Tuesday, February 28, 2006

fridge

So I saw this on another blog and thought it looked pretty cool. The plan is to take a picture of the contents of your refrigerator, post it on here, and then discuss everything exhaustively. I plan to examine expiration dates in great detail, so pull up a chair.

This is my refrigerator. It is not too tidy, but then again, tidiness has rarely been one of my priorities.

I think that box of pizza has been in there for about a week. I tried to eat the second last piece tonight and almost chipped a tooth on the pepperoni. Mental note: when pizza can be used to hammer nails or demolish boulders, steer clear of it, for teeth are not as strong as boulders.

See that little red circle in the top right? The one that surrounds about 2 square inches of space? That is my area for food. My contribution to the refrigerator generally consists of a pack of tortillas and a bag of shredded cheese. I am glad that I have such a healthy diet. But I do have a jar of salsa in the door which you can't see, so I am covered with the vegetable group.

The chocolate soy milk on the second-from-top shelf is mine as well. There is about one swallow's worth of milk left, but I am none too eager to part with it since it is a reminder of Abbie every time I open up the fridge.

Um, I guess there's not much else to say about this. I don't really know why we have three cartons of eggs when we use no more than two eggs a month. I suspect some of them are a little past their prime.

On an unsimilar note, one of my groups has a 15-20 page paper due on Friday. Guess when we started working on it? You will probably guess wrong, so I will just tell you that it was less than 4 hours ago. Trouble? I believe so.

Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to tag some folks to do this fridge thing as well. And the lucky winners are Abbie, Sarah, Dad, Katie, and Watermeters. You have one hour.

Job

Today I was offered a job delivering pizzas at Bellacino's. Bellacino's is a restaurant here that has some pretty non-delicious pizza. Anyway, while this was a nice thing for Mr. B. to do, I could have used the opportunity a little while ago. Say, last May when I applied for the job. Thanks, but no thanks. Mr. Domino has been treating me too well for me to change jobs.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Fat Tuesday on a Saturday

I am back from my recent trip to St. Louis for Mardi Gras festivities. This trip was notable for two reasons: I learned that Mardi Gras festivities in St. Louis are not too rocking, and I used my new digital camera for the first time! Now, you will be bombarded with all my attempts to look artsy and professional with this camera. Lucky you.

So Mardi Gras. The party in St.L seemed mostly to involve riding on the MetroLink. I think roughly 2/3 of our time in the city was spent in transit. Here are some highlights from the trip.

The driver of the MetroLink spent about 10 minutes at one stop telling people to "Leave my doors alone! We can't go anywhere until my doors close!" while everyone else yelled at each other and nobody let the doors close. This probably would have been prime time for a nap since I was already exhausted, but I was too caught up in the mayhem to sleep.

A bluegrass festival was going on in our hotel. The trouble is, we only had 6 minutes in our hotel before we left for the big city so I couldn't listen for very long. I still got a pretty stellar shot though (my 7th picture with this camera!).
That stupid guy in the gray was standing off to the side listening to them jam until just as I prepared to take the picture. I still like this one, though, because the bass player looks so surly.

Amy and I had to walk about 2 miles to find some soda. And then the worker wouldn't double bag the soda, so of course my bag burst and all the soda spilled everywhere.














This guy on the left was part of my party. I didn't talk to him once, and I don't even know his name, but he gets a spot on here just for being pretty cool. He looks like a true thug, just like Flava Flav, seen on the right.
Interestingly, people were talking about Flava Flav in one of my classes today. How often does he come up in conversation? "Not often" is the answer up with which you should have come.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Scary

Each day that I eat lunch in Ryle, the lady who swipes my ID looks just like Elsa Lanchester. For those of you who don't know her, here is one of the more flattering pictures I could find.

I keep wanting to ask her why she was so creepy in Blackbeard's Ghost, which is supposed to be a children's movie. I had nightmares for weeks.

I am taking a break right now (obviously) from studying. I have a test in just over 2 hours, and it is gonna be rough. Even after at least 12 hours of studying, I am still drowning in all the material we have to know. Maybe I should just buy one of those fake degrees from a website where the workers will even validate my educational success if called by an employer.

I am going home for the weekend to hang out with some friends. Therefore, I won't not be not updating very much over the next couple of days. I hope you can cope.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

I find it not very reassuring when I ask a fella how he is doing and he responds, "Not too much." This happens fairly often. Do people not really care about listening to folks, or do they just not care about me specifically? I find the latter hard to believe since I am so glib and engaging all the time!

Goals

Remember that interview? It was done by a pledge for Delta Sigma Pi so he could find out all about me. I had an epiphany of sorts afterward. One of the questions went something like this: "What is one thing you have wanted to do but haven't dared?"

I have always wanted to run a marathon some day, but I kept thinking that that "some day" would be several years from now. I always worry that I am way too busy while in college, what with class, clubs, and job. But really, what's the point in waiting? I probably won't get less busy within the next eight or nine years. And if I want to have a fast time, I probably won't get much speedier after I hit my mid-twenties. Therefore, come summertime, I am daring to start training for a marathon! At least, that is my goal right now. Please let me know when this semester ends so I remember to start up some training.

I am writing this post from class. We have spent over a half hour talking about one single homework problem....I suppose now I will look up some interesting tailoring recipes for my mage to make!
Seeing eye dogs are amazing. They are way cooler than any other animal, even other ones with eyes that see.

I've gotta keep this post short, because I am being interviewed (not by Sprint) in 4 minutes. Maybe I'll tell you more about that later. But maybe not.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Sprint

I just applied for a summer internship in Kansas City with Sprint. I hope something comes of it. I could do with just about anything. If you come across any internships lying around, send them my way, for I am in need of one.

Whenever I'm walking along and I encounter a set of double doors, I always thrust both of them open and stalk through, like some menacing villain from a movie. And if anybody is on the other side of the doors, I sometimes throw a scowl their way. That's how I roll. Anyway, this walking through both of the doors makes me feel kinda cool. What is less cool is when I pull open two doors and promptly walk into the bar in between them. Luckily, my scowl prevented anybody from mocking me.

Monday, February 20, 2006

I can make a difference

Did you hear the joke about the jump rope? No? Then just skip it.
I've never really found that joke very funny. I don't really associate skipping with a jump rope. I mostly think of, thanks to the name of the item, jumping, as well as bruised ankles because I am not too skilled at jumping in rhythm. It's a skill I never learned. In kindergarten, they should have tought us rhythmic jumping instead of color identification. Anyway, this tangent is not the point of this post. Just wait; I will tie it all together at the end, and you will be amazed.

I made a movie last year for a class with my good friend Matt. We had to come up with any kind of topic, and we chose to create a documentary about how children never use Skip-Its anymore due to their lack of availability. Nowhere in our town could these toys be purchased.

Look at how happy this girl is. But as I look closer, the Skip-It appears to have been inserted into this picture independently of the lady. So now I have no way of knowing if she actually even enjoys this thing or not. She is probably really playing hopscotch or running a race; little did she know that her picture would be manipulated to further the cause of Skip-Its. Another digression. I apologize.

Anyway, two days ago I found out that a friend had just bought a Skip-It in my town. Wal-Mart, one of the most powerful businesses in the world, has started taking its sales strategy from me. Next up, I think I will tell the good people at Wal-Mart to start a huge marketing campaign for sombreros. Increased sombrero sales would suit me just fine. Nobody can be in a bad mood while wearing a sombrero.
Not even Mr. T.

weekend

My weekend is just about over. I am not too thrilled about this. It's not that I dislike school. I just really like having some time to relax. Plus, some of the classes I am taking seem not to be very worthwhile. During Finance class the other day, our teacher was rambling about how he learned a bunch of choice expletives when he worked in construction that he uses whenever he has to use calculators. Another student glances my way and asks, in all seriousness, "How is this guy even a professor?" Where can I get motivation for classes like this? I'll tell you where. Deep down inside.

Oh, this is a rather stupid post. My fraternity had it's last day of Rush on Saturday. This means I was doing fraternity stuff almost continuously from about 10:30 a.m. until about 1:30 a.m., so I didn't get much schoolwork or loafing done. Luckily, all those events that plagued my schedule last week will be over, so this next week will be easier.

Here is a tip. If you are planning on calling someone internationally at 3 a.m., check out the international rates first. And if this person happens to be in Austria where the cost is 16 minutes from my phone card per minute spoken, hang up the phone. I talked to Abbie for about 15 minutes last night and wound up using about 250 minutes from my phone card; it was like I had stepped into a hyperbolic time chamber for the duration of the call.

My room is so messy. I did laundry I think about three days ago, and a basket of clean shirts is still sitting on my floor. Putting the clothes away after washing them is the worst part about having a wardrobe. I can handle the trouble of separating the laundry by color, washing and drying it, checking the dryer every ten minutes to see if the clothes are dry yet, then carrying it all the way back into my room. But then I just lose motivation. I'm on the brink of success; why do I give up at this point? The world may never know.

OK, I am finished with the blogging now. Sorry this was such a worthless post. But I'm saving all my writing brilliance for the paper on which I am about to start working. Maybe I'll post that up here if there is enough interest. Anybody want to know all about the practical applications of XBRL? I bet you do.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

a little chilly here

I just have one thing to say about today. The wind chill is currently -19 degrees. Good night.

Friday, February 17, 2006

My town is a cold offshoot of the Arctic Circle. We got about a half inch of sleet last night, so it took me around 15 minutes to scrape all the ice off my windows. The entire car was caked with the stuff. Here is a picture of my car covered with ice this morning.


Today was pretty hectic. After clearing the ice from the car, I went to class for three hours then studied for the next hour and a half then had class again then studied for another two hours then slipped on some ice (twice, but with only one fall. This was somewhat upsetting, since I am usually sure-footed as a billy goat.) then delivered pizzas for two hours then sat around for a half hour then had a Rush event for an hour and a half then came home and studied for about three and a half more hours. You who doubted my busyness, please reconsider.

Tea is delicious. I love drinking it; I don't so much love spilling it all over my arm. I did that tonight. Hot tea is hot and painful.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Just joking about the pictures. Here is one of my not doing anything worthwhile.

lazy

What did I do today? Not much. I am never productive on the day after hosting a party. By the way, we had a party here last night to celebrate Founder's Day of my fraternity. Phi Sigma Pi was 90 years old on Tuesday. Today I sat on the couch for a few hours, and then played World of Warcraft for several more hours. Not much to show for this, except that my mage is almost to level 53. Yes, this means I am cool.

It was suggested to me today that I get a digital camera so I can post some pictures on here. The problem is, I was planning on getting an ipod, which is not cheap, and I am also short on funds. Anybody have a camera they want to give away? I'll take it. I would have added some pictures of my doing nothing today, except I was unable to acquire them in time.

Yeah, this post is boring. I'm sorry. To spice it up, here is a fun fact I learned a couple days ago: Helen Keller was a huge socialist. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure. Sort of related to this, my roommate Josh didn't really know who Helen Keller was until Monday night. What a winner.

Time to study now. Take care of yourself.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

definition time

I have recently come under a lot of heat for not explaining what "palaver" means, so here you go.
pa·lav·er
n.
    1. Idle chatter.
    2. Talk intended to charm or beguile.
This blog will generally, but perhaps not exclusively, use the first meaning.
I can't decide what shirt to wear today. Any ideas? No? Thanks for the help.

Today is Valentine's Day. While I am generally not a fan of this holiday, today is worse than most, largely because of this girl. Instead of spending the day planning a romantic outing tonight, I get to pine for her.
It's worth it, though.

Monday, February 13, 2006

for real this time

Ok, I suppose I should put something of substance out here. However, as the title of this blog indicates, nothing of actual import will be discussed. But this is something of substance at least to me.

I have noticed lately that, when encountering an obstacle, I let out a frustrated "Come on!" For example, I just realized that I spilled coffee on my tie. Instead of spewing some appropriate expletives, I muttered "Aw, come on!" at the tie while reaching for the Shout wipes. Is this as intense as I can get?

#1

Well, here is the first post. Is any first post on a blog ever actually interesting?

In searching for a good title to this thing, I discovered that "palaver" is a cool word that people don't use enough. So readers, all zero of you at this point, throw this word into your conversations today and make some new friends.