Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The Final Countdown

Well I'm back in Nashville for the last two weeks of the semester. Seriously, two weeks from today I will have taken my last final and will be down to one semester until I join the real world. Unreal.

The rest of my time at home was good, pretty typical break-type stuff. Friday night I went to the Nisswa City of Lights Festival where they turn on all the Christmas lights in town and shoot off a bunch of fireworks. We missed the lighting, but the fireworks were pretty sweet. Then I hung out with Jenny for the rest of the night, which included chilling in the upstairs library at Adirondack with Abby and her friends, then watching Nacho Libre at my parents' house, which I did my best to stay awake during, but I'd been up since 4:30, so it was excusable.

Saturday I slept in until 10:30! So incredibly nice. My family went to Abby's first scrimmage of the year that afternoon, which they won pretty easily. That night we went to Grizzly's, where I had a nice pulled pork sandwich, and at night I went to Nikki's house to hang out with her and Maria, which included eating cookies and watching part of The Wedding Singer and all of The Break-Up (which was decent enough, not worth buying by any means).

Sunday we went to church, followed by pot roast and watching the Vikings actually win a game, as hard as they tried to lose it. Then, Abby, Sarah, John, and I went to the casino, since Abby is now old enough to do such things. I wasn't about to spend my own money there, so Sarah gave me $10, which I promptly put into a machine and turned into $49 on my second bet. I should have just cashed out that ticket, given Sarah her $10, kept $29, and spent the remaining $10, but for some reason that thought didn't cross my mind. I worked it all the way down to under $2 before eventually cashing out at $23, which I gave Sarah her $10 back from and spent the rest on a box of cookie dough that Abby was selling for a basketball fund-raiser. The girls both left with nothing, while John turned $20 into $53, so the boys made out just fine that night.

Monday was my travel day, which began with leaving the house at 5:45 to get to the airport for my 9:50 flight. I got to the Humphrey terminal around 8:30, and went right through security, so I watched a few episodes of Friends in the terminal. The flight to Milwaukee was great; if you ever get the chance to fly Midwest take it! Their seats are amazingly comfortable and roomy and they serve warm chocolate chip cookies for the snack! I loved it. Unfortunately, I had a 3 hour layover in Milwaukee, where I purchased the nastiest airport pizza ever, watched more Friends, and worked on the PowerPoint presentation for my principles of management class on Wednesday. Once back in Nashville, I worked at Reverb, picked Jon up from the airport, and pretty much went to bed.

The thought that I only have to go to the classes I had today twice more before their respective finals was so amazingly great, I loved it. My big projects left:

Wednesday - Group presentation in princ. of mgmt
Tuesday 12/5 - Group presentation in mgmt comm
Wednesday 12/6 - Princ of mgmt final
Thursday 12/7 - Business ethics final, Intellectual properties final
Friday 12/8 - Final paper for investments due (this will kill me. seriously)

I'm not exactly sure when my int'l business final is, I should find that out. And I have to go to class on Tuesday the 12th, even though my group isn't presenting, which I am completely fine with. After that, I'll probably head home on Wednesday or Thursday. So, I'm about two weeks from my return trip. Awesome.

Friday, November 24, 2006

I Heart Black Friday

A bit of an overview on my break so far:

Wednesday - My flights home were both pretty uneventful, as was the drive to Brainerd. We went to the Thanksgiving Eve service at Lakewood, and then Abby and I went with a bunch of people to Deja Vu. I had heard of, but not seen any real previews for, this film, so that was kind of fun to have no idea what the movie was about going in. Overall, a decent movie, worth the $7 it costs here, not sure I would pay $9 in Nashville though.

Thursday - I was able to sleep in until 9:15, when Abby was yelling for me to wake up from upstairs. We played a game of Spades before heading down to my cousins' place, a bit over 2 hours southeast of home. We were there before everyone else, and since it was so nice (over 50 anyway), we played Pounce/Nerts on their deck for an hour. We all got a little cold, so we retired to the basement to play DDR. Now I'm decent enough at DDR, and can rock it up on light mode. My cousins, on the other hand, are ridiculous. They were getting perfect scores on heavy mode. I would need to practice for quite a long time before I could be decent at standard, let alone heavy. A little humbling, not gonna lie. It was still fun though, and that's all I care about.

The rest of the family began arriving shortly after we finished, and the rest of the day was kind of a blur. I know it involved some good food, and I remember something about a bunch of first graders running around and piling on top of me, Abby, and Jess.

Friday - This day began at 4:45. It's become a bit of a family tradition to go shopping early on Black Friday, and we have perfected our system. We began at Best Buy, where apparently people had begun waiting in line at 3 PM the previous day. When we enter the store, Sarah automatically gets in line, which is already 30-40 people deep. Abby and I fan out in the store at this point, searching for the cheap DVDs we are looking for. This year we had the added bonus of Sarah's boyfriend John. He was looking for a microwave, and we lost him early on in the process. By the time Abby and I were ready to go, Sarah was at the front of the line, but John was nowhere to be seen. We searched around for a bit, and he eventually appeared out of the mass and started making his way up to Sarah's spot in line. This seemed to piss off a bunch of people in line, and probably rightfully so, but it doesn't really matter, because he got to her and they checked out. We were in and out of there in roughly 15 minutes, not bad at all.

Next up was Wal-Mart. Abby and I were the only ones who wanted anything there, so we walked around and Sarah and John went over to Kohls. The search for cheap DVDs in Wal-Mart seemed to be going nowhere; we looked in every potential place that they would normally put cheap movies and found nothing. As we were about to give up, Abby found an employee map of the store and we realized where the DVDs were: Frozen foods. I don't know why we didn't think to look there first, but we headed over and, sure enough, that's what we found. We picked through them, then got out of there.

By now it was 5:50 (we wasted far too much time at Wal-Mart). Abby needed to get some sleep before basketball practice, so she dropped me of at Kohls, where Sarah and John were waiting in line. That line took about 20 minutes to get through, so Target had been open for 20 minutes before we finally got there. I walked straight to the movies and picked up a few great deals, then found the couple finding toys for John's nieces and nephews. Checkout lines at Target were relatively short, and we got out of there by 7.

Next up was a quick stop at Fleet Farm, where I bought a Lasso Golf set (Polish Lawn Darts). I'm hoping it will fit in my luggage so I can bring it back with me now. After Fleet, we moved to Herbergers, where Sarah was going to get me part of my Christmas present, a 4-piece Pyrex bakeware set. Instead, we left with two 19-piece Pyrex sets, which we will be giving each other on Christmas. Then we met my parents at Burger King for a nice break of Croissan'wichs and bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits.

Having already shopped for 3 hours, we headed home to get ready for the day. I took a shower, and then my mom and I headed back to Herbergers around 9. I got my hair cut at 10 (much needed), and then we went back to Herbergers and hit the rest of the mall, followed by stops at Kohls, Bethany Bookstore, and the bank. We finally got back to the house at 12:30.

In the 3 hours since, I had lunch and went back to Target to get a few more gifts. At this point, I am finished with Sarah and Katie, and need to pick up a few more things for Abby and my parents. Beyond Lasso Golf, I got the following items for myself:

The Simpsons Season 5 ($16)
Friends Season 1 (14.99)
Friends Season 2 (14.88)
Arrested Development Season 3 (9.99)
You've Got Mail (3.88)
Dumb and Dumber (3.88)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (3.44)

So not a bad deal on the whole. My shopping is not complete, for sure not for presents, and possibly not for myself. I guess we'll find out.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Homeward bound

The past few days have been odd. And good.

Saturday, after Reverb, I went to Susan's to watch Ohio State beat up on Michigan (I kind of hope they have a rematch for the national championship and Michigan wins). We also ate a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. It was absolutely delicious, and we watched A Christmas Story afterwards, which I was reminded has one of the lamest endings in cinematic history. Still good overall, but it falls flat at the end. It should really just end with the duck having its head chopped off. That would be perfect.

Sunday was a typical Sunday. I had one of my worst Fantasy weeks ever, and yet still beat Doug by some miracle. That keeps me in second place behind Tyler, who I need to lose at some point because there is no way I can catch him in points. And Donovan McNabb had to go and get hurt, so I will rely on the newly-acquired Philip Rivers to guide my team to victory.

Community group on Sunday night was a good time too. That group is so different from my group last year, it's practically night and day. Yet both are good. This one has definitely grown on me as time has passed.

Yesterday was kind of pointless. I went running in the morning but my ankles started hurting quite a bit halfway through, so I walked the second half. I should maybe get some actual running shoes. Showdown was Showdown, as always. Then Reverb struck, followed by a session of watching the Office at the Gazebo, which was supposed to turn into Nerts at some point but never did.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving break is destined to be a weird day for school. I had three of my four classes canceled, so I attempted to sleep in until 10, which apparently will never happen again. I did make it to 9 though, so I guess I can live with that. The rest of my morning consisted of hanging out at the house until class at 12:30, which was followed by more hanging out at the house until 3, when I went to take Ben to the airport. Then, Reverb. Apparently no one worked today, but I figured I was going to do nothing at home, I might as well get paid to do nothing. I even finished my last quiz for Principles of Management, so I guess you could say I was productive.

Now I sit in my living room, after eating Tony's pizza for dinner, and I'm kind of bored/slightly contented. Jon got the Beatles' new Love album, which I had streamed off their website and am pretty fond of. A nice new take on their stuff, although some may see it as an abomination. That's their opinion, I guess.

Tomorrow I will leave my house around 7 and arrive in Minneapolis at approximately 12:30. That should put me in Brainerd at 3:30 or so. Should be great to be home.

Two academic notes:
1. I have to brag on my little sister, who rocked it up and got a 30 on the ACT! She's pretty good at stuff.

2. I changed my schedule for next semester. I dropped Legal Issues in the Music Industry, which means that I don't have to be in class on Tues/Thurs until 12:30. I will now be taking Music Supervision in Film and TV Mondays from 5:30-8:15. This class is at a much better time and seems a billion times more interesting. I just hope it doesn't end up sucking. We'll find out come January, I guess!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Moulin Rouge on ice

So I thought I had this brilliant beyond brilliant idea: I was going to wait in line all day on Thursday and get at least one and hopefully two Playstation 3's, then re-sell them on e-Bay for inflated prices and make a fortune. The plan was fool-proof, it was going to work.

And then I found out there are a ton of people in Nashville without lives, or at least less of lives than me. Apparently there were more people in line by Wednesday night than systems available at every store in Nashville, so I was stuck trying to find one online at midnight, which also turned out to be hopeless.

Depressing.

I'm not exactly sure what I did all day yesterday. I know it involved a lot of driving around with Matt and stuff, but the specifics are all blurry. Last night, however, was great.

We went to see "Happy Feet" last nigth for Tracy's birthday, and it was not what I expected at all. It was kind of like "Moulin Rouge" on ice. The music was really really good, exceptional even. They took a bunch of songs, both old and new, and did some mashing, some remixing, and some updating. The story was ok, nothing spectacular, but that was really secondary to the music. I would definitely recommend seeing this movie if you want to have a good time or want to feel happy coming out of the movie. Hence the name.

I finally got to play Nerts for the first time this semester last night too. I bascially dominated (which will happen when Jess is off in Italy).

I have a few pieces of work I need to finish for classes before Thanksgiving, but half of my classes on Tuesday are canceled, so I only have two classes until a long weekend of freedom.

Tower is down to 40% off of everything now. Thus, I now own a volume of the Brak Show on DVD and the soundtrack for Avenue Q.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

It's like looking into the face of God and seeing him smiling back at you, saying, "You are my most wondrous creation."

Sunday night, Ben and I went to the greatest show on Earth: Mute Math.

They were playing at City Hall, and the show started at 8, so we got there at 8 in order to minimize the down time. They surprised us with not 2 but 3 openers, so we were stuck listening to some crap band for a half hour that included a DJ that wore a koala mask and stroked fake birds during the set. Never did catch their name.

Next up was Jonezetta, who did a fine job with their dance/pop/rock, which we decided was The Killers meets Brandtson. The final warm-up was The Whigs, who were pretty disappointing overall.

But none of that really mattered once Mute Math took the stage. Musically, they were just as spectacular as last spring. Production-wise, though, they took it to another level. They had three banks of 10 sets of florescent bulbs that blinked during specific songs, they had strobes in the back, and a massive bare bulb that hung from the back of the stage. It was dang good. In the encore, Paul weant around and smashed the florescent bulbs with mallets, and it was so rock and roll it was great. That's pretty impressive when a techno/arena rock band can be rock and roll.

And then Monday happened. And by happened, I mean just kind of hung there. I got up early (6:45) to register for classes. After 20 minutes of fiddling with BIC and Classfinder, I was able to get in the classes I need, which means I have the following schedule this spring, all on Tuesday and Thursday:

9:30-10:45 - Legal Issues in the Music Business
12:30-1:45 - Strategic Management
2:00- 3:15 - Record Company Operations
3:30- 4:45 - Artist Management

And that's all she wrote. I will now be able to intern with, most likely, Showdown on Monday and Gotee on Wednesday and Friday. It's gonna be dang sweet, I can hardly stand it.

I was unable to go back to sleep after registering, so I went running, which I've been doing MWF for a couple weeks now. The difference this time is it was cold. Not Minnesota cold, by any means, but in the 30s nonetheless. I made it through the three miles in record time, mostly because I was cold and wanted to get inside but also cuz I was just numb.

Showdown was Showdown as usual, and I took a quick nap before my Reverb shift last night. Once home, I made my first ever attempt at meatballs. They turned out ok, but nothing to write home about. I need to add more salt, use a little more oatmeal, and I would love to try them in a crockpot sometime. That means, however, that I need a crockpot. Maybe I should add that to my Christmas list.

Did you know you can buy/sell e-mail adresses on eBay?

I go home a week from tomorrow, which is extremely weird to think about but will also be extremely fun, so I'm excited. I also have a secret plan I am hatching for Thursday night that may be the most ridiculous/lucrative thing I've ever done. I'm trying my hardest not to get my hopes up about this, but it has all the potential in the world to be amazing. I guess we'll find out by Friday!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Adventures in video rental

I am watching Mission Impossible 3 again, reminding me of how good that movie is.

Last night we had a bit of an adventure. Matt, Jon, and I went to get Chinese and rent a movie. So, we get our food to go (which was excellent) and head over to the Movie Gallery on 8th right before it becomes Franklin Road.

This place was ghetto.

We decided on a movie remarkably quickly (Inside Man, which was as good as the Chinese), and get in line. Well, the one lady working the store spent the first 10 minutes we were in line going through some paperwork and forms with a woman for some reason. The next guy, she spent about 5 mintues with and then he got frustrated and left without anything. Now there's just one more customer between me and freedom. She has coupons and gift cards and all sorts of things. The cashier never really seemed to know exactly what she was doing. She got kind of flustered and had to ring the woman up twice. So, after 20 minutes waiting to rent this movie, I got the front of the line. Our initial exchange went like this:

Cashier: Do you have a membership with us?
Me: No
Cashier: Would you like to start an account with us?
Me: Not really.
Cashier: Well we can't rent to people who don't have an account with us...
Me: Ok then, I'll get an account.

We spent the next 5 minutes going over my address and how I heard about the store and all of the special offers they had (Did you know they recently raised the rates on new releases from $3.89 to $3.99? But it's OK, because they now offer oone free new release with the rental of three others). She eventually got around to ringing up the movie, and I walked out of there at least a half hour later than I should have. Matt and Jon spent most of the time laughing at the situation. And I concluded that, once I return this movie by Wednesday, I will never step foot in that store unless it is an emergency. Blockbuster.com all the way.

My day at Reverb has consisted of hanging out with Ben for a few hours watching the Office, watching MI:III, and making a preliminary Christmas list because my sister apparently wants to get her shopping done early.

Tonight will include Country Music Showcase (please don't suck) and a long-overdue Nertz party at Julie's. Let the games begin!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

'Twas the best of times

Things in Nashville today are quite amazing. I'm not just referring to the fact that it is 5 PM and my desktop weather guide still says 74 degrees either.

I remembered last night as I was reading before bed that I had an appointment with Tina Dishman, resident expert on all things graduation requirement related in the music business department, at 9 this morning. I knew going into the meeting that there was the potential, if everything went my way, that I could come out of this meeting only needing 14 credits this spring. Lo and behold, Belmont did not screw me over, and I will be taking 4 3-credit classes and a 2-credit internship this spring. That is approx. 4 credits fewer than any semester I've had since fall of freshman year, and by far my lightest schedule ever.

It will be very easy to fit these classes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, possibly all in a row even. That allows me to intern at Gotee (which is a for-sure thing now) two days a week and spend a day at Showdown helping with publishing. That place is connected to so many places in the industry, and they're really nice and the work has kind of grown on me, so I figure why not right?

My regular class schedule today consisted of a test in Mgmt Comm, which was rather easy, followed by lectures and discussions in Intl Business and Investments. I skipped Business Ethics for the first time this afternoon, and I feel no remorse whatsoever. I also found out last night that I convinced my ethics prof that one of his test questions was wrong, giving me an extra 2 points on my last test and keeping my hopes of an A in that class alive. That's really the only grade I'm mildly worried about, besides my grade from Gonas, and that will essentially come down to the 15-20 page final paper he's having us write. Should be a grand time.

My mom told me yesterday that they're dropping the price on our house (it's still for sale, in case you've forgotten), and the new price is so low that if someone doesn't buy it they're an idiot. That means that I may be doing some packing when I go home for Thanksgiving, and there's a better chance at Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I've been listening to Christmas music since September (although when do I really stop during the year?), and it just can't be topped. Even on a sunny day like today when I wore shorts and was feeling quite warm in a long-sleeve button up, I can still listen to my "Best of Christmas" playlist on iTunes and not feel stupid. Good times.

And now tonight I get to watch "The Office." I'm not sure what's going to happen though, this episode is called "Branch Closing." So unless a miracle happens, I have a feeling we're gonna see some major changes in the next few weeks. The best aspect of this whole turn of events is that it makes the chances of a Pam/Jim reunion infinitely better in the near future. Guess we'll wait and see!

And a side note: I like the fact that "Lost" isn't going to just show reruns mixed in with new episodes, but three months is far too long to wait for new episodes, even if the ending of this last one wasn't spectacular, as much as they tried to make it a cliff-hanger.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The most shocking news. Ever!

This post was going to be all cool and crap, because I was going to do a print screen on the cnn.com front page, but I can't find it on this stupid Reverb keyboard. Anyway...

Britney Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, citing irreconcilable differences.

I like how, on the day that the future of our country is shaped, THAT is the breaking news on CNN.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Behold My Heart

Its another Saturday evening at the Beech House. Being filled with three college students and one recent college grad, you'd think that everyone would be going crazy, off to parties, and in a general state of excitement and adventure, right? Not so much. It's 9:30, and as I write this all three of my housemates are in various stages of getting ready for bed. I, being at least one year younger than all of them and of a stubborn will, am being as defiant in the face of fatigue as possible. I am in my room, but the door is open, and I am listening to a rather enchanting album, Paul McCartney's "Ecce Cor Meum" (Behold My Heart), a classical-style disc with five lengthy tracks that is very serene, relaxing, and well done. Apparently Sir Paul has done several classical works, some even award-winning at that.

My journey to get this disc begins in July, when I enrolled in Investment Portfolio Management as an exploratory endeavor. Once in the class in August, Dr. Gonas told us that we needed to have access to the Wall Street Journal every day, and since I didn't want to have to go online through the Belmont library every day, I bought the 15-week subscription. I do a spotty job of actually the newspaper now, however, so it was by sheer coincidence that I ended up looking in the "My Journal" section in late September, where they included an article on said disc and McCartney's classical work. I made a mental note to find that someday, and today happened to be that day.

I worked at Reverb from 10-3 (again, a few customers, no sales). Around 1, Ryan called asking if I wanted to go to an electronics liquidation sale downtown at Municipal Auditorium, and I thought that sounded like a great idea, so we piled six of us into my Taurus and drove through Nashville until we found a parking space, which ended up about 3 blocks from the auditorium. We walk around the entire auditorium trying to find this sale and only seeing throngs of pre-pubescent cheerleaders wearing too much make-up and traveling in packs. Eventually we find the entrance and discover that there's a $7 entrance fee, and since none of us had cash or wanted to pay, I suggested we go to Tower Records, which is closing soon and is having a huge clearance sale to get rid of inventory. We wandered around the store for 45 minutes and I found nothing that was at a price that made it a must-buy, so I was ready to leave. Then, as Tim was buying his stuff, I remembered "Ecce", and so I went on a whim to the composer section. Lo and behold, it was there!

And that is the story of how I came to own Paul McCartney's new album. Quite exciting if you ask me.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Time goes by so slowly

Another week has come and gone. I got my investments mid-term back, which I got a 96 on! I had a hard time believing it, but it happened. The class average was 80, and Gonas said that the scores were pretty divided between high scores and low scores, so I rocked a test that a bunch of finance majors got D's on. It doesn't make me want to add the major, but it did kind of make my day.

Jim missed his chance on The Office last night, and it pissed me off. Pam better not move back to Roy.

I'm going into the studio tonight to record vocals for Matt's second project, which is a cover of "Over My Head" by The Fray. Hopefully it turns out good, I think we might try some weird harmonies or something just for fun, which probably won't get used but will still be fun to try.

I'm not looking forward to Reverb tomorrow. Not that I ever do, but more so than usual for some reason. Just have to suck it up, I guess.

I think I'm gonna buy MI:III today. Such a good movie.

This year, for the first time in a while, I bought jeans that I don't like how they fit. I typically end up getting the same kind every year, and they worked great, but I decided to try something else this time, and I really only like how one pair fits right now. That pair, however, fits amazingly. It's kind of disappointing though, I think I might have to buy another pair, hopefully like the good pair I got at Aeropostale. I might have to wait until I go home, I haven't shopped at a mall since I got down here.

Trying to decide if I want to see Borat or not. Do I go to that now or wait until next week and see Stranger Than Fiction, which I know I want to see. Such a dilemma.

AND, I'm trying to justify buying a Post Secret book, which I realistically can't so I have to wait until Christmas for that.