jefferson would be proud

ArchCE: I love getting a king sized coke and then coming home and bourbon sizing it

damn right.

oh friday nights at home.

ho ho ho and a bottle of rum

merry christmas, everybody!

i hope you enjoy whatever it is you choose to celebrate. apparently, hanukkah is over, which was news to me. i'm not really culturally insensitive, i promise. i know the words to the hanukkah song! "oj simpson... not a jew"

anyhow, whenever i think christmas, i can't help but think of chinese food. chinese food places are always open on christmas, presumably because the people that own and operate them don't, traditionally anyway, celebrate christmas.

and whenever i think chinese food, i think yuan ho. yup, it's the greatest chinese food restaurant ever. in fact, it's the only one i've ever heard of that you can actually get "blacklisted" from for not tipping well enough. they have the best crispy beef you've ever eaten. where is this magical place? well in charlottesville, of course. you can check out their website if you're interested, or just in case you're a grad and feel like reminiscing.

i've been talking drunken gibberish

today's "top 5" list is, actually, a "top 8." david gray is today's artist, and quite frankly, neither charlie nor i thought we could narrow him down to a top 5 and feel any sort of comfortable. so, we agreed that a top 8 would be (somewhat) sufficient. if you're any kind of david gray fan, you'll notice we had a hard time not including tons of songs off of white ladder. if you're not a david gray fan, you should take note and understand that this is probably one of the best albums of the last 20 years. clearly, you should buy it.

this was one of those situations, for me at least, where i have 10 or 15 songs that would fall under the category of making this list. so, you can imagine that, of the 8 that made this list, it's simply the tip of the iceberg in terms of the fantastic stuff david gray has to offer. with the success of white ladder, most of his "older" stuff has been re-released, and a whole lot of it is available on itunes and at music stores/best buy.

so, long story short, this was a hard list to make, white ladder is a ridiculously good album, and life in slow motion comes in a close second. check them out. then get sucked in.

oh, right... the lists...

charlie's top 8 david gray songs, in no particular order:

1. please forgive me
   
2. say hello, wave goodbye
   
3. nos da cariad
   
4. ain't no love
   
5. babylon
   
6. sail away
   
7. this year's love
   
8. be mine
   

my top 8 david gray songs, in no particular order:

1. babylon
2. this year's love
3. say hello, wave goodbye
4. disappearing world
5. falling free
6. freedom
7. lately
   
8. slow motion
   

yelloooow

alright, so on to the next top 5. today's is something everybody might be able to connect with a little bit easier. sadly, i know that not everyone out there has even heard of van morrison. please do yourself a favor and grab those 10 songs we mentioned. illegally download them, i don't care. because you're missing out. i do know, however, that everybody has heard of coldplay.

a great staple of 'doug music,' coldplay is simply fantastic. all of this stuff is readily available on itunes.

charlie's top 5 coldplay list, in no particular order:

1. what if
   
2. green eyes
   
3. warning sign
   
4. a message
   
5. shiver
   

my top 5 coldplay list, in no particular order:

1. in my place
2. trouble
3. kingdom come
4. what if
   
5. the scientist

damn, that was tough. there were tons of songs that could go up there. i won't mention which ones they were, because i'm sure you, the reader, will come up with your own top 5 and comment.

do do do

an interesting question was posed to me yesterday. it got me thinking and so i figure i might as well pose it to you, my internet reader:

will we ever outgrow aim?

as a kid, most of us outgrew walkie talkies, knocking on neighbor's doors asking if they wanted to come out an play, etc. in college, some of us even abandoned the phone. we have all abandoned the land-line phone in favor of cell phones, seeing them as an unnecessary $20/month cost.

but aim? i still use it. i still communicate with many of my best friends through it, even after college. in another sense, it's a great informal way to stay in touch with people that you don't feel the need to talk to all the time once you get into the real world. old roommates, fraternity/sorority brothers/sisters, high school friends and the like. i've even been known to virtual drink with people via aim from time to time. sad? haha maybe, but it's better than drinking alone.

a lot of people still communicate a lot of their emotions through their profiles. in college, it was like reading peoples minds without actually having to see them. you could tell when somebody was happy, mad, upset, in love, etc. i myself had a relationship or two, or three... start with "im flirting" if you will. you could tell if somebody was home, out, etc. they don't call it profile stalking for nothing.

will we outgrow it? do you see yourself as a 40-something sitting down and im'ing old friends? surely it will be supplanted by some new technology. but, if we haven't outgrown it in 10 years, how much longer do you think we will hold on?

that was a wonderful remark

when i'm driving around or going through my normal day, i always come up with great stuff to blog about. problem is, by the time i get home, i've completely forgotten.

i was thinking the other day, however, that since all i do is listen to music, that i would start coming up with top 5 lists of my favorite artists/genres.

so, in line with the name of the blog, the first top 5 list will be, of course, Van Morrison songs. i'm also bringing in charlie as a special consultant for many of these lists.

charlie's Van Morrison top 5, in no particular order:

1. rough god goes riding
2. moondance
3. brown-eyed girl
4. bright side of the road
5. wonderful remark

and without further delay, my Van Morrison top 5, also in no particular order:

1. rough god goes riding
2. tupelo honey
3. warm love
4. caravan (especially live)
   
5. fire in the belly

talk about a really difficult list to come up with. but, i think if i was going to a deserted island, and i only took those 5 van songs, i'd be satisfied. there are many more, however, which could go on the list.

not a Van Morrison fan? well, you've got 9 real good songs to start from. disagree with either of our lists? comment.

hello, blog

well now! it's been quite some time since i updated the blog.

it all started the weekend before thanksgiving, when i got ridiculously sick sunday night. from then on, it's been a steady flow of visitors and fun, different, kinds of events.

between brian and pete's visit, lauriol with andy's crew and alexis, the redskins/panthers game (which included a case of beer drank before noon...), the 15-page paper i've had to research/begin writing, the 2nd annual acc/big ten challenge-glory days event, and more swim meets to coach, it's been quite a busy few weeks. oh yah, don't forget about work.

and it doesn't get any easier - i've got a 4 day meet this weekend (thurs-sun), and then a 3 day meet next weekend (fri-sun). i guess i'll find out how good of a coach i really am. it's championship season, and these two meets are really important to the kids. and of course, if the kids swim well, it reflects well on their coach.

phew what else? i learned of somebody else that was enjoying the blog in a conversation i had earlier in the week, or maybe it was last week. either way, i wish you people would comment on something now and then...

i'll be better at updating from now on, i promise, andy.

i hate thanksgiving

and 1 more reason i hate turkey

click!

thanks to dcblogs.

the weather is here, wish you were beautiful

if this is global warming, i like it. actually, i love it. the last 2 weeks have been so damn nice, with the exception of today when it rained like we were in a typhoon, that i want it to continue all winter.

2 weeks of weather in the mid-60's? and last saturday i actually had to put my air conditioning on. in the middle of november? awesome. i seriously feel like i live in south carolina or something.

so thank you, george w. bush, because the effects of your horrible environmental policy will definitely make me happy years down the road. i mean, hey, i won't be alive in 100 years, anyway.

where students, tourists, and townspeople...

despite my best efforts to start eating slightly healthier this week... yes, i actually went to the grocery store and bought stuff my nutritionist says i should be eating (puffin cereal actually isn't as bad as i thought)... andy forced me to eat lunch at popeyes today.

actually, saying he forced me to eat there would be a stretch. i love popeyes. just not that crawfish crap that andy got. yuck... there's something about eating something you could pull out of the creek growing up that really grosses me out.

anyway, popeyes is probably the most diverse place i've ever been. seriously, black, white, asian, hispanic, indian people... everybody. there was somebody from just about every ethnic group there while we were. i guess people from everywhere really love popeyes. did anybody ever think that maybe we could solve all the world's problems with popeyes? think about it.

yes, Virginia!

counting down the minutes

less than 24 hours now before the "unveiling" of the john paul jones arena and the 2006-2007 version of UVa men's basketball.

since this season has been a complete wash so far... the hoos are in a rebuilding year, and who the hell knows what's going on with the redskins, i'm particularly excited about uva basketball.

throughout my undergraduate years, our basketball team was pretty much terrible. despite being ranked #4 in the country (ha!) first year, we didn't make the dance a single time. however, i really have a connection with the basketball team. the likes of which i don't have with the football team.

where does that come from? i'm not sure. but i think it has a lot to do with my mom being from north carolina, where, growing up, basketball was life. we were always really big into college basketball as a family growing up. so that's my best guess.

i'm so ready for basketball to start, and i hope that this year's zona game turns out to be a lot like fourth year, when we crushed them and the headline on espn.com read, "yes Virginia!" that was sweet.

sunday night. 7pm. go hoos!

maybe i like sexually explicit novels, punk

so, now that the election is (mostly) over... what did you think?

i voted for jim webb. even though he seems like somewhat of a donkey kong, i had to part with george allen on two issues. first, the war in iraq. let's face it, to put it nicely, iraq is a clusterf&%@. second, stem-cell research. allen simply won't support it. i mean, come on... just today it cured blindness in mice. the potential for this kind of research is incredible, and for people like me who have degenerate diseases (no, not alcoholism or gambling, but diabetes), this is quite a pressing issue.

i also voted no to the amendment suggesting that we define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. in my mind, this whole issue is symantics anyway. i've talked to many people who have different views on this... one of the most interesting? was somebody who said they supported civil unions for same-sex couples, but that calling it marriage was unacceptable. honestly, i really don't see the point? who gives a damn. most of the marriages in this country are way the hell too messed up anyway. marriage, civil union, what's the difference? but why amend the constitution? to me, it just seems like a bunch of religious right crap.

in terms of logic, it simply makes no sense. and i like my decisions made logically.

and what about this election? i love "horse-race" politics as some professor i had in college used to call it. what is more fun that seeing jim webb go from being down 3000 votes to ahead by 3000 votes in less than 30 minutes on tv? at midnight. i feel really bad for chris matthews... i think that guy has been awake for days.

and tucker carlson? seriously, that guy looks like he stepped out the front door of a UVA frat house.

oops

silly me! i've been boycotting my blog ever since i drunkenly accosted connor to link up my blog from his.

i've been sulking for days as i was certain that indeed, connor had forgotten to link me and as such had defaulted on his promise.

how did this make me feel? sad. very sad. i have always trusted connor, and the lack of linkage, in the blink of an eye, completely shattered it. i was really shattered and torn, and was really not sure how i would get out of bed in the morning. i drank bourbon. heavily.

then, while surfing the internet and cursing connor, i came across connor's blog, and alas, i had been linked. several days ago. i feel like an idiot. thanks connor. i'll still be drinking bourbon heavily, however. you can even have some if you want. and it was in clarendon. not the corner.

yeeeehaw!

i'll be at west virginia university all weekend for a swim meet. should be fun, hopefully the kids will swim fast.

hey, maybe if one if my kids goes a top-16 time, i'll burn a couch! it's normal practice at west virginia, anyway.

although, i am actually scared that couch burning might occur. did you see wvu get beat last night on national tv? to louisville? uh oh.

where's my ferrari?

so this will mark my 5th weekend in a row away from home. next weekend will be my 6th weekend away from home. and then i'm considering going down for the miami game, which would make 7. my life is tiring me out, and i realized today that i'm definitely having a quarter life crisis.

yup, a quarter life crisis. actually, since i'm diabetic, it's probably more like a 1/3 life crisis.

even still, it's time for a serious re-evaluation of what i'm (not) doing.

mexico, anybody?

sure brings new meaning to "barbershop quartet"

ok, so i seriously have tried to post a couple of times in the last week, but was unable to do so because apparently the blogger server was down. a lot.

oh well, back to normal now, i suppose.

your topic for today? or tomorrow? or whenever you read this... haircuts! but not just any haircut, a haircut from paradise cuts. yes, this is a real place in fairfax. and trust me, when i need my hair cut again, i'll be there. i actually have a friend whose husband tried the place out (upon hearing about it from his wife) - he asked the girl whether it was advantageous to cut hair in a bikini/sarong/hot pants/whatever they where in there... i mean, in my mind, i'm sure it's totally different than what it really is... kinda like a sorority house pillow fight, if you will. anyway, i digress. the stately young woman that cut his hair told him it was very easy because she could simply go home, slip off her bikini top, hop in the shower, and be done. no hair getting stuck to clothing, etc. interesting take. i wonder what my women's studies class would think about this whole idea?

sweet.

this might be the one time in my life that i wish my hair would grow faster.

read more about it in a wapo article here. another cool part about the article? the UVa shout-out, of course.

a weekend in new jersey

i went to new jersey over the weekend. no, i didn't choose too... well, not really - it was a little bit of that and a little bit of being forced to. i went to a conference for work. it was interesting. we ate at all the famous new jersey places such as mcdonalds, chili's, and bob evans. yes, i said bob evans, and yes, it is absolutely incredible. i should eat there more often.

anyway, the big news out of new jersey this weekend? no left turns! what the hell is that all about? i've never really spent time in new jersey other than when i've been to atlantic city, so i was quite shocked at this traffic regulation. i can only guess that it cuts down on traffic accidents... but talk about inconvenient.

it goes something like this:

person 1: "wow, we're in new jersey and look, there's our hotel ahead on the left."
person 2: "cool, i'm so glad we finally made it. new jersey traffic sucks."
person 1: "yah it does. phew. where's the turn?"
person 2: "right ahead i think, yah right there..."
person 1: "wait, what the fuck? there's a no left turn sign there!"
person 2: "what? whose stupid idea is that? i mean, we are in new jersey, but come on!"
person 1: "so now what do i do?"
person 2: "i guess you have to turn right up here and then circle through 2 residential blocks..."
person 1: "and then what?"
person 2: "pray that you come out in the right spot so you can turn left at the light"
person 1: "ugh."

that's pretty much how the whole weekend went. just change the word "hotel" to "bob evans" or "dunkin donuts"

the armpit of america

i will be in new jersey all weekend for the eastern states swimming coaches clinic. neato.

so, read connor's blog in the meantime. i told him i would link him up.

i'll be sure to try to get my picture taken with michael phelps.

seriously, some people

if you actually read these posts, you could probably infer that i actually hate most people. that would be accurate. i have a friend who we used to say didn't actually like anybody, he just hated some people less than others. i'm not quite that bad, but the general public annoys me most of the time... whether it be umbrellas (see yesterday), ipods (that's a topic for a whole different day), or what happened today...

andy and i went on our usual pilgramage to smoothie king. everything was going normal until some donkey kong walked in the door. andy and i were casually chatting and minding our own business, but it was very difficult to ignore how much of an idiot this guy was. first of all, it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon - if you're not like andy and i (i work construction... we start/finish early, andy manages and sets his own hours), a teacher, a real estate agent, a swim coach!, or a lawyer, what the hell are you doing at 4 o'clock in the afternoon not working? he wasn't dressed like any of the above, so i will just assume that this guy sucks.

the same lady is usually there working when we go in, so i assume that mr. self-important actually thought that he mattered to this lady. when she politely asked him what he would be having, he said, oh you remember what i want, right? she chuckled with a little bit of nervous laughter, and actually managed to remember probably half of what this guy wanted. who knows what it was, but, since she didn't remember it all, mr. important figured that she MUST know, because he is so important. so instead of just telling her, he kept prompting her with, "with? wiiiiiith? wiiiiiiiiith? you know what i like it with!" until finally his dumbass realized she just didn't know, and quite simply, didn't care. "extra honey," was his final command. seriously, this guy had like an extra-hot tall skim no-foam latte with extra whipped and room for cream kind of order going on.

so, as the smoothie was getting made, he made sure he hovered right over her, and even said, "don't forget to hook me up with that honey! yah, yah! there you go! right on!" except, not in a nice way, but in a, "i'm just making myself look like an ass" way.

as we were on our way out, i overheard him say to her, after she had made his smoothie, that he was hoping she could hook him up and give him an extra punch on his smoothie king frequent buyer card, since he forgot to get it punched the last time he was in, and since she served him, she definitely must remember him, right? right?

damn i wanted to punch that guy. so did andy. now that's saying something.

les parapluies d'idiots

i have a paper proposal due at 430 today for my grad class. i came to the library way early today and now i'm done and have 2 hours to kill. ugh. sooo...

a couple of examples that i've seen, just today, of how people are idiots...

i hate people that walk around with umbrellas. walking around on a college campus this morning in the rain, it seems like 90% of people carry an umbrella. unfortunately, that is an 89% greater chance of getting poked in the eye than on any non-rain day. Maybe it's sorority girls who are too caught up on their cell phones to notice, or maybe it's the 3 people trying to squeeze under one umbrella, but damn it people, watch where you're going.

you might not have this problem if you are, say, 5'4" or 6'2", but as an average-height american male, 5'9" seems to be perfect poking height for every umbrella. i feel like, with my hoodie pulled up, ducking and dodging umbrellas, i must look like some kind of terrorist freak.

another example... like i said, i'm in the library. not a public library open to any old person, but a university library. today is my first day in the mason library, and i managed to find a seat, connect wirelessly to the internet, get a student id made so that i could check out books, locate every book i needed (it's no alderman, trust me...), and add money to my newly minted mason id so that i could print off everything i had worked up, and actually figure out how to print it out. that's pretty productive, i think.

however, as i was standing printing out my proposal, a young lady, standing at the computer terminal next to me, wanted to know if i could help her out real quick. "certainly," i said. i never turn down a good looking blonde. her question? "so, how do i find one of these books?" "with the call number," i replied. what came next? yup, you guessed it. this girl made it all the way to college and had no idea what a call number was. sad. further proves my point about george mason.

my new roommate

good stories sure to follow.

weekend of broken hearts

well, if you remember the rules i set forth several weeks ago in terms of having a good weekend, this weekend was, well, disappointing.

the skins dropped a 14-3 lead to the then-winless titans. ugly.

the hoos dropped a 20-0 lead to the hated couch-burning maryland terrapins. very ugly.

at least vpisu lost big time on thursday night. on national tv. to a national audience. to boston college. lost. badly. ugly, in a good way.

as somebody said to me tonight, it was definitely a weekend of broken hearts.

i also watched almost heaven tonight on hbo. while being incredibly predictable, it did have highlights... like reese witherspoon. and that guy from napoleon dynamite. but come on, who gardens in a cashmere sweater? the movie broke my heart because reese is really hot. and i have no shot. ever.

my obsession, no wait, addiction to text messaging has been taken to the limit the last couple of months. this morning, i finally decided to fight back. i know, i know, sending and receiving almost 900 text messages over your limit is somewhat incredible, but hey... i don't speak directly with anybody anymore. i'm hip. or maybe european? aren't those two things independent of each other? anyway, i got charged an extra $91.38 for texting this month on my (already high) cell phone bill. $91.38? that's like a pack of cigarettes or a mocha frappucino everyday... that's an expensive addiction.

so, i called verizon this morning and, when asked what i was calling for, i told the kind lady that i figured that upgrading to the next highest text messaging package (i was already at 500 texts/month) was probably much cheaper than the $91.38 i would be paying. indeed, i was right. an extra $5/month was all it would take to cover my dirty habit. i told her that was fantastic and to go ahead and sign me up.

then, i built up the courage and asked if she could apply that discount to this month's bill. i kindly pleaded that a large corporation like verizon wouldn't even notice the additional $72.40 on their bottom line, and that i had been a loyal customer for many (5+) years. after haggling for a few minutes... actually, no, she said as a "courtesy" she would be more than happy to do that for me. i didn't have to plead. but trust me, i had it ready. i wonder how many "courtesies" you get?

so boom, it was done. i made $72.40 today. on a sunday. that's pretty good - and i guess the only person's heart that broke was ivan seidenberg. he'll get over it. after all, it's just money, and certainly not as important as a football loss.

perils of being a swim coach...

coaching swimming is incredible. i love it. i honestly can't believe that i get paid to do it. however, there is one downfall... swim meets in the fall. why? well, because they force me to miss football. not just uva games on saturdays, but skins games on sundays as well.

i know, maybe it's just a small price to pay for doing something i truly enjoy, but it definitely disappoints me every time i look at the meet schedule and see that i'll be missing another game or two.

the bright side of this? well, fortunately, i didn't get to watch the redskins game last week (the terrible, terrible loss to the giants) and i also didn't get to watch (...or listen to) the uva/maryland debacle. so, i guess all in all, i'm able to avoid the frustration and disappointment of actually sitting through the miserableness that are my football teams.

on a lighter note, i hope i see some kid wearing this costume on halloween. hilarious.

thank you, reddit.

my apologies

damn this blog has been boring for about the last week. sorry.

between moving and swim meets and school and work, i've been crazy. but i've said that already.

anyway, here's a link i thought was interesting. it's in relation to the whole mark foley fiasco. a lot of interesting psychological talk.

last week, whilst still living at home, i asked my parental unit (a republican elected official) when he was planning to jump ship in the wake of all the scandalous republican behavior and get on the same team as former-republican turned dem jim webb. he looked up from his morning paper and seemed slightly annoyed. his response? a deadpan, "ha. nope." sipped his coffee. back to the paper. end of discussion. i'll just assume he was deep in thought about bringing rail to dulles.

get ready for the weekend! i got an hdtv, so i'm ready!

thanks to reddit for the link

we all think it...

but i don't think i could have put it any better myself:

anonymous IM buddy (10:02:44 PM): so I weigh my options as to who I'm more likely to sleep with, obviously

so, guy or girl? what do you think?

christmas in october

recently, i moved to reston. i know, i know, reston isn't the bright lights or big fun of the city, but, it's all i can afford.

so speaking of big cities, the last time i saw 90% of the stuff that i own, it was all in the big city of lincoln, nebraska. well, that didn't go so well, and last september, i picked up and headed back to town.

then the problem became this: how the hell do you get an apartments worth of stuff back to virginia? well, i hired movers. professional ones.

this can only be good, right? well, yes and no. yes because of course, they went to the fine state of ne and packed all of my stuff up. i didn't have to do it. no because, well, they wrapped everything, and i do mean everything, in paper. not a little paper, but a lot. they wrapped single cds in paper, every spoon in paper, you name it, it was individually wrapped in paper.

this made moving quite difficult. difficult because, well, everything had to be unwrapped... at first i thought it would be annoying, and despite the mountains of paper, it was actually fun. it truly was christmas in october as i unwrapped all of the things that i hadn't seen for more than a year (it had all sat in storage...).

what did i find? plenty of cool stuff that i'd forgotten about... the highlight of the whole move? a brand new, unopened bottle of jefferson's reserve. i also found plenty of things that didn't make me quite as happy... pictures i forgot about, things that broke, etc.

in the end, though, it definitely feels good to get my stuff back.

article 20? hell yeah

as a student who was greek, we had to sit through many lectures and speakers about topics ranging from alcohol abuse to rape. it was an attempt to educate members of fraternities and sororities about the dangers that exist in a collegiate alcohol induced haze type of environment. and the punishment for not sitting through them? well, social probation, of course. you better believe everybody was there.

oftentimes, these speakers were interesting and informative. and sometimes, they were just downright uncomfortable.

one of the speakers we had actually gave out the forms you'll see in this video. we all got a good laugh out of them as they were passed around and so it brought back old memories when i saw this link this morning. check it out, it's hilarious. and the girl is pretty hot.

ahhh college.

thanks to reddit for the link

$75 parking ticket?

i take a night class at george mason during the week. i'm very slowly working towards my masters degree.

parking permits, for the semester, are $100. that's seriously a lot of money to park for one day a week. so what have i been doing? attempting to park in the permit lot without a permit, of course. sure, i could park in the parking garage, but the traffic getting out of there after class is absolutely miserable. i have to be in tysons corner for work at 730, and class gets out at 710. so, if i park in the farthest farthest away permit lot (trust me, it's far), i can run out to my car, beat all the traffic and be at the pool somewhat on-time.

well, last week i got a parking ticket. not surprisingly, but after 3 weeks of getting away with it, i figured i'd be good to go.

it was $75. if i remember correctly, our parking tickets at UVA went something like this... your first violation? warning ticket. yup, you got one per calendar year. after that, a ticket would cost you (depending on the severity...) something like $15 or $20. and they were $50 for repeat offenders. to get a $75 ticket you pretty much had to be parked in casteen's driveway...

i appealed the ticket. the grounds? i'm too poor to buy a permit. i mean seriously, all they had to do was look at my car (the acura!) and see that i clearly couldn't afford a parking permit. what did i say? i said that i work construction to be able to afford to go to class and buy books (true). i also said that i thought $100 was outrageous just to park one day a week (also true).

i'll let you know whether or not i get the ticket thrown out. i figured it was a little ridiculous to say that i was too poor to buy one, but it was true, so i figured why the hell not try...

busy busy

sorry i haven't posted in a couple of days, but i've been busy busy. i have lots of stuff to write about, i'll try to put something up tonight. i've got lots going on (ie. moving, interviewing, and actually working, swim meets, etc.)

so! sorry you can't be distracted today, but i'll try harder. i promise.

if you really need something to occupy you, visit dcblogs and read about lots of other peoples adventures.

perfect weekend?

well, if i defined my perfect weekend, it would pretty much have gone just like this. despite having to work most of the day on saturday (...and getting up at 5:04am), the weekend still went perfectly.

what would you define as the perfect weekend, you ask? there are 3 core elements:

1. a Redskins win. this trumps the other two things listed below, and as long as this occurs, the weekend is at least salvageable
2. a Virginia win. this cannot, in and of itself, quite overshadow the misery associated with a redskins loss. it is, however, an essential ingredient to the perfect weekend
3. and of course, a virginia polytechnic institute and state university loss. again, like the virginia win, it cannot overshadow either of the above by itself

a lot of people might ask how a victory by The University is not on the same level as a victory by the Redskins. let me clarify: the Redskins, i was born into. i know no other way. the Hoos? well, as my alma mater, they come in a very close second. but my dad didn't go to college, my mom went to east carolina, and my step-dad is a hokie. i wasn't born into it. eighteen years is a long time.

so, was it the the perfect weekend? let's review -

1. true. a Redskins victory. 36-30 in overtime! i mean come on, our offense was beast
2. true. a Virginia victory. despite the fact that we played duke, a 36 point shutout is always welcomed
3. true. a VPISU loss. a thorough 38-27 pummeling of the hokies by the ramblin' wreck. don't worry, it wasn't as close as the score indicates

overall? i would say that in combination with a quality saturday night, this weekend definitely gets an A. perfect? i guess not... there's always room for improvement. but remember, i set the bar high.

get your weekend started right

dcblogs linked to a post at not yet a wino that, in line with chuckles and i's discussion last night, seems pretty relevant. click and read the comments on the not yet a wino blog. and then think about it.

sorry, i know it won't really get your weekend started right, and that it is actually really depressing. but it's timely. for sure.

the picture is unrelated, kinda. i just thought it was cool.

it's that time of year...

and for me, it's quite possibly the worst time of year.

i have a fear of crickets. yup. they really creep me out. it's not quite, "scream like a little girl" scared of them, but i will definitely jump and run in the other direction when they start hopping all up on me.

so, it's that time of year when crickets somehow seem to multiply in the basement. in our basement, however, i'm not just talking about your average run of the mill black, or field, cricket. those kind of crickets creep me out enough. i'm talking about those gold colored camel crickets or whatever the hell those things are. they jump all over the place with reckless abandon... and it seems like they're always jumping right at me.

they creep me out so much i can't even put a picture of them up here.

i won't kill them, because i think that's mean. so, basically, they jump around and terrorize me all winter. i can't wait til spring.

another interesting story, i was talking to a friend of mine today who served in afghanistan while he was in the army. the subject of pests came up, and he mentioned the camel spider. i won't put a picture of one of these things up either, because trust me, they're nasty. but go to the web site and check them out.

he said they will run out from under rocks/bushes during the day and run at you. apparently sunlight hurts them, and so they chase after you to stay in your shadow. can you say really creepy? and no, you can't machine gun them to death, apparently. unless you don't care about an honorable discharge.

ok, i'm getting weirded out just thinking about all this.

more proof of the awesomeness of my blog (another im):

A********: dude, i'm in class right now and your blog is a great distraction...thanks:-)

i see a theme coming

keeping with the "list" theme from yesterday, check this out.

thanks to reddit

and also, clearly my blog is awesome. an im i got last night, after i went to bed at 10 o'clock (see above link)...

C*****: i just read some of you blog
C*****: when i first saw that you had one, i was like, oh man this can't be good
C*****: b/c let's be honest, most people who have blogs suck, and i'm being serious. they usually write about how depressed they are and people they hate or sexual things that you really don't want to read about
C*****: yours, however, is pretty interesting/entertaining/not depressing. so i give you props for that





what else is awesome? the busch beer special edition hunting pack!

chillin out, maxin, relaxing all cool

i take no credit for this post.

i originally saw this list as a group on facebook titled something like "You grew up in the 90's if..."

the list is fantastic, and it made me a little nostalgic. read on, because it's definitely true.

i take no responsibility for spelling, grammar, etc. errors, as it's just simply copy and pasted!

You're a 90's kid if:

You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE!"

You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air"

You remember when Kurt Cobain, Tu Pac, River Phoenix, and Selena died.

You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom" and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie from "Full House"

You remember when it was actually worth getting up early
on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

You remember reading "Goosebumps"

You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"

You have pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.

You danced to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, Females: had a new motto, Males: got a whole lot gay-er. (so tell me what you want, what you really really want.)

You remember the craze, then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.

You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? was both a game and a TV game show.

Captain Planet.

You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together.

When playing power rangers with friends you fought over who got to be who............and still all ended up being Tommy.

You remember when super nintendo's became popular.

You remember watching home alone 1, 2 , and 3........and tried to pull the pranks on "intruders"

"I've fallen and I can't get up"

You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates

Two words... Trapper Keeper.

You never got injured on a Slip 'n' Slide

You wore socks over leggings scrunched down

You remember boom boxes vs. cd players

You remember New Kids on The Block when they were cool

You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"

You played and/or collected "Pogs"

You had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere

You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles

NANCY DREW AND THE HARDY BOYS WERE THE BEST MYSTERY BOOKS

Yikes pencils and erasers were the stuff!

All your school supplies were "Lisa Frank" brand.(pencils.notebooks.b

inders.etc.)

You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.

You used to wear those stick on earings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.

You remember a time before the WB.

You've gotten creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

You know the Macarena by heart.

"Talk to the hand" ... enough said

You thought Brain woud finally take over the world

You always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"

You remember when everyone went slinky crazy.

You remember when razor scooters were cool.

When we were younger:

Before the MySpace frenzy...

Before the Internet & text messaging...

Before Sidekicks & iPods...

Before MIKE JONES...

Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX...

...Back when you put off the 5 hours of homework you had every night.

When light up sneakers were cool.

When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.

When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.

When we recorded stuff on VCRs & paid $3.50 for a movie.

When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off our walkmans.

When 2Pac and Biggie where alive.

When the Chicago Bulls were the best team ever.

Way back.

Tag.

Get Over Here!!!! means something to you.

Hide-n-Go Seek at dusk.

Red Light, Green Light.

Heads Up 7 Up.

Playing Kickball & Dodgeball until your porch light came on.

Hopskotch.

Slip-n-Slides.

Tree Houses.

Hula Hoops.

HELLO....HOT WHEELS!!!!!

"POWER OF LOVE" BY CELINE DION..ONLY COUPLES COULD SKATE TO THIS.

The annoying Giga Pets & Furbies.

Running through the sprinklers.

That "Little Mermaid"

Crying when Mufasa died in the Lion King.

Happy Meals where you chose a Barbie or a Hot Wheels car.

Getting the privelage to sit in the front seat of the car.

Drinking Sqeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It"

CAPRI SUN

Watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in your PJ's still wrapped up in your TMNT, Power Rangers, Barbie, Fairy Princess comforter.

The original Power Rangers

Or what about:

Hey Arnold.

Rugrats.

The Secret World of Alex Mac.

Ren & Stimpy.

Double Dare.

Rocco's Modern Life.

AAAHH!! REAL MONSTERS.

Wild & Crazy Kids.

Clarissa Explains it All.

CAMP NOWHERE

Salute Your Shorts(CAMP ANAWANA)

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The original cast members of All That.

Kenan & Kel.

"CITY GUYS"...ROLLW/ THE CITY GUYS

Doug.

Magic School Bus.

Nick Arcade.

Flash Forward.

The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

Legends of the Hidden Temple

Hey Dude.

Dinosaurs.

Alladin.

Mummies Alive

Pinky and the Brain

Sailor Moon.

Blossom.

Hangin with Mr. Cooper.

Martin

Beavis & Butt-Head

Wishbone.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

MR RODGERS!!!!

Who could forget Snick? & Nick @ Nite with Bewitched, I Dream of Jenie, The Facts of Life & I Love Lucy.

Where everyone wanted to be in love after watching The Wonder Years.

or Nick Jr. with Face

Gulah Gulah Island

Little Bear

Busy Town

Under the Umbrella Tree

PEE-WEE!!!

The Big Comfy Couch

Kool-Aid was the drink of choice.

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.

Class field trips.

When Christmas was the most exciting time of year.

When $5 seemed like a million, & another dollar a miracle.

When you begged to go to McDonalds for dinner everyday.

When Toys R Us overuled the mall.

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'.

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming 'do over!'

'Race issue' ment arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was banker in 'Monopoly.'

It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends.

Being old referred to anyone over 20.

A chance to skate as a couple at the local roller rink was like winning the lottery.

Scrapes & bruises were kissed & made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enought to ride the 'big people' rides at the fair.

When playing Nintendo was the hardest thing ever.

When Ninja Turtles ruled the world.

Another Baby Sitter Club and Little Sister (Karen) book came out and you put your name on hold for it at the library.

When Aladdin was new, before the trilogy was complete.

Before we realized all this would eventually disappear

Who would have thought you'd miss the 90's so much!!!!!

do you have a minute?

ok, so a friend of mine passed along the link to the rolling stone article about scientology. the article was published in february 2006, but somehow i missed it.

this is definitely worth a read. i enjoyed it because i find (although i'm not religious... at all) the discussion of religion to be really interesting. i like finding out about the bullshit that other people buy in to.

i think scientology, especially with tom cruise going off his rocker lately, is talked about a lot. i knew very little about it, and i think most people are in the same boat as me. this article is definitely enlightening. so, if you're bored at work and "have a minute," check it out.

all i can think about is that sci-fi class i took in college with crazy professor roy wagner - i would love to hear what he has to say about this... mixed in there somewhere with his personal feelings about the existence of aliens, unicorns, and mermaids. thanks, hickman.

also, totally unrelated... but this bird if fucking awesome. i want one. thanks to reddit.

football school? basketball school?

the beauty of being a uva graduate and sports fan is the ability to say to one's self that uva is a football, i mean basketball, no, football school.

after last night's 24-7 pummeling on national tv by georgia tech, i am very proud to say that we are officially now a basketball school.

who remembers the 2001-2002 football season, my first one as a student, when we barely beat richmond (yes, richmond, that's 1aa) by some ridiculous score of 16-13 or 13-10 or something barely squeaking by. i remember turning to my hallmates and we all agreed, "well, we're a basketball school!" although we might have missed the dance that year (and every year since) i'll remind everyone that we were ranked 4th in the country in both polls several weeks into the basketball season.

we also remember, of course, those years when pete's program went sour. but hey, i would just look to my friends and we would say, "well, we're a football school!" although we never went to a BCS bowl or won an ACC championship, i'll remind everybody that we did go to 4 straight bowl games and were ranked 6th in the country.

i mean seriously, who needs to have one dominant team (duke bb, carolina bb, fsu fb, miami fb)? you'd be bored the other half of the year...

this is the life of a uva fan - and i must admit it's quite a luxury. it's not quite the luxury of having both at the same time, but hey, when could duke or carolina ever say they were a football school? when could virginia tech or florida state ever say they were a basketball school? i hope that dave leitao and sean singletary know that, this season, they are carrying on their shoulders our proud football, wait i mean basketball, tradition.

and i hope, this time, they don't let us down. uva will be dancing this year. you heard it here first.

lame

ok, so i read this today in the washington post.

only 60 credits/8 semesters = 7.5 credits per semester.

i would have never even made it out alive. it's sad people don't use college for what it really is: the only 4 years in your life when you have zero responsibility and you can drink as much as you want.

a quote from the article, 'And the most important thing he learned in college, he said, "is to value the people you spend time with, your friends."' ... how did you do that? you only spent a year and you took 60 credits. did you have any free time?

i'm tempted to be an asshole and say that this guy just really sucks... but i suppose he just doesn't get it. i might not have graduated in 1 year and be an incredible genius, but i sure as hell have the best friends anybody could have asked for - and those, i did not get by sitting in a classroom taking 25 credits.

arrrrr

i found out that today is international talk like a pirate day. so, i thought to myself... how can i honor international talk like a pirate day? i came up with two things. first, 2 of my favorite pirate jokes:

1. what's a pirate's favorite kind of socks? arrrrgyle
2. a pirate was walking across a field when he came across a boy walking his dog. as the pirate walked by, the boy noticed the pirate had a pirate-ship wheel in his pants. the kid exclaimed, "hey! pirate! you've got a wheel in your pants!" the pirate replied, "arrr! it's drivin me nuts!"

the other way to honor international talk like a pirate day? well, of course, with plenty of photos of everybodies favorite pirate...







here is keira actually being piratey.














here is keira just being really hot















more being really hot.


















and finally, here is keira at the pirates 1 premier. still hot.














enjoy talk like a pirate day!

damn those shopping cart thieves...

sign seen today at the smoothie king shopping center:

Attention Shoppers!

Our shopping carts will lock if taken past the parking lot boundary. The boundary is marked by a series of special yellow lines.

has it really come to this? i mean really. i don't see people here walking around with shopping carts. do you need one at home?

how about those special yellow lines, you ask? well andy and i had to drive around for a few minutes to actually find one. we're pretty sure it's an idle threat... but we intend to see whether they are telling the truth or not.

thoughts from the weekend

so, after a nice weekend in charlottesville (minus the football team, of course) - here are a couple of thoughts from the weekend:

• it sucks that you now have to pay $5 to get a program at a football game. i mean seriously, there isn't even that much to read... and nobody wants to pay to look at pictures of al groh and dave leitao holding bottles of pepsi (at least it's not sweaty pete gillen, i guess)
• i forgot how much i hate football games when it's still 100 degrees outside. i seriously thought i was going to die a couple times yesterday when the clouds weren't out
• cavman was a huge disappointment... the w. mich horse wasn't terrorizing people or destroying university property, etc. and cavman kicked his ass way too easily. how about a cav man's horse vs. the w. mich horse battle? seriously it was lacking creativity. but in reality, the horse should've pummeled cav man
  
• jason snelling was a beast. i think playing sewell was a bright idea from al groh. hopefully we can prepare for the future cause we're sure as hell not going to win this season
• i was way too sober during the football game. PS* was not. CC* was not. those 2 stumbling together = watch your drink. nothing sexier than bourbon and pepsi all over your face
  
• being old means that you have to nap before you can go out again. and when you go out again, it's not strong
• the return of "it smells like dude in here, but it's warm."
• Me: "um, PS*, i think you have jizz on your chin." PS*: "well, that would be impossible because i just washed my face." right.
  
• i got a 1st years number. no o-hill though.
• alumni dominate undergrads at flip cup. we also dominate at getting drinks from the bar.
  
• chris is a saint
• telling your love interest that you make a super batch of chocolate chip cookies and challenging her to a bake off is... yes, just making sure... definitely gay.
• the ABC store in madison smells like subway
• the bathroom at the subway in madison is for customers only. or those who sit at the tables by themselves for 10 minutes
• the bathrooms at the food lion in madison are for anybody. it's also the most redneck place i've ever been in. too bad we didn't go to the dollar general. next time.
  
• drive-thru starbucks are much quicker than going-in starbucks. at least in redneck towns.
• earl makes damn good mashed potatoes and gravy
• opal, ruckersville, new baltimore, kellysford, summerduck (or sumerduck, depending on whether you're going north or south on 29), warrenton, gainesville, madison, culpeper - seriously people, learn your rt. 29 geography!
• gas is much cheaper in gainesville than anywhere on planet earth. see picture.
• therefore, andy is ripping us all off. i paid 2.76 at your station on wednesday, buddy...

* initials used to protect the guilty

the only socially conscious post i will ever make

wow, somebody actually requested i put something up here today since they were bored at work. i'll take it as a sign that they were simply bored at work and not that they are totally enamored with my blogging abilities.

i am a (part-time) graduate student at george mason. i'm working on my MA in applied history. i just started this semester, and there was only 1 class that actually fit my schedule. what class is that, you ask? a women's studies class that the history department decided to crosslist. topic? women and work in america. excellent. well, i thought to myself as i signed up... at least there won't be a whole hell of a lot to learn or talk about. should be easy. kidding - maybe.

but, enough girl-hating, and let me get to the point. we read a book last week by Liza Featherstone, Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart. The whole book: shocking, simply shocking.

want facts? click here. these are all real facts. these all appeared in the book. it's incredible. just stuff off the top of my head that bugs me about wal-mart...

• the difference in pay between top level executive men and women doing the same job? 33%
  
• wal-mart's business model is so dirty that they pay their employees so little that they have to apply for federal aid (food stamps, etc) but the trick to that? is that by getting paid so little, they can only afford to shop in one place. where? you guessed it
• they are so anti-union that they literally have an anti-union SWAT team that, at receiving word that discussion of unionizing(even the mention of it by one employee) has taken place, they get on a the anti-union SWAT jet in arkansas and fly to the store

ok i have to go to charlottesville now. maybe i'll post some links about the class action lawsuit up at a later date.

go hoos!

oh yes, poking still exists

after eating lunch with andy today, just a couple of thoughts. actually, it's 3 reasons why i am better than andy.

1. i can type text messages faster with t9 than he can on his $600 phone/computer thing
2. i have written, and actually know, what a cover letter is. haha e-school.
3. despite andy's claims, facebook poking has yet to actually be eliminated. it's not as prevalent as it used to be, however. i think we should bring it back.

also, since i'm obsessed with smoothie king, and if you are too, then this is something that you need to know. when i look up at the menu and it tells me that "turbinado" is going to be in my smoothie, i assume it must be something incredibly healthy. no, that's not true. what is it exactly? click here to find out. bullshit, i want my $6 back.

"yeah, it's kinda broken"

i was interested to find this morning, as i was surfing around the internet, somebody linking to washingtonpost.reddit.com. connor maybe? anyway, as an avid reader of the washington post, i thought it was something i should probably check out.

so, i talked to alexis, who informed me that while they were working on getting it set up right, that it still wasn't quite where they wanted it to be. actually, he really said, "yeah, it's kinda broken."

regardless, it's still, and in the future i imagine it will be, a very cool way to read the post. quite frankly, i don't usually find most of the articles posted on the homepage of the wp.com to be of great interest to me. and so i think that this would be a cool step in the right direction.

if you're unfamiliar with the reddit concept, go here and check out an article written last year.

anyway, so yah, check it out and start promoting or demoting your favorite post articles. i already spent about 20 minutes demoting everything about maryland :)

what's in a name?

ok, so i figured that seeing as this is my first official entry, i would do everyone the favor of explaining the name of the blog.

if you know me, then clearly you know that music, at least listening to it, is a huge part of my life. in the last several years, i have spent way too much money on cd's, which, for some reason, after abandoning purchasing them for several years (i think it had a lot to do with napster), i've found that i really prefer actually owning the cd and the jewel case. i can't really explain it, but i digress -

so, i'm a huge van morrison fan. i own a lot (almost 30, now) van cd's. i even paid $250, face value, this summer for floor seats to see him play. anyway, although i don't have a favorite van morrison song, or any favorite song for that matter, i really love the message in van's song, "cleaning windows." so, read the lyrics below, and you'll know that i really relate to them.

and, once again, if you know me, i don't think you would argue.

"What's my line?
I'm happy cleaning windows
Take my time
I'll see you when my love grows
Baby don't let it slide
I'm a working man in my prime
Cleaning windows (number a hundred and thirty-six)"

the link is from the van morrison website which is definitely worth checking out.