Smörgåsbord

The Economic Crisis Made Simple...

2008-10-19T16:55:15Z

but finally not in a patronizing way.

John Rogers has linked to two stories by This American Life that do a fantastic job of explaining what the economic crisis is and how it came to be. The first story, The Giant Pool of Money, was produced back in May and covers the Mortgage Crisis. The second, Another Frightening Show About the Economy, was produced a couple weeks ago and covers the subsequent Credit Crisis and the Bailout. If you haven't already you should give them a listen. They do a great job of making these complex issues accessible to those of us who aren't experts in finance.

A potentially ignorant and insulting question

2008-10-03T05:07:03Z

Watching the Presidential debate last week I noticed something peculiar about John McCain. When he started talking about the Iraq War he seemed practically obsessed about the prospect of losing or ever admitting defeat. He seems incapable of accepting any outcome other than a complete military victory. Maybe I'm off base here, but I am beginning to have serious concerns about his ability to make calm, rational decisions regarding the Iraq War or any war for that matter. Is it far-fetched to wonder how the Vietnam War affected him psychologically? It might go a long way in explaining why he believes so strongly that victory is needed to justify the loss of life in Iraq irregardless of the costs of continuing the war. What do you think?

For the politically minded

2008-09-26T14:25:29Z

As of this morning I am registered to vote in North Carolina.

The Return of the Sith Lord of the Ice

2008-09-26T14:05:58Z

Some of you may remember my talk earlier this year about the Ottawa Senators goaltender Martin Gerber and his likeness to a certain Sith Lord. Well he's really taken it to heart and has a brand new mask this season.

I love it!

What I love even more was the link this article chose to use in referencing Star Wars fans. I'm not sure when Shawn became the unofficial face of Star Wars fandom, but I can't think of a better man to take up that mantle.

I'm also rather fond of the last link in the article. The day when Gerber can fling Steve Downie into the boards like a ragdoll is the day I know there is a God.

I hope there's a special place in hell for Clay Bennett (oh, and David Stern and Howard Schultz too)

2008-07-08T05:13:42Z

As a few of you may have heard, the Seattle Supersonics have moved to Oklahoma City. It's pretty late, so I'm not going to go into the details of the lies and betrayals that Clay Bennett, Howard Schultz, and the NBA perpetrated on the fans of Seattle right now. However, before I went to sleep I wanted to point out Clay Bennett's parting kick to Sonics fans' collective crotch.

Mr. Bennett, it's bad enough to steal another man's wife, but it takes an ungodly level of arrogance to begin photoshopping yourself into their old family photos. Well done, you pathetic, little worm.

We've officially sunk to a new low...

2008-06-12T23:07:46Z

There's suck, then there's suck that warrants getting into The Onion.

Holy crap...

2008-04-15T20:34:10Z

I've dreamed of this day for a long time, and it has finally come. NEIL'S BACK!

I promised myself that if he went back on tour I'd see him come hell or high water. He's doing one show in DC, but it'll be hard for me to pass up seeing him in the Hollywood Bowl (October 1st and 2nd). The tickets are certainly expensive, but this is a once in a lifetime experience. I'm not sure I can miss out.

So happy!

UPDATE (4/17/08):

Upon reflection (and cursory observation of my tax-ravaged bank account) it is very unlikely that I'll be able to afford to see Neil in concert during his current patrician-oriented tour.

Balls. Capitalism is a fickle mistress. :(

It's pasty time!

2008-03-14T18:01:32Z

I'm flying out to Phoenix this evening for five days of sunshine, Mariners baseball, and golf with my dad. Internet access shouldn't be a huge deal down there, but just in case it is you may be better off calling me for anything urgent. Be forewarned however that I may not pick up if my mouth is full of beer and delicious Cornish pasties :)

If only he could force choke Darcy Tucker...

2008-03-11T17:26:38Z

Most of you aren't big sports fans and none of you follow the Ottawa Senators, so you're probably not familiar with my new favorite goalie, Martin Gerber

or as he's more affectionately known to Senators fans, Darth Gerber!

He started wearing the black mask at the start of the season because he had a new mask being painted up, but the team had so much success with the black mask he just kept right on wearing it. At some point the Darth Gerber nickname stuck, and he's become something of a geek folk hero with the fans.

My favorite part is that when he removes his mask, Gerber changes from a dark, imposing figure to a balding white dude. Just like Vader! Fantastic :)

I'd buy it

2008-03-10T16:23:42Z

After witnessing some stupid teenagers (redundant, I know) at the mall a few weeks ago, I had a neat idea for a t-shirt slogan:

"Live the dream. Slap a teenager."

A query

2008-03-08T08:42:05Z

What the hell am I supposed to do with 19 cupcakes and a tub of homemade frosting?!?!

I suppose I should put this here too

2008-03-07T23:28:55Z

From aaronjv. My life in six words:

Much promise yet unfulfilled. Hey, beer!

Cupcakes or bust

2008-03-07T17:49:11Z

After hours of working from home yesterday I was getting a little stir crazy, so I took some advice from Julia Wertz and decided to make Amy Sedaris' cupcakes. I don't usually use comedic or artistic talent as a reliable gauge of culinary skill, but I really had nothing better to do so I figured what the hell. Before getting started I decided to take inventory of our supplies in the kitchen only to discover that we had two of the 10 ingredients needed to fulfill my cakey ambitions (vanilla and sugar). This was troubling, especially given how often my roommate cooks. However any doubts I had were quickly squelched by remembering that abandoning the cupcake quest meant spending my evening the gym*.

Following a moderately pricey trip to the store ($14 for two cupcake cooking trays?) I was back and ready to get my bake on. Well that is I would have been if I could have found the beater attachments... (grumble grumble... searching through boxes of unpacked kitchen ware in my room... 30 minutes elapse... grumble) Oh right, they're in the one drawer in the kitchen that I hadn't checked where I had in fact put them myself when I unpacked months ago. >:-( Okay, NOW I'm ready to... why don't we have any large bowls? (grumble grumble... 5 minutes elapse... forced to pull flimsy red salad bowl out of yet another unpacked box in my room... grumble) Alright. Fine. NOW I'm ready to bake. Hmm... why are the sugar and butter not beating well together? Fuck me, I forgot to let the butter thaw out. Well, I've just used up all of the sugar in the apartment, so it's either roll with it or start measuring out 1 and 3/4 cups of Splenda from those little individual packets like a crazy person... Fuck it, I'm hungry! So I pressed on. No liquid measuring cups? Fuck it. The Jericho episode I'm watching from cbs.com isn't working? Fuck it. I will not be denied.

Finally, after numerous delays and countless health code violations the cupcakes popped out of the oven, and you know what? They turned out to be really good! Even my roommate liked them. The only problem is that I'm now stuck with 20+ cupcakes in an empty apartment this weekend. I'd try to give them away, but the only people I can think of that would take cupcakes from a stranger are children, and I'm sure as hell not going to prison over surplus cupcakes! With a pretty face like mine? I'd be used as currency. Well that was a depressing thought... I think I'll cheer myself up with a cupcake :)

* For the econ/math crowd: U(cupcakes) > U(sweaty Nick on an exercise bike being forced to listen to the pop hits of today and yesterday while sadly realizing that there are still no cute girls at the Gold's Gym in Rockville, Maryland)

On the Texas Democratic Primary

2008-03-05T18:43:22Z

From Slate:

Listening to [an Obama supporter] talk, two young female Chili's employees defended Hillary. "I like her resistance to mandatory testing," a young blonde named Sarah told me. Conversation turned to the rumors that Obama was Muslim. Both women said they thought it was possible Obama was not Christian at all but a secret agent of Islam. "You always hear rumors about them working from the inside out," Sarah told me.

Wow. Just... wow. The Hillary staffer that "leaked" that photo of Obama in native Ethiopian garb must be so proud.

Buckshot post: Entertainment Edition

2008-02-07T05:59:07Z

There's a variety of topics that I'd like to post about, so I figured why not post about them all at once? So... that's what I did... or will do, I suppose, as soon as I stop talking about the fact that I did/will do it and get on with the act of doing it.

Am I supposed I press a button or something?

Books:

Since it easier to take the metro into work than driving (so much easier), I've had time to read for a change. In the four and a half months I've been in DC I've read... ten books? I know that's not a lot for you speed readers, but that's quite a bit for me. In fact I'd bet that that's more books than I've read in the last couple of years combined. Ouch... Specifically I read:

- The Hyperion Cantos:
Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion
Endymion
The Rise of Endymion
- Snow Crash
- Good Omens
- The Horus Heresy:
(Warhammer 40K... lame I know, but the idea of reading books laying out the Horus Heresy was just too cool to pass up)
Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy in Flames
Flight of the Eisenstein

I currently starting the next book in The Horus Heresy series, Fulgrim.

Music:

I've discovered a few good artists recently, but I need to go to bed so here's two. Be warned, my taste in music is often... umm... wussy? Hahaha If you're taste in music does not intersect with that portion of the Musical Taste Venn Diagram I'd suggest skipping this bit.

- Missy Higgins

I'd never heard of her before, but apparently Missy's a huge artist over in Australia. I found her in the Morning Becomes Eclectic archives on kcrw's website (where I've found a lot of my favorite bands). She's pretty young, so her songs tend to feel very youth oriented and poppy (at least I think so) but her music is very heartfelt and well done. She's very talented, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her make it big in the states before too long. It certainly doesn't hurt that she's really cute (what is it with me and artsy girls?).

- Meiko

A friend of mine introduced her to me, so I was a little dubious. You never know exactly what you're going to get when a friend gives you a CD. Then again that is how I first heard Final Straw by Snow Patrol (thanks again, Faith!) and Black Holes and Revelations by Muse (you rock, Chris)... Anyway I was pleasantly surprised. Her music is much more laid back than Missy's, giving it a rather calming effect. It's the kind of music that I love to listen to on a lazy Sunday afternoon in my car. Okay, I clearly suck at describing music. Her self-titled debut album is available on her website if you're interested. Check it out!

It doesn't hurt that she's also really cute. Not at all.

I should also mention that I've re-fallen in love with two JoCo songs: Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance and Rock and Roll Boy (so cute!). I have to mention that I had never heard of Soterios Johnson before I heard this song, but I just picture Steve Innskeep and it's still very funny :)

Alright, I have to be at a seminar tomorrow at 9 am, so I'd better hit the sack. Tomorrow I'll put in my two cents on movies and the election.

Adam Jones may be gone, but it doesn't mean we can't still get funky!

2008-01-28T04:59:12Z

Without further ado, on to Part Two of Two of my trip to DC:

Having escaped Oklahoma with my life and most of my internal organs, my mom and I crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas. Right off the bat I knew that I'd like Arkansas. For one thing, it wasn't Oklahoma. For another, the endless boredom of the plains was replaced by lush forests. I'm always a sucker for forests. I think it comes from growing up in the Northwest. On our way into Little Rock, we finally took some back roads on the trip. We didn't have much time to do that on the rest of the trip (one week is just not enough time to do extensive/slow sightseeing), but I'm really glad we did because it let me see the real Arkansas in all its glory. That glory? A church damn near every block. I can't honestly imagine how rural Arkansas has enough people to warrant that many churches (unless you're looking at a 90+% church attendance rate... actually come to think of it, that's probably not too far fetched). Our one stop in Arkansas was at the Old Mill in Little Rock. In the 1930's an eccentric Little Rocker decided to build a park that celebrated the old mills that used to dot the landscape of Arkansas (what is it with eccentrics building things in the Heartland?) . The whole park is made to resemble an old mill with a pond, a river, and even bridges around it. The really cool part is that all of the non-plant and water parts of the park are made out of cement. Even the rainwater barrel outside the mill! It's a lot like a very hard and abrasive theme park with an extremely poorly market-tested theme (kingdom of magic and wonder > the milling of corn and/or grain). Honestly though, it's a very neat place, and you should definitely stop by if you ever find yourself in Little Rock (hard to imagine, I know, but if you ever get lost on a river rafting expedition or decide to enter the glamorous world of moonshine distribution you'll be grateful I gave you the 411 on the Ol' Rock).

Next up was the great state of Tennessee and Memphis, the home of Elvis. Unfortunately Graceland apparently closes exactly 5 minutes before I arrive, so there went that. We pushed on to Knoxville. It's not the home of Elvis, but it is the home to a replica of the Parthenon in Athens. I'm not talking about a tiny replica, we're talking about a life-sized replica complete with a statue of Athena inside. It may sound silly, but I really liked it! The overweight Southern tourists that were there with us may have spoiled the atmosphere a bit, but baring the unlikely invention and personal acquisition of a time machine it's still the closest I'll get to ancient Greece for the foreseeable future. The history nerd in me was tickled pink. After Nashville we headed through the Great Smokey Mountains. We had planned on taking a hike in the mountains, but a storm and our lack of desire to walk in storms ended that plan right fast. Luckily although the rain clouds ruined our hiking plans they did end up showing us why they're called the Great Smokey Mountains. Again corny I know, but it was very pretty with just the right hint of spooky. The wispy clouds clawing their way through the mountain passes gave it a very Lovecraftian feel. My mom didn't know what the hell I was talking about, but it I still got a kick out of it.

This is probably as good a time any to mention that over the last couple of weeks I've had a few dreams involving museums full of artifacts of ancient kings who eventually rise again as demigods full of evil Nick-killing power, at which point end up running away a lot. I blame you for this Vanek!

After getting through the mountains, we found ourselves in North Carolina, Variety Vacation Land! We decided to crash in Greensboro, where we met a nice young woman at the Outback Steak House. When we told her our story about our trip she asked us why in the world we had stopped in Greensboro, North Carolina. We really didn't have a good answer. The next day we continued east to Durham, where we visited Duke University and my old boss, Duncan, and my old coworker, Pete, who had just moved out there. The Duke campus is pretty in the more traditional grey stone pseudo-Engish countryside style. In fact much of it feels a bit like Hogwarts... if Hogwarts was located in the American South. Personally I prefer UCLA's red style (less of a Disney feel to it, ironically enough). We had a lovely lunch with Duncan, Pete, and Pete's fiancee, Maria before we headed north on the home stretch toward DC. We originally planned on stopping in Richmond to see the heart of the Confederacy and all that, but after almost a week of driving we were both sick to death of sitting in the car. Seeing as my mom's sister lives just a half hour outside of DC, we just kept on driving until we got to her place (and her comfy couch and plentiful supply of cold beers).

The next day we unloaded all of my stuff at my new apartment in Rockville, Maryland with my old college friend, Sheetal (my buddy, Eric's old roommate for those of you in the know). It felt pretty good to finally get the load off of my poor car. I wasn't sure if it was going to make it all the way across the country with a big old trailer hitched to it's ass, but it did it! I was so proud :) I should get it the car equivalent of a gold star. Any ideas? Maybe I'll get a boss trailer hitch cover!

...

Clearly I've been in the South too long. That's right. Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Bit of a shock, I can tell you. Sigh... I live in the South. Can't say I ever expected to say that.

Well that closes out the second part of the trip to DC. Next time we'll cover my life in DC and my work at the World Bank. Night all!

PS - Title explained here. This will pretty much only interest Aaron... maybe. If you're not Aaron, you've been warned.

I'm alive.... ALIVE!

2008-01-14T05:04:34Z

Sorry for my extended absence. I’d like to say that I’ve been too incredibly busy to write, but the truth is that I have a nasty lazy streak that reared its ugly head yet again. Luckily after enough pestering from concerned parties (Matt, Scott, etc), I’m finally back on this little corner of the interweb! There’s obviously a lot to write about, but instead of a all-friends-page-consuming post that will make you all curse me to Hades I’ll break it up into separate posts. I also want to apologize for the lack of photos. I actually do have pictures from the trip, but haven’t had a chance to put them up online yet. I’ll link to them as soon as I get them up.

Let’s start with my move to DC (Part One of Two):

As most of you probably already know, in September I moved from Los Angeles to Washington DC. It wasn’t an easy decision for me. I’d lived in LA for eight years and had a great life (mainly because of all of my fantastic friends), but I’d honestly gotten a little too comfortable there. I’d been working at the same job at UCLA for four years, all the while saying that it was just a stepping stone to post graduate work and bigger things. While that may have been a convincing argument for the first couple of years it certainly wasn’t for the last two. When my job moved to Duke University I was finally forced to make a decision on my future.

Ever since graduation I had just assumed that I would go into economics research (that’s just what you do after you get a bachelor’s degree, right?) , but after a couple of years I started having doubts about that. I gave serious consideration to staying in LA and changing lines of work, but when I was offered a job to perform research at the World Bank it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. It wasn’t a huge commitment (just one year, plus more if I want it) and will provide me with both a good idea if I want to continue in economics research and solid resume help if I do. Anyway, enough work talk. On to the trip!

After my awesome going away party, my Mom and I headed out on our long drive east. Our route basically followed I-40, right through the heart of the country. Things started off well in Arizona. The Grand Canyon was… well… big. Really really big. I don’t think you can truly appreciate the size of it unless you see it in person. Of course now I have to find a way to visit the Valles Marineris! I’ll let you all know if I do ;) On the way back to the interstate, we passed through Flagstaff, which was a surprisingly beautiful area. Since all of my previous trips to Arizona have been to Phoenix and Tuscon, I forgot that not all of the state is a arid wasteland. Flagstaff is in the mountains, so the area bears a greater similarity to the pine forests of the Cascades back in Washington than the desert in southern Arizona. Speaking of deserts, our next stop was the Petrified National Forest and the breath-taking Painted Desert. This was probably my favorite part of our trip. The park is filled with dunes made up of stratified layers of varying colored minerals (mainly pink… go figure). I’d highly recommend it to anyone going to northern Arizona (particularly the vistas on the northern end of the park). Finally though before we left the Southwest for good, I had to make one more stop. On the way through New Mexico, we stopped in Santa Fe for my last taste of decent Mexican food. After fours months here in DC, I can safely (and sadly) say that I’m REALLY glad I made that stop. You guys still in LA should enjoy what you have. I’d kill for a decent enchilada…. well maybe not kill, but I’d certainly hurt someone’s feelings.

The next phase of the trip sent us through the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma. The less said about those places the better, but for the sake of completeness I’ll go on. I looked into alternative routes, unfortunately they all either involved a disturbingly slow trip through Kansas or an even longer time spent in Texas. The former would extend our time in middle America by an unacceptable amount, which was a no go, while the latter was rejected due to my general life philosophy to spend as little time in Texas as humanly possible. That left us with our original plan to just hunker down and get through it as quickly as we could.

There was one bright spot in Texas (go figure), the Cadillac Ranch. When I first saw it I imagined a farmer in Texas was looking at his field one day and thought to himself (or possibly his dog), “Hmm… I have all this here land and all of these here Cadillacs. Hmm… Got it! Let’s bury them sons of bitches in the ground!” And so he did. (The real story appears to be much less fun, so I’ll go with mine) If you take the service road next to I-40 just before you get to Amarillo, you will find eight classic Cadillac cars buried front-first halfway into the ground in a row. I kid, but It’s actually very cool. After years of encouraging visitors to spray grafitti on the cars it has less crazy-hick feel about it and more corny yet cool public art (think Venice Beach meets Texas farmland).

The only bright spot about Oklahoma is that I didn’t die there. Seriously. Oklahoma sucked. I assure you that that has nothing to do with them stealing our basketball team. There truly is nothing worth seeing there.

(Part Two of Two: Coming tomorrow someday soon!)

Quickie

2007-04-21T07:05:09Z

I had a great time at the ballgame tonight, although the M's were the biggest bunch of sucks that ever did suck. My favorite thought of the night:

(While looking at the Panda Express sign in left field)

"'Gourmet Chinese Food'... Three things that Panda Express is certainly not"

Rough day on the diamond

2007-03-12T08:48:29Z

I tend to think that my natural position in baseball is in the outfield. I've got good speed, and I get pretty good reads on the ball. However today our manager shifted me to shortstop. This seemed like a pretty odd move given that up until literally minutes before game time I was the Rick Ankiel of 16" softball. My brain knew where to throw the ball, but there was some sort of disconnect when it came time to make my arm throw it there. Luckily I'd suddenly remembered how to throw a ball during warm-ups, so despite my fear I figured I'd do okay... My bad. Man, did I suck out there. I was so nervous that I kept rushing my throws and sending them careening into the fence. I think I cost the team somewhere around 4 runs single-handedly! It got to the point that after giving up the go ahead runs with another bad throw in the last inning, I unloaded a pretty loud profanity in a park full of children after popping up with my last at bat. Not exactly my proudest hour... Anyway I don't know where I'll play the next time out, but I'm actually looking forward to the challenge of playing shortstop again if called upon to do it. :)

Oh, we won 10-9. The two hitters following me in the line-up knocked in the tieing and winning runs. Hell of a game :)

A moment of honesty

2007-03-11T11:43:09Z

I haven't really talked to anybody about this because I as certain it was the kind of thing that most people wouldn't really be comfortable talking about, but after Aaron's post the other day and what happened tonight I figure what the fuck. The topic of my mortality has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Pretty much ever since my birthday. I'm not sure if it's the product of turning 26 or what, but I recently came to the stark realization that I'm going to die one day. Obviously it's something that we all know is going to happen throughout most of our lives, but it never really struck me as as something of such certainty as it did over the last few weeks. Death is something I've never been comfortable with. I can remember running into my Dad's room when I was a little kid (probably 10 or so), crying my eyes out, screaming "I don't want to die!" Until the last few weeks I've been able to ignore the issue by and large, but turning 26 and my not too distant departure from LA seem to have brought the issue to a head (I've always been uncomfortable with drastic changes).

The reason I bring this issue up is that I feel like I've turned a corner lately. It's taken quite a few weeks, but I feel like I'm making some progress of accepting my death. Tonight was kind of a capper on the whole thing. I was out celebrating my best friend's birthday down in Santa Monica when somebody came up with the idea of jumping in the ocean to celebrate the whole thing. I'm not entirely sure who came up with the idea but the it struck home with me. By the time we got down to the water everyone but I chickened out. I can't say enough how glad I am that I jumped in the ocean. I couldn't help but see jumping in the water as a way of telling the world "I will die one day, but fuck you! Right now I'm alive!" I don't think I've felt that alive in a long time! Even as the waves came crashing in above my head, I stood there in nothing but my boxers and took it without hesitation or fear. The ocean could hit me all it wanted, but I was still there. It's amazing how much such a small action can remind you how much fun life can be :) Anyway, thanks for reading this far! I appreciate it.

Lazy's not my middle name, but it should be

2007-02-28T19:46:22Z

February almost disappeared before I posted again, but like a viper poised to strike I latched onto my prey at the last possible moment. Let the feast begin!

Let's see... Since I last posted I've shaved off my mighty face-eating* beard, visited Florida for my grandmother's 90th birthday, had a birthday extravaganza, started up another season of softball, and saw Jonathan Coulton in concert.

I suppose the most interesting bit was my birthday. On Saturday the 17th I held a day long celebration of the fact that I haven't died yet. It began with a trip to the Kings Head in the morning to watch Reading play Manchester United in Round 5 of the FA Cup. The game was not the most exciting because Reading played a tight defensive game instead of their usual attacking style of play, but they did pull out a 1-1 draw!

Next up was paintballing! I used to go paintballing for my birthday back in high school, so this trip was pretty nostalgic for me. I can't say enough how grateful I am that 15 of my friends drove all the way to Brea to shoot me with balls of paint. Everyone seemed to have a blast, and I can't wait to go paintballing again in the near future. Although I think the next trip will be to an outdoor place. Anyone interested?

Finally we returned to the westside for dinner at the Kings Head (yeah, I know we were there a lot that day, but it seemed like a decent idea given its location and abundance of my favorite beers/ciders... screw you guys it was my damn birthday!). Again we had a ton of people show up (around 25?!?!). I'm still blown away to have so many friends come down to help celebrate my birthday :) Thanks to everyone to helped make this year's birthday one of the best ever!

I'd like to give an extra thanks to Chris for driving me all of the way back home from the pub to pick up my ID before dinner. You're a gentleman, sir!

I'd also like to give extra un-thanks to the folks who played poker all night while I walked all the way home from the Kings Head on my own because there were inexplicably no taxis to be found. Your dedication to gaming astounds even me.

Well, I'd better get back to work! It's almost time to go into Westwood and get some comics. I love comic book Wednesdays :)

Oh, Reading ended up losing the replay 3-2 in a valiant effort. What can I say? Losing's never fun, but the boys made me proud!

* Courtesy of Colleen K.

What is up, Dawg.

2007-02-05T08:28:17Z

Hey, now! The Colts won :) Seeing as Eric's a big fan, and Dallas Clark's my non-Seahawk man crush I'm quite happy! :D Not to mention that I won $95 in the Super Bowl pool! The commercials were by and large forgettable. It seems like they've just stopped trying...

My birthday is just around the corner (early planning indicates a trip to the King's Head and drunken karaoke), but first I'm flying out to Florida to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday party! I still have all four of my grandparents, which is something that I don't think I appreciate enough sometimes. I love them all very much, and I'm very very lucky to have them all as long as I have. Hopefully I can have them all around for awhile longer :)

Man, celebrating the Colts win with Eric has got me a bit tipsy... ooo, comic books! I'll try to work through the stack before I go to bed. See, Matt! I'm trying! And all it took was some moderate liver damage. God help me if I ever get around to reading Watchmen...

PS - URRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

PPS - Magners is a lovely beverage. If only I could spin this into some sort of promotional deal. Preferably one with a payment system that involves Magners.

Damnest thing I've ever seen

2007-01-07T08:38:07Z

I have no idea how that ball slipped out of Romo's hands, but I do know that the Seahawks will be playing again next weekend :)

Sometimes I swear...

2006-12-16T11:28:31Z

that I'm 25 going on 12. Everytime I read the title of this article, I get a stupid smirk on my face :)

(Not to mention the caption of the photo... HAHAHA)

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

2006-12-14T01:45:41Z

This one goes out to the Mariners and baseball fans out there.

If you're an M's fan like myself then I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you have to put up with an imcompetent GM that has traded away three talented young players for two aging mediocre players. I'm sorry that you have had to put up with three (soon to be four) god awful seasons. I'm sorry that your team is now the laughing stock of the league. I'm sorry that you're stuck rooting for a piece of crap team because you were unfortunate enough to grow up in Seattle. You'd better find yourself a good bar because it's going to be a looooong next 5 or 10 seasons.

If you're a fan of another team, you should tell your GM to give Bill Bavasi a call. With luck you may be able to get Ichiro and King Felix for a sack of beans and sprinkle of fairy dust, but you'd better act fast! We only have so many talented players left to trade you.

Christ.... this is depressing. Thanks, Bill.