Talk about a meh movie. It wasn't bad by any means, but it most definitely wasn't good. This is one of those movies that is extremely hard to talk about without mentioning spoilers (which, by the way, have been mentioned so much in this kind of context that any surprise is completely eradicated) so I won't say much.
Basically two things came to mind. One, I really miss having a dog. Two, Will Smith is still a mediocre at best actor. This movie was kind of doomed from the start I guess. I cannot think of a good action actor that could carry a plot completely on his own how this part asks. John Travolta would be the best bet. At least he pulls off the crazy-guy part well.
The-Pixar-movie-about-the-rat-chef (sorry, too lazy to figure out the spelling of the title right now) that I watched this morning, now THAT was quality film-making. I hate movies that make me feel like crap when I'm "walking out of the theatre" so to say (even though I haven't gone to a theatre on my own accord since, like, Talledega Nights). I Am Legend skated this fine line a little to close for my liking. Rat-chef, on the other hand, never got within two area codes of it.
Rat-chef FTW.
Fun Fact: google-imaging "rat chef" brings up almost exlusively images from said movie
Sit down and think for a second. Think about everything you have ever learned. All the way from birth to now, at this exact moment, sitting in front of your computer. I'm going to make a safe bet that if anyone reading my blog really really thought about it, the amount of stuff would be staggering. Shit, think of how much stuff you have probably forgotten even. Now of all that stuff, how much of these morsels of wisdom were discovered in your lifetime. I know for me that accounts for easily less than 5%.
In that little thought occured my "mini-Jolt" as I have come to call them. That is my term for those little thoughts (that for some reason I'm having a lot of lately) that make you go wow, we really are specks in time. We live 60, 70, 80 years for the fortunate ones. 100 is a miracle. There could even be a strong argument made that the first 19 years of my life (25% of it if I'm fortunate) have essentially been lived for me by the institutions that be. Not that I'm complaining, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to read or write on my own. And oh the things I have already learned (and forgotten). What I'm trying to get to here is, holy crap the train has been moving to that big brick wall for 19 years and I haven't ever given it a serious thought. Scary stuff.
Or exciting stuff. I was browsing the good-ole Sundance on Demand tonight and came across a great philosophy of the massively interesting broski Deepak Chopra," I start my day by saying to myself 'I hope today is even more uncertain than yesterday.'" Hear hear.
I have been in the state of mind that for the next month-ish I can in theory do whatever the hell I want. So far that has consisted of sleeping until 12, saving virtual worlds and winning virtual national championships, and surfing the 'tube. Pretty fun but rapidly losing excitement. That WILL change from here on out. Everyday I'm going to do something I didn't plan on doing waking up that morning (which, by the way, will be much, much earlier than 12). In the short term, that sounds like a great goal.
Long term though (since that is essentially what this post is about) what will this all mean? My best guess right now is that I will have beaten the system. Being a member of the rebellion at heart (had to get a Star Wars reference on meetnewschool eventually) beating systems is what I live for. I want to live more of a life than what my little speck was meant to live. I wonder if Mother Theresa, or Robin Williams, or even Hitler ever had this same thought. I wonder if Patches ever had this thought.
Early New Year Resolutions(cause its 365 days, why not have more than one friggin goal?)
Ah yes, nothing like HD goodness in life size form. And don't get me wrong, I love seeing every dimple on Stuart Scott's head and the cheeto residue on Steven A. Smith's fingers, but Sportscenter is just an hour long. And when you watch it from 11 to 4, it gets a little monotonous.
Instead, I now see bears twice as big as me, cockroaches hiss, and (right now) watch a wolverine chow down on what looks to be a deer carcass (PETA eat your heart out) all thanks to Discovery HD Theater. You don't wanna mess with one of these suckers.
This is starting to become a late-night ritual for me. Well, that or some super mario world (yes, on super nintendo) It almost makes me want to get off my butt, turn off the excellent programming, and actually do something radical like go outside or something. Creepy.
Theory: Quality TV should make you want to do something other than watching TV.
Food network is also great at this. I hate the Food network. It makes everything I eat seem stale and overdone. I try to avoid it but someone will inevitably flip to it and here I am, making a mental grocery list that only Mr. Jungle could possibly fill (and he may even have to make a few calls). //Small rant.
Then again, Lifetime and Hallmark channels also make me want to stop watching TV and do something else, so maybe this needs a little revision....
Semesters rock. Exams are over and now for a month I have the freedom to do whatever I want. I haven't quite grasped what that means yet, but I know it will involve a lot of sleeping and late-night Family Guy (i.e. right now). Oh... and finding sweet pictures as such:
So I leave you, my loyal reader, with these little nuggets:
Song Meanings - A music lyrics site with a little twist. There is a discussion after each set of lyrics for people to submit their theories or quotes from the artists about what each song "means." Sure, it can get a little youTube-y at times (THIS SONG SUCKS MORE THAN UR MOMZZ!!!!ONE!!) but its a great idea.
Digg - It ain't what it used to be, but still a nice collection of the best out there on the interwebz. The addition of a photo/video catagory has made the glory of what the site once was hard to see, but there is still some fun stuff occasionally. Which reminds me: The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses - And it doesn't even mention the Pulp Fiction one (Ezekiel 25:17)
How it feels to get shot - Hopefully the closest I'll ever have to be to feeling this. (I have a strange feeling I've mentioned this one before?)
New GTA IV trailer, O.EMM.GEE.
This is from Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat. Seriously, visually speaking, games in the newest generation have finally torn the "virtual" label off when it comes to virtual reality.
Eminem freestyle with (the now deceased) Proof from back in the day. Sick.
Play Five Degrees to Jesus - Just a fun little wikipedia game I discovered through interwebz boredom. Basically, click on the random article button on the left of the wikipedia main page, then you have to get to the Jesus Christ page in five steps or less (the page you start at being zero, so the first link you click is "1"). Good stuff.
Situation: I just finished a solid 10-hour calculus studying binge. It's 3AM, I wish I could sleep but dreaming about integrals and sums to infinity sucks big ones, so I turn to addictinggames for some lighthearted fun.
I fail miserably.
If you haven't played any tower defense type games then consider yourself lucky. Avoid them like the plauge. They redefine addictive. On this night I speak of I decide to play a little Shock Defense. Nothing special really stands out about this version of tower D. Some you completely create a path, while others are clearly geared towards a specific audience. Anyways, instead of being able to relax I proceed to open Excel and start a spreadsheet "analysis" of a game. A freaking mindless game.
My strategy basically is to only buy the land cannons and air towers and upgrade them to the max as soon as I get them (which, by the way, costs $51 and $62, respectively). If you are at all remotely intelligent as to where they are placed, and always purchase the income tribute, it is possible to get by without losing even one life. Oh, and after level 30 just sell all the air towers and max out on land canons because, well, you know what I'll just show you.
I don't claim to be some sushi king, but I know what my taste buds like and Kyoto Sushi Bar in the Mason/Montgomery area is amazing. Don't be scared away if raw fish isn't your thing. I've had the tempura chicken before when I was a big weenie like you and it was equally good. The resturant alone is also why I now have a stock of jasmine tea with me at school.
The price is a little on the costly side for a college kid ($10-20 and up for a full meal), but the sushi is about as cheap as you can find it for the quality. Call me crazy, but I'll pay the extra couple bucks instead of injesting cheap raw meat.
EDIT: This picture shows one reason why I love the new layout, I can actually post pictures. Not cell-phone sized clips in the middle with LOADS of "white" space on the sides. If I ever get in the mood, it will make photo-posts much easier.
After a thorough study I have come to decide that 73.5% of the time I can't stand ESPN. I have ESPN on for background noise at the very least, on average, 8 hours of my waking hours now. It's sickening, really.
Good news is that about 26.5% of the time they really do come up with something worth watching (interestingly, 15% of said time involves Chris Berman). Their support of the Jimmy V foundation kind of hits a soft spot for me. This may sound harsh, but I really have no idea why. I think a great deal of it has to do with how outstanding this speech at the ESPY's Jimmy made really is.
The message of the speech is so translatable through almost any struggle; medical, personal, or otherwise.
If you've never seen it, watch it. If you have, watch it again.
A couple things that stand out:
It's jolting how short "forever" can mean in some circumstances.
Maybe I'm playing a demented sort of "Monday morning Quarterback," but this looks like a guy speaking with both a message and nothing to lose. He speaks to an audience of a few thousand like they are just one collective person.
I hate audio delays on videos. Grr.
This is one of the few youtube pages in which not one comment bashes another. It's the little things in life that I notice...
The "30 seconds" comment had to probably be the most awkward feeling in that producer's life.
His three things really do make for a heck of a day. I know everybody has had at least one of those.
What can I say? It's cold, kinda rainy, and I have a research paper due. Can ya tell? I'm going with a fun theme for the ten random. It's going to come from my auto-playlist entitled "wtf is this?" For you playlist weirdos out there (I am thinking of one person in particular, but hey who knows everyone has their secrets...), it is limited to unrated songs (because I try to rate all the songs I at all care about, for better or worse) that have not been played in the past month (I tried 6 months, but the play dates got all screwed up when I moved all the music over to the portable hard drive for college) with a total play count of no more than 2. In other words, I'm thinking "wtf is this?" about every other song. So here goes:
So High So Low - Ben Harper; What a perfect song to start off with. The only thing that makes this sound at all like a Ben Harper song is his vocal part. Other than that it is about as rock-sounding as the latest Kid Rock single or something. Overall I would call it a horrible misuse of Harper's talents. 2/5
Silhouette - Thrice; I used to hate Thrice. Loathe entirely. I still hate to admit it (like how most people hate to admit that they <3 Linkin Park). 3/5
Stays in Mexico - Toby Keith; This one came when I legally aquired (actually, thats not even a stretch of the truth this time!) the entire Toby Keith Greatest Hits CD a while back. I never have been a major fan of the song, probably owing to the fact that I have no interest in (n)either visiting Mexico (n)or drinking tequila. If the resident english guru could help me out on that last sentence (AND THE LAST SENTENCE ALONE, PICKY) that'd be grrrreat. Also, I don't care if you are singing about such a tropical locale as Mexico, trumpets have no place in my country music. 2/10
Blue-Sky Research/What's Left - Taproot; This bad boy must have squeeked into the playlist under the "not played in the past 6 months" criteria. Not sure if Taproot is one of those bands you're not supposed to like or something (I've never really paid attention to that whole scene) but I have no idea why these guys never got huge. They had their moment in the sun, no doubt, but almost every one of their songs make you want to rip the head off of a puppy. In the screamo (heavy on the -emo) catagory that is like, triple mega diamond titanium usually. 4/5
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper with Sarah McLachlan; Cyndi Lauper scares me. The Sarah McLachlan effect does wonders though. 4/5
Peace, Love, and Understanding - A Perfect Circle; I throw around a lot of hyperbole, its kinda my thing. I mean this one though!!: Emotive rocks. APC could take the Sesame Street song and make it sound like an apocolyptic funeral dirge. And I like it. 5/5
Open Eyes - Saliva; I can confidently say I do not remember ever hearing this song. First impression: Saliva could compete with Nickelback (greatest Canadian rock band of all time ever for eternity and beyond) in terms of songs sounding like identical twins. Sometimes thats a great thing (like Nickelback - the GCRBOATEFEAB). For Saliva that translates into a wealth of mediocrity. 3/5
Broken Heart - Dashboard Confessional; I don't listen to dashboard a whole heckuva lot, but if one of their CDs is <$10 at Target or something I'll grab it. It can get overwhelming in heavy doses. And I hate going to concerts only to listen to a crowd singing along to songs written by a band. 3/5
Still Running - Chevelle; see: Taproot. The critics will say Chevelle has gotten worse since their major debut album Wonder What's Next. I couldn't disagree more. This Type of Thinking (the home-album to this song) was a workout-staple-album for a solid year. 4/5
The Ides of March- Silverstein; I'm sure some people probably love Silverstein. These same people probably hate Nickeback and LP. I like all three, but I would put Silverstein in a distant third. Just a little too much teen-angst sounding. 3/5
First, the bad news: You didn't end up playing for the Celtics. Or any NBA team. Or any college team. In fact, you barely played in high school. I don't know what the hell happened. You peaked in the ninth grade. You were a bigger disappointment than the "Tron" movie.
I've been told the first step to recovery is to admit that I cannot control my addiction, so here it goes:
Over the course of the semester I've gone through, at the very least, thousands of sunflower seeds. That was my very first cupful of seeds. Not sure why I took the picture at the time, but I'm glad I did because since then I have gone through about one cupful every week. As I type I'm topping off another cup.
I started this one on Sunday.
Heck, as far as addictions gained in the first semester of college go, I'm right on par with being addicted to crayons in 1st grade.
Why seeds rock:
With the constant packages of sugary goods floating north from the nati (thanks, Mom) a little salty snack always sounds good.
Raining outside? Cold? Too lazy to get off my butt and make some REAL food? Seeds are always there for me. Kinda like cigs to some people, but like, 5000% cheaper.
I think its probably in the same catagory as celery in that "you actually lose weight by eating them." Suck it freshman 15.
It feels like spring training in December.
So, if anyone needs any early Christmas ideas for me, look no further than your local Sam's Club -->>>
I'm kind of ADD when it comes to page design, I know. This is very close to what I want, minus the whole thing where the colors I'm using seem to clash terribly.
It is a work in progress, and as always any suggestions are appreciated so let me know.
I can say with a great deal of confidence that this past Friday was the first time I have ever woken up before the crack of dawn while on a "vacation" of any sort when fish weren't involved. Ever since I could recognize a good sale in the newspaper (and had the money to actually make a few purchases) I've had a sick desire to experience the "BLACK FRIDAY" (spooky sounding, eh?) rush.
So, this year, Dad and I (yes, I'm pretty sure we were the only two white males together I saw all day) woke up bright and early at 5:00, grabbed a coffee, and headed out to Staples to get in line for those thumb drives and DVDs. A couple observations I made throughout the day...
1.) DVDs are dirt cheap this year. You can get full seasons of anything that didn't air on HBO for $15 bucks or less if you look around (see: Target, Circut City). 2.) America really can be a sick, sick, place if you just stop and look around. I'm not trying to say, "BOO CAPITALISM!!!!!1!1!" or anything, I was there right along with everybody (see: below). Just the pure numbers of people everywhere from Target to friggin' Pep Boys (yes, Pep Boys, they had some great car-GPS prices) had a crowd. 3.) The downfall of the guitar is imminent. And don't think that it will stop there. 4.) Tickle Me Elmo EXTREME!is hilarious on four hours of sleep.
Our prize purchase of the day, you ask? Office Max, of all places, had some crazy deals on monitors of all types, computer, TV, and projections. For the past year or so we have been contemplating converting the basement into our own common-man-home-theatre (if there is such a thing), and when there is an HD projector with a free 80-inch screen included (which costs only a hundred less than the actual projector), we caved.
The conversion should probably have been a weekend project, but I kind of blew my load when I got home, and by 8:00 that night we were watching a life-size Will Ferrell in Elf.
Mom will kill me for showing the interweb the mess, and honestly the picture doesn't quite do it justice, but this is the best photo-evidence I have.
Note to self: 2,000 lumens is really, REALLY freaking bright when directly shined into cornea.
Sorry (kinda) for the long pause during break, there was much time spent with family and friends, and that ranks slightly higher on the scale. The good news is that there is a lot to talk about now! YAY!
It was good seeing everyone from P-town again. This break seemed like just a tease for winter break though. I feel like its Christmas already, but I still have finals and papers galore. Sweet. It doesn't help that all the Bobcats are already done until January. Their finals were in mid-November. Hooooly crap.
Fam Damily is good. That's about how much everyone cares so I'll leave it at that.
Just a small teaser right now, there will be more later today on the fun stuff (see: Black(?) Friday, snow!, lights, and excessive purchases)
I hate using such a hyperbolous (is that even a real word??) title as I did here with "Wow," but nothing else really seemed to fit. That was all that came to my mind. Apparently, right under everyones nose, someone Potentially (with a capital P) could have had the most monumental scientific discovery since that whole E=mc^2 thing.
And this guy surfs. But only in the summer. Because well, in the winter he likes to snowboard.
A little background from someone who admittedly knows less than other people reading this may. Basically, ever since scientists discovered they could split atoms (circa post WWII) there has been an effort to unify every "theory" of the universe into one simple (heh, relatively speaking) equation. The first person to really attempt this head on and get anywhere close is Einstein. But even he just cracked the surface before his death.
Blah, blah, blah, years pass by, and String Theory becomes the most accepted (or at least the most talked about) "theory of everything." The problem is, String Theory proposes that there are ten dimensions to the universe, and we are living in one.
Seriously, ten. Even George Lucas would have to say, "Let's be real guys." And there is that whole thing were String Theory divides particles into such infintesimally small "strings" (hence the name) that even in this modern age there is no possible way to collect any data to prove or disprove it. The term theory was used very liberally here.
So, November 6th, 2007 rolls around and a dude called Garrett Lisi (remember the name) releases his paper, "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything." (If you want to read it, and good luck, click the PDF button on the right of the page-linked). After reading it you may think that he forgot to add the whole "Simple" part into the equation. Basically, rather than ten dimensions, Lisi was able to use the slightly-less-acid-trip-induced idea of just using this one space-time dimension we humans call home.
Pretty outrageous stuff. If it really works. I mean, on the scientific timeline, this thing isn't even in the second trimester yet, so who knows.
...I state in a very generic blue and family friendly, unoffensive way. Eff that.
MERRY FREAKIN' CHRISTMAS(time)!!!
I got the "Smoky Mountain Christmas" tunes blazin' right now as "Old Ridge Boys Christmas" downloads (seriously... it's sick how that whole Pavlov thing works and crap music sounds good in the right mindset). Now all I need is a little eggnog and, uh, cold weather. Oh, and leaves off trees.
1.) South Bend is actually in northern Indiana. Toopit Indians. 2.) Why do dead tress look prettier than living ones? Am I really just that morbid? 3.) Football is a great sport. 4.) Notre Dame is not good at that sport. 5.) I can't wait for next year. Addition by subtraction hopefully (Cause we all know how that worked out this year.... ) 6.) Masochism is a great way to describe my feelings about this season.
I wanted to do this for a while and now is the perfect time. A little parting gift. The "first 10 songs on shuffle" game. However, instead of an iPod, just my Windows Media Player (5,638 songs ( all legally aquired, of course!!))
1.) Never Enough - Eminem; Eh, filler song on his "Encore" album. This album probably is a case study for those who argue that Em only got big "beacuse of Dre's beats." Can't argue with that here...
(3 stars out of 5)
2.) Me and My Shadow - Frank Sinatra; Ahh thats more like it. Frankie S. in a duet with Sammie Davis Jr. Vintage recording and all, very quality stuff from the Crooner era
(4 out of 5).
3.) Mistakes We Knew We Were Making - Mae; Talk about a band you have to be in the right mood to listen to. Good "happy music," for like, homework, or folding clothes, or something. Not soft enough to really fall asleep too but not loud enough to really wake up with. Also, one of many songs I generically file under "indie".
(3 out of 5)
4.) Cool Kids - Screeching Weasel; A little guilty pleasure punk rock. Cute song too.
(4 out of 5)
5.) The Sounds of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel; One of the songs I aquired legally for Stinky (aka the "pale chick"). Great song to go along with one of my more favorite old movies. Art Garfunkel will always have a special place in my heart, too, as we both tried to bring the white-boy fro to popular acceptance. We both failed, too.
(4 out of 5)
6.) Really the Blues - Artie Shaw; I was wondering when some jazz was going to come up. I have a solid 15 hours worth and all, so it was only a matter of time (no pun intended). Artie Shaw is one of the good ones, right up there with Louis Armstrong and (dare I say) Wynton Marsalis. Yes, Marsalis is that good.
(4 out of 5)
7.) I'll Back You Up (Live) - Dave Matthews; Heh, I just checked out of curiosity, and I have the same amount of music from one artists as I do from an entire genre (Dave Mattews : Jazz, both 15hrs.) Yeesh, I didn't know it was that bad. This song leans heavily toward the instrumental aspect of Dave, similar to the recently released Radio City Concert (which is OUTSTANDING by the way... yea... like my opinion on Dave holds a lot of weight now...)
(4 out of 5)
8.) I'd Wait a Million Years - The Grass Roots; HOLY CRAP THAT KEYBOARD HURTS THE EARRSSS!!! File this song under "songs I aquired legally many a moon ago and forgot about until it just came on." Not terrible, but far from good. And it's never a good sign when the sound of an instrument causes physical pain. Probably an EQ issue on my end, but hooolllleeee crap.
(2 out of 5)
9.) Amazed - Lonestar; Nothing like a little good ole' generic 90s country. It pulls at the heartstrings
(3 out of 5)
10.) Let it Out - Pillar; Huh? I think this one was sort of a package deal with the whole CD, because I seriously do not recognize this. The band is definitely one of the top three Christian rock bands out there (third smartest kid with downs syndrome!) . (2 out of 5)
Overall, quite the lucky shuffle. I aim for a gaussian curve in relation to my ratings (lots of threes, 2 and 4 are within the 1st-ish standard deviation, 1 and 5 are the "rest), so pretty good on the whole here. And yes, seriously, I am that big of a nerd. I'm in engineering, what did you expect?!
The bad news is that I will be departing from the interweb for the weekend. The good news is that I therefore won't be allowed to emotapost this coming Saturday! WOOHOO!
The family is making the annual football trip this weekend.
Old is such a relative word, I love it (for now at least). I've dabbled in Photoshop (R) for about (holy crap...) six years now but have stuck to the photo-editing side of it for most of that time. It wasn't until last year that I really dove head first into the design aspect of it. Well, tonight I had a heaping chuck of free time for the first time in a week or two, so I decided it was high time to take my tablet PC to the max and give free-hand a little try.
Disclaimer: I am in no way an artist. Really the only exercise my right-side gets is through Photoshop. If you want to see an artist, look elsewhere. And yes, chemguy, I did find out about that through your blog. I'm a grade A creeper.
Without futher adieu:
The Blueprint.
My ultra-300-esque back, with what could potentially be inked on me in the coming year. Nothing definite yet, but I think I have a place at least. And before the "don't get a tattoo" talk comes, I know, I know.
EDIT: Here is a larger image. And for the record, I did draw it on, and it shows once you see it a little bigger. Here is what I was thinking of, and here is where it came from. Like always, every tattoo has a story, but that story will be for another day/if/when I actually get it.
Obviously, it has been a horrible year for one of the two football teams that I really care about (well, I guess you could make an argument for both). Waking up this morning I found this article, which is probably the most sane explanation that I have seen for an otherwise crappy situation (with links added to help those of you that have no idea what the dude is talking about).
In the beginning, Charlie made the most out of a bad situation. He hired assistants quickly and without a lot of time for vetting, because he had made a commitment to his then-employer and he had to keep it.
Then he made the most out of a bad situation again. His chosen QB coach resigned unexpectedly after a heart attack. Weis hired a pretty good replacement, but he had lost a former head coach who knew his stuff (and who really could have helped this year).
Then he did it again. He started 2005 spring practice with a team that had been poorly coached and repeatedly humiliated, and he coached them into a BCS berth. That season was no gimmick -- ND beat the crap out of some teams that year. Save two last-second plays, that team would have played Texas for the national title. (editorial comment: I don't necessarily agree with the premise here, obviously from anyone who watched the not-so-Fiesta Bowl, there was no reason for ND to be anywhere near a national championship game that year. The games fell right, and the team made the best of the situation.)
Last year, though, that defensive coordinator he hired over the phone, the one Holtz recommended, was coaching his way out of a job. At the same time, Weis's predecessor's recruiting failures started to peek through to the surface. The offensive line was thin and the defense was thinner (and more confused). Fortunately, the QB was built like a linebacker and stayed (relatively) healthy all year.
But this year, the bad situations finally got the best of Weis. He entered August with one pedestrian QB, one injured blue-chipper (edit: yes, I think it is EXTREMELY sad that this dude has a .org dedicated to him.), and one guy who scared him to death and excited the hell out of him at the same time. He rolled the dice with the last guy, and crapped out in a hurry. That offensive line the recruitniks had been fearing for three years turned out to be worse than advertised. Things unravelled in a hurry, and Weis tried to cute his way out of it. It didn't work.
Should Weis have made sure the line was fundamentally better than they have been? Absolutely. Then again, the 2007 ND coaching job is like the first day of work for the new mayor of Detroit -- do you deal with the unemployment or the murder rate? QB's or line? New defensive scheme or three new starting wide receivers? Special teams or new starting running back? Oh, and no one better get hurt, because we barely go two-deep at every position.
Weis failed this year in the sense that the team is awful. That, I suppose, could be the end of the inquiry. Everyone faces tough problems -- the difference between the great ones and the others is what they make of those problems. Then again, this year was in many respects a formula for disaster, and it's tough to fault Charlie for failing to win a title that was never in the cards in the first place. That he has recruited so well in spite of these challenges is a testament to his optimism and work ethic.
Can Charlie win a title at Notre Dame? Or will he outsmart himself out of a job?
I agree with the recruits -- the book on Charlie Weis remains just interesting enough for me to want to turn the page.
Obviously, there are some things the guy mentioned that I don't necessarily agree with, but the overall point stands. There has been a Good-Brett, Bad-Brett situation going on here but with the man-children that could arrive in less than a year, I want to see where this takes us.
I've been meaning to get a picture of this up here like all year, but have never really remembered to grab a camera when needed. Well, lucky me now finally has a camera phone, so I was able to snap an admittedly low-quality shot.
I hope [person#91858327] doesn't mind the back of his head being displayed to the masses.
In the "mine's bigger" dept. I present to you, the periodic table.
How did I celebrate you ask? I did not turn on the alarm for my morning calc class (granted, it was a review session over a test next week, but it still felt good).
Sleeping in does the body good.
Look at me! I'm festive!
(Seriously though.... Halloween is right up there with Valentines Day on the scale of stupid holidays for me. Yes, coming from someone in college.... think about what that means for a second.... still stupid.)
The good news is, that I now have a place to listen to all the live Jimmy-boy I want (within the bounds of availability) FO FREE!
Wolfgang’s Vault is the place. Basically it’s the vintage “new rock isn’t rock” homeboy’s heaven. The main site has vintage posters, t-shirts and whatnot for sale. Honestly though, that’s not really my thing so I’ve never clicked any button on the front page other than the green Concert Vault one. In there you will all the live (pardon the classification) “Classic Rock” concerts you can think of. New this week is some Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, Weather Report, John Hammond, Hall & Oates, Hot Tuna, Big Country, Blondie….well, you get the point.
It has admittedly been a while so I'm not sure but you may have to register (for free), but it’s no big deal. I know they send me an email just updating me on the new concerts about every other week, but I’m sure there is a way to get off the list. Also, granted, these are vintage live recordings, so some may not be up to par on your rockin’ Bose system. Deal.
You couldn't ask for much more on a Tuesday night. And best of all, my two hour study hall (or as one of my professor's calls it: detention) got cancelled because of some freak explosion followed by some freak power-outage in the engineering building.
I have a feeling that statement would be much more surprising if that happened in, say, the Humanities building....
So yep. Pretty easy-going night. I'm even getting my daily intake of both fruits and vegetables! These V-Fusions fall in the same catagory as my Fuze Green Tea's I mentioned a while back. Healthy, and for sale right below me. You probably won't find me trying the spicy hot variety also for sale though...
While I'm at it. Holy crap, Zours are freaking good.
And how did Chris Farley ever get famous? I mean, I'm sure he deserved it, but... wow.
The first major wave of procrastination taking hold as I type. Chemistry test arriving at 4:30 (QUICK: what is a good acronym for soluble/insoluble ionic compounds, oh wonderful acronym people?!), then a dinner meeting from 6-8, THEN I have the honor of typing a 4 page paper due tomorrow at 9AM.
Should be real fun.
In the mean time.... I present to you what is really occupying my mind:
Not NEARLY as good as my previous (see: last year) venture, but a good time-waster.
And it comes in the form of a new 50 inch DLP 1080P (translation: sweet) TV. Yea, it's nice. And yes, it is the reason for the lies concerning the plethora of posts over fall break.
For those curious, what I learned while home:
1.) Dorms really do smell. Maybe it's just because mine is directly across from the "utility closet" (translation: trash room), but for some reason I doubt it.
2.) The whole "mom's cooking" thing is kinda overplayed. Now the "going out to eat on mom and dad's check" thing, THAT's something worth missing.
3.) I do not miss high school.
4.) A little break from the *ehm* college life is nice... buuuuuut
5.) I would much rather be in Stu-town than the ville.
Sorry for the slow week. Mid-terms are now over; the birds aren't chirping, the trees are dying, and there is just a general cooling of atmosphere. Yep, that means its time for fall break: the first time you miss college (so I've heard).
Good news is, I haven't been given time to miss college! YAY! The professors are soooo nice, they are making sure I take home alllllll my books! What a nice group. Expect a plethora of random spewage in the coming week-ish.
This week brings a(n) (ironic) little tribute to moms everywhere. Yes, even those ghetto-rock-smoking one's that still care about their ghetto-souljas.
I feel like this is a poster I would see in one of those hard-ass frat boy rooms, right above the sock drawer that hides the little worn family picture, which is under the stack of Playboys.
Without further adeu: All my "desktops" will be 1280x768. If you are as big of a loser as me, which I figure you aren't, go ahead and click on the picture to get the full-size one. And I really don't plan on having every Photoshop being this unexciting. I was just doing this one night anyways and liked how it was turning out.
From news gained from the weekend visit back to the nasty nasty, in less than one week, I will be "in." Hopefully I never leave country, because apparently they don't accept the concept of "in" very happily. The good news is that I get a new phone charger (mine convienently just broke through completely).
In other news, this weekend was very, very, VERY happy (see: here, and here, oh yea and here) It may have taken a guy paying his way to suck enough for a W, but at this point. I'm not picky.
Whew, that was a new record for linkage I believe.
And as a cool side note, I have another BAMF 'pac desktop cookin. It may qualify for photoshop of the week.
That's it. I've had it. No more constant freezing from Internet Explorer. Not on MY watch.
I've never had a problem on any desktops, but IE 7 on laptops (see: mine) is horrendous. NO I do not want to send an error report! I want to surf the internet.
And in an effort to not be a conforming anti-Microsoft protester, I searched the options to go to something a little more snazzy than Firefox. Admittedly, I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted.
For one, it has a password storing feature, THAT ACTUALLY WORKS (take note, Bill, or, whoever). I would liken it more to the Google Autofill feature more than IE's sick excuse. All I do is double-tap (yes, because I'm cooler than you) my wand and BLAMO! I'm logged in. No need to autofill then tap somewhere else. It all goes for you.
And if you're like me, you really only go to about ten websites (if that) regularly anyways. Opera understands my needs (it's not you IE, it's me. Well acutally, yea, it is you.). Speed Dial is the best idea since bookmarks.
Tabbed browsing? Check. Cool-Firefox-type-addons? Check. Feeling of superiority to those around you? Double-check.
Oh, and it loads pages faster (youTube marathon away), so stick that up your pipe...
The entire wardrobe, in three (probably unsafe in terms of color leakage) piles: $12.00 (Maybe $16.00, $24.00.... I forget, it's been a while since I've even DONE laundry)
AND on a rainy day. Yeesh. At least its almost the weekend. Oh, and for the maybe two people that would really care, notice the picture on the upper-left, right next to the Play Like a Champion sign. No, I don't hit it before I leave, losers.
I hate to admit it, but Simpsons really has disgressed in its later years. Either that, or Family Guy is still on its exponential-growth-of-funny stage.
Everything from start to finish (or, to put it better, from the whole family laughing at Meg's idea of reading during the power outage, to Stewies perfect rendition of Darth Vader, to Chris and Peter's argument on the quality of Robot Chicken) was AWESOME.
Sure, Simpons had a few parts (see below) that warrented a quick chuckle, but wow. The sad truth is that the apprentice has finally surpassed its master (pardon the slightly Star Wars reference)
This clip is the best I can do in terms of a preview. There is a longer 10 minute excerpt, but quality its notably crappy.
1.) I still hate the Steelers, but Willie Parker can play on my flag football team anyday.
2.) The Cincinnati Bengals: Playing ourselves out of games since Paul Brown.
3.) This guy gives me a really uneasy feeling. I can't quite place my finger on it, and don't want to go on the easy route by just saying CAUSE HE'S CRAZY!!!!!!1!!!111!1!!!!one!!! There's more to it. More on that later, maybe.
4.) 60 Minutes this week was really freakin good. I want to put my money down now that Kasparov will be dead within two years. Stone.
I am a follower. Since apparently I am already nearly the spawn of said blogger (not that there's anything wrong with that!!!), I should probably try to avoid any further evidence for such.
Someone, please direct me towards where I can find myself a new blog template. Preferably one with a darker background, like the one I have.
If that doesn't get your stomach a rumblin...
This guy
