Video of the Week

Picture of the Week

Told you the pups are gettin big...

Life Update

Back form banking school and wow does it feel good to be in my own house with my own stuff.  I did absolutely nothing this weekend and it was glorious.  I have a feeling I'll pay for it in the coming week though as we clean and such for the weekend.  Going to go pick up my Chiefs tickets tonight and I am so very excited I can hardly contain myself.  I've already begun calculating how much chili could fit in my turkey fryer.  Tailgating is one of my most favorite things to do and sad sad sad to say it's been a long time since I've been able to do it.  On the agenda for next week is Cornhole boards.  This has been a long time coming but I have renewed sense of motivation with the coming Chiefs football season, I think that our tailgate experience would be somewhat diminished if we don't have some bags of corn to toss around.  Plans are in hand and I think a trip to Home Depot is in order. 

Outside of that, not a lot new going on puppies are growing like weeds - Dublin pretty much doubled in size, not sure when or how that really happened but it did.  Beth is good, her job is good - I'm pretty jealous of her iPhone and Deck parties.  Running is going well, hard getting back into it but I'm pretty close to back to form, which I measure by my average pace.  Race is coming up sooner than I'd like - the KC course scares the bojangles out of me, lots and lots of hills.  I absolutely hate hills, which is why I'm only doing a half in KC.  It is new shoe time though which is always a good time.  But yeah, that's really about all I can think of.

iBlog

Product people lazy, I think they've just given up.  Conceded defeat.  Period.  Is it just me or is anything that comes out today, that is remotely the slightest bit related to electronics, they just put a lower case 'i' in front of the thing's name and call it a day?  I can just picture the brainstorm meetings:

"So guys, I'm really excited, we've got this toaster, the thing is amazing! it toasts bread, bagels, buns, the works!  All to golden, delicious, crunchy perfection, every single time, with no burning what so ever. It's great.  But, what do we call it?"

"umm...."

"umm..."

"the... iToaster?"

"BRILLIANT!!!  to happy hour everyone!"

Ridiculous.... I want that job.

Recovery

I briefly touched on this a few posts ago and debated long and hard about doing a post on it, but after many many hours of listening I really don't think my few sentences really did it justice.  If you like great music, you need to purchase, if you haven't already, Eminem's Recovery album.  It is one of the best CDs I've ever listened to, I have literally, without exaggeration listened to the CD roughly 20 times, beginning to end, since I bought it.  It is that good. 

He's still a little angry don't get me wrong, but it's a much much much more mature sound, more focused and, for lack of a better way to say it, a "smarter" album.  The anger is more channeled into the lyrics and it makes for some pretty mesmerizing flows.  The whole CD is a journey, starting with addressing his best friends death (Proof) to apologizing for his last CDs which were, frankly a mess, due to his issues with drugs and booze, which he also touches on a lot.  The maturity comes through in that there's no "gimmick" song on the album, which I truly appreciate.  There's no Slim Shady or Made You, no MTV costume "funny" song.  Everything is raw and you can tell there is a lot of passion behind each and every lyric that leaves his mouth.  For example, below is probably my favorite phrase on the whole CD:

Fuck catching lightning, He struck it

Screamed shut up at thunder,

Flipped the world upside down and made it rain upward

That's one of many amazing flows, but probably my favorite, and it's in my favorite song, Cinderella Man.  The video for Love the Way you lie is pretty brilliant too, Megan Fox and a Hobbit, it's great.  I know I've gone WAY over the top here but trust me when I say the CD is that good.  A friend once asked me if I could only have 3 CDs to listen to for the rest of forever, Recovery was one of my 3. (Michael Jackson's Bad and Journey's Greatest Hits were the other 2 if you are interested.)

GSB

As I mentioned a few days ago, Banking School is proving to be a whirlwind of learning.  It also is a very representative throw back to college days:

Blue Powerade... BU people know what I'm talking about here, this tasty little drink was a staple at meal times and it's presence at UW makes me wonder if Coke realizes that there are other flavors of Powerade and Blue flavor is probably not their best effort.  Nevertheless I've consumed many a glass of this tasty beverage.

Here is my classroom where I spent my 8-4 every single day, it's every bit as huge as it looks and while I've lucked out and had an empty seat to my right and left, but if I did have people on my 3 and 9 o'clock I have zero idea how I'd manage taking notes and not freaking out about personal bubble invasion.

And last but not least here is my home for the two weeks... the pictures really don't do the space justice and I mean that in a bad way.  UW housing has got to do a good job with their pairing of roomies because there is zero personal space in this cozy little bungalow.  You're pretty much living right on top of one another.  And you can kinda see the closet in the top one, so I have no clue how ladies function in these rooms cause closet space is nonexistant.  I will say the bed is actually a lot better than I anticipated, I've slept pretty well, actually better than I generally do in a hotel, which I find very odd.  The size is lends itself well to amplifying that good old dorm room smell, concrete, tile, musty carpet and sweaty clothes... nothing says home like those fragrances swirling in and about your nostrils. 

Video of the Week

Ouch

This post really isn't for the faint hearted and tiptoes ever so gracefully along the thin line of oversharing. I've started running pretty heavy and focused again in efforts to prepare for the KC half marathon, which I've heard is a pretty brutal course hill-wise (there are no hills in Chicago so his will be interesting.  In the course my training I've taken all the precautions to avoid every  type of injury or ailment that I've experienced in training for my last two races, you know, building off my past  experiences, learning from my mistakes, all that jazz.  But despite my very best efforts, I've managed to chafe not one, both both nipples.  I'll wait for the shock of this statement/laughter to end.... done yet?  ... So I lied I'm not tiptoeing the overshare line, I'm pole vaulting over it Dan O'Brian style.  Ok, moving on, this hurts like hell and it's one of those odd feeling nagging, burning hurting pains, that almost annoys you to the point of hurting.  Imagine sandpaper being rubbed on your skin very softly and slowly for about 30 minutes, that's how this whole process got started.  The worst part about the whole thing is that now that it's happened I'm stuck with it.  Some of you will suggest band aids, these do not work, unless you staple them on of have no sweat glands.  They fall off roughly 22 seconds after stepping outside, it's humid in KS/MO, people have been known to break a sweat walking to the mail box.  Body Glide, yep I own the deodorant stick size of it and use it religiously and somehow the chafe managed to happen.  Oh,  I almost forgot, this brings me to another fine little batch of irony... now that it's already chafed, Body Glide, ya know protection, burns like hell when applied.  So I have that to look forward to.  But perhaps worse than all of that combined, the body glide burn, the 30-40 min of sandpaper like rubbing is, drum roll, the shower.  There's a special sort of pain that takes place when water hits an open wound, and I get to experience it four times a week, it's awesome.

Anyway, I would apologize for the oversharing but really this is my blog and I needed to vent and get this out.  According to Google countdown, 65 days to the 1/2 hopefully things will heal up a bit by then.  

Chiefs

Today I became a season ticket holder.... I can barely contain my excitement.

Question of the day is now:  Who's jersey do I buy? 

Busy Bee

I had intended on posting nearly daily updates from GSB and it was a grand idea in my head, but in practice is proving to be not at all practical.  They have us on a constant run, four classes a day with one 15-20 min. break and about an hour for lunch.  So 8:30-4:10 it's all business.  By the time I run and then eat, the day is shot and my brain hurts so bad that I long for my concrete slab, I mean bed.  College is spanned over four years so basically the information is kind of self-paced to some extent, they feed it to you buffet style.  You walk up with your tray, take what you want, go chow down, and then get a new plate and go back for more.  Here, they take the entire buffet, put it in a blender, hit puree, jam a tube down your throat and start pouring.  Apologies for the graphic, but that's what it's like, yesterday I felt like I sat through 2 months of yield curve course work in about an hour and a half.

In all seriousness though I am enjoying it, dreading the projects, but enjoying it.  I do have some rather interesting observations though that I hope to have time to put down this weekend, so I don't forget about them.

Wrote this like:  Cory Doctorow... this guy and I are on the same page

Birthday Partay & The Weekend

Let's set the scene, a hot summer day, an annual celebration commemorating a birth, a water park full of slides.  Any guess on the age of the birthday boy and guests?  29.  The answer is 29.  This weekend about 20 some 27-29 year olds took over Oceans of Fun, reverting back to simpler times where it was acceptable to run around and hoot and holler (but not on the pirate ship apparently).  Twas a wonderful time and my first time at Oceans of Fun and I must say I did have "Oceans" of Fun.

Sunday came with my departure to Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin.  I'll have to post some pictures later, campus is awesome.  My dorm room however, well it's what I imagine minimum security prison cells to look like, wow it's depressing.  All I have to say is if you go here you'd better like your roommate because there is zero shot of personal space.  But the bed was surprisingly comfy and the A/C was cranking so all in all I can't complain.  Hopefully classes will go smoothly, I'm armed with Starbucks, 5 Hour Energy, and Gum.  I hope to avoid resorting to more drastic measures. 

I wrote this like:  Cory Doctorow

Running Again

Finally getting back in the swing of things running-wise.  Got my training plan loaded on the calendar, race picked out, and ready to go.  Word to the wise - if you are in race shape, don't stop running.  I stopped, or rather ran very very inconsistently for about 4-5 months.  Man it's brutal, I wouldn't say that I'm "starting over," because when I started I could barely do 3 miles, and I'm still able to to 3 at a pretty brisk pace, however beyond 3 is going to tax me quite a bit.  The whole process is being both complicated and compounded by the stupid hills.  I hate hills.  Chicago is flat, closest thing to a hill is an on ramp.  Missouri, for those that are unaware, is not flat.  Which makes training day after day even more taxing.  There's also a bit of complication because there's not miles and miles of lake front trail to run on, so finding enough run-able space is also a bit of a challenge.  But alas, I'll get it done and I'm looking forward to the Kansas City Half-Marathon on October 16, it'll make the 3rd 1/2, so, good times.

I wrote this like: Stephen King

Idea Thief

So I stole this... kind of...  well actually more like borrowed, let's go with borrowed this idea.  There's a website called "I Write Like" basically you paste in a writing sample, hundreds of cyber gremlins read your prose, and then take a vote using the scientific method of folded pieces of paper and a giant hat ... and in a matter of mere seconds tell you which writer who actually gets paid to write you write most like.  So... the theft, sorry borrowing, comes in that I saw this on a friend's blog (insert plug for: But Anyway...) as a widget, tool, whatever you want to call it, in the sidebar.  But Anyway, (see what I did there), I'm going to try, to paste my blog posts in there before I publish and I'll report the results.  Now, I'll do this until I get either a bunch of repeats so I now which author to sue for taking my ideas and writing style before I have a chance to write them or until I get bored with it which will most likely be only a few weeks from now, so enjoy it while it lasts.

I wrote this like: Cory Doctorow

News Notes

Brett Favre... he's going to play, he just wants a bit of an fawning over him for an ego boost.  He was one play away from a Super Bowl and had a career year, he's not walking away from that.  We just need to let him go on his merry way.

Cali and Prop 8... Gay marriage has been in the news a lot in recent years, ya know church and state they're separate, a bulk of the arguments against same sex unions fall back to religion.  While I'm not going to share my opinon on it, I think there are two fundamental pieces to a marriage: 1) the religious sacrament and 2) the legal courthouse issued piece of paper.  Religion should decided whether or not to honor the union as a "religious" sacrament.  The courthouse should decide if it's okay to buy family health insurance and be considered a "legal" family.

BP Oil... About time.  You'd think if you were undertaking an operation, you'd have plans for the worst possible scenario, like say a rig explodes.  I mean they are in hurricane alley, I can't believe they'd never once considered the possibility of a rig explosion and a massive leak miles underwater.  One more in an ever growing list of reasons why we need to find something else.  The internal combustion engine was invented in 1823... hear that geeks 1823, in the 187 years since then we've not come up with something better?

President... Don't even care really, I tried to care I really did, but the constant bickering back and forth between the red guys and the blue guys has grown tiresome.  Until Government starts serving the people instead of acting in its own self interest the road to improvement is going to be a very long one.  Nothing makes sense and if one of your guys didn't think of it, it's a bad idea no matter what.  It's just plain sad.

Palin's... I swear if I hear any more about this kid and her on again off again, which magazine will pay me for this story, life I'm gonna scream.

Jersy Shore... in Miami is as popular as ever.  I wonder if they realize people watch this show and are laughing AT them, not with them, AT them.

Wake-up Call

As with most people I require the assistance of an alarm clock to coax me out of bed every single morning.  I have recently switched to waking up to the radio, generally this is a more peaceful option than the ear piercing beep beep beep beep that most alarm clocks that aren't ridiculously priced use.  Anyway.... I was setting it last night and checking the volume level and a Britney Spears song was on, I thought to myself, wow this would be an awful way to start the day.  Then and there I decided to implement the Whoops I Slept in Leave Day.  How it works is simply this: if my alarm goes of and it's a Spears song I will roll over, go back to sleep and put in for annual leave for that particular day.  Because the way I figure it if the day starts off that way... nothing good can come from that point on so best to just avoid potential land mines the day may hold, stay in bed, maybe play some Call of Duty, and just relax. 

Update: this morning was a save morning, wake-up tune: Katy Perry

Inception

It's not very often that a movie exceeds expectations in my mind.  Mainly because if I'm super excited about a movie I build it up and build it up to a level where, I'm not even really sure if it's possible for anything to live up to it.  All of the above is why Inception was such an awesome surprise.  I was pretty excited about seeing the movie, but didn't have a lot of expectations going in other than being entertained.  I was entertained and then some, the movie blew me away.  I liked this movie a lot.  It was visually stunning and the story was really smart and really well written.  I was initially angry at the ending but upon reflection I think it was very smart and I get it now.  I honestly think Christopher Nolan is becoming my favorite director.  Who, upon some imdb research learned directed Memento, which is another little known great movie.  Anyway, this makes two for two, Dark Knight and now Inception.  I don't buy many movies but Inception will be purchased immediately.  If you haven't yet seen this movie I highly highly recommend it, visually it's awesome on the big screen so I'd recommend seeing on the silver screen.  Oh, btw, when did the geek from Third Rock from the Sun become a bad ass?  He was awesome.  He is for real, I was sceptical after the abomination that was GI Joe, but he was really good.

This movie also brought about something a bit disturbing to me.  I think Leonardo DiCaprio might be my favorite actor.  I shudder even writing it, but you can't deny he's come a long way since Jack (Titanic).  Before you judge, look at the resume since: Gangs of New York, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Inception, and while I haven't seen them yet I'm pretty sure I'll put Shutter Island and Body of Lies on this list.  Two of these movies are probably in my Top 10, Inceptions and The Departed.  So yeah... I'm now a Leo fan.  Crap.

Restaurant Log

New joint added.... location: Spokane, WA