the backside of 20

Current Mood: grateful

I promise I will write about my internship soon, but I wanted to type this one up before it fell by the wayside.

I was never a big birthday kinda person.  I mean, as a kid, I loved getting stuff.  I liked getting some special attention from my family.  I went to a couple of birthday parties of other kids, and for my 16th birthday my mom let me take a few of my very close buds to (I think) laser tag.  Other than that, not really a big fanfare - I don't set my alarm extra early, I don't know or particularly care what *time* I was born, and while I don't mind people knowing when my birthday is or celebrating it, I don't really go out of my way to announce it.  I don't hide it, but I won't bring it up in conversation, does that make sense?

Plus, on top of that, I kinda like to sit at home and do my own thing most nights.  I mean, yeah, I like to go out sometimes and do things but when I do, I much prefer them to be scheduled in advance with a set start and end time.  I realize this probably makes me sound like a robot or a huge introvert or both, but that's just how it is.  Deal with it.

So when it comes to birthdays, especially now that I'm older (ugh this is making me sound like an adult), I think my ideal celebration is probably just going out to a nice dinner someplace I like to eat with people I really like - like Gold Star Chili with my family or Triple XXX with the Ship of Fools, something like that.  I don't even really care that much about presents - I know plenty of college students who really can't afford it, I'd prefer something personal instead of generic which can be tough (ask Jenny), and I don't like it when I have to guess what level of friendship I am with somebody and feel reciprocal gift obligation.  Plus I don't want a bunch of things that I can't use (I still move too much these days).  And now that I have a summer birthday (K-12 I did not, now I do and summer birthday people get totally ignored, haha) I've been at Purdue for the past few years when my birthday rolls around.

SO anyway, with that all in mind, this year was a little different.  I'm in Texas for my birthday, and at this point I've been here all of a week and a half.  I don't really know many people around here, I don't know many cool places, I'm broke and I have no car.

The night before I got kinda bummed.  I was feeling homesick, missing my wife, and feeling stupid that I suddenly wanted my birthday to be a bigger deal.

Well, at midnight I started getting some text messages.  Then more when I woke up.  When I got to work we had a meeting with our whole intern group, and 97 interns kicked it off by singing Happy Birthday to me (probably the largest group I've ever had sing that to me!) [the meeting was not for my birthday, FYI].  Several friends and family called me and left me birthday wishes on my phone.

Facebook blew up with birthday messages, and I used to not think it was that big of a deal.  This year, I can honestly say I've never been so happy to read those messages.  I wanted to give every single one of those people a hug.  So much birthday love when I was feeling homesick, and each message gave me a smile.

When I done with work, my friend Andrew (and his new gf Kimberly) took me out to a local brewpub/steakhouse/sports bar where we got to watch hockey (Stanley Cup game 1) and baseball (Reds!).  I got a plush T.Rex and some Hulk gloves, and ordered a giant steak.  Got a free dessert, and they insisted on paying for me.

Then, when I got home from that, I found out that Jenny had arranged for a local dessert company to deliver 2 dozen freshly baked cookies (and milk) to my apartment!  She even knew that even though the company had several varieties of cookies to pick, I would only want chocolate chip and M&M ones.  Love this woman.

So when it was all said and done, I had a pretty killer birthday, and it happened exactly when I needed it!


Oh, I will also mention that Jenny got me a super cool gift.  Some backstory (as if this post wasn't long enough): at some point around when I was in middle school, my mom let us pick if we got presents, or she would give us a fixed amount of money and take us shopping for whatever we wanted.  Me, being the kid that I was, did not take this opportunity to go wild and purchase whatever suited my fancy, no, it became an exercise in planning and careful calculations, using the most recent Toys R Us ad from the Sunday paper, and later a bit of internet research (yes, at that time, the internet was a fringe thing).

This once a year opportunity was the one chance I had to purchase some big ticket items that otherwise were hopelessly out of my reach, allowance wise.  For three straight years, this included going after a large Star Wars Micro Machine playset that went along with all of my various Star Wars space ships and figurines.  The first year I got the Hoth playset, the second year I got the Death Star, and by the time the third year rolled around...the Yavin playset was gone.  Nowhere to be found.

I don't want to be melodramatic, but I was devastated.  I pined for it in a way that only a child and collector could, and as the years wore on I looked for it, but I never saw it again.  Heck, the Star Wars Micro Machine line really died off not long after that, and it appeared that that chapter of my life was closed.

You can probably guess where this is going, but I'm gonna tell you anyway.  Fast forward to this year, where on a bored weekend Jenny watched the entire Star Wars Trilogy (OT of course) back to back to back with me.  While we were hanging out, I got out ALL my old Star Wars toys and she patiently humored me while I explained that the differences between the different TIE fighter models (the Empire chose to specialize their fighters based on mission profile rather than develop a true all purpose craft), and that it wasn't until just before the Battle of Endor that the Rebel Alliance had the resources to develop the B-Wing starfighter, things like that.  I also told her about my childhood-defining tale of never managing to find the Yavin playset...the one that got away.

Well, just before I left for Texas Jenny gave me my birthday present, and lo and behold it was the Yavin playset, custom ordered from a specialty toy shop!  She remembered my story and figured out *exactly* which one it was (which, given the dearth of options when it comes to Star Wars toys, trust me, there's plenty of opportunity for confusion).  It was a total blast from the past (I didn't know any still existed!) and was yet another example of my excellent wife getting me a great gift that was very personal and meaningful.

there goes the Rose Bowl

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...