Category: Blogger Post

I listen to NPR all day long, so the news is something I keep up with on a pretty regular basis. I’ll admit that I’m not the perfect employee. I love my toys. In the car, I listen to my iPod mini. I named it “Greenie”, but that’s not too creative of a name for it. It’s green, so… duh. It goes running with me and, pretty much, everywhere else I go. To kind of get away from work, I’ll listen iTunes at home and what not, just to get my mind off of things. Doesn’t always work, but I do try.

Anyhow, the hostages that were taken in Russia is just dumbfounding me right now. As the reports came in yesterday, I knew it was only going to get worse as the whole situation was sorted out in its aftermath. Of course, it getsworse than you can really imagine. I understand the need of making your voice heard when it becomes a matter of political significance. You can see that in this country almost every place you look right now.

I don’t understand this. I got really curious and researched the history of the conflicts in Chechnya, and there is no really solid way to comprehend what is going on except pure hate. There is some arrows pointing towards a struggle for independence based on the abuse of Chechnya’s natural resources by the Russian government. Immediately when I say that, you probably think oil, to which you’re pretty on the money. However, within the area, there are numerous groups struggling for power, all with deep hatred for the Kremlin. It just keeps getting ugly after that. And confusing. I still don’t know the whole story, but this is something that is not easy to wrap your head around.

Over three hundred have been pronounced dead, most of them being under the age of twelve. Herded into the gym, surrounded by explosives, shot in the back by their captors as they fled, and that was after they blew up the roof. They were stripped naked and forced to watch other hostages be killed in front of them as to make them fear the same fait if they tried to get away, scaring them into place. It’s all over now, but this might be a prelude to a civil war.

Oh yeah, there’s that election thing going on, too.

Along with the whole growing up thing that seems to be happening, I’m starting to do some hardcore car shopping. Quite frankly, it’s scaring the crap out of me. I mean, I’m learning a lot, considering things now that I wouldn’t have dreamed of weeks, even days, ago. I’ve successfully avoided the “can I help you” hounds by just doing some window shopping here and there. I’m not even sure on what kind of car I would want, yet alone afford right now. It’s all a lot of thinking at this point. I have my favorite flavors of ice cream, but this is far worse. I’m like a two year old, “Ooooo… shiney.”

Nip/Tuck has had me sucked in since the series started. For some it’s too racy, but that’s not why I like it. At the same time, I get weak in the stomach during the surgery scenes. And the story line isn’t the greatest. It’s been done before. TV’s just like that. Some of it has to do with production quality. The way it’s shot and what it’s shot onto. Kind of the same reason I’m into Rescue Me, but I’ve always liked Denis Leary.

This DVR thing is pretty sweet.

I’m not a huge sports fan. I do like to watch the Cubs games on TV when I can catch them. Well, I like listening to them on the radio as well. Watching the gamecasts online. Ok, so I do get into baseball, but I’m way short of a die hard. I can tell you what player is doing well, who might be in a slump, and yak about plays from previous games. Stats are hardly anything I ever pay attention to. When the game is on, I’m into it. Outside of that, life goes on being normal.

I find it a little sad that so many media outlets have found little to do with the last go around of The Olympics. Granted it was those who are the opinion mongers of cable news channels and what not, but their attitudes towards them were all about, “Who cares?” Well, I do. They’re just fun to watch. It’s something different and a chance for other sports, although arguably being called “sports” for some events, to get a chance to shine. It happens once every four years, for two weeks, and then it’s over.

There’s no preliminaries. No caucuses. No fund raising. No smear campaigns. Swift boat veterans. Any of that crappy crap. I’ll take women’s beach volleyball over any campaign stump speech, anytime, any day, and I don’t care who it is. Just two more years until Italy.

Life just gets busy. When I get home, I have a tendency to just want to turn my mind off. Kick back, relax, sleep… Boom! Alarm goes off and it’s time to go again.

On top of that, I spent a lot of last week getting my hours in so I could head over to Illinois this past weekend. It was something I had to keep secret as Mike turned forty today. My sister-in-law went to work and threw a great surprise party for him on Friday night. I took off Friday afternoon for the event. It all went off according to plan, and Mike never suspected a thing. Well, he did for a moment, but I don’t think that he ever expected to see Mom, Dad, Beth, her two kids, and myself there. Made for a very busy weekend.

I’m home now. Tired. Relaxing. Sad to see the olympics end.

Digital video recorders are pretty cool. In fact, I would go as far as saying that the one I have now has already changed my life. You don’t need a VCR anymore. DVR’s are incredible. You go to the guide, select what you want to record, push a button, and watch it when you want. I know I’m sounding like a commercial, but the thing is, once you record a program, you don’t have to watch the commercials. You just fast forward. If you go too far beyond the commercial break, you can back up the video without all the clunking of gears shifted the tape back and forth. I get a phone call during something I’m watching on live TV, I just pause it. Come back to watch it later. It’s a whole new world. Another avenue of being a geek to add to my resume.

I forgot about the whole making of cables for the new console we’ll be installing soon. It’s easy work, but my fingers will be sore for the next few days, perhaps weeks. When the solder really gets going, it trips memories of my days growing up and working for my parent’s electronic business. It’s still around, but I’m just doing a different brand of electronics these days. Eleven years old is when I started working for them, and I haven’t really stopped since.

Even though I lack proper furniture to really entertain guests, people come over and say that my new place really makes me more grown up. Last night, we hung out here and watched a movie. The seating is less than to be desired. Not the most comfortable, but you’re sitting, which I think is important.

It’s interesting to note how the rest of this building operates. When I checked in, the rules were no cardboard in the dumpsters. Also, do not set trash next to the dumpster when it is full. There are six dumpsters out there. Yet, the one in the middle is constantly over flowing. Boxes and things people don’t want anymore is everywhere. It’s like I haven’t left the student ghettos at all. The mentality is still there. These kids just haven’t learned yet.

I’ve had such a long week. Nothing horrible, but just busy. I have too many projects going on that I find myself on my feet a lot, running around getting things done. Neil called just a little while ago to see if I wanted to come over with the crew and play some cards. If I weren’t so beat, I would be all about it, even though I suck at playing cards.

Super saws and CD players don’t mix, especially super expensive, professional CD players. They weigh a lot, bulky, and do pretty much the same thing as a CD player often does. They just sound better. However, they don’t sound good when the vibrations of a saw are causing the whole machine to lock up and stop playing. They go even as far as getting so stupid that it doesn’t believe that the CD that it was just playing is still inside of it. Totally my fault for dropping the audio on the FM, but we were so close to being done, I pushed “Dan the Cabinet Man” to finish the job. Needless to say, Barney was a little riled up. Oh well, the furniture is that much closer for the BMX Digital that should be showing up any day now.

When you need stuff for your empty apartment, it never hurts to mention it to your family. I could have scored a couch from my aunt and uncle over the weekend, but the only thing I made out with was a bed frame from my grandma’s back porch. I seriously can’t complain. I set it up last night and was quite proud. I’m also sleeping like a baby.

I got every last penny of my deposit back from my old apartment. I got the check yesterday. I have never had that happen before. Yes!!!

Four day work weeks are nice. Of course, that doesn’t matter much when you work enough hours in four days to equal forty hours in one week. In that sense, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is getting away. Even just for a few days, getting out of town and relaxing.

Kansas City was good. “Good” will be the popular word for today. I had so much good food, a large majority of it being of mexican origins. Enchiladas, tacos, tamales, guacamole, chicken mole, rice, and so on. It was a lot of food. Then there was cake and pastries. Saturday night I ventured onto The Plaza with Angie and ate sushi to my heart’s content. It was so, so good.

Mojito. It’s a drink of Cuban origins, I think. More so, it’s a knock-you-on-your-ass drink. I had one, and the recipe is now within my possession. Yes, it was that good.

Life just never quite seems to slow down for me. Some days I find myself looking at how bland it might be, but the truth of the matter is that it’s pretty busy and hectic. A lot. Some would say always. I’m not sure that I would have it any other way. In fact, I don’t know how I would function if I didn’t have something going on. I wouldn’t come even close to saying that I have my schedule on complete course, or that my head is on completely straight. I’m just busy.

Kansas City is calling me again. I’ll be heading down there this Friday, coming back on Monday. It’ll be great to get out of town for a little while. More so, longer than your standard weekend jot. It’s Grandma’s birthday this weekend, so good food, good drinks, and good times. Also dropped a line off to Angie, so looking forward to hanging out with her. Shopping and maybe some time out on The Plaza. And yes, this time I won’t fall asleep in Grandma’s bathroom.

My freshman year of college, I lived in a lounge with six other guys for the first semester. This is what happens when there is not enough room in the dorms for all those who come to college. You’re stuck there until housing finds a space for you. It was there that I met Kris, or Muffin as he came to be known. Bill lived on the same floor and was fortunate to have an actual room. This is how Burlington became apart of my life. It’s odd to think how I have more friends from that border town than I do from the one I grew up in.

The only slice of privacy in the lounge was a door that locked behind you. Inside, a maze of bunk beds, clothes racks, and desks, the center piece being a small television with Nintendo64 attached. Mario Kart was the typical drug of choice, at least for me. We spent… No, wasted a lot time with that damn thing. Coming home from class one afternoon, I unlock the door only to find Bill sitting there on the floor, controller in hand. I say hello, proceed to put my things down, and notice that Bill’s the only guy in the lounge. This guy who actually has a room (a room with a private toilet and shower, mind you) is hanging out in my camp-like home. Turns out that he didn’t have class till later and everyone had left. It kind of burned me, but we still laugh about it now.

Anyhow, Bill’s married now. Erin was probably the most ecstatic bride that I have ever seen. I will admit, I got to the ceremony five minutes late. I blame this on the “older” couple and their motorcycle that I got stuck behind the entire way through town, pounding on the steering wheel in frustration during the ten mile per hour tour through Burlington. The reception, although I could be one to argue with my assigned seat(for I did suffer a whole semester of living with this guy), was awesome. I shamefully missed the bachelor party, but this made up for it ten fold. It was wonderful to see everyone again.

This time, I stayed out of the garter toss. I caught the one at Zach and Cristin’s wedding. I opted to avoid such luck again.