Damn you, damn the broccoli, and damn the Wright Brothers!

"Tony, you never did tell us how you made the jump from selling patio furniture to precision optics."

2006-03-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

I suck at life. I have not updated this in more than a month. But there is good news. I have had a lot of shit finish up recently and new stuff is coming my way. Part of my Lenten promise (that I'll start now) is to blog more often. Why? I don't know, it's the only rationalizing I can think of to make myself do this more. The whole point of this thing was to help me explore my creative side and to write more so I'm going to get back to basics and not worry if I have good material or funny stories. It'll be entertaing, I promise.

Choosy Moms Choose Jif

2006-02-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

I've got the flu. I can't eat cause I feel sick, but then I get sick when I eat. Ugh. I wish this weather would warm up a bit; I've got the chills and I think I've "shook" off five pounds.

What are you supposed to drink/eat with the flu? OJ? Sprite? Water? Crackers? I never know.

I'm The Shadow On The Ground

2006-01-22T02:15:00.000-05:00

I miss you guys.

I have not listened to enough music lately.

I'll tell you about New York later today...

bye.

Breedlove just looks really happy right now...

2006-01-12T23:14:00.000-05:00

So I'm back. Hopefully. I'm sure.

This semester has started off amazing so far. I'm in the middle of a Rush Chapter meeting right and we've had so many great guys come through in the last two days.

New Year's Eve ---- > now:

New Year's Eve was really, really enjoyable. Katie and I went to the mall, got some jeans, a radar detector (her christmas present to me), and a jacket. That night was fun. It wasn't a blast, it wasn't a riot, which is exactly what I didn't want. Katie and I headed up to her friend's house up in Celina, Ohio and we chilled with her friends, Ashley and Drew, and a few others. A little card game with some wine, beer pong in the basement, and champagne at midnight. I have some great pictures that I will hopefully put up on my new photo site. yeaaaaaaaah, i have to get that done.

Sunday: I watched the Bengals game with my family. They played 2nd team against the Chiefs and bombed. It was Ok, I was going to Pittsburgh the next weekend. After that we had my two aunts, cousins, and my mom's parents/dad's mother over for dinner. It was very soon after the Christmas get-together so I didn't have anything new to bullshit about.

Monday: Katie and I hung around all day setting up her new digital camera and then we watched the OSU - ND game. It was glorious. We kicked ass.

Tuesday: I moved Katie into her dorm room in Oxford.

Wed-Thurs: I wasted time playing Madden and Battlefront.

Friday: Went back to school to move in

Sat: Went back to school to hang out.

Sun:

wow.

My family has had Bengals tickets for 30 some years and this was one of the hardest days of my life as a sports fan. You've probably already read about the Cincinnati/Pittsburgh game in other bogs, espn, the radio, everywhere else and so I won't post too long. Also, I lose all my witty inspiration when I go back to write this shit. It was horrible: Palmer went down, Kitna was running around like a kid with ADD, CJ got no yards, Rudi had less than 30 carries. The Bengals just lost it. It was really, really hard to watch. I was so excited to be there with my Dad after years and years of growing up in a Bengals household. I hope to write more on this in the offseason.

This past week I started my classes; it's gone by too fast to anything meaningful. Rush started. It's taking forever. I promise if I write about things when it happens, it will be funnier and more entertaining.

seacrest out.

Are You Ready For Some FOOTBAAALL?!?

2005-12-27T00:24:00.000-05:00

Goodbye Monday Night Football. You will be missed.

O Holy Night

2005-12-24T23:13:00.000-05:00

Just finished watching "It's a Wonderful Life." Best Christmas movie ever (with Christmas Vacation and the Grinch in close company). I swear, I've seen it 30 times, and I cry every time. What's it to you, anyway!?!

Now I'm getting ready for midnight Mass at St. Patrick's. Hopefully the music group beefs it up this year and gives us some good ol' Christmas tunes.

I'll post later while I wait for St. Nick down in the den...

whodey.

2005-12-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

bartender please

2005-12-24T02:34:00.000-05:00

great night. I went down to my mom's family christmas in Centerville and hung out with my cousins for the night. We are Italian so lasagna is the main course, of course. whoa, that was weird...a horse.

My cousin Alex wins the "will harrelson gift giver of the night award" for his gift of bar-noculars and a bottle of Skyy vodka. yeah, he pretty much wins hands down. I also got a copy of Dave Matthews Band: Live at Folsom Field from my other cousin, Adrian and my Aunt Betsey.

I'm now just polishing off a bottle of Johnny Walker Red and watching the Folsom Field dvd. It's from July of 2001, so it features a ton of the Lilywhite Sessions. The first DMB dvd I ever watched was Central Park (2003) so this is a lot different. Much rawer (if that's a word) and obviously less production. Fenton is amazing.

Ok, off to finish this concert and then to bed...long day ahead of me tommorrow. stay tuned for details. i told you they were coming!

Merry Christmas Eve.

Ok, so a month break was long enough...

2005-12-23T01:49:00.000-05:00

I'm back, and hopefully for good this time. I'll try and piece together the last month as best I can and quickly at that.

Thanksgiving break was fine, it went by really quickly. Family at our house this year, cousin and I got boozed up before dinner, fell asleep soon after due to the damn tryptiphan or whatever. I ended up doing nothing productive but slept in till noon or later every morning. Well deserved sleep
The following week was really busy; only two weeks of classes till finals. I actually started some "study-organizing" to prepare for finals early. I think it helped.
Saturday the 3rd was the DrunkShoe Christmas Party. It was a huge success! We bought two punch bowls, two liters of hawaiian punch, four quarts of Southern Comfort Egg Nog, a fifth of bacardi, a fifth of lady bligh, and a fifth of jim beam. Add some Goose Island Christmas Ale and a case of natty and it was a guaranteed success.
Sunday was last chapter meeting of the semester. We also listened to a speech by Dr. John Altman, a distinguished alumnus of Miami and a member of my father's fratnerity: Delta Tau Delta. He spoke to us on many issues including entrepenurship, stewardship, and the appreciation for greek life. It was very informative and he also showed us the dvd of the For Love and Honor campaign drive for Miami.
Tuesday our year end ARP project for accounting was due. It sucked. I still got a 97.
Wednesday was the start of a great weekend. We had a gift exchange at the house and I ended up with a bottle of Dickel. That was fun. After that, we all headed up to see Jason Aldean at Brick Street. It was a fun concert, great setlist, and he played some Skynyrd.
Thursday was my last ACC and Econ class of the semester! It also was one of the worst days of the semester as I hit a stressed out moment about exams, flipped my lid when I found out that I didn't have to take the final in Geography but ended up taking it anyway because I missed the class in which it was announced, and I lost my phone.
Friday I studied for a little while and then watched some of Elf at Katie's place.
Saturday I went home to study and get a temp demo phone.
Sunday I started studying full time at the library
Monday (12/12) was a full study day as I had no exams till Tuesday
Tuesday was study and Econ final
Wednesday was hell day: I had Geo, MIS, and ACC exams.
Thursday was a day to organize and study Music.
Friday I took my Music exam and helped katie move out of her apt.
Saturday I headed home...

This week had been pretty uneventful. I've worked on a few projects around the house, including framing a bunch of dave matthews band and o.a.r. posters sitting around my room. I also have helped my mom send out christmas cards and i've planned my trip to NYC in three weeks.

I'm so psyched to see O.A.R. live at Madison Square Garden! I have front row tickets which should just make this show unbelievable...I can't believe i'm flying into NYC on a saturday morning and leaving on a sunday afternoon just for one show.

Tonight (friday) is our family christmas on my mom's side. More updates after I re-watch conan.

Happy Festivus!

2005-12-23T01:41:00.000-05:00

A festivus for the rest of us...

It's three a.m. i'm drunk again, feeling heavy on my mind

2005-11-25T03:02:00.000-05:00

So after a nice night cap, i'm off to bed...

turkey day stories, last few weeks review, and a few tidbits before the end of this year to follow throughtout the next month - starting later today.

goodnight and goodluck.

p.s. Kingdom of Heaven rocks hard - i'll elaborate later.

the vaco show

2005-11-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

I hit the first tee with Tiger Woods force

2005-11-15T15:46:00.000-05:00

When ya wanna feel good call Jerry Jermaine!

Ok, I'm back from my hell week of exams. Updates to come later tonight...

No Day But Today

2005-11-07T16:31:00.000-05:00

The big screen version of Rent comes out on November 23rd. I keep seeing the trailers on the TV and i'm getting goosebumps just seeing the ads. I hope its not cheesy and overdone like some previous adaptations. The cast looks great: Rosario Dawson, Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs, Adam Pascal, etc.

New York City: Here I come! I'll be making my annual trek to the Big Apple to catch O.A.R. playing their first ever show at Madison Square Garden. This should be a treat to all friends and fans of the band as this is quite an improvment from the bar shows of OSU. It looks like I won't be flying out, instead I'll be driving. I think I'm going to save some money as I'm flying back into the city a month later to visit some family friends and attend a Bar Mitzvah.

Maybe updates from the weekend later.

free music...anyone?

2005-11-04T16:01:00.000-05:00

The BandFusion survey for this year is up at www.bandfusion.org.

If you are a Miami student, please take it to help pick this year's bandfusion act. Also, upon completetion, you have the chance to win a $25 iTunes gift cert.

It's the reverse-Fortune magazine curse!

2005-11-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

Amazon.com announced an exciting new service today. Amazon "Pages" and "Upgrade" are going to change the way books are purchased and read. Amazon "Pages" allows customers to buy whole books or just chapters in digital format for immediate reading. "Upgrade" allows customers who purchase the physical copy of the book to read a digital version anywhere in the world, provided they have web access. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos brought up a use for "Upgrade" which seems to me to be one of the few benefits of this program as of this point in time. He pointed out that software engineers, for example, are the types of customers who would want to purchase a physical book, keep a copy at home or at the office, and then have access to a digital copy at any jobsite in the world.

I know that I would have no use for a digital copy of a book for recreational purchases, but as a student, keeping a digital copy for reference after you sell your physical version could prove to be very useful and worth the few extra dollars. What do you think? Especially if you are a student like me who last semester recieved NOTHING back for my books at the end of April.

BannerWeb can....just.....zzzzzzzzz

2005-11-03T07:07:00.000-05:00

I hate scheduling. I hate the fact that I can't take classes because they aren't allowing me to declare the minor I want. I hate the fact that I can't take my MKT 291 class cause everyone has already signed up for it. I hate getting up at 6:50 am and why won't the effing dog stop barking. I need coffee.

Cha-Cha: It was invented to help white people dance to salsa

2005-11-02T20:35:00.000-05:00

I don't even know where we are in recapping last weekend's events. I think somewhere near saturday, I watched football and then went next door to a party at one of our out-of-house houses. it was fun.

Sunday Koebel and I went down to PBS to see the Bengals beat the Packers. Summary: They won, they didn't play great, they had +5 turnovers, it was nice weather, the hot dog buns are still stale, we went home. Sorry, I'm kind of into brevity tonight.

Sunday night was a long night of studying for my MIS exam on last monday and my econ quiz yesterday.

Monday: I took my MIS exam after studying for most of the day. I think I did well. Monday night after the exam I studied for Econ. Then I went to sleep.

Time to find dinner and then work on scheduling for next year. Later.

We didn't have to sit in the front anymore

2005-11-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

Watching Bill Clinton speak at Rosa Parks' funeral today reminded me what a talented speaker he is. It also reminded me of the many hilarious years of Saturday Night Live under his presidency. Darrell Hammond was hysterical as Bubba, and it's sad to think those years are long gone. Those years, which are marked by my last few years in elementary school and my first few in jr. high (where a child of my age shouldn't have been watching SNL), were of the pre 9-11 era. Looking back on it, it was a totally different world back then. I miss it.

Why do I feel like I'm in too deep?

2005-11-01T17:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, whirlwind of activity in the last few days...I'm just going to post three or four times today until it's all done.

Today started out remarkably like every other friggin Tuesday or Thursday this semester. Only on the days which start at 8 am for me, the sky decides to open up and drizzle small droplet-shaped reminders of how early and cold it is before 10. I've actually been sleeping relativly well the last couple of nights, which is probably attributed to the fact that I've been sleeping in my loft and not on the futon. Even though it is hotter than the blazes up near the celiing, the mattress does provide an added level of comfort which is perfect for resting ye olde noggin prior to econ quizzes. The weather was not a good indication of what is going to be a 17 hour day. Something was different though; for the first time in weeks, I actually stayed awake my entire Geography class and managed to multi-task by learning some volanic stuff while reviewing single-price monopolies.

The Econ quiz went well enough. Then it happened again. Instead of dozing off or sifting through today's version of the Miami LeftStudent (Jen, I love you), I paid attention and learned something. It didn't end there. I spent the entire lunch break section of my day working on BandFusion stuff and preparing for the meeting tonight. I also did some Accounting homework and cleaned my desk. weird.

My accounting prof tried to pop a quiz on us today, but then retracted as soon as he saw the ghost-like look on our faces. That class turned out to be my recreational reading class of the day; SI On Campus is a good view.

I helped Katie with her resume between ACC and my GEO lab. Brill is an interesting place to be in the middle of the day. It's actually busier than I thought it would be. After I headed off to finish the last two hours of my 6 hour and 45 min class load for the day. GEO lab was boring as usual, outdated government web sites with data on rainfall and river flows.

The walk home was perfect. The sun was back out, the leaves were really starting to hold their yellow and orange colors, and Bishop Woods was just filled with fall air. Per usual, my iPod was reading my mind and shuffled to Don't Drink The Water by Dave Matthews Band. Now, I've since decided that my iPod has a soul and we've met in a previous life becasue that thing knows what to play and when to play it. Either that or Steve Jobs is freaking the shit outta me. Back to the walk: I posted earlier about my faveorite seasonal albums and I would like to extend the winter-esque of BTCS to fall and winter-esque. I don't know if it is the crisp patterns of Carter's drumming, the harmonics provided by Tim Reynolds on guitar, or the murmurings of yet-ruined-by-pop-music Alanis Morrissette, but the whole damn album just screams of passion, emotion, and soul. It is undeniably in my top three albums of all time, and just might be my number one.

To the (extended weekend):

Thursday was fun as we had a party uptown. I appeared as Shrek and ended up scaring more people than appealing to their love of animated movie stars. I guess that's what happens when you buy a cheap latex mask from a cabbage-smelling seasonal halloween store owner.

Friday was standard up to the point that I went home after my 2pm class to watch my brother's final high school football game. Due to this lung-constricting cough I've developed, I made a conserted effort to get into the doctor's office as well. He loaded me up on allergy meds as usual and I was on my way. After rushing up to Sidney Memorial Stadium (which, as a twenty minute drive on the highway, seemed a helluva lot longer than it used to when I made it every morning and afternoon,) we made it in time to take pictures of my parents walking down the 50 yard line with my brother as part of the pre-game festivities.

It was sad to see our high school in such desrepair as a football school. There was barely 30 people there to see the start of the game (which isn't as bad considering there is only 200+ students) and almost no students. I definatly had the feeling of "whew, I got out while the going was still good." I hope that a new coaching change and some shakeup in the administration/goals of the school will get attendance back up and thriving. A small rural catholic high school can't operate under the same assumptions as it did twenty to thirty years ago.

After the game, which we lost 46-14, the whole family went to the after-party sponsored by two senior families. Only being a sophomore in college and two years out, it was odd to only recognize three or four kids at the party. I figured someone would recognize me whom I didn't know and would say hi, as I'm often forgetful, and who wouldn't be with kids three years younger, but no one seemed to know me. All the same to me, I avoided those akward "how have you been" conversations.

I did find one of the neatest things at the party though: some of the senior moms created senior books which had a profile for each senior football player and cheerleader. The profiles contained their highlights, other school activities, college futures, and most memorable moments. My brother's most memorable moment was the time my senior year when Coach put both of us in as linebackers in the final home game. I know it meant a lot to my mom and dad for two of their sons to be playing next to each other, but I didn't realize it meant so much to him until I read that. I didn't know it meant so much to me until after I read that, either.

Saturday I got up early to run a few errands and then head back to Oxford. I spent most of Saturday watching football and resting after being loaded up on allergy meds. A couple of the guys rounded up some of us to play an in-house football game (six on six) out at Cook Field. I know remember why I love pickup football games. I then remebered why being tackled at 165 lbs isn't the same as tackling someone at 188 lbs like I did as a linebacker in high school. I managed to get a first down on a pass despite my lack of offensive knowledge.

rest of saturday, sunday, and monday coming later...

Quote of the day: "I'm glad I'm not in a real major."
-Joesph Quille

Getting Lazy

2005-10-31T12:55:00.000-05:00

I have so much to write about - but I have an exam tonight and a quiz tommorrow morning so I'll try and do half of it tonight and the rest tommorrow...

whodey.

Speechless

2005-10-27T18:09:00.000-04:00

I saw a commerical today. In fact, it was a two minute infomercial. It was for the BustMaster. I shit you not. The BustMaster basically is a aerobic type resistance device that lifts, centers, and tones a woman's upper region. Lewis Black would probably see this and have a stroke (with a smile on his face of course). I...don't know....what to say.

I have finally found my costume. Out of the Enchanted Woods comes my donkey and I. Yes, I will be appearing this weekend as Shrek. I found the costume in Colerain at a seasonal store. It is a mask of Shrek's head and a "villager" outfit that would be complete with a mug of grog and a feathered hat. I really want someone to go as my donkey. Let's see if anyone is still costumeless.

Nyquil rocks you. HARD. I took some last night to stop my cough and didn't realize its effects. Apparently, a Starbucks coffee does not cancel out the Tequila like ability of NyQuil. I went to the library to study some Econ and was met full on by a wave of sleepiness. After twenty minutes, I realized that I was going to wake up there if I wasn't careful - so I went home. Slept like a log.

Also, I installed my adapter today in my Jeep for my iPod. Actually, Bass helped me, but I held the flashlight and the tools. It is hidden and pretty neat; I now can play my music directly into my stereo.

Time to go to wal-mart for shrek pants. maybe brown stuff for my donkey. later.

For Best Results...

2005-10-26T13:03:00.000-04:00

Bout time I update this, right? Well today I finally recieved my new 60gb video iPod. It took about a month, but I guess it's all worth it in the end. If it wasn't for that damned personailazation on the back of the first iPod, it never would have taken this much time and I never would have gotten the new iPod. Everything happens for a reason I guess.

If you have any suggestions for what I should be for Halloween, please leave a comment. I'm going shopping down in Colerain today and I have no idea what I'm going to find.

shoutouts for the day

Matthafling.com for giving me a shoutout. But I won't tell you to go visit his site, because he didn't tell his readers to visit mine. So, in conclusion, don't go visit his site. It sucks.
walkingparty.com is proving that mwp can find a great costume year after year. If Wes Anderson up and died, Marty might have a problem come the end of October.
Mike S needs to update more. The only problem is, if work doesn't come soon, he'll be doing it from a Starbucks. If you or someone you know has an empty couch in NYC for a few days, let me know and get this kid some shelter
FoodNetwork: Question of the week - "what is felijoada?"
silverware - thank you for helping me eat
futon - dude, you are comfy when i'm too tired to get to my bed.

I'll update this later...

Quote of the day: "May the Devil chase you all the days of your life, and may he never catch you."

-Desmond H.

Ebbs and Flows

2005-10-24T02:46:00.000-04:00

Today yielded the perfect fodder for blogging. It was a rainy, cold, introspective kind of fall day.

This morning started earlier than a normal Sunday morning in college, but this morning I was heading down to Paul Brown Stadium to see the Bengals in action and continuing their chase for the playoffs. With the temperature being near 40*, I swapped the traditional brews for tailgating for a coffee. It also helped me wake up a little for the back woods drive down to Cinci. I digress...Oxford has no good way to get to Cincinnati. It is all back roads that take you either west or east of the city. Anyway, I met my dad at a Cracker Barrel off of I-75. We headed down to the game anticipating more rain, those damn terrible towels, and a great Bengal performance.

Well two of three ain't bad. The Bengals had an off day and lost 27-16. I'm still frustrated so I won't rehash the entire game like I want to (that and it's three a.m. on a Monday morning,) but the Bengals basically lost the game in the first quarter. Of course there were the coulda won in the second half as it was only 7-6 at halftime, but the team lost all momentum after the first two drives. From there it was a massacre at the line. The Steelers ran the ball all over us like only Cowher can.

Now, the Steelers are a good football team and they were well coached, but they aren't great. If the Bengals had taken a 14-6 lead in the first quarter, I'm sure the game plan would have been different and we would've run up the score a little more. Any given Sunday though... This would be ebbs and flows numero uno.

As I got back home, I realized that I had done crap with my MIS assignment and I had to start. Laws Hall at 6:30 pm on a Sunday evening is hell. It's cold, it's dark, it's dreary, and it's filled with finance major nerds running calculations and models on the lab computers. No offense guys, I need you all to handle my immense piles of money when I make it big. Seriously, I'm going to be swimming in the chedda like Uncle Scrooge.

I don't know what this has to do with ebbs and flows other than one of the 300 tropical storms seemed to have descended on Oxford this weekend and I had to walk through it to Laws.

Most of my friends have been having rough stretches with classes and other work. I can't argue, I've been pretty swamped as well. I'm not much of a philosopher, but my best advice for one was that everything moves in ebbs and flows and you just have to ride it out until the next section. I seem to think that with age and maturity (which ironically happen during this thing called college...I won't even touch the maturity jokes,) we are able to recognize the bigger picture and really grasp onto what matters. I do a much better job handling various tasks and assignments at this point in my education compared to high school - which was filled with fewer causes of stress. As they say: "if you want something done, give it to a busy person." Who are they, anyway? Who...dey?

Friday night could possibly have been one of the most fun nights I've ever had in college. Following up on my last post, after a fantastic dinner at Fiesta Charra with Casey and Simon (try the #1, it fills you up quick and it's on the table before you are done ordering it,) we headed back to the house to prepare for the event known as Century Club. I won't post too much about it, as it's really a repetitive event: a shot every minute for one hundred minutes. However, it is just a riot as 200 some people pack into two rooms and get to know their neighbors. After, we headed up to Skipper's for a little late night socializing. I think. At least that's what they told me...I mean... Below is my dancing to a little Kanye West.

Saturday was definitely the laziest day I've had all semester. I think I woke up at 1 pm and did nothing but watch college football for 5 hours. Katie and I went out to eat with Lauren and Jeff at 45 East. I had the blackened chicken pasta dish - it hit the spot. Saturday night was really quiet around our homestead so I just hung out and went over to Katie's for a bit.

I missed a Matt Nathanson show tonight down in cincy as I didn't have my homework done and we had a chapter meeting. Oh well, I'll catch him down the road.

Song that I am listening to now (I hope I can figure out how to get this on the sidebar...):
Dave Matthews Band - Recently (from Red Rocks live album)

A Country Boy Caaaan Surviiiiiiive

2005-10-21T17:59:00.000-04:00

Finally, the hour of enjoyment has arrived. Our house is quiet, like the calm before a storm. Names are scribbled on the top of ten dollar hastly built wooden tables, the furniture is moved into the Lee room, and case upon case is delivered. Century Club will be a loud, sweaty, sing-along yet there seems to be no one in our house right now. They are all probably smarter than I am and are uptown filling their stomachs for the punishment they are about to recieve.

Note to self: do actual work tommorrow as the rest of this weekend should be a blast.

Last night wasn't a riot, but it was sure enjoyable. We had a party uptown and almost didn't make it on account of the rain. I learned the name of the girl who sits in front of me in my music class and found out she lives up near where I'm from. I also found out if some people don't know how to line dance, they will try to booty dance to Bocephus.

Today was a shitty weather day. My MIS class was boring as usual - I probably should be starting my SQL assingment since it's due on Wednesday. I skipped my music class so I could do some of the MIS stuff and also so I could run errands. Odd list: I had to ship off some Big Band cd's to my old show choir director (I played guitar and bass and was the band director senior year), dropped off Hitch at the video store, and dropped off some shirts at the cleaners.

Apple Update of the Day:
So I called again today attempting to get a tracking number or any other form of logistical shipping data. I got Tonya. Tonya was worthless...kinda. She almost ordered my iPod again, but I wouldn't let her until she found out my shipping info. Then she told me the glorious news: I would be instead recieving a BRAND NEW 60 gb video iPod. I'll finish this later - Shaw wants me to go to Fiesta Charra...

till I get back...