The World According to...

One day you'll wake up

2009-03-19T22:22:00.001-06:00

So I bought this CD last night at the show, and I've been listening to it borderline incessantly today. It's so good! Especially the above song, check it out.

Having a soundtrack came in handy today. I started the day by running to Target to get a frame for the poster print I got last night (which looks AWESOME hanging in my office), and then headed to my first round of physical therapy. Nothing too revolutionary, although I realized just how inflamed the left side of my back is. I have some homework to do over the weekend, and then another session on Tuesday.

The real fun, however, didn't start until I got to the office, where I found out the next project on my list needs to be done by the end of March instead of April. Um, yeah. Needless to say, the next week will be extremely full of work. I think it's totally doable, and it needs to happen regardless, so it's going to happen. I might just have to bring a blanket to the office for a couple nights this week... we'll see.

I am officially tired now. And it's March Madness time! Here's hoping Western KY can hold on...

He is hard to chase, but good to catch and he can change the world with his hands behind his back

2009-03-18T23:17:00.001-06:00

Hometown Glory (Radio Edit) - ...

One week later, here's where I've been and where I am:

My MRI on Thursday went quickly and well. I met with my doctor after and he said it was definitely a herniation of the disk between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. Not the worst he'd ever seen, but still bad enough that he recommended I have a cortisone shot as soon as possible and start physical therapy. Apparently, before getting an epidural, you need to be off ibuprofen and any other blood thinners for 5 days; since I'd dropped 8 Advil the day before, I was stuck waiting til Tuesday.

In the meantime, this weekend was Matt's bachelor party out at the river house. 7 guys, 3 days, 1 house, and lots of food: who could ask for anything more? It was a wetter weekend than we would have liked, but still a blast. We played countless rounds of darts, watched hours of college basketball, and even made time for a couple games of Risk. Oh, and there were crossbows involved. If that's not a bachelor party, I don't know what is.

By the end of the weekend, the predisone I was on was really starting to kick in. I could definitely feel improvement. That didn't stop me, however, from getting my scheduled epidural yesterday. The process was hardly painful at all, and I could feel the improvement by the end of the day. Today was about the same as yesterday, and they say it is most effective after 3 days, so I can't imagine how I'll feel tomorrow, which will also feature my first foray into the world of physical therapy. Recovery is looking to be a 3-4 week process, at least that's the time frame for my first round of physical therapy and follow-up with my doctor. I really think I'm going to good to go after this, thank the Lord.

Tonight, I got to see one of my favorite new artists (and the 2009 Grammy winner for Best New Artist) perform live at the Cannery Ballroom: ADELE! I'm glad my back is doing well enough to stand for a couple hours, because I would have been rather sad if I'd missed this show. If you have never listened to ADELE you should check her out. I can't think of a good person to compare her voice to. She is really just someone you need to experience for yourself.

And she certainly did not disappoint tonight! A simple show, opened by a new Irish band called The Script (quite good themselves, their debut album was just released in the US yesterday), ADELE let the music and her voice shine. She's an understated performer, with some light, mostly incoherent banter, and an arsenal of originals and well-chosen covers that combined for an incredible experience. Simply awesome.

And, to top it all off, I finished the project I've been working on for the last 6 weeks at work today. Not sure it could get much better than this!

Well shoot

2009-03-12T01:38:00.002-06:00

I Am Weary (Let Me Rest) - The...

It is 2 AM as I begin typing this. I woke up 15 minutes ago and the main purpose of this post is try and make me tired enough to go back to sleep. BUT, while I have your attention, I might as well lay out what I have going on currently.

I have spent the last week in various degrees of miserable back pain. Since I am not the type to seek medical treatment for a malady, I waited until Tuesday morning, when it became clear that this was not something that would just go away on its own, to get an appointment with a specialist. Said appointment was yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, and it was then determined I have a herniated disk. This is not an uncommon condition, but apparently my mobility is more limited than it should be (plus I literally can't stand up straight) so I'm going in 6 hours to have my first MRI to determine the severity of the injury.

Things that suck about this:
1. It hurts. Plain and simple, some of the worst pain I've ever been in.
2. It costs money. I have to pay for the MRI out of pocket tomorrow; thus, until my tax return comes through (read: until I do my taxes), my savings will be slightly dwindled.
3. Everyone has an opinion. If you didn't know this about me, I hate whining, and will rarely discuss if I'm not feeling well. I tend to be of the opinion that, say, if I have a cold, my telling you that my throat is sore and how much I'm coughing doesn't do anything for anyone except fill the space between pauses in conversation. So, naturally, I would have kept this whole thing much quieter if it didn't make me walk like a senior citizen. So, over the last week, I have had pretty much anyone I come in contact with ask me what's wrong. I tell them I did something to my back (I also wish I could pinpoint a specific moment when I got injured, because it seems to baffle the greatest amateur health experts how this could happen), and they proceed to tell me one of the following remedies:
a. Put heat on it
b. Put cold on it
c. Go see a doctor
d. Go see a chiropractor
e. Take Tylenol
f. Take Advil
g. Do Pilates
h. Let me walk on it (you'd be surprised how many people think this is the cure-all for back problems)
i. Get acupuncture

The biggest debate was definitely between doctor and chiropractor. I have been blessed over the last week to hear no less than a dozen individuals' experiences with chiropractors, both good and bad. And so many stories of people's own pain; not stories to empathize, more "I had a herniated disk on the moon" stories of the terrible pain everyone else has been through that sounds similar to, yet so much worse than, my own. So much fun...

4. This could not have come at a worse time. I have enough work on my desk to get me through the end of May pretty comfortably, and it all needs to be done by the end of April, if not sooner. And I have my cousin's wedding in MN at the end of March that I am hoping to drive up for, but I'm not sure how my doctor would feel about that, not to mention Matt and Janelle's wedding in NC a week and a half later.

Ugh.

All right, I'm still not tired, I'm going to try some other methods. I'll post my MRI results later today :-) (That's right, you've just been emoticon-ed)

I certainly hope The End is Not the End

2009-03-05T00:15:00.001-06:00

If - House Of Heroes

When Amazon decided they were going to get into the digital download game, I was skeptical at best. Apple had, and continues to have, such a huge market share, I figured it would be a flash in the pan at best.

And, for a while, it was. And then Amazon did what Amazon does: it under-priced everyone. And I mean EVERYONE! They have a different deal of the day each day, featuring either a new release or catalog release at deeply discounted rates. For example, I purchased Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" album on Saturday for just $1.99, and yesterday I bought U2's new album on the day it released for $3.99. $3.99 for one of the biggest releases of the year! The great thing about these deals is that they last for longer than a day, often as long as several weeks!

Beyond the great deals, they also have a ton of free content, which leads to the reason behind this post. One of the best albums of 2008 was House of Heroes' "The End Is Not the End", and Amazon currently has THIS 3-SONG EP available for free! Just give these guys a shot. If you like the EP, listen to the whole album on Lala and fall in love!

In case you're worried, Amazon's songs are all DRM-free, meaning you can play them on any mp3 player and copy them as many times as you want. They will also automatically be added to your iTunes library. Any rumors you've heard about the files not being compatible with Apple products is a load of crap.

So, in summation: Amazon mp3 is the Wal-Mart of digital music, and House of Heroes is your next great musical love affair.

Say hi to your mother for me

2009-02-20T23:36:00.002-06:00

Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn

I've decided it makes more sense for me to put my Song of the Post at the beginning so you can hit play and the music can add to your experience.

Midnight Meat Train has been out for five days now, and I have yet to experience its glory. I tried to rent it tonight, but apparently it's not available through Redbox or Blockbuster! We watched Max Payne instead, which was predictably rough. It's was a nice paycheck for my namesake though, so I felt a connection to it. Not his worst performance ever (I don't think anything can top "The Happening"), but still rough enough to make me cringe when anyone makes the connection.

Speaking of, I was thinking about it today, and when I write my screenplay and the film gets made, I think I should write it under an alias so as to avoid confusion. Any and all suggestions will be considered and are appreciated.

I'm off to Memphis tomorrow with Jon and Matt to pick up the bed Matt is getting from Tracy's parents for his wedding. And a trip to Memphis must always include GREAT barbecue! I think we're going to try and get into Rendezvous for lunch; not necessarily the best barbecue I've ever had, but certainly the best dry-rub.

I had the pleasure of starting a bit of a frenzy on the internet earlier this week. Well, frenzy might be overstating it, but I made an impression anyway. Ricky Braddy, who graduated in my class at Belmont, was/is in the top 36 on American Idol, and a bunch of his friends started thebraddybunch.com to help get him some exposure, as he wasn't heard on screen until his semi-final performance Tuesday night. Long story short, the production company got upset that Ricky's mom gave a shout out to the site on air and forced them to take it down. They decided to hook up with another website, but wanted to make it an adventure to get there, so they had me write a riddle to get people on the right trail. See if you can figure out what this riddle means:

A rose by any other name would still smell of spring
But a floribunda just doesn’t have the same ring
You won’t find Ricky in a triangle or box
But perhaps a floribunda for Curry’s Paradox

If you get stuck, go to www.thebraddybunch.com and follow the trail. Anyway, the people on joesplaceblog.com started digging WAY too into it, and making these deep philosophical assumptions about what the riddle REALLY means. So hilarious! Once you figure out what the riddle says, or once you give up, or if you really don't care to try and figure it out, check out the comments here: A riddle from the Braddy Bunch Ricky Braddy fansite

I'm probably losing a couple jewels in my crown for this...

2009-02-19T19:50:00.002-06:00

I know it's wrong to laugh at this, but we got a piece of junk mail yesterday for a former occupant that had this tagline across the front:

"You can help feed an elderly Jewish person for just $2.40!"

It's from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and while I'm always in support of helping the less fortunate, it just caught me off guard. That, and there's a testimonial from Pat Robertson on the back of the envelope. Not really your best selling point, Rabbi Eckstein.

This also may be one of the most expensive sponsorship programs I've ever seen. If I check "Yes! Rabbi Eckstein, I want to help save poor elderly Soviet Jews this winter by providing food baskets and other essentials through Isaiah 58," I can sponsor one person for one week for $17. $17! That's over $70 a month! And when did the Soviet Union reunite? Ooo, I just found a recommendation from Pat Boone too! Score!

But, again, $2.40 a day? I think I could feed myself on $2.40 a day if I really tried, and I don't have near the resources and connections the Rabbi claims to hold. Eh? It reminds of that Rebecca St. James song that I hate (that could describe a lot, I'll try to get more specific) with the homeless guy who can eat on $1.50 a week. That is the opposite extreme of this; if you're not eating for free from a shelter or something, I really don't see how you can feed yourself on $78 a year in the US. Just not possible.

And now, for something completely different:

You're Not Gonna Leave Me Here...

The life and times of Cloris Leachman

2009-02-16T17:20:00.003-06:00

It's amazing how time flies.

This time last year I was beginning my hunt for a home. After 6 offers on 5 houses that all fell apart for different reasons, I was starting to get discouraged. Then, one April day, I went driving around with my agent and my roommate Tim. We looked at probably 10 houses that Saturday, with varying degrees of success. Just after noon we decided to look at a house that we knew little about on the north side of East Nashville. As we pulled down the street, we passed a large woman on foot carrying a queen-sized, well-worn mattress on her back. That's odd, I thought, but we kept driving and found the house that I would go on to officially purchase a month later.

But this is not the story of my house. No, this is the story of the mattress woman, who I will call Cloris Leachman because I can't remember her actual name and she has the leathery skin of the real Ms. Leachman. Mostly, just picture a slightly darker version of Charo.

Turns out, Cloris owns the house next to mine. After a handful of random encounters with this woman over the last 6 months, I have learned the following about her life:

Cloris was born in 1940, and immigrated from Puerto Rico at a young age. In the early 1970s, she toured as a backup singer and dancer for Dean Martin on three world tours, including stops across North America and Europe. After three years of employment, it was revealed she had undergone a sex change and was promptly fired for what they considered fraud.

I'm not sure exactly what happened over the next thirty years, but I know that she married a man at some point. He currently weighs over 600 pounds, and is confined to a wheel-chair from the combination of a back injury suffered in a swimming accident and his obesity.

Seven years ago Cloris and her husband bought their current residence. She walks to the grocery store several times a week to keep her blood pressure down. She collects "antiques" in her back yard, and plans on opening it as a store to the public early this summer. Rather than try and plant real grass in her yard, she has decided to take drastic measures. Her front yard is covered in bushes, lawn ornaments, and a stagnant pond. She has spread rugs and doors across her back yard in an effort to kill all plant life and create a walkway for her "store", including across the "mushy" part where they filled in the pool her husband hurt himself in.

Cloris knows all the gossip in the neighborhood, as she spends the majority of her warm-weather days in her yard and the majority of her cold-weather days looking out her front window. She has informed me of several interesting facts:

- The tree in my front yard was once lit on fire by the neighborhood kids on Halloween because the people who were renting the house at the time didn't have any candy.

-The house five down and across the street was once used as a crack house. The owners subsequently burned it down to collect the insurance money. (I found this out when the re-built house burned down AGAIN last Saturday morning...)

And, I think she still thinks Tim and I are gay, despite several attempts to tell her otherwise. She says its ok, she doesn't care because she used to be a guy.

Oh Cloris, you are just one of the things that make life on Edith Ave so interesting!

In her honor, I give you:

Dude (Looks Like A Lady) - Aer...

Textiles, nature, and overdue Meat

2009-02-14T16:15:00.001-06:00

I enjoy the following things involving fabric:

1. Broken-in jeans. I'll get this out of the way, because who doesn't?
2. The dichotomy that new towels are super-soft but suck at absorbing water, and that it is only through getting them dirty and washing them that they learn to absorb better.
3. Wrinkle-free shirts that actually are wrinkle-free.
4. Over-sized blankets, preferably micro-plush. I'm tempted to get new blankets for my bed that are for a king bed so I can roll up into a cocoon on cold winter nights.
5. Anything that could be considered both a jacket and a zip-up sweatshirt. There are certainly items that fit in one or the other, but finding the right cross between the two is magical.

One thing I don't like about each element of nature:

Wind: It's penetrative nature.
Earth: That I have to mow my lawn. Well, at this point, I have to get my lawn mower fixed, pick up the leaves in my yard, then mow.
Fire: That, when fueled by natural gas, it's so expensive. So fricking expensive.
Water: It's penetrative nature.

So, what have we learned form this? I enjoy things that are soft, and I'm not a fan of penetrative natures in nature.

Listen to this song; they're a local band with a new album coming out like next week, and I'm a huge fan of their stuff:

You Got Me Down - Lórien

And, finally, this movie comes out on Tuesday and I will Redbox-ing it asap:

Go Ahead

2009-02-11T23:47:00.001-06:00

I stole this from Jen; I've never done one of these, and I decided this one seemed like fun.

1. Put your iPod or other music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. The name of the song is your answer!

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
[Untitled] - John Mayer

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Spotlight - Mute Math

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Needful Hands - Jars of Clay

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Try Again - Keane

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Glory Hallelujah - The OC Supertones

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Your Love Never Changes - Paul Wright

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Throwing Chairs - Switchfoot

WHAT IS 2+2?
Daemon - BHS a Capella Choir

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Get Back - The Beatles

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
On My Way - Grits

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
I Fall - Something Like Silas

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Heaven Forbid - The Fray

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Making it Beautiful - All-Star United

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
O Holy Night - Seven Day Jesus

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Nothin' to Do With Love - The Elms

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Hallelujah - Paramore

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Thumpin' - Prime Minister (didn't even know I had this song...)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Pressing On - Relient K

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Made to Love - Toby Mac

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Girl From the North Country - Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Over the Mountains - Eisley

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Dancing in the Streets - Mamas and the Papas

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Denim Iniquity - Brandtson

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
7:02 - Jeremy Messersmith

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
A Christmas to Remember - Amy Grant

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Lost! - Coldplay

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Our Mystery - Bebo Norman

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Agony - The Into the Woods Soundtrack

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Gnik Nus - The Beatles (reversed a cappella version of "Sun King")

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Go Ahead - Alicia Keys

I really don't think I got good answers on this. I even cheated on some of them and it still came out lame. I was reminded how much Christian music I own from the early part of the decade though, so I guess it was successful. Anyway, check out a couple new songs that I'm in love with:

When She's Near - Fiction Fami...

Spotlight - MuteMath

It's days like this that make it all worth while

2009-01-14T23:37:00.001-06:00

So we found out today that one of our writers' songs is the first single on Rascal Flatts new album. "Here Comes Goodbye" will be shipped to radio Monday, and I can't wait! This song is going to be huge. Like at least "What Hurts the Most" huge, if not more. I've been listening to this song for the last 9 months, waiting for this moment, and it's so great to see everything come to fruition. Hearing RF's recording will be one of the proudest moments of my young career, and I think it will probably stay right up there on that list for a long time.

I joined the YMCA last week, and this evening was my first chance to actually work out. I lifted weights for the first time in years, and I'm gonna feel it tomorrow. A necessary evil. One of these days I'll be ripped though, I just need to keep telling myself that.

And finally, she's on everyone's radar after being the iTunes Single of the Week last week, but check out Erin McCarley. Straight out of Nashville, she's like Sara Bareilles meets Feist. Kind of. Anyway, she's good, take my word for it. And, if you don't, see for yourself:

Blue Suitcase - Erin McCarley

Buried alive

2009-01-05T23:19:00.001-06:00

After a 16-day vacation, it was back to the grind for me today. And, about 15 minutes into the day, I realized the next month is going to be crazy. I'm not going to bore you with details; suffice it to say I'll have plenty of late nights over the next couple weeks.

One thing I am looking forward to this month is the release of Fiction Family's debut release. FF is made up of Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins, two of my favorite groups ever, and they're doing a folk album, which happens to be my genre du jour. You can stream some of their stuff on their website, and the album drops January 20.

In the meantime, here's a blast from the past that helps me get through my mounds of data entry:

Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of.....

I enjoy a well-developed explanation

2009-01-04T21:39:00.001-06:00

So I really wanted to make this post really long and elaborate, espousing ad nauseum the greatness of Lala.com. But, there are two reasons I'm going to keep it short and sweet. First, I just started season 1 of Veronica Mars, and it's very engrossing so far. But second, because I can't explain it much better than the site does itself. Just go to THIS PAGE and see how lala works. Remember, we are quickly approaching a day when smartphones with touchscreens will be standard equipment for middle America, and this site will make that day a lot more fun.

And, listen to this song:

Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy

Picking up the pieces of my broken promises

2009-01-01T23:02:00.001-06:00

On September 23, I promised a series of posts about the wonders of internet streaming. Well, here we are, exactly 100 days later, and I've only come through with one of those. By now I'm assuming you've all familiarized yourself with Pandora. If not, read this past post and get with the program, because we're moving on to Hulu.

Hulu has been around for over a year now, and began with the backing of Fox and NBC as a way to let people keep up with their shows outside of the network sites. Over time, they've added classic shows, show clips, and full-length movies (YouTube has since followed suit).

Yes, there are advertisements. But, in my opinion, they aren't terribly annoying. I mean, it takes you thirty seconds to fast-forward through the commercials on DVR; this just makes it easier for you. The selection is wide, the quality is solid, and they continue to add new content and features to the service.

For example: You can share and embed entire videos. Sounds like YouTube right? Here's where Hulu raises the bar: they allow you to edit the video down to a specific clip and share or embed that part only. So, rather than post an entire episode of Arrested Development on here (which, by the way, they have every episode from all three seasons posted on the site (watch this show: it will change the way you think of television, comedy, and amputees)), I can post my favorite scene:

Pretty sweet, right? That's what I thought. Now get yourself acquainted with this one quick, because tomorrow I will be showing you the wonder that is lala.com, and that will, undoubtedly, change your life if you will only let it.

Addressing the elephant in my awesome new room(s)

2008-12-14T23:44:00.001-06:00

All right, the moment you've all been waiting for: pictures of my finished house! I'll start on the outside and work my way in:

This matters only to my dad, but that is a finished roof line right there. Well, once I get the gutters up there it will be, but that's for another tomorrow.

Soffets

The place where the second lean-to used to be aka my new parking spot.

The re-done front railing, which took a lot longer than I thought it would...

Now we'll move inside to the bathrooms:

It's like doing laundry in a carrot (art courtesy sister Sarah)

More Sarah art, this time in my bathroom

A grouted and fully-functioning shower

The completed vanity. Not gonna lie, I'm proud of how awesome this looks!

And now the main event: the family and living rooms.

Christmas lights

More Sarah art

I built these myself

Pretty cool, huh? I'm really pleased with how it all turned out!

Coincidentally, everything was so clean because I hosted a church Christmas party last night. It went suuuuper well, and the house held up very well! It was also the reason for making these (from scratch):

Merry Christmas! I promise, with this giant cloud gone from over my head, I will be much better at keeping up with this thing. Promise. Really...

My life for the last 6 days...

2008-11-13T01:15:00.001-06:00

...has involved turning this:

and this:

Into this:

and this:

Now I just need to grout it and the biggest project remaining on the house will be done!

Coming soon: pictures of the finished family room that I've been promising for a month...

Yes, that's the same music from the piracy commercial

2008-10-30T22:34:00.001-06:00

Here's the first in a series of videos I wrote; it's promoting a homecoming-style dance in Nashville next weekend. Check it out at www.stuconash.com

Marching, frolicking, and football: The Remix

2008-10-29T21:11:00.002-06:00

I'm not one to shy away from constructive criticism, so I have decided it only fair that I re-write this entry accounting for the new information the commenter brought to light and the experiences I have had since (For the original post and comment, click here):

My friend Claire works as a physical trainer at Sycamore High School in Pleasant View, about 30 minutes north of my house. As part of her job, she has to be on the sideline at all War Eagle football games, leaving her fall Friday nights completely booked. Kind of a sucky way to spend the greatest season of the year, right?

So, I've decided that I'm going to be a SHS super fan this year. Although I will not attend another game the rest of the season, I've gone to both home games so far, and it has been quite the experience getting back to high school athletics.

First and foremost: It was raining before the game and during the first quarter last night. I can not stress this enough.

Now I love watching football, and there have been some great plays made in those two games; but my favorite part, as with all amateur skirmishes, is all the extra little things that make a sporting event an event.

There's the fans, obviously, including the over-invested parents, students who are just there because there's nothing else to do in Pleasant View on a Friday night, and the people you're not sure why they're even there (like me). Each of these groups serve a distinct purpose in creating
the classic small town high school atmosphere.

Next are the cheerleaders. Over time I have become somewhat of a connoisseur of high school cheerleaders, and the War Eagle Cheer Team is actually quite effective in today's terms. They have energy, they can do a bit of tumbling and gymnastics, and they've got rhythm. That's all I ask for at this point, as my standards have become progressively lower as more and more of the best cheerleaders are choosing sports and dance instead. Not that that's a bad thing, just an observation.

And finally, my favorite piece of the puzzle: the marching band. Maybe it's because I had three sisters and dozens of friends who participated in the band and that I've watched dozens of high school half time shows, but I think the band can make or break the whole experience. Needless to say, the Sycamore band is something to behold.

They have performed the same disco medley at both half times, a fact that most likely speaks to the over-eager director's desire to make great entertainment more than great music. This could be remedied by cutting down to a song or two a week, less band choreography on the field, and the development of several signature tunes that are played early in the year while veteran members carry the load and the band can work on the new material. I have to give them credit for having the guts to go out there for how unprepared they appeared. I think my favorite part is when the color guard spins fake rifles while playing "Play That Funky Music". This week, the band was much better musically, but their color guard were probably the worst I have ever seen. They spun their wet rifles with vigor and failed to complete their attempted triples on numerous occasions, tried spins with their small, wet flags that were obviously beyond their level of expertise at the time, and stumbled around the mushy field to no apparent rhythm. To say the experience was magical would be like saying the Earth revolves around the moon.

This week's halftime show also featured the opposing team's band from Station Camp High School in Gallatin, TN. These guys were more of a frolicking band than a marching band, playing music that featured multiple solos and movements. Their presentation included some of the best flag spinning I have ever seen, switching between large, brightly colored banners and replica samurai sabers like pros. Their movements were simple and effective, and accented the musicality of the performance.

All in all, it was one of the starkest contrasts I've ever seen. And the other school went first. It was like the Beatles opening for Carrot Top. Definitely worth the drive out there, and definitely a fun enough experience to keep me coming back at some point next year maybe.

And it's finally looking like it's going to cool down in Tennessee, and you know what that means: sweatshirts and stocking caps. Yay! But, in all likelihood, it will be back in the 80s for the next several weeks and then abruptly drop into the 50s before I have the chance to have the gas turned on, resulting in a week of extra-chilly mornings.

But, then again, what would a retarded moron like I know? I'll remember that for the next time I "star bashing" people.

Above and beyond

2008-10-29T07:33:00.001-06:00

OK, two things:
1. I saw Avenue Q last night at TPAC, and it was just that much better to see the whole story rather than just the songs. If you can make it to a showing, you should, but not before first reading up about it a bit to make sure you can handle it.

2. Check out the comment on this post from a couple months back; i'm not sure what it means for me but I got a huge kick out of it (and it is completely legit, in case you were wondering):

http://marktalks.blogspot.com/2008/09/marching-frolicking-and-football.html

The more voices, the better?

2008-09-29T22:22:00.002-06:00

First, before I get to my main topic, I wanted to start my series on streaming media sites. We're going to start with Pandora.

Pandora is one of the most finely-tuned sites on the web. It is technically internet radio, but it's so much more. First you type in the name of an artist or song. Then, you listen. That's how simple it is. The site creates a radio station for you based on the characteristics of what you typed, allowing you to hear not only the music you like but similar songs and artists as well. You can also get song selections even further tailored to your tastes by clicking thumbs up or down on past plays.

This site is great when you want a variety of music without wasting time creating a playlist, and also for discovering new music. It's easy to use and a great introduction to the world of streaming media.

Now, onto the topic of the day.

So apparently the world is ending. We are in the midst of the Apocalypse. And it's all John McCain's fault. Or is it Nancy Pelosi's? Or maybe Barack Obama? I guess it all depends on how you look at it. Personally, I don't think this is the fourth bowl being poured out; I think there definitely needs to be something done to help ease the impact of this situation, but I'm not sure the best thing for everyone is to hand out $700 billion for making risky business moves. I think they'll come up with and sign a bill by the VP debate, and the market will recover the losses over the next week. But the political damage may be irreparable for McCain. I think he's screwed.

Anyway, that's all beside the point. What I really want to talk about is the proliferation of the comment section on internet news articles. Of the four major networks, three offer comment sections on general news stories, while the most openly-partisan of the four, Fox News, doesn't. And of course there's CNN's dreaded iReports, which I think I've made my feelings abundantly clear on. Even my home town Brainerd Dispatch has a forums section to discuss all their posted articles.

It is my understanding that journalists should write objective news stories unless they're writing an editorial. If they're achieving this goal, presenting all sides of the issue in a rational way, is there any reason to hear what Glen in New Hampshire has to say about the story? What could he possibly add that could be considered relevant to the discussion? And, if it's news, do we even need a discussion? Shouldn't fact be fact and opinion be opinion?

Even allowing comments on the op-ed pieces is a bit of a stretch. The sad thing is the news companies are simply responding to a demand: people want to feel like they matter, like their thoughts are important. This all ties back to that unfounded sense of entitlement that more and more Americans are developing. Why can't people just accept their role, find their place in their environment and fill that void well? Is that such a bad way to live?

But please, feel free to comment...

Only in Nashville...

2008-09-23T22:16:00.001-06:00

...Can you go to a charity concert put on by your boss and have Scott Hamilton (yes, THAT Scott Hamilton) introduce the evening. Awesome.

I think I need to take a couple posts here to introduce you all to the wonderful world of internet streaming. I will be doing upcoming posts on the following sites, so here's a link to them so you can prepare yourself:

http://www.pandora.com

http://www.lala.com

http://www.hulu.com

I know you may think that streaming is pretty lame, and I agree it can be at times. But we are getting closer and closer to the day when everyone will have internet-ready phones and the net will always be at your fingertips. When that happens, you'll all thank me for the coming lessons.

Two more days to the new season of The Office...

Running on empty

2008-09-19T23:31:00.001-06:00

You may think this post will have some sort of really deep meaning where I discuss depression, struggles, etc.

Nope, this post is about gas and the ridiculous situation that has developed in Nashville over the last 24 hours. Well, the last week really.

After Ike hit, gas prices in Nashville shot up. A station by my house that had been $3.53 last Thursday was $4.59 by Saturday morning. Thankfully I filled up on Thursday and haven't had to refill since.

After a couple days, things settled down a bit, and prices even dipped below $4.

And then something snapped last night.

On Friday morning, AAA reported that at least 85% of gas stations in Nashville were completely dry. People were waiting in line for hours to fill up, and apparently some tempers flared as well.

Two stations that still had supplies today are the two closest to my house. As I attempted to exit the interstate after work this evening, I quickly realized that the line on the ramp was actually the line to get gas. I took about a 20 minute detour to get a quarter mile up the road and on to my house. On this detour, I passed several stations with gas, and the scene was total anarchy.

Small corner stations with two pumps had dozens of cars in the lot, people with stalled cars because they had run out of gas while waiting, and just general craziness. Some of the most ridiculous things I've ever witnessed firsthand.

So tonight we went bowling and get back about midnight and the line is still all the way to the exit! One of the stations had run out of gas, so I apparently live next to one of a handful of stations in town that still has something to sell. Being midnight in the 37207, a collection of police cars had developed at the station in order to try and control the 100 or so cars still trying to fill up. There were people wandering the street, completely oblivious to the traffic coming through. It was the epitome of stupid.

Apparently help is on the way; I just hope it comes in time for me to fill up. I'm at a quarter tank, and it's not looking good on making it to church on my own Sunday... here's hoping.

Crashing down

2008-09-17T21:26:00.002-06:00

OK, so I had this really long post about all the new music that's out this week, but then Firefox froze on me and I lost it. So, in summary:

New Marc Broussard: Very good, not immediately on the same level as Carencro, but I think it will grow on me. Quickly.

New Matt Wertz: First on major label, basically repackaged his last album with a few new songs and a different track order. Still good.

And my find of the week: Raphael Saadiq. Sounds like if John Legend performed during Motown's heyday. Excellent stuff. Check him out here:

And, apparently, the first movie on my list that needs to be crossed off is Almost Famous. I'll hopefully get around to it in the near future. In the meantime, I Redboxed Love Guru tonight and it was passable but featured Jessica Alba, so I can let it slide. Baby Mama was the movie of choice last night, and it was better than Love Guru but not as awesome as it should have been. Still enjoyable though, and worth a rental, especially if you like Tina Fey.

Seriously though, check out Raphael Saadiq. Worth your time.

That's right, I've never seen Ghostbusters

2008-09-16T21:04:00.001-06:00

I have a large DVD collection. I enjoy finding a good deal on a movie, and even more so on a season of television; that's just how I roll.

Yet, for all the movies I own and all the ones I've seen, there are dozens of extremely popular films I have never seen. And, whenever this happens, one of my friends is invariably there to say, "What? You've never seen that? But you've seen everything!"

Needless to say, this gets kind of annoying. So, to minimize the occurrence of this phenomenon, I plan on making a concerted effort to see more of these "classic" titles. Here are a few on my current list; if you have any suggestions on which should be a higher priority, let me know and I will take it into consideration.

1. Almost Famous
2. Ghostbusters
3. Casablanca
4. Gone With the Wind
5. Lethal Weapon
6. Terminator
7. What Women Want
8. Top Gun
9. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
10. The Exorcist

Hiding in plain sight

2008-09-14T21:58:00.002-06:00

We never had an ice cream truck growing up. It could be that there wasn't a high enough population concentration; could be that 8 months out of the year if we wanted something cold to eat we could just go outside and snap an icicle off the roof. Whatever the reason, the closest thing we had was the Schwan's man, who would deliver once a week (I think).

After living in Nashville for four years and not encountering an ice cream truck, I assumed they were a long forgotten past time, the kind of thing you'd see in a movie about the 60s and wish it was still around, like drive-ins and serial radio shows.

So imagine my delighted surprise when I quickly discovered upon moving in that there is an ice cream truck that runs through my neighborhood!

At first I thought it was going to be awesome, a fun little diversion from the day when I could look out the window and watch the neighborhood kids chase the truck down the street and return to their houses eating fudge-sicles and Drumsticks. I even contemplated going out myself from time to time to get a cool treat on a hot summer day.

And then the truck started just being annoying. It has been known to drive down Edith Ave hourly on some days, blaring Silent Night in the middle of July. Along with all your holiday favorites, the truck plays classical pieces that border on unrecognizable and simple nursery rhymes that on infinite repeat. I think getting stuck behind an ice cream truck may, additionally, be worse than being behind a bus because, with a bus, you can easily anticipate the stops and the bus driver knows these stops as well; an ice cream truck can and will stop at any time, drive 10-15 miles per hour below the speed limit, and will not let you pass.

And now, after 3 and a half months in the neighborhood, I've come to a conclusion: the ice cream truck driver is an undercover cop.

There is no way that person can stay in business with the complete lack of customers I've witnessed. They drive around all day, getting little business and wasting gallon upon gallon of gas, and yet they continue to operate. The only logical explanation is a government operation to catch the various madams, pimps, and dealers in north Nashville.

And if that's the case, I'll put up with a couple more bars of Old MacDonald blaring from that wretched speaker. But if not, someone needs to give that driver a dose of reality. Fast.

It's often the littlest of things...

2008-09-11T22:49:00.001-06:00

The last couple of days at work have been...interesting.

I've been learning the ins and outs of a new program that allows us to process product royalties so labels can contract with us to determine who they owe what for the products they've sold. The software is mostly logical, but it involves several levels of information that all tie together in the end.

This software was also designed to work best when you import sales information rather than manually entering it. Our first client had been using the same software previously, but they had been manually entering all the statements.

So, as a result, I get to do one of my favorite things at work: create an efficiency! I know this sounds lame and all, but I've been able to take the statements I was given, develop a formula in Excel that translates this information into an importable form, and have everything come together in the program. And the fact that it works isn't my favorite part about it; the best part will be next quarter when I go to enter the statements and it takes me 6 minutes instead of 2 hours.

And it is that knowledge that makes the last three days of navigating between programs and forms completely fulfilling.

Partridge? No thanks.

2008-09-10T23:22:00.001-06:00

There's a tree in my front yard, right next to the driveway. When I bought the place it had small objects growing on it that I thought were some sort of nut. As the summer grew on, so did the "nuts", and it soon became apparent that I had, not a nut tree, but an actual, bonafide fruit tree.

Eventually the fruit gained distinct color and shape, and, behold, I had a tree full of pears.

I've actually thought at times about how fun it would be to have a
fruit tree. In my imagination, however, it was apples. Maybe oranges.
But not pears.

As summer became late summer, and late summer became September, I started noticing a certain odor in the front of my house. For the longest time I assumed it was emanating from the giant dumpster full of molded and rotten building materials.

And then it came to me: it wasn't the dumpster, it was the stench of pears.

Rotten pears!

Now I'm not a big fruit person; I'll eat apples and grapes, an occasional orange, and I enjoy the flavor but not the texture of most others. But pear is right up there with the most disgusting flavors in the world. Possibly behind pickles, but not by much. When I see a green Jelly Belly with dark green spots, I cringe.

And now I have one of the most fruitful fruit trees I've ever seen. There are pears littering my lawn and driveway; I can clean them up one day and the next another dozen have fallen to the ground. One of two things happen to a pear once it falls in my yard:
1. It gets run over by my car.
2. It rots and gets eaten by ants.

Or, in some cases, both:

It can't freeze fast enough around here.

My project for the evening

2008-09-09T21:42:00.001-06:00

No more exposed green sheetrock in my living room!

As I turned into my driveway today, I noticed a little something different: my dumpster is gone! I was told when I rented it I could keep it as long as I needed to, but apparently my need has an expiration date. I'll be calling the company tomorrow to try and figure out a plan where I can get a smaller one back on the property to cover the shingles and the removal of the back garage...

Wish me luck!

Pancakes and Packers

2008-09-08T21:48:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure I need to mention again how much I like football, so it should also go without saying that tonight was important night of any true Minnesota football fan: Vikings season opener. And not just the opener; it was against the Packers.

Well done, NFL schedule makers.

Tonight was so momentous I decided to make buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes. And they were dang good too.

The Vikings, however, didn't always measure up to the pancakes. There were moments of greatness on both sides of the ball, and I think in the next couple of weeks we'll see some great improvement, but they just didn't have enough to get past the Pack.

We'll get our chance at redemption later in the season, and I think we'll win that game. But, for now, I can take solace in those brief glimpses of awesomeness and hope they come more frequently in the coming weeks.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm watching Phantom Menace right now and I still can't decide if it's bad or tolerable. Maybe it fluctuates between the two. Some of the worst child acting ever by Jake Lloyd though. Seriously, rough.

Will you still need me when I'm 64?

2008-09-07T21:51:00.001-06:00

Yes, it's that time of year. Time for cocoa, sweaters, leaf piles, and my birthday.

Turning 23 is, as expected, much like turning 22. One difference is, with the new house, I asked for different gifts than normal from my family. So, for example, where I got a bunch of DVDs and CDs last year from my parents, I got this:

And this:

The really weird thing for me is that I actually wanted this stuff and am excited to have it! I always remember thinking it was weird to get dishes or pots or anything practical for your birthday or Christmas. I always thought these occasions were times to get the things you wanted but didn't necessarily need. And I still feel that way, I guess I'm more surprised that these items fit that category for me now.

Maybe I have gotten older than I thought...

A HUGE thank you to the NFL for coming back into my life. And Tom Brady better not be out for the season or I am royally screwed in my Fantasy League. Just one more reason to love this time of year!

Another reason to go to McDonalds besides a McGriddle

2008-09-06T22:26:00.001-06:00

Allow me to extol the greatness of Redbox.

Redbox is one of the greatest innovations of the last 5 years. Here's how it typically works:

1. Find a Redbox location. You can search for one on their website, but they're typically at McDonalds and some Wal-Marts.

2. Pick a movie. They only carry the most recent releases, typically about 100 titles or so.

3. Rent the movie. All titles are $1.00 to rent for a day, and $1 for every day after. They only accept credit cards, so make sure you have one with you.

4. Enjoy your movie!

5. Return the movie to any Redbox location, even if it's not the one you rented from.

However, there is a step 1A that should be listed on here: find a promo code. There are websites (like this one) that list promo codes you can type in and get a free rental! You still have to swipe your credit card in case you're late returning it, but they won't charge your card if you keep it for a day. You can use each code once per credit card, but for someone like me who has 2 credit cards and a debit card, that means three rentals per code. It's great!

AND, it allows you to rent movies you would never actually pay money to see, like Doomsday:

If you've ever thought that someone could make a great movie if they combined 28 Days Later, Lord of the Rings, Mad Max, Fast and the Furious, and I Am Legend, this movie would prove you wrong. Sorry to burst your bubble.

But it was free!

Marching, frolicking, and football

2008-09-05T22:53:00.001-06:00

My friend Claire works as a physical trainer at Sycamore High School in Pleasantview, about 30 minutes north of my house. As part of her job, she has to be on the sideline at all War Eagle football games, leaving her fall Friday nights completely booked. Kind of a sucky way to spend the greatest season of the year, right?

So, I've decided that I'm going to be a SHS super fan this year. I've gone to both home games so far this season, and it has been quite the experience getting back to high school athletics.

Now I love watching football, and there have been some great plays made in those two games; but my favorite part, as with all amateur skirmishes, is all the extra little things that make a sporting event an event.

There's the fans, obviously, including the over-invested parents, students who are just there because there's nothing else to do in Pleasantview on a Friday night, and the people you're not sure why they're even there (like me). Each of these groups serve a distinct purpose in creating the classic small town high school atmosphere.

Next are the cheerleaders. Over time I have become somewhat of a connoisseur of high school cheerleaders, and the War Eagle Cheer Team is actually quite effective in today's terms. They have energy, they can do a bit of tumbling and gymnastics, and they've got rhythm. That's all I ask for at this point, as my standards have become progressively lower as more and more of the best cheerleaders are choosing sports and dance instead. Not that that's a bad thing, just an observation.

And finally, my favorite piece of the puzzle: the marching band. Maybe it's because I had three sisters and dozens of friends who participated in the band, but I think the band can make or break the whole experience. Needless to say, the Sycamore band is something to behold.

They have performed the same disco medley at both half times, and I have to give them credit for having the guts to go out there for how obviously unprepared they were last week. I think my favorite part is when the flag girls twirl replica Civil War muskets while playing "Play That Funky Music". This week, the band was much better musically, but their flag girls were probably the worst I have ever seen. So incredibly awful it can't be described, so I won't even try.

This week's halftime show also featured the opposing team's band, a school I never did catch the name of. These guys were more of a frolicking band than a marching band, playing music that featured multiple solos and movements. Their presentation included some of the best flag twirling I have ever seen, switching between brightly colored banners and sequined batons like pros.

All in all, it was one of the starkest contrasts I've ever seen. And the other school went first. It was like U2 opening for Milli Vanilli. Definitely worth the drive out there, and definitely a fun enough experience to keep me coming back.

And it's finally looking like it's going to cool down in Tennessee, and you know what that means: sweatshirts and stocking caps. Yay!

Is this really necessary?

2008-09-04T22:50:00.001-06:00

It is becoming easier and easier to achieve your 15 minutes of fame these days, or at least to get the sensation of those 15 minutes without actually making any real impact.

Enter the iReporters. CNN.com began a project at some point in the last year that allows every day people to report the news as they see it. This has led to some "awesome" "stories", like the video of the online astrologer in a tanktop during the California earthquake a couple months ago.

And apparently now it's no longer good enough to get a poll to find out how the public is reacting to politics; the poll is augmented by and sometimes foregone for the personal views of anyone who thinks their opinion is worthy of the internet. This results in a bunch of extremist crazies submitting back-and-forth attacks and going nowhere.

Is all this self-expression really necessary? Really?

Then again, I'm writing my opinion in the same medium...

Since when did Penn Jillette's opinion matter?

2008-09-03T21:20:00.001-06:00

This was the first thought that ran through my head when I saw this article on cnn.com this evening:

Penn Jillette: U.S. doesn't need a great leader

And then I read the article and, surprisingly, he had some good things to say. He presents his point in a very self-deprecating way, the gist of it being candidates are all talking about how much they're going to do for us and how that's not what makes a good president.

I couldn't agree more. The presidential race seems more and more about what the candidates are going to do for you, how they're going to make your life better, how they're going to put more money in your pocket. All these promises sound great, even if we all know that very few of them will actually come true. Who wouldn't want universal healthcare? Lower gas prices? Increased governemtn aid programs? Etc, etc, etc...

But is a system of handouts and free passes really best for the future of the country? Will universal healthcare really improve the health of the country, or will it just create a greater gap between the haves and the have-nots, with long waits and poor care at government facilities juxtaposed against the sterile, segregated, private hospitals?

I'm not saying that is how universal healthcare would end up, but it is just one example of the kind of issue that I think people can get blindly excited about without thinking past the immediate benefit. And it is these voters who can't see past the present, acting on what sounds good and will benefit them now rather what is best for the future of this nation, that scare me the most in this election. They will get distracted by flashy smiles, puffed-up rhetoric, and reformation-era plans from both parties and will miss the issues that matter most to our long-term survival.

I generally think picking a candidate is going to come down to the lesser of two (or three) evils; there will always be things to disagree on. I just hope I can decide this election's lesser evil before November rolls around.

I could write pages and pages on how I think the current generation is spoon-fed too much, how we are being babied by our parents well into our 20s, how we are given such a false sense of entitlement to the luxuries of life that we can't comprehend what it means to sacrifice. And it's becoming more and more apparent to me the older I get. But that'd be a book in and of itself, so I'll leave that alone. For now.

Stryker's Most Wanted

2008-09-02T20:22:00.001-06:00

Can I just say how much I'm looking forward to fall? I've decided it is far and away my favorite season (especially when it's in MN, but that's another story). I can't wait to start layering. Granted I try to get away with this during the dog days of summer too, but it's just not the same. Not even close. Bring on the 40s, I say!

I am beginning to see the fruits of my labor more and more at work. One important aspect of my job is to kind of a perpetual audit of every use of our songs, whether that's comparing album sales units to what the label has paid, making sure we get paid the right rate on a ringtone sale, or contacting people who use our songs without paying in order to collect what the money that rightfully belongs to our clients.

This is generally a long process, and it can take months and years to resolve a single issue. While I have seen these issues come and go over the last year, I am starting to find a groove in the whole process and, in turn, am resolving issues more consistently and efficiently. It's one of my favorite feelings at work when I get a check for one of our writers they wouldn't have seen if not for my efforts.

In order to spur this process along and keep the outstanding issues fresh in my mind, I have created a list and taped it to my office door titled "Stryker's Most Wanted" (Yes, my work nickname is Stryker... long story, but it's on my business cards now so it's gonna stick). And today I got to cross an item off for the first time. Hopefully by the end of the week I can get another one off. Just one of the little things that make it all worth while.

Apparently some of my friends have banded together for a birthday present for me. I have no idea what it is, but I'm more than mildly intrigued by what it is. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Enough chatting about nothing; I'm going to get back to one of the greatest films ever made, The Godfather Part II. Soo good....

Putting the "Labor" in Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-01T21:43:00.001-06:00

Ah, what a weekend.

A couple days after I bought my house, my dad and I realized I was going to need to do some siding work. Well, three months later, it's finally done.

I spent most of the last three days working on my house (and, consequently, my tan). With a lot of help from my friends (I owe Lee more than the free food from this weekend), we were able to replace the siding on the front and right sides of the house. Here's a bit of before and after fun:

Before

Between

After

Before

After (I've got one more piece to put in above the french doors, that's what that line is)

Before

After

Before

Between

After

So, as you can see, we've made quite a bit of progress. On tap for this week is renting a power washer and cleaning off the whole house so I can paint it next weekend. Current color of choice is going to be something in the olive green family, likely a shade lighter than my kitchen and with white trim. I can't imagine what it's going to look like when I'm done with that... crazy.

Additionally, I had a fun little discovery this weekend too. I was taking the exterior insulation off of the interior of my family room (if you don't know what I'm taking about, look back at the pictures of the interior siding that came with the house), fully expecting to find plywood behind it. Instead, I found this:

They're vertical planks that look like they are original with the house. The picture doesn't really do justice to the potential this wall has. Where I had planned on putting sheetrock, I will now be at least trying to stain and preserve the wall as a fun little diversion from the rest of the house.

And finally, nature is now enjoying the fruits of my labor:

Precious.

Progress and Plants

2008-07-21T06:43:00.001-06:00

Well, just one plant actually: Robert Plant.

I got to see Plant and Allsion Krauss perform Saturday night at the Somet, and they did not disappoint. They played for two hours and it felt like 10 minutes, the music was just so well done. That all came after seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX that morning (so incredibly good, I kind of want to go see it again this week). That's what I call a great day!

Here's pictures of my bathroom vanity and my project of yesterday

Operation: Closet Clean Up

Here's what the laundry room/my walk-in closet used to look like:

And this is what my room looked like:

Then, this happened:

And then, this:

Leaving this:

Also, my room closet has been reorganized, starting with this:

It's been a long time coming...

2008-07-14T23:06:00.001-06:00

...It's going to be a long time gone.

6 weeks later, and I'm not sure where to start.

First, I'm in! Tim and I moved in the second weekend of June, so I guess it's been 5 weeks now. During that time I have worked on finishing up the kitchen and hallway, and have now moved into the hall bathroom for a quick face lift. Here's where we stand today:

Kitchen

Here's the installed dishwasher. The drawers are now on the cabinets too, but I don't have a picture of that yet. You can also see the sink I installed.

The aforementioned sink installation. One of my finest moments.

Wainscoating is up in the kitchen and dining room, and I got this great dining table at Southeastern Salvage. Also note the new light.

Wainscoating under the breakfast bar.

My new range! It still looks like this a month after installation; I've been putting off installing the other wall cabinets for some reason.

Note the finished wainscoating, as well as the new light (which I'm still not sure I'm thrilled about...)

The new fridge

This is what the trim looks like around the hall bedroom doors

This picture is both to show you the new trim in the hall and to give you a frame of reference for the next picture...

Hall Bathroom

This is what the bathroom looks like now! This was my project for this past weekend. I still need to do trim and install the the vanity, but we're getting close.

My Bathroom

Here's the other project from tonight. We now have a mirror in the house.

Rest of the house

Bookshelves built and temporarily housed in the living room

Tim's room

Laundry

My bedroom

New furniture in the living room

All right, that about does it! Now that we have cable and internet hooked up, I will hopefully have an easier time finding time to update this thing... I guess we'll see.

Color my world

2008-06-03T21:31:00.001-06:00

Painting is progressing extremely well. We're on track to move in this weekend!

Final coat of caramel latte in living room

More living room

2 coats of flint smoke in Tim's room

More Tim's room

Where the kitchen green meets the blue hallway meets Tim

More Athenian green in kitchen

Winter lake in hallway

3 coats of autumn maple in my bedroom (needs a bit of touching up still)

I'm taking tomorrow off for some work parties, Thursday night I'll be grouting the kitchen counter and doing some touch ups...

Liar, Liar

2008-06-02T22:54:00.001-06:00

So I had the painting party tonight, it went well, we got a bunch done... and I forgot my camera.

Pictures tomorrow, I swear.

Please excuse my lies

2008-06-01T21:00:00.001-06:00

I warned you I wasn't posting today, but there were a couple pics too good to wait with

The first coat of Autumn Maple in my bedroom

Vanity in laundry bath

Hung wall cabinets(!)

View 2 of cabinets

The kitchen is getting closer and closer...

On my own:The rainbow connection

2008-05-31T20:18:00.001-06:00

Well dad got on the road yesterday and arrived back in Brainerd today. Thus, I am on my own. Well, as on my own as my friends will let me be. Here's some pics of dad's work before he left yesterday and some of my color choices from today.

Warning: no new pictures tomorrow, but I'll have full-color updates after the painting party on Monday!

Trimmed counter top (SOOO nice)

Another view

Athenian green in the kitchen

Caramel Latte in the living room (this is going to look so pimp)

More caramel latte

Caramel Latte and the brick

Liquid blue in the laundry bathroom (it's even brighter in person)

That's it for now!

The Last Crusade: Renovation days 5 and 6

2008-05-29T22:33:00.001-06:00

Today ended the bulk of my renovations! (Or at least the ones to make the house livable) Dad leaves tomorrow morning, and after that I'm on my own.

It's hard to imagine how much we've done in the last 6 days. Oh so much! I am forever grateful for my dad being able to come down for the week and make himself a slave to my investment. I just hope that as I continue to work on projects I can keep up his level of quality.

I will continue to post pictures of projects as I finish them, they just won't be as frequent. Here's the house as it stood this evening:

Back bedroom

Other side of back bedroom

Kitchen cabinets with new granite tile counters (the tile is black, it's just dirty from the mortar)

Other view of counters

Middle bedroom with new window and carpet

New bathroom door in laundry

New vanity in laundry bath

Grouted laundry tile

Front bedroom (I've finally decided to make this my room by the way)

New family room window

Trimmed French doors

Trimmed front window and door

The work crew (including the Mighty Hand of Tim) sitting on Matt's baby (the completed wood floor)

The Man of the Year

Next up: this weekend I will be filling holes in the walls and getting the place ready for my painting party on Monday!

Come together: Renovation Day 4

2008-05-27T22:32:00.001-06:00

Completed living room floor lit by new overhead lights

New floor, new lights, and Tim

New hall floor

Dining room floor and set cabinets

Cabinets installed

Other view of cabinets

Laundry tile

Bathroom tile

Proof that Susan worked: dirty boogers

Extreme Home Makeover: Day 3

2008-05-26T22:02:00.001-06:00

We started putting in my new wood floor

Another view of wood floor

We fixed the rotting floor in the laundry room...

...and removed the attached bathroom

Dad framed some windows this morning: laundry

Front bedroom

Dining room

New kitchen door

Kitchen door outside

New front door

Front door from inside

Start of can lights in living room

What my cabinets are going to look like

Tracy and Matt enjoying the new floor

Me napping on new floor at the end of the day

The Metamorphosis: Acts I and II

2008-05-25T21:33:00.003-06:00

So, in case you hadn't yet heard, I finally have a house! And I'm renovating it! For the last two days and the next two, my dad, a half dozen friends, and I are in the process of making the house livable. Progress has been made, here's how things have progressed over the last two days.

Windows

After inspecting the house, my dad decided the windows should all be replaced. Since I built into my loan a contingency for things like this, we've been working on getting that done. Here are the new windows throughout the house:

New dining room window

New windows in front bedroom

New laundry window

The evolution of a new window:

The initial hole from the outside

Initial hole from inside

Installed inside

Installed outside

New front windows

New front windows from inside (and Susan's butt)

Kitchen

This is what the kitchen looked like to start with

After day one.

After day two

All of the cabinets we put built today

Matt and Ryan: Cabinet Conquerors

The Family Room

The indoor siding comes down on day 1

No more siding

New French doors (which Dad worked dang hard to get in)

French doors from outside

Misc

Tim's mom and Allison planted flowers in my new garden

Tim and Tracy working on outlet polarization

Carpet torn out in living room

I'll post more pictures tomorrow!

My most recent potential first home

2008-04-12T18:44:00.001-06:00

All right, after going through another stupid deal last week, I was back on the hunt this morning. And, I think I found a good one! Or I should say, what will be a good one. It is located on Edith, just east of the I-65/24 Trinity Lane exit. Here are pictures of a house I think I'm going to put an offer on this week. It would need to be renovated, but mostly cosmetically (flooring, paint, whole new kitchen, and some bathroom fixtures); I would spend May doing that, with the goal to have my dad come down over Memorial weekend to install the flooring and finish up. I think this house will be pretty cool once I'm done with it; here's what it looks like now:

Front of house (and Tim)

Side of house (right of front, door leads to back bedroom)

Right side patio

Outdoor oven on front of house

Ginormous detached garage/future recording studio for Tim

Left side of house (door leads into kitchen)

Front door (into living room)

Living room (door into front bedroom, laundry, and front bath)

Another view of living room looking out to front

Fireplace in living room

Shower in front bath

Laundry hookups in room adjacent to front bath, through front bedroom

Front bedroom (laundry/front bath behind, living room to left)

Family room (addition, they left the siding on the original walls! doors into right side of living room)

Other side of family room (door leads to outdoor oven)

Hallway off back of living room (second bedroom on right, hall bath on left)

Second bedroom

Other side of second bedroom (out to hallway)

Hall bathroom vanity

Hall bathroom tub (needs a bit of work...)

Dining room (straight back through hall, kitchen to left, back bed to right)

Back bedroom (door to dining/kitchen, door out to right side of house directly behind)

Kitchen (I'll be gutting this and starting over)

Side yard (right of house)

More side yard (left of previous pic)

Another pic of ginormous garage

And that's it! Let me know what you think...

It'll be just like starting over

2008-03-31T20:27:00.001-06:00

Thank you, John Lennon, for such an appropriate title.

Well, the house that I thought was going to be my first home is no longer in the running, as the homeowner has decided to file bankruptcy and take the house off the market. Additionally, the even better house I found last weekend that I put an offer already had an offer on it, and is closing on Friday, so things are not looking good on that front.

All that to say, I've got a bit of work ahead of me.

I'll be looking at places tomorrow and for the rest of the week if needed; my goal is to have an offer on an available and realistic house by the end of the week, and I think I can achieve that goal. We'll see. It's in God's hands, and I'm fine with that.

This week is going to be moderately intense. Not only do I need to find a house, I also have several work events to attend, along with preparing for a 21 mile run Sunday morning. There's just a lot that has to happen this week.

My newest addictions are: Cubis 2 on MSN Games and the Pieces of Flair application on Facebook. Check out both if you get the chance; definitely worth your time. Well, maybe not definitely, but sure beats doing nothing!

The hope

2008-03-06T20:07:00.001-06:00

This is my goal for what the basement will look like...

The home buying process

2008-03-06T20:01:00.001-06:00

Not really the process, so much as where I'm at in it... which, in this case, is waiting for the seller's mortgage company to accept my offer.

In the meantime, here are pics of the place!

Upstairs bathroom (shower to the left)

Upstairs landing

Upstairs bedroom #1 (right up the steps)

Living room view from entry

Living room view from dining (entry door is on left)

Back porch (off kitchen)

Kitchen

Basement stairs (the start of something great)

Rear view

Side view from corner of street

Front of house (main entry is off side porch on right)

Main level bathroom

View into back main floor bedroom (bathroom on left, other bedroom behind)

Dining Room (bathroom directly behind)

Main floor hallway (living room ahead, kitchen left, back bed right, porch behind)

Stairway upstairs

Upstairs bedroom #2 (left up the steps)

So that's that... more to come!

Another milestone

2008-01-19T21:32:00.001-06:00

I ran 14 miles today. And now I'm tired.

But I finished, and that feels good.

A rainy Tuesday evening

2008-01-08T19:00:00.001-06:00

I am seeing rain for the first time in probably a month right now, and definitely lightning for the first time in that long. I like it.

My run this morning went well. I'm still trying to regain some of the stamina that I lost during my hiatus. I was encouraged this morning, however, when I found out I didn't gain any wait during the break, which I think is crazy.

As part of my training, I'm going to be making some dietary changes, most notably no chocolate or pop and more pasta and fruit juice. The fruit juice can't come at a better time; I'm starting to feel a cold coming on.

Yes!!!! Sweet thunder happening right now.

Work was really slow today. I'm waiting for a statement from a ringtone company, and I can't do any more royalty entries until I get that statement. The thing that saved my sanity today was hulu.com, a joint-venture between NBC and FOX that streams all their new shows and a bunch of old shows and movies for free. I've found myself turning on an episode of "30 Rock", minimizing the window, and using it as a kind of radio program. If you haven't checked it out yet, I would absolutely recommend signing up. Totally worth your time.

Ahlberg out.

(Wow, did I just type that?)

And the beat keeps running

2008-01-07T19:35:00.001-06:00

My marathon training has officially begun.

I started on Saturday, running a little over 8 miles after taking approx. the last month off (smart, I know). My body wanted to kill me the rest of the day and most of Sunday too, but I was able to get out this morning and go another 6, which went well.

My schedule for the rest of the week is 8 miles tomorrow, 6 Wednesday, 4 Friday, and 10 Saturday. I think that's really doable, especially since the weather looks like it's going to be mild.

Rant of the day: What is it with people wearing iPods at the grocery store? It is an interesting social observation that in an age of over-connectedness with social networking, texting, e-mail, and instant messaging, we are trying our hardest to isolate our world. I think that's really what all of this new stuff is doing: allowing people to consolidate and control their social bubble. In an effort to make people more open and accessible to new people, we have created a socially acceptable mindset that makes it ok to cut yourself off from everyone you can. Hmm.

A day in the life

2007-12-06T22:28:00.001-06:00

Things that happened today:

1. They announced the Grammy nominees... and we got a nomination for Song of the Year! We also got noms for country song of the year, female country vocal performance, and male country vocal performance. A great way to start the day.

2. Over lunch I went to a store I saw the other day called Lee's Hair and Dollar. "What could they sell at a place called Lee's Hair and Dollar?" you may ask. Well, turns out they sell hair, hair accessories, and cheap crap. What did I expect? It's right up there with the sketchiest places I've ever been, but it was absolutely worth it.

3. Jessica Simpson is working on a country album; hence, she needs country songs. The publishing side got a writing session lined up with her and my boss for next Friday at our office! Just as I was getting excited about this, I realized I will be in Arizona. Not that being in AZ will be unfortunate, just makes for some unfortunate timing.

4. NEVER JOIN STAMPS.COM! Complete and utter ripoff. I joined to print off postage for a package at the end of October, and realized this week that they charge 15.99/month to be a member. AND, when I went to cancel, they charged me for the next billing period even though I'm only 3 days into it. AND they don't prorate the fee. About the lamest thing I've ever experienced.

5. By the way, we now do admin for Billy Ray Cyrus. Yes, that Billy Ray Cyrus.

1:59:41

2007-11-10T22:35:00.001-06:00

That's the unofficial time for my first ever half marathon, which I ran by myself this morning.

And now my legs feel like they're going to fall off.

We put on our winter skin and walk

2007-11-03T16:34:00.001-06:00

The end of my probationary period at Big Loud Bucks is rapidly approaching, and this past week was basically my final exam.

First, I woke up on Sunday with the beginnings of a cold. By Monday, my entire head was clogged, and yet I had to go to work, what with final preparations for the end of the quarter taking place. My boss graciously let me leave early on Tuesday, since by that time I looked and felt quite miserable.

Wednesday was the big day. We had meetings with clients virtually all day long, with a break for lunch. Thursday was slightly better, with meetings spread out over the day that accounted for half my time. Meanwhile, I was working to get our numbers lined up and getting ready for the start of next quarter. During all of these meetings, my job was to explain our royalty statements to the client and tell them why they're getting the check they are. Some were disappointed in the amount, but all seemed to genuinely appreciate the time we took to explain everything to them.

So that was basically the focus of my week: survival.

Because of all the work I was trying to take good care of myself, and thus took full advantage of not having to be at work til 9, and thus did not go running this week. Until today, that is, when I woke up and decided that, instead of my planned 7.7 mile run, I would go closer to 10 miles. Somehow I finished (still not sure how), and now, 6 hours later, I'm still pretty exhausted. But it does feel good to know that I can go that far, especially considering that at least a mile of the distance I added was uphill. I think I would like to try to run the Country Music Half-Marathon route sometime soon, maybe even next Saturday. We shall see.

I got the sudden urge to do two things today: 1. Write a screenplay (a persistent dream that I vow will someday become reality) 2. Make chicken and sausage gumbo. The latter of those is a bit more achievable, I may even attempt it tomorrow (although next weekend is looking more likely).

I need to start working on a Christmas list. And getting a Christmas tree! I really want to get a real tree for our house this year, and I should start preparing for that now, seeing as the only thing I have are lights. Something to put on the list (more of a metaphorical list than anything else).

Wow, so much.

OH! I went to a high school football game last night! It was a ton of fun, hanging out with Jon, Matt, Jess, and Tracy, with McDougal's before and Starbucks after, and it was just about the best way to spend the first Friday evening in November.

And again, if you haven't started listening to Christmas music yet, you are missing out.

Collecting my thoughts...

2007-10-17T22:15:00.001-06:00

...is getting harder these days for some reason.

I'll give you three points of interest in my recent life:

1. I went to my first real industry event on Monday, the ASCAP Country Songwriters Awards, which was held at the Ryman. It was tons of fun, my boss won songwriter of the year and one of our writers won song of the year, so that was a great start to the night. After that, we spent a couple hours at the AT&T Tower (formerly Bell South Tower (aka the Batman Building)), which included a view from the 27th floor that is breathtaking. Nashville really is a gorgeous city.

After that, we went back to the office, where we had a surprise party set up for the writers: The reception desk was transformed into a bar, there were candles all over the place, and the conference room was full of really comfortable couches and everyone decided we should leave it like that (didn't happen, but I wouldn't be surprised to show up to work one day and have all the furniture back in place permanently). A great night all around.

2. I just finished The Kite Runner, which I thought was quite good, particularly early on. The middle got a little tedious and some of the plot revelations were kind of transparent, but I loved the ending in all of its unconventional splendor.

3. Two new Christmas albums came out yesterday, and they are both excellent. The first is the new Michael W Smith, It's a Wonderful Christmas. I absolutely love his first two holiday albums, and this one follows in that grand tradition quite well. The instrumentation is grand and elaborate, bordering on cinematic at times and full on embracing the genre at others. There is the right combination of instrumentals, choral numbers, and solos, and almost all of the music is original, with the traditional "What Child is This?" the one exception.

The other is Jars of Clay's Christmas Songs. I have been waiting for this album for quite awhile, ever since they recorded "Bethlehem Town" for the City on a Hill Christmas record, and there were high expectations for this album that could have easily gone unattained. Thankfully, they were at least met if not exceeded, as Jars has created a very unique album that is both reverent and playful, traditional and modern, and all Jars of Clay. The album flows along quite effortlessly, and one song blends into the next, not in the bad way where everything sounds the same, but in the way that everything seems to fit together perfectly.

I highly recommend both for anyone who even just sorta likes Christmas for a couple weeks in December. Definitely worth the money.

It's that time of year

2007-10-10T17:12:00.001-06:00

It's official: as of Monday night, the Christmas season has begun... in my head.

I was beset with an intense desire to listen to Holiday tunes during Monday Night Football (a classic game, btw), and since we don't actually get audio on ESPN I turned on my "Best of Christmas" mix. Pleasure followed as I escaped into a winter wonderland. 76 days and counting...

In other news, I rented my first tuxedo this afternoon from Men's Wearhouse. I need to have one for the ASCAP Country Music Songwriters Awards on Monday. A word of advice: if you're renting a tux, do it at least a week in advance, since it saves you $20 on a "rush fee." The more you know.

Rummikub tonight, The Office and cards tomorrow.

Oh, and we just hit a big milestone at work today, so I get free lunch at a nice restaurant tomorrow. Suh-weet.

Huh...

2007-10-04T18:10:00.001-06:00

That's where I am right now.

Say your goodbyes if you got someone to say goodbye to

2007-10-02T22:02:00.001-06:00

I am officially addicted to the new Matchbox Twenty single, "How Far We've Come." The driving beat, sing-along chorus, and Rob Thomas just make me want to put it on repeat all day long. The rest of their new album/greatest hits compilation Exile on Mainstream is good too, worth spending $10 at Target or Best Buy for.

It is October, and by the start of next week it might finally start to feel like it around here. I support that completely.

We watched the first movie from my new Blockbuster subscription last weekend, Se7en. It was good, I enjoyed how the movie flowed, and thought all the acting was great. I thought the story was clever in a twisted way, but it could have been better (as all stories and plot lines can).

Next up is Zodiac, which I've heard mix reports on but I think I'll watch it tomorrow evening.

Oh, and The Office returned to television last Thursday. All I have to say is it looks to be the beginning of another beautiful season in Scranton, PA...

Cinematographically speaking

2007-09-23T19:30:00.001-06:00

I just re-opened my Blockbuster online account, and upon looking through the various titles that are available, have come up with a very small queue. I need suggestions and I need them quick.

I do not appreciate when the first day of fall is also in the mid 90s. That's not supposed to happen, I was just getting in a Christmas mood yesterday for goodness sake! Come on!

In one of the most unfortunate moments of my young fantasy football life, I had Kevin Curtis and Donovan McNabb sitting on my bench today while they went and outscored my entire starting team by themselves. I think I might still win though, so not a total loss.

Adventures in creation

2007-09-22T18:51:00.001-06:00

I have just added a new application to Firefox that allows me to blog from my browser anytime I want without signing in to Blogger. Needless to say, if this thing actually works, I think I'll be keeping this thing a bit more current than every two weeks (or more). I guess we shall see.

This week went by extremely quickly, even with it being a relatively boring work week. I enjoyed the week on the whole, though, so I'm completely ok with it.

I have started hosting a community group through Rolling Hills on Monday evenings. We have met twice, and both times have been great. Everyone seems to really want to be there, want to invest in everyone else there, want to create a community. I'm excited to see how this goes in the coming months.

I went to my first quasi-official Big Loud Bucks company event on Tuesday, as Craig Wiseman was hosting his annual "Stars for Second Harvest" show at the Ryman. In the past this show has included the likes of Ronnie Dunn (of Brooks and Dunn fame), Keith Urban, and Bon Jovi, but Craig was having a hard time getting his friends signed up, so the whole show was performed by the Hit Men of Music Row, four songwriters that have written a combined 38 #1 country songs. The guys were extremely entertaining, the music was awesome, and it was at the freaking Ryman Auditorium; you can't go wrong with that.

As for the title of my post, it refers to my two adventures in the kitchen this week. The first was Sunday afternoon's effort to create a gluten-free Mark Wad, in celebration of Rachel's birthday. It was pretty easy to make, the only real difference was Rice Krispies instead of oatmeal, but the result was drastically different, with a lightly dense consistency. I personally prefer the original, but these kind of grew on me over time.

On a related note, I've decided to host a Christmas Ball party in December where everyone will get to create their own Wad. I'll have snickers, peanut butter cups, cereal, fudge, caramel, and everything else anyone would want to put in a Wad, and everyone will be able to leave with a recipe for their Wad. I'm weird, I know.

My second creation of the week grew out of my trip to the grocery store this morning, where I spontaneously decided to make soup today. Not having any sort of recipe and only a slight reference as to what you need in a soup, I got some chicken broth, potatoes, ham, ground beef, cheese soup, pork jowl bacon, cheese, and half and half. I pretty much threw the first six ingredients together in a crock pot for 4 hours and added the cheese and cream 15 minutes before eating. The result was an incredibly filling soup that I think, with some tweaking, could be much better; the pork jowl bacon needs to be switched to something a bit less fatty, and I might work on quantities of ingredients. I also now have seriously a tub full of soup to eat for the next week. No joke, I don't think I'll have to eat anything else until next Saturday.

Be on the lookout in the near future for more rants like my last post and hopefully some fun news (no idea what that would be, but I'd like to think fun news comes along once in a while, and I don't think I've had any for a bit).

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It's Rant-eriffic

2007-09-04T16:53:00.000-06:00
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the infrequency is lame, I know.

I've decided one of my least favorite things in the world is when other people have their "That could have been me" near-death experience, or at least what they perceive as "near-death."

This was never more apparent to me than last month when the I-35 bridge collapsed. I would hear all of these accounts from people who would say, "I was on that bridge last Tuesday, it could just have easily been me on there!" and I would just want to smack the person on the TV or leave a bitter comment on their facebook wall. Because, really, it could have been anyone. They could have interviewed a 37 year-old woman from Nashville and heard her say, "I thought about going back to school one time last summer, and the University of Minnesota was on my radar. It could have been me on there." How ridiculous does that sound?

Maybe it's that I get annoyed by some of the things that cause people to re-examine their lives. Or things they claim cause them to re-examine their lives. Like it being a wake-up call for a girl who has never had sex to take a pregnancy test on her doctor's orders: what did she really think was going to be the result? If the test comes out positive, then obviously there are some serious questions that are raised. But the girl who takes that five minutes of what should best be described as curiosity and makes it a turning point in her life is living in denial. She's in denial of the importance of her life: she doesn't think the rest of her existence is exciting, so she has to take these brief brushes with danger and tragedy and make them more than they are.

And I think that this finally gets to the root of my annoyance: selfishness. Maybe more self-centeredness, although I believe they are interconnected. This annoyance manifests itself in those moments when someone asks you how you are only so they can tell you how they are, when someone makes their momentary trials the latest in a string of close calls. People like this seem to have a Struggle of the Month that, even once resolved, will remain in the forefront of their mind until the next SOTM comes along. Wake up call: Not everything is about you! Not even everything that happens to you is about you! Thinking that it is keeps you from recognizing the things that actually matter. Things like friends in trouble, family in pain, strangers in need. You will fit in each of these categories at some point in your life, and it's at that point it might be about you. Until then, make it about everyone else and you'll be surprised how much easier and more fulfilling life can be.

I just got paid

2007-08-18T15:21:00.000-06:00
First, how many of you first thought of N'Sync when you read that title? Just checking... moving on.

Another week gone.

Work was pretty good; I still like my job, so that's what's important, I guess. I also received my first pay check yesterday, most of which I won't be able to actually use until a week from Monday because my checking account with Bank of America is so new they have to put the balance on hold. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but I'm sure they have perfectly illogical reason for it, so I won't question it.

Jon's parents came into town last weekend, and we saw Bourne Ultimatum, which I liked quite a bit. I would say it was at least as good as Supremacy. Ben's sister was in town too, so we played a lot of cards too. I would also like to point out that, on Tuesday, I whooped up on Jess and Ben in Pinochle at Fido.

I'm getting into a bit of a groove of the whole work thing. My schedule has stabilized, and I like that I've still been able to have plenty of fun. I haven't been getting tired either, which I think I'm going to credit to a summer of hard work and my daily running. Really, everyone's getting ready to go back to school and it hasn't been weird at all for me. It feels completely normal that I should be working in an office right now, that I should be independent. Working around my friends' class schedules shouldn't be a big deal. (I say that now, before class has even started, so I could be eating my words in a week).

We got a new couch today from Susan's old roommate, who needed a place to store hers for the year. Jon and I picked up a new slipcover for it, as the previous one was quite nice but red like the walls in our living room. I had no idea how expensive slip covers are; I mean, it's basically a sheet, and they want $80? Screw that. I bought a simple one for $40 that matches the other couch and will serve its purpose quite well.

I'm losing steam on this post. Until next time...

Return of the Blogger

2007-08-11T08:53:00.000-06:00
Wow, it's been close to a month. My bad.

I started my job on Monday, and this past week has gone pretty well. It's kind of a slow time for royalties because they're due on the 15th, and that means all the companies will start sending them then (just the way the music industry works). This has given me time to get familiar with the songs we work with, and I've started making some of the spreadsheets and databases that will eventually allow me to give our clients better data and more accurate projections for each quarter (kind of the whole reason they brought me on in the first place).

My schedule for work is your standard 9-5, which includes a flexible lunch. Some days will be a little longer than that, but I can live with that. The people I work with are great and have been extremely helpful in getting me used to all the processes and procedures of the office.

Which, speaking of, here are some pictures of my office and a video of the view from my desk chair.

The Big Loud Shirt/Bucks building

My office

And an extremely poor quality video:

Bigger, Louder, and... Buckser?

2007-07-16T15:56:00.001-06:00
Wow, so much awesome news!

First, I am back in Minnesota. I drove up Friday, and will be returning to Nashville on Saturday the 28th. I'll get to do osme more flooring work while I'm up here plus I get to help my parents with their newest project...

A new house! They first looked at this place a week ago yesterday, and will now be closing on it Thursday. It's an awesome house, tons of space, and perfect for my parents. It will be a great place to come back to...

From my new job! That's right, I have accepted the royalty analyst position with Big Loud Bucks copyright administration in Nashville. It's gonna be a lot to learn early on, but eventually I hope to take the tasks and make them my own, making them more efficient and effective. I start there on August 6, so three weeks from today I will be moving in to my own office. Incredible.

I think that's plenty for one update, I'll wait until you've digested that info before giving you anything more (not that there's anything too exciting left, but it might keep you coming back for more).

I said, "No No No"

2007-07-09T14:50:00.000-06:00
All right, a shotgun post, seeing as it's been two weeks since the last one:

I arrived in Nashville a week ago yesterday, and things have been pretty chill ever since. My interview at Big Loud Bucks went great, and I'm going to a writers' showcase Wednesday to meet the rest of the employees. I think that's a pretty good sign...
I have seen Live Free or Die Hard and Transformers since coming down, both of which were excellent, especially Die Hard. I also went to Ratatouille with my family the day before coming back, and it was great as well. Now it's on to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have a feeling my string of luck will continue.
Fireworks in Nashville are incredible, even from several miles away, and they capped a fun 4th that involved grilling, friends, and lots of hand and foot.
I will be heading back home on Friday the 13th for a bit more time with the fam before hopefully coming back down in early August to start a job or at least do some hardcore searching.
Ummm... that might be it for now. WAIT: Check out Sara Bareilles' CD "Little Voice" for only $6.99 on iTunes. It's great piano pop, a few too many songs about love on it, but still worth $7 for sure.
I'll post more later, I promise!

It's Wii-tastic!

2007-06-25T19:06:00.000-06:00
I'm not going to sit and here and lie to you: I'm behind. I've decided not to try and catch up with the daily reports at this point, since there's just so much going on, but I will give you an update on all the stuff that's gone down in the last few days.

I got a call Friday morning from Kele at Big Loud Bucks, asking if I could come in for a tour of the office and a bit of face-to-face time once I get back in town. I had mentioned I might be getting back on the 1st, and so she suggested Monday the 2nd. Thus, the decision of when I'm going back to TN was made for me. I will be leaving sometime Saturday and arriving sometime Sunday mid-afternoon. I fully expect some sort of parade or party to greet me upon arrival.

This call came at the tail end of a 60+ hour work week, which I will be apparently coming close to this week as well. What to do with all this extra money...

Oh wait, I bought a Wii! That's right, I picked one up Sunday morning and it's pretty fricking sweet, especially on my aunt and uncle's big screen. I'm really excited to bring this back with me, there will be so many great times with that thing, I can see it now.

It's extremely hot, with temp and humidity at unseasonable and unreasonable levels. So, since I'm sitting in my car in the Christmas Point parking lot to steal their wi-fi in a car that doesn't have properly functioning A/C, I'm going to cut this short. I'll be back on here before I leave, but that is happening so much faster than I can comprehend at this point. Oh well!

Animals, Angels, and the rest

2007-06-21T19:47:00.001-06:00
We're catching up, slowly but surely. Here's the next batch of completed entries (I'm up to 47 hours of work at this point, btw).

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Father’s Day has come and gone.

I finally decided to buckle down yesterday and buy my dad’s present from the collective children, which included gift certificates for movies and Famous Dave’s, some chocolate-covered cherries, and a new game, The Last Word. I had never played it before, but it seemed to have a decent enough premise, so I bit the bullet. After church and a lunch of steak, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes, my family sat down to attempt this new game. The goal is to be the last person to say a word that starts with the appropriate letter and fits in the appropriate category before the buzzer goes off. It really is that simple too, and we had a good time playing it. Quick rounds too; we were able to fit in three boys vs. girls rounds in probably an hour at most.

Another game of hand and foot ensued at the end of the day, following a trip to Motley for a grad party. It was extremely close, especially going into the last round, but dad pulled out the victory with a big dumpster dive that created multiple clean books. I came in third for the second game in a row, both being behind Abby and within a few hundred points of the champion. Oh well, it was a nice way to cap off Father’s Day for everyone, especially dad!

I started reading Rob Bell’s “Sex God” tonight, and it’s pretty good so far (I’m through the introduction and first two chapters). The subtitle is “Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality,” and that really says it all. The first few chapters highlight the creation of man and what is significant about the narration in Genesis. Pretty basic stuff so far, nothing too Earth-shattering, but solid nonetheless. I might hold off on Half-Blood Prince for a bit to see how this goes.

Monday, June 18, 2007

So… much… work.

I got up this morning and started work at 7:30. Our job was a wood job, which I usually enjoy doing because it’s kind of like fitting a puzzle together. Even though it is harder on my body than a normal carpet day, the reward is greater both creatively and financially (wood jobs are some of the best money-makers in our field).

This job, by all accounts, should have been better than usual: the wood was 5” wide, rather than the typical 3 ¼” pieces, and the room was pretty wide open with very few tricky cuts. All the makings of a “gravy” day, in the words of my dad.

Not so much.

We had such a hard time getting the pieces to fit together all day. There would be pieces that looked great, we’d nail them in, put the next row on, and it would look like crap all of a sudden with gaps and cracks everywhere. So we’d take off the new row, rip out the old, and replace it with a new piece. This one would go fine, but we’d have wasted ten minutes just getting the stupid piece out. We were supposed to be installing 700 sq ft of wood; by 6 we had installed 600, and were stuck. We could not get the next row to work, no matter what we did. We were afraid we would have to take off several rows and re-do some 50 feet of wood, which would suck. All of this was taking place without the aid of my father, however, as he was working at church today, so we called him and he said to stop where we were and he would come up and try to fix it.

The other guys all went home, but I went back to the job with dad. He was expecting the worst
going into it, but was relieved to discover he could fix the problem by removing just two boards and doing some fancy cutting on the replacement pieces. This went great, and we kept moving to try and finish the kitchen so they could set cabinets even if we weren’t able to get back to this job for a couple of days. By the time we were done it was 9, and I was pretty tired (13 ½ hour days will do that).

I really just want to go to sleep right now.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Animals and Angels.

That is the title of the chapter out of “Sex God” that I read last night, and it was really, really good. The chapter discusses how there are two extremes to how humans can view sex: there is the animal perspective, where it is an inborn desire that is insatiable, a fact of life that we will eventually succumb to, and there is the angel perspective, where sex is a primitive act that is not discussed or acknowledged, and essentially only exists for procreation purposes. The problem with these views, Bell says, is that we, as humans, were not created as simply animals or angels. Animals are bodies without souls; angels are souls without bodies. As humans, we have both bodies and souls, and therefore there must be some sort of middle ground that exists where both the desires of the flesh and the soul are satisfied. In this place, sex is not a given, nor is it unspeakable. A balance must be achieved that both acknowledges and encourages the sexuality that is inborn in all humans, and is able to control this force to avoid its abuse.

I wish there was some quote that I could give you from it, but I would really need to post the whole chapter, as the progression in thought and logic is really key to understanding the important points made later in the text. I’m excited to keep going in this book and see where this thought goes.

I also had one of the most vivid dreams I’ve had in awhile last night. I dreamt I was at some sort of high school dance, one where they parade all the couples around in front of the parents, all that jazz. I didn’t recognize my date, but I remember knowing that she was one of the most popular girls in school, and she seemed to be having a great time. At some point I realized she was blind, but this didn’t really change too much about what happened except she bumped into different objects around the room when I would forget to guide her (she didn’t seem to mind this, and laughed about it every time she ran into something). So it was a weird kind of date, and yet I remember having such a great time with her, I actually felt great all day today as a result. Even though I have no idea who this person was, not to mention it didn’t actually happen, I still found myself returning to that feeling from my dream throughout the day. Thinking about that in hindsight, I guess I’m weird. Any suggestions on the meaning of this dream are welcome and appreciated.

During the middle of the cursed wood job yesterday, I realized my phone was beginning its slow march toward death. I had thought the battery was dying faster up here because of the terrible reception at the cabin, but it turns out that’s not the only reason. Even with some semblance of service, my battery gave out early on yesterday, so I had several messages by the end of the day, one from Big Loud Bucks, who wanted to schedule an interview for the today. I was able to get a hold of them on Dean’s phone, and scheduled a phone interview for 11:30.

Well, in order to conserve my precious battery life, I worked the morning without turning my phone on, and called promptly at 11:30, only to have my phone begin beeping at me that the battery was running out a mere 10 minutes into the conversation. This lasted for 20 more minutes before it died completely, and I had to run in and grab DJ’s phone to finish up the interview. It went very well, and I think I have a great shot at being offered the position. I have no idea what kind of salary they’re looking at, but I do know they’re not looking to hire until late July at the earliest, so I may end up staying up here for a few extra weeks if this all works out, allowing me to make an extra grand or so before heading back and having two weeks to get back into the swing of things on that end of the world. I guess we’ll wait and see.

In the meantime, I need a new phone.

And today was another 11 ½ hour day, so I need some rest.

11:18, hopeful, stagnantly, cheeseburgers

An installer's work is never finished

2007-06-20T19:18:00.000-06:00

I'm a little behind in all of this... OK, a lot behind, but this past week has basically been work, work, and more work. It's Wednesday, and I've already worked 35 hours this week! No signs of letting up until Saturday or Sunday either, and next week may be my last week up here... no way of knowing at this point. I had an interview Monday with Big Loud Bucks that went really well, and one of the people working in the office was a student of Gonas' and a member of Belmont SIFE, so I'm looking pretty good at this point. The position wouldn't hire until August most likely, in which case I may stay up here for an extra week or two and make a bit more cash before heading back to Nashvegas and getting back in the groove of things.

All of that is for another time though, as I have finished entries through Saturday, and hopefully I'll be able to post the rest of them by Friday. That's the new goal: caught up by Friday. We'll see if that happens.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

I never knew how much I missed doing nothing until I did it.

Today was just really great all around. Well, almost all around. I woke up at 8 (that was the lame part) and read more of Order of the Phoenix until 10. It was at this time I decided I should maybe make something of my day… so I watched some Family Guy and then prepared to lay on the dock and read more OotP. The rest of my day included spending an hour and a half at Caribou, buying a great swimsuit at Steve and Barry’s for $5, searching for a Father’s Day present, and teaching my mom and Rachel to play Hand and Foot, which I won quite handily. A great way to spend a day off, but it’s back to the grind tomorrow…

Friday, June 15, 2007

Today was probably the closest to a stereotypical day in my summer life as there is.

Our job was just outside Alexandria, so we drove for an hour and a half to get there. I was stuck driving the tomb on wheels, which happened to be chock full of pad at the time, so at least it didn’t echo or anything. It was quite a large job, around 330 yards of carpet. (Carpet is always measured in yards for some reason, square yards to be more specific. For those who don’t think that abstractly, if I ever mention the yardage of carpet again, just multiply it by nine and that’s the square footage. In this case, that’s 2970 sq feet.) The large majority of this job was also on wood rather than cement. (Wood is always preferred for carpet installers, at least from my experience: the tack goes in easier and stays in better, blades stay sharper longer when cutting in pad than on cement, and securing the pad is easier with staples on wood than glue on cement.) Now that you’ve had your carpet installation lesson for the day, I think all I need to say is the job went very smoothly, and we were able to finish right on time.

The drive back was decent, and was faster with the help of the movie game. Once home, clean, and fed, I taught my dad how to play hand and foot, making that three converts in two nights. I won the game again, but my mom is getting better, and my dad always picks up card games quickly, so I’m sure I’ll be fighting for my life before too long.

Dad has given me the option of working for a few hours tomorrow with him or not, and I’m not sure which way I’m leaning at this point. I don’t necessarily need the work, but I wouldn’t refuse the money either. Who knows, who knows.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Completion

After about a week of reading, including most of today, I have finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This at least has me caught up so I don’t feel guilty about seeing the movie, and I’m sure I will have no problem finishing Half-Blood Prince before Deathly Hallows is released in about a month. Plenty of time, no sweat.

It had been interesting to see how I’ve reacted to this series. I’ve always thought the movies were entertaining at least, and everyone would talk about how great and amazing the books were, but I don’t think I ever really believed anyone. Now, having just spent the last week wanting to reach through the page and strangle Professor Umbridge, I have begun to understand. These books are extremely well-written, particularly the further into the series you get, and the stories are completely engrossing, charming, exciting, and worthwhile. I would absolutely recommend these books to most anyone.

In other news, I was able to squeeze in a five person hand and foot game this afternoon, which included my greatest single hand ever (over 6400 points) and my first loss since returning home. That’ll teach me to expose my family to the joys of great card games!

Am I becoming one of those people?

2007-06-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

What a waste.

I went into today knowing that it would be a bit of an odd work day, with lots of small jobs and running around. I didn’t plan on it being what it became though.

We started at 8, and began the day by fixing a problem with someone’s kitchen laminate. This went fine, and we next headed over to discuss some flooring options with Sherry Solstad, which took about an hour, but was productive nonetheless. Next up was a trip south of Pillager to install a flight of steps. The carpet we put in was a brown berber, which actually had potential to look decent, had it not been squeezed between white berber and white tile; I can’t really explain how terrible a choice this was, you’ll just have to trust me. To give you an idea of how random this house was, there was a point in the basement where I could see six (yes, six) different types of flooring: an area of large white tile, small white tile, large blue and gray tile, white berber, a blue and purple plush carpet, and the new brown steps. Quite ridiculous.

At this point, dad went in to work at church, and my job was to go up to the carpet store and get the boxes of wood that we would need for tomorrow’s job. This is always easier said than done, as this store in particular is infamous for its disorganization, at least in installer circles. When I arrived at the store, it took a good 25 minutes for them to figure out which job I was supposed to be picking wood up for, as the one we had been told we were going to do was not the job they had planned for us to do… seriously, how do these people get anything done? After another 15 minutes spent loading the product and getting unneeded directions, I followed the store owner to the job site, where we were told the area wouldn’t be ready for flooring for at least another week. What?!? Another week? There was a substantial breakdown in communication somewhere along the line, which seems to happen quite often in this business.

After checking with several other options for work tomorrow, dad was unable to come up with anything. So, as of now, I have the day off. It’s weird, because the longer I work at this job the more I want to have steady work; my first summer of flooring I would long for days like tomorrow, even pray that the schedule would fall apart so I could have a day to do nothing. Now, I’m kind of disappointed, and even went so far as to suggest potential schedule changes to my dad to see if there was anything he hadn’t tried yet. When did I become that guy?

I think my day off will consist of a lot of reading, as I am 200 pages into “Order of the Phoenix” and it has sucked me in completely. There’s a good chance I will be able to lay out on the dock for a bit too, and I might be able to squeeze in one of the Die Hard movies, which I purchased this evening.

Other recent purchases:
Paramore’s “Riot” – quite good, it’s been growing on me since yesterday.
Family Guy Volume 4 – These boxed sets are starting to piss me off: I paid $20 (on sale from $35, mind you), and it only comes with 14 episodes! What happened to the 27 episode boxes of yore? I haven’t watched them yet, so they may be worth it, but we’ll see.

Seinfeld Season 7 – I caught on, and now wait for the next season to come out until I buy the previous one. This allowed me to get this one for $17. I haven’t watched any yet, but it’s Seinfeld; how can you go wrong?

Other things on the agenda tomorrow:
- Fill out a profile on Monster
- Submit my resume to Big Loud Bucks (I hate country, but it’s an industry job that fits me and I have a shot at…)
- NBA Finals Game 4 (I’m feeling a sweep, but I hope Cleveland can pull out at least one win)

11:38, warm, surprisingly, lasagna

Moving on up

2007-06-12T18:35:00.000-06:00

Monday, June 11, 2007

I am writing this laying in a shelf-bed, tucked away in the back corner of my aunt and uncle’s “cabin” on Gull. That’s right, as of this morning, my parents are homeless.

I spent most of this past week either working for my dad or helping get things moved out of my childhood home. There is nothing surreal for me about knowing that I will never be going back to the house that I called home for the last 15 or so years. Whether I wanted it to happen or not, it has happened, and now we’re moving on. I am actually quite fine with the move; I figure it only impacts me two or three times a year, and I also think that not having that house to come home to will make it easier for Nashville to feel like home, for me to feel like I can really put down roots of my own.

Until I return to my home in Nashville, this cabin will have to do. In all honesty, even though I will be working most days for the rest of my stay here, coming home to this place makes every day feel more like a vacation. I feel like I can rest more out here, like there is less distractions and disturbances.

One aspect of this feeling may be due to the lack of proper technological connections out here. My family decided that they didn’t need to pursue an internet connection for the cabin because they all had their own way of getting online that didn’t involve home. This leaves me to wander aimlessly in search of free wireless, and I have found three establishments that offer it so far. The problem is I have to drive 15 minutes any time I want to check my e-mail or anything, and, unless I want to appear rather stalker-esque and sit in the parking lot, I have to spend $3 on a drink from Caribou or a shake at Culver’s.

The other lacking technology at the cabin is cell phone coverage, which is apparently non-existent. This wouldn’t be terrible except I’ve been using my phone as an alarm clock this summer, and in order for my phone to know what time it is, it must have a wireless signal. This means I have to switch to roaming mode on my phone in an effort to achieve some semblance of service so I can wake up in the morning. So now I can see who is calling me, but can’t answer because the cost of those calls would be obscene, thus I am left with a pile of missed calls that I will return the next day while at work or something.

Work has been mostly as expected: generally long hours spent in random corners of Central Minnesota, installing various forms of floor coverings with a most truly motley crew. I so wish I had the energy and motivation to wake up at 6 every morning and going running for an hour before work, but I may have to give up that dream, at least while I’m doing flooring. The hours are just too long and the toll on my body is too great. I had aspirations that I would be able to push through the pain and become some sort of physical beast by the end of my month at home. So far, that’s a negative.

Goblet of Fire is finished, and now I’m on to the Order of the Phoenix, which I’m a chapter into and am really excited to move through. Onward we shall continue…

9:53, relaxed, moderate, lasagna

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Summers in Minnesota are amazing. The temperature usually hovers somewhere in the low 80s, the sun shines 80% of the time, and if you can get past the 80% humidity that likes to creep in a good amount of the time, it's an awesome place to chill.

There are, however, about two weeks when everything changes. This is one of those weeks.

The temperature has settled into the low 90s for each of the last few days, and, with a relentless humidity, it's been nearly unbearable. I experienced my first brown-out today at the cabin, which lasted for about an hour before a full blackout ensued. With nothing to do out there, I decided to come in to Caribou and check out what's happening in the rest of the world, which is apparently not much (at least that I'm interested in).

I think these daily journal-style posts may work (for awhile, anyway). The posting may not happen every day, but I'm gonna try and write every day anyway. We'll see how it goes.

8:00, tired, minimal, cheeseburgers

Sleeplessly leaving Seattle

2007-06-04T20:00:00.001-06:00
All right, the craziness is slowly coming to an end. A recap:

Abby graduated on the high school football field Thursday night. It was probably the most student-centric graduation I've ever seen. They got to do a bunch of stuff they wanted to, and the administration was great at giving them that freedom. After the ceremony and the obligatory Dairy Queen run, I was off to John's house to get some sleep before my flight Friday morning.

I got to bed around 2 Friday morning and woke up at 6:30 to get to the airport on time. Not much for traffic, small lines at the airport; I was ahead of the game. My first flight was to Las Vegas, which was around 3 hours long and including a showing of "Breach" with Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillipe. It was quite entertaining, worth a rental if there's nothing else you want to see.

Anyway, I had about an hour and a half in Vegas before my next flight, so I took my time deciding what over-priced airport food I was going to purchase (ended up at Pretzelmaker or something like that (quite good)). I also played $2 worth of slots in the terminal, which I swiftly lost. We boarded a little behind schedule, and had to sit in our seats for an hour with no explanation as to why we weren't moving. I took advantage of this time to continue in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I began Friday morning and am currently beyond the 400 page mark. Once in the air, the flight was a bit over 2 hours, and I arrived safely in Seattle at 3:04 (Pacific).

Ben picked me up and we went straight to the church, where the rehearsal was finishing up and people were getting ready for the rehearsal dinner, which was pizza and Jay Berry's. Dinner was great, I got to know Autumn's friends Amelia (actually named Emily) and Jena, whose house me, Ben, and Jess would sleep in that evening. Jena even knew how to play hand and foot, so we took advantage of that before adding Amelia for a few rounds of Pit. Bed time arrived between 10:30 and 11, and we all were up and out the door by 8:30 AM.

I spent the next several hours setting up for the reception with the wedding party and Autumn and Andy's families. I figured out at this point that this was a fairly small wedding, judging by the size of the hall and the number of places set. It's what they wanted, and the main reason they had it in Seattle in the first place, so I was cool with it.

The wedding itself took place at 3, followed by pictures and the reception. I was seated at the band table for the reception, since that's where Ben was and Jess was at the head table. We had some interesting conversations regarding foaming hand soap and platypuses, among other things, over a buffet dinner including salmon, chicken, potatoes, and lighter snacky foods.

Next up came the live music and dancing, which sounded great but didn't have as many people dancing as they had hoped, although I don't know how many of the 50 people they were expecting to dance... I did get a few spins in with Jess, and then it was time for the bride and groom to jet off to Seattle, where they awaited their Alaskan cruise.

The rest of us stayed behind and cleaned up the hall, which took about an hour, and then it came time for me to go to the airport; not because I wanted to, mind you, but because it was a half hour away and few people with cars were heading that way. So, I was dropped off at the airport (I'll switch to Central time for perspective's sake) at 11 PM for my flight that departed at 2:50 AM. Again, more Harry Potter was read, and by the time we boarded I was exhausted. I fell asleep before take-off, and woke up 2 hours later, somewhere over the Dakotas. We landed at just after 6 AM, at which point I got in my car and drove home, pulling in just before 9 (I almost fell asleep a couple of times, and my mom called me at the perfect time to make sure I was staying awake, otherwise it could have been disastrous). Sleep came again, this time in a bed, and I was out for around 3 and a half hours.

When I awoke, family and friends had already started arriving to help set up Abby's grad party. I made small talk in my pajamas with my grandpa for a bit, then finished up the slide show I had promised Abby I would do. More getting ready, more food prep, and before I knew it, 3 o'clock rolled around and people started coming.

Though the party officially ended at 6, they didn't really stop coming until 7:30 or 8. My parents made the comment that it was nice to have four grown children to share the hosting burden with, but I was unfortunately stuck with the proposition that any guest who talked to anyone else in my family undoubtedly asked how I was doing, and, when they found out I had graduated, wondered what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I can't count the number of times I had to explain how I kind of had a job, but not really, and that I loved Nashville and yes, the weather is quite lovely down there, blah blah blah. I was also given the joy of trying to explain the concept of a music video to my great-aunt Dolores, whose only point of reference are the Gaither Homecoming videos, which she says are getting a bit too modern for her tastes. I am now supposed to send her some of these odd four minutes videos so she can see if she likes them, and she told me I may even have a customer in her, or even a salesperson. She really has no idea what Just Kidding does (she thought the name was quite ridiculous in and off itself), I might just send her the newest Gaither video and she won't know the difference.

Anyway, that's that. My family is moving out on Saturday now instead of tomorrow, which gives my mom and sisters some much-needed time to finish up the packing while my dad and I have another banner week in the flooring world.

I'm gonna try and read some more Potter now, peace out.

Livin' the life

2007-05-24T20:40:00.000-06:00
Here's where I just found out my family will be living for the summer and early fall:

So sweet!

Gettin back in the game

2007-05-24T19:21:00.000-06:00
Is it Thursday? Really?

I am three days in to my home stand, and things have gone well so far. I've worked 27 hours over the last three days, but I'm not exhausted or anything. I didn't run today, but there were other factors involved in that, and I think I may have to just suck it up and run in the morning, because the end of the work day is so completely unpredictable, especially if I want to run before dinner.

My family watched the season finale of Lost last night, which was really good but left me wishing they had answered another question or four before abandoning us for 8 months.

I saw a truck with a sign on the back today that asked "How am I driving?" and had a phone number, which caused me to wonder how they got their license if they don't know how they are driving. Had the sign read "How is my driving?" I could answer that question (actually not really, since it was parked), but I cannot assert, based solely on the state of the vehicle and its position on the road, how you are able to drive. That's not my problem.

The next 10 days look like this for me:

Friday: Work
Saturday: Pack and move
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Pack and move
Tuesday: Pick up Katie from the airport, pack and move
Wednesday: Work and clean
Thursday: Work, Abby's graduation
Friday: Go to Seattle
Saturday: Autumn's wedding
Sunday: Fly back on the red eye, Abby's grad party

Should be interesting.

Feeling Minnesota

2007-05-22T20:52:00.000-06:00
12 days is simply unacceptable as a break on this blog, and I'm terribly sorry for the delay. I will try and make sure that doesn't happen again.

I guess there's been a ton that has happened over that time though. I graduated, a fact that has not sunk in at all, but that's to be expected I guess. My whole family was in town, and we had a great time driving around Nashville.

So I was going to go into this whole long explaination of the last couple of weeks, but I'm tired, so all I'm going to say is that I've done a bunch of stuff and now I'm back home for a couple weeks.

I've been here for one day, and I spent today running and then working, a tough combination that I will need some time to get used to. I have a feeling my legs are going to be pissed at me tomorrow.

Keep it real or else

2007-05-10T22:39:00.000-06:00
I'm back in Nashville, ready for the end.

The rest of the week in Dallas went really well. Our team won our opening-round league, beating the #3 team from last year's competition. We placed second in our semi-final round, losing to the eventual runner-up in the nation. A great time was had by all.

I've spent the last couple of days moving all my stuff over to the new house, which is coming together quite nicely. We had our walk-through with our old landlord today and are now officially out of the Beech House. It was fun while it lasted, but I was ready for a change.

My parents and Abby got in tonight, and are now resting peacefully at the Main Stay Suites in Brentwood. Tomorrow I have commencement rehearsal at 10, during which time they will be seeing Melinda Doolittle perform in the Belmont ampitheater for a taped segment of American Idol. Belmont loves to have terrible timing. Around noon my other sisters and John will arrive, and we'll get lunch before hitting up Baccalaureate. Tomorrow night is the big open house party celebration thing at the new place, should be loads of fun.

Did I mention that I'm planning on going home for a month and a half in May and June? Well I am, unless I get a job offer too sweet to pass up. That's all there is on that.

i'll update more later, but I wanted to post a few links for press about the piracy video:

Belmont: http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/007091.html
MPAA: http://mpaa.org/press_releases/sife%20release%205.7.pdf
More MPAA: http://mpaa.org/Issues_EduOutreach_OnCampus.asp
University Update: http://www.universityupdate.com/PAC10/UCLA/2566144.aspx

That's it for now... I'll try and keep you updated on if MTV works out...

VICTORY!!!!!

2007-05-06T21:39:00.000-06:00
I'm down in Dallas for the SIFE National Competition right now. Today was a pretty low-key day, leading up to the "Rally of Champions Opening Ceremonies"; think the Olympics except the opposite of any coolness that image may conjure. It included a stirring rendition of "God Bless the USA", if that's any indication for you.

Anyway, at the end of the ceremony they announced the winners of the PSA competition. All the teams went up on stage and they announced:

3rd place: Rock Valley
2nd place: Roberts Wesleyan
1st place: BELMONT UNI-FREAKING-VERSITY!

I couldn't believe, and still don't really. My goal from the beginning was to make a commercial that was of great quality and had a clear message, and anything on top of that was bonus. And what a bonus this is! Such an awesome day. I'll try and post links to the press we get once they start coming in.

AND, when I called my sister Katie to tell her about it, she told me she's coming into Nashville on Friday for my graduation! Now everyone in the 'Ville gets to meet the missing piece of the Ahlberg puzzle. Let's hope they're ready...

The Future is Now

2007-05-04T11:32:00.000-06:00
And then there were none.

I just completed my last final, a group verbal essay test that took about 25 minutes and was quite easy. Now I have no idea what to do with myself. Sarah was asking me the other day what I wanted for graduation from her and John, and I told her I hadn't even fully grasped the idea that I was graduating, let alone that someone would give me something for doing so.

What a crazy life it is. My mom called me yesterday morning to tell me that my parents' house sold. Thus, I guess I would be OK if I didn't find a job right away, because she's going to need some help back home, what with them coming down next weekend for my graduation, having Abby's graduation and subsequent open house the first weekend in June, and closing the deal on June 8. There are no plans on where my parents and Abby will live for the summer as far as I know either, so that adds another wrinkle to the landscape. It looks like they will spend the summer building a house though, and it wouldn't be a terrible situation to end up helping with that for a couple months. I guess we'll just wait and see, since I still have no word from O'Charley's or the Ryan Company guy or Dapco Investments. Awesome.

The rest of my weekend will include packing up my room, hanging out, and watching Spider-Man 3 tomorrow night. I'm excited; I haven't been to many movies this semester, and this summer I plan on making up for it.

I should probably get back out to where my class is waiting for all the groups to finish in case they get done early. But that's where I'm at right now, counting down the days to graduation and the realization that Belmont, as a student, is behind me.

PS - As much as I feel bad for Ryan that the Mavs lost last night, the Warriors have steadily grown on me, and will be my team to cheer for out of the West.

Bye Bye Belmont

2007-05-02T10:15:00.000-06:00
On Tuesday, May 1, at 4:48 PM CST, I was released from my final class as an undergraduate student at Belmont University.

Wow.

Actually, yesterday was one of the weirdest days of class I have ever experienced at Belmont. I spent the morning working on two projects that I had been, as always, putting off until the last minute. I got to strategic management at 12:30, and we discussed for about an hour before Dr. Woodard told us that our final exam was going to:

A. Be taken in groups
B. Be verbal
C. Include pizza
D. All of the above

That's right, the correct answer is D on that one, so my final in there just got a billion times easier. After class, I had to run up to the 3rd floor computer lab to print off my group report for record company operations. During this process:

A. The machine to add money to the print cards was full
B. The printer was out of paper
C. The print station wouldn't print half of my documents
D. All of the above

Again, D is correct. So, for the first time in my career at Belmont, I turned in a project that didn't include everything it was supposed to. I think my prof was OK with it, and the class is a joke really, but it still felt weird to do. We presented anyway, and it went very well, so I'm not worried about that.

Then it finally came time for artist management, my last class. I'm not sure I could have planned a more boring way to end it all: the entire class was presentations on the life of Elvis, most of which went into far too much detail and were far too long. Rather anti-climactic.

Now I'm down to three finals (two tomorrow, one Friday), none of which I plan on studying for for longer than 20 minutes.

I'm starting to get excited for all the stuff that's coming up. I get to see my family, go to Dallas, be in Minnesota, all that fun stuff. I wish I wasn't in wait and see mode on the job front, because if that was worked out I would be able to enjoy this all that much more.

I've decided that I get really frustrated with people who have this need to feel indispensable. People who somehow need to know that the party or the evening would not be the same without their presence, that they are needed. Really, all you should need to know is that people like having you there, and even that, in my mind, is debatable. Why do people have this need for something that goes beyond acceptance to the feeling that their presence is a necessity, that people would not be able to enjoy themselves without them? And, if it's apparent that this is not the case at a social function, they decide to just up and leave because the only place they know they can go where they will be fully appreciated is where they're alone. When I was younger my mom always used to tell us when we didn't get our way that, half-jokingly, we deserve nothing but death. The older I get, the truer this statement has become to me though, and it really helps me to put things into better perspective. As much as I may think I need or deserve something, the truth is I don't. At all. No matter how hard I've worked, it's just not inherently mine. I think that's why these people bug me: you don't deserve to have attention and affection and respect. You really deserve the opposite of that, as do I. So suck it up and be happy that you're still here.

And that, friends, is my rant for the week.

The Last Reverberation

2007-04-28T15:16:00.000-06:00
After three years and countless hours spent doing absolutely nothing, I am finished. It was fun while it lasted. Well, not so much fun as tolerable, but you get the idea. When it reopens in the fall, it will be called "This & That" and won't have me behind the counter, two changes that I think we can all agree aren't for the better, at least from the store's perspective.

RIP Reverb. We knew ye all too well.

An evening with Ms. Jones

2007-04-27T22:06:00.000-06:00

Norah, my Norah.

My first experience at the Ryman Auditorium took place Thursday night with a show headlined by Norah Jones. The opener was M. Ward, an acoustic singer/songwriter type in the vein of Ryan Adams. He did a great job, I was extremely impressed. A very unique vocal quality, impressive acoustic skills, a great package all around. Here's a video of him performing on Letterman:

Next up was Norah, and she didn't disappoint. It was one of simplest shows I've ever seen, if not the simplest. There wasn't much for flash, just a great mood for great music. She played a nice mix from each album with a bit more emphasis on "Not Too Late", and she threw in a couple cover songs for good measure. Nothing spectacular, just solid music, and that's all I ask.

This capped off a pretty cool 24 hours. Wednesday night I helped Kurt and Tyler shoot a music video for Lindsey Jones. I got there at 9 PM and left a little after 3. I slept until 9, then went to an interview at the O'Charley's corporate headquarters. It lasted about an hour, and they said they'll get back to me by midweek next week on any positions they have available.

I then went to campus, where I completed my second to last full day of class. Soooo weird.

Today was my last day at Gotee; they took me out to lunch to Chili's. Kind of weird to think that I won't be back there to work unless someone there leaves or gets fired. Here's hoping, I guess... wait, that's terrible.

And tonight was my last Friday night during the normal class schedule. How did I spend it? Watching a movie with Jon and packing up some of my crap for moving. Everyone else was doing homework and working and going to LAN parties and everything else. When did this happen? I mean, I guess I can forgive it, being the week before finals and all, but still.

Tomorrow is packed. I'm getting up early to watch part of the Country Music Marathon. I know a couple people running in it, and it's a lot of fun to watch anyway. Next up is my last day at Reverb(!), which lasts from 10-3. I need to write a paper on Elvis' death during that time too, the last paper I will write for a class at Belmont. Sad... wait, no it's not. Tomorrow night is Best of the Best, followed hopefully by something fun, but most likely by me sitting in my room watching The Godfather or something.

Oh, what a crazy life I lead.

Nothing left but time

2007-04-24T21:43:00.000-06:00
How can it be that I feel like I've been doing homework for the past week and yet I look at what I've accomplished and it isn't anything substantial. I wrote the most pointless paper of my collegiate career, a 5 page reflection on my internship experience this semester. The guidelines were incredibly vague, and I had to go back through twice in order to add enough fluff to make it onto the fifth page. I know I repeated myself probably three times in the paper (something I never do), and the structure was completely disjointed and sporadic. However, if Anita O'Dell actually reads these reflections, she is stupider than I give her credit for.

I am now down to one paper, two article summaries, two small presentations, and three tests. I will be completely done with everything on May 4th, giving me a day to get the rest of my stuff packed up before heading to Dallas.

Wow, with so much happening you'd think I'd have something new to say, but anything I write would be just a rehash of past postings on here. So, instead, I'm going to post a couple of great videos involving music that I've been shown recently on YouTube. Enjoy!

And finally, something amazing:

I heart days like this

2007-04-19T18:02:00.000-06:00
Today's goodness, in my mind, began last night when we received an e-mail saying we got the house! We're all set to move in on May 7, we're signing a lease on the 1st, and our current landlord is willing to work with us on an extension on our current lease for the extra week and a half.

Then I went to work, then to Kurt and Tyler's to watch Lost, which had a great episode. The night was capped off by a group meeting for strategic management that was quite productive.

Now, to today. I woke up and went running, then worked on the final edits for the group strategic paper. Final totals were 36 pages, 7780 words, 41,179 characters. My part took probably 6-7 hours of work, and it was worth it; the paper turned out quite well in my opinion.

Next was the e-mail I've been waiting weeks to get: we made it into the top 10 (actually 11) videos in the piracy contest! They'll announce the winners in Dallas on May 6, so at least I won't have to wait all weekend to find out how we did. Also, one of the more ridiculous things I've heard of late, Gonas told me tonight that a teacher at Belmont has connections with the school that won the international SIFE competition last year, a team from China. He's been talking with them about taking the script I wrote for the video, translating it into Chinese, and recording their own version! Seriously?

My strategic management group presented at 12:30 today, and everything went quite well. We were right on track for time, and most everyone did an adequate job with their part of the presentation. We really knocked it out of the park on the question and answer portion. It felt really good.

The rest of my classes were simple as usual, and then at 5 we had a SIFE presentation to a bunch of business executives in the community. I didn't have to actually present so much as show up and look pretty, but they did a great job with the presentation, and I think everyone was quite impressed with our efforts.

And now, it's Reverb time.

My schedule for the next couple weeks becomes much freer. The focus next week is on finishing up my convo credits (three to go, plus turn in the form for two credits of community service). I also get to see Norah Jones at the Ryman Thursday night (FOR FREE) which should be amazing.

Life rocks right now. So many things getting checked off my to do list, I hardly know what's left to do. Oh yeah, get a job. That's right.

A house is not a home until you sign a lease

2007-04-15T14:49:00.000-06:00
Have you ever tried coordinating three group projects simultaneously? It kind of sucks.

But... WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!

At least, assuming my convictions for assault and battery don't show up on the background check, we have a house. It's just north of Murphy Road in West Nashville, and the house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a basement that is at least usable as a Nintendo room/ card shack. There is lots of color on the walls, and the floor plan is compact yet open. I think it's a great house for us, and at a great price too. We should know for sure in the next couple of days.

It's kind of nice to have that mostly worked out, now I can focus on finding a job and finishing school. I have five more class periods this semester. Three weeks from today I will be done with all of my finals and on my way to Dallas for the weekend. Four weeks from today I'll be all graduated and saying goodbye to the fam as they head back to MN. And 7 weeks from today I'll be coming back from Seattle to MN for Abby's Open House (at least, that's most likely the plan). That's a butt load of change in less than two months.

I really wish that some of the variables in my job search would work themselves out. If my parents were going to move, I would be tempted to stop looking for now and go home for the summer to help my dad build the new house. If Just Kidding is able to get some more business, I would be tempted to stick around and temp around town to supplement whatever income they can give me. If I get the job at Rocketown, I'd be tempted to take it and work with Kurt and Tyler on more of a consulting basis. Again, I say there are too many variables in play at this point. I just need them to whittle down and preferably soon.

Matt and I went on a date Friday night to see Shooter, featuring my partial namesake, Mark Wahlberg. It was pretty good, a great guy movie. Lots of sweet guns, lots of blowing crap up, lots of revenge and deception. A great formula if I've heard one.

Time to work on my Artist Management project now. Lame.

Same old same old

2007-04-10T13:37:00.000-06:00
Still no job: I heard back from on one of my applications (they've already filled the position). I don't think I'm going to hear from my other two. There's a new position I just found available at Rocketown as the weekend event manager. It involved a lot of booking and promoting and other things that I haven't necessarily done before but I think I could figure out. I may apply.

Still no house: The house that Jon and I looked at on Saturday seemed really promising, and the owners seemed genuinely interested in renting the place to us. But we've called and e-mailed them several times since, and they have yet to respond. A shame. Ryan and Tim are going to look at an apartment complex later this week at a 4 bedroom unit, and I'm in contact with another house to get a showing this week. So the options continue...

Still in school: My classes are all winding down. I have three weeks of class left (not including finals) in the semester. My Record Company Ops teacher canceled class today (which seems to be a weekly occurrence at this point), and my Strategic teacher loved the final draft of my individual case study. She thanked me for giving her something worth reading. I do what I can.

The group case in there is due one week from Thursday. My group has done relatively little of the project, and yet I don't get the sense that anyone is worried. Ah, the joys of being a senior.

Today is absolutely gorgeous. It's in the low 60s, partly cloudy, and dry. I put on a sweater when I left this morning after getting a little chilly on my morning run; I'm now thinking I need to take it off.

Tonight, rather than my usual Tuesday night ritual of... nothing, I will be helping with the filming of the next Just Kidding Production, a music video for Sarah Silva. Starts at 5, I get free food, and we're shooting in the new JKP office space, which we just gained access to yesterday. Should be a sweet deal.

And still no word on if the SIFE video made it into the top 10. Waiting...

Qualtiy Journalism

2007-04-07T16:36:00.000-06:00
My first mention in a newspaper that services more than Central Minnesota:

Students fight to land Music Row jobs

There it is.

And you thought I was getting nervous

2007-04-06T22:07:00.000-06:00
Ask and ye shall receive... kind of, anyway.

After my struggles in career-land yesterday, I woke up late this morning and was watching midday sitcoms on TBS when I got a phone call. It was a writer with the Tennessean; he was doing a story on the graduate job market on Music Row and was given my name by a professor at Belmont. After twenty minutes of what I'm sure will make for compelling journalism, it was over, and now my name will be out there. Maybe some executive somewhere will read the article, say, "Hey, this kid sounds smart enough, maybe I'll give him a shot," and call me up with an offer. Or I could just have a bunch of professors and acquaintances telling me to stick with it and something will show up, blah blah blah. I'm thinking it will be the latter. No word on when it will be printed, I'll keep you posted.

This got me kind of motivated, so I applied for three positions in town, two with management companies and the one with Sony/ATV Publishing. No word on any leads through Gonas, but that's not expected until Monday at the earliest.

Jon, Steph, and I went to the Rolling Hills Good Friday service at the Factory this evening. It was a great time of prayer and reflection, very unique.

Tomorrow is the Easter Egg Hunt, followed by a house viewing at 1:30. After that? Who knows. Maybe I'll go to a movie or something. Haven't done that in awhile. Especially by myself.

April showers bring cold fronts

2007-04-05T21:01:00.000-06:00
After a month of amazing warmth, with high temperatures rarely below 75 or above 85, it rained Tuesday night and got cold. Granted, having highs in the 40s is nothing like the 8 inches of snow that now occupies my parents' front lawn, but its still something. Best thing about this is I get to wear sweaters and jeans for another week.

Another week of classes down, another week closer to the crisis point that is graduation. I crossed a big hurtle this week with the completion of my individual paper for Strategic Management. 25 pages; 6,968 words. Now I really only have three big projects left. And all of a sudden I'm getting anxious and nervous and stressed and all of these things that I never am typically. This isn't me! I'm supposed to be calm and collected and... just definitely not this.

I think this is coming out because I had a meeting with Gonas today about helping me get a job. He seems very committed to helping me out, and sent out e-mails to a few former students looking for leads. The biggest problem is I'm looking for a good job for the short term, and those are hard to come by. Gonas said that if I wanted a job with a financial management company in town he could get me a junior analyst position pretty easily. These types of positions pay really well for a starting salary, but are more of a long-term deal usually, and are quite demanding. Plus it's finance! I thought I already decided I didn't want to do that! I just wish I could find a job that perfectly fit me and my time line and my budget and everything... So if anyone knows of a job like that, I'd love to hear about it.

I am officially going to Dallas May 6-8 for the SIFE National Competition. It will be fun, but it's another slot filled on the schedule. I need to sit down tomorrow and plan out the next month or I'm going to forget about some important events.

One of the best things about being at Belmont is the schedule. As a Christian university, they want to make sure they cover every possible Christian holiday, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Thus, no class today or tomorrow. Another characteristic of Belmont is all vacations, at least in the minds of students, begin the day before. And, everyone takes vacation opportunities extremely seriously. Thus, most everyone is gone. There are a few strays like myself, but they are few and far between.

As a result, my day today was marked by two early trips to the airport, my meeting with Gonas, Talladega Nights, Good Will Hunting, a nap (can you believe it? Two whole hours!), and an evening with the comedies of NBC. The new episode of The Office was great as usual and long overdue. And now I'm laying in bed, watching Runaway Bride, wondering what tomorrow will bring.

So much confusion going on at this point. I need to get some crap figured out.

And I have a pancake craving.

There is never nothing happening

2007-03-31T14:32:00.000-06:00
My extremely light week continues.

I went to Gotee on Wednesday, where I found out they were finally moving to their new offices in Franklin. I worked furiously on the master vault for 4 hours, at which time they shut down the server and I helped get things packed and marked. The move was going to take a couple days, so I was told not to come to work on Friday. Score.

On my way north on 65 I hit accident traffic; I went 3 miles in 45 minutes. Coincidentally, I was running late to make my appointment to look through the eight bedroom house off Nolensville. I made it over there and absolutely loved it. I'm taking Jon and Ryan over in an hour to have them look too and see what they think. I REALLY like it though...

Lost was almost like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, making for a relatively entertaining episode, but it didn't really further the story at all. I guess it's an OK trade off.

Thursday classes were uneventful, and I spent the evening at a combination of Reverb, Jess and Kendra's watching an Office marathon, and watching Casino Royale/playing Farkle at Kurt and Tyler's. A good night all together.

Yesterday I did basically nothing for most of the day. Another personal growth convo was taken care of at 10 (down to 7 more). Matt came over and watched Children of Men with me in the afternoon, and then we all went to Buca de Beppo for Jess' birthday. Tons of fun, great food, a great dinner experience on the whole.

When the waitress brought us our bill, she had split it up and told us that it was going to be like $27.50 each. When she said that, the whole table got real quiet, and I don't think anyone breathed for a few minutes. I picked up the receipt and realized that everything had been put on our tab twice, and everyone calmed down real quick. It came out to $12.86 per person in the end, a much more agreeable sum.

After dinner a bunch of us went to see Peaceful Warrior, a movie about a male gymnast who fights back from a career-ending motorcycle accident with the help of a mysterious mentor and comes back better than he was before. Don't let that plot line fool you: I would not call this a good movie. I will say parts of it were tolerable, but the story and characters were not well developed. At all. The best part about this was it was free, so I guess it might have been worth it.

Now I'm at Reverb, and I just got done with a group project where we had to create a cue sheet for all the music in a movie, Pieces of April. It's nice to get paid to do homework, even if the movie was almost as bad as Peaceful Warrior.

I need to write my strategic paper this weekend, and I'm hoping I can bring myself to just sit down some time and knock it out. Odds of that happening before Monday night? 12:1. At best.

These are the days

2007-03-27T14:36:00.000-06:00
Today has been... awesome.

I got up this morning and ran over on Belmont's track, where I discovered that I run faster when it's on a flat surface, but I can't run as long without a destination.

Next up was chilling in the Beaman, always a good time. I then had strategic management, where a group presented their final case (mildly interesting) and I got the first half of my final paper back including my favorite comment to get from a teacher: "This was a pleasure to read! Thank You!" I figure when a teacher thanks me for doing a required assignment, I must have done something right.

After that class, I went to my 2:00, which ended up being canceled. I used the extra time to go to Target, where I got Children of Men (can't wait to see it again!) and found the 10th season of Friends for $20. A very successful trip.

So successful, in fact, that I decided to skip artist management and watch Friends instead.

Sooooo nice.

400

2007-03-24T10:47:00.000-06:00
That's right, post #400 on this baby.

Yesterday was the SIFE regional competition out at Opryland. Our team did extremely well: we won our league and are in the top twenty in the nation for business ethics, market economics, and sustainability, each of which put us in nationals in May. I'm not sure if I'm going to go, it will mostly depend on whether the piracy video is in the top ten for that competition or not. We should find that out in the next two weeks.

After the competition we went to Caney Fork Catfish Farm for a free dinner, and then I went to Opry Mills, where I got a new pair of jeans for $15 and a pair of shorts of $16. Not a bad deal. Then I went home and, after 2 venue changes, I watched Borat with Julie and Rachel and various combinations of Kendra, Jess, and Sarah. Parts were hysterical, parts offensive, parts extremely uncomfortable. All that is to say I don't regret having watched it, but don't have a real desire to see it again.

Now Saturday is here, and I am at Reverb. Again. We're looking at that house this afternoon, and on one hand I hope it's a good fit, but on the other I think we can find a better one. Something cheaper, a little further north, all that. But we'll see.

Tonight is the Other Showcase, aka Ben's last chance to make it into the Best of the Best. Good luck dude!

House of the rising sum

2007-03-20T16:14:00.000-06:00
Apparently we hadn't decided to officially move out of our house until we all sat down and talked about it on Saturday (I kind of thought it was a done deal...). Anyway our landlord, Tommy, found out through the grapevine that we were planning on moving, and put the house on Craigslist Sunday night, wanting $200 more/month than we currently pay (which is what he did to us last year, except it was $300 for us). By yesterday, he had lined up two showings for this afternoon. I wasn't at home for the first one, but gave the tour to the second group since Tommy was a little late. They were obviously from Vanderbilt (there are no guys that huge at Belmont), and one's name was Thad (pronounced with a "th" like in "the"). They also made a beer joke, so obviously not from Belmont.

While all of this is happening, we've started looking in earnest for a new place. Our best option so far is on Granny White, about a mile from our current place, but we haven't heard back from the owner. Our next best is about ten miles down Hillsboro Road, basically just west of Cool Springs. We're going to look at it on Saturday, and I think it's a great option for us. Here's a link to some pictures and a description of the place: 128 Cavalcade Circle

And now I just had to give the tour again because a group of guys came over wanting to see the place again. I better not spend the next two weeks giving tours to anyone who wants one, cuz that would blow. Seriously.

Beyond all that, this week has been and will continue to be marked by a whole lot nothing. Of the seven class meetings that I attend over the week, three have been canceled. And, since three are already done, I only have one more class this week. I also have the SIFE regional competition all day Friday, which will be... interesting. I hope I don't die from boredom spending 13 hours with the SIFE team at Opryland (at least I don't have to spend all day on a bus or anything). If we make it as a team to the national competition, it's May 6-8 in Dallas, which has the potential to suck because that's smack dab in the middle of finals and right before graduation.

I have no motivation at this point to find a job. None whatsoever. There's a decent position at Sony ATV Publishing that I should have already applied for, but instead I'm sitting here, waiting for the last possible moment or inspiration to strike.

And now Quinn the Eskimo is here, so it's hair-cutting time (and I will jump for joy).

Who knew Hoyas were so ruthless?

2007-03-15T17:21:00.000-06:00
And so ends another Belmont men's season. They had us going in the first couple minutes, but I knew it was too good to last. The Belmont women, on the other hand, I think have a decent shot at an upset of Georgia on Saturday. I guess we'll see...

My tests today were relatively easy, especially artist management. I'm predicting a high A on that one; low A in strategic. Now I just need to take the COBA KAT on Saturday morning and I'm done with this crappy week.

You should check out improveverywhere.com. It's these strangers who join together to pull elaborate pranks, like 300 people going on the subway in New York without wearing pants, acting like it's completely normal, and having people waiting when they get off at the next few stops selling pants. All sorts of craziness, check it out.

Seriously?

2007-03-15T09:10:00.000-06:00
So I'm sitting in the Beaman, trying to study for Strategic, and there's a girl sitting 10 feet away whining in the phone about how everything that can possibly go wrong for her wedding is (it really isn't, she's just over-stressed).

And there's two girls with a campus group, SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Gender Equality) selling baked goods 15 feet away in the other direction. Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this picture?

An update on the chaos

2007-03-14T15:33:00.000-06:00
Halfway through the week that doesn't end, and yet it's flying by.

My artist management test, which was supposed to be Tuesday , got pushed back to tomorrow. I did, however, get a study guide for it, so I guess that works out well.

This morning I worked to get everything together for the SIFE video, and we got it all mailed out. Then it was off to Gotee, where I did some random stuff before leaving early to take... THE EXIT EXAM! (Duh duh duh)

The test itself was not very hard. I'm pretty confident I passed all three parts anyway, so thats all I can ask for.

Now, I must prepare for my strategic management and artist management tests tomorrow. The more important of the two is strategic, since I can review for the other during the Belmont tournament game tomorrow. Tip off is 1:55, in case you were wondering.

Can I just say that this is a great time for serial drama on TV? They pulled one of the biggest shockers on 24 this past week, Lost is gaining back its steam from the first two seasons, and even Grey's is decent. It's another week of reruns for The Office, though, so it's not all good.

Back in the Habit

2007-03-12T14:28:00.000-06:00
And so now, after all the wonderfulness that was last week, I am back in Nashville. And it kind of sucks.

Yesterday was recover/homework/community group day. I didn't sleep as much as I wanted to; couldn't have if I'd tried (and I did). I got up to run this morning, and made it about a half mile before I got a terrible side ache. I walked for a minute or two, then picked back up running. This kept happening the rest of the time, except the aches came more and more frequently. So I only made it around 4 miles today. This week will, most definitely, be spent working my way back up to 6 miles, rather than maintaining it before some expansion of my off days (T/Th).

This week includes, by day:
Monday: Showdown, Music supervision project due (done)
Tuesday: Artist management test, Record company operations paper due
Wednesday: Gotee, Music business exit exam (just shooting to pass, that's all I need), Reverb
Thursday: Strategic Management test, Reverb
Friday: Gotee
Saturday: College of Business exit exam (graded and factored in to my strategic grade, but not required to pass to graduate), Reverb, dinner and laser tag with community group

Plus, all of this comes just as the NCAA tournament starts. What on earth are people thinking scheduling everything they can think of for the week after spring break? If I were a panda, PETA would be all over this. Animal cruelty.

Not everything is bad, though. I found out the PSA will be shown on four local TV stations in the near future! The local CBS, ABC, a CBS offshoot, and Comcast will be showing the commercial soon, and that makes me happy. Belmont has really gotten on board with the video, and has been pushing it to every contact they have. It's great and all, it just means that I'm the go-to guy for coordinating when people stuff for it, and that's one more thing on my plate. The whole project is nearing it's end, with our entries due to SIFE Friday. I need to write a few pages of info on that tonight...

Sometimes I wish I took more risks.

Ugh, I need to start on that SIFE stuff if I'm gonna get done in time for class and back-to-back episodes of 24 this evening...

National Lampoon's Spring Break Vacation

2007-03-12T09:15:00.000-06:00
Yes, yes, it's been 12 days since I've done this. I'll try and fit all those days into one post...

Spring Break

As I've stated on here before, I took nine other people to Minnesota of all places for Spring Break with me. It was awesome, to say the least. The drive up began at 6:30 on Saturday, March 3. A mere 17 1/2 hours later, we were at our final destination. The "cabin" was gorgeous as usual, and there was a fresh blanket of at least 18 inches of fresh powder waiting for us.

Ben arrived Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis, so Matt and I drove to a family gathering in Cambridge to meet my sister, who had picked Ben up from the airport. I got to see a spattering of relatives on my mom's side, and we departed after about an hour there. Upon returning to Gull, we figured out our meal schedule for the week, had dinner, and concluded the evening with a viewing of The Prestige, which was quite good, even though I had it figured out about 45 minutes in.

Monday was another light day. Matt, Ryan, and Lee went to Danielle's house in St. Cloud to use her snowmobiles for a couple hours, while the rest of us stayed to play in the snow, which included digging a fort, tossing a Frisbee, a mild snowball fight, and throwing people in the air on the lake (Lots of snow on the lake, so it wasn't painful). My parents had everyone over for dinner Monday night (delicious), and we played two rounds of Battle of the Sexes, which we split.

Skiing on Tuesday meant we were on the road at 7:30. A light snow persisted all day, adding three inches of snow to the already impressive totals, and making the roads a little slick (which resulted in a nasty spill for Tim that left him at the cabin for the day). Wild Mountain had hardly anyone there, which made it that much better for the people that went skiing. Jess and I didn't really want to ski, so we stayed in the chalet until lunch, then went over to spend the afternoon on the tubing hill, which we found out was closed during the week. Thus, we ended up back in the chalet, which allowed Jess to take a much-needed nap while I began reading Harry Potter for the first time. The first car left Taylors Falls at 4:30, the second at 7. We relaxed that night, and watched Stranger than Fiction, which I liked a lot.

Wednesday was our day out at camp. We slept in and arrived just after lunch, beginning with the sliding hill. There was so much snow it was hard to get going, especially at first, but we slid for an hour before things dissolved into a mass snowball fight. Eventually people got cold, so we went to the gym and played basketball, floor hockey, and carpet ball. Then, we climbed the Ice Tower, which was a ton of fun, and four of us even made it to the top (me not among them). That night I went to hear my dad preach at the Assembly, and came back to play Pinochle with Ben, Julie, and Jess.

We spent Thursday at the Mall of America, which went by really fast. I picked up a shirt, a pair of shorts, and a 9000-piece puzzle (which is ridiculously huge, and will not be started until we're in a new house). Sarah and John had everyone over for dinner after this, and then we went to see "Triple Espresso", which included a unscheduled pre-show tour of downtown Minneapolis. The show was hilarious, as usual.

Friday was the day everyone recharged. 6 people went to the casino around lunch, while the rest of us went into Brainerd to get groceries for our Italian feast a la Jess that evening. My family came out for dinner too, and we all had a great time and great food. The rest of the evening was spent cleaning and prepping for our departure, which we all agreed came far too early, and if I was not in school and had a job that would allow it, I would have stayed another week just to chill.

The drive back on Saturday was faster than the one there, and was thankfully uneventful.

I have to go to Showdown now, but I will be back on to talk about the last couple of days this evening.

Hypocrite, thy name is Al

2007-02-28T09:34:00.000-06:00
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.

It's all Greek til someone gets hurt

2007-02-27T16:24:00.000-06:00
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...

Melissa Ethridge? Really?

2007-02-26T12:46:00.000-06:00
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...