According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, the Gore mansion in Nashville accumulated a combined natural gas and electricity bill of over $2400 last month, a fact that the Gore camp does not deny. $30,000 a year on energy? Talk about an inconvenient truth.
Class is over for the day, but I'm still at Belmont. Why is this? I'm being inducted into the "presitigious" school of business academic honor society, Betta Gamma Sigma. I never in all my life thought I would be a member of an organization with Greek letters, but here I am. I'm still not entirely sure why I'm joining; it cost $70 for lifetime membership, and it's supposed to look good on resumes and stuff, but who in the music industry, in all reality, has even heard of such an organization, let alone cares about my membership enough to make it the deciding factor in whether to interview me or not? I don't know. But I do know that I'm sitting in the Massey 3rd floor computer lab in a shirt and tie at 4:30 in the afternoon, and I feel extremely out of place.
The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. It made me want to keep running, which I knew I couldn't do if I wanted to:
a. Get my homework done for the class that ended up being canceled today
b. Be able to run for an hour tomorrow.
I have not been to see a movie in theaters since Pan's Labyrinth, if my memory serves me right, and that needs to be corrected soon. Maybe we'll do a Sunday night movie in Minnesota, and everyone can experience what it's like to be a high schooler in Brainerd on a March weekend.
March? Already? That is quite preposterous in my opinion. That's right, I said preposterous, and I mean it. I have 74 days to go to MN, find a job, find a house, finish my classes, pass 2 exit exams, and graduate. Here goes nothing...
Well, the Oscars have come and gone. I got 12 of the 24 winners correct, including 3 of the 4 actors and best director (I picked Little Miss Sunshine for Best Picture, just because it seemed like the type of picture they would go for, and I wasn't sure they'd give the best picture and best director to the same movie). I was only really surprised by two of the winners:
1. Pan's Labyrinth, which won three technical awards, lost Best Foreign Language Film to a German movie, The Lives of Others. There was so much talk about Pan's, and it was a pretty good movie, I thought that was one of the only sure things of the night. Guess I was wrong.
2. Melissa Ethridge?!?!? I do not understand that one at all. Everyone was saying that Listen would win, and even if it didn't, my money was on Our Town, being from an animated film, written by Randy Newman, and performed by James Taylor. This was probably the stupidest award of the evening, and I'm still a little pissed about it.
In my blog contest, I won, with 110 points. Steph was second, with 10 correct answers and 77 points. Everyone else was in a collective third, since no one else submitted their guesses. I also won in my house pool, so I have bragging rights for a while.
I'm getting more and more excited about going home. They just got over a foot of snow, and events are falling into place for our schedule. Should be awesome, and we take off in less than 5 days...
HEY! You only have 3 days until the Oscars and, subsequently, the end of the Oscar contest. Don't let this chance for bragging rights pass you by...
CLICK HERE! CLICK HERE!
In case you were wondering, the portfolio that I created as part of a project for investment portfolio management on September 18 has seen a 21.6% increase in 5 months. The market as a whole is up only 10.6%. Had I actually invested the just over $50k that I made my assumptions based on, I would now be $11,387.50 richer. Just thought you should know.
Huh.
I completed the first big assignment of my semester this morning, having started it at 10 last night. 6 hours of work, 6 hours of sleep, and 14 pages later, part one of my strategic management case study was complete. It was definitely not a difficult assignment, and I think I did a good job on it.
If you ever want to fall asleep, but simply can't, attend my Record Company Operations class. It never fails to put me on the brink of sleep, and if I didn't force myself to stay awake, it would do me in every time.
This past weekend I went to PM with a bunch of people for Doug's 21st, which was a good time. I had never been there before, and the chicken sandwich I had was quite good. After dinner, Jon and I went to see Florez at 12th and Porter (Jon got us in free). The show was pretty sparsely attended because the roads were getting slick with a fresh layer of snow/ice. The performance was very good, however; I was very impressed.
Still no word form anyone wanting to use the PSA. I am supposed to be in charge of contacting movie theaters and the local film festival, but I:
a. Don't have a lot of time during normal office hours in which to contact them without taking time off of my internships or skipping class
b. Don't really have a desire to try and convince advertising managers to show or video for free because we're poor college students and it's for a good cause and not for profit and all the jazz.
Things are coming together for spring break quite nicely. The roster is almost set (still waiting on up or downs from two), and we worked out a rough schedule on Sunday that now includes a day at Shamineau playing broomball and climbing the ice tower. 10 days and counting on that front...
I crossed the six mile barrier yesterday, which coincided with the hour mark as well. No running today since I was working on the paper and I've come to the conclusion that I can't bring myself to run once I get going with the rest of my day. But, no huge homework plans for Thursday, and it's warming up a bit, so the rest of this week looks good.
I'm hoping that tonight turns into a card party somewhere somehow. I guess we'll see...
Just in case you were keeping track, there are now 5 men claiming they could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's child.
I'm really pleased with the response to the PSA so far. We're close to 300 views on YouTube, and I think we've got a great chance to get it on local TV fairly soon. Crazy as ever.
I guess I never talked about what I thought about the Grammy's on here. Overall, I wasn't as impressed with the performances as last year. I thought The Police butchered their own song, and they didn't have as many interesting duets as last year. I also think the Dixie Chicks maybe deserved either Record of the Year or Album of the Year, but definitely not both. Apparently, if you want to win multiple Grammys in one year, be a popular act that makes a political statement (see also Green Day).
I spent last night re-painting Reverb with my co-workers. It is now bright green, bright blue, and bright yellow. At least I won't fall asleep at work. Additionally, because the painting isn't completely done and the store is a mess, I don't have to work tonight or tomorrow! Glorious.
After painting, I went over to Jess and Kendra's to help Kendra make the Monster Cookie dough balls, which she is hopefully going to bring to her community group and return with a better name for. When I was leaving, my car was being stupid (ended up being almost out of gas and parked on a hill, which is a bad combination), so Kendra gave me a ride home. Instead of my usual run this morning, I ran over to their house, stopping along the way to get a gas can and 2 gallons of gas. It was at least different, but I didn't get my full run in, so it was kind of disappointing. All because my stupid gas gauge never gets below 1/8 of a tank. When I grow up (which happens 12 weeks from Saturday), I'm going to get a different car.
The final version of the SIFE Anti-Piracy PSA is complete, and it turned out great! I'm really excited, take a look:
I realize that this post should have been a few days ago, but for some reason it hasn't materialized until now.
The passing of Anna Nicole Smith on Thursday was, admittedly, surprising. Shocking even. I mean, the woman was 39 for crying out loud. Following in Steve Irwin's footsteps, hundreds of Facebook groups have sprung up since then in tribute, both real and mock, to this former Playmate golddigger. In one such group created specifically at Belmont, there was a heated wall post exchange between several individuals, most of which is of no consequence. Someone did make the following statement, in response to someone else, regarding her life:
...Not once did I say that she led a moral and good life, not because I don’t think she did, but rather because I don’t know if she did, and neither do any of you.
So I went into the Super Bowl not thinking I cared about who won, and fully intended to cheer for whoever everyone else wasn't cheering for. But, when push came to shove, I found myself rooting for the Colts. It was a great game, very entertaining, and if the Bears had figured out how to win somehow, I would've been pissed. They were so outplayed it's not even funny.
Yesterday was very interesting. I got up and ran (I'm up to 5.25-ish miles!), during which I got a call from Aunt Bev saying that we can use their cabin for Spring Break. So I am, for sure, coming home for Spring Break, and I'm bringing at least two cars full of people with me. and all this happens in less than 4 weeks. Craziness.
I then was going to attend a convocation, because I need to polish those off before May, but my two options were "Careers in the Transportation Industry" and "Careers in Healthcare", which, as exciting as their names make them sound, just weren't going to hit the spot. So I watched an hour of Father of the Bride 2 with Ryan and then went to Showdown until 3:30. I'm not going to go into detail on the rest of the day, except to say I had class and watched 24. And all was right in the world.
I now realize how wrong the first line of that story was.
Two tests coming up on Thursday, and I'm not really worried about either of them. I am definitely experiencing senioritis; it comes and goes in waves, but it's always kind of lurking there in the shadows.
In case you forgot, there are only 7 more shopping days until Valentines Day. Plan accordingly.
And, finally, this is how I look after my recent haircut:
Scary, I know.
The first half of the above is the result of a well-timed game of charades that took place this evening at the Beech House. Seeing Doug act this out was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
My mom sent me this poem earlier this week, and I think it's one of the funniest/most ridiculous things ever. For those of you that don't know, I am not a huge animal person. If you want to have a pet, I am cool with that, but don't expect me to play with it. Especially if it's a cat. And I really don't understand why people would have pet birds either. ANYWAY, this poem was sent to the owners of Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby-winning horse that they finally put to sleep earlier this week, on an internet message board. I am so happy that horse is gone; I don't see the point of CNN, or SportsCenter for that matter, wasting my time with updates on the health of a horse that won one race. It is people who write crap like this that make me wonder about the sanity of man. Enjoy.
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
I pray that this poem by an unknown author will help you in your time of loss. As a member of the veterinary profession I can assure you that you did the right thing and that he passed without pain. He will be waiting for you in Heaven.
It's back! To join in the Oscar contest for 2007, click here. You can enter anytime up until the show starts.
I got a haircut. Quinn was handing them out at our place, so I decided to go for it. I ended up having it cut shorter than it's been since I was in 4th grade. Amazingly, it didn't turn out too bad. I'll try and get a picture up soon.
In other news, I hate weathermen. Every last one of them. The chance of snow last night/this morning? 90%. The amount of snow we actually received: 0". Nothing. I so wanted a snow day today. And, much like the countless times I anticipated such an event in my years of public education, we got nothing.
Last night was my first adventure into the video production world. We shot the anti-piracy PSA over at Kurt and Tyler's place, and it turned out better than I could have hoped. Seriously, the lighting was great, the clothes were great, the actors we great, and we shot the whole thing in HD, which looked amazing! I'm so glad that we got that done, and I owe Kurt and Tyler so ridiculously much after this is all finished. I'll make sure anyone who wants to see can do so when it's edited together.
I've decided one of the most annoying things in the world, in my opinion, is girls sitting around talking about how there's no good guys in whatever town they happen to be in. And trust me girls, you may think that your town is different, and that the guys there are really just undateable, but your guys are the same. You just haven't figured out who the right one is for you. That guy may be in your town. He may be someplace else. Just please don't whine about it in public. It gets old, and you'll never get any of the good guys in your town because they'll avoid you like the plague.
I applied for the receptionist/office manager/online marketing position at Gotee on Monday. However, they need someone who can work full time right now, and I have class Tues/Thurs afternoons. Thus, I was shot down on first attempt at a real job. Never fear, I knew this was a long shot, so I'll keep trying.
Today is the first weekday of the New Year that I didn't run or play racquetball. I feel a little bad about it, but I'll get over it. Back at it tomorrow.
If you want to see a really sweet video, check out this one:
This was just finished by Tyler's brother, Toben Seymour, for The Willowz, and it's so dang sweet. They did the whole thing in stop motion with flashlights: none of the lines and drawings were added in post production. Seriously, play this video, you won't be sorry.
