My butt...

should be stronger than yours

Why?
Because just about every bike ride I go on it starts hurting so it must be gaining more muscle.

I've pretty much wasted this week away waking up around noon every day.

Had a really good ride Tuesday night just outside of Columbia. Hung on longer than I did the week before, definately pushing myself. The old heart rate went up to 193, an all-time high since I've had my heart-rate monitor. Was actually in Zone 4 (of 4) for more than an hour. Basically I was working my ass off....and though I felt like throwing up for a while I couldn't be happier with building I'm doing.
If I could make myself work like this when I'm out on the road by myself I'd probably be a lot stronger ride...but it hasn't happened yet.

and I've got no hair now. Decided to shave it off....and its treating me alright.


Lately I haven't been sure which is worse:
The super-busy times of work & school or no having anything terribly important to do (I do have plenty of stuff I could be doing...but am apparantly bad at self-motivation)

home

kinda sucks not feeling "at home" anywhere
Part of it has to do with issues I'm having with myself right now. The kind of issues that make you go "why'd I do that" or "why do I think this way" or "how come I used to think this but now I think this"...fun stuff like that. Stuff that no-one can answer for me, but I can't seem to find an answer for either.
It seems I've changed (I feel like I have) in the past year and I'm not exactly sure why? Or maybe I kind of know why and just don't like the reason?

It has been fun hanging out with Scott though. He's giving up his projector (a pretty big deal actually seeing as how it's his baby and couldn't replace it soon if anything happened) to a cousin for the weekend.

We're about to go buy him a paintball gun and later we'll test it out at the above-ground Jaegers paintball field. Can't wait considering its been a couple years since I've played. Though about getting my own paintball gun (much better than the one I bought some 7 years ago) a little less than a year ago but didn't do it. Maybe sometime in the next year...


AND...I haven't been to church once this year. NOT ONCE. No, I'm not writing this because I'm happy about it (though it would seem if I was that unhappy about it I would have drug my ass out of bed on a Sunday and went to church), but sometimes I like to think I'm being punished for this fact. Like something bad happens or I'm just feeling not so great and I'll think, "hey, maybe if you would have went to church any of the last 20 Sunday's this wouldn't be happening."
I suppose part of me not going to church is while the concept of church makes sense to me the actual act of sitting (and standing sometimes) and listening to someone talk to a big group of people annoys me...I'm not good at sitting still.
Thats it, I've thought about writing it for a while but never did.

Thanks Erica for the message you sent about what you recently learned...it meant a lot to me.
And while in Lawrence the other week for the Collegiate Cycling National Championships I ran into Chris from camp. I couldn't remember his last name right after, remembered it, and can't think of it...but it was great to see him. My first year as a Senior High Wilderness camper he was sort of the guy to look up to in the group. He seemed to make an extra effort to get me involved (since I'm no good at jumping into activities with people I don't know) in what everyone was doing.
And he tells me that cook George is married (or at least a one-woman man with a girlfriend) and is into riding bikes. Now if only I had an e-mail address...

Aight..enough of this warm laptop sitting on my lap (I think a Men's Health article told me that was a bad thing to do), time to use up some energy...

sometimes

words just aren't enough

Goodnight

Thank you God

Grades for the semester:
Health Psyc: A
Rural Soc-Amish: B-

Sad

Collegiate Cyclist

Read about this (he was still alive at the time) last Tuesday when a Wisconsin rider posted it on the MidWest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC) discussion board......

Click me

Check out http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/

When I'm down it helps get me happy again

It amazes me what we have locked inside us.

Hmmm part 2

I need a certain GPA this semester to be able to get back into the education program.
I'm worried I might not have that GPA. That would mean my illustrious career here at MU is over.

I have $30. I get paid this coming Tuesday and I'll be able to pay some overdue bills. Then I basically don't get paid for a month.
What am I going to do about this? Along with trying to spend as little as money as possible I'm going to finally finish putting another computer together and try and sell it along with some other stuff I've got around here that I don't need.

What to do about the Mizzou thing? I suppose its time to look into other options.


Otherwise things are going pretty well. Work went by pretty quick this past week. Worked 11am-10pm last Tuesday and it went by quicker than my 11-5 shift on Thursday. Had a great time in Lawrence watching the Collegiate Cycling National Championships and spending some time with a friend.
Then I had a great time with Scott, Tracy and a bunch of their friends at their house. Had my first real dose of Texas Holdem Poker and loved it. Actually won the final game at somethin' like 3:45am. (And damn if all those chips didn't look great in front of me)
I must say that its kind of hard for me to play sometimes. I normally "wear my emotions on my sleeves" so if I've got a good hand it can get real hard for me to keep a straight face. Went all in a couple times (I had many more chips than them so it was a nice ploy to ruin them) with a pretty damn good hand and just about hurt my face trying not to smile or grin too much. (Scott if you read this any more...my two 5's are still your daddy).
So I've got to find some people to play with around here.

That's enough for now...time to shower and clean up this room of mine.

yep

definately racin'. Not gonna be pretty, but I'm going to do it anyway. Went for a short suffer-fest a little while ago with Steve, the guy I'm riding with to STL.

I seem to remember being able to "float" with that bike, but definately not today. Threw it on the bike stand when I got back and realized that the front wheel immediately stopped every time I stopped spinning it. The front disc must have loosened up a little since I brought it back from the shop, causing the disc to rub against the brake pads the whole time I was riding earlier...kind of a relief because I know I'm slow but it shouldn't hurt as much as it did.
Put the wheel on the ground and tried to reshape the disc a little bit and it rolled a little easier. Guess I'll do the same thing in the morning before the race.

Wake up at 5am, leave Columbia with Steve around 6am. Good stuff

Depending on how much I'm hurting after the race either going home Saturday evening or Sunday to grab my car and give mom her Mother's Day present, getting to see me :)


*My heart rate monitor is interesting me now. Haven't been able to get my heart rate above 169 on the road bike in number of weeks (I must say I haven't done all that much riding though; my max heart rate the first time I tested was somethin like 185). I look down at my wrist on the ride earlier and see my BPM are at 178, and just about every time I looked at the screen it was around 170.
I've got a few theories as to why this is happening...but won't really know for sure until mid-june probably when I've got a whole lot more miles in.*

Racin'

looks like i might just race the mountainbike Saturday just outside of st. louis. That is of course unless I discover I already had something planned for saturday and just haven't thought of it.

I don't expect to do well, I've ridden once this week and it was slow. Only ridden the mountainbike once this year, and thats when I wrecked it and just got it back last week.

We'll see what happens

Chunky soup and Macs

Sitting in the Zone at a Mac eating some Campbell's Chunky soup. Doesn't get much better than that does it?
The Reflector has a nice Mac in it now also, got a G5 machine with a beautiful 23' HD monitor. Just a nice ~$3000 addition to what we've already got. Except I can give Final Cut Pro a try over the summer now (we'll see how it compares to Premiere Pro).

Today has been good...though I should be severly hurt for not having my paper done (or even close) yet. At noon i went out behind Townsend with Ted and Moon for a burger and dog to celebrate the Dean's retirement. As I told Judy I would, I didn't talk to a single higher-up there. Won't let "the man" get me down

Then I drove Ted's beast of a Vibe over to Circuit City so he could pick up a hard drive, which they were still unloading off a truck...so he was told to come back later.

A nice slowish bike ride and a shower later and I'm at the Zone with my soup, Pepsi, and Amish materials.

Great weekend

The weekend was great, made it back home safe last night around 9 I think. Wasn't driving the vehicle I thought I would be though. Something seems to be wrong with my clutch so its in Odessa for who knows how long to be looked at. I've got dad's beast of a grey truck. I rumbled down the highway last night at about 68mph, something I'm almost proud of considering how much self-restraint that takes for me.

Planned on staying up all night last night to work on my paper. It got to be about 2am and all I had gotten done (besides listening/watching to a couple episodes of CSI) was found a couple articles that might help me write my paper.
If I had been getting more done it would have been a good night to stay up all night. Just work 9-12 today, then I could have slept a few hours and gotten back to the paper. Now I'm pretty much screwed as far as all-nighters go. I'd basically be dooming myself tomorrow if I had one tonight. My 11-6 shift seems long enough when I'm full or rest, it pains me to think about what it would be like with zero rest.

hmmm...what to do, what to do

Good old wal-mart

So mom failed to tell me a big reason we're up here is for Booger's awards banquet. So I brough no dress clothes.

WAL-MART TO THE RESCUE. Yep, grabbed an outfit from wal-mart and damn if it doesn't look stunning, all $20 of it.


And I've crossed new boundaries. Downloaded some crack program to find out the WEP key for BVU's campus. I'm going to have to try it when I get home to see if it really cracks all WEP's that quick. Took me about 2 minutes to google a few words and download the program...and 10 seconds to find out the WEP. And I might mention that I know pretty close to zero about networks.

Time to head to the boog's banquet...

UPDATE: Booger won the big award of the evening...summer after this coming one (i believe) she'll be going to India to study as Ghandi did. Since I know basically nothing about it check out her blog http://leishajo.blogspot.com where I have no doubt she'll have to post something soon about it.

Boog - I'm proud of you

I'm off for a little walk around the lake. (Check out the link, click on the word "lake", in case you've never been to/heard about Storm Lake.) It really is a beautiful thing
Satellite picture of Storm Lake, Iowa

Favorite

Today is one of my Favorite Days....State Music Contest. And my building is one that gets used.

One of the few times I wish I was back in high school again


Glad it's friday...and I'm headed home later. Just work until noon, buzz to bike store to take back a chain cleaner and pick up something different, go home and partially pack for the weekend, go back to class to listen to last day of presentations (which is also the last day of class), meeting at work, back home to finish packing and then head to Odessa

No Go

Looks like I'll be in the Reflector about 40 hours a week this summer. No job at cycleX for me.
I would really like to be mad at them...but I can't bring myself to do it.
I'll just teach myself (with help from a couple manuals...hmmmm...I see a birthday present coming on) how to be a decent mechanic.

Other than a phone call

last night kinda sucked

Working in the Zone was alright, time went by pretty quickly since I was working on article reviews for Health Psychology. Got them done so I've officially done all the work that's required for that class.
What I didn't get much work done for is my Amish Community paper. Its coming up shortly and I'm definately behind. Guess my three hours in the Zone tonight will be spend working on it.

Basketball sucked. It is only the second time in the history of me I could tell very well that I'd eaten the wrong things during the day. (For the record yesterday I ate: 4 donuts for breakfast, 3 for lunch, and McDonalds for dinner). Got to the rec center and had nothing in me. I knew what I wanted my body to do but it wouldn't respond. The past few times I'm in there nobody could guard me even with a broom in their hand...yesterday grandma could have held me to 1 or 2 buckets (and thats without a broom).

I got frustrated...I really was playing so bad I wanted to leave...but another part of me said "damn it Andy, you put yourself in this situation so you're gonna have to get through it." So I kept on playing...and taking a beating from just about everyone there.

Overslept this morning, 20 minutes late to work, raining outside....a great day so far...

Not able to

unfortunately I was not able to test this buttered bread theory out yesterday evening.
As I'll be working in the Zone this evening I probably can't do it tonight either. And since I've got 0 of 8-10 pages written for next Tuesday it will probably have to wait until this weekend.
This weekend I'll be visiting Iowa so it looks like the experiment might take place in Booger's room (you got a toaster don't you?....don't worry if you don't...I could bring mine :)

Presentation coming up in a few hours. Definately the first time I haven't been nervous about giving one. I suppose being the State Pimp (errr...president) of SMSTA did give me a bit more confidence.....
after the presentation and writing 3 article reviews I'll be done with the class. Only a paper and an exam left (both next week) for Amish class, then my undergraduate career is finally over after 5 long years.

This just in

buttered toast always falls face down

As this was explained in a paper in 1995 I'm a mere 10 years late finding out about it. Guess I'm just good at not dropping my buttered toast.
Tonight's mission: butter a bunch of toast and drop it to see what happens...

Good Weekend

The weekend went by way too fast..but was a good one despite the lack of cycling and work on my paper.

I did however spend quality time with my XBOX and Midnight Club III: DUB. How many hours? More than you would guess.

Almost hard to believe that when my presentation is done in two days all that will be left for me as an undergrad is one class with a paper and a test.

And it looks like this weekend I might visit the wonderful state of Iowa with mom and dad. Hopefully their visit up there was not supposed to be a suprise because when Boog reads this it will no longer be one.
Hmmm....to bring my bike or not. Need the miles, don't know if Iowa people would try to run me over for wearing a Mizzou Cycling jersey or not. Guess I might find out. (I'm pretty sure I won't be taking the team jersey and shorts to Lawrence during Nationals weekend though...a cyclist has enough to worry about the way kansas people drive without them knowing you ride for MU)

different

Yesterdays ride was almost bad. Rode an Ashland loop and basically all the way into Ashland I was riding against the wind, which if you have ridden much you know that that equates to riding up a hill the whole time. So what is normally the best part of that ride for me sucked. As soon as I get the wind to my back I have to do some climbing.

And of course my first ride with only one contact in. About 10 miles in the wind got to my right eye and it started watering like a biatch. Messed with it for a little while and my contact popped out. tried to put it back in once but it burned like a mofo...so I gave up and decided as long as I've got one contact in I can see well enough to ride the next 30-something miles.

So with the wind and the lack of a contact I put in around 40 miles as apposed to the 50 or more than I had planned on.

Yesterday started off pretty well. Got to work on time, got my Amish mini-theme paper done before noon and visited with Jenny a little before class at 2. Turned my paper in right after class and went home for the ride.

Today has been alright. Amish wasn't too painful this morning, lunch (peanut butter sandwhich, some of Ted's chips, and a granola bar) was fine, and I'm getting a little bit of work done.
Don't feel too terribly bad about my big paper now since another person in the class hasn't even started thinking about it yet (never mind that she's got 2 kids to worry about too...so she's got an excuse)

Oh and I tried to post the odds Ryan and I gave the pope candidates a week or so ago but blogspot was messing up(which seems to have become normal when I'm trying to use it)...anyway the odds we gave Ratzinger were 8:1. I mean come on...the dude's 78 years old.

You might not know: (another type of post stolen from the one and only Erica Brooks)

first I'd like to congratulate myself for the longest title in blog history (don't bother sending me a link to a longer one, i'll ignore it).

NOTE: THIS IS LONG....SO RELAX...YOU'RE GONNA BE READING FOR A WHILE. I suggest taking a break every few minutes so you can really absorb what you're reading

So in honor of Miss Brooks here's some thing you probably don't know about me:


-When I was in elementary school I supposedly poked a hole in a bus seat with a paper clip. (now the hole was big and the paper clip was small so it still doesn't make sense to me, but I was indeed playing with the already made whole with my paper clip) I think this was the last strike that got me thrown off the bus for the year.

-And getting thrown off the bus gave me dish duty for a year. Something you don't want to have when your mom is an excellent cook and has a bajillion big pots and pans.

-I hid many said pots and pans in various closets and under sinks so that I would not have to wash them.

-I was what I refer to as a devil child. I got kicked out of a local grocery store for being caught stealing basketball cards. I'm lucky walmart never caught on because I'm sure they would have done more than just tell my parents (or tell my brother who told my parents). I also stole money from the jar mom used to put $1 bills in for lunch money. I don't really remember what I bought with it, I just remember reaching up there and grabbing a handfull of bills a few times.
I don't know what changed me, I guess I can think of a few events that probably helped...none of which are the spankings I used to get from dad
(I'll never forget walking out of the store and having to look at mom. The feeling: shame)

-Whats responsible for my involvement in cycling? A few years of asking for a decent bike and a nice outpour of emotion in front of mom one day (read: crying...alot) After the crying mom and I went to the bike store and I came home with what I would use a few weeks later in my first mountainbike race at Snow Creek

-I absolutely love where I came from. In fact I feel sorry for all of those people out there who say they want go somewhere because they don't like where they're at or where they're from. Many of the bike rides I go on around here remind me of some of the roads I would ride around back home. I've stopped a few times, gotten off the bike, and just enjoyed the feeling

THIS WOULD BE A GOOD SPOT TO REST YOUR EYES FOR A MINUTE.....go ahead....this page isn't going anywhere...




-When mom was sick (I was in junior high maybe?) I remember the first time I ever did the dishes just to help out. It was a big deal. I don't really know what led me to do them, it just felt like the right thing to do. And it sure suprised the heck out of mom. It was one of those points where I could really tell she was proud of me. A feeling you should be able to put in a jar and lock it up for life.

-I was a terribly shy kid growing up. I don't think I lacked confidence in anything (except how I looked), I was just not a social person. I'm still working at getting better at it now. I think some might see me as stuck up since I don't go out of my way to talk, truth is I'd love to talk to about anyone, I just didn't grow up that way and its a hard thing to change.

-I used to farm all over the house. Every Christmas I'd ask for a different piece of toy farm machinery. I had it all... combines, tractors (even a beast with the doubles in the back), plows, a hay bailer. I'd put up little fences all over my room to keep the cows and pigs from getting loose and I'd plow up a storm all down the hall. (Those toys are sitting happily in the attic at home right now)

-The first "kiss" i ever had happened at 4H camp. Imagine a funny looking little boy looking and a pudgy little girl standing by the pool. Girl just told him "shut up or I'll kiss you!". Of course little boy says something annoying and girl kisses him on the cheeck and runs off.
Yep...I'm the man.....and yes that was before college :)

-Pots and pans weren't the only things I used to hide. I got real tired of the sandwhiches mom would send with me to school (elementary) so I'd bring them home and hide them. I really have no idea why I wouldn't just throw them away at school, guess it never occurred to me.
It was always a great suprise when a couple weeks later I'd start to smell something funky and open a sock drawer or look in my closet and discover a mold filled sandwhich bag.


-I'll never forget the best football catch I ever had. It was during recess in 5th grade. Full out dive on the edge of what we made into a football field. That whole day all these cool athletic people were talking to me and telling me how awesome it was. Huge grass stains all over both knees of my jeans. I'm sure it would have ticked mom off if she hadn't already become so used to me tearing up my clothes all the time like that

-Then of course is the time cousin Danny and I stayed up all night planning a fishing trip for the next morning. We had all our fishing gear ready downstairs, just waiting for it to be light out enough for us to take off. I think dad woke up for some reason and came down to see what the heck we were doing. We did end up going to sleep that night but we also did go fishing (or at least stomping around the woods behind the house) the next morning.

-I can't even count the number of times Danny and I went back into the woods and came back with mud covering our clothes up to our knees. Shoes filled with mud and our feet. We made good use of the "mudroom". What can I say...we were good at mischief.

More entertainment to come...

Decent day after all

Yesterday turned out to be a decent day after all. Work passed by a bit slowly but passed nonetheless. Went home after work, changed into cycling stuff and sped over to Walts to meet a couple guys for a ride. Rode out North, then East, then South, and back to Walts. Around 35 miles in all...a pretty good amount for a ride that started close to 6pm.

Went home and showered and lounged around for a few minutes then had some soup for dinner. Headed to the library for the next couple hours to read an article from an Amish book thats on reserve there.
Lucky I was able to keep myself awake through it and took 3 pages of notes over the chapter. Got home close to midnight and went to bed.

Today:
Go home between work and class from 12-2 and eat something and get the bike and clothing ready for a ride after my work meeting.
Probably put in at least another 35 miles this afternoon with at least a couple guys.

Tomorrow:
Some Caring for Columbia service thing. Basically I'll be helping out at a Ronald McDonald house with a bunch of other people for a few hours in the morning.
Then putting in a good number of miles on the bike in the afternoon

Link of the day

stupid things

sometimes I do stupid things

for instance...wake up this morning a little after 7 and realize I'm gonna be late for work if I don't hurry up. Jump out of bed and start getting ready only to realize that today I have class at 9:30, not work at 8. So I lay back down wondering what the hell is wrong with me.

Fall back asleep after not very long (blame it on the way too comfortable bed and comforter) and wake up around 9:15. I don't even remember thinking about class but I managed to get back to sleep. Wake up again at 9:45 and realize I'm gonna be late to work again. (Something that judy said in an e-mail the other day "being late is the only thing you do that makes me say bad things about you, and you do it so well") So I get ready in about 8 minutes (that's from getting out of bed to walking out the door...and includes brushing my teeth) only to get to work and have Brittany say "well you're here early". Yeah, work doesn't start until 11, and its 10:02.
A great start to the day.

We'll see how the rest of it goes...

Tim, if you ever read this blog again great job with the design of that article...and that Shaq one on your site looks awesome too. You design people amaze me.

Mens Health

I love reading Men's Health, it always gives me something to think about.
A month ago I was reading to Judy and Brittany 100 ways to burn 100 calories (I think it was 100 at least...its been a while). Crowd favorites: making love for an hour, which Judy didn't seem to think was possible and the magazine said if you could do that then you don't need to worry about reading the rest of the ways.

Today we've got "Average Guy + Money", something that interests me very much now since I've got almost no money and probably won't for a while.
Average guy's annual income: $39,429
If he graduated from college: $54,069 (after years of teaching and coaching in a large district I could probably make this much)
% of men unhappy with the size of their paychecks: 49

How much the average guy is carrying in his wallet right now: less than $10 (I haven't had money in a wallet in a long time, haven't had any bills in my pocket for at least a couple weeks)

Amenities the average guy wants to add to ATMs:
1. Frequent withdrawal points (YES PLEASE)
2. Porn clips (hmmm)
3. Hot coffee (how about Red Bull?)

% of men who never balance their checkbooks: 53 (so Ronnell and I aren't alone)

Preferred way to pay:
1. Debit Card, 44% (thats me)
2. Cash, 28%

Percentage of guys who've given a stripper a $100 bill: 3
Average # of credit cards in a guy's wallet: 2.5 (3 for me)
Total amount he owes on those cards: $2742 (under 2 for me)

What half of men would pay for 5 extra years of healthy life: Nothing (what???)
What 19% would pay: $100,000


And more...but if you want to see it all you've got to get the magazine. April 2005 Men's Health

One side note: I read the other day that a man's brain isn't fully developed (or something like he isn't fully equipped to make important decisions) until the age of 25. I feel better about myself knowing this.

about time

One Tree Hill is back in action......set your alarm clocks for 8pm Central Time

tvguide.com just told me that after at least a month of no episodes the one today is a re-run...so looks like I'll be TIVOing House instead.
What's going to happen though when they both are showing new episodes at the same time??? Decisions decisions

Things to do

Lunch today: 1 peanut butter sandwhich (didn't take the time to put on the jelly this morning), 1 bag of honey wheat crackers, 1 granola bar

Feeling real slow right about now. Have a feeling when I get off work at 6 I'm going to lay down in bed, turn on a tivo'd program, and fall asleep for a long time.

My body is definately telling me it needs some rest. My right calf is sore, left thigh bruised and sore, left forearm sore, right foot a bit tender. Combining too many hard efforts riding the bike and playing basketball.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring nice weather and I can go for a slow spin after class.

I find it a bit wierd that I'm only taking 6 hours yet I've been feeling just as tired and worn out as I have in past semesters.

Once again I feel like there's about a thousand things I could be writing about, but I can't do it. Not that I physically can't push these little white keys in front of me.

Been wondering a lot lately how things would have been different if I had a "real" job now, if I would have joined the army, navy, or so on, if I would have done better in class and already graduated. Guess a lot of it is brought on by a huge lack of money and not really knowing how to fix it and not wanting others to have to fix if for you.

For now though I guess I should finish up my Amish reading for the quiz tomorrow.
'Night

"The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference."
- Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate write and Holocaust survivor

gots to have more calories

Yesterday was a perfect day for a bike ride. Rode ~40 mile with an Ashland loop from my house. Burned a little more than 2000 calories, while eating no more than 600 earlier in the day. No wonder I hardly made it up the climb beside Rock Bridge Park and felt so weak until after dinner.

It was a great feeling riding yesterday though...its been a while since I've had a good ride, definately not where I should be right now in terms of fitness for racing. I sort of wish I would have had some company out there with me, but it was so peaceful, just me and my heart rate monitor, that someone there with me would have been a distraction.


Today I woke up late again, so class was missed. Electricity was scheduled to be disconnected today but I was able to pay the bill before it actually happened. That puts me in a really bad spot until my next paycheck a week and a half away. Thanks go to mom for loaning me some money so that UMB will quit calling me at work, looking for their money.

MO, another dumb idea

why would the legislators of Missouri even think about passing a bill giving tax subsidies to those that donate money to private schools, effectively shrinking the budget and leaving less money for the public schools that are already unfunded.

Here's an idea...maybe some of those stuck up, lying, (insert of bad terms here) bastards at the capitol have kids that go/went to private schools (or they themselves did) and that's all they know. They really have no idea the condition of public schools.

dude...you got a Dell

Figurative it is...thanks for checking Brittany

Illinois lost the big game...this upsets me because if I had my way Roy Williams would continue to choke in the big games as he did at Jayhawk land (who of course did a better disappearing job in the 1st round this year)

My bank accounts are royally screwed...should have closed the old one a few days earlier. I managed to use the debit card a couple times and now its got a negative account that's mostly from NSF charges.
The new bank account is also in the red, paid a couple credit card bills online and failed to write the amounts down in plain sight here at my desk...so no money in it until my paycheck Tuesday night (which will be 1/2 as much as usual from spring break). So basically I'm screwed.

My options:
1. let mom know what I got myself into and ask for some help
2. figure out what I can ebay around here
guess thats about all I can think of right now...need to focus on reading about the Amish now

Night

lots to say...

but no voice to say it

another time it will be

Been a while

Been a while since I've posted...and its gonna be a bit longer until I get a decent post up here. Got to get a paper done.
Weekend was good, Alecia and her friend came up to visit.

It's beautiful outside right now and Iwould love to be riding now (or racing at Purdue), but this paper can't wait

Song of the second: Creed - "My Own Prison"

Another Tuesday

Today was an insanely beautiful day. This bothers me as I wasn't able to be outside to enjoy it. Stuck inside the Reflector between 11 and 6. A couple people posted on our discussion board about riding today...if only I could have joined them.

I suppose i'll try to hop on the trainer tonight. About half of the collegiate road season is already up, and I've (as well as the rest of the team) done exactly zero races for it(as a side note I'm in no shape to do any races anyway, but still...)
Mountainbike season is in swing now, with a race this weekend in St. Louis. A couple of the guys are going to it. I unfortunately have no mountainbike right now as it's still recovering from my crash a couple weeks ago and waiting for me to buy it some new spokes and possibly a new disc brake.

Ronnell got the new PSP. Personally I think he's crazy, as its too small to really watch movies on and I think after playing the XBOX so much on a nice sized TV I could get used to playing a game on its tiny screen (though not tiny by handheld game standards). Anywho, I hooked him up for our home wireless network, I guess it has some kind of capabilities that allow it to use the network (transfering saved games from your PC??)

Case of the Mondays...but not really

Today has been a good day

My boss trusts me enough to train a new employee, and friend, at work. It'll be fun to have him around. Guess I'm just good at training students from Taiwan, seeing as how well Pei-Ju did before she left us to work in the Zone.

Mom gave me a few extra dollars when I left home last night, a very good thing seeing as how the $103 I have right now after paying all these bills would be $3 without her help. And payday is a week and a couple of days away. She's saved me once again.

Tonight: reading and rec center

Happy Easter

Easter morning: Spent at Travis' place in Overland Park
Almost time to go home and get some rest.

Laser tag was sweet, earlier rode around Longview Lake and south of it...nice and chilly, but a good 25 mile ride. I'm getting good at riding in temperatures at or below 35.

Happy Easter

Home for Easter

Came home for the weekend yesterday. Actually drove the speed limit about the whole way too. Why? Just wanted to see if I could do it, and saving every bit of gas possible is a good thing when it costs so damn much.

Brought my road bike along. Was going to ride outside yesterday but the weather was nasty so after watching the NCAA games in HDTV on Scott's projector I set the trainer up downstairs and beat Scott down at NBA Live 2005 while I rode. Good stuff, though he did get lucky and beat me in overtime the second game we played (60's all-stars vs. 80's all-stars) after he was up by 20 at one point in the 4th.

Today looks a bit nicer so I might get a nice ride in outside and maybe play some laser tag with Scott, Tracy, and some Cerner people a Jager's.

Have a great Saturday

hmmm

What did you do today?

I sat in my little chair and played Ghost Recon 2 with my roommates for at least 6 hours.

There are obviously good and bad things about this...my body is healing from the workout at the Rec yesterday, a very good thing.

kind of feeling perplexed about some things now...guess some sleep will carry those thoughts away

goodnight

t i r e d

4 hours in the rec center...exhaustion...bye

Flying colors...and sore legs

This spring break is off with flying colors. Broke down 2000-something calories in my Ashland ride yesterday, about to do the same but add a few more miles if my body is feeling ok.

last day

of school for a while.

It was fun at the bike shop yesterday. Got there about 5:20 and left a little after 7. Took me about 45 minutes to put together the bike, not bad for a first time.
Driving home I was really excited. Time flies by when I'm inside the shop.
I've got the Asst. Store manager (Theresa) and the Head Mechanic (Mike) pulling for me, just need to talk to Tom, the Store Manager (and past National Champion and so on. He's raced all over the World; Daniel tells me he quit because of an accident he had on a tandem, the other guy he was riding with got messed up pretty bad I guess..or maybe worse?)

Work is pretty rough again today. Watching CSI: Miami Season 2-Vol. 1

Rough day

Work is rough today. Judy just went and bought "The Incredibles" and is forcing us to watch in on one of the Smartboards.
Yeah...ok..so work is not so rough.

My knee is looking like a half-eaten meatball sub. Surely it'll impress the guys at CycleX and help me get a job there :)

Got a bunch of bike stuff the other day from Daniel. Bolt on aero bars, 2 $69 tires, a seat bag (bag that goes underneath your seat to hold spare tube, tools, etc), couple extra tubes, and a cycling computer. Got the computer put on last night, reads everything from my speed to the temperature, to the incline/decline % of the road I'm on. Good stuff...and best of all it was all free.

I don't like

bikes right now.

The mountainbike took out some parts of my left knee earlier this afternoon, well it was mostly the ground that did it, but the bike didn't help any.
Snapped a spoke on the front tire and bent the disc (disc brakes are on it).

Guess I'll find out tomorrow if this is going to cost me a bunch of money or if we can reshape the disc and just throw a new spoke in the wheel.

Luckly Ronnell was home and came and got me...sort of. I took his car back home and grabbed mine and went back and picked him and the bike up from Devil's Icebox at Rock Bridge.

new job

Andy might be getting another job.

Cyclextreme might have a second job for me. I'm going to go in tomorrow to put a bike together. If I do a decent job then I'll probably do some bike building for them then possibly move into a mechanics/sales position later down the line. If I don't do a decent job they could still have a job for me, just not working with the bikes until I learn more.

I'm definately excited about it. I almost live in that store (well, when I'm not living in the Reflector, the Rec, or at home) anyway so getting paid some money to be there would be great. (Not to mention better discounts!)

As far as my hours, they know I've got very little free time right now so we'll see what happens. I think it'll be more of maybe a weekend thing and after my official graduation in May. Judy has me down for 40 hours/week here in the Reflector for summer, but if CycleX works out then maybe I'll do a 20/20 thing.
I love computers, but you can't really sit on them and make your body more healthy. In fact, I wouldn't recommend sitting on your computer at all...especially if you own a laptop.

My new hero...for the next few minutes at least

Why didn't I think of this? I can travel plenty farther than 30 miles and this dude can't be that much better looking than me :)

Prom Date

Overslept & expensive

So I overslept this morning. Got home from the rec center a little after midnight and didn't really get any reading done. Watched a TIVO'd episode of CSI:Miami and went to bed with a stiff neck. Towards the end of my few hours beating up some youngins at the rec I turned my head and felt some stiffness in my neck, not sure why as I didn't turn it any faster than I had the whole time I'd been playing. It was like my neck said, "Andy, I've had enough. If you won't stop playing then I'll bring you pain until you get smart enough to stop putting that silly leather ball in that silly metal rim." It's stayed with me sense.

Woke up on time, but layed in bed until I fell back asleep. Rolled out of bed at 10 (class was at 9:30) with a super-stiff neck feeling like a tard for missing that class again.


Looked up tickets to the Final Four in St. Louis thinking maybe if they were $100 or less I could go see a game. Was I in for a suprise. Basically $500 for a ticket up in the nosebleed section where you couldn't really even see the game. A decent seat - ~$900. Yeah, like I can afford that (and if I could I'd be buying a new mountainbike or a laptop instead of seeing a ball game).

Now my stiff neck and I are going to try and get some reading done...as I've got enough to last me the week and then some.

Happy feelings

Got this a few days ago:
"On behalf of the Student Union Programming Board’s Unsung Heroes Committee, I am writing to inform you that you were recently nominated to receive a 2005 Unsung Hero Award. This award program recognizes undergraduate “Unsung Heroes” on the MU campus who lead by example and strong character. You were nominated for your academic achievement, community involvement and demonstrated leadership. Unsung Heroes is part of MU’s Excellence Week, which includes Tap Day and the MU Ring Ceremony. Excellence Week celebrates the achievements of Mizzou’s most outstanding students who have surpassed their peers in academics, service and leadership.



Unfortunately, we are unable to present the award to all of the nominees. We would, however, like to congratulate you on your nomination and encourage you to take pride in your academic performance, acts of kindness and leadership roles. Your actions and service have not gone unnoticed."

Made me happy. That's it, it's just nice to get an e-mail like this out of the blue sometimes.

Didn't really get any reading done last night, but I did get my new pedals put on the road bike and some good pictures taken to the biking stuff I'm going to put up on ebay. Also threw some new sheets and pillow cases on my bed, and boy were they comfortable and smelling good!

Great Weekend

First of all check out http://www.blogwise.com
If you've got a blog link it up through the system,its good stuff.

Boog - we have spring break that week and seeing as how I'm basically broke and can't afford the trip to Atlantic City I wanted to take I'll most likely be in Columbia most the time riding as many miles per day as possible. So come on up and bring a bike with ya.

As the title says, this weekend was a great one. Visited Alecia and her husband Shane. It was a great time. The trip down there was great except for a few slow drivers on two way highways. This morning we had brunch at Lambert's, a place I've wanted to go for a long time but never have. Definately one of my top 3 restaurants of all time. (still not sure if our waiter really talked that way or if it was just an awesome acting job).
Took a little bit different way home (13 Hwy, and so on) so I could see the SAC River Trails, a place I've had plenty of mountainbike races at. (Boog, that's the place you went with me my freshman or sophmore year...when I was so worn out I DNF'd and had you go tell them I was outta there)
The trails looked great, wish I would have taken my mountainbike with me, something I actually thought about the day before but didn't do anything about it because a few of the parts are strewn across my garage. (I don't know if strewn is a word but I like how is sounds, and I'm pretty sure you knew what I was talking about)

Loving my new heart rate monitor. Used it on the road ride I did Saturday morning. Don't have any exact max heartrate but I got it up to 185 bmp during the ride and burned something like 1300 calories. Can't wait to get my new shoes in Monday (hopefully) and get the new shoes, pedals, and heart rate monitor working together.

I suppose that's about it for tonight, time to shower again and get at least part way caught up on some reading.

There's nothing like...

a bunch of middle school girls running around my computer lab.

Shortly after I posted my last post middle schoolers flooded into Townsend's lobby. Something to do with The Writing Project and Education Week this week.

Speaking of education week, I've tried to hold back on the free popcorn and soda this week and have done a pretty good job actually. Ryan on the other hand, had 10 bags of popcorn in a few hours yesterday setting a new Reflector record (no, there was no old record). I'm proud of you Ryan, but sorry for your stomach last night.

Today along with the youngins running around it was internship day out in the lobby. Talked to Independence people as usual, thanking them for helping pay a large part of my college expenses (as they pay mom's salary..and mom's always been good to me). Talked to a guy from Lee's Summit who's good friends with my aunt there. Some ladies from Sedalia grabbed me when I went by their booth after talking to a couple others and tried to convince me that Sedalia was the place for me.
Good stuff. Definately enjoyed the talk with the principal (a 30-something) from Lee's Summit the most. Said the new high school there was awesome and what he's planning for a new elementary school sounds great too....Lee's Summit is on the move.
(Sedalia's technology: "we're getting there" they say...)

The eye of the

Today is going to be a good day.

Work 8-2, class at 2, then should be able to pick up some new road shoes and a heart-rate monitor from CycleX.

Had some delicious cinnamon swirl bread with icing this morning along with a nice glass of milk. Brought a mug of Berry Berry (I think that's the official name of it) V8 juice to work...YUM.

This weekend:
Spending some time with the little sister I never wanted in Springfield; the somewhat recently married Alecia Groves _______ (can't remember her new last name right now..doh...)
Alecia and her husband are moving to Florida very soon so it'll be a while before I see her again I'm sure.

Back to work I go...

Some things

just don't go as you hope

Got denied to the School of Information Science and Learning Technology yesterday. When I opened the small envelope (so I kinda knew before I knew) I guess I wasn't all that shocked. I knew I had an outside chance of getting in since my GPA isn't all that wonderful (its not wonderful at all) and my GRE score wasn't much better. So what's this mean for my future? Not sure yet, other than I obviously won't be in SISLT.

Was laying in bed last night thinking about a lot of stuff (such as transferring to another school, etc) when I sort of realized how comfortable I am here at Mizzou and the Reflector. Right now its hard to imagine having a different job.


My last post about the team we were going to play was off. Turns out their two best guys were playing in another league game at the same time so they couldn't be there. I knew something was up when I looked up their past scores online and they had beaten every team by 20-30.
We kept it close, but couldn't overcome their 3 point shooting. Lost by something like 12.
The highlite of the game, telling the heckling guys from the other team that the smiley face on my right arm was in fact a real tattoo (what did they think it was? I do not know). And even better, when they ask why I've got a smiley face on my arm telling them about a little something called depression....I've never seen a guy go from joking to being serious so quickly and then opologize.

Kinda proud of myself this morning. Brought a couple things of peach yogurt and a bananna in to work for breakfast, along with some Very Berry (or Berry Berry, something with Berry in the name) V8 Splash, the one drink I have that competes with soda (Red Bull doesn't compete with soda because it's outrageously expensive and only so much can be taken at a time). The problem with the V8 Splash? It's much more expensive than soda. For now though I can handle a little extra to drink something more healthy.

I suppose its time to figure out what to do with myself this August.
Have a good one...

an accedotal story

A man and woman have a semminly good marriage. From the woman's point of view it was a "happy" one. The man regularly gave his wife flowers. They divorce when she finds out he has been having an affair. Seems the flowers he was giving were a gift because of the guilt he felt in cheating.
After the divorce she finds she is allergic to flowers. A therapist she's started seeing talks with her about her allergic reaction and thinks it might be a psychological response, though the woman clearly thinks otherwise.
One day the woman goes to see the therapist and upon entering the room glazes upon a beautiful boquet of red roses. "How can you do that, you know I'm allergic to flowers!" she says. The therapist just sort of sits there saying nothing. The womans eyes start to water, her nose gets stuffy, and her throat closes up a little.

So why am I sharing it with you?

You see, the beautiful bouquet of roses were 100% fake.
The mind can do unbelievable things.



Team we play tomorrow doesn't look all that great. One bohemith of a man that can't shoot free throws or run, so we should be able to tire him out. PLayed against one of the guys plenty at the rec. He sucked tonight but when he's playing his normal game he's a decent player.
I'm anxious to see what tomorrow evening brings.

Once again I'm at the library blogging and studying for a Rural Soc: The Amish Community test I've got tomorrow.

'night

Song of the night: Seven Mary Three - "Lucky"

What a

NIGHT.

Basically laid around the house all morning doing nothing but watching tv, getting fat, playing MVP Baseball 2005 (go Royals :), getting fat, eating doughnuts, watching MU beat KU, and eating a few more doughnuts to get even fatter. After I was done getting fat it was about game time.

Beat the first team we played (who hadn't lost a game until we came along) without too much of a struggle. Had a nice start to the game when I hit a three a couple feet back from the 3 point line (though that was about the highlite of the game for me as I didn't do much else offensively).

Sat around for an hour at the rec.

The second game was a bit closer. We were down by 10-15 at one point and somehow were able to fight our way back. Tied with 8 seconds left we sorta created a play which didn't work, so it's overtime (FYI: I sort of had 4 fouls so I sat out the last 2 minutes, which gave me fresh legs, which led to...) I score a reverse put-back, we play good D, I score taking my guy to the bucket, we play good D, we hit a couple free throws, game over.
Honestly the way the other team was hitting 3's I thought we were gonners, but somehow we got'er done.
So by the time we play Tuesday there will be 8 teams left. Tomorrow night I'll be at the rec doing a little scouting for Tuesday.

So after settling down for a few minutes I took a nice long shower at the rec and grabbed a couple Roast Beef sandwhiches and some pink lemonade at Lion's Choice and now I'm in the library gettin' my blog on. Time to finish up this overdue Amish paper and get some reading done.

Night y'all

Numb toes

Rode something between 50-60 miles today. Great ride....though I'm a bit confused as to how I managed to get dropped riding down a hill. I'm not the most aerodynamic person out there but there were a few others about my height that were able to stay with the group. Maybe its because my gears aren't quite up to par with theirs??

Realized recently that when my toes have been going numb it hasn't been because of the temperature, but something else. What, I'm not sure..but hopefully some inserts I got today will take care of it...if not I'll be on a search to figure it out as my toes are important to me.

Need to get some homework done this weekend and clean up this desk of mine...it's a mess! Might go see a movie also just to get out of the house.

4th o' March

Work - almost over for the day except for a meeting at 4.
Class - not feeling like going at 2..we'll see what happens
Cycling - need to go terribly bad, might be doing that during class actually
Food - yes please
Music - College Dropout has been sounding very good in my car the past couple days
This weekend - suppose I'll go on the noon ride on Saturday. Possibly Sunday too since I can TIVO the MU-KU game here in Columbia.
Guess that'll be it along with catching up on scome school work and mastering Nascar 2005 for the XBOX.

great night

Won our game by 15. Should have been more considering it took them about 6 minutes to score their first point and we were up 29-15 at halftime.
We played good defense and decent offense...so I'd have to say this game is the one that I'm most satisfied with so far.
The best part of the evening; 2 of the guys on the team making fake happy face tattoo's that were supposed to be like mine. They make them way too small and put them on the wrong arm, but it was a good effort. Should have figured it would happen sometime, since the first game they have been amazed by it.

Next game: Sunday at 6 (then at 8 I think after we beat that team)



Now its time to make some Hamburger Helper to get me through the next couple of days.
Night

another blast from the past

You are correct erica, you do use the same title for your old pictures. What can I say, you come up with more good idea's and titles and I'll keep using them :)

Not really feeling it today, have slept a ton (since I didn't have to work this morning) and gotten nothing done except warming up some krispy kreme doughnuts, eating some cereal, and watching a TIVO'd copy of One Tree Hill from last night.

It's 1pm, time to get this day started.

blast from the past

The team outside our cabin in Indiana



My neverending shift at work has been fine. Haven't gotten enough homework done in the 5 1/2 hours I've been here so far...maybe now's a good time to start.

To do:
-homework until 10
-lift some weights at home
-sleep
-ride in the morning since Judy let me off for working two shifts today
-class
-1st playoff game for Rec Sports team
-sleep

Three of the four Mizzou CAT5 racers.

If you only had one movie to see this year and I could chose it for you, it would be "Million Dollar Baby".


Rebel9 - From Amnesia With Love
Rebel9 - The Elysian Fields
Rebel9 - Pearls From Kandahar

Amish people

are pretty damn smart

"Flowers grow in the least expected places. Those in the limelight are not necessarily more pleasant to be with than those in the dim corners"

"Who knows, you might be doing him a favor and help him see things in a different light. If you are meant for each other, God will work out the details if you let Him"

"Do you understand what makes this young man act the way he does? People who have a high opinion of themselves rarely boast. Usually the person who is boastful and seems proud does not really feel that way inside - instead, he is a person who feels inferior, with low self-esteem."

The Slow Beautiful Pain

If the race today was a song this would probably be its title.

How'd it go? Lets put it this way, if it was a 15 mile race I would have had a strong chance of winning.
Unfortunately for me it was a 32 mile race and I got dropped by everyone and their little sister. (FYI: getting dropped means the peleton (aka the pack; big group of riders, etc) rode off without me)
In fact, I was doing so terribly after the 16 mile mark that I actually was thinking about what I could post on here.
It was a great experience though, riding in a group of 40 riders is like riding behind a giant truck, very very little wind resistance. There were 4 Mizzou riders in the CAT 5 race and for the first 16 miles we were all together. Definatey an experience. Brady, Mizzou Cycling President, took first in the race. The other two were close behind. And of course I was bringing up the rear...making sure nobody got hurt of course. Damn I'm a nice guy :)

Now I'm going to take my sore butt and go to the library for some studying.

Burning legs, and poor eating habits

Rode about 40 miles today. It sucked. My legs hate me now, hopefully by race time tomorrow they will have forgiven me.
Got on the scales when I got back home, 206lbs. Haven't weighted myself in at least a couple weeks, but I had to be at least 210 at the start of the ride.
The point...I'm going to get my butt handed to me tomorrow.

Definately haven't been eating healthy..way too much fast food. Haven't made the time to make some decent meals. Gots to do better...and gots to do homework now.
Have a great weekend

Gots to have

Gots to find a method of obtaining:
Shiller mit Heppner - "Dream of You"
I've heard it a few times on DI.fm, and even found the person's website, but seeing as how I'm American and don't know a thing about German (i think it is) I can't buy the damn thing, even found the cd on a foreign Amazon site, but can't read a thing.
(i'm in an Ambient funk right now...here's an example: Xerxes - Me and a gun (Tori Amos) <--- It's 10mb so be a little patient


Woke up as my shift was supposed to start this morning. Meaning I missed class. Not a good thing to do. Stayed up too late last night.
My body is pretty much worn out, played ball a lot longer than I thought I was going to last night with Nell. We ran for probably 2 1/2 hours. Played basically the same people for about an hour, won the first game then they proceeded to beat us the next 3. If I wasn't so tired and thinking about the paper I was supposed to be writing at the time I might have cared.
(probably so tired because my dinner consisted of a couple small leftovers from Macaroni Grill and 3 warmed up Krispy Kreme doughnuts...not the most energizing meal ever, in fact I wouldn't recommend it)
Now I must run over to the Newman center to relieve the Pepsi machine of a Mt. Dew or a Pepsi.

Crap for sale

Beautiful....also

I've eaten at number 7 of GQ's "10 Restaurants That Still Matter", Arthur Bryants, and been inside one of GQ's "25 Buildings Every Man Should Know", Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Good question Boog

"does winning mean that much to you? do you think it's possible to play an incredible game-- perhaps the best ever-- yet not win? the whole 'playing w/ heart' bit"

First things first...the heart thing is much more than a 'bit'.
No winning does not mean all that much to me. Like I said, if a team plays as hard as they can and lose then you can shrug that off. Let's face it, no matter what you do someone out there is going to be better at it than you (if not at the moment then someone will come along eventually to unseed you).
Is it possible to play an incredible game and not win. If you're talking about individually then without a doubt. In high school we lost the best game I ever had (16pts, 18rbs along with another co-captain getting something like 20pts and 10rbs...also got punched in the nuts that game)
If you're talking about a team playing an incredible game then no. A team playing that way can always beat a couple individuals on the other team playing that way. I suppose that's part of what makes basketball (and other team sports) so frustrating at times, the fact that you have to count on others to do a specific job. They don't do that and you're screwed.

That may be part of the reason I get so much enjoyment from cycling, whether I win (or more often) lose everything is based upon me.

Back to reading the new GQ at work.

un-

satisfied
That's the only way I can describe my mood right now: unsatisfied.

Won the game by 56 points.

Guess i'll do a little bit of homework and get to bed.

'night

This just in

1. If you've been drinking and you decide to take your horse and buggy out for a drive WATCH OUT, you can receive a DUI while operating that buggy. And watch out, if you happen to pass out in the buggy your horse might be able to make it home, but it may take out a few mailboxes or swipe a few cars on the way...and you'll be responsible.

2. Imagine this, you wake up and do a few chores. Then you have breakfast, more chores, lunch, more chores, and dinner. What's missing? Checking yourself out in the mirror. Many (most) Amish communities ban mirrors (with the exception of a small one for the man of the house to keep his beard in line; the beard is a very important aspect of Amish life). In fact, an Amish person can look into a photograph that they're in and not know which one they are (even a polaroid that was taken 1 minute before they look at it) unless they identify who was standing next to them. HOW MUCH DIFFERENT WOULD LIFE BE FOR US IF WE LIVED LIKE THAT?
So much of our lives are based on appearance.



Today: work until 6, then run home and change into ball playing clothes. Then to teammates place to celebrate getting into the rec league playoffs by drinking before our game at 8.

Feb 19-20

This weekend was pretty good, almost great in fact.
Went home Saturday for a suprise birthday dinner for mom (Sunday was her birthday) before her and dad went to see the King Singers in concert. Dad kind of organized it, calling me earlier in the week. He didn't think Leisha could make it since she's off galavanting in Iowa. I expertly convinced boog to come home for it (ok, I didn't have to do anything but say "suprise birthday dinner for mom, how's abouts you come home for it"..but still).
So mom was definately suprised that we were all there, and Olive Garden was delicious.
Afterwards the majority of us went and saw Hitch. A great movie. Definately one I'll buy when it comes out on DVD, instead of hmmm...obtaining it another way.

This week I've got a couple meetings set up with advisors. Gonna figure out my what its going to take to finish up my education classes. Also going to finish up my paperwork for SISLT, the graduate program I'm hoping will work out. Should know in something like a couple weeks.

Guess thats about it for now, back to work I go.

A good night

Last night was good. Won our rec game. Low scoring, but my best game so far (which isn't saying much because of how I've been playing).

When I got home from work I found that my TIVO box had been updated. So I can now transfer any show from my TIVO to my computer and burn it onto a dvd. Yeppie-skeppie

After the game Nell and I ordered some pizza and linked up the XBOX's for some Ghost Recon 2...and by midnight I was exhausted (from the game and the day...not from Ghost Recon)

Guess that's about it. Time to read the new Esquire and something like 100 chapters (they're small) of Amish stuff while I waste away here at work.

Fax Me

So I sit down at the front desk at work a little while ago and see a box of chocolate "Sweethearts". You know those heart shaped treats that have things written on them. On the cover of the box there are two..."Miss You", a nice valentines message; and "Fax Me". Hmmm...nothing to get a person going like hearing "Fax Me" from a loved one. I now feel confident about my job opportunties in the future...I mean I can come up with better stuff than "Fax Me"...no doubt!


On the walk over from class I really felt like being at Heartland Presbyterian Center. Just something about the near perfect weather today that just makes me want to be there.
Got a volunteer letter and application from them the other day. Been thinking about whether I should try to join the summer staff this summer. Right now I'm leaning towards a "yes".

Feel pretty good about myself today...packed up some veggies and dip, honey bbq wings, mac & cheese, and mixed vegetables for lunch here at work. Snacking on the veggies as I type.
So its eating, reading stuff for class, and sitting here at the front desk checking out equipment until I get off at 6. Then its an hour of relaxation (or reading) until my ball game at 8.


God be with the family of Molly Bowden.

Getting there

This weekend turned out to be pretty good.

Scott's got a pretty sweet set-up with his new projector and Hi-Def stuff hooked up. Though some day I'll have something much better :)

Wasn't really feeling it most of Saturday (see last post) but came around in the evening and enjoyed the rest of the night and today has been good. Picked up some Krispy Kreme's to bring back with me. Stopped by home and talked with mom for about an hour. It was great being there. Sometimes I feel wierd being there....but the short time I was there today was great.

Got back to Columbia around 4 and cleaned up a bit and made some delicious nutritious mac & cheese, mixed vegetables, and toast of course. Now its time to get some reading done for class.
Hope your weekend was great

One step forward, one step back

This past week has basically sucked. Got sick last Saturday and am still recovering. Went to a whole one class this week, on Friday. So missed 4 (one every day). I'll be able to make it up...but its still not a good thing. It's no fun walking around in a daze...trying to take care of yourself but not really feeling much better.

Just got back from playing ball at Cerner with Scott in KC. Really wanted to call or text message someone after but don't have the number. Thought about the last time I went by cerner...on the way to a shindig a couple miles away.
Was thinking on the drive home how I don't know if I could teach in the KC/Independence area like I once thought I might want to... right now there are too many memories from high school and someone I spent a lot of time with back then.
Guess time will tell.

Doesn't really feel like I'll actually be graduating from college in a few more months. I need to start taking care of some business to set up my future as a college graduate.

Lord grant me the strength and wisdom to take care of the things I need to. And please make me healthy again.

Success

"'You are only a success at the moment that you do a successful act.' You can't be a success the next moment because you have already moved on to do something else, even if it's accepting the award for the successful moment that just passed. That is why I've always told my players the glorification comes from the journey, not the outcome."
- from Phil Jackson's "The Last Season"

Lost

Lost the game last night. Realized something I guess I never really thought much about.

I'm going to be one of those coaches that can't sleep at night after their team plays like crap. I'll sit and watch the tape over and over...just wondering.

I can handle a loss. Losing can make you better in the long run (though its very annoying to hear all those ESPN type guys talking about all these "Quality Losses" in the NCAA recently).

What I can't handle very well is a team that doesn't play with heart

A little better...and hmmmm

Playing ball last night might just have worked. Feeling a little bit better today. Pinkie is still huge...but feeling better overall.

Google has a new toy out, a map service. http://maps.google.com

Funny, I put in "Texas Prairie, Odessa, MO" and it gives me as my top two choices
1. Residence Inn Overland Park (913) 491-4444
2. Shawnee Mission North High School (913) 993-6900

hmmmm....


Tonight is rec sports game number 2. We'll see how this pinkie holds up...might make Ronnell play for me most the game. Today NBA Street Vol. 3 ships...so what's Andy going to be playing this weekend at Scott's...on his new projector setup...yep.

Kinda proud of myself. Cut up three apples and brought them to work along with what was left of some pineapple, orange, bananna juice. If this doesn't get me healthy then I don't know what will. Haven't had soda in a few days...been too busy drinking juice.

Random thoughts

My hands hurt. Last week in my rec sports game I did something bad to my left pointer. Today at the rec I did something bad to my right pinkie. Its about 3/4 bigger than my left pinkie. Umm..probably not a good thing.

I'm sick. It sucks. Started feeling bad Saturday at Tan-Tar-A. Made it home around 2pm and slept until 9 or 10. My nose hurts every time I blow it. Hoping the ball playing tonight will help build up my system so this sickness goes away and hides. Worst case....playing tonight makes me worse, so I've got two hurt fingers and a terrible cold-like illness.

Haven't been on the bike in a while. Froze Toes, the annual Columbia road race that opens the season is coming up in a couple weekends. I was going to race but we'll see how much I get on the bike. Right now I'd just be asking for a butt-kicking...but what's new? I've had plenty of butt-kickings on the bike and I just keep coming back for more.
On another note....the Collegiate Nationals for this road season are at KU. Close enough to see a few world class athletes and a bunch of other riders better than I'll ever be.

Upgraded my TIVO set again today. Put a 250gigabyte hard drive in it along with the 160gigabyte drive I put in it the other day. She holds something like 400 hours of shows now. Gotta love the automatic recording of music videos at 3am....about the only time MTV actually plays them any more.

Am I ever going to stop liking "stuff" so much? I've got way too much of it and the more "stuff" you've got the more other stuff you've got to get for it. Its like a never ending cycle. I'm hoping someday I'll wake up and not care for it any more. Honestly its not an issue that I can will to happen, its gotta be something I work at. With an example like mom I've got a starting point. I

I've gotta wonder how others my age judge themselves if they don't have parents as great, stong, etc. as mine. Maybe thats why there's so much crime out there.



Don't blame it on the teachers as they only have the kids around 13% of the year.

And they just keep comin'

New CD's:
John Legend, Jaheim, and Marques Houston. The Jaheim cd is almost worth buying because the disc itself is the coolest design I think I've ever seen on a cd....very minimal..but I love it. Don't know the name of the cd right now as its at home and I'm at work....doh.

Have a great day and a great weekend!

Up for me this day and weekend:
4 - leave for tan-tar-a
Sat. afternoon - get back from tan-tar-a
Sat. night - play lots of video games
Sunday - long bike ride, video games, and little bit of homework

Back I Go

This afternoon will be my second trip to Tan-Tar-A in two weeks. Time for the annual MSTA/S-MSTA Midwinter Conference. This is my third time going, the first not being a state officer. This one will be much more relaxing, as I always got nervous thinking about speaking in front of an audience. I really ran for office a couple years ago to work on my speaking skills (or lack of) and while I did get a few upset stomachs and jittery feelings it has helped me immensly in my quest to communicate with groups of people. NOW I CAN ALMOST SPEAK!
Can't wait to make fun of Laura (the new State Prez), the last time she had to speak a little bit at the State conference she was extremely nervous...just something about speaking in front of people...because in a one-on-one situation that girl can talk....believe me. (especially when you ask questions about her fiance!)

The trip last week was great. The All-State choir, jazz band, and band all sounded awesome...definately made me miss the high school days spend in the music room. And I got to speak with an amazing person...Brian Reeves. He left Odessa the year I was an incoming freshman at the high school, but I was lucky enough to have him in the 7th and 8th grade (as he traveled between the two schools). He's the one I tried out for concert choir for.
He's working in one of the huge St. Louis schools now and has a wife and a 2 year old daughter. He was heading out the door and I yelled at him, "Brian Reeves". Turns around and looks almost startled. I can tell that he's trying to figure out who I am..so after a little chatter I say, "you don't know who I am do you?" "I'm trying to remember your name," is his reply. Andrew Reynolds I say. "WOW"..how are you..how's your mom, how's your brother doing..and so on. Wow you've grown... I really should post some pictures sometime of me now and me back when he saw me in junior high....even I can hardly believe its me in those old pictures.
Anyway....it was awesome talking to him...the kids he's got now have no idea how lucky they are to have him as their teacher.
This brings up another reason I am going to teach...the influence you can have on a life.
I had this guy as a teacher between 1994 and 1996 and to this day the man has an influence on my life. To this day I would love to have him as a teacher. I look up to him (though not literally)
That's the kind of influence I can, and will, dream of having on a student of mine.

(THANKS SO MUCH TO MOM FOR ALMOST MAKING ME GO TALK TO HIM AFTER SHE SPOTTED HIM MINGLING INSIDE THE ROOM)

Music

Next cd: John Legend - Get Lifted ....comes recommended by a good friend.

Found another great song on Kweli's "Beautiful Struggle" cd, "Black Girl Pain".
Also stumbled across Marques Houston - "That Girl" the other day. A lot of confidence with a dose of attitude. Check it out

Had a rec sports basketball game earlier this evening. I sucked (well by my standards anyway) but we won by the 20 point mercy rule. I playing with a guy a couple weeks ago and he asks if I'm on a team. (haven't in the past 2 years unfortunately) He picked me up and I actually like all the guys on the team. Suprising to me considering how I normally judge other guys, probably why I don't have many guy friends....in fact they can probably be counted on one hand.

Its hard for me to clear my mind after sucking...can't stop thinking about little things that I could have done differently. Just giving a shot a little bit more power, following through a little bit more, little stuff like that that can change a game.
But at the same time I'm very thankful that I can do what I can do.
Being out there on the court lets me be something I'm not in more parts of my life...outgoing. Like Mrs. Holman (accounting teacher/FBLA advisor in high school) said one day after watching my high school team play, "you're a different person out there on the court". My response, a head shake. Her, and the rest of the class' response to the head shake, a laugh.
Life is funny like that sometimes.

Amen

Listen

"I like to listen.
I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.
Most people never listen."
- Ernest Hemingway


Got a couple more cd's the other way:
Common - Like water for chocolate
Common - Electric circus
talib kweli & hitek - reflection eternal

that's 6 cd's in about 6 days....as opposed to 0 cd's in the past 6 years.
Definately loving Talib Kweli's Beautiful Struggle cd....lots of good songs on it...but none better than Around My Way.

Feeling pretty good right this minute...need to finish up about 70 pages of a book for a quiz tomorrow...but that's not phasing me right now. Went to the rec tonight with Nell and Zach. We got on the court and stayed there until we decided (i.e. Nell decided he couldn't run any more) it was time to go 5 or 6 games later. Felt great to show the youngins they aren't as good as they like to think.

On another note:
The Mizzou basketball team really blows. I wish I was on the team about now to give them some heart. They have NONE. I think this stems from the coach. I would feel great if they told him tomorrow to pack his bags to head back to Duke to learn some more from Coach K. I think the head assistant coach would probably be a good one...seems like an honest man at least.
We don't have a bunch of sucky players...we have a few that are pretty damn good...but we've got no team. You can't win a good number of games in a season without a TEAM.

Thats it...I'm done...no more thinking about the team....too painful :)
Night y'all

7 Behavioral Immunogens

1. Physical activity
2. Eating breakfast
3. Getting enough sleep (7 hours or more a night)
4. Moderate alcohol consumption
5. Wearing a seat belt
6. Not smoking
7. Being at or near ideal weight

So do you do these?
If you like living and would like to do lots more of it I suggest you start.
I feel pretty good about how my life expectancy calculates according to what we talked about in my Health Psychology class. Of course there's absolutely no guarantee that I'll live until 82 like the sheet says. (avg. life expectancy for a male = 72; barring natural disasters, random violence, etc. I expect to reach the century mark)
The lesson here: life is a gift. Do the above and you'll take advantage of this gift as much as possible.

one new day

3 new cd's
Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Struggle
Talib Kweli - Quality
Mos Def - black on both sides


Only listened to "The Beautiful Struggle" so far. Definately check out "Around My Way" ft. John Legend (who I'm pretty sure accompanied Kanye West in concert and has the gift of an amazing voice)

Friday mom and dad are probably coming to stay the night with me...Saturday morning we're going to see my cousin Laura play in the All-State Band at Tan-Tar-A. Should be an awesome time!

Good start

Got to work on time today...actually a little early. What's sad about this? The fact that I'm so excited just being on time. Eventually I'm gonna get a boss that doesn't think I'm so funny and instead of laughing at me when I come in late will do something extreme like fire me. Yeah...that'd be bad.

Back to happy stuff: even made myself breakfast (Frosted Flakes and toast) and threw a butt-load of ribs and potatoes in the crockpot for some tasty goodness later this week.

yum yum yum yum

Dinner this evening:
Pork chops (marinaded in a Honey Dijon sauce)on the Foreman grill (outdoor gas grill didn't wanna work for me)
Mac and cheese (been in the cubbord way too long)
Baked beans warmed on the stove (diddo)
4 pieces of toast (no such thing as too much toast!)
And some delicious homemade choc. chip cookies for dessert

A wonderful meal to help me recover from beating down some youngins at the Rec Center earlier this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning:
spare ribs with plenty of bbq sauce and potatoes are going in the crockpot. I'll be coming home from work and class to a wonderful smelling duplex.

helping hands

Its amazing how good you can feel about yourself when you help another person.
I just got back from helping my neighbor install a modem in her computer and hook up a new printer. She just got one book written about her life story and is working on at least one more and wants to be able to use the internet to sell a book and some poems. And I helped make that possible. Go me. So now I'm going to take myself to Sonic for a couple pancakes-on-a-stick as a treat for my good work.

don't know

I feel like there's a whole lot of good stuff I could write about in this post. Just saw a great movie with Nell, class is going well, rode 45 miles today which was great on my body, and so on.....but there's something really bothering me right now...and I don't feel like posting about it.
Was gonna stay up for a couple hours and play games,but all I feel like now is going to bed,so thats what I'm going to do. Goodnight

Boycott this coming Monday

If its possible to boycott a day then do it Monday.

The "most depressing day of the year" won't get to me. Nope...I'm just gonna ignore it. I'll pretend its tuesday or something.

In other news: late to work today. Maybe I have a sleep disorder or something. Time to do some internet research to find out.

Played ball last night with Nell. Actually didn't play on the court at the same time with him but he drove me there. Too many sucky people playing other sucky people so it takes forever for the next game to start. Lets just hope these youngins become a little less sucky or just give up after a certain amount of time.

Why cyclist wear helmets

So this doesn't happen:
"Last night while Tracy, Molly, Meathead and myself were doing a big tree loop on our fix gears Tracy went down hard. He sustained a very large blow to the head and some small road rash. Needless to say Tracy went via ambulance to the Unversity Hospital. Tracy was consicous. The hospital did numorous tests and Tracy spent the night in the ICU so that they could monitor the swelling of his head."

I've ridden in group rides with tracy a few times. This guy (i'm gonna guess about 30) looks like a european cyclist. Huge legs, bald head (when I saw him at least), small upper body...just looks like he belongs on a bike. I believe the times I rode with him he was wearing a helmet (though once he might not have been), but this time he wasn't. It's not nice and all to call people who just got injured (and just left ICU for a regular hospital bed) stupid, but I can't help it. You (and the other tards that were with you that weren't wearing helmets probably because you think you look better without one on) are all stupid. In fact, it pisses me off very much that you're so stupid. You make other cyclists look stupid because you've got so much to spare.

In other news:
my Rural Soc. teacher kept talking about if "someone does you dirty" then so and so. Never heard it put this way...but I like it. So from now on if someone does something bad to you or someone else, they did you dirty.

He also brough up an interesting point I hadn't though about in at least a year or two.
Answer this question: If your house was burning down and you could only grab one thing (possibly two or three, but not more than that) what would it be?
Seems the answer to this question should say a whole lot about who/what you are.

Been a while

Its been a while since I was paid to blog (i.e. blogging from the Reflector). Class this morning was ok..got a little boring and I'm not good at sitting still.
Teacher is something like 75 years old and is basically deaf...and you know what...I think he's going to be a great teacher! I can see it in him...material might not be that easy (I'm supposed to see the world through the eyes of an Amish person...and contrary to popular belief I'm not Amish).

Hopes for this semester:
1. that I bring my lunch more instead of getting so much McGreasy McFatty food from McHell.
2. set aside enough time to get my work done
3. exercise at least an hour (preferably 2-3) every day
4. actually read all that I'm supposed to read for one class (I've been here 4 years already...'bout time I read something besides John Grisham, Heru Ptah, or the Fast Food Nation author guy)
5. manage my money better. Alredy set up a new account with Mizzou Credit Union to get started. I like their feel...may not be true, but they seem lots more caring than UMB. No more overdrafts for me (well..not many :)

Feb. 2005 Esquire

Let's say you have two friends named Jack and Jane. They have been romantically involved for two years, and the relationship has always been good. Then one day Jack calls you and sadly mutters, "Jane just brok up with me. She thinks I cheated on her." You ask, "Well did you?" Jack says, "I'm not sure. Something strange happened." This is what Jack proceeds to tell you:
There is this woman in my apartment building who I barely know. I've seen her in the hallway a few times, and we've just sort of nodded our hellos. Last week I came home from the bar very drunk, and I ran into her while I was getting my mail. She was drunk, too. So just to be neighborly, we decided to go to her apartment to have one more beer. But because we were intoxicated, the conversation was very looes and slightly flirtatious. She suddenly tells me that she has a bizarre sexual quirk: she can have an orgasm only if a man watches her masturbate. This struck me as fascinating, so I started asking questions why this was. And then--somehow--it just sort of happened. I never touched her and I never kissed her, but I ended up watching this woman masturbate. And then I went home and went to bed. I told Jane about this a few days later, mostly because it was all so weird. But Jane went fucking insane, and she angrily said our relationship was over.

Whose side do you take, Jack's or Jane's?
(The author writes) I have posed this question to myriad people, and their reactions fall into two broad categories. Women almost always think Jane's rage is completely valid; men typically inquire about the availability of housing in Jack's hypothetical building. Women usually agree that this offense warrants a breakup, while most men think it merely deserves tenure in the doghouse. What's noteworthy is that no one disputes that Jack did something wrong, everyone uses a slighly different, weirdly personal argument to explain what makes it so bad.
The scenario raises so many other questions. How different is this from watching porn? How different is it from getting a lap dance? Is this situation better or worse than if Jack had drunkenly kissed his neighbor? Would it make any difference if the neighbor had been behind a glass partition? Many people point to the intimacy of the exchange. But if that's the case, the conversation preceding the episode seems as troublesome as the masturbation itself. And if Jack honestly saw this encounter as "weird" (as opposed to "erotic") shouldn't he be forgiven completely?
This is why the Jack and Jane Hypothetical is such a vexing scenario. The question really isn't "Whose side do you take?" The true question is "When, exactly, does cheating begin?"
(Author goes on to talk about how due to lifespan its mathematically unreasonable to be monogamous. How it's not about physical contact or emotional intimacy; it begins the moment anyone decides that it's unreasonable to be sexually committed to one person.)
But here is the bottom line: Motivation is everything. Wanting to cheat on someone but failing is no different from actually cheating, and the reason something happens is way more important than the action itself. "This is why watching your neighbor masturbate is not necessarily a reason to lose your girlfriend, particularly if you were drunk and merely trying to get your mail. And if you disagree with this, you're just being unreasonable"


If you want to see all the mumbo-jumbo about why monogamy is mathematically unreasonable pick up the February 2005 issue of Esquire and flip to pages 53-55.

New favorite quote for Andrew: "What you say doesn't matter as much as why you choose to say it"

Sweet

New weight bench for $40! If I bought this thing from anyone not on the cycling team it would have been somethin like $200. She looks pretty sweet in the living room. Instantly makes the three of us (roommates and I) look much more buff...if thats possible of course.
It's a bench press thing with attachments for leg extensions and curls as well as arm curls.
I'm pretty excited...can add some more muscle in the my home before it comes off when the road season starts in a couple months.

Thats about it. Can't really describe how good it feels to see my room cleaner than its ever been (damn its spacious when my crap isn't all over the floor) and the same for the living room and kitchen. And I had some bbq ribs and potatoes about an hour ago that I crock-potted up. I'm gonna kill this thing mom gave me in the next few months...it looks plenty old and probably won't hold up with all the stuff (aka food) that I plan on putting into it.

Earlier I went and played some ball...had to get out of the house. Tried not to sweat too much as that's not good for a new tattoo...shouldn't have played ball but my body appreciated it. Felt great to put the hurtin' on some unsuspecting rec center players.

Tonight: Going to see "In Good Company" with Nell.

Hint

Ok..here's a tattoo hint. Yellow ink actually can work on brown skin.

Got Cable internet installed yesterday. That was a bitch! Took way too long...but alas it is installed (hmm..don't know if I've ever used "alas" before..good stuff). According to a bandwidth tester i've got on Firefox its much quicker than our DSL was.
We were paying waaayy to much for utilities! $350/month is way too much for the three of us to be paying. So we switched cable companies and got out phone plan modified. Now cable w/ the internet service is $60/month (we got a nice DVR box with that...so no more taping show..just DVR it up..oh yeah..and pause live television!). And instead of paying a $80 phone/dsl and a $65 cable bill we'll just be paying a $20 phone bill.
This decrease in money makes me happy. Oh and the fact that my room looks pretty damn good when its clean makes me very happy. Much roomier without crap all over the floor.

#2

Got tattoo number two today. What is it??.....nope..not gonna tell right now. It's a happy tattoo though.

Went to bed yesterday evening at 7-something. Was feeling like crap, bad headache. Don't know if its from playing ball for an extended period of time, or early at the rec center when I went up for a rebound of my missed shot (yes, it happens once and a while)and Ronnell forearmed my face, smashing my nose and making my eyes water for a while.
Woke up this morning at 8-something feeling great. Haven't slept that long in a while...probably won't again for a while. Had a nice list of things to do today and they're all done...except balancing SMSTA's checkbook, which will be taken care of in a little bit.

Bought frames the other day for my biking/inspiration posters....they look awesome framed! Two in my room and one in the living room. Good stuff!

A monday in January

Books reading now:
The Broker - John Grisham
A Hip-Hop Story - Heru Ptah (again)
The Last Season - Phil Jackson

Next movie to see:
Coach Carter (again)

Music:
Lovers and Friends - Lil' John, etc
Charlene - Anthony Hamilton
Coach Carter soundtrack

Was thinking about something earlier and actually made a note of it so I'd remember to put it up here. I think my view of the world is pretty distored because of how my life has been sheltered (in a good way) thus far. This isn't the somewhat "can't go see the movie cause its rated R" type sheltered, its a "my parents are not divorced and they've always been there for me" type sheltering. Divorce is something I hadn't really encountered until college. Its almost wierd to me now how I used to assume everyone's parents were still together. In fact, I still find myself doing it at times.
So God, thanks for the shelter you've given me thus far in life. I'll take my distorted view of the world and try and go out and do some good stuff.

Guess that about does it. I'm tired, and for some reason worn out mentally.
So until another day...

Coach Carter

1 word:
See it

Definately on my list of greatest movies ever.

Good day for Goodwill Store

Today is a good day for the Goodwill store in Columbia. They're getting a bunch of my stuff. Cleaning out the closet day, got more clothes than I need and plenty that don't even fit any more..and some that I wouldn't wear because they're so butt ugly.

Dropped by the MSTA office today...talked to Cindy for a little while and gave her a little Def Jam poetry. We'll see what she thinks.

And it snowed a little! Not enough..but a little is a start

Didn't get out to the Columbia Rec Center to play ball earlier so its about time to set up the bike and trainer in my room and throw on a movie.

Too good not to put up here

How To Argue With Females

Step 1. Abandon all logic. Girls don't use it, and you certainly shouldn't allow it to handicap you.
Step 2. If you believe strongly in something, do NOT give in to any aspect of it. Compromise is useless against girls, because they will rationalize that if they can get you to concede to one element, they can get you to quit on the whole fuckin' Periodic Table. (Nothing like a little chemistry humor, right?)

Step 3. Don't be afraid to take cheap shots. Ever argue with a girl about something and they randomly insult you with something that has no relevance to the argument? That's their way of trying to wear you down and push you off-topic. Fight fire with fire, I say. Tell her she has a fat ass, small boobs, an ugly face, disorienting facial hair, unwieldy hips, and is a genuinely awful person.

Step 4. Cite precedent. Girls have no concept of historical factors relating to the current situation. Most girls reading this just went over to dictionary.com to see what "precedent" meant.

Step 5. Interrupt her. Don't let her talk. Girls hate that like they hate other girls. It's hilarious, too. They get all frazzled.

Step 6. Don't take her seriously. Laugh at every point she deems serious in nature. Fart, if possible. Derail her emotional train.

Step 7. If the argument escalates, cut off all communication with her. If a girl can't find you, she can't continue arguing about bullshit. Change your phone number, relocate, and get a name change if you must.

Step 8. Don't be fooled by "Let's stop arguing please." That's their way of making you let your guard down, so they can swoop in after you're worn down. Instead, say something like "Yeah, all this being right is exhausting for me." Pisses them off. Just trust me.

Step 9. Compare her unfavorably with another girl. This is especially effective if the comparison is with a girl that they simply abhor. Tell her something like, "Lisa is so much more compassionate than you." Girls hate other girls, like a deer hates a shotgun. And how do you take down a deer? Exactly.

Step 10. Don't be intimidated by the water works. That's their ultimate contingency, knowing that guys can't deal with a crying girl. Stay strong, don't let yourself get emotional, just think of something funny. Replay scenes from "Office Space" in your head if you must.

Step 11. Bust out, "I don't feel like fighting. I've proven my point." Then stop. Leave the argument. It pisses them off because a guy's natural reaction is to resolve, whereas a girl's is to continue forever and ever until the end of time until they hear that they are right. If a guy decides that he is right and won't budge, their whole concept of male-female relations is shot to shit. Again, mind games.

Step 12. Ask her if she's on the rag. Self-explanatory.

Step 13. When all else fails, tell her she's just like her mother. It's an ace-in-the-hole and will emotionally cripple her to such a degree she may even forget her whole argument.

Remember, girls are the less intelligent of the genders. All throughout history men have out-thought, out-invented, and out-created women in every facet of existence. Isn't it about time we won an argument for once? Gentlemen, that time is now.

Funny how

something so dreary could actually be so beautiful with a little chill. I.e. this terriblly ugly weather in Columbia could be so beautiful if it was coming down as snow.

So what have i been up to? Stayed up last night until 8am this morning. What I did in that time? Wal-mart for a drill to put together a new little tv stand and shoe holder closet thing. Came back and made some hamburger helper at about 1am. Yep...nothing like the smell of hamburger helper in the middle of the night. Put all of it in the fridge (nope..didn't make it to eat it then..just to have for today and the next couple days) and put together the stand and shoe thing. Cleaned up my room a ton (finally!) and rearranged some stuff in my room. Got done with stuff about 6am and just kinda browsed the web and stuff when Nell walked into my room at 6am. He was heading to work at the hospital, but before had to say "you ever heard of sleep". Umm..guess not. Headed to bed at 8 and slept until about 2pm.

Today: threw a roast in the crockpot mom sent back with me the other day, added some potatoes and bbq sauce. Went to run some errands and came back at 6pm to a house with a super-wonderful bbq roast smell. I must say it was heavinly..can't wait to eat the rest!

Guess thats about it...decided to stop taking my lexapro. Why..cause I can. The last two days have been just fine without it.

1st of

Happy New Year..maybe it be a good one and blah blah blah. On second thought...screw it. Its another day. What you did yesterday still happened. What you're going to do tomorrow is still gonna make you feel dumb in a couple days. So happy another new day to you.

Otherwise just wanted to say hi. I'm at Scott's place, just got some Wings at Hooters in Independence. Not bad...and the wings were ok too.

I'm out like a fat man in dodgeball.