more years, and she brings home the bacon - but I'm not one of those people who hates to come home to his significant other. Quite the opposite, in fact. I really enjoy coming home after a long day of class/lab/work and collapsing onto the couch to watch TV with my fiancee.

At the end of the day, I really just try to put my head down and power through, focusing on my next lab or project or exam and do what I need to do, which is get good grades and work hard so that some day my turn will come to look for a job and hopefully earn money to pay her and other people/institutions back for believing in my going to college. And I'm just optimistic enough to hope that one day, when I've got all this stuff figured out, I will be able to look back and go "oh, remember that time when everything was scary and we were so worried?". But in the meantime, it's enough to make me more than a little nervous.

One week until spring break and a little trip home.

Three weeks until my siblings (and their significant others) come to visit to see Spamalot.

Four weeks until Opening Day.

in which some of my choices are beginning to bear fruit

2011-01-06T11:50:00.004-05:00

Current Mood: it is snowing outside. WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED?

GRAH. New year, filled with the same optimism, promises, and hopes of an arbitrary day we celebrate. Anyway, I know I've been slacking when it comes to updating here but I still cling to the hope that it's something meaningful. Even though lately I've been wondering the wisdom of spending too much time cataloging and analyzing and dissecting and listing and reposting everything, especially the minutiae and mundane things that make up most of, let's face it, mine and most other's lives. That's not to say that self reflection isn't useful (far from it), but I have to think that parroting back somebody else's work (art, music, film, whatever) is not in and of itself the same as creating your own work - good bad or awful, there is some value to the process, the struggle, the desire and effort to form a thing that was not there previously, combining and synthesizing colors and patterns, sounds, movements, shapes, concepts WHATEVER into something unique and previously nonexistent.

So my brain is filled with plenty of random chaotic thoughts, neuroses, just like everybody else. Right now I'm having trouble sleeping despite trying harder than ever to stick to a routine - go to bed around 11, get up around 7 (admittedly I've been much better this break than I ever have, but still, it's getting worse with school starting back again on Monday).

I hesitated to really bring this up back when it was a nascent idea, but also on Monday I start a new job. That's right! Not long ago I wrote this huge post about my work history and how I wish it was different, and lo and behold last semester I was kicking ass in a class - in part because I've switched to an easier major, in part because I'm not an alcohol fueled freshman dumbass, in part because I actually bother to try.

At any rate, I was doing well in my composite materials class. The first exam, the professor had an open challenge: anybody who could get a perfect score he would treat to lunch. Depending on when you asked me, I would say I either managed to get most of them correctly because I studied and the rest I guessed correctly, or I managed to make that professor pay for that slice of hubris. At any rate, the scary House-ian professor made good on his deal and took me to Pizza Hut and we had a lovely sit down. I told him of my numerous years of struggle in AAE and some about my time at Purdue. He tried to tell me that was normal - after all, his top grad student spent two whole years in AAE. His jaw hit the floor when I told him it took me almost 5 years to switch. But he seemed encouraged and told me to keep up the good work, that he might have an opportunity for me at some point in the future.

I was stoked, but tried to be realistic and not get my hopes up. After all, I was the same student in AAE, just as motivated and personable, and those classes kicked my ass and those professors barely knew my name.

Fast forward to the end of last semester-

side bar, Jenny says I still have a lot of insecurity and fear left over from AAE and I'm inclined to believe... it's now January 6th, spring classes start in 4 days, grades have been out for about 2 weeks and I'm still terrified to look at them even though all indications are that I did very well in my classes

- and my prof (let's call him Prof. S) pulls me aside at the end of lab and tells me he would like to offer me a job. ! I met him with the next week for the details:

*I will be working in the Aerospace Composites Lab at Purdue under Professor S.

*I will be a Research Assistant, working on his various projects that deal with aerospace composite structures.

*His primary project is a special repair gel for Marine Corps helicopters that cures in UV light, which negates many of the expensive/time consuming/tricky requirements of standard repairs. His assistants are helping him test this material to see if it is as strong as conventional repairs.

*I will be making some pretty solid money, 20/hrs a week. The position is for spring and fall, for now.

What else to say. Like I said, I start next week. There is a good chance Prof. S has a spot for a summer internship for me, but we'll have to see how that will mesh with my summer plans for getting married. For now, I'm just happy there's a chance. This is a real Aero Job.

Of course I can't just be happy about something, or proud, or confident, and this is no exception. Prof. S and his Main Grad Student both are kind of intimidating to me. Make that very intimidating. And I did well in the class sometimes because I have already taken two classes on a computer program we used, or lab TAs helping us in lab used my part as an example, etc. Professor thinks I'm some sort of engineering math whiz, which I don't think that I am. So we'll see what sort of work I actually am asked to do.

Not to mention I hate working and schooling at the same time. I've done it before (res. hall main office) and it really sucks sometimes. And that was more like 10 hours/week in a cushy office where I could usually do homework. So here's hoping my 6 more credit hours this semester plus 20 work hours any other thing I might do don't pull down what might be my excellent grades from last semester?

So here's to next week... with cautious, footnote laden optimism?

NFL Predictions, 2010-2011 Midseason

2010-11-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: so much day...

Here's a midseason look at the state of the NFL...in my head.

Predictions:

Most Valuable Player: Aaron Rodgers (Packers)
Best coaching job: Todd Haley (Chiefs)
Worst coaching job: Brad Childress (Vikings)
Rising star: Ndamukong Suh (Lions)
Falling star: Matt Hasselbeck (Seahawks)
Best game left: Monday, Dec. 27 - Saints @ Falcons
Worst game left: Thursday, Dec. 23 - Panthers @ Steelers
Most improved: Osi Umenyiora (Giants)
Least improved: Jay Cutler (Bears)
Comeback player of the year: Darren McFadden (Raiders)

Biggest Fantasy Surprise: Arian Foster (Texans)
Biggest Fantasy Disappointment: DeAngelo Williams (Panthers)

Playoffs:

AFC

North: Steelers
South: Colts
East: Patriots
West: Chargers
Wildcards: Jets, Ravens

Champion: Steelers

NFC

North: Packers
South: Falcons
East: Giants
West: Seahawks
Wildcards: Saints, Eagles

Champion: Packers

peeling back more layers

2010-11-01T10:21:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: killing time

another way to look at the future (see last post) is to imagine how I might end up in the real world - the one where I finally (FINALLY) graduate someday and hopefully get a job

Purdue does its job by keeping me working for that "A"
I have had some impossibly hard classes. This...helps? Nah, not really.

Outlook for my major seems pretty good
No. 2's not too shabby. Any takers on how many decades it'll take me to pay off my student loans?

Speaking of Purdue, one of our professors recently won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

This part of the article cracked me up [one of the other winners was Richard Heck]:

Heck, now with the University of Delaware in the United States, developed his work on palladium as a catalyst in the 1960s and early 1970s

If you don't see it, read the first part very conversationally.

I wish I could go back to some of my old chemistry classes with what I know now. I would kick so much ass... maybe I wouldn't have hated AP Chem so much.

peeling back the layers

2010-10-25T22:16:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: cooped up

Found some articles about the future that I found thought provoking. I will share them here:

5 reasons the future will be ruled by b.s.
never really considered the implications of losing so much physical media infrastructure

A radical pessimist's guide to the next 10 years
I found this oddly comforting? not despite the pessimism, but almost because of it

5 creepy ways animal societies are organizing
I've been saying this for a long time now, the orcas are getting smarter - soon it will be less safe to go in the water

from my siblings

2010-08-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: anxious

What I’m Watching

How I Met Your Mother (season 4)
preseason football (Bengals, Packers)
Top Shot

What I’m Reading

Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile by J.L. Bourne
Chad: i Can't Be Stopped by Paul Daughtery

What I’m Listening To

Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare
Airbourne - Runnin' Wild
various hair metal bands (Winger, Warrant, Firehouse)

What I’m Playing

Resident Evil 5
Burnout: Paradise City
Entanglement

…I’d love to hear yours!

Texas left

2010-08-18T10:31:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: speechless

I had no idea Texas was this big! This continues to amaze me on a regular basis - it reminds me of when I first learned that Alaska was as big as a third of the US:

from http://claytoncubitt.tumblr.com/post/833506201

Also (unrelated) what the hell is wrong with you people?
World Sauna Championships

some animal humor!

2010-07-30T17:12:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: restless

dunno why a turtle snacking on a cheerio is funny or adorable to me, but it is

also:

Pandigator!

improv

2010-07-25T15:00:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: productive

Anybody that knows me or reads this blog knows I spend a good part of my time hanging out with the Purdue Improvisation Club and the Ship of Fools.

Growing up I never really knew much about it. I watched a few episodes of Whose Line is it Anyway? and thought it was funny, thought I could probably do it but maybe not as well (not really knowing that they tape for hours and cut it down to make a half hour episode jam packed with the highlights). And growing up I never really thought of myself as a funnyman or a class clown - I would much rather make some quips to my friends from the back of the class or joke around with my brother and sister, quoting movies and listening to stuff like Monty Python sketches or dad's Bob & Tom tapes.

That all changed when Sis got to college and joined The Tower Players. She told me about it, and I went to see a few of her shows. I really enjoyed them, and that really sparked my interest.

That interest lay dormant until *I* got to college. I went to BGR (freshman orientation) and although at first I was smitten with the idea that I could be on the Crew Team, I did take a flyer for the Purdue Improv Club at the activity fair. My BGR team leader Ricky took us to see the *other* improv group on campus (The Crazy Monkeys) perform during that first week, and when I heard there were auditions he encouraged me to go because he thought I could make it. That was a pretty big boost during that very formative time. I was a wide-eyed freshman and the world was my oyster. Er, it was a giant sprawling campus filled with incredibly brilliant people and I was just a number.

My dreams of making the Crew Team died an embarassing death when I failed the swimming test and so instead I went to my first Open Forum of the Purdue Improv Club where I saw the Ship of Fools performing, that was in Fall 2004. By the end of the semester I was a regular, and it was more or less the highlight of my week going to laugh and hang out with everybody. A huge stress relief from the immense pressure I heaped on myself to do well academically, as well as a cool group of people who didn't want to drink and party all the time.

By March '04 I had been asked to join the Ship of Fools, along with my friend John "Tripod" Tubergen (who would later be my roommate in my first apartment). I loved it and dove headfirst into the club. I was very interested from the start in being a better performer on stage, but also in growing and expanding the scope of the club.

I tried really hard to improve our practices by adding feedback and show reviews. I created an Awards Ceremony and our holiday gift exchange, as well as some other traditions and celebrations. I had the good fortune to be in the troupe with some amazing performers who are to this day some of my best friends, and certainly they helped me make things bigger and better by participating in these events, giving me feedback, and adding their own ideas (Yes, And...).

Eventually I became Captain of the Ship of Fools and President of the Purdue Improv Club. By that point I had dozens of shows under my belt, and had the week-to-week operations of the club down pat. I tried to lead the group to even higher heights with more attendance, better performances, and more shows. All the while we had to deal with replacing what was really the first "class" of Fools after the founders, so recruiting was a big deal as well.

We took road trips and performed across the state. I used my contacts in University Residences to book regular gigs at the residence halls. We fought the Crazy Monkeys for fans and campus fame/recognition. We performed at festivals and opened for comedians, improv-ed for charity and put on shows with the Andy Ober Orchestra (a parody group). One of our biggest shows was at Elliot Hall of Music, the largest venue on campus. We teamed up with the Student Wellness Office at one point to help a broad initiative for student health. We trained and took workshops, then turned around and performed and tried to teach some improv as well. We even tried to expand our market, as it were, by jumping on the Facebook bandwagon and finding ways to advertise when they took away our sidewalk flyers.

But through all of that we still practiced once a week, and then had open forum every week - unless we had a show or it was a school break. And the semesters clicked by, even when I had trouble in school the group was and continues to be a great source of entertainment and happiness in my life. Heck, that's where I met my fiancee, at an improv Halloween party! And by the way, she's gone to just about every single show, so she probably knows more about improv than most of the new people in the troupe.

It's now been over 5 years since I joined the Ship of Fools. I still enjoy it, but for all the variablity of improv, I do feel a little bit stale. When I have played Chain Murder Mystery 200 times, it's rare when I get a suggestion that trips me up. I can run the meetings on the fly, and plan shows in my sleep. I've been in the group so long that I'm kind of like the Godfather. On one hand, it's great, because I can essentially snap my fingers and things get done just how I want them, and I can pick and choose which games I play and sometimes which shows to do just because.

I like to think I'm using my powers for good (I've gone overboard trying to steer the young ones towards what I hope is a stable line of succession), mostly by teaching the troupe why we do things and how, so that when I leave the club will continue to thrive at a high level instead of leaving some sort of power vaccum so the group has to reinvent the wheel and let those Crazy Monkeys gain any ground!

But I worry that sticking around will have an adverse affect on the group, where nobody gets pushed out of the comfort zone because they know I'll always pick up the slack, or nobody will try something crazy because they're used to doing things the same old way, my old way. And I don't think it's the case, but I worry I will live out my welcome and become That Old College Guy who doesn't know it's time to leave.

I love this group, and I want to do right by them. And if that means leaving soon so the new blood can spread their wings, then so be it. I will miss them, but the Ship of Fools have given me a lot and I will never forget that.

So what about me?

I know my first few years in the improv group I grew a lot. Some of it was life stuff - confidence on stage, in front of strangers, with public speaking, plus all the administrative stuff that comes with being a club officer like running meetings, communication and planning, and all the skills that come with negotiating show contracts and organizing shows, etc. But comedically? I think I have hit a plateau of sorts in the past few months. Like I said before, I don't think I'm growing as much because I keep doing the same improv habits. It's very much a skill that needs variety and to be challenged. So I've been keeping my mind open to the idea of maybe moving onto something new soon.

Lately, the SoF has been partnering with an improv troupe across town (not affilitated with Purdue) called One Size Fits All Improv (OSFA). They're an older group, made up of town folk that also do short form improv like the SoF. A lot of them have professional training in theatre or comedy, like Second City or ComedySportz or Improv Olympic. They're very funny and well trained.

They play similar games as the SoF, but they have a competitive game-show type format and play in venues that I'm not used to. They're a bit older so they have a different view than the college students I'm used to, and as I mentioned they have a lot of training and do a lot of good things in practice and during shows. I think they are, on the whole, more mature as well, which means they stay focused in practice and care a lot about shows (even if they are being total goofballs on stage). Since they aren't college based, there's a lot less turnover than our group, which is a different dynamic too.

I would consider OSFA a professional troupe. They are independent, for-profit, and have regular paying gigs to perform for an audience. By this measure, I would consider the SoF a semi-professional group, and I would like to think I have the skills and talent to move up to the next level.

I'm considering "retiring" from the Ship of Fools (before I graduate, unlike most people who end when they leave Purdue - but then again most people aren't here as long as I am) and trying to join OSFA. I've gotten a lot of very positive reception from them when we perform together, and I'm excited about the idea of working with a new group of people and moving out of my comfort zone. New faces, new ideas, new games, new suggestions, new venues - and not being The Old Guy who runs things. It's exciting and it's a little bit scary, because I've been doing the same old improv routine with the SoF for over half a decade now.

And what about the future?

Improv always started off as a sort of hobby for me. Just something I did after my schoolwork was done to blow off some steam. But over time it's really become a big part of who I am - as I mentioned that's where a lot of my friends and even my fiancee came from. I use the skills I learned there all the time, and it gives me another identity, another skill set. I don't think I'm quite ready to entertain the idea of pursuing this as a job, as a career - though if the option came up I would be surprised but also intrigued - and I don't know that I'm quite comfortable saying goodbye to improv when I'm done with school, either.

Hopefully when I'm done with Purdue and move onto the Real World, I will end up somewhere that has a college or theatre or troupe nearby that does improv. And that that group is even half as cool as the Ship of Fools, the group that I have had the pleasure of being a part of for so many years. And that maybe, just maybe, this theoretical group might have me on stage sometime.

8 BOLD Predictions for the 2010 NFL Season: Too Early Edition

2010-07-21T10:48:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: antsy

Maybe you remember last year's post, 8 Bold Predictions for the 2009 NFL Season? Well, here's an update for this year! Mostly because of my job, which has moved from part time to full time this summer, I haven't been obsessively following every facet of the NFL offseason. Just...semi-obsessively. For your viewing pleasure, here's 8 bold predictions (one for each division) for the upcoming season:

Note: I'm going to try really hard shake things up and keep these predictions from looking too much like last year's. These are supposed to be Bold! Also, I am fully aware and acknowledging here that some of my predictions from last year turned out to be utterly moronic. Here we go.

AFC East (Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets): So many interesting things to think about here, with some key players being sent to/from these teams in the offseason. Honestly, I could probably make a case for every team except the Bills winning here. I think I'll go with predicting the finishing order - Dolphins first, behind a revamped WR corp and surprising QB play (with a few creative running plays). Then Patriots, with a shaky Wes Welker to start but playing better as the year goes on. Then everybody's favorite media darlings the Jets who will lose on Thanksgiving to the Bengals. Bills? Why would you draft a star RB when your offensive line and indeed your offense in general is in shambles?

AFC South (Texans, Colts, Jaguars, Titans): I already tried to say the Colts won't make the playoffs (last year) and I think I won't do that again until it actually happens. And *everybody* picks the Texans to be the surprise team to make the playoffs, so that's out (and besides, it's high time they either got over the hump and make the playoffs, or else something - probably head coach - needs to/will change). Instead I will go out on a limb and say that Chris Johnson will disappoint after an electrifying, record-breaking 2009 season, and instead finish the year with a solid, but unexciting 1400 yards. Regression toward the mean, people. Regression toward the mean.

AFC West (Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers): I'd be very surprised if the Chargers didn't take this division by week 14 or so, so my prediction will instead focus on the most improved team from last year to this year - the Oakland Raiders. It's hard to put into words just how bad JaMarcus Russel was, and now that he's been replaced by a competent quarterback (and a surprisingly adept backup), and the franchise managed to get through the draft without making any idiotic picks means that this team is on its way back to respectability. Bold prediction? Oakland picking outside the top 10 in next year's draft.

AFC North (Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Steelers): Call me a homer if you wish but I'm predicting Cincy makes the playoffs in back to back seasons for the first time in 27 years and THIS is the year they finally win a playoff game, the first time since 1990 (the longest NFL playoff win drought, yes, even more than the Lions), when the Reds won the World Series against the Athletics. Watch out for the Bengals defense, by the way, and Carson Palmer will return to form now that he has an elite TE.

NFC East (Giants, Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins): This division is really all about sending Washington QB Jason Campbell to the Raiders and Philadelphia QB Donovan McNabb to the Redskins. This completely changes the balance of power in the division, but maybe not in the way you'd think. McNabb will be playing on a vastly inferior team, while inexperienced Kevin Kolb fills in for the Eagles (yes, he did great in his 3 starts against pathetic teams). So really all this does is weaken the Eagles and bring the Redskins from "really bad" to just "bad". I'm predicting less than 8 wins for each team.

NFC South (Falcons, Saints, Panthers, Buccaneers): Atlanta bounces back from an injury filled year and Matt Ryan is over his sophomore slump, which means the Falcons and the Saints will be neck and neck in this race, splitting the games between them and deciding only in the last week which will win the division (the Saints) and who advances as a Wild Card team (Falcons). That's right. Two teams from this division will be playing in the post season.

NFC West (Cardinals, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks): This is a super weak division to begin with, but the Rams are essentially an afterthought and the Seahawks have way too many new pieces to be considered a contender. Which leaves, to me, a two team race to win the division between San Fransisco and Arizona. Despite the naysayers, I think Cardinals QB Matt Leinart has potential and hopefully spent his time studying while Kurt Warner was at the helm, much in the same way Aaron Rodgers learned from Brett Favre. I think he'll struggle, but eventually lead his team to win the division (barely).

NFC North (Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings): This also looks to be shaping up into a two-team race between the Packers and Vikings, largely dependent upon Minnesota's QB situation. That said, my prediction here is that the Lions will improve on last year's effort based on a solid draft and an overall upward trend. I think they will win 4 games this year, which leaves them far from the playoffs but counts as progress nonetheless. Poor Detroit.

Bonus Prediction: Brett Favre will start this year, but not finish.

Bonus content:

High profile transfer makes Purdue sort of relevant.

Do I feel bad for Cleveland? Of course not.

Edit - Mike Neal (2nd round draft pick of the Packers this past year) may be one of my newest football players, but watch out for Ryan Kerrigan.

work

2010-07-18T13:14:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: kinda bored, actually

I think I read somewhere that the average adult has seven jobs in the course of their lifetime. If that's the case, then I think I'm stuck on number two.

Growing up I definitely did house work and yard work for family and neighbors to make a few bucks, mostly cutting grass. I also did stuff like edit reports and design word art brochures for my dad's home business, which netted a few bucks here and there.

It wasn't until high school that I had my first legit have-a-paycheck kind of Job. With a capital J. I had an interview, I learned my social security number, that sort of thing. That was when I worked in the kitchen at Mt. Washington Care Center, washing dishes and serving elderly folks. It was satisfying, in a way, for a few different reasons - it was physical and I got stronger, I ate well for free, helped me pay for my car, it was a good break from my tough AP courses, and I got a lot of satisfaction proving to everybody there that this 15 year old kid could do anything they could, and usually faster. Not to mention it was good to have some spending money, and I felt like it was the right thing to do in high school before college - I really bought into the whole Honor Society/Working Teen/Academic All Star kinda mentality hoping it would help me get into a good school. And I did, so I'm not complaining. It just seems odd to me now that I worried so much about certain things then, and now it's a totally different set of values and headaches.

That job was part time. I was mainly in school, so I worked a few weeknights and usually one weekend night. I usually ran the dinner shift, which was about 4pm to close (around 9pm). Still, I made pretty good money!

Probably the best motivation for MWCC was that that job let me afford flight lessons. I didn't finish - I got my solo and then had to stop - but boy I had a lot of fun with that. Can't wait to get back to doing that someday. Y'know, when I don't have gazillions of dollars in student loans to pay back.

My second Job was when I got to Purdue. Towards the end of my freshman year I started working at the front desk of one of the residence halls. It was pretty easy stuff - answering phones, sorting mail, alphabetizing files and putting stickers on packets. The kind of gruntwork that makes the machine that is college turn, y'know? I got some cool stuff out of it, like free magazines.

I didn't make a ton, in part because I got paid less and I was still working very much part time. It got hard to balance school and work- I could sometimes do homework while I was there, but especially when I moved out of the building the travel time got to be a pain in the butt. Most of my big expenses like books and tuition were from loans (I couldn't make that much even if I worked double full time), so my money was mostly fun money. I usually ended up working all weekend, which kinda sucked. I listened to a lot of Purdue football games on the radio.

Summer conferences could be considered my third Job, but it shares so much in common with Student Office Staff (Job 2) - same employer, mostly same locations, same bosses, that if anything it's like Job 2.5.

At any rate, I've been spending my summers working for University Residences since (...got to school fall 04, first summer home, then...) 2006. At first I was an Operations Assistant (OA) for several years, living in the buildings on my own floor mostly by myself. I went on rounds, worked the check ins and check outs like a hotel, helping the groups coming and going through our halls have a good stay. I got to know a lot of people like Purdue administrators but also some of my good friends. The pay is pretty great, plus I get food and housing on top of it all, which is probably the main reason I keep coming back. It's also pretty easy - it's considered a "part time" job, but most of the hours are just being on call, so I can hang out in my air conditioned room and play video games and get paid to do it.

Then last summer I got promoted midway through the summer to be Senior Assistant (SA) Staffing. My SA left to take a job elsewhere, and I got moved up to take her spot. I was in charge of schedules, mostly, since a lot of the work had already been done by Lisa. I was now The Guy who Took Care of Things when they Went Wrong. Still, I mostly cruised to the end of the summer and thought I'd do that again this year.

Instead, I got brought back, but as an SA Billing. This was a bit of a change of pace for me. For ones, it's definitely a full time 40 hour position. My boss is pretty good about letting me fix my hours as long as I get my work done, which is great, since I don't sleep well. I usually come in around lunchtime and stay to the end of the day, and then I have occasional weekends where I have to come in (like right now). Working for conferences for so long really gives me a step up as a Biller, since I know what's going on.

I have an office. I go there and sit at a computer and play with names and numbers. Before every conference I have to get the roster and contract details into special software (CP5). Once the group is in house I track the meals they eat from reports we get. Then the conference leaves and I get a report of all the nights they stayed, any damages or charges, and I put together a giant bill. It gets audited internally then by the conference, then I send it to some office on campus so the University gets paid (and I do mean get paid, these contracts are usually at least several thousand dollars).

I'm making a lot more now (which is SUPER nice). Enough that I can actually pay for some things like rent and loan payments. I'm One of The Guys that gets called when there is a Problem. I work (mostly) M-F 9-5, instead of 3 or 4 days a week from noon-2 then 7pm in the building until 7am with rounds at 9 and 11 or somesuch. I handle important data and get in trouble when it's not right. I don't get to manipulate my schedule to take a week and a half off like I did as an OA. It's very different.

Admittedly, it's nice not living and breathing conferences like I was as an OA, because that really got tiresome after a while. And if I'm really good and stay on top of things, I don't get in trouble or called in after hours. More money is very nice. I wish I had a car, but don't want to pay for gas, repairs, insurance, or even a car payment. For now I learn to use the bus and plan my schedule around Jenny's work, which is for now very fortunately close and conveniently located.

All of the Purdue stuff has taken me pretty much all across the residential half of campus. By the time I'm done here I probably will have worked in just about every building we have. I've been here so long that the guys I used to make fun of for being the old guys like Kyle and Scott are now asking me when I'm about to graduate, yay.

Blah blah blah old news. What about the future?

It feels like my whole life, but especially my entire school career has been aimed towards ending up in some sort of aerospace field. I was on track until like, my third year of college when everything kind of fell apart.

One summer I almost had Job 3. I got a position for a research fellowship in the Aerospace Engineering department working for a really cool professor on a UAV project. Unfortunately, I a lot of trouble with the whole balancing-work-and-school department (sensing a pattern?) and had to drop out.

That was probably the closest I've gotten to working in the field I want to be working in. Sure, I've got some kind of employment right now, which is more than some people have right now, so I'm trying not to complain. But the fact that I've switched majors and struggled a lot in school means I haven't even gotten close to getting a "career" off the ground (heh, NPI).

I didn't have a 4.0 my freshman year, so I don't have an internship or Co-Op position to get my foot in any doors. It is only recently, with my mom's new husband Scott that I even have a remote tie to the aerospace field. I just feel like a dumb college student on the outside, looking in. Somebody who hasn't graduated yet and is watching his more intelligent peers move onto grad school or get jobs doing super cool stuff. Or worse, watching somebody younger do those things (*through gritted teeth* congratulations, guys, I'm so happy for you).

It's my fault, I guess. I don't want to blame the world for the fact I'm working at Purdue this summer and probably will next summer, instead of being on some Tiger Team at NASA staying up late trying to build an air filter from socks and a flight manual to save some astronauts.

I guess I'm just feeling a little discouraged lately. I hope I can get my new major on track this fall and start steering it away from summer conferences, towards something - anything - related to airplanes and rockets. Something I can label Job 3 and be proud it's the start of my adult career, not just some thing that works because I'm still at/in school. Something that pays the bills and loans, something that starts putting together a plan for insurance, for retirement, for a car and wedding and a house and maybe even a family.

some dog humor!

2010-07-01T10:42:00.001-04:00

Current Mood: unoriginal

Also, some bad news.

station break

2010-06-11T21:16:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: running as fast a leopard

These days, to say my mind is a maelstrom is an understatement. I toggle back and forth between the mundane and the philosophical, the superficial and the complex, technical, artistic, retrospective, futuristic, humanistic, archaic, practical, and a hundred other things.

Right now I'm just adjusting to having a full time job. And trying like hell to right the listing ship that is my academic career. Trying to figure out what a wedding will look like. Waiting for my favorite sport to return. Building a foundation for the improv club for when I'm gone. And a hundred other things.

been a long time I've rock and rolled

2010-02-10T16:59:00.001-05:00

Current Mood: anxious

Important Things with Demetri Martin

Attention - Bruce the Funny Dog

www.comedycentral.com

Joke of the Day

Stand-Up Comedy

Free Online Games

I know I don't post here super regularly anymore but doggone it, I found this hilarious. Look at his little tail!

Sometimes Goodbye Is A Second Chance

2010-01-18T17:08:00.002-05:00

Current Mood: tired

I really wish I had though of this:
Average Cats

WHO DEY!

2009-11-15T21:10:00.002-05:00

Current Mood: excited

Now's a good time to be a Bengals fan. :)

flash point

2009-11-10T13:50:00.003-05:00

Current Mood: overloaded

via PostSecret

the death of a dream

2009-08-14T12:59:00.001-04:00

Current Mood: conflicted

By the time late August rolls around I'll be back in classes at Purdue University. Why is this particularly noteworthy? Well, I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it really isn't. Thousands of people go to classes every fall at schools all around the world, and I'm just a pretty normal guy.

Those that know me a little better might be saying "but Ryan, haven't you been at Purdue for a while? aren't you about finished?" And those people would be on to something.

What is different this time is that this year, I'm going to have a different major.

I'll let that sink in for a moment.

I've always prided myself on being that guy that doesn't change his major or hasn't changed it. Never even considered it, because I've always had this laser focus about my life, my career, my dreams. I've always thought I knew exactly what I wanted, it was just a question of going out and getting it, and for me, that included a stop here and a degree in aerospace engineering.

Well, life is funny sometimes. Sometimes you want one thing but really also you want another. Or things work out in a way that maybe you don't quite want the first thing so much. Or you find out that the work it takes to get to a thing is slowly grinding away at you. And so on.

The result is, after much deliberation, counseling, soul searching, research, and thought, I've decided to make a change.

I'm switching majors. This won't be easy, this already hasn't been the smoothest transition, and I constantly wonder if I'm doing the right thing. But the die have been cast, I've already done the paperwork - things are moving forward.

I've gone from Aerospace Engineering to ... Aerospace Engineering Technology.

I suppose to a lot of people it seems like I've just added a word. And in some sense, they would be right - it's not that large of a change. Certainly I'm not moving from AAE to, say, Underwater Basket Weaving or anything. It's a move from one specialized field to a slightly less specific, very, very related field. To a casual observer, it's largely the same. And that is part of what is attractive to me about it and why I've changed to it.

But there are some changes. One of the biggest ones is a shift from mathematics and theory (engineering) to hands on work and testing (technology). This means I'm more or less finished taking math courses (having finally [barely] passed differential equations I), and will instead be taking more courses out at the airport testing and working on airplanes, physically.

I can't tell you how excited that makes me.

What else. Hrm. New major has similar courses, professors, subjects. Similar starting salaries, and almost all students from both can be employed by the same companies (if anything, new major has more options). It's a smaller program, so I get more interaction with professors (and hopefully can parlay that into more opportunities for internships, projects, and ultimately, job prospects). That last bit is perhaps one of the most important - I'm learning more and more it's not what you know but who you know.

It could be a lot worse. I love Purdue, and I know this world like the back of my hand. I'm moving back down to some Freshman/Sophomore classes, and that should be easier. It'll (hopefully) boost my gpa and confidence. I'm in a rock solid relationship and have a lot of great things and people around here to help.

Two major downsides that I can see. For one, not a lot of my old courses transfer, and there are a lot of prerequisite courses to take, and a lot of courses for this major are only offered certain semesters. When this is taken all together, it brings me backwards in terms of student status.
In short, I'm going to be here a few more years at least.

This is partially mitigated by some good news. Since I've been here so long, and worked here so much, I'm now officially an "in state" resident. FINALLY! My yearly cost has gone from about 33,000 dollars to about 7,000. Nice. That takes just a little bite out of an enormous worry and debt I carry.

The second one is a lot harder to describe. Outside in the real world, nobody really cares much about college. It's just like when you're in college, nobody cares about high school. So it shouldn't really bother me the name change, especially when everything else lines up so well. But while I'm here, living and breathing school in the big bubble that is our self-contained city, your major is who you are. Especially for engineers. It's an identity, bragging rights, and a way of life all neatly contained in a single one or two word phrase. You're an Aero, or Ag, or NukeE, or Double E, or ChemE, or some other abbreviation. And it says it all. You've got your spot in the pecking order, on the pyramid, and there's a weird unspoken sort of hierarchy, respect, and at the same time pity, for those at the top.

And now I'm moving from one of the top spots in engineering to a different pyramid altogether. I don't care how you slice it, it still feels like a step down. Like I'm lowering expectations. Like I'm giving in, giving up, chickening out, whatever you want to label it, I'm feeling it.

I try to cover it up with platitudes, tell people things like "I think it's a better fit" and "I think I will get more enjoyment out of my schooling this way" and to some extent those are true, but that doesn't change the fact that I've mired and languished in this mental gauntlet for 5 years. True, I've made it farther than a lot of people I've known - people who've cracked and broken down, transferred, failed out, or quit. But it doesn't change that feeling that I've failed.

Yes, I know, there's plenty to be enjoyed and learned in the journey, and there has been and I have (some would argue the journey is the point, but that's for another time). But what I came here to do was get a degree in AAE and now I can't. That's the bottom line. I've had a lot of fun, made some amazing friends, grown so much as a person - conquered some of my stage fright, become a performer, shed some of my insecurity and uptight live-by-grades nature, things like that, but it still hurts. I feel like an academic failure, a moron, an idiot. Never mind how I would or do stack up in that mythical "real world" - it's too far away and I can't help but compare myself to the best and the brightest I started school with, live amongst, and now see graduating, working, and doing great things.

And I do mean great things. Former roommate helps run a nuclear powerplant. Another friend designs engines for the Navy. Another interns at NASA as I type this. I'm happy for them, impressed - but jealous. Which makes me feel even worse, because I am unwilling to concede anything to any disadvantage that life has thrown at me (things that other people could and do) like health problems or money or whatever - and I know that these people I admire almost certainly deserve the accolades and accomplishments they've built from countless hours studying and learning. Good old fashioned work.

But ultimately it comes back to me, and I couldn't/can't do it. I'm done. I'm tired. Last few semesters I've bounced around in engineering desperately trying to pass the mid-tiered mathematics and no matter how much I love the major, the 4th time you retake DiffEq, you have to get smart to what's going on. I'm unwilling to throw everything else (relationships, extracurriculars, what little free time and fun that I do have) away just to become a robot who lives in the basement of a building and orders Jimmy John's 6 nights a week and doesn't shower so he doesn't have to leave the building. I'm sick and tired of dreading going to class, because I'm afraid of trying to sit through one more lecture where I have no fucking clue what is going on. Sick of pretending I'm okay when in reality, I'm lost. I'm struggling. I never had a class in engineering that I just *got* right away. Most of the time I was average at best, and when you finish an exam and have only answered 1/3 of the problems and the others are left blank, you come home and want to cry, and the only reason you pass is because there's a curve and you get a C if you can get a 40% - well, it doesn't take much of that for you to start questioning things. I've done that for four years now, and I want out.

It's not fun anymore, no matter how much I pretend it is. I need a change. I feel like I'm well past the point where people are saying "of course it's not going to be fun all the time, it's engineering and it takes a lot of work." The thrill and enjoyment I get out of problem solving and learning has been replaced with dread and confusion.

Not to mention the fact that I want to do big things in engineering - and I honestly can say I've had days or weeks or months - where I wouldn't want to hire myself. I would not always trust myself to work on something that people need to rely on. There's a joke amongst professionals, something to the effect of "a doctor buries his mistakes, but an architect can hide his with ivy". Well, there's an extra bit to some engineers, and it goes "but an engineer can't hide his mistakes." Meaning when an engineer fails, bridges break. Spectacularly. Space ships explode. Spectacularly. Hundreds of millions of products have a defect, and cost billions. Basically, I want to feel like not only an engineer, but a good one. Right now, I'm not feeling that. So I want a change, something I feel competent at again. I miss that feeling.

If you can believe it, though, that's not the worst thing. For me, anyway.

Ever since I was a little kid and went to Space Camp, I've wanted to be an astronaut. That's nothing new, if you've spent 10 minutes with me that's probably something you've learned, and it's fairly obvious when you know me. That's why I'm here, that's why I'm writing this.

And to be perfectly honest, I never actually thought I would ever get to be an astronaut. Any more than I could be a fighter pilot or an NFL quarterback, it's just not in the cards. I'm not a flawless physical specimen (eyes, spine, feet, pick your poison), I'm not a gifted mental wiz (I'm smart, but seriously, these guys are incredible).

I guess I always knew in my heart it was a billion to one shot, but I always clinged (clung?) to the thought that I could be like Neil Armstrong, a little Ohio kid who grows up, is an Aero from Purdue, then goes into space (much less a world class test pilot, lecturer, musician, professor, engineer, farmer, ambassador, oh, and that little thing he did that marked a change in the very human race).

I always thought that wishing, trying, telling people I wanted to be an astronaut, no matter how crazy or far-fetched, was the right thing. It could happen? And in doing so, I would always push myself to the limit, to always do and be my very best. To never back down from what I thought was the right thing, including doing things like going to one of the top 5 engineeering schools in the country, going into crazy amounts of debt, and trying like hell to swim in this ocean of smart people they call Purdue, just on the off chance I might make it.

Basically, I might not make it as a NASA astronaut, but I could try, and I think I'd be pretty happy if I got close. Even if I didn't get close, I would've tried my best, and hopefully that would always push me to be my best.

Well, one of the requirements to be an astronaut is a college degree. Specifically one from science, mathematics, or engineering. Not technology. So unless I somehow get an advanced degree in one of those fields (unlikely, seeing as how they'll probably be harder than the undergrad one I couldn't finish), or the requirments are changed, this switch of majors is Officially the Death of that Dream. Even though I never really thought it would happen, being an astronaut is no longer even an option.

I can console myself with all sorts of terrestrial activities all I want, and I'm sure with the development of commercialized private spaceflight there'll always be a chance I could buy my way into space, but for right now it feels like I'm officially, without question, stuck here on earth.

For a kid that's been looking up his entire life, that's a tough reality to face.

taking root

2009-08-08T11:52:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: sick of moving

I'm sick of moving. This is probably mostly a by product of all the moving I've been doing for the past two weeks, but still. Broken down:

Am living/working at Earhart Hall this summer.
Contract for work ended August 3rd, but I'm staying a week past that to help out/get hours.
Helped roommates move out the last of their things, cleaned my old apartment.
Moved the last of my things out of my old apartment into a friend's place (July 28th).
Four days later, moved all of those things again, into my new apartment but didn't stay there.
About a week later (while calling for utilities, etc.) am helping Jenny move (some of) her things.

Furniture still needs to be moved (need: truck, people stronger than me, not rain).
When I'm done at Earhart, the last bit of my things (computer, clothes, etc.) get moved in.

Whew. That should all be done by Monday.

Physically, it's not been nearly as bad as it could be. We've had a really mild summer, and even late July/early August, it's only been like mid 80's most days, instead of 100 degrees with killer humidity. Also, I have had a lot of help from my friends to move, so that's really helpful. I guess I'm just sick of having my stuff in two places, of shuffling back and forth, not having one particular item when I need it, not feeling any sense of stability.

Classes start soon and I need to finalize my schedule, get loans, and a dozen other little things.

I just want to sit in my apartment and relax after this summer, before things kick into gear again. And then I think I want to stay in this apartment as long as I can.

fall 2004: moved to Purdue - McCutcheon Hall
summer 05 - home
fall 05 - Hillenbrand Hall
summer 06 - OA Hillenbrand (different room)
fall 06 - Harrison apartment
summer 07 - OA Hillenbrand
fall 07 - Harrison apartment
summer 08 - OA Earhart
fall 08 -Waterfront apartment
summer 09 - SA Earhart
fall 09 - Fairway apartment

Part of that is that I'm still in college. Part of that is my choice in roommates and living assignments. Part of that is my live-in job for 3 months of the year. I just can't take much more moving right now!

Tell us how you really feel

2009-08-03T01:37:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: a little embarassed

Administrative Responsibilities:
Unsatisfactory Marginal Good Excellent Exceptional (written in and circled) Mind Blowing

Staff Function:
Unsatisfactory Marginal Good Excellent Exceptional (written in and circled) Beyond Words

Customer Service
Unsatisfactory Marginal Good Excellent Exceptional (written in and circled) Superior in Every Way

"Really, this employee is beyond description, setting the bar so high and working so hard and so well the English language as we know it has not the appropriate words to convey this truly remarkable young man. But, as his supervisor, I must try to describe, to you, dear reader, what a true pleasure and honor it was simply to share a workspace with this, this...dynamo, this superbeing of professionalism and knowledge, of humility and modesty, of work ethic and flexibility, of handsomeness and charisma...

(over, obviously)

patriotism and intellect, and countless other measures too numerous to list here. In short, he is absolutely everything we've ever searched for in an employee - and then some. How we've come this far without him is a mystery that vexes me constantly and causes me countless sleepless nights."

-SA Ryan Garwood's [fake] review of OA Ryan Garwood

Limited Time Offer

2009-07-06T19:12:00.008-04:00

Current Mood: productive

After 4 straight summers of being an Operations Assistant for Purdue University Residences Conference Services, I've been promoted to Senior Assistant (Staffing) at Earhart Hall.

My former supervisor, Lisa, was hired on as SA for this summer under the arrangement that she'd be leaving July 5th to take a job at Washington State to be a new Residence Live Manager (Purdue's term) there. Originally, the Earhart Hall general manager (Ken) had ok'd the arrangement, thinking he'd shift Lisa's duties for the remainder of the summer (about 5 weeks) to the other SA (Billing) - Tony.

Once the summer got underway, however, it became apparent that things would get pretty hairy if Tony was to take on all that responsibility. The higher ups at the Conferences Division decided to ask somebody to step in as acting SA for the rest of the summer to help out.

Conferences wanted a nomination, and both Lisa and Tony suggested me, after reviewing my experience and job performance so far. Ken was supposed to approve it, but when this happened he was on vacation, so the decision was moved farther up the chain. The women in charge of all of the conferences know who I am (I've worked there for 4 years, remember?) and unanimously approved the move. Bam.

So within the span of a week, I became interim SA, and just today, started my first official day on my own as supervisor. !

I still do everything I was doing as an OA - have duty nights, go on rounds, work the office, help set up and take down various hall functions, give tours for incoming freshmen, and work the check-ins and check-outs for the various conferences that stay at our hall.

In addition, I now am in charge of more. The biggest responsibility is scheduling - I handle the schedule for 7 OAs and myself for the rest of the summer. I also am in charge of the details for every check in and check out, mainly organizing and setting up the key packets for every guest we have. I'm also supposed to be the go-to guy for any problem that comes up - stuck keys, broken elevators, basement floods, fire alarms, angry/sad/lost guests, noise complaints, late workers, and pretty much anything else that may happen. I post signs and door tags, run orientation meetings for conferences, and attend some meetings regarding large scale issues and changes for conferences.

I've moved from part time (20 hrs/week, plus about 10 hrs/week giving tours) to full time (40 hrs/week). I also get a pretty hefty raise, which is *really* nice. The workload varies a lot week-to-week, though.

Some days are easy. I have the schedule done, no conferences are coming or going, and all of my staff does their jobs and everything hums along perfectly.

Other days I'm running around the building trying to find somebody with the training or clearance to fix something I can't, or find something I wasn't quite told where to find, or something like that. So there's quite a lot of on-the job training.

But it's not like I'm completely helpless. The other SA on staff helps out a lot, the hall GM is around most of the time to help, and I've been an OA for several summers before. I'm pretty well versed in customer service, having worked the main desk at Hillenbrand Hall for a few years, and before that I worked in a kitchen at a nursing home. Plus I've been at school for a while, so I know the answers to most Purdue questions like the back of my hand.

It's the first time I've really moved beyond the entry level at a job before, and I feel very proud. This isn't what I have in mind for a lifelong career, but it still feels good. My boss(es) seemed very pleased I was able to step up and have a lot of faith and trust in my abilities and reliability.

I had actually missed the application process to do this job from the start of the summer, so in some way this feels like a second chance. Hopefully this promotion will be a stepping stone to do it again next year.

I remember when I was a little kid, when my dad would sit at the kitchen table with a ruler and a yellow legal pad, crankin' some tunes, working on his schedule. We (siblings) always joked about how dad would completely tune everything else out while he was working on the schedule - we would have to climb up into his lap just to talk to him. Both my parents have been and currently are managers in very stressful, customer-service oriented fields, and I feel like I have a tiny bit more understanding of what that takes.

I hope I can make them proud.

impromptu storytime

2009-06-26T16:01:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: pleased as punch

Steven (3:12:15 PM): so...story time... if you have time of course

Ryan (3:12:23 PM): uh, sure!

Ryan (3:12:33 PM): There once was a stegosaurus who came out purple

Ryan (3:12:55 PM): all the other stegosauri in his family were shades of green and brown, but he was bright purple and all the other stegs made fun of him

Ryan (3:13:06 PM): wouldn't let him play in any steggy games, that sort of thing

Steven (3:13:14 PM): oh no

Ryan (3:14:15 PM): jaded from a lifetime of ridicule from a genetic accident far beyond his control, and lacking both the dexterity and scientific capacity to change his pigmentation, he retired to a quiet island in the Pangea Mediterranean for a life of exile

Ryan (3:14:53 PM): there he met a nice neon orange pterodactyl named Herbert, and together they lived out the rest of their days in friendship

Ryan (3:14:57 PM): then, the meteors came.

Steven (3:15:33 PM): yayish

Ryan (3:17:55 PM): how's that?

Steven (3:19:33 PM): well he was happy, but then died a painful death in the destruction of his people

For the record, he was asking me about my recent work promotion (woo!). In the back of my mind the whole time was this comic from the PBF, which you should all read the hell out of.

8 BOLD predictions for the 2009 NFL season: Way Too Early Edition

2009-06-08T20:15:00.001-04:00

Current Mood: antsy

I've spent the offseason digging deep into the dark recesses of the internet to find articles about the draft, the CBA expiration, free agency, and a slew of of other things I wouldn't care about if there was actual football to watch. With all that information floating about in my head, I thought I'd put down for your viewing pleasure 8 bold predictions (one for each division) for the upcoming season:

AFC East (Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets): Despite the acquisition of star receiver Terrell Owens, the Bills are going to finish last in this competitive group. Why? QB Trent Edwards doesn't have the physical skills to take advantage of such a weapon, nor does he have the charisma to control that kind of personality. T.O. has destroyed every club he's been with, and the financially struggling Bills made one last push for something to spark this franchise. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all they have, and it won't be enough.

AFC South (Texans, Colts, Jaguars, Titans): The Indianapolis Colts will miss the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade. The loss of head coach Tony Dungy will be mitigated by coach-in-waiting Jim Caldwell as part of a succession plan, but there have been two other key staff members lost in part because of retirement/money problems. WR Marvin Harrison is gone, and won't be back. Injury-riddled offseason. Joseph Addai is not producing like he used to, and the current stable of RBs in reserve will take time to find its stride. Peyton Manning ain't no spring chicken, either. Look for some other club to step up and take over the division crown (Texans, perhaps?).

AFC West (Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers): Kyle Orton will outplay Jay Cutler. Denver has a powerful group of battle tested RBs and deep ball WRs as targets. Their defense will have improved enough that not every game has to be won in a shootout, and Orton will play with a chip on his shoulder. Enough to raise them over San Diego, who will be let down by L.T. (just like thousands of fantasy football fans the world over).

AFC North (Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Steelers): There will be three top 10 defenses from this division next year, and the newest member of the club will be the Bengals. Building on last year with some help from the draft and returning injured players, Cincinnati's defense will be much improved. Similarly, the offense gets a giant upgrade with the return of the God of Golden Arms, Carson "Human Juggs Machine" Palmer. These guys are gonna shock the league by earning a wild card berth behind the Steelers.

NFC East (Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Redskins): At the start of the season, all four of these teams will look like Super Bowl bound teams. Gradually, three will be exposed as a fraud for different reasons. The Redskins, because shiny new toys like DT Albert Haynesworth can't save mediocre play from QB Jason Campbell for long. The Giants, because Eli Manning has already peaked and won't bounce back without dominant weapons like Plaxico Burress and "Earth, Wind, and Fire", his RB trio. The Eagles, because Donovan McNabb is wildly inconsistent, Brian Westbrook is too injury prone, and the defense has a lost a step with the loss of S Brian Dawkins. That leaves us with the Cowboys. My bold prediction is that after a very competitive regular season, Tony Romo will silence his critics by winning one playoff game.

NFC South (Falcons, Panthers, Saints, Buccaneers): Oh dear god, the Falcons are going to destroy every opponent they face this year. Last year rookie QB Matt Ryan took this club to the playoffs, and he's only going to be better this year (unlike Joe Flacco on the Ravens). Really, all you need to know about this group is that the Falcons have acquired 10x Pro Bowl TE Tony Gonzalez, meaning they have a trifecta of offense with WR Roddy White and RB Michael Turner. Look out.

NFC West (Cardinals, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks): Last year's Cinderella story (Cardinals) will be [barely] outplayed by the resurgent Seahawks in a mediocre battle for the division title. Matt Hasselbeck doesn't have much time left in the league, so the time is now for Seattle to make a push for the postseason. They have a strong defense (especially at linebacker) and won't have to rely on seventh and eighth string receivers after an incredible slew of injuries at WR last year.

NFC North (Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings): Injury will knock Daunte Culpepper from the starting QB position early in the season, forcing rookie Matthew Stafford to step in. And the boy will produce, following in the footsteps of last year's breakout rookie quarterbacks. He will lead the hapless Lions to within one game of .500, a remarkable turnaround but ultimately falling short of making the playoffs. While I'm at it, I'll say they win on Thanksgiving, the first time since 2003.

BONUS PREDICTION: Brett Favre will stay retired.

zombies! 2

2009-05-22T16:29:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: relieved

Having written my previous post, I'm happy to say my faith in humanity has been restored. I'm considering starting the sequel to my novel soon.

That's all.

zombies!

2009-05-05T16:18:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: on alert

As you may or may not know, I take my zombie lore fairly seriously. I've studied zombies on paper, in cinema, and other forms of media. I've plotted out outbreak scenarios and formulated contingency plans, and as a result recently finished my first zombie novel (The Next Most Dangerous Game). I've begun evaluating potential groomsmen for my upcoming wedding based on fitness against the zombpocalpyse, like somebody I know once did.

My roommates and I even have a rule that any strange noises/shambling figures between the hours of midnight and 8am can and will be treated as hostile creatures looking for food. Destroy the brain first, ask questions later.

SO. Pranksters of the world, take note: this shit is not even remotely funny.

Sports Junkie

2009-03-18T16:03:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: sporty

I don't know what it is, but for some reason this spring I have become WAY more into sports that I have ever been. And I'm not just talking about my recent love of football, it has become an interest of sports across the board:

Hockey
*Miami University (OH) 's team, the Redhawks, made it to the Frozen Four. My sister and a few of my friends have gone/are going there, so I've made a point to pay a bit of attention to that.
*Sis seems to have rediscovered her love of hockey, so she and Bradley have been going to some Cincinnati Cyclones games, and they're in the playoffs. Get Cyc'd!
*My roommates are way into NHL level hockey, so I have been watching some with them and have adopted their team, the Detroit Red Wings - currently headed into the Western Conference Semifinals.

Baseball
*Opening Day came and went, and I watched the Reds play and it made me miss home a little, so I made Gold Star Chili for the apartment. It's way early in the season, but they're on a streak and in 2nd place in the NL Central.

Basketball
*I really don't care much for basketball, but I love brackets. I finished 3rd of 18 in my March Madness Pool.
*Purdue Boilermakers made it to the Sweet 16 with a young team, so maybe next year we'll improve and I might actually go to a game? Then I can genuinely root for Robbie Hummel.

Auto Racing
*Haven't watched any NASCAR, but from what I can tell it hasn't changed much since the Points Cup was implemented, rewarding consistency and boring racing. My driver Dale Jr. has bounced around to many different teams and hasn't made much of a name for himself, unfortunately.

Soccer, Golf, Tennis, MMA, other sports
*No thanks.

Football
*Purdue said goodbye to Coach Joe Tiller and replaced him with Danny Hope. Our main prospect for QB next year was suspended, so we'll probably have a rough year.
*I've spent the NFL offseason reading up on the draft, free agency, and the mechanics that make up the offseason. I feel like kind of a loser, but I've gotten pretty into football as a whole. I read mock-drafts, fan sites, histories and analysis of salaries, draft positions, and all sorts of projections. I'm ready for some real football, though.
*And fantasy football.
*The Bengals have made some not-horrible offseason decisions, so that makes me optimistic. Later I think I will do some predictions about the next NFL season.

There's been a few big changes happening in the NFL - Favre retired (but that could change), Madden retired (his replacement, Chris Collinsworth, is a Bengal but also looks like a bird man). Commisioner Goddell is looking to change 2 preseason games into real ones (and that would make a lot of old records disappear), and move games out of the US, and is currently negotiating a new CBA and possible rookie salary cap - all of these will change the shape of the league over the next few years.

Finally, some links:

Here's probably the best NFL draft article I've come across.

For a look at some misconceptions about the NFL busted by MATH, look here.

Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald bring the funk.

Because it makes me happy, some of the biggest sports upsets in history.

Lastly, how have I never heard of this dude?

source material

2009-03-16T00:25:00.006-04:00

Current Mood: peeved

Growing up I was always a Nintendo kid - NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gamecube, and later Wii were the only systems I ever played at home. It wasn't until I got to college (or visited a friend) that I was exposed to Playstations or XBoxes and the like. I never really played a wide variety of computer games, either, since the family computer really couldn't handle them and I didn't get my own computer until college - the one I'm typing on right now. Still, I watched movies and cartoons based on video game franchises, ate cereal with video game shaped bits, and bought video game toys - and those sorts of things had less company loyalty, or at least smaller entry fees.

Still, I was surprised that I recognized so many of these - The Video Game Periodic Chart . How many do you know?

One Word

2009-03-04T22:18:00.003-05:00

Current Mood: full

Instructions: Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to tag the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? desk

2. Your significant other? grading

3. Your hair? curly

4. Your mother? travel

5. Your father? chef

6. Your favorite? puppies!

7. Your dream last night? disturbing

8. Your favorite drink? Dew

9. Your dream/goal? graduate

10. What room you are in? bedroom

11. Your hobby? improv

12. Your fear? loans

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Boeing

14. Where were you last night? home

15. Something that you are not? tall

16. Muffins? corn

17. Wish list item? software

18. Where you grew up? Cincinnati

19. Last thing you did? eat

20. What are you wearing? jammies

21. Your TV? away

22. Your pets? imaginary

23. Friends? performers

24. Your life? behind

25. Your mood? pensive

26. Missing some one? sure

27. Car? nonexistent

28. Something you're not wearing? shoes

29. Your favorite store? Amazon

30. Favorite color? blue

31. Siblings? 2

32. Happy place? internet

33. When is the last time you laughed? tonight

34. Last time you cried? February

35. Who will resend this? unknown

36. One place that I go to over and over? Physics

37. People who text me regularly? Bradley

38. My favorite place to eat? home

39. Dream job? rocker

heart of rock and roll

2009-02-26T18:16:00.002-05:00

Current Mood: restless

When I was a kid, my dad played music all the time. Some of my favorite memories spending time with him are just crusin' down the road rockin' out, or jammin' to some tunes making breakfast.

Still, I never really considered myself a big music fan with my own tastes, or even my own collection. I went through a time (mostly middle school) that I really preferred to spend my free time with things completely quiet. I didn't have a CD player until my junior year of high school, and before that all I had was a handful of cassette tapes of mostly soundtracks and such. Completely missed 8 tracks and records (although there are few things cooler in this world than vintage records).

All of that changed in late high school when I switched schools, got a car, and started working. My new school was about 20 minutes away, and I spent a lot of time washing dishes at work - so I really started listening to music a lot more, borrowing music, and finding my own tastes.

And I started singing.

Then came college, my computer, CDs (I remember spending a TON of money buying Greatest Hits and other collections at Best Buy, or hoping they'd have another Queen album I didn't). Also I spent a lot of money on the now-defunct allofmp3.com, building up my collection. My brother and sister got me to join Last.fm.

So as my charts will indicate, I spend a lot of time listening to glam rock, hair metal, and other high pitched vocalists, and it's always been a real love/hate relationship. I love to sing along, and I do spend a lot of time practicing and trying to emulate them. It's always come pretty easily to me. But I am also still fighting a very didn't-join-choir-in-middle-school attitude, where I am somewhat ashamed to have such a falsetto range. *shrug* I guess I've always been a little unconfident performing, especially when it comes to music, and the sometimes less-than-macho connotations of spandex and mascara music.

BUT

I don't get embarassed enough to stop. Lately I've been listening to a few artists that - wow, this is weird for me to say - I can't match! And it's not just a question of pure pitch - if that was the case, I'd go for Minnie Riperton or something.

I guess what I'm trying to say is - here are some guys who I really am blown away by their range:

Steve Perry - Journey
Brad Delp - Boston
motherfuckin' Rob Halford - Judas Priest
of course, Freddie Mercury - Queen
Cam Pipes - 3 Inches of Blood
Michael Matijevic - Steelheart, Steel Dragon
David Coverdale - Deep Purple, Whitesnake

words on a page

2009-02-18T20:15:00.002-05:00

Current Mood: overly pensive and reflective, of late

SO. I have not written here in a long while. I think there is a relationship between how I feel and how much I write. When I am in a bad mood and things aren't going well, I clam up. When things are super busy and there's a lot to do, I feel compelled to procrastinate and write about it.

But perhaps more on that later.

When I was a kid I used to read all the time. We didn't have cable TV, just a few boring channels and I didn't get shows like Seinfeld or Married With Children. Computer time was limited by my parents - no more than two hours a day for non school entertainment, a rule that I bitched about but in retrospect was probably a good idea. Something I would think about for my kids, if and when that came about. I had a decent amount of video game exposure, but before DLC and online content, and without much money for new games, the ones I had got beaten pretty quickly.

Hours. And. Hours. spent playing Super Mario Kart.

So I read a lot. A LOT. Mom and Dad were pretty good about taking my siblings and me to the library pretty regularly, another thing I will do for my kids. I strongly strongly believe there's a correlation between reading and overall intelligence. At times (especially during the summer) I had a healthy competition with my older sister for books read, so that didn't hurt.

I had a nearly insatiable appetite for reading. More books than I could carry from the library, spending allowance on books from Borders, Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, Half Price Books and other places I remember quite well. I'd read in the car (I didn't get sick - sis did), and on the bus. I read while mom ran errands. I read at the dinner table. I read under the blankets at night, with a flashlight.

My favorites were always science fiction, fantasy, biographies, and pretty much any science book. Not much has changed in my tastes. I was really proud to always be well beyond my grade level of reading.

Then, I'm not quite sure when or how, I just kinda stopped reading books all the time. I went from a few books a week to like, maybe one or two a month. Then to just a handful of books a year. My guess was that was when school really ramped up? Late high school?

The other day I was wondering where all that reading went, and I think I still do read a lot - but not so much in book form. On the web. It...sneaks by that way? It never feels like reading a book, but I know I do a lot of it. I read somewhere that it is theorized that kids today may be reading just as much as past generations, but it's fragmented, and largely online, so maybe that's what's going on?

A lot of this sort of thing going on. I am helpless against it.

What brought on all of this? Roommate Greg loaned me Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six the other day, and I'm tearing through it (which makes me feel really good). Probably the most concentrated amount of book reading I've done in several months. Just made me think of my childhood, I guess.

NFL Predictions, 2008-2009 Midseason

2008-10-24T09:55:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: Carnac

Here's a midseason look at the state of the NFL...in my head.

Predictions:

Most Valuable Player: Aaron Rodgers (Packers)
Best coaching job: Bobby Petrino (Falcons)
Worst coaching job: *sigh* Marvin Lewis (Bengals)
Rising star: Kyle Orton (Bears)
Falling star: Donovan McNabb (Eagles)
Best game left: Panthers @ Packers (Sunday November 30th)
Worst game left: Lions @ Packers (Sunday December 28th)
Most improved: Jason Campbell (Redskins)
Least improved: JaMarcus Russell (Raiders)
Comeback player of the year: Ronnie Brown (Dolphins)

Biggest Fantasy Surprise: Matt Ryan (Falcons)
Biggest Fantasy Disappointment: Tom Brady (Patriots)

Playoffs:

AFC

North: Steelers
South: Titans
East: Bills
West: Chargers
Wildcards: Colts, Patriots

Champion: Steelers

NFC

North: Packers
South: Buccaneers
East: Giants
West: Cardinals
Wildcards: Bears, Panthers

Champion: Packers

Super Bowl Winner: Packers 28-17

Now, for comparison, here are my predictions from the start of the season. Most of them seem pretty laughable now. In my defense, however, the NFL HAS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN, more or less.

My previous worst coach prediction has moved up to best coach, because the Falcons (who I thought were done for before the season started) are on fire. Worst coach could go to any of the SIX coaches fired already, but I decided to look ahead. Da Bears have picked Purdue's finest to carry them ahead, and as much as I don't like Chicago's teams - it's nice to see my school doing well. I'm done with Donovan, and Vince Young is RIGHT behind him. I see the best game as important for both teams to try and close out playoff berths, whereas the worst game is going to be a meaningless thrashing of of the Lions by the Packers B-Squad. Redskins have been keeping it close in the NFC East on the arm of Campbell. Ronnie Brown gets the comeback nod for having a very tough surgery last year and bouncing back (remember his 5 TD game?). At least my Tom Brady disappointment prediction stays put.

I feel like all my playoff picks are trendy "pick-the-team-with-the-best-record-right-now" choices, but really, I feel like NOBODY is stepping up as a legitimate contender. The Pats lost Brady and Cassel is barely hanging on. Peyton Manning the Robot is having Vista problems. Favre is all over the place. Browns have gone from Cinderella to ...shit. Steelers are decimated with injuries. I'm not sold on the QB play of Tennessee or the Bills. LT and AP have yet to impress, and Cutler apparently needs more insulin. God knows what's going on in the NFC South...it's like a cartoon dust cloud. Eli showed he's more than capable of falling apart (on Monday Night, no less!). Hell, even the Seahawks, a virtual lock for the NFC West for the past half of a decade, have dropped the ball.

Some comments on my 3 favorite teams:

1. The Packers are one of my picks to go the distance. I'm really happy Aaron Rodgers has stepped up and shown that Green Bay didn't do wrong sticking with him. He's got a cannon arm, a slew of young agressive recievers, and they'd be crushing if it weren't for so many injuries (mostly on defense). Dear Ryan Grant: please stop fumbling the ball.

Go Pack Go.

2. Say what you want about the Cowboys, I still love them. Well, I mostly just love Tony Romo (get well soon, Tony!). That said, I'm amazed how they have self-destructed so fast and so spectactularly. They started so great, and now are dangerously close to slipping out of contention in a very competitive divison. They've also had some injuries, and I don't think Marion Barber will last more than a few seasons the way he plays.

3. Bengals.

Where to begin...

Let's try this?

With a 38-10 loss to Pittsburgh last week, Cincinnati (0-7) remained winless through seven games for the fifth time since 1991. No other team has experienced that kind of futility more than twice in that span. -NFL.com

Yeah. If we win the rest of the season, we'll move to .500. Woo! Early round draft pick, comin' up!

SPEAKING OF

I know Hines Ward (Steelers) is a dominating player. Still, there is no excuse for our 1st round draft pick this year (Keith Rivers) - a middle linebacker to get absolutely mauled by a wide reciever like that. Guy broke his jaw, and he's out for the season (happened a few years ago to the Bengals 1st pick, too). Marvin Lewis at this point should consider sacrificing his job - protect Carson Palmer and let him heal back to 100% by not playing him, lose the rest of the season to get a good draft position, and then get fired.

I'm just frustrated. You know it's bad when Ocho Cinco won't talk shit anymore.

Also, Dear Chris Perry: PLEASE stop fumbling the ball.

Sidenotes:

College Football

I think I have taken for granted that Purdue has reached *a* Bowl Game 10 of the past 11 years (even if we it was a terrible bowl and/or we lost). Purdue has played some crazy good opponents this year, and at times looked pretty good, but we are now 2-5 and things don't look good. So much for sending Coach Tiller out on a good note.

And my brilliant prediction that Tim Tebow would be the second 2-time Heisman Winner... yeah, maybe not :D

Fantasy Football

Last year I did okay, then grabbed Ryan Grant and rode that train to our Super Bowl. This year, I'm in the basement saddled with a slew of horrible injuries (welcome to football, Ryan!) and multiple single digit losses. *snarl* I'm gonna have to find some miracle kid if I want to turn this around and even make the playoffs.

accelerated

2008-09-04T16:54:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: behind

MAN school caught up with me quick.

I'll spare you all the play-by-play of each day, but here's the summary:

MA 266 (differential equations) - again
AAE 301 (signals and systems analysis)
AAE 352 (structures II)
AAE 352 lab
CGT 226 (computer modeling - part modeling and advanced surface design)

13 credit hours.

Same old, same old, really. Difficult classes, I feel like I'm in over my head, the math involved blows my mind. I feel really...sluggish getting used to the routine, the workload, etc. Not crazy about trying to pass DE again, but what am I gonna do? Worried about student loans. Of course it wouldn't be a semester at Purdue for Ryan without problems with scheduling, registration, and student loan acceptance. a;sljdf;aljdf

On a scale of 1-1o, with 1 being Ferris Bueller's Day Off and 10 being Alexander's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, my schedule looks like:

Monday: 6
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: 9 (5 classes spanning 7:30am to 5:30pm)
Thursday: 2
Friday: 7

A lot of my aero professors are downright crazy, but it's balanced by a generous amount of oh my god these guys are so smart. I also regret letting all my knowledge of CATIA atrophy over several years since CGT 163.

New apartment is nice, even though I kinda hate trekking up Chauncey Hill. Especially 3x a week at 7 in the morning. I am not used to early classes like this!

Improv is good. I've already seen a lot of familiar old faces, and it looks like we've got a good recruiting class, which couldn't come at a better time for us.

Several job fairs are coming up next week and I suppose it's high time for me to buckle down and try to seriously get myself out there and find some sort of internship for next year. If nothing else I do not want to work for university residences again (not that it is a bad job, I just don't think I can do it again). Side thought...the longest I've had any job so far was about 3 years and each time I started to get pretty stir crazy. I hope that if/when I get into my preferred "field"I will be more content and won't feel the need to jump around so much.

Lastly, Andy Ober gave Jenny and I some last minute freebies to go see another preseason game - Bengals @ Colts a week ago. So we got to see Lucas Oil Stadium up close and personal, and the Bengals won (something I am worried about not celebrating a lot in the coming months). That said, my new favorite Bengal is Corey Lynch - not just because he makes a great impact on our D, but he's also a rookie from Appalachian State. Which means he was part of the David team that brought down Michigan last year at the Big House, apparently starting a tradition.

:D Football season!

the consumate entertainer

2008-08-23T13:10:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: over-excited dog

Okay, I know I'm all post-crazy this month, but get your fill now because when school starts I'll probably not post for a while.

I thought this was hilarious. Vigilante ninjas.

Also, I am trying to be healthier these days. I think my new strategy is to pit my worst habits - being lazy and procrastinating - against each other. Don't want to do homework? Go exercise. Don't want to do the dishes? Go exercise.

false start

2008-08-21T20:47:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: upset

Chad Johnson hurt his shoulder.

Bengals re-sign Chris Henry.

What's that sound? The AFC North playoff berth flying out of our hands? :(

Preseason is making me sad with all of the injuries flying around...

dry erase board

2008-08-20T19:15:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: still amazed

Tuesday I drove to Chicago with new Current Roommate Greg to go see Judas Priest on the Metal Masters tour.

Holy shit.

Despite driving through Chicago not a week earlier, I still forgot about the time change, which meant we left at 1:30, gained an hour, and arrived at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater about three hours early. Totally not a problem - the weather was gorgeous (I'm convinced the nice weather for both of my trips dooms the start of school to be torrential downpours and 200% humidity until it snows in November). The drive was simple - it was located in the South side of Chicagoland, so there was only 1 toll either way and the traffic wasn't too bad either. The way up we listened to the JP's newest album, Nostradamus.

Anticipation.

I got my ticket for free with the purchase of the aforementioned Judas Priest album, but I wasn't expecting much because it was a lawn seat. I knew the concert series had a few acts associated with it - Testament, Motörhead, and Heaven & Hell. I figured one of the three other bands would open for Priest (maybe on rotation?), and then we'd be gone. 2 hours, maybe, 3 hours tops. I secretly held low expectations in case my treasured ancient bands hadn't aged well and just limped around stage singing low-key (double meaning intended) versions of their former selves.

Wrong.

Fun police stopped us at the door. Football to toss around in the parking lot to kill time? No playing catch allowed. Blanket for lawn seats? Not allowed. Binoculars? Too big. Greg's carabiner? Not allowed (apparently they can be made into makeshift brass knuckles, which I totally hadn't thought of before). Camera? Not allowed. Snacks? Not allowed. Mandatory pat-down? Check. I was beginning to wonder if it was even possible to have a show that even remotely resembled concerts of my favorite band's era(s).

Waiting.

Greg and I stood in line for merch for 45 minutes, thinking that later prices would be higher and they'd having nothing but 2XL. We spent the entire time checking out band shirts around us, and it was like an archeological dig. Pretty much every hard rock and heavy metal band represented here, and some 7 foot tall metalhead stopped to tell me "Man, I love your shirt. Queen's really sweet. I've been listening to them probably since before you were born." Greg and I settled on matching shirts featuring the Screaming for Vengeance eagle.

Thirsty.

Turns out the concert wasn't sold out, so they upgraded all the lawn seats to regular seats. We were stoked, until we found out that we moved 10 feet forward from the lawn right to the last row of seats. Yay? Testament opened first. I've not really heard much of them, but they really kinda sucked. Cookie monster vocals that I don't like. (Side note: I'm a big subscriber to the philosophy that if the music's too loud, you're too old, so I was a bit dismayed when Testament was actually hurting my ears. Afterwards Greg told me that the sound guy must've been drunk because the guitars were WAY too loud, squealing constantly and drowning out everything else out. Still: next concert, consider protection, as lame as that feels). Didn't recognize any of the songs, and the sun was in my eyes.

20 minute break to change sets.

Motörhead up next. I seriously can't understand a fucking word Lemmy says (Another side note: his real name is Ian Fraser Kilmister, which didn't need to be changed). Much better sound, but I still don't know the songs. Lots of ancient fans rocking out, which makes me smile. Finally I get pumped as they close with Ace of Spades - and I'll admit here to the world that I only know it because of Guitar Hero. At this point it's starting to look like maybe we'll see all four acts? Fans start whispering if H&H has a guest singer, or the real deal...

More fans fill in during the break.

Heaven and Hell has the most incredible stage set I've ever seen. And that's not just because the previous two acts had nothing more than a banner. We're talking 20 foot gargoyles, fog machines, decrepit cemetery fences and headstones, strobe lights and pyrotechnics. It looks like a Spencer's display at Halloween, and it's cheesy and perfect. Ronnie James Dio himself runs on stage in all his 5 foot 4 glory, and even our seats we can tell he's a tiny ball of energy. The crowd explodes as he greets us. I can't wait for the final act, but I know a lot more songs now. They play my two favorite songs of theirs, Time Machine and the eponymous Heaven and Hell. During the latter Dio stops in mid song to look at the sky, the lights die and a single spotlight illuminates his conversation with the angels. Then he tells them off and looks down at the floor, and a single enormous red light shines on his face, casting a demonic shadow behind him . He sings a deal with the devil and he dives back into the song. He leads the crowd along with the main riff to the song, and I've got goosebumps.

Encore! They play Neon Knights, and the drummer has glowsticks on his drum sticks. Fantastic.

Agonizing wait as the last bit of sun sets behind the stage. Finally, a 50 foot Nostradamus projection signals the entrance of one of my favorite bands. Rob Halford, the voice, wears a metallic robe and holds a scepter as he sings the intro track before diving into their setlist. To the best of my memory:

Dawn of Creation
Prophecy
Metal Gods
Eat Me Alive
Between the Hammer & the Anvil
Devil's Child
Breaking the Law
Hell Patrol
Dissident Aggressor
Angel
The Hellion/Electric Eye
Rock Hard Ride Free
Painkiller
Hell Bent for Leather
The Green Manalishi (with the Two Pronged Crown)
You've Got Another Thing Comin'

It's really hard for me to pick my favorite part. On the projector they had album covers from each song, Halford jumped on stage early on to wave the giant JP flags, they extended the drum solo before Painkiller (with the stick tosses), and seeing KK Downing and Glenn Tipton in perfect sync as they melted faces with their solos was amazing.

Rob Halford rode his Harley onstage for Hell Bent for Leather, which was a trademark moment I thought had passed since he hurt himself doing it a long time ago. Greg and I just about fell off our chairs (the chairs we were now standing on, not blocking view 'cuz we were the last row). I'm not going to claim that he invented it, but at one point Mr. Halford stopped to do a very Freddie Mercury-inspired vocal duet with the audience, with a series of short cries that slid up and down the scale. His voice was phenomenal. He still hit the high notes and I was incredibly impressed.

Overall, it was an phenomenal experience. Judas Priest rocked so fucking hard, it really blew me away. Greg and I really couldn't even talk afterward, we screamed and sang so much. The concert exceeded my wildest expectations, and I like Priest even more now (I didn't think it was even possible!). A six hour concert finished off by a great performance!

stalling

2008-08-18T09:51:00.001-04:00

Current Mood: oh noes!

One week until school starts. Boo. (I shouldn't complain...school normally starts earlier than the 25th at Purdue!)

Drafted my Fantasy Football team - what a blast. Take a look here. Eric is my loudest competitor so far. Lemme put it this way:

"Week Three. You're mine, steel spine. Flex."

Also, wishing Bradley a speedy recovery getting his wisdom teeth out. Last dentist visit I had I was told to wait another year or two.

arguably the best summary ever

2008-08-16T17:23:00.007-04:00

Current Mood: summer is slipping away...

I've been slackin' on my goal to post once a week here.

Part of that was the early part of the month - I helped Jenny move from Hillenbrand to her new place, and then I moved out of both my old apt. and Earhart into my new place. Many thanks to everybody that helped.

I'm glad that's over, because it felt like a solid week of moving, and the furniture especially sucked to move. I guess I'd underestimated how much stuff I really left back at the old place. That's even with a concerted effort not to keep a lot of things, and even still it was a lot!

I'm more or less all settled in my new place, and it's really nice - a lot of that is just more space, but also the pool, laundry room, more a/c. Greg and I are hangin' all the time (I even have gotten him hooked on RE4) and it looks like it will be a blast living together. I have a slight suspicion that there's a bug infestation in a nearby apartment, but hopefully that's just me being paranoid.

Still need to get my registration and loans goin'...

The other big part of August so far has been Jenny and I's trip to Green Bay. Jenny posted pictures and kinda chronicled everything here: 1 2 3

We left Sunday morning and forgot about the time change driving through Chicago. I'm technically from Cincy, but I really am not a downtown driver. So of course I was terrified to navigate my way to my friend [from improv long ago] Scott's house in the heart of the city. Still, it was a Sunday afternoon and despite a few slow moments and a few tolls, we made it okay. I'll go ahead and mention here the weather was gorgeous the entire time.

Side note: later I want to take a trip to Chicago and get a CityPass because pretty much all of the stuff I want to do and see there is a nerdy museum of some kind. Also, the pass is good for 9 days, so it'll be a big expensive trip.

Had a great time with Scott and his girlfriend Allison. We walked like, 2 miles, trying to find Giordano's Pizza - in part because it's Stu's favorite chain, in part because I'd never had authentic deep dish. This was also my first time to Chicago, despite living 2 hours away for 4 years. After stuffing myself, we rode the 'L' into downtown Chicago (the whole time I kept fantasizing about skipping a day of school to see the sights, making dozens of police cars chase me all over town, and then hunting down the one armed man - and if I was very lucky, seeing Janitor [bonus points to anybody who got that one]).

An eerily quiet Chicago downtown awaited us. We saw the Magnificent Mile (why is it magnificent? because of shopping, apparently, not because of grisly murders), Sears Tower (from the ground), and the street they filmed some of The Dark Knight on. Took pictures at the Bean (sigh). Later that night Scott made us pot roast and we watched a bit of vintage Ah-nold.

The next day we drove to Green Bay. The drive up was pretty uneventful, even if Milwaukee was 50x bigger than I thought it would be (I guess when the only idea of Wisconsin I have is from That 70's Show, I kinda imagined the whole state looked like Eric Forman's house).

Green Bay The City is awesome. The whole town is just like you think - everybody there has a cute almost Canadian accent (mostly it's the drawn out "o"s) and a Favre jersey, even with all the crazy shit that's been going on with him being traded to the Jets. I watched Jenny buy a ton of Packers stuff she's been wanting for a long time, 'cuz it's cheaper/only found there.

Every fan we met there was super nice. Granted, it's not like the Bengals and Packers are hard-core division rivals, but basically it was nothing but smiles and waves. I got to try more local food: butter burgers, cheese curds, and a real bratwurst. Fantastic. My first NFL game was at historic Lambeau, and it was really pretty amazing, like any old stadium should be.

Our sign ("We drove 8 hours to get here, and the loser pays gas!") made some people laugh, but it didn't get us on TV. Oh well. Turns out the family behind us drove 18 hours from Montana, anyway, so it didn't seem so impressive. Plus it was a lie...beforehand we decided that I'd buy tickets, Jenny would buy gas. Yes, that's right, I lied to try to get on the Jumbotron.

Speaking of tickets, our seats were on the 20 yard line-ish, and the view was about the same as Ross-Ade watching the Boilermakers, that is to say pretty decent. The preseason game doesn't count for anything, but it was awesome to see our teams actually playing, tackling, passing, and kicking against each other. Bengals won 20-17, and I was happy to see Aaron Rodgers take over the Packers offense without Favre and do a good job. The drunkest fans we saw were middle aged schoolteachers sitting in the row in front of us. Odd.

The next part of the trip started right after the game. We drove about an hour and a half West of GB to a little town called Waupaca to stay with Jenny's aunt and uncle. They were really nice and drove us around the area to show us some parks and lakes and take us out to eat. Uncle Dennis had an amazing vinyl collection that I went really crazy for. Like for all of Jenny's family, I turned up the charm hoping they would like me. Like all of Jenny's family, I think it worked :D

Unlike the 2-day trip up, we drove back all in one day on Wednesday. We covered close to 400 miles. The rest stop was in Pleasant Prairie (right near the southern WI border) to take a tour of the Jelly Belly factory. Seriously, we only stopped here to stretch our legs, but it was a fun stop. Bought some JB irregulars ("Belly Flops") and some caffeinated "sport beans". The next "stop" was rush-hour Chicago. Seriously...close to 3 hours to go like, 60 miles, and I think we spent 20 dollars in tolls. In retrospect, FUCK toll roads. We drove s'more and had a nice dinner with Benji and Corrie in Valpo (and found a sweet water park for next year).

Whew. Next up: Judas Priest concert on Tuesday.

NFL Predictions, 2008-2009 Season Start

2008-08-15T17:50:00.007-04:00

Current Mood: catch up

Fantasy football drafts tomorrow- holy cow I'm so pumped. We have more than double the teams of last year, and most of the people signed up are way into the game. I've got my NFL draft magazine, cheat sheets, and bye week charts at the ready.

Bring it on.

This year, I want to learn more of the Bengals roster - learn the names of guys like Dexter Jackson. To start, I've decided to keep a printout of the depth chart in my room. Also, probably keep a list of all the coaches, starting QBs, and all 32 teams divided into their conferences and divisions, and try to learn all of those.

Predictions:

Most Valuable Player: Aaron Rodgers (Packers)
Best coaching job: Tony Sparano (Dolphins)
Worst coaching job: Bobby Petrino (Falcons)
Rising star: Braylon Edwards (Browns)
Falling star: Reggie Bush (Saints)
Best game: New England @ NY Jets, Sunday September 14th
Worst game: Kansas City @ Falcons, Sunday September 21st
Most improved: David Garrard (Jaguars)
Least improved: JaMarcus Russell (Raiders)
Comeback player of the year: Chad Pennington (Dolphins)

Biggest Fantasy Surprise: Troy Smith (Ravens)
Biggest Fantasy Disappointment: Tom Brady (Patriots)

Playoffs:

AFC

North: Browns
South: Colts
East: Jets
West: Chargers
Wildcards: Patriots, Bengals

Champion: Colts

NFC

North: Packers
South: Buccaneers
East: Cowboys
West: Seahawks
Wildcards: Saints, Giants

Champion: Cowboys

Super Bowl Winner: Cowboys, 24-17

in moderation

2008-07-31T01:18:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: anxious

I am going to try and stay away from repeating last year's football mania, where every week I wrote up a summary of the action in both NCAAF and NFL of all my favorite teams, their rivals, my hated teams, and division and conference foes, plus can't miss highlights. I say this for a number of reasons - most people bored of it quickly, it became something of an obsession, and it took a ton of time, and towards the end I felt compelled to do it for completeness, as part of the status quo, rather than for fun. It felt like a chore, and if it comes to that I should probably either put that writing on another site (a sports page) and/or try to get paid for it. There are plenty of people who get paid to do that sort of thing and I'm not going to try and compete.

That said...

I am way stoked for football to come back. Purdue's coach Joe Tiller is retiring this year, and our QB Curtis Painter has a ton of experience and should put up great numbers. Jenny and I are tripping to Green Bay for a preseason game (on ESPN for Monday Night Football - you all should watch), I have a new jersey to wear, and let's not forget fantasy football.

More people are gonna play FF this year, my roommates are way more into football than last year (which isn't saying much...I'm pretty sure John couldn't name more than 2 NFL players - and that's okay, I'm just trying to give some perspective). Roommates have cable TV with DVR and get ESPN plus I have a bunch of bar-age friends to go watch games with at fun sports bars.

My, how times have changed. I like to play Madden now, fer chrissake.

Some hopes:

*Purdue finishes with at least a winning season for Tiller, and Painter gets drafted by the NFL (joining Drew Brees and Kyle Orton) to a cool team. While I'm at it, let's pretend I get to go see Purdue beat OSU @ Columbus.

*This Favre/Rodgers deal gets situated soon, and Jenny is happy, and the Packers community escapes with dignity intact and the least amount of feelings hurt. Favre wins all of football and then retires for real, having had the best season in the history of ever with a super bowl win, then Aaron Rodgers steps up and does great things.

*Tony Romo doesn't fuck up in the playoffs...again.

*Carson Palmer finds targets downfield and the Cincinnati D becomes an unstoppable wall of menacing talent. Chad Johnson settles down and makes Randy Moss look like a CFL player. Nobody on the team stabs, robs, rapes, burgles, or frightens anybody else for one whole calendar year.

*The New Orleans Saints win their division, having been carried there by the stunningly brilliant Good Brees and Good Saints.

*The Patriots and Colts hate each other so much that neither of them bother playing anybody else, and the result is that some other teams get to play in December.

I'll leave the nasty stuff about the Bears, and the Steelers, and the Browns, and Tom Brady, and IU and Notre Dame and Michigan and the Yankees for some other time.

Baby Hold On

2008-07-23T21:58:00.006-04:00

900 posts!

Current Mood: frustrated

My summer work is almost over. About 2 more weeks of work, and then I'll be done with conferences, done with Earhart, and done with dining hall food. Our last big conference leaves Sunday and I get my floor back, I get paid at the end of the month, and things start to wind down.

Still, the last bit isn't exactly going very smoothly. I was told at the start of the summer to prepare to work until August 8th, which I was. Then we had a staff meeting and were told we could leave on the 3rd...only to get an email an hour later revoking it. Not such a big deal except we still are being asked to move out of our rooms by the 4th to turn things over to the new RAs. Power outages, being on call until the early hours of the morning, construction, and all other sorts of things are workin' my last nerve.

Yeah, this job really can't be beat in terms of compensation (pay, food, housing) vs. actual work (duty, check ins, etc.), but I am really getting sick of doing this. I can't leave my work at work, because I also live, eat, sleep, and socialize here. I'm not making any progress career-wise, either. It's very much a safety job for me, and I want to break free.

I really miss apartment living, which is another reason I'm aching to leave. I need to figure out moving out of Earhart and my old apartment into my new one, and coordinate things with both new roommates and their old one, plus my "current" roommate and the two subleasers living there. On top of that I have to find a vehicle to move my bed, desk, flatware and such, plus move a ton of stuff to other people (Wii, TV, fridge, couch). Plus my fantastic old apt. landlords decided to pro-rate rent for the month of August, so I have to cough up about 100 dollars on top of it all. Who knows how much of my security deposit I'll get back.

And then of course I still need to get registered for classes...but I have made some progress! I went to see my advisor. He pawned me off to his secretary (actually a really nice lady), who informed me that Purdue is transferring all of their administrative tasks to an entirely new software system. So she tried to help me, but I couldn't do anything because of a hold. So I took the printoff to Schleman. Schleman told me it was a loan thing - because of academic problems last year I've been making student loan payments, but part of that was Purdue is also transferring lenders - a multimillion dollar deal. I took the printoff to University Collections. UC told me it was still having problems with "student status" from my academic problems from last year. I went to Hovde and got an official transcript and brought it back to UC. UC told me to wait a few days for the system to update, and then I should be able to go back to my advisor's secretary and register, so then I'll have registered student status for the Fall so I can now apply for a student loan.

And I'm sure that'll just happen without any problems.

What a difference from my last post, eh?

on the verge

2008-07-19T23:41:00.013-04:00

Current Mood: pensive

Somehow this wacky work schedule that I have opened up for a bit this month, and I just got back a few days ago from a whole week home, and I have to say it was one of the best visits home I can remember. Some highlights:

Got to hang out with Jared (one of Sis's college friends). Went swimming a lot. Burned myself lighting some rockass fireworks that we bought from a shady guy. Ate me some Gold Star chili. Visited Sis and Bradley's church and got to see what that was like - and hear Sis read one of her poems. Ate some of Dad's grill cookin'. Heard from an old friend that I kinda had fallen out of contact with. Gave some presents, got some presents like Bradley's old TV tuner card and a Carson Palmer jersey for my upcoming trip to Green Bay. Saw my Grandma's new apartment and learned some stuff about my grandparents. Rode a bike into a pool. Watched some great new movies. Went to a waterpark with some of my family courtesy of a family friend- and got my first sunburn. I ate downtown and tried sushi for the first time.

It was kinda like a whole summer break of fun compressed into a whole week. Awesome.

One other thing I got to do, which I'm setting aside as a special mention, was go target shooting with Mom and her fiancee Scott.

I've got "learn basic marksmanship" on my LoTtDBID. Previously, I've gone to the callout of the Purdue Rifle and Pistol Club and fired some handguns, I'd taken potshots at turtles with some small .22 rifles at Ronnie's house (waaaay back in the day), and fired some rifles and pistols with Kamikaze last summer. Still, I've never considered any of those any formal test of my ability, which is why I was excited to get to go target shooting. Up until that day the best I would say was that I'd messed around with some weapons but nothing more.

We went to the Elk Creek Hunt Club, a national target shooting circuit stop in Kentucky. I shot 12 and 20 gauge shotguns at small clay target s that were launched into the air by a mechanical thrower. I've never fired a shotgun before, never at a moving target, never at clay targets, and was using unfamiliar guns at a strange course - and I think I did pretty well.

Scott gave me a quick tutorial, and from there I shot four times at each of the 14 stations (for a total of 56 rounds, instead of the standard 100, to save money). The target shooting reminded me very much of Duck Hunt or similar games (which I suppose is the point) - except that it was much harder, and the targets moved with much more variety. For example, some arced down from over my right shoulder, some pairs criss-crossed, others rolled across the ground (called "rabbits"). I would guess that being good at shooting video games is a crossover skill to target shooting? I also learned the scoring system, the etiquette for being the thrower, and s'more gun safety. I ended up with a 54% accuracy over the entire course, with my best station being 4 of 4, and my worst 1 for 4.

I'm now a bit more confident that I can handle a gun, should the unthinkable happen.

And while I was home I really missed doing improv. It's been a long while since I've felt that...

The Fortune Cookie Experiment

2008-07-10T18:53:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: mellow

A few weeks back some friends of mine (mostly co-workers around Earhart Hall) convinced me to take part in a project they'd cooked up, something they called The Fortune Cookie Experiment. For one week we all agreed to eat dinner at Earhart Dining Court and grab a fortune cookie from the stir-fry station. For the next 24 hours, we were to live as if the fortune was 100% true (without explicitly broadcasting it, unless that was part of the fortune), and to note the result.

Monday's fortune: You have musical talents. Make them known.
Result: I do have musical talents, but I try not to brag, so this one made me feel awkward. If anything, I wait until somebody asks me about it or the situation allows me to bring it up naturally (like karaoke or Rock Band). That said, I changed my Facebook status to talk about my vocal range, and told people I knew about how I played in concert band in middle and high school.

Tuesday's fortune: He who is aware of his folly is wise.
Result: This one was exhausting. In an attempt to be more wise, I spent the entire day trying to be hyper-aware of things I knew I didn't know much about.

Wednesday's fortune: Your perseverance will pay off soon.
Result: I interpreted "soon" as sometime within the next few days, which meant I largely forgot about my fortune waiting for something to fall into my lap. Nothing did.

Thursday's fortune: You have an unusually magnetic personality.
Result: *rolls eyes* Scott and Anna found out about this one and ran into me every time I walked by them for a full day.

Friday's fortune: We can learn from everyone, especially from our enemies.
Result: I went about my day hoping Snidely Whiplash would leap from the shadows and teach me about advanced mathematics. No dice.

Saturday's fortune: Your energy is at a peak. Channel it into creative activities.
Result: I spent all of Friday working and doing errands, and was completely exhausted by today. I did very little activity at all, much less something creative.

Sunday's fortune: You'll accomplish more later if you take some time for yourself.
Result: I slept in, and then spent several hours reading stuff online. Later...I played video games. No discernible change in accomplishment levels.

Conclusions: I don't hold fortune cookies in very high regard. They're in the same boat as horoscopes and tarot cards, for me. I anticipated a series of general statements that would be difficult to implement into my daily life, and that's more or less what I got. They also threw in some proverb-type statements, which I fully expected.

I would've been more impressed if I'd gotten Saturday and Friday's fortunes switched. Also, my days are not very dynamic, since I stay up and then sleep in working in a mostly-empty residence hall, so it was difficult to apply these with any meaningful result.

The only one I really was surprised by was the first one, and I admit I was uncomfortable "making it known".

Lastly, human interaction remains devoid of ferromagnetic properties. Myth busted.

big payoff

2008-07-01T14:08:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: productive

I thought the 4th of July was pretty much a holiday unto itself, but apparently it's actually more of a celebration + 3 day weekend, or something. Because of this, I have my favorite holiday (Friday) off, but am working close to 30 hours of the Saturday and Sunday afterward. I was assigned most of those hours on top of my normal ones because apparently nobody else around the hall wants to work.

This is doubly sucky because I have three separate friends coming in from out of town coming to see me (at least in part). I've also been warned three separate times not to attempt to get onto a roof of a Purdue building to watch the fireworks (the penalty is instant termination). I would feel somewhat insulted, but I've more or less made it my mission the past two summers to gain legitimate access to the roofs of University Residences as often as possible.

Attempts: many.
Successes: one.

That said, maybe I'm just paying my dues now. I say this because it looks like August is shaping up to be a pretty awesome month. I'm gonna have a new pool at my new apartment, so I'm looking forward to swimming.

I just ordered my *free* lawn ticket for the Metal Masters tour with Judas Priest. It came free with their newest 2 disc album, Nostradamus. I'll be going with Future Roommate Greg, and I'm really excited. I've only been to 2 concerts - Stxy/REO Speedwagon and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Also, it looks like my trip to Green Bay with Jenny for Bengals/Packers preseason is gonna happen, too. I'm probably more excited for that. I need to find some orange and black to wear, since it's going to be Monday Night Football and I sure would love to make it on the Jumbotron...

forecast

2008-06-27T09:19:00.001-04:00

Current Mood: pensive

I'm not a fan of laundry list posts, but this is more for me than anybody. Plus I just rolled out a survey post, which is pretty lame too. Deal :D

So it's about halfway through June, which means summer is approximately half over for me.

Finals ended Saturday, May 3rd. As soon as I was done with all my finals and a paper, I left Purdue. Jenny and I went to Cincinnati for about a week, went to Union Terminal to see Bodies (the Exhibition) and went to a Red's game. Then I came back and moved into Earhart, and had a week of straight training before jumping right into work. Since then I've beaten Metroid Prime: Corruption and read some books I've wanted to for a while (mostly stuff I put off during the school year). I went to Joey Steenbergen's wedding, and Benji & Corrie's wedding reception. My 22nd birthday came and went. I performed a special summer improv show for Earhart Hall summer school residents with most of the SoF. I've gone to see Iron Man and Indy 4. I've posed as a model for a Purdue brochure. I stopped biting my fingernails! I've kept up on my goal of posting here and on my other story site at least once a week (but not much more). I have also picked up a few extra hours helping with Day on Campus Tours, but for the most part I've been relaxing and hanging out with my friends that have been here (including a game of the new D&D 4.0 rules).

Pretty busy, I think. I am trying not to waste away my summer, but really relax and not overstress. I need some time to recharge my batteries. Thinking back to last summer, I should've either gotten more rigid deadlines from Dr. D for our research, or seriously considered limiting myself to just either a job, or my fellowship.

So where does that leave me for the rest of the summer? I've got from now until summer "ends" with the start of class- Monday August 25th. As of now:

I have about 25 hours of work every week for most of the rest of that time. I don't know when my last day will be, but the last day I could possibly work is August 8th.

That's also the last day for my current apartment lease, so sometime around there I'll need to move. That means up until then I need to continue whittling down the things I have here at Earhart. Peace has to move out, and I'll have to sort out everything there between me n' Alex. Then between Jenny, probably Greg, and hopefully mom coming to help, I'll move everything out of Earhart and Harrison over to my new apartment on the landing.

Mom wants me to try and go to an airshow July 19 and 20th, but I don't know if I'll be able to get off of work then. Similarly, my favorite holiday (4th of July) is coming up, and I'd like to hang out with everybody near Purdue and watch the fireworks, but I may have to work.

I'd like to go to Ft. Wayne and visit Andy and Jacque, and possibly someplace in Chicago - maybe see Scott? On top of that, Monday August 11th, Jenny and I are thinking about going to Green Bay WI to see the Bengals play the Packers @ Lambeau for the preseason. This may or may not count as our anniversary celebration. :D All of that takes a ton of money and gas is a lot more expensive than past summers, so we'll see. I will probably go home after apartment moving and before classes.

GenCon in mid-August, maybe? Also if I can get the right ticket, maybe a Judas Priest concert with future roommate Greg (how much would that rule?)

I will try and make it through the rest of my pile of books, Beard's comics, and finish at the very least Pokemon Diamond and Super Mario Galaxy. I've also got some computer maintenance to do (clean out bookmarks, clean up music files, etc.) but that's not high priority.

I'm going to make a point to keep posting to my blogs. By my best estimate, I have 14 chapters of my story left until I hit my goal [(50k - current 31,819) / 1300 word/chapter average) = 13.9]. I won't stop until I hit 50k, but I also won't quit until I've told my story. At one chapter/week average, I'll be done in 14 weeks, which means I won't finish before the summer ends. Fine, except my posting rate plummets as school picks up.

I should go give blood again, soon.

The last thing I'm writing about as a goal for the summer directly parallels my feeling about it. Something I've been putting off since the end of school. I need to talk to my counselor and get registered for the fall, and possibly take a summer class for July. Ugh.
Do. Not. Want.

ode to footwear

2008-06-25T01:11:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: mournful

faithful sandals died
emblazoned just - Corona
so ephemeral

through countless showers
summers of midwest weather
together four years

my girlfriend takes note
buys me a replacement pair
with some time to spare

time to break them in
a slightly diff'rent model
here's to four more years

Top 50 Survey

2008-06-18T17:15:00.008-04:00

Current Mood: rockin'

Surveys. Kinda filler, but this one struck me as interesting. This one is about the top 50 musical artists I've listened to on my music tracker, Last.fm.

I - How did I get into 30?
Slaughter

Mom actually played this one in the car on a trip from Purdue and told me if I liked shitty hair metal, this was a must.

She was right.

II - What is the first song I ever heard by 22?
Sweet

Probably "Ballroom Blitz" watching Wayne's World.

III - What is my favourite lyric by 29?
Sonata Arctica

Truth be told, my favorite Sonata song is a cover of a kickass Scorpions song, so I'll have to go with my next favorite, "Fullmoon" from Ecliptica:

She should not lock the open door
(run away run away, run away)
Fullmoon is on the sky and he's not a man anymore
sees the change in him but can't
(run away run away, run away)

Not especially deep, but it's an infectious chorus.

IV - What is my favourite album by 49?
Chris Isaak

My favorite album is Forever Blue. It's the only one I have (that's not a Best of), but it's very moody.

V - How many albums by 13 do I own?
AC/DC

10 albums, and they pretty much all sound the same. I'm okay with that, for the record.

VI - What is my favourite song by 50?
Queensryche

Got a bunch of their music from somebody who thought I would really like them. I ended up listening to it all and not a single song stuck out as worth listening to again. So...none.

VII - Is there a song by 4 that makes me sad?
Styx

"Clair De Lune/Ballerina" from Crystal Ball, but only because it's so beautiful.

VIII - What is my favorite song by 15?
Megadeth

Probably "Tornado of Souls" from Rust in Peace. Tough choice, though...pretty much anything from that album is fair game.

IX - What is your favourite song by 5?
Avenged Sevenfold

Currently it's "And All Things Will End" from Waking the Fallen. Part of this is because it sounds to me like a musical interpretation of the entropic heat death of the universe. <--nerd

X - Is there a song by 6 that makes me happy?
Metallica

"Stone Cold Crazy" from Garage, Inc [Disc 2], originally by Queen. Metallica has some seriously rockass covers (Astronomy, Turn The Page...).

XI - What is your favourite album by 40?
Deep Purple

Shit. I knew this was gonna happen. I'm not proud to admit I only have a Best of. I should have more, because Deep Purple is the same level as Black Sabbath and Zeppelin. Looking through the album tracks, it would have to be Machine Head.

XII - What is my favourite song by 12?
Van Halen

"Eruption" should win, just because it's the most epic guitar solo ever created. That said, my favorite is "And the Cradle Will Rock..." from Women and Children First.

XIII - What is a good memory I have involving 33?
Foreigner

"A good memory"? Not first or best? Probably rockin' out to "Juke Box Hero" with Cowboy.

XIV - What is my favourite song by 37?
Steve Miller Band

Easy - "Fly Like an Eagle" on the album of the same name.

XV - Is there a song by 19 that makes me happy?
Poison

"Talk Dirty To Me" from Look What the Cat Dragged In" - because of the part right before the guitar break that Bret yells "C.C., pick up that guitar and a TALK to me!" with a little squeak.

XVI - How many times have I seen 24 live?
W.A.S.P.

I'll go ahead and get this out there - I've only ever been to like, two concerts. Additionally, most of my favorite bands are dead and/or broken up, so these sorts of questions are going to be lame. That said, going to see these guys in concert would be terrifying. I'd probably come back molested and covered in raw meat.

XVII - What is the first song I ever heard by 23?
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

My best guess is "I Won't Back Down" from Full Moon Fever, courtesy of dad.

XVIII - What is my favourite album by 11?
Whitesnake

Hands down, Whitesnake.

XIX - Who is a favourite member of 1?
Queen

Frontman Freddie Mercury, of course. I worship the man's stage presence, vocal range and power, charisma, and musical ability. A hair behind him is Brian May - one of the guitar gods, plus and PhD astrophysicist.

XX - Have I ever seen 14 live?
David Bowie

Again, practically no concerts for me. That said, in my head a David Bowie concert looks something like the movie Labyrinth?

XXI - What is a good memory involving 45?
Night Ranger

Definitely the early morning "Power Ballads" compilation commercial sis and I used to watch before school every morning with the five second clip of "Don't Tell Me You Love Me".

XXII - What is my favourite song by 16?
Great White

"Rock Me", oddly enough first heard on the same commercial as [question] 21.

XXIII - What is the first song I ever heard by 47?
John Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra

That's a tossup. The man has created so many classic movie scores that I honestly couldn't pin down which was first. Star Wars is my favorite, though, and Indiana Jones is not far behind.

XXIV - What is my favourite album by 21?
Black Sabbath

Creepy...this was the same 21 as Bradley! I sort of stole his survey. My favorite has to be Paranoid, which is as influential and classic as they come.

XXV - What is my favourite song by 18?
Mötley Crüe

"Kickstart My Heart" from Dr. Feelgood. It's gritty, it's anthemic, and it has a charging bass line with a fantastic chorus. Plus:

"The song was written by Nikki Sixx about his famous overdose in which he was declared clinically dead before being revived by two adrenaline shots to the heart." from Wikipedia.

XXVI - What is the first song I ever heard by 38?
Boosty Collins

"Fear Da Tiger", which he wrote for the Cincinnati Bengals. Utterly ridiculous. As much as I love football and Bootsy, they should never be mixed.

XXVII - What is my favourite lyric by 3?
Led Zeppelin

From "Heartbreaker", Led Zeppelin II :

Abuse my love a thousand times,
However hard I tried.
Heartbreaker, your time has come,
Can't take your evil way;
Go away, Heartbreaker!

Robert Plant sings this last bit with so much emotion and his voice just barely keeps up - it's amazing.

XXVIII - What is you favourite song by 2?
Judas Priest

Oooh, tough choice. I'll go with "Night Crawler" from Painkiller.

XXIX - What is the first song I ever heard by 32?
Johnny Cash

Honestly, the first one I remember was "A Boy Named Sue" and that's what got me to pay attention to him as an artist. It was funny enough that I ignored the "country" aspect.

XXX - What is my favourite song by 8?
Skid Row

I think it's "Slave to the Grind" from the album of the same name, because it's the heaviest song they have before Sebastian Bach left - before they started to suck.

XXXI - How many times have I seen 17 live?
The Who

None, but maybe that's a good thing. If I'd been alive at the time they were really touring, realistically I would've seen them at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. I could've been there on December 3rd 1979, where a dozen fans got trampled after a show.

XXXII - Is there a song by 44 that makes me happy?
Aerosmith

I don't give two shits if it's critically panned, "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" from the Armageddon soundtrack makes me think of Liv Tyler. That makes me happy.

XXXIII - What is my favourite album by 28?
Phil Collins

Face Value. It's personal and emotional, but musically complex and filled with his drums. Plus it's before Phil jumped the shark.

XXXIV - What is the worst song by 46?
Elton John

I don't like "Candle in the Wind". There, I said it. The rest of his stuff I feel like is tongue-in-cheek, so I don't take it so seriously. But then this song gets attached to Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana, neither of which I had any connection to. I'm not trying to be callous, I just wasn't a part of that whole...thing.

XXXV - What is the first song I ever heard by 34?
Genesis

"I Can't Dance" from We Can't Dance (apparently the band really wants to drive home a point about them not being able to dance). I first heard it on the radio when I was little, but even though it would be years before I came back to truly appreciate the body of work from Genesis, this quirky song stayed in my head.

XXXVI - What is my favourite album by 42?
Pink Floyd

NOT Dark Side of the Moon. It's The Wall, thank you very much.

XXXVII - How many times have I seen 39 live?
Bad Company

None!

XXXVIII - What is my favourite album by 35?
Ratt

I only have a Best of, but research tells me my favorite would be Invasion of Your Privacy.

XXXIX - What is the first song I ever heard by 31?
Guns N' Roses

Probably "Welcome to the Jungle", from Appetite for Destruction

Lovin' Touchin' Watchin'

2008-06-08T19:48:00.008-04:00

Current Mood: faithful

Do you like classic rock? Do you like student films? Do you have about 22 minutes to waste away?

Do you have any interest in watching a guy that kinda looks like Stu portraying Steve Perry, former lead singer of Journey, saving a fun loving couple from a trio of dead rock and roll drummer zombies, before facing off in an epic kung-fu showdown against the lead singer frontman evil genius mastermind Freddie Mercury, whose plan is to use the music of the band The Darkness to open a portal through which he can rule heaven and hell on a throne of rock and roll?!

nonpartisan

2008-06-02T16:36:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: highly amused

Politics aside, I think this is really funny:

http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/

(among the entries are Mt. Rushmore, the polio vaccine, chocolate chip cookies, Cobb salad and the ballpoint pen)

*edit*

Also, I fucking love The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/desperate_hillary_to_obama

avoidance

2008-05-29T16:41:00.005-04:00

Current Mood: procrastination

Technology good: summer has barely begun, but I've got an really powerful central a/c unit all to myself. My [old] apartment has a shitty window unit that barely keeps the living room cool, much less my room. My current room for the summer...I can make it downright chilly. I am thankful for that.

Technology bad: I think I may have damaged my speakers? My nice [relatively] new ones. Yesterday I was rocking out something fierce, and some of the higher notes have a really odd twine to them (it's hard to describe). Temporary solution: turn down the volume, which I will have to do soon anyway once the building gets more occupied. Also, note to self: do not listen to offensive songs when building gets more occupied. Possible but unlikely long term solution: buy newer, more powerful speakers?

Technology good: I am borrowing Jenny's roommate's mini-fridge for the summer. I'm trying to cut down on the number of things I own, so this doesn't count against me. While it is not a necessity, it's a nice thing to have sometimes. :D I miss my full apartment kitchen, dirty dishes and all.

Technology bad: No car. 95% of the time, not a problem, 5% of the time, a really big problem.

Technology good: Future apartment has a DVR and cable TV. This means that I should never miss out on my favorite shows again.

Technology bad: I'm gonna watch so much TV...

Technology good: Maybe I'm just more web savvy, but I don't know how much longer DVRs are needed. Seriously, I remember 6 months ago trying to find old TV episodes online was basically torrenting, hoping like hell somebody was hosting it for free on some obscure site, or watching it in 8 parts on YouTube before it was removed. Maybe the writer's strike really did something, but now there's much more accessible content online for TV - sites like TVLinks or Hulu, (or even more legit sites like NBC.com) and I really don't mind the ads. I really don't. So help me god, though, if it has to buffer excessively, or keeps skipping and freezing, or something like that, I'll go right back to finding better, ad-free solutions.

There really are no words

2008-05-21T16:42:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: disgusted

From the Baltimore Sun:

"The New York Yankees' Jason Giambi sometimes wears a gold thong under his uniform while trying to break out of a slump, the New York Daily News reported.

As if that's not bad enough, the piece of lingerie apparently is communal underwear. Teammates Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon said they have also worn it. And on Saturday, a sign at Mike Mussina's locker read: "Pitchers need thongs, too."

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph, a former Yankees coach, said: "Giambi's a little freaky. I wouldn't go there."

In any case, Giambi might need to try something like a bustier. Even with thong enhancement, he's still batting below .200."

In other news, I just found out that Michael Stackpole is going to be at GENCON this year. I had fun last year, but recently I've heard some horror stories. I wasn't going to really go again, because I will probably have to work and it's expensive...but maybe I should dig up one of my favorite books and get it signed?

Retrospective

2008-05-18T21:43:00.002-04:00

Current Mood: excited

Hey guys! I am less busy now that it is summer. I've moved back into University Residences (Earhart Hall) and will once again be a summer Operations Assistant for conferences. I am more or less a summer RA until August. I'll be on duty a few nights a week - required to stay in the building, doing rounds, check ins/outs, etc. I will probably try to take a summer class.

In August I move into my new apartment with Greg and Chad - I'm pretty excited about that. Woo! Pool! Washer and dryer! Bigger bedroom!

I'm going to try to write in here more, as well. If any of you still care to read, I'm also going to be updating my NaNoWriMo story from last year - starting tonight! I aim to update both blogs at least once a week. Speaking of blogs, I got an actual phone call from Allister today, and it was a fantastic surprise - thanks man!

Along with my class, books, video games, and work, I'm gonna try to stay busy.

It's a bit of a blast from the past to go back to the residence halls each summer, now that I've been in the apartment. I don't cook or clean, and I'm back to using my freshman shower caddy and my sandals have been pressed back into service as shower shoes. It's a bit odd. Fortunately, Jenny is working in the hall across the street and the rest of the staff is really nice. I have a very firm grasp of the job at hand.

This May marks the end of four official years at Purdue - and I'm at least one year (probably more) away from my degree. I'm trying really hard to accept that as okay and enjoy it, instead of worrying and beating myself up. It has been a very long road, with more to go, but I have overcome a lot to even be where I am.

the wrong side of the tracks

2008-04-06T15:21:00.005-04:00

Current Mood: nostalgic

I found this on a friend's profile and thought it was funny, so I thought I'd share.

How to sing the Blues - a primer

1. Most Blues begins with: "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes...sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weighs 500 pound."

4. Teenagers can't sing the blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis."

5. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get rain.

6. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not the Blues. Breaking you leg 'cause an alligator be chomping on it is.

7. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

8. Good places for the Blues:
- Highway
- Jailhouse
- Empty bed
- Bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places for the Blues:
- Nordstrom's
- Gallery openings
- Ivy League institutions
- Golf courses

9. No on will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old ethnic person and you slept in it.

10. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?

Yes, if:
a. You older than dirt
b. You blind
c. You shot a man in Memphis
d. You can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. You have all your teeth
b. You were once blind but now can see
c. The man in Memphis lived
d. You have 410K or trust fund

11. Blues is not a matter of colour. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.

12. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues

Other acceptable beverages are:
a. Cheap wine
b. Whiskey or bourbon
c. Muddy water
d. Nasty black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim fast

13. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So are the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.

It all kinda reminds me of that fateful car trip, and the legend of Spodiddly.

Something dreams

2008-03-15T17:57:00.003-04:00

Current Mood: grab-bag

Current Roommate Alex needs some help! He's looking for twenty good men and/or women to win free stuff! If enough entries come in by the 18th, the winner gets some stuff from the Something Store.

Good luck!

Fukushima dreams

2008-03-15T17:32:00.004-04:00

Current Mood: maniacal

Current Roommate Alex has alerted me to a contest! His friend Adam, some guy living in Japan participating in the JET Programme, is giving stuff away. He needs help deciding what, however.

That's where I come in. If I win the contest, I want Japanese LEGOs.

Some backstory:

I fucking love LEGOs. I* own probably upwards of 10,000 individual pieces, and spent a good portion of my childhood income (and even some of my adult income) on purchasing sets and bricks. I asked for them every birthday, Christmas, and any other event I could bargain for.

I clearly remember my first set. It was a "Town" themed box with a black jeep, towing a black speedboat. I named my first LEGO character Jack, and it was with that set that I joined the LEGO fan club. I was a LEGO maniac (your feet quiver/your feet tap/it's enough to make you snap), I read the magazine, and I've no doubt my love of these toys is/was tied to my current studies of engineering.

So, Adam - if you're reading this, I want you to find me some LEGOs from Japan. Preferably some giant anime styled mecha LEGOs filled with little Japanese characters I don't understand. They don't even have to be official ones - I'll take knockoffs. If anybody else is reading, head on over for the official rules - anybody can enter, but the deadline is the 18th.

*Probably most accurately described as co-owning with my siblings.

Celebrity Mathematics

2008-03-04T15:47:00.004-05:00

Current Mood: procrastination

Mike Rowe

PLUS

Tommy Lee Jones

EQUALS

Rich Habib

rough start

2008-02-04T17:30:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: sick

Last week at University Bookstore I overheard probably one of the best conversations in the world:

Guy 1: ...so I had to start working here, because I got fired from my job at the grocery store.
Guy 2: Dude, that sucks. What happened?
G1: Well, okay. I was assigned to the bakery section, right? And one of my jobs was to rotate the bread stock to make sure it was all fresh.
G2: Mhmmmm...
G1: Well, it turns out that the little twisty ties on the loaves are color coded to tell you what day they were made on. That way you can tell at a glance which ones are too old.
G2: Well, yeah. Makes sense.
G1: Problem is, I'm colorblind. I didn't know that.
G1: So you couldn't tell which tie was colored-
G2: No, I'm colorblind. I didn't know that.

face the music

2008-01-14T20:25:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: limbo

Soooo...life. Stuff. Things. As thrilled as I am to be back in school with a schedule and a purpose and such, I can't say it's gone too smoothly. Here are some thoughts.

I'm on track 2844 of 6599 of the Great Alpha Scrobble, in the middle of the "If" songs. That's about 43% complete. The halfway track is "L.A. Woman" by The Doors, one letter short of the middle of the alphabet. Technically it's between song 3299 and 3300, but oddly they're both the same song - one is a live version. It's been a test of willpower at times to resist switching tracks to listen to what I want at the time, and to get used to Led Zeppelin to Freezepop transitions. While this is a great look at some of my rarely-played tracks, I also am getting a better idea of what music of mine I can safely get rid of.

I've got a more healthy outlook recently. I've tried to get some better foods like yogurt and such in my life, for example. I'm brushing my teeth much more, but that may be because I think I need to have my wisdom teeth taken out soon. :(

Purdue won their bowl game - barely (against a team we steamrolled earlier in the season). The Bengals had a losing season (again) and I hope they get some sweet draft picks. I won my fantasy football championship...it was much less exciting than I imagined. I was pretty good at picking playoff teams. Cowboys lost to the Giants and are out of the playoffs, which was shocking and quite frankly, disappointing. Looks like the Patriots are gonna win everything, which is also disappointing. I am rooting for the Packers all the way.

I still need to register to vote and get my absentee ballot. More thoughts on politics forthcoming.

It was nice to get home for Christmas and spend time with my family. I wasn't really comfortable at all with the two Christmas setup, but we had a plan and stuck to it. I got a tonnnn of DVDs, yay (I have restored my list of DVDs and added it to my links list).

I'm trying to avoid TV (American Gladiators, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and video games (Smash Brothers, Metroid) in lieu of focusing on academics this semester. My schedule is okay but MWF are pretty long. It is super important I do well this semester. That said, my current financial aid situation is FUBAR and it's maddening to try and straighten it out.

Improv is back for this year and we've got our work cut out for us. We've got about half a month to prepare for our callout and a trip to Chicago, plus the return of the AOO and other shows booked for this spring.

crazy sevens

2007-12-20T19:44:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: funky

I think NaNoWriMo completely burned me out on writing, seriously. I haven't updated my NNWM story since a few days before the end of November (and I feel kinda bad, because quite a few people bothered to read it, and I'm guessing they're sick of checking for non-existent updates).

Worse, things on my writing front aren't going to improve anytime soon. About the only thing I write about in *this* blog with any regularity is football, and fantasy football ends this week, college bowls by the first week of January, and this is the penultimate week of regular season football. I am sad for that.

I'm leaving to go home in a few hours, and I'll be back to Purdue probably around the end of the year. I'm not addicted to the internet like Current Roommates Alex and John, so I won't take my computer home (that's a pain in the ass anyway, though I really do need to break down the 'ol compy and dust 'er off). Basically, I won't be updating much for a while at home.

On top of all that, this upcoming semester (starting January 7th) is probably one of the most important of my collegiate career. I need to seriously buckle down and overcome some academic roadblocks I've been struggling with for quite some time.

My rough attempt at a plan involves not working (already quit my job), scaling back my role at the improv club (read: less worrying over details/let new guys step up), and take out more student loans to worry less about money. The last one is almost paradoxical, but from last semester I think it is worth a try. There are some other things, but I don't want to list them here.

Also, on the proactive side of life, I need to start finding something to do this summer. I can easily go back to my old job as a summer conference assistant, but that's a step backwards and I'm getting sick of it. I want to do something engineering, something I am proud to put on my resume...but that's easier said than done with my gpa.

I tell myself to cut some slack because I'm stretching myself academically like whoa, but still...nobody to blame but yours truly. Get it together, Ryan.

Space is limited
In a haiku, so it's hard
To finish what you

-T.M

The Alpha Scrobble

2007-12-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: solitary

As you may remember, I've been working on a complete overhaul of my music collection (closing in on 30 gigs, total). I've got 6 GB left to re-label and correct, the rest is golden. As we approach the new year, it's time to look at The Alpha Scrobble.

The main body of this post was taken almost directly from the blog of my brother and partner-in-scrobbling.

Around this time of the year, comes my [now annual] massive overhaul of music. The deleting of old material, the downloading of new new songs, and most important: the ever-important re-labeling, and correcting other torrenter's mistakes. So to celebrate the joy of having a clean media library, comes a project known as the "Alpha Scrobble". This consists of playing all the songs on your computer in a row, non-stop on the first second of the new year. Everyone with a media library (no matter how big or small) is allowed to participate, under these guidelines.

Alpha Scrobble Rules

1. All songs must be organized by song title, alphabetically.
example:
Barfly - Marcy Playground
Barfly - Tankard
Bargain - The Who
Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne
Barmherzigkeit - Die Apokalyptischen Reiter

2. All songs must be played, not matter how embarrassing.

3. Media libraries must be "locked-in" by December 31st, with no adding or subtracting of music during the alpha scrobble.

4. Participants are strongly encouraged to join Last.Fm to track their progress, and record data, if an outage occurs.

5. If play is interrupted by any case, play is to be resumed as soon as possible.

6. Music must be listened to at all possible times (sans sleeping)

7. It is optional to play music only during the day, and turn off your computer during the night, but play is to be resumed as soon as possible.

8. The playing of songs is to start on January 1st, at 12:01 AM

I *may* not be back to my computer until a day or so after the new year, but rest assured I will begin as soon as I can, and let nothing stop me until every [clean] track has been played!

For those of you who simply wish to see where I'm at, the handy little widget on the right sidebar will show you what tracks I've been listening to. Since I'm listening in alphabetical order, you can get a rough estimate of how far I've gotten. Enjoy!

animal magnetism

2007-12-17T23:01:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: full

Quick! What is the most terrifying animal you can think of?

I suppose it's no big secret that I have a strong dislike of owls. Still, I know that's a personal thing, so I don't expect everybody to understand why I find them so frightening. I mean, you've got the whole silent flight thing, the giant glowing eyes, the rotating head bit, the horrifying screech as it swoops from the sky, but yeah, I guess there's some beauty or somesuch in there.

No, I'm here to discuss an even greater predator, one who I would argue is much more dangerous. More dangerous, and quite frankly, must be stopped before it's too late.

Sure, technically it's a "dolphin", and you may have seen them at your local themed waterpark performing some stupid pet tricks, but the Orcinus orca, better known a killer whale is working on becoming the most dangerous predator on the planet. Here's why:

1. They are built to destroy.
Look at this fucking thing. It's a living torpedo of death. They grow about 27 feet long, and weigh over six tons. That's six tons of muscle and teeth and just enough fat to insulate them from the frigid waters they prowl. They can swim 30 miles an hour and dive to 100 feet. Want to know how you'd stack up? An olympic swimmer can go 5 miles an hour and a champion diver about 55 feet, unaided. Also, orcas have no extraneous body parts. There is nothing on their bodies that serves any purpose other than survival. They eat an average of 500 pounds of food every day (and I mean real food, not strained krill).

2. They hunt in packs.
A killer whale by itself is an engine of destruction. Now imagine facing a pod of them, which could mean on average, six to forty of them. Sure, there are creatures in the ocean that could take on one orca and have a fighting chance (but not many). Forty? You're pretty much screwed.

3. They are everywhere.
Orcas swim wherever the hell they want, when they want to. Despite decades of "tracking" and "tagging" orcas, scientists really don't have any damn clue how they migrate because orcas know better than to be so predictable.

Think I'm kidding?

4. They're fucking smart.
The oldest known orca lived to be at least 89 years old, which means they've got a generous lifetime to learn some how to become better predators. We already know they're smart enough to learn complex song and dance routines. We also know dolphins can pass the mirror test - the first non primates to do so. Still, this pales in comparison to their hunting techniques:

* Orcas have been known to vomit onto ice flows to attract gulls. Once the birds land to check it out, the orca waiting nearby pops up and eats it. Captive orcas have shared this behavior by showing the other whales how to do it.

* Groups of orcas release coordinated bursts of bubbles from their blowholes to form a "cage" to trap fish, and then "slap" the water with their fins to stun the fish with water shockwaves. This is known as carousel feeding, and they take turns.

* Sometimes, orcas will attack sharks. Once they kill them, the often eat the nutrient-rich liver first, a Mortal-Kombat inspired finish. They know where the most valuable parts are, and they aren't afraid to get them.

* They've been known to take on blue whales - a creature about 120 feet long and 200 tons. That's a target roughly 4x as long and 33x bigger. Humans are fair game as well.

* They aren't afraid to resort to cannibalism, if they have to.

* When hunting larger prey, like seals, orcas are known to head-butt, tail slap, ram, or even breach (partially leap out of the water) and land on the things. Can you imagine the sight of a 30 foot whale leaping out of the water trying to body slam you? They've also been observed in pairs tossing baby seals in the air to each other before eating.

* You aren't safe on land, as mother orcas have been seen pushing their young onto the beach to grab prey, and pulling them back into the water by their tails if they stray too far.

*

If after all of that, you still aren't convinced, do me a favor. Imagine yourself underwater, in a diving suit. The water around you is so cold, it's possible you could die of hypothermia before you drowned. It's so deep and murky that you can barely see your hand in front of you. Now plug some headphones into your computer, turn up the volume, and close your eyes as you listen to the sounds of your approaching doom.

Fortunately for us, orcas are confined to the seas...for now. We've established they're physically superior in every way, have strength of numbers, and may even be smarter than we give them credit for. Still, that's no reason for us to get complacent. These are the ultimate apex predators of the sea, and if we're not careful, of the earth. I suggest we take a proactive approach and observe them, to make sure they never, ever get opposable thumbs.

inching closer

2007-12-13T12:36:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: sheepish

Nothing new with college football. Still waitin' for bowls. This means NFL is up next:

Good Brees gave the Falcons the what-for, with a 34-14 thrashing on Monday Night Football. 3 TDs, 328 yards, and no picks - yay! The Falcons have slim playoff hopes as they are now 6-7, facing the 6-7 Cardinals this week.

Speaking of Purdue Quarterbacks, Kyle Orton will be starting for the Bears at Minnesota on MNF this week. *is anxious*

Speaking of the Falcons, Michael Vick got a 23 month sentence, and most commentators seem to feel he will return to the NFL at some point. I think that's a little light considering the offenses, including lying once caught about drug use. He got a worse sentence than his conspirators (who had criminal records). I think that prison and age are going to wear him out if/when he returns, and he'll be much less mobile (but not for lack of trying).

And speaking of the Cardinals, I'm really not sold on their QB Kurt Warner. The other week he threw some 480 yards and have kept his team alive in the rapidly-closing playoffs picture. Still, last week the Seahawks outscored them 2:1, with a final score of 42-21, with 5 sacks. I just don't but into the hype, I guess.

The Colts proved that only New England has to fear the Ravens, beating them 44-20. When did OSU Heisman winner Troy Smith make it to be the Ravens QB?!

While we're on the subject of the Patriots, I would normally be glad they beat the Steelers (Bengals rival), and put that smart-mouthed safety (Anthony Smith) in his place with a sound 34-13 win. Except now they're probably going to reach the playoffs undefeated. Boo.

Green Bay destroyed the Raiders, 38-7. Favre kept his streak alive, and Ryan Grant (RB) continues to dominate. I was especially pleased when I saw that Favre had over 6,000 passing yards in games below freezing, whereas the Raiders QB Walter (not their babied prize horse JaMarcus Russell) had never played in a game that cold. In fact, they didn't put Russell in because he was too cold, and they're waiting for a positive opportunity to put him in. Well, sorry folks, here in the NFL it's sink or swim, and if you wait to be on top to start a rookie QB, you might be waitin' a while. Packers move to 11-2 and play 3-10 Rams this week.

Cowboys nearly lost to the Lions! Only a last minute drive, featuring the Romo-Witten Express saved the day, barely winning 28-27. Now, granted, the Lions haven't been playing well lately, but have shown flashes of brilliance this season. Still, the way Dallas played, the Lions should've won. That said, it's really how you play the last few minutes that counts in the NFL - so the Cowboys improve to 21-1, and face division rivals the Eagles (5-8) this week.

Lastly, my fears that the Bengals would fall to the Rams were unfounded. Several field goals later, the Bengals won 19-10. It helped that we faced a rookie QB. Cincinnati is now 5-8, and face a similar opponent in last week's Rams, the 3-10 49ers. As John Madden might say, "they aren't happy with the way this season has gone, so they're playing for respect".

Week 2 of 3 - Semifinals.

Brad and Sis were eliminated, and now they play for 5th and 6th spot. I'm happy to say I won my first playoff game, posting the second highest score that's been in our league this season: 137.5 (the top score was something like 139). I played all my best players, and they all had outstanding days (biggest stud: Seahawks Matt Hasselbeck, who came out of nowhere with four passing TDs for 35.2 fantasy points.

Unfortunately, this week I have to play our #1 seed, Bill. I'm a 15 point underdog, and my star RB, Saints' Reggie Bush, is out for the season on a knee injury. I'm trying to pick up a new running back on waivers that'll push me to the win, but I don't see it happening.

On some level, I wish I could've "saved" that score for this upcoming week, because that's my only realistic shot at winning vs. Bill's Tom Brady led team. Still, I guess I'd rather put up what points I can and worry about not losing early.

Most likely Jenny and I will both lose to the top two teams (going to our "super bowl") and we'll play for third place.

paper towel oculardystrophy

2007-12-12T02:58:00.001-05:00

Current Mood: awaaaake

I found this to be particularly humorous.

Also, THIS JUST IN -

Led Zeppelin: still awesome. Probably better than most bands ever will be.

For some other perspective, think of this:

I consider Led Zeppelin to be the greatest rock band, ever. They broke up in 1980 (6 years before I was born) because of the death of their drummer (John Bonham). The tribute concert they played at featured drums played by his son, Jason Bonham. Jason is 41 years old. That's a year older than my father.

football, what else?

2007-12-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: indecisive

Purdue has accepted an invitation to the Motor City Bowl on Wednesday, December 26th at 7:30 pm at Ford Field in Detroit, MI. They will be facing the Central Michigan Chippewas, who finished 8-5 overall as champions of the Mid-American Conference over Miami (OH). This may sound familiar as Purdue beat Cent. Michigan earlier in the year, 45-22 on Sept. 13th at Ross-Ade Stadium. Not exactly my favorite option, especially since it's a repeat, but maybe we'll actually win our bowl this year. *rolls eyes*

Other NCAAF bowls I am interested in:

Sunday December 23, 2007

*Hawaii Bowl, 8:00 pm
(24) Boise St. vs East Carolina
Here we go, Boise St.! Let's see some trick plays!

Tuesday January 1, 2008

*Capital One Bowl, 11:00 am
Michigan vs. (9) Florida
I hope Michigan loses!

*Rose Bowl, 4:30 pm
(13) Illinois vs. (6) USC
The Rose Bowl is classic, and I usually root for the Big Ten. This one is for Mrs. Kuzma.

*Sugar Bowl, 8:30 pm
(10) Hawaii vs. (4) Georgia
I, for one, recognize that Hawaii was the only unbeaten team in the BCS. Show 'em how it's done, guys.

Monday January 7, 2008

*BCS Championship, 8:00 pm
(2) LSU vs. (1) OSU
I was pretty shocked OSU rose to first place after all the other losses, but go Bucks!

And now, NFL...

The giant matchup of the NFC ended with Dallas over Green Bay, 37-27. It was a great game, but I was a little worried that Favre left with an injury. Still, Aaron Rodgers played well as a backup, and Brett should be okay to start this weekend. I honestly feel the Packers lost because of injuries at defense, but they should still cruise into the playoffs! I was also really happy to see Tony Romo handle the spotlight well. Jenny and I showed up to BW3's about 40 minutes early and it was SRO, so we went next door to the River Rock Grille. The wait staff ignored us until minutes before kickoff, and the food was not very good...but the fans were great! Pretty much everybody was really into it there, and acted classy on top of it. My only real beef with the evening was stupid NFL network and its hoarding of key games. Not that I have tv to watch anyway, and it was nice to get out and watch the game like some people, but still. Green Bay is 10-2, facing the 4-8 Raiders this week.

Seahawks beat the Eagles, 28-24. This one made me a little sad, because I thought Eagles backup QB A.J. Feeley had some magic. Looks like he needs some more practice, and that's cool.

Jags fall to the Colts, 28-25. That's two games behind to their division leader, so that pretty much locks up that. I think I read that Indy has won that division every year since it was formed except for the first. Crazy! Tony Dungy has my respect for consistency, if nothing else.

The Detroit Lions (I almost typed "Detroit Loins", which made me giggle) promised at least 10 wins this season. They fell to 6-6 with a lopsided 42-10 loss to the Vikings. Sorry guys, the Pack owns the NFC North, and now you've got to try and keep the 11-1 Cowboys down this week.

Poor Dolphins. Their "best shot at winning" this year, and avoiding 0-16, was supposed to be this past week vs. the 2-9 Jets. They lost 40-13, and still have to face the Bills, Ravens, Bengals, and the Patriots. There's a good chance they won't win any of those, either.

Cardinals "won" over the Browns, 27-21. I use quotes because if you watch the replays, I'm pretty sure the Cardinals' final TD FTW came from a bad call. Still, apparently Kurt Warner (Cards QB) is a beast? Eh, whatever keeps the Browns down...

Bad Saints lost to the Bucs, 27-23. I'm gonna go ahead and blame Reggie Bush and coach Sean Payton for a botched trick play. I love trick plays, but when you're up late in the 4th, you gotta hold onto the ball first and foremost. They are now 5-7 (after going to the playoffs last year) and face the 3-9 Falcons on Monday Night this week. Even the Bad Saints should be able to put this one away.

Eli Manning is anything but 'unstoppable'.

WHAT THE FUCK, RAVENS? Patriots squeak out a win over Baltimore, 27-24 on Monday Night. You've got a weak AFC North team on center stage, and they were leading most of the game vs. "the perfect team". Suddenly the imploded in the fourth quarter, with bad calls, penalties, a painful time out that blew a key stop, and finally a beautiful hail-mary heave that stopped on the two yard line. *sigh* If a crappy team like the (3-8) Ravens can almost beat the (12-0) Patriots, the Steelers (9-3) should really have a chance at keeping them from going 16-0 this weekend.

And, heading for some sweet draft picks are my Cincinnati Bengals. Unless they win their remaining four games (unlikely), the Bengals will finish their 16th losing season of the past 17. That's after a 24-10 loss to the Steelers, snapping a weird AFC North road-team winning streak at the Steelers' home field. Judging from their opening drive, I thought the Bengals would at least keep this one close, but instead Palmer had a palsy and the Steelers woke up. They are now 4-8, facing the suddenly scary 3-9 Rams this week. I will be so pissed if they lose to the Dolphins.

And lastly, fantasy football...

All six teams are in our playoffs. Week 1 of 3 - Quarterfinals.

Bill and Cooper have first round byes. Jenny faces Bradley, and I am projected to win over Sis.

Technically I earned a wild card spot with a 5-8 record in the regular season, good for 4th place. I lost my final game, and I was NOT happy. I had unproductive days from a few of my stars, but I think I did pretty well overall. Cooper, my competition, had three 0 point players and STILL beat me. Lookin' forward to next year...

"BLT"

2007-12-06T08:29:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: you are just in time for Christmastime

1. What's your favorite ornament hanging on your tree?
One of my favorites is this ugly-ass ornament I made back in middle school (I think), made of clay. It's supposed to be a dude, but his ears are small satellite dishes, it looks like it was painted by a blind man, and his nose is so large it looks like a penis. It's so heavy it can only be hung on the bottom branches.

2. What's better: Sledding or Snow Angels?
Sledding, because of Calvin and Hobbes if nothing else.

3. Do you put marshmallows in your hot chocolate?
When I can! Only the tiny little chalky ones, though.

4. Do you still get pictures with Santa?
I..I don't know that I ever have, and have no plans to.

5. What's your favorite holiday food?
Christmas tree cakes! The spongy sugary Little Debbie ones!

6. What do you want for Christmas this year?
The thing I wanted most I already received. That's not me being sappy - I didn't think I'd hear back about it until Christmas break.

7. Did you go shopping on Black Friday?
No, and I avoid it whenever I can. In fact, I get a little extra pleasure out of sitting on my butt in my comfy house thinking of all the crazies duking it out at 5am over "doorbusters".

8. Are you on the naughty or nice list?
Nice.

9. Give one reason why you think you're on the list you chose.
The other day I took care of one of my friends who had had a bit too much to drink.

10. Do you have fake trees or real trees?
Oh man. Right now in my apartment we have our tiny Charlie-Brown tree, the cheapest fake tree Wal-Mart had to offer, and we call him Douglas. Douglas Fir. That said, I die a little on the inside knowing we don't have a real tree. Growing up it went unspoken that we got a live tree, and I think twice we even got trees with bulbs that we later replanted. All the mess and maintenance are nothing compared to the smell, the life, the comfort of having a real tree. Right now I'm willing to accept the fake tree because I'm a poor student, but that's the only reason.

11. Do you know what you're getting your parents for Christmas this year?
Nope! Haha.

12. Are you good at guessing what's inside the presents?
Kinda, yeah. Not nearly as good as my father, but I do okay.

13. How early do you get up on Christmas morning?
We usually open gifts Christmas Eve, so there's really no rush. I used to set my alarm to get to my new toys faster, but now I sleep in and just sorta ease into it.

14. Do you have a system for opening presents at your house?
Yes. We all sit around the living room and designate a present-fetcher, and then take turns opening gifts. We try and space it out so everybody has about equal turns and we all show our gifts before moving on.

15. How many days before Christmas do presents start appearing under your tree?
Usually the night we get it. Pretty much anything in December is fair game.

16. What's your favorite Christmas decoration?
Christmas lights!

17. Do you like icicle lights?
Not really. LED ones, however, are pretty rad.

18. Are you good at making Gingerbread houses?
I don't think I ever have tried, come to think of it.

19. Does it snow where you live?
Yes! Thank god. It just snowed for the first time here a few days ago and it ruled.

20. Do you use advent calendars to count down the days til Christmas?
Just once, when I got a one-time LEGO advent calendar. It also ruled.

21. What event lets you know that Christmas is coming up?
I have a lot of Jewish friends, so Hanukkah is a pretty big clue. Also, back September when the stores start putting out Christmas stuff...

22. What's your favorite holiday drink from Starbucks?
...
I hate Starbucks.

23. Do you like red or green better?
Green, I think.

24. Do you eat candy canes?
Yeah! My favorites are the Starburst ones.

25. Have you ever made it on the news because your house is so decorated?
No, but it will...

26. How many Christmas songs do you know by heart?
Several, for various definitions of "song". Most are comedy routines or jingles, rather than hymns or overtly religious ones.

27. How good are you at wrapping presents?
Bad enough that I usually beg mom to wrap all my stuff. I usually sneak hers into an unmarked package and grin stupidly when I tell her she's just wrapped her own gift.

28. What type of wrapping paper is your favorite?
I like shiny paper, or classic designs like bold stripes or snowflakes. Also paper with, like, cartoons or something I like.

29. Do you post bulletins on MySpace wishing people a Merry Christmas?
No. In fact, recently I deleted my MySpace page.

30. Do you have Christmas layouts and songs for your Myspace profile?
MySpace no more!

31. Does your school/work do a food drive?
We had a food drive for Thanksgiving, and a gift drive for Christmas.

32. Have you ever been to Rockefeller Center to see the tree?
Nope.

33. What about Disney World?
Nope.

34. Any cool family traditions?
Several. Off the top of my head is the Christmas Cruise, where we go lookin' for the best decorated houses.

35. How many people do you buy presents for?
Generally immediate family and significant other, and a few close friends.

36. Have you ever told a little kid Santa isn't real?
Not to my knowledge.

37. Do you have any cute holiday outfits?
Actually, I recently purchased some boxers with candy canes on them. I can't wait to wear them in the summer.

38. Does your family get a picture taken and send it out in Christmas cards?
Ugh. No.

39. What type of tree topper do you have?
This ancient star that is slowly disintegrating.

40. On a scale of 1-10, how decorated is your house?
My apartment? Probably about a 4.

41. Would anyone ever call you a grinch?
It's possible.

42. Do you and your friends do "Secret Santas?"
I usually have a gift exchange with the improv group, and I've had several work-related ones in the past.

43. Do you think Snowflake-Shaped Ritz Crackers taste better than regular ones?
Never had 'em, but I'm assuming they're about the same.

44. Do you go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve?
I can see how this would apply to the general Christmas-celebrating crowd, but I do not.

45. What Christmas movie do you watch EVERY YEAR at Christmas Time?
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the animated version. Does everybody have a movie they ALWAYS watch?

46. Would you rather get one big gift or a lot of little gifts?
Lately, one big gift. That's probably because I'm becoming a lot more focused on cutting down on owning *stuff*.

47. Whats the first thing you do after all your presents are opened?
I was the kind of kid that couldn't play with anything before carefully opening the box and confirming the contents matched the packing list, then dutifully removing the parts from their wrapping, cutting away the excess plastic flanges from each piece, placing each sticker centered in the appropriate spot...

48. Whats more fun: the days leading up to Christmas, or Christmas itself?
Days leading up to (again, we opened on Christmas Eve).

49. Do you do any community service stuff around Christmas time?
A little bit. This year our improv group has done a lot more, and I'm very proud.

50. Are you excited for Christmas this year?
Yes.

twice on Sunday

2007-12-04T00:58:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: smug

This is simply to clear up some confusion about Black Friday:

The news media frequently refer to Black Friday as the busiest retail shopping day of the year, but this is not always accurate. While it has been one of the busiest days in terms of customer traffic,^[1]^[2] in terms of actual sales volume, from 1993 through 2001 Black Friday was usually the fifth to tenth busiest day.^[3] In 2002 and 2004, however, Black Friday ranked second place.^[4] The busiest retail shopping day of the year in the United States (in terms of both sales and customer traffic) usually has been the Saturday before Christmas.^[5] In 2003 and 2005, however, Black Friday actually did reach first place.^[6]And because this is too good to keep to myself, the results of MASH with my siblings:

RYAN will live in a house. He is going to marry a pile of beans, and his Mormon second wife is Samus Aran. In a move that surprises us all, he will become a Catholic priest who moonlights as an NFL quarterback. He'll drive a skateboard tied to a milkcrate, and his hidden talent is that he has the potential to be a Skip-It World Champion. He'll have a pet dolphin and cultivate a fear of prime numbers. He'll own a factory that produces factories, and his motto will be "One brick gayer!" Ryan will have four children, each with a defining characteristic... the first is purple, the second has no knees, the third is addicted to Robutussin, and the fourth sneezes when he sees the jack of spades.

BRADLEY, on the other hand, will live in Australia and marry Rosie McDonald (a cross between Ronald McDonald and Rosie O'Donnell). On their anniversary they are allowed to have an affair, and Bradley will choose to indulge with Danny Trejo (if "choose" is the right word with a man like Danny). To earn a living, Bradley will be a Duckmaster General, and Rosie will burp Tupperware. Bradley will drive a '69 Charger, and he will spend a stint in jail for putting popcorn in a tractor engine. Bradley will invent motel smart bombs, and he will have the hidden talent of being a cat juggler. He and Rosie will vacation at the World's Fair, own a sports team named the Cincinnati Zombies, and have a four-headed kid who happens to be the band Green Day.

ERICA will live in Alcatraz with husband Andy Ober. In a plot similar to that of Chuck and Larry, she will have to maintain a fake marriage to Michael McKean, and her vocation is a Chuck E. Cheese stand-in. She has a midlife crisis and becomes a fashion photographer, and she drives a sled pulled by alligators. Her hidden talent is knitting dreams, and when she puts out a folk album, it is titled Fryin' Up Some o' Sis' Greatest Grits (runner up: Whalin' & Winnin', Pickin' & Grinnin'). She has a precious heirloom: a Ziploc bag of Holocaust paraphernalia. She will have a pet peacock, she will discover Newton's other law, and she will have three kids: one is bald, one "can smoke," and the third is incapable of being chosen not-last.

RomoCop

2007-11-27T22:37:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: hesitant

This is pretty much all football.

Some of this is a bit late because of the holidays, but hopefully that will mean I'm extra concise. Let's go!

Purdue lost to rival Indiana University 27-24. Don't let the score fool you, we got our asses kicked. It was embarrassing, and they took home the Old Oaken Bucket. Not only are they eligible for the first time in 14 years, it also really hurt our chances of getting into a decent bowl ourselves by losing. Purdue really has developed a reputation for not beating quality teams, and I can only hope that this upcoming year - QB Painter's senior year - will be his best by far, since we lost a good number of talented seniors (like Dorien Bryant). Speculation has already started on what bowl (if any) Purdue will play in, and we will know soon after the final games have finished. And finally, in a move that felt like my Bengals, Purdue's fourth best WR Selwyn Lymon was kicked off the team because of arrests and DUIs.

Can't really believe OSU lost to Illinois, but I'm glad they bea t Michigan 14-3. If the right teams win and lose this weekend, OSU could still play in the championship game, but I doubt that will happen. In other news, Boise State lost only its second game to Hawaii, 39-27 for the WAC championship.

And finally, for those of you who don't understand the BCS formula, here's some help. And for those who hate it, here's a playoff picture you might get behind.

The NFL continues to chug along, and this weekend will be the 13th week of 17 (it seems like they have just flown by!). I am super excited, but let's take it one team at a time.

The Patriots beat the Bills 56-10, no surprise there. They almost lost to the Eagles this week, however. Tom Brady drove them to a comeback 31-28 win from behind in the closing minutes to put them at 11-0. I don't know what's most surprising- that the Eagles had their backup QB in (since Donovan McNabb is not healthy consistently), or that Tom Brady had a very normal average game. I almost made a bet with mom that they will go 16-0, but I didn't have the guts to commit. I guess that means I think they'll still lose, though probably not this Monday vs. the Ravens (4-7) or later in a big match up vs. the Steelers the next week (see: loss to the horrible Jets and an almost loss to the still-winless Dolphins).

Speaking of the Dolphins, I'm kinda curious to see if they can go 0-16. I kinda want that to happen just for the record, since I'm not really big on that team. Which do you think will happen first - Dolphins win or Patriots lose?

There are now 33 teams in the NFL. Gone are the New Orleans Saints, in their place are what I have dubbed "Good Saints" and "Bad Saints". Bad Saints lost 23-10 to the Texans. Good Saints crushed division rival Panthers 31-6. Both Saints teams are 5-6, 2 games behind 7-4 division rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whom they play this weekend. Which team will show up? I think GS will win and bring them to a within realistic shot of the playoffs, and BS will start a slide away from which they cannot recover. The time for action is now, Good Brees! Show us the Good Saints.

The Browns have won 4 of their last 5 for 2nd in the AFC North (I'm just as shocked as you), and the Ravens have lost 5 in a row, a franchise record. Browns may lose QB Derek Anderson at the end of the season, which may put them back to losers with Brady Quinn...and I would be happy with that.

After a near loss (13-10) to the Chiefs and a solid 31-13 Thanksgiving win over the Falcons, the banged-up 9-2 Colts now have to hold off their only serious division contender, the Jaguars this weekend. I am rooting for the 8-3 Jags. I also hope that the Patriots suffer a series of injuries like the Colts and let another team take the top spot for a bit.

The so-so Seahawks beat the Bears 30-23 and then barely scraped out a 24-19 win vs. the suddenly healthy and tenacious Rams. They are now 7-4 facing the 5-6 Eagles next.

Random thoughts. Um...I still really think Devin Hester is amazing. Kurt Warner (Arizona QB) threw for 484 yards last week, whaaat? I like Eli Manning even less than Peyton. I like watching football on Thanksgiving now, which is an odd change. Kevin Everett is doing much better (great), but Redskins safety Sean Taylor died from a gunshot wound unrelated to football (one of several negatives in the NFL this year).

After hurting Adrian Peterson, the Green Bay Packers tore up WR Steve Smith of the Panthers and won 31-17 two weeks ago. Then, on a classic Thanksgiving day game, they whomped division rival the Lions 37-26. The Lions are on the ropes anyway (3L streak), but the Packers suffered several injuries that may hurt them in the short term.

This is SUPER IMPORTANT, because this Thursday they will play the Dallas Cowboys. Jenny and I are going to watch the game at Buffalo Wild Wings because it's only broadcast on the NFL network. The Cowboys won against division Redskins 28-23, then on Thanksgiving beat the Jets on the road 34-3. Now both teams are 10-1 and this game represents the best of the NFC (sort of like the Colts/Patriots game earlier). I think it will be a fantastic game, and I really won't be upset no matter who wins. It should determine playoff home-field advantage, and I love both QBs (similar gunslinger styles). Both teams are about to wrap up their respective divisions for playoffs. I'm excited to go watch at a sports bar, I'm excited to watch with my girlfriend who is probably a bigger football fan than I am, and I'm excited that both teams are doing really well. Woo! I hope Favre doesn't retire for several more years, and when he does, he becomes Tony Romo's mentor.

Lastly, my Bengals. After a disappointing 35-27 loss to the Cardinals, the Bengals turned things around against Vince Young (why is everybody so gay for this dude?) and the Titans the next week. They won solidly 35-6 and Chad Johnson returned to old form - 12 catches with 3 TDs and a camera commandeering celebration. They crawl to 4-7, tied for last in the AFC North with the Ravens. Still, they are playing this Sunday night against the 8-3 Steelers, which means I actually get to watch them. With the Packers/Cowboys game on this week and then Bengals/Steelers, I win twice.

Finally (concise entry my ass), fantasy football. Further proof that this is D&D for jocks. Our league has six teams, so everybody gets to the playoffs. The records as they are, however, means that the seeding is pretty much set, and I'll probably win the first round and lose the next. Bill and Cooper will play for the title. *sigh* I've dropped McNabb because of all his injuries, relying solely on Matt Hasselbeck (not my ideal situation). I've lost two in a row, and when my best players have outstanding days, the other team's best players have incredible days. It's really frustrating, but I already want to draft a new team for next year and do better. I also hope to play in a league that's more enthusiastic, and more equal, as it were. I'm now 5-7 in fourth place, projected to lose this final week (before playoffs) against Cooper no matter who I start.

there goes the Rose Bowl

2007-11-14T17:55:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: sore

Jenny got me the newest Avenged Sevenfold album and Disney's RocketMan on dvd as anniversary presents (Amazon shipped a few days late). There are probably only a few people reading who understand the significance of the latter gift, but trust me when I say it has been on my wish list for some time.

Yesterday I signed the lease for next year's apartment on the landing with Future Roommates Greg and Chad. I have a feeling that'll be quite a fun living arrangement, considering the wide overlap of interests. While I'm on the subject of apartments, Current Roommate Alex has Gamefly and I've discovered the crazy hedonism that is Elebits. Other games I'm playing (at least casually) are Red Steel and a MegaMan collection, all for the Wii. They probably are at least in part to blame for my novel being behind schedule.

Onto sports!

I will freely admit that football has quickly risen to my top interest amongst sports, and probably is near the top of my interests in general. I also have a minor interest in other sports though, including NASCAR and MLB. The latter of which really isn't too strong - that's more of my dad's thing. Still, I like the Cincinnati Reds and the Florida Marlins, and have an incredible dislike for the New York Yankees, and to a lesser extent the Cleveland Indians. Here's a nice little summary of the Reds in the offseason. Apparently we're having salary problems? Baseball buffs might want to check out 1986: Take Two, a complete simulation of the year of my birth in terms of major league baseball, using statistics and data to build models.

I think that models like this are fascinating, especially when they are reasonably accurate! Madden users have been predicting the outcomes of football games for years, and apparently the high-end ones are good at at least predicting the winner of the game, if not the score.

Purdue lost to Michigan State 48-31. I make no attempt at hiding the fact that I think this is a crock of shit, since they had a crappy record and we should have beaten them soundly. However, I did get to attend the game because my friend Eric (Beard) gave me John (Cowboy)'s ticket since he was out of town. The loss was disappointing, but the company was anything but. We had amazing seats, just nine rows back, and nice fall weather. Beard was enthusiastic and funny, and let me tell you the man can yell like none other.

I'm not a superstitious sports fan by any means, but of Purdue's four losses this season, I've attended both home losses and none of the other games. *shrug* We are now ranked seventh in the Big Ten, with a record of 3-4 conference, 7-4 all. Our final game this Saturday is at Indiana, the annual Old Oaken Bucket rivalry game. They are 2-5/6-5, and actually have a shot at winning, unfortunately. This is at least on a par with the annual Ohio State vs Michigan game - both teams are 6-1 conference having both lost last weekend unexpectedly (Ohio State felled by unranked Illinois?!). Ohio State looks to be the stronger team with an overall record of 10-1 with the nation's #1 defense, vs. Michigan's 8-3 with losses to Appalachian St. and Oregon, plus injuries at QB and RB. Future Roommate Greg and I are divided in this manner and I think that next year the game will have to decide something big.

Continuing on through this recap of wacky football, the Dolphins nearly beat the Bills (13-10). As the Bengals were the most recent victim of the Bills' weak team, I nearly went ballistic until the winless Dolphins blew a 3rd quarter lead. Whew, that was close - our mediocre team almost looked even worse.

Speaking of blown leads, a Browns victory over the Steelers would've been good for my division, but the "big Doug Flutie" Ben Roethlisberger had a comeback drive to win 31-28. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm okay with rooting for the Browns as of late. I like QB Derek Anderson, and I also like WR Braylon Edwards (okay, some of that is his studly performance in fantasy football). I swear to god, though, the moment Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn gets in there, they're right back to my hated in-state division rivals.

Green Bay found a running game! They shut out the Vikings 34-0 and Adrian Peterson left early with a knee injury. They're now 8-1, tied for the best NFC record with the Cowboys, and face the 4-5 Panthers at Lambeau next. RB Ryan Grant had over 100 yards rushing, the first Vikings opponent to do so, and allowed some balance to Favre's gunslinging ways. This makes me really happy. Fox switching the game over to Eagles vs. Redskins once the game was one sided, however, did not make me really happy. It made me none happy. Negative, even.

I don't know what to make of the Saints anymore. Let's get some fuckin' consistency, good or bad, please. I mostly blame the quarterback in these situations, and Brees went back to his opening four game slump and contributed to the 37-29 loss to the Rams. THE RAMS. THE RAMS WHO WERE PREVIOUSLY WINLESS. *snarl* They fall to 4-5, the same record as the Texans they face this week. Fortunately, even after giving the Rams their first win (now only the Dolphins are winless), the Saints are in a shitty division and can come back - but they have to be good from now on. Seriously, Drew Brees, what the hell.

I don't know what's weirder, that the Cardinals scored 31 points to beat the Lions, or that the Lions only scored 21 to lose (considering last week), with negative yardage. And speaking of weird, the Colts lost to the Chargers, 23-21. Now, I never thought San Diego was that good anyway, having seen their [lack of] offensive production in the first ten weeks, and Indianapolis should've been hungry to win it after losing to the dirty cheaters [Patriots].

Maybe the Colts were hungry and they were decimated by injuries. Or Mr. Clutch Adam Vinatieri missed 2 field goals in a dome, the latter of which - a potential game winner - was 29 yards. Or Robot Manning threw six interceptions ("so why wouldn't you use it to throw into coverage?"). Whatever, pick your poison, the point is it shouldn't have happened. As Future Roommate Greg put it, the Chargers had a 16 point lead at the half, so the fact that there was a comeback at all was telling - Indy shouldn't have had that chance in the first place the way they played.

Cowboys beat the Giants, 31-20, in what some people figured was a battle of QBs. Fine with me, I never had any doubt in my boy Tony Romo. The undrafted rookie made a fool of Manning's brother - even though they were similar statistically, Romo is creative and scrappy and so much fun to watch! I heard he even plays Guitar Hero, so how can I not love him? They improve to 8-1, with a massive NFC east lead. Next up: 5-4 Redskins division game at Texas Stadium.

Finally, some good news. Bengals didn't score a touchdown and still beat the Ravens 21-7. At first I was upset that Carson Palmer wasn't finishing what he started [i.e. drives], and that Chad Johnson was hurt or Houshmandzadeh broke his TD streak. Turns out Ravens played a specific deep cover defense, so short passes by Palmer led to field position, and kicker Shayne Graham scored 21 points himself through field goals. That's seven FGs, one less than the record of eight set earlier this season by Titans' Rob Bironas. Wasn't pretty, but it was a division win bringing us one step closer to .500. That leaves us at 3-6, vs the 4-5 Cardinals at the Jungle in Cincy this week.

Lastly, fantasy football. I lost to Jenny 79-57, and while neither of us had a huge score or made the best choices of who to start, I really am frustrated with myself. I had two questionable players - New Orleans RB Reggie Bush and Indianapolis TE Dallas Clark. I decided to risk one, replace the other, and it bit me in the ass twice. Reggie Bush, who I did not play, had a great day. Much better than his replacement, Dallas RB Julius Jones. Dallas Clark, whom I figured was going to play, did not. ON TOP of all that, I figured the Colts' kicker would bail me out, but no. Optimal score was 90. This drops me back to .500, 4th place and 3 games behind. Three more weeks (including this one) until the playoffs...

celebrity shirt

2007-11-09T01:13:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: authory

Quickly! Write about football before the weekend gets here!

Surprise, surprise. Purdue lost to Penn St., 26-19. Not much to say here...Purdue fails against tough teams, we're already bowl eligible. Curtis Painter had his first game this season without a TD, which dropped him a few places - he's now barely in the top 30 in NCAAF QBs. Purdue is 3-3 Big Ten, 7-3 all facing Michigan St. Spartans (1-5, 5-5) next in our last home game.

Won again in Fantasy Football, moving to 5-4 and a three way tie for second. I face Jenny this week, and the projections put us with 10 points of each other. Just three more weeks until our playoffs.

Donovan McNabb (Eagles QB) said the road to the NFC East championship still runs through Philadelphia. Well, tell that to Tony Romo and co. who rolled their way over the Eagles 38-17 on Sunday night. Eagles coach Andy Reid has come under fire for having a drug magnate son, more controversy coming from the disparity between his [lack of] punishment and Michael Vick. I say that's because kids don't idolize a fat walrus looking man who who screams from the sidelines. Coming up for the Cowboys: a tough division road game against the 6-2 Giants

Colts blew a 10 point lead at home in the 4th quarter, losing 24-20 to the Patriots. Come on! Maybe if the Colts could draw double and triple coverage with [absent] Marvin Harrison, like the Patriots did with Randy Moss, we'd see a different outcome. As it is, I'm thinking New England might go 16-0.

Browns beat the Seahawks 33-30 in overtime, whaaat? Whatever, just don't make me watch the Bengals lose to Brady Quinn at the helm of Cleveland. Fun fact: the Seahawks, now 4-4 having dropped 3 of the last 5, still lead the NFC West by a game. What a pushover division.

Not a big fan of LaDanian Tomlinson, so I'm glad Adrian Peterson beat the Chargers 35-17. Oh, I guess there were some other Vikings there, too.

Lions over Broncos, 44-7? WHAT?

The Saints breezed past the Jags, 41-24. Let me tell you, I am really really amazed at Drew Brees turning things around. New Orleans is now at .500, winning 4 straight after going 0-4. Here are the numbers, folks: "Since starting 0-4, Drew Brees' numbers are through the roof. Over the last four games, he's got a 115.1 quarterback rating, completing over 71 percent of his passes for 1,246 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception." - Yahoo Sports. They play the winless Rams (0-8) next.

Brett Favre is keeping up with Romo, and the Packers cruise to 7-1 over the Chiefs in a 33-22 win. Number 4 joins Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the only QBs to have beaten 31 teams. I hope they keep things up against the 3-5 Vikings this week. It looks like the rest of November is where the NFC plays out.

Lastly, the heartbreakers, my Cincinnati Bengals. Lost 33-21 to the Bills (I can't even name a single the Bills player - can you?). Bengals move to 2-6, with one of the worst three defenses in the league. Our star receiver Chad Johnson hurt his neck and is questionable going into this week's game. Given Chad's numbers (2nd best receiver in the NFL behind Patriot's Randy Moss) and TJ's consistency (8 straight games with a TD), and the awesomeness that is Carson Palmer (some think he's the 3rd best NFL QB right now) - WHY are things so terrible? Yes, our defense is falling apart. Yes, over a dozen Bengals players have had legal problems in the past year. It just feels like the AFC North is fucked to hell right now, with the Steelers and the Browns of all teams, dominating. Even the Ravens (4-4) make us look bad, and we play them this week. It's on the road...a place we haven't won at yet this year.

substitute

2007-11-06T14:19:00.000-05:00

Current Mood: frustrated

NFL.com is being incredibly slow today, so I'm going to hold off on writing a bunch about football until I can watch all my highlight videos (32 teams - 4 teams on bye / 2 teams per matchup = 14 videos x 3 min. avg length = 42 minutes of video action). Lucky you.

Instead, here's a quick update on NaNoWriMo. As of this morning, the participants have written a total of 170,746,440 words since the start of the month, for really no other reason than a love of writing (assuming there's nobody writing to win a bet or something). I just find it fascinating to check the word count, since nobody is forcing anybody do this. It's as if thousands of people the world over decided to start Skipping-It and logging their cumulative skips. Yours truly has contributed (again, as of this morning) 6,195 words, or 0.003%. I'm a little behind, about 3k below the pace to finish on the last day or halfway to finishing 5 days early (the 2k a day average). It's pretty tough to write so much each day, but I've finally gotten past the slow setup part of the plot, so hopefully the action part will flow much easier. Writing in third person about myself is screwing with my head.

Good thing I love my current phone, because the Samsung Juke makes a pretty convincing argument to be bought.

My hair is really starting to bother me, because it's no longer curly and fro-y. It's gotten much longer and is starting to lay out. I'm not really crazy about it, so I may cut it. It will also be a great reason to bust out my favorite hat ever. That also reminds me to backtrack a bit...

Two weeks ago on Friday (October 26th) I had the pleasure of seeing the Dalai Lama speak here at Purdue. It was a...unique experience to say the least. Renee had procured the tickets the day they were available, and my sister drove my brother up here for the weekend since mom couldn't make it. We got there almost two hours early for security because some people aren't exactly crazy about the guy. While we waited, we spotted a local Purdue celebrity - former Purdue present Martin C. Jischke (Bradley ran over and shook his hand). The opening act (mongolian chanting) was a bit of cultural learning that made me feel sliiightly uncomfortable. The Dalai Lama was a bit hard to hear and understand, but he seemed very at ease, very informal, and at times unintentionally funny. The theme of his speech was "cultivating happiness", but for the most part I felt he spoke about rather vague concepts and rambled about being a good person. A notable topic, to be sure, but I didn't need to spend a lot of money to hear it from him (more like "Dalai Lame-a"). At the end he elected not to tackle very complex issues in the Q and A session such as the US involement in the Iraq war, instead informing us all that his favorite color was green. In retrospect, perhaps this was social commentary.

More than seeing world leaders speak, I was most excited to see my siblings. Things haven't been great between us lately, and I put a lot of that blame on my shoulders. I decided to tackle that head on and try to make sure they had an outstanding weekend here. I made them lunch Friday and breakfast the next day, and they stayed at my apartment which helped cut down on travel costs. They also joined me for our Annual Ship of Fools Halloween Extravaganza. Sis helped me with my costume (notably taming my hair). I went as an emo kid, and I it went really well. So well, in fact, that Current Roommate Alex didn't recognize me, as did others at improv. The response on Facebook has made me really happy - I wanted to shake things up and do something people didn't expect, and I think it worked quite well. There were several awesome costumes (Jenny went as Jessica Rabbit...she's not bad, she just dressed that way!).

The afterparty @ Peace's house went splendidly, even though we all left kinda early. Several former Fools made it to the party, and the fans seemed to enjoy it as well. Huzzah! The next morning, before Brad and sis left, we toured the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering and more of Purdue's campus. I should have classes in there in the spring, if things go as planned. Photos of the party here, photos of the party and time at Armstrong here.

As if that weekend wasn't amazing enough, Sunday was my 2 year anniversary with Jenny. We celebrated by going to see the hosts of Mythbusters (Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman) speak at Elliot Hall of Music (Purdue's College of Science celebrates 100 years). It was very informal and entertaining, funny and candid. Benji and Corrie, also staying with us for the weekend, joined us and participated in the Q&A. My favorite parts were when they spoke about buying magnets. Afterwards was a dinner with some of the Fools.

And speaking of improv, we've been very busy this fall with a number of community service shows and activities, which makes me very proud of the group. Blood donations, food drives, and now recently a benefit show [with the Crazy Monkeys] for Habitat For Humanity and the Timmy Foundation raised over $500. 00 dollars. The group is learning to incorporate change and new members, becoming a bigger part of the Purdue community, and casting away old rivalries. Quite impressive.

That's all for now. Why aren't busy I writing fiction?

he cares not for your suffering

2007-11-01T23:40:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: encouraged

I want to go ahead and start off plugging my new novel (I have a fear that some people just read the first paragraph or so of my really long entries?) for NaNoWriMo. That's right, folks, I'm gonna go ahead and give it a shot. I have until the end of the month to try and write 50,000 words. I'll be posting chapters as I write them to this blog, so if you'd like, please stop by and give it a read, leave me a comment or two about what you like or don't, what I screwed up, or even what you hope will happen (I could use some ideas).

This means I will probably be writing in this blog less, so if you're jonesin' for a fix, try my other blog for this month. I also hope that by telling a bunch of people, I will be more inclined to stay on track.

What else should I talk about. Current Roommate Alex recently purchased an account to Gamefly, the Netflix of video games. Hopefully I can piggyback occasionally (like he does sometimes for my movies) when a good game comes to our house. Right now he's got Super Paper Mario (Wii) and it's really fun to watch! My only criticism so far is that it's a pain in the ass to scan every room three times (once regularly, once in 3-d, and once with the pointer), but if it's anything like the other 2, it'll still be a great game.

Speaking of games, I finally got to experience Guitar Hero III, and I love it for the most part. The song list - 70 songs! - is filled with lots of really great songs. My favorite so far is "Welcome to the Jungle". I'm not in love with the new visual styles (Judy Nails, what have they done to you?!), a few of the songs are really whiney and emo, and there's no Co-Op freeplay. No Freezepop! I am in love with the venue "Shanker's Island", and the obvious Tenacious D influence to the storyline. I tried a few sections of "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce, and it made my entire arm burn. Crazy. I doubt Greg and I will ever beat that one on expert, but it's a lot of fun hanging with him anyway.

I still don't know if I'm going to be able to make it to the A7X concert, but it's still in the works. Speaking of concerts, later this month Jenny and I are going to take a road trip in her new (used) car to Ft. Wayne to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra with Andy Ober and Jacque. I have no clue what I'm doing for Thanksgiving.

This weekend coming up is going to be filled with improv (shows on Friday and Saturday), writing a bunch, and football. Whee!

fairly recent routine

2007-10-31T09:58:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: improving

You should all know by now that I write about football around midweek. I do so because Saturday is college gameday, Sunday is NFL, and then there's usually MNF to wait for as well. I also like to read power rankings, finish up my fantasy team business, and study the reviews of the last week - and previews of this upcoming week's games. That said, here we go:

Purdue improved to 7-2 (all) and 3-2 (Big Ten) with a victory over Northwestern, 35-17. The offense-touted Wildcats made things close at times, but we managed to finish things off and secure a major bowl bid, and we're tied for 2nd in the Big Ten. Unfortunately, it seems that Purdue is perpetually unable to beat *good* teams, and reach the upper tier of the conference, at times skirting the BCS top 25 but unable to hold on to any sort of ranking. Next up: a tough road game at "Happy Valley" Penn State Nittany Lions (6-3 all, 3-3 conf.)

Other NCAAF thoughts: Indiana might actually give us a run for our money this year. Also, I think I may have to watch the annual OSU/Michigan game with Future Roommate Greg, even though he has no faith in his Wolverines.

This is simply amazing.

In the NFL, the Cowboys (6-1) had a bye week but the big news is that my boy Tony Romo signed a huge contract to be the Dallas franchise QB until 2013, worth $67.5 million. I could not have been happier with how that went. They play division rivals the Eagles (3-4) this week.

Patriots rolled over the Redskins (#5 ranked defense my ass). People have accused the Patriots of being stupid (keeping Brady in well into the 4th quarter, risking an injury) and running up the score. I have mixed feelings. For example, I want somebody to head block his knee and take him out, but I also think it's unsportsmanlike. One commentator suggested such tactics in his article "I'd Hit Brady Late". File that under "one of the gayest things I've heard this week". I also agree that if a team keeps scoring on you, it's not their job to let up - you should suck less. The Patriots had a sizeable lead and they went for it on 4th down late in the game, instead of kicking a FG, but I'm a big supporter of going for it on 4th down in general. Similarly, my love of trick plays knows no team loyalty, so when Brady faked a QB kneel and instead tossed it to the end zone, I was happy.

In the end, I suppose the consolation prize of their victory is a matchup this weekend between 8-0 Patriots and 7-0 Colts, the first meeting of lossless teams this far into the season. Everybody is going nuts over this game, and for once I will concede a bit of hype - we're well into the season and even though the Patriots have rolled over fluff teams from the basement of the NFL, the Colts have played with grit without one of their star receivers (Marvin Harrison - knee). One of the ESPN analysts on MNF thought it was particularly telling that the Colts - defending Super Bowl champs, undefeated and AT HOME are 5 point underdogs. Crazy. I've stated before that even though I've been in Indiana for about 3 years now, the Colts are not my team. I respect them, I think they're classy (especially coach Tony Dungy), and they are undeniably good. However I'm not a bandwagon fan, I'm not from around here at all, and I knew next to nothing about football right when they started getting good, so I resist rooting for them out of respect for the game. That, and QB Peyton Manning is a sellout/robot (admittedly, I begrudgingly respect his earning power, and this was pretty damn funny).

THAT SAID, I hope the Colts fuck up the Patriot's little party in an exciting, hard-hitting high-scoring game. I don't want a blowout, just high-caliber football with a Colts win (while I'm at it, I also hope Indianapolis loses later in the season and the Bengals make the playoffs, but one game at a time, right?).

The New Orleans Saints (3-4) seem to have a knack for shooting themselves in the foot and starting the season several games behind, before making a strong showing and giving glimpses of hope (Drew Brees with 4 TDs, weekly passing leader!). Will their 3 game win streak (including last week's win 31-10 over the 49ers) continue? I hope so, but I don't think they'll make the playoffs. Few things are better than a good underdog story. One of them would be playing well at the start of next year. They play the Jags (5-2) this week, which I think will be a good measure of how far they will go.

Tangentially related to the Saints (+ Hurricane Katrina), many credit the Chargers's 35-10 win over the Texans to a sense of community bonding over the California wildfires. I think the two disasters are surprising in that this sort of weather/natural phenomena happens regularly in those areas and people are pretty blind, but that's a topic for another time. Situationally, I think the two events are different, and the Chargers win may have had more to do with a little guy named LaDainian Tomlinson. You may have heard of him, he was last year's MVP (early season lack of production notwithstanding).

Adrian Peterson is amazing. I will add him with Devin Hester to my list of players I like, but don't care about their team.

At first I was sad about not seeing the Giants beat the Dolphins 13-10 in Wembley Stadium, London. Then I saw the highlights, and noticed it was a boring game far away between crappy teams that nobody really enjoyed. Cool. Let's hope next overseas trip goes better, NFL?

Ack! Bengals lost big time to the Steelers 24-13. Not a big surprise, but being further away from home means I see less games, and it's easier to swallow a loss I don't spend 3+ hours watching. Apparently there was a big controversy over a fourth down call that came from coach Marvin Lewis (remember my earlier comment about going for it on 4th down) that could've cost the Bengals the game. The AFC North lead gets further away each week, though if the Ravens beat the Steelers on MNF this week, that could help by pitting the other massive juggernauts of my division against each other while the Bengals try to find some way to get their shit together and claw their way back to even .500. We're now 2-5, facing the Bills (3-4) this week.

I wish I could tell you a lot about Green Bay's 19-13 win over the Broncos on Monday Night Football, but I kinda slept through most of it accidentally. The highlights were pretty sweet, though, and Brett Favre continues to impress me. Apparently he's played over 30 MNF games, and is 2nd in just about every record there (trailing only Dan Marino, I believe). I hope he has many more MNF games left, since he's got the big-play arm and vision. Captain Comeback led the Packers to 6-1 (tied for the NFC best record with none other than the Cowboys) in a great overtime victory, with an 82 yard score by WR Greg Jennings - snapping a 6 game losing streak in Denver. Was not happy with some GB penalties, but special mention goes to Aaron Kampman for some great sackitude (sackitude?). Let's hope the Packers running game (if you want to call it that) can continue to grow against 4-3 KC Chiefs this week (if not, eh, let Brett Favre throw it s'more).

Here's a photo gallery of short NFL players. It makes me happy.

Another fantasy win this week, this time over 2nd place Cooper. This puts me back at .500, and I should win again this week (unless something crazy happens). That said, I don't know if I can realistically climb to the top, given current player distribution and win/loss records. Bill Vedra has Tom Brady, and he is very difficult to beat. Here's hoping not playing Eagles QB McNabb doesn't bite me in the ass AGAIN. He should not be as good against the Cowboys when compared to Hasselbeck vs. the Browns.

Lastly, I'm going to predict here (for nobody in particular) who I think will reach the playoffs, even take a stab at the Super Bowl. I should've done this earlier for a greater effect - I hereby admit that my mid-season knowledge makes this less impressive. I'm...I'm not entirely sure how this works? Note to self: learn playoffs system this year.

AFC East - Patriots (*sigh*)
AFC North - Steelers (*sigh*)
AFC South - Colts
AFC West - Chargers
Wild Cards - Browns (whaat?), Titans

NFC East - Cowboys (yeah!)
NFC North - Packers (yeah!)
NFC South - Buccaneers
NFC West - Seahawks
Wild Cards - Panthers, uh...Giants?

AFC Championship - Patriots vs. Colts
NFC Championship - Cowboys vs. Packers

Super Bowl - Cowboys over Colts, 24-21

What do you guys think? Did I do it right? Am I smoking something? Given the current records, remaining schedules, and probably some favorite-team bias, that's what I think will go down.

Ryan's blog: becoming an amateur sportswriter's column, one week at a time. Well, just football really.

psychic media

2007-10-29T02:34:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: insomnia

You, dear reader, may be thinking:
Ryan! What is the status of your giant music overhaul where you attempt to correctly label and organize all of your music?

If you're not thinking that, well, you may have missed that post. Or you don't care. Whatever, I'm going to update you anyway. I would say the status of the project stand at:

Almost Done.

As soon as I posted about the start of the project, the next week was a flurry of activity. I got a lot done, and continued the breakneck pace for a while before rapidly dropping off. The following weeks, the amount of work on it was nothing more than a trickle, with a slight resurgence in the past few sleepless nights. So far, I have "cleaned" 23.6 GB of music, which contains 570 album folders with 5,685 tracks. This is an average of 10.29 songs per album, though most are either around 14-16 tracks or 1-3, as I have downloaded many greatest hits and compilations, as well as a handful of individual songs I like.

This leaves me with 3.27 GB of music (95 folders, 988 tracks, 10.4 avg. tracks/album) in the quarantined folder of "unclean" music, or roughly 17% left to go. This number, however, may be a bit misleading. The bulk of the albums I've got left are funky compilations, mix CDs, unlabeled tracks, tracks I know are mislabeled and I have to find the right information for, etc. Basically, I've taken care of all the easy stuff first. Greaaat. On top of all that, on my last trip home I picked up at least 10 GB of new music from Bradley from...uh, questionable sources.

My goal is to have everything finished by the end of the year for the Great Alphabetical Scrobble-Fest. Basically, last year when Bradley signed up for Last.fm, I challenged him to play all - and I do mean all - of his music, from A-Z by title of song starting at midnight on New Year's Eve. Every. Last. Track. He's going to do it again this year, and so am I. (When this comes, you can watch on my little Last.fm widget on the right column to see where I am in my alphabet, and what embarrassing tracks I have that I never listen to).

Along with this, I've been working on generally de-cluttering my computer. The standard tasks, like defragging, virus and ad-aware scan are a given, but I'm talking more about organizing all my photos, pruning all of my links (I can already hear Bradley and Erica commenting on this post, telling me to join del.icio.us). I'm also working on re-organizing my Firefox toolbar into a more useful format - mainly having folders organized by function, such as Daily and Weekly Comics, News, Sports, etc.. Sort of like a digital newspaper at the top of my screen. I have a naive hope that this will cut back on how much time I spend combing through my daily sites. Heck, while I'm at it, I should set up online banking for my Purdue bank. And while I'm at that, close out my old Cincy bank account.

Coming soon: post about my giant happy weekend, the week's football recap, my new job

beneath the radar

2007-10-28T19:54:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: kickin' ass and takin' names

I have been so good about posting regularly that this is a genuine survey done out of boredom/curiosity. This is not filler, I swear. In fact, just earlier today I wrote a real post but am saving it to work up a bit of a buffer. You, reader, are spoiled sometimes.

stolen from Sarah Harano that I haven't seen in forever

1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.
okay. I did. Did you want me to post it here so you could read it? If so:

"in which the men would take their basic training and their jump train-"

from Band of Brothers, by Steven Ambrose

2.Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you reach?
my bureau

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
House

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:
damnit...um...12...53?

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
12:42. Close.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
I actually can't hear anything but my current music (Whitesnake - Is This Love)

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
yesterday evening, coming back from our usual Wednesday improv meeting

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Last.fm music recommendations

9. What are you wearing?
from the bottom up: thermal socks, jeans, blue boxer briefs, a grey Purdue t-shirt

10. Did you dream last night?
like you wouldn't believe

11. When did you last laugh?
a few hours ago, talking with Andrew online

12. What are on the walls of the room you are in?
Purdue University: Cradle of Astronauts poster, Discovery shuttle launch poster, Eclipse 500 exploded view poster, Eclipse 500 family poster, Hourglass Nebula poster from Renee, AW&ST calendar that's putting fifty fucking million holes in my wall, Sporty's cockpit poster, Queen albums poster [from Kristy], giant flamboyant Freddie Mercury poster, Ship of Fools collage [from Jenny], and my wall of various SoF awards and notes

13. Seen anything weird lately?
not that I can think of, disappointingly

14. What do you think of this quiz?
meh, run of the mill

15. What is the last film you saw?
Grosse Pointe Blank (via Netflix, watched it with Jenny). I honestly can't remember the last time I went out to see a movie

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
what wouldn't I buy? A fuckin' brand new apartment with brand new appliances and furnishings, a new wardrobe, an insanely powerful computer, a ton of music and stereo equipment, a Corvette, pay off student loans, a giant waterbed, a puppy and related things, tons of things for Jenny...

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.
I've never eaten pumpkin pie

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
I was never really keen on the slight equatorial bulge...

19. Do you like to dance?
no, not really

20. George Bush:
exists

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
her...name?

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
similarly, his name?

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
I'm comfortable admitting I'm ethnocentric enough that it would have to be a 1st world country that speaks either English or perhaps French or Spanish, but yeah

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
something deep and not cliched

25. Do you like the people of your same sex?
as friends? pretty much, yeah

26.Tag six people who must also do this in THEIR journal:
I refuse

so fucking productive

2007-10-24T12:58:00.001-04:00

Current Mood: conflicted

Okay, so the next big "purchase" I am debating:

A trip to OSU in a little over 2 weeks (Nov. 10) to see Avenged Sevenfold play in Columbus

Should I stay:
* BIG improv show that weekend. While my attendance is not vital, I'm one of the senior members and I usually am an anchor for several games.
* Tickets cost 25 dollars
* I have no way of getting there, really. No car.
* Greyhound tickets (round trip) are somewhere between 80 and 120 dollars - ouch.
* Last trip to OSU ended poorly (totaled my car)

Or should I go:
* I've been to nearly every improv show for the past three years, so I think the troupe can deal. Other than that, I have nothing that weekend.
* I can beg Eric to help with the tickets.
* I could find my new best friend and borrow (!) a car.
* I could suck it up and buy the tickets and make an adventure of it. Jenny might help if I really want to go.
* I found out today my budgeting is paying off, and I have a tiny bit of extra money. Additionally, I'd be saving money by staying with David/Dan/Eric
* I would get to see David/Dan/Eric
* I get to road trip
* Get to see OSU s'more
* Have only been to one other concert. This is Avenged fucking Sevenfold, and they'd be playing some of their new stuff, too!

Weigh in, please. Convince me.

barely scratching the surface

2007-10-23T01:41:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: wistful, I mean wistful!

For those of you with a penchant for language:
The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotations
Gosh this is so funny

For those of you with a more mathematical inclination:
The Calculus of Saying "I Love You"
Because the second derivative of a function is more important than you realize

Statistics suit your fancy?:
Why I Will Never Have a Girlfriend
Reasonable proof there are only 18,726 dateable women

Perhaps science is your forte
Attitude Doesn't Affect Cancer Survival
Does liking this make me a bad person?

And now for some football...

Purdue won! A sound defeat of the resurgent Iowa Hawkeyes last Saturday leaves us 6-2 all and 2-2 in our conference, bowl elligble and good for 5th place (tied) in the Big Ten. Next: 2-2 5-3 Northwestern Wildcats.

Cowboys won 24-14 over the Minnesota Vikings, rebounding from a MNF loss to the Patriots. This leaves them at 5-1, the best non-undefeated team in the NFL as they head into a bye week. Tony Romo broke things off with Carrie Underwood since he's too busy kicking ass and taking names.

Steelers lost to the Broncos (good for AFC North), Seahawks rolled over the winless Rams and finally look like a decent team again as they also have a bye this week.

Reggie Bush led the Saints over the Falcons, 22-16. Drew Brees wasn't terrible, and they are now 2-4 like the 49ers they play next week.

Bengals win over Jets, 38-31. This snaps a 4 game losing streak, the longest of coach Marvin Lewis's career. RB Kenny Watson had a field day as Rudi Johnson's backup, with 130 yards, 3 TDs (2 in the 3rd quarter), which put him in the top 5 scorers of the week. We finally climb back to 2-4, and play the Steelers (4-2) next week at home.

Colts embarassed the Jaguars on MNF this week, easily winning 29-7. Highlights include a rare safety by Indianapolis, and the Jacksonville mascot bungee jumping and riding a Segway. Hopefully they will stay undefeated up to and after they play the Patriots in a few weeks.

Next week on MNF: Green Bay Packers! (5-1) vs. Denver Broncos (3-3)

Some fantasy football thoughts. Oy...in addition to starting 0-7, the Miami Dolphins have lost RB Ronnie Brown for the season with an ACL injury. This means my star sleeper stud is gone. I lost again this week, and I probably would not have if Tom Brady hadn't scored FIFTY FUCKING POINTS. I'm going to offer a bounty on that man's kneecaps soon. On the plus side, Fox Fantasy has a nifty feature that shows you (after the games are over) what your "optimal" picks for the week should have been to net you the most points. Even though I've lost a few close games, I've been playing close to if not exactly the optimal players which means I'm making good choices. Now to get better players...

Lastly, if you're into football, vote for the Pro Bowl!

directly from the preview

2007-10-21T02:16:00.000-04:00

Current Mood: metal

Every once in a while I mention a webcomic I've recently discovered, and now is another one of those times. The comic in mention comes as a banner ad from Dinosaur Comics (this is ammunition against my theory that internet advertising is virtually worthless). It is called "Minus" by Ryan Armand, and it's a series of paintings scanned into a more web-friendly format. It follows the adventures of a young hyper-imaginative eponymous girl with super powers. She is able to manipulate matter, time, and anything else she wishes, often with surreal or humorous result.

The art is fantastic, by the way. I refuse to believe it is not in some way inspired in some way by Calvin and Hobbes, which is not at all a bad thing (quite the opposite, in fact, since that is one of my favorite strips ever). Actually, several of my favorite comic artists list Bill Watterson as an influence. I would.

Want to check out the strip? Here are my personal recommendations:

One of the most epic comics I've ever seen.
The comic from which the banner ad came from.
An adorable puppy strip that's too hard to resist.
Return of adorable puppy.

My last example here (playing in the clouds) illustrates perfectly a certain moment in comics (and is unique to this medium) that I really enjoy but struggle to define. I think it's somewhat related to the "silent beat" of other media, but I have to take a moment to explain what I mean.

The comic itself is a mute medium (unlike film, music, plays, etc., but similar to a book), this much is obvious. And most panels in comics portray some sort of dialog, and while not audible, it gives the viewer some sense of "mental" sound to attach to each frame. Rarely, however, does a strip contain no words, no text, no sound effects (such as onomatopoeia) or other types of comic vocabulary [if you're having trouble with that last one, think of the word "yoink" written over a character's hand as he swipes the last slice of pizza - not spoken, not narration, and not even really a sound effect, but still a quintessentially comic book feature]. Even beyond that, most readers will superimpose some sort of background noise, extrapolated or assumed given the situation, background, environment, whatever.

Rarely, though, a comic strip will portray a moment that I can imagine completely and entirely silent (and in fact, the lack of letters in the frame often forces me to evaluate it in terms of this). In these rare cases, I think that the lack of lettering, and the absence of sound (imagined or intentioned) makes the frame even more poignant than the frame itself carries.

It's as if...imagine you were reading a comic that ended with the destruction of an entire city, perhaps by way of a massive bomb planted by the villain. Let us also imagine the writers wanted to convey this as extremely sad or tragic. You could show this with massive explosions, buildings crumbling, people screaming and dying, the screech and whine of metal, concrete, rubble, etc. clashing, crashing, crackling, burning, and tumbling. I'm sure the point would be made, that the destruction was awful. Also note the generous application of sound description.

OR

You could zoom out far enough - into the stratosphere, if you like - where none of it can be heard. You simply see a flash of light, and the city is gone.*

I would argue that the latter - completely devoid of sound - makes a bigger impact.

To return to my original example (the Minus strip), I can easily imagine the sounds in the early frames. The rain- in the air, against the ground, and even against the plastic of the frisbee, all make distinctive sounds in my head. A frisbee makes a distinctive whiff through the air, and a satisfying thock in your hand when you catch it. Just as easily, you can tell the girls are speaking to each other, laughing and playing, then expressing disappointment at the rain, and finally the suggestion to get out of the rain.

The final frame, however, is zoomed out far enough that I imagine it to be completely silent, above the rain, and the laughter, the sounds of the frisbee are silent to me. That, in my mind, only makes the final frame an even purer moment, one that defines the beauty of the artwork and the simplistic pleasure of playing catch with a friend.

*I suppose you could make a sound argument that it's also easier to draw it that way, so it's more of a convenience frame than anything else, but I'm going to assume the best and hope that it was an artistic choice meant to evoke more emotion.