LISTS

BLOGGER NOTE - I went to Rome, NY, again this week, which some of you may remember was such a horribly boring place that it inspired me to start my blog this past fall. To commemorate this experience, I'm changin' up my blogging habits - FRIDAY is new blog day in Dayton, OH. Sundays are just bad news for me. Now, on to my blog, fully composed of lists.

LIST #1 - 6 Things I'm Thankful For (omitting the uber-obvious family / friends)

1. The US Government - "WHOA", you say, right??? The government is horrible and wastes money and doesn't get anything done, right? Well, yeah, that's sometimes true. BUT, our system is the no kidding real deal. We are inefficient because we have checks and balances (and because approximately 46% of civil servants are worthless), but we are incredibly stable even in this unprecedented economic downturn and still have the strongest military in the world. Next time you think it sucks here, ask Iceland (their government failed this year due to the economic problems). Or ask Zimbabwe (they suffer from hyper-inflation - a loaf of bread costs no kidding over a BILLION Zimbabwe dollars, and in the time it took me to type this the price probably doubled).
2. The internet - Its impact can hardly be overstated. Google it. (Fun fact - Google actually searches less than 10% of the internet. Holy IP addresses, batman!)
3. My career - I am probably part of the less than .01% of the population that is not concerned about losing their job, and is even thinking about a promotion. My job is solid, even if it pisses me off a fair amount of time. I really think I've noticed less whining about things at work because of the massive lay-offs and general job uncertainty in the population. And one consequence of my job is that I can PRACTICALLY transfer to anywhere in the country. I often wish I didn't live so far from home, and maybe sometime I will get a little closer.
4. The Human Psyche - I think that I've taken my math/science expertise as far as I care to (which isn't to say I'm some awesome expert. I've just lost the passion to proactively progress based on my own motivation.). But I am now much more intrigued by what motivates people, and how people make decisions, and other crap such as that. It's much more complicated than thermodynamic laws, cuz we (humans) still haven't really figured it out. If we ever knew how to predict human behavior we'd be done. Shut down the patent office!
5. Sports - Clearly I have spent an incredible amount of time honing my sports skills. Sports don't play a central role in my life anymore, but they are still a great way for me to relax and unwind. Watching Illinois basketball or Cardinals baseball is at the very least a great distraction from life stress. And I continue to play basketball, ominously awaiting the inevitable knee injury that will end that career. Volleyball has kind of turned into my high-action sport, because recreational basketball stinks (I'll complain about that in some other blog.) BUT, I'm also transitioning to 'old people' sports, like golf and bowling. Turns out these are a good time, and I think I can do them when I become fat from too many hours in front of the computer. Everybody wins! Well, everybody but my imaginary wife of the future. She'd better show her ass up quickly if she wants to make any bold requests like "don't get fat". That doesn't just not happen on its own.
   
6. Oliver - A dog? Seems trivial, but he's seriously one hell of a roommate.

This list is longer than I thought. I think I'll make 2 more (surprise) lists later in the weekend....

Note to Self

I owe Megan a '6 things' list next week. I forgot until I read Lou's blog....

A Week Late......

I missed last week (obviously). I blame my master's class and the Super Bowl. Now that that's out of the way.......



Last weekend seemse like a long time ago, so I'm a little short on details. I think maybe this is a good thing. If one can't remember it happening a week later it is probably unworthy of blog-dome. Maybe we should all wait a week before blogging. It might take our posts to the next level. Soon strangers will be reading our blogs because our lives sound so interesting!

Ice Storm From Hell

That doesn't even make any sense. It's hot there. Wherever that storm came from, it dumped a boatload of snow, then ice, then more snow on my little corner of the world in Dayton. We missed 2 days of work. Luckily the bowling alley stayed open, so the important part of my week was uninterrupted. :-)

Here's a picture (snapped from the iPhone) of deathly icicles hanging 3 stories above my condo last weekend. The photo doesn't seem to do them justice, as I am estimating the longest one at 9'. Monsters, seriously. They actually woke me up sunday morning when they fell. That wouldn't hold up in a court of law, but at the very least I was awakened by the shattering of ice outside, and when I took Oliver out to pee the icicles were gone. Thankfully my DirecTV dish was spared.

*flash forward to this week*

The Germ From Hell

Actually it's just a slight cold, but I'm stretching for a 'title theme' this week. I left work early monday, stayed home and slept all day tuesday, and left work early again on friday. I've been hitting the meth pretty hard to fight it off. That's what I call pseudoephedrine. It's an important ingredient for meth, and it's practically more difficult to purchase the stuff than it is to rob a bank. These precautions seems quite misguided, sort of like making me take my belt off before being allowed to board a plane. I think the people that make these rules have to know that we now have radars capable of looking through clothes. So why do I have to get down to my boxers to go through a metal detector? Why is the metal detector there at all anyway? Explosives aren't metal, and everybody puts 7 different electronic devices (GPS navigator, cell phone, watch, laptop, etc.) through the other scanning device. Any of these things could just as easily be a detonator. I think we're afraid to throw the metal detectors away because it would make people feel vulnerable. This paragraph was supposed to be about me being sick..............

The Season from Hell....

....is over! My 8th graders mercifully lost in the tournament this afternoon, ending a 2-10 campaign. Miraculously, we actually won in the 1st round of the tournament yesterday. It was a very dramatic and painful victory. Offense was difficult to identify for even the most focused observer. It was tied 13-13 at the end of regulation (yeah, really), but our offense caught fire in overtime, winning 17-13. Unfortunately reality came a-knocking today as we got beat down to the tune of 44-11 (-ish).

The Robot from Massachusetts

I got my iRobot Roomba in the mail this week. She needs a name. I'm not as blessed as many of you all in the creative names department, so please send inspired names to me. Here is a picture of her apparently eating Cap'n Crunch for breakfast, but this isn't at my house. Oliver would never allow that. As a matter of fact, Oliver needs to learn to respect *name here* a little more. He's been ran into by her no less than a dozen times. Each time Oliver reacts with subtle annoyance, if not full-blown disdain. This much is clear - "he's not frickin' movin' for no robot vacuum. Go around, *name here*!" I eagerly await my other recent (foolish) purchases, the SlapChop and ShamWows. But if you've seen the commercials, you know they are coming from Germany, so I wouldn't expect them for at least another week.

A Cautionary Tale for Body Hair

(Intriguing title, no?) First, I should say that I really appreciate all the fine gifts I received for Christmas. Sadly, one of them is torturing me daily. The fancy belt Megan bought me is reversible. The buckle side has a spring-loaded joint that lets you flip it around so that you can have either black or brown showing on the outside. It's genius. The downside is that it pulls out hair in the vicinity of the bellybutton with reckless abandon (specifically left of the belly button). The life lesson here is to keep your shirt tucked in, but I'm a slob sometimes. If I don't pull myself together I'm going to have assymetric body hair. Symmetry has been strongly tied to how attractive one is perceived by others, so if I ever plan to find a wife I'm gonna hafta address this situation before it's too late. If I'm 40 and still single, I will now blame Megan..........

:-)