The VP Debate

Yesterday was a very interesting, and exciting day. I was tasked with assisting one of our corporate photographers during the Vice Presidential Debate held at Washington University. I received my Secret Service credentials earlier this week -- which unfortunately had my wretched A-B security badge photo – after apparently passing yet another FBI background check. Go me.

Sara and I left work around 1:30 and finally got on campus around 2:00. We parked, after going through several Secret Service and police checkpoints, in the VIP parking lot. Sara kept commenting about how I was her chauffeur. She was also about to sit in the back, in a Driving Miss Daisy fashion. [eyes rolling]

We then walked through the chain-link fence lined corridors through the campus, through the first checkpoint, then to the magnetometers where the Secret Service went through ever piece of camera equipment I was carrying. They looked through every lens, clicked the shutters on every camera, tested the flashes…everything. I was thinking to myself, “I sure hope Phil [our other corporate photographer] hasn’t decided to keep his box-cutter collection in there.”

We made our way past the outside media stage, through the halls of the Field House, past The Filing Room/Spin Alley, to the AB Hospitality Tent. AB is one of the sponsors of the debates and provides food, drinks (including beer) and a place to relax, for all the news media, their staff, volunteers, pundits, and other staff for the debate. We started serving dinner around 4:30 and waiting for the “stars” to walk in. During that time we met John Oliver from The Daily Show, Katie Couric, Bob Schaefer, Matt Blunt, Claire McCaskill, and others.

Around 7:00, Tom, one of my fellow AB co-workers, walked up to me and handed me an extra ticket to the debate hall? I took it, of course, so instead of sitting in the Filing Room watching the debate with the other media conglomerates, etc., I actually got to sit in the debate hall itself!

My seat was in the house-right balcony, first row, seat 12. It was amazing…and cold. Now, I’m usually a very warm person, but sitting in that 62 degree theater (gym converted into a theater) really started to take it’s toll. You couldn’t get up and move around to get the blood flowing, for two hours. But hey, it was totally worth it!

I saw Matt Blunt, Rudy Gilliani and his new wife (who looks like she could be his daughter), and many other “celebrities.”

We all got lectured about making sure our cell phones were turned off, not to clap when our candidate said something we liked, etc, etc, etc. We then sat there for a few minutes while waiting for 8pm to roll around. About a minute before, the host Gwen Ifill gave us one last reminder to keep quiet, etc. Then we got to hear all of the network news anchors give their introductory comments on their respective networks then “throw it to” the debate hall where Gwen gave her introduction and the debate commenced.

It was awesome to see, live, the two candidates debate. I thought Sarah Palin did better than I expected her to, and Joe Biden was on task, direct, and made sure to focus his “attacks” on McCain rather than Palin…a good move. In my opinion, he clearly won last night.

After the debate was over, I met up with Sara in the Filing Room (Spin Alley) where all the parties’ pundits were giving their reaction to the debate. There were tons of people in there, it was a zoo. I snapped a picture of Hannity & Colmes preparing for their broadcast.

Overall it was an awesome experience, but I went home very tired.

Poltics

I really hope that Obama can pull off this election. McSame/Failin' scare me.

Monopoly will never be the same.

Awesome. "I heard that you were feeling ill. Headache, fever and a chill. I came to help restore your pluck, cause I'm the nurse who likes to..." - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Greeeeen Acres is the place to be. Farm livin' is the life for me!

Wrong. But funny!

Beermaster's Tour

This weekend was very low key. Friday night, nothing. Saturday again, nothing but watch movies all day. Didn't have anywhere to be, things to do or people to see. I guess it was kind of nice to be a bum all day.

Sunday, however, was a little more exciting. At around 2:00, James+Nick, Carrie and I left for the Beermaster's Tour at A-B. It's a $25/person tour but you get to see some really cool things close up. It's basically the VIP tour they have been given for a while, but it's now opened up to the public. They charge for it to help keep the number of people wanting to go on it down. Anyway, it stopped at the usual places - the aging cellars where you get to keep pieces of beechwood used to help facilitate natural carbonation. Then on to the brewhouse where you get to go down on the floor (behind the glass) and walk around the kettles and back into the "hop room." You also get to go into the control center for the brewery's operations.

Then it was off to the basement of the Bevo Packaging Plant to see the production line up close and personal. My favorite part was when a bottle exploded. It was kinda funny the way our tour guide handled that.

We ended up at the stables, then went around the back side on our way to our next destination. There was a clydesdale pen along the way where, as our guild put it, "they keep the bad horses." It was even funnier because Carrie was petting this horse at the time. Hehe.

The best part of the tour was when we went into the 32 degree finishing cellar. We got to drink fresh Bud Light straight from the tank. It was the best beer I have ever tasted. Yum.

Following that we went back to the tour center and had flights of beer. Sampling anything they had on tap, or in bottles. I tried Michelob Golden Light, Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale, Budweiser American Ale and ShockTop.

Following the tour, we went to McGurks for dinner. (Liz, I know you're jealous!) We then we back to my house and watched The Mosquito Coast...but not before making fun of Nick a little bit. It's a tradition.

(thanks Carrie for the photos...even though I didn't ask first.)

A Weekend of Movies

This weekend was lazy...with the exception of two things. I went to Best Buy to pickup the new(ish) Kid Rock CD titled "Rock N Roll Jesus." It has his new song "All Summer Long" which seems to be insanely popular. However because Kid Rock is being a punk, he won't allow the album to be sold on iTunes. This is the first physical CD I have purchased in forever!

Anyway, while I was there I also picked up this nifty little device that would allow me to use my iPod and iPhone through my car stereo, hardwired. No more of that piece of shit FM Transmitter. I installed it, and it works fine. There are many adapters like this out there, but none of them would allow me to continue to use the built-in XM radio, this one does. It also has a nifty "aux" input. After trying to figure out how to control the iPod through the stereo head unit, I've decided that it's a pain in the ass and I'm going to go through the headphone jack and the aux input now available. Screw the steering wheel controls I say!

On Saturday I went out to my garage to head to the store, but my car wouldn't start. The lights and everything would come on, but there wasn't enough juice to turn the engine over. @#$%^&* Carrie came to the rescue. She took me to AutoZone to buy a new battery (current one was 3 years old, it was time). However, that was probably the most fun I have EVER had in AutoZone...not that I have ever spent much time there to begin with. The employees working were a real hoot.

After figuring out how to remove the old battery, then installing the new one without getting soaked several times by the headlight washer-sprayer-thinggymagigs, everything seems to be working just fine!

Carrie and I then proceded to watch movies and have glorious Hodak's fried chicken. We watched A Few Good Men had dinner, then watched Saving Private Ryan, and finished up with The Count of Monte Cristo. Then yesterday evening we watched Live Free or Die Hard (aka. Die Hard 4). Movies movies movies!

Favorite Quotes:

"I'm gonna rip the eyeballs out of your head and piss in your dead skull! You fucked with the wrong Marine!" -- Col. Jessep, A Few Good Men

"I have here a very old letter, written to a Mrs. Bixby in Boston. 'Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln.'" -- Gen. George C. Marshall, Saving Private Ryan

"And if you're thinking just now 'Why me, oh God?' the answer is: God has nothing to do with it. In fact, God is never in France this time of year." -- Dorleac, The Count of Monte Cristo

"You have got to be running out of bad guys by now. Is there a line or something you call? 1-800-HENCHMEN? Oh, I bet you're still on the line with "Can I get another dead Asian hooker bitch over here right away." - John McClane, Life Free or Die Hard

One more thing...

I start school again tomorrow night. This time I have to suffer through Accounting Theory and Practice. Weeeee! I have to buy books and get my parking permit tonight. This sucks.

Crazy weekend

I seem to be forgetting to blog as much as I used to. I need to get back into that habit. But it seems so much of what is going on right now is just more of the same old shit. So why take the time?

That being said, this weekend was pretty busy. I got an email from mom on Friday morning saying she and dad would be bringing Madeline with them this weekend.

The three of them arrived around 6pm on Friday. Madeline is sooo much fun right now. Every time I walk into a room, she points at me and yells, "Hi Uncle Ryan" or "Hi Uncle Rhyno!" When you give her something, she always says "thank you" and always says "please" when asking for something. Especially grapes...the girl LOVES grapes. It was entertaining watching her eat them without using her hands, and when she finished, she would proclaim, "look, I ate it all!"

Mom took her to Grants Farm on Saturday and then to the Zoo on Sunday. She came back and was all excited because she got to see the tigers, bears and zebras. Strange kid. Heh.

Dad and I spent most of the time working in the basement. We rented a jackhammer-ish piece of equipment to help chip up some of the concrete in the basement. We're removing a big sloped piece of concrete around the support beam in the middle of the room. The floor needs to be flat so we can lay carpet down. We also sealed up a crack on the front porch that was allowing water to stream into the basement every time we had a heavy rain.

On Saturday, my buddy Andy Briscoe stopped by. He was in town making the various friend circuit, seeing people, making appearances, etc. He and I chatted for a bit while dad continued to break all kinds of noise ordinance violations, I'm sure, in the basement with the jackhammer. Damn that thing is loud!

They left around 3:30 on Sunday, when Mom and Madeline returned from the Zoo.

Will & Grace
On another note, I've started Net-flixing Will & Grace. Starting from the beginning... Tivo was recording episodes for me, but I decided that since the DVDs are all out, I should start over and watch them all in order. That's one thing I hate about the cable networks, they seem to play them randomly. Pisses me off! Okay, it really doesn't but it sounded good.

Hotter than SHIT!

It is hotter the hell in St. Louis lately. So hot, I'm not going to use these tickets to the Cardinal's game tonight.

Okay, enough about that. On to more important topics. Either my ears have gotten smaller, or Apple made the iPhone ear phones a little larger. I can only stand to wear them for about an hour before my ears hurt. My regular iPod earphones can be worn for hours and hours...especially while crammed into a cabin on a train barreling through the Swiss Alps with your parents.

Everything else seems to be going well here. Still no word on if I get to remain employed by A-B. It's still pretty slow around here. However, for the past couple days I have been working on a manual for B.A.S.I.S (the boys state database system). I've gotten 21 articles written with about a billion left to go. Adobe makes a great little program to building help/knowledge bast systems so that's a plus.

This past weekend was rather low key. I went to a movie on Friday night with Rick Oleshak (a brand manger here at A-B) and some of his buddies. We saw Stepbrothers. Mildly entertaining, but I shouldn't have wasted $8 on it.

After the movie, I went home for a bit, then to Jimmy's parent's house (they were out of town). We hung out for a while and talked before James+Nick and Carrie arrived. James+Nick and Carrie arrived a while later. We sat around and chatted for a while, poked fun at each other, while Nick fell asleep on the floor. Looser. Heh.

The rest of the weekend was full of weird food cravings, movie watching, and basically just being a bum. I can't wait to do it again this weekend!

Busy weekend

This past weekend went well. Mom and Dad arrived around 6pm, but I was still at the Apple store getting a replacement iPhone. Wee! Oh Friday morning, I picked up my (2nd) iPhone, a black one that I ordered on 7/13. I was headed into a meeting that afternoon and flipped the little switch to put it into vibrate mode, and the switch fell off. It comes down to being a design defect. On some phones, the button is hard to slide...that coupled with the fact that it is a little piece of metal that is GLUED onto a plastic switch inside the phone, caused it to break. I made an appointment with a "Genius" at the Apple Store and they swapped out the phone for me. He was cute too.

Rhett, Jennifer and Madeline didn't make it in until about 9:30 p.m. They were in traffic for three hours because some no-talent-ass-clown decided to hold himself up in his trailer in Crystal City and start shooing at people. They shut the interstate down. What a punk. But since it was Rhett's birthday, I took him to the 11:20 showing of The Dark Knight. It was just a good the second time around. Heath Ledger's performance was amazing! I really hope he gets nominated for an Oscar. If he wins, I would be okay with that too. Rhett and I got home at 2:30 a.m. to an entire house, asleep. So we joined the ranks.

On Saturday, we removed the last two remaining cabinets in the unfinished basement and studded the entire west wall; built a cantilevered work bench (hangs from the wall, not standing on the floor) and wired some electrical outlets.

Meanwhile, dad was installing the molding we had copied, in the upstairs bathroom. We couldn't find molding to match the rest of the house so he took a piece to a carpenter and had a die made. It matches perfectly! Hey, it only took a year to get it finished...but I still have to paint so it's not quiet done yet. Ugh.

Saturday night, Rhett, Jennifer, Dad and I had planned on going to see The Dark Knight again (Rhett and I went by ourselves on Friday). I didn't really feel like going again, as I was at that point where if I was sitting in a dark movie theater, I would totally fall asleep. I thought about skipping the movie and making an appearance at Chris' housewarming/birthday party...but didn't. Mom, Madeline and I started watching Ratatouille instead but we all ended up passing out about half way in. So we hit the sack.

Speaking of Madeline...she's a hoot! She's talking up storm now, very polite too. At one point, mom was doing some ironing (love her!) and Madeline decided to put on one of my shirts. Cute isn't it? Rhett and I taught her to do the "Redrum" thing with her index finger, and mimic the little boy's voice from The Shining. Jennifer was not amused.

Anyway, we did some other small crap around the house and they finally left yesterday around 5:30..at which point I took a shower, made dinner, and took a nap. I then watched the rest of Ratatouille. Not a bad show, but not Pixar's best either. The storm we had last night totally rocked too! I didn't loose power for too long, which was nice.

That pretty much wraps up my weekend. I'm sitting here at work, wishing I was at home...in bed.

The ole switch-a-roo

As much as I like the white iPhone, I've decided to switch to a black one. I know, such a sucker, right? Anyway, I went into the AT&T store today to place an order for a black 16GB model. The phones are sold out nationwide and AT&T is doing direct fulfillment. (When I bought mine, James was about 10 people behind me in line and had to go this route). Anyway, I was able to buy the new black one for the same price as the white one...with tax, $328. I asked the sales woman what my options were for the old one. She said I could return it for a 10% restocking fee, or just sell it on EBay. (They are going for $800 or so on there).

Carrie is intersted in one of the phones, but she's not eligable for an upgrade and would have to pay full price. I'm thinking I'll sell her my white one when the black one comes in. Hey, they didn't charge me extra for it. Why the hell not?

BTW, did I mention I love this phone? Heheh.

iPhone Mania!

So, today, I did something I never saw myself doing. I stood inline for an iPhone. I got to the AT&T store around 7:45 a.m. and ended up being about 45 in line (or so). After waiting for an hour and a half, I walked out with a brand new 16GB white iPhone 3G. I would have preferred a black one, but I got the second to last white one they had. Maybe I'll order a black one and return this. Not sure yet.

It took me a while to get it to activate. It seems that Apple didn't plan on a million people across the planet trying to activate their new toy. The phone turned itself on around 11 a.m. this morning and I was able to activate using iTunes around 1 p.m. Needless to say, I'm playing with it when I should be working. But hey, it's slow around here because people don't know what's going on with the whole InBev purchase. This is a nice distraction.

4th of July Weekend

I spent this past weekend in Cape. I was originally going to go down there on Thursday, but then decided Friday morning sounded better. But as fate would have it, I didn't leave until about 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. I spent most of the morning doing some yard work, after I finally woke up, talking with my neighbor across the street (not the asshole neighbor). I was going to put on the primer coat of paint in the basement, but decided I had procrastinated enough and should head to Cape.

This weekend was great. I got to play with Madeline a bunch...she's now 2 years old and is becoming less "breakable" with each passing day. Guess who she ran to when her dad, grandpa, and I all walked in the room at the same time. Yeah, that's right...it was me. She was running across the family room yelling "Uncle Rhyno!" and stood in front of me with her arms stretched and said, "Up Uncle Rhyno!" It was the first time she has done that, especially upon seeing me for the first time in a few months.

Friday night we all went to Jackson to see the fireworks. They sucked. But on Saturday, we had a birthday party for Madeline. There were tons of people at my parent's house, way too much food consumed, etc. For a couple hours, my father and I sat in their family room watching his new Plasma TV with the HD Cable I installed for him. We were making snide comments about the History Channel's "Unexplained-large-animals-that-drunk-people-misidentified-as-bigfoot-etc" program. It was a blast.

On Sunday I helped dad re-install all of the home theater components that had to be removed so the bookshelves could be rebuilt to allow for a HD TV. We went to Best Buy and bought a new stereo receiver, cables, etc. It was all working fine when I left, but mom was able to hose the system before I even got home. Diagnosing new equipment over the phone is such a pain in the ass. I'm going to have Rhett scan the remotes and send them to me.

Today, I'm sitting here at work. I'm the only one in my department here today. The phone has rang twice this morning. It's such a weird atmosphere around the building these past few weeks. The mood keeps fluctuating with the news reports. It's a roller coaster of emotion.

The Road Less Traveled

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost, 1916

Gas Prices

HAHA, saw this today. It's awesome.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The Steven Soderburgh film The Informant (2009) is shooting in the St. Louis/Marion, IL area right now. Today, they were on location at my office shooting infront of our building and in the main lobby. The film is starring Matt Damon. Check it out! I took this photo from the bridge where they were letting us all stand.

Discovery Channel

I love the discovery channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0

Asinine Airlines

I was sent an article today from my friend Carrie about how American Airlines will now be charging for the first checked bag for all flights. What the hell? First they get rid of the peanuts because of allergies, then the pretzels, now you can pay for a "snack pack" chocked full of sweaty cheese. The pillows and blankets are gone. What's next? Paying to use the bathroom? Paying for the "insurance" of having an available oxygen mask or a floating seat cushion in the even the aircraft actually survives a water landing? Talk about a slippery slope we are on.

So, by having to pay the airlines for the opportunity to send your luggage to the Congo instead of your actual destination, our fellow passengers will only try with more effort to cram as much crap as possible into already over sized "carry-on" bags. Which there is never enough space on an airplane for those bags as it is. They won't let you hold any bags on your lap...they must go under the seat in front of you, or overhead. This is another point I find amusing: the FAA says you can't hold a bag in your lap for fear of it becoming a projectile, but you can hold your infant child. Gotta love government logic.

Puerto Girardeau

Carrie, James, Nick T., Andy and I had our first annual (maybe?) Escape to Cape this past weekend. We all headed into the sticks on Friday around 6:30 p.m. for a weekend of relaxation. My parents were out of town camping with my niece so we decided to take over their house. We stopped in Festus for dinner at Fizzoli's and then White Castle so James could get his first hit of ice cream for the weekend...a very large milkshake.

It was a VERY busy time. Heh. Everyone woke up when they felt like it as there was no set schedule. We went swimming in my parent's pool, lounged in the sun soaking up lots of Vitamin D and basically just hanging out all day Saturday.

Saturday evening we drove even further into the "bush" to Lamberts Cafe in Sikeston for some down home cookin' and an overdose of artery clogging greese. I, however, failed to read the memo on wearing a green shirt, but ce'est la vie. We, of course, ate until we were stupid. Nick must have ate half is weight in food, or at least attempted. It was quite funny! James made the comment after dinner that he felt pregnant and Andy looked as if he was going to hurl! Don't do it Andy!

We then drove back to Cape all the while letting our food settle then went swimming again until 2 a.m.! When we left for dinner, I bumped the pool heater up to a nice bath-waterish 100 degrees. It was awesome. We all swore we wouldn't eat ever again.

On Sunday Andy and I went over a couple points on the will he's drawing up for me while most everyone was still asleep. We then headed to my brother's house to drop off the remaining beer and pick up his trailer. I had yard work to do...see next posting.

It was a wonderful weekend and I got to hang out with some of my awesome friends. Thank you all for an awesome time!

Cardinals and Friends

Yesterday was a long day at work. It started off with an exceedingly boring meeting at work. One of those "employee communications" meetings where they tell us how the company is doing, where we are headed, etc. Then they show some commercial. It was a requirement to attend, and I was trying my damnedness to stay awake. I mean, I already knew all of this stuff AND I made the DVD of commercials we were watching. Sigh.

The bright part of the day was Carrie was coming in from Columbia for a few days and I took her, Nick F. and Jimmy to the Cardinal's game. The seats were pretty good...about 20 rows behind home plate. It was a good game, and we had a good time...especially picking on Carrie. Those ushers should never have given Jimmy and I those All Star game ballots. Nothing good came from that, and I'm sure Carrie hasn't checked her car yet. LOL!

After the game, we all went back to my house and hung out briefly before Nick and Jimmy left. Carrie and I crashed on the couch and watched Boston Legal...we she watched it...I kept falling asleep as she was playing with my hair.

Terraforming & Mother Nature

This weekend, Mom, Dad, Rhett, Jennifer and Madeline came into town. Friday night Rhett, Jennifer and I went to see Carmina Burana at the Symphony. One of the best performances I have ever attended for this piece.

On Saturday, Rhett and I proceeded to tear into my yard. Our main goal was to remove the sidewalk that ran down the side of my house, to no where and turn it into flowerbeds. The sidewalk was acting as a nice damn to keep water next to the house and thus, in my basement through the stone foundation.

We used a rented backhoe from Home Depot to assist us in this feat. It was decided the best disposal option was to inter the broken pieces of concrete in the yard, so we used the backhoe to not only, dig up a stump, but to dispose of the sidewalk. Talk about fun! Heh.

Some additional pictures are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/rhynoh/yardwork/ if you care to take a gander.

Work stopped around 5pm when mother nature decided to be a whore and rained. We were outside in 75 degree weather, raining, and cleaning up the backhoe. It you return it dirty, Home Depot charges you $200. I was out there spraying it off with the hose when mom came out. She was all upset that I was out there in the rain, soaked to the bone. It was a lot of fun and it's going to look awesome when I'm finished.

The basement remodel is also coming along fine. It's ready to paint, then carpet, then buy a big ass television!

Gas Tax Holiday

In Tuesday's class we were discussing things that the government could do to help everyone through these tough economic times.

Someone piped up and proclaimed how awesome it was that Hillary wants to have a gas tax holiday this summer. Wow, that's awesome; a whole $.18/gallon!

That's a whopping $3.42 each tank, for me. That's awesome...oh, wait, that's not even enough to buy a single gallon of gas. !@#$%

Obama vs. Hillary

Random Facts

RULES - Post rules before giving the facts - Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves - People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules - At the end of the your blog you need to tag three people and list their names - Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.

1. I can't stand people eating while on the phone with me, chewing with their mouthes open, or talking with their face stuffed full of food. Oh yeah, and smacking their food. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I can feel my blood pressure rising.

2. I'm allergic to mushrooms. That's pretty much it. Well, shrooms and penicillins. These items don't make me stop breathing or anything. I just get some nasty hives from penicillin and a horrible stomach ache from mushrooms. Mom always tries to make her green bean casserole in a way that my brother and I can eat it (he's allergic too), but she forgets that cream of mushroom soup is the same as using regular mushrooms. Sigh.

3. I love movies. At one point in my life I wanted to make them for a living. But, life changed and I needed a job that is much more stable...and has benefits. I've settled on something second best, but maybe not. I don't actually get to do any real editing much anymore. I guess that's a reason I'm in school for my MBA with an emphasis in marketing.

4. I'm terrified of spiders. Well, not terrified of them, they just give me the ebbie-jeebies. Like the other day when I was taking a shower, I saw a spider fall into the bathtub. I was out of that shower so freaking fast, standing there dripping water all over my warm marble floor while I decided what to do next. I can't just let it go down the drain...what if it crawls back up? That damn Itsy Bitsy Spider song ruined me for life.

5. I rarely like going home to my parent's house for any extended period of time. I feel like such an outsider down there. I worry about my mom worrying about me; what's going through her mind.

6. I am not a religious person. I have a hard time believing that there is some higher power out there who is in control of my life, my destiny. Some omnipotent being who created the universe with a thought. Perhaps religion is a human condition brought about to help us feel like we're not alone, like someone is watching out for us and we're not on a run-away train barreling down a mountain; to help us cope with the loss of loved ones by believing that we will see them when our time comes and live out eternity with them in some other place.

7. I stay up way to late for no reason at all and suffer the consequences in the morning when I have to go to work. I say to myself, "why do you do this all the time" but I rarely change. I mean, look, it's past midnight and I'm still writing this post. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

8. I hate leftovers. Except for pizza. Other than that, not a big fan. I think it has to do something with growing up in a house where you were always wondering what was growing in the refrigerator. Haha. But seriously, the mixing of previous meals into a "new" meal is repulsive. Just don't tell me what you did, and I'll be fine.

Here is where I break the rules. There are very few people I know who blog, one of them, Carrie, has already filled out this survey. So I'll tag Nick, but he said himself that he hasn't updated in a long time. I'll also shoot one over on Elizabeth. I'm sure she'll do it (she better!)

Sleepless

Tonight I decided to take a night off from the world and watch Sleepless in Seattle. It has been many years since I last watched this film and I had forgotten how much I liked it. Now I'm not saying it is in my top 10 favorites, but I enjoy it.

It's one of those movies that reminds you that no matter how lonely you feel, how disconnected, there is always someone out there for everyone. Just finding that person is what is the challenge. Sometimes you find them and will live a long life together. Then again, sometimes shit happens and you don't, but one should never give up hope of finding it again. It might never be like it was before, but who knows, you might be surprised.

Now, if only I could live by what I just wrote.

Cardinal's Weekend

I had the pleasure of hanging out with one of my best friends for most of the weekend. On Saturday, I got tickets to the Cards vs. Cubs game from Rob, a fellow boys state staff member, who had two extra tickets and asked if I knew anyone else to take. I took James as he is an avid Cubs fan. We were sitting on the Coca-Cola Deck, good seats but very far from "the action."

It was fun watching him get heckled (hehe) but we were all eating crow when those nasty Cubs won. There were two opportunities for them to hit grand slams. I remember proclaiming, "I have never witnessed a grand slam in person, and I'm gonna be pissed if it's done by a Cub!"

There were these two old ladies, all decked out in Cubs gear holding a sign that said something like, "Two Cubs fans for over 160 years" or something. They were causing a raucous trying to get on television. We were going to turn around to them and ask, "So, what was it like when they built Wrigley Field?" But we refrained.

Sunday, my parents came up and we went to another game. The seats were much better, or at least closer, 14 rows from home plate. Not bad...even with the drunk girl swaying in front of us. The best part, however, was before the game, we had lunch with my parents at Joanie's Pizza. We were sitting there eating when James exclaimed, "I think a bird just shit on me!" Comedy ensued, as you can imagine. Nothing beats watching a Cubs fan get shit on by a bird. Hopefully it was a Cardinal, because that would be fantastic!

Oh, by the way, we won the series. GO CARDS!

RIP Tivo

It all started last night as I was watching television. I noticed that my Tivo hadn't updated itself in a few days so I tried to give it some encouragement. I gave up around midnight. This morning, I continued to diagnose the problem, spent some time on the Tivo website, and then finally, against all normal male characteristics I broke down and called Technical Support.

She had me reboot my router, shut off my tivo completely, etc. After one of these attempts, I think my Tivo decided to follow the white light and cross over. Time of death: 11:45 a.m. CDT. After a few moments of grief, I decided it was time to move on. That and the fact I'm going to two baseball games this weekend and can't afford to miss Brothers & Sisters, etc. Heh.

Thank god for Best Buy! I am now the owner of a new and improved Tivo HD Series2. It's wicked cool because now I can record two programs at the same time. In HD (but I don't have HD cable yet). Baby steps.

The weekend recap.

Nothing to really report on Saturday, it was kind of a lazy day. I got a lot programmed for Boys State, but nothing much else. It was a great movie-watching day.

Today (Sun), however, Carrie came back into town as she has a second interview in the morning with a large company. I wish her the best of luck, because after all, I want her to move to St. Louis! But I digress. She came over about 2:30 and we watched a couple of movies until it was time to meet everyone for dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. In attendance were James+Nick, Jimmy, Dave, Nick T., Carrie and myself. Wes showed up towards the end of dinner when he got done with the event he was attending.

We had an awesome time at dinner, laughed at lot, waited on the slow restaurant to cook our meals, and were amused that our waitress kept returning saying they were out of particular items. Ice cream, fettichini noodles, plates, cups, etc. Very humorous.

I feeling much better today, most of the pain is completely gone.

Anyway, I have to cut this short. I need to be at the AB Tour Center tomorrow morning at 8am for a rehearsal.

New Blog

So I've decided to keep both a public blog and a private blog, for now. Up until now, the posts below are some of what I have written in the past. As I have time, I'll add some more from my other one...edited of course.

Bleh days.

I called in sick to work today. Not because I feel ill, it's just painful to sit down. So basically, I have been laying around my house all day, watching television, movies, and taking naps in between taking care of myself.

I am, however, feeling much better tonight than I was last night. I tried to go to bed about 11:30 last night, but that didn't happen. The pain was just annoying enough to keep me awake. I drifted in and out for a while, waiting for my pain medications to kick in...which finally did around 4:30 am. Hense the reason for calling in sick today.

I feel the Earth move under my feet..

I decided to fly back from Las Vegas on Thursday night instead of wasting an entire friday traveling. I departed around 6:50pm PDT and landed in St. Louis at Midnight local. I sent a text message to Carrie that said, "...back on solid ground." A statement that in the near future proved very erie.

I got home, and wasn't at all sleepy so I decided to watch a couple episodes of Eli Stone. In these episodes, Eli predicted a massive earthquake in San Francisco that would knock down the Golden Gate Bridge. In the show, it happened.

I finally went to bed around 3:30 a.m. but was woken around 4am sometime. I thought my heart was beating so fast and the fast that I just watched Eli Stone, I was imaginging the earthquake. I went back to sleep. At 7a.m. I received a text message from Andy that said, "Everyone ok post clamaitous earth quake?" I responded with, "You mean THAT was REAL?"

I went back to sleep, but was woken by the aftershock at 10:15 a.m. I decided someone or something wanted me out of bed. So I obliged.

Cirque du Soleil

All the bitching I have been doing about having to be here in Vegas are moot. I bought my $165 ticket to see Cirque du Soleil's "KÀ" performance a few months ago, anticipating what this would be like to see in person. I was excited, being a Cirque virgin and all.

My ticket was for the 9:30 p.m. show and it was fucking amazing. It was the best theatrical performance I have ever seen. Better than Les Misérables, Rent, etc. Sure, the story was little hard to follow, and upon reading a synopsis, I missed some parts; but that didn't detract from the actual show. You get the gist of it anyway.

However, I did find myself watching the technical side of things a lot. I mean, come on, the "sand cliff deck" is the world's largest elevator (or so the Discovery Channel told me). It was totally amazing and I can understand why people rave about Cirque du Soleil.

Next time I'm in Vegas, which will be in November of this year, I plan on going to see "O" at the Bellagio. I hear it's fantastic as well. Actually, I hear that about all of their shows.

Awesome

This is fucking funny...scary.

Home Crap Home!

Dad was in town again this past weekend. He arrived with Mom on Friday afternoon as she was attending some meeting at the Chase Park Plaza. We got the ceiling in the bathroom installed, along with the new heater/exhaust fan/light assembly. After we got the joints all mudded and the door rehung, we realized that the door will not open all the way because it will hit the light fixture. Fuck! Damn these low ceilings.

Anyway, we're going to reverse the door to swing from the opposite side into the bathroom and then move the light switch to the opposite wall. A fun feat I'm sure. This is all going down the weekend I get back from Vegas.

On Friday night, Dad and I watched Red Rock West. An interesting movie...quite unique if you ask me. I highly recommend checking it out. It's short and it's only downside is it's starring Nicolas Cage. He's not too horrible...the rest of the cast makes up for it. And until a few moments ago, I didn't realize it was such an old film...1992!!!. I guess he made it before he started doing really crappy movies. He should have stuck with the independent route! HAHA.

It's about this guy who is in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and can't seem to catch a break.

On Saturday, I sat the parents down to watch Little Miss Sunshine. I forgot how slow of a film it is at the beginning but mom ended up really liking it. Dad kept falling asleep and then went to be right before the hospital scene...the funniest part of the movie!

Short post, but nothing much to report.

Life is a highway.

I have been watching Six Feet Under for a while now. It started out watching reruns on Bravo, but I grew tired of them editing out the profanity, and other juicy scenes, for cable. I stopped, but recently I picked up where I left off, in Season 3, thanks to NetFlix. Tonight, I finished the series. This was the best ending to a series I have ever seen. I used to hold The West Wing to a very high standard for its finale, but it pales in comparison to Six Feet Under. The symmetry of the corpus of the show was, and is, amazing. The creator, Alan Ball, brilliantly provided it with wonderful bookends and wrapped up all the loose ends in a neat, original fashion. If you don't understand why I titled this post "Life is a highway" then you really need to invest the time into Six Feet Under. After you watch the entire series, you will understand. Especially the end.

I have become accustomed to films and televisions shows forcing you to think about something in a totally new way, but this show forces you into the realm of what is uncomfortable...but it does not make a big deal about it. It's just there for you to absorb, ponder. It forces you to confront your own mortality, a usually uncomfortable topic. For me, television will never be the same, as thus far, I have never seen a film, tv show, or documentary that bears a comparison.

I do not plan on going into detail as those who are reading this blog might not have watched the entire program. But the ending sequence reminded me one more time, but in a different way, that myself and everyone I know, will someday, eventually, pass on. This isn't my first experience with this topic, nor will it be the last, but I'm left with the feeling that I want to live a life that I'll honestly look back on fondly, when I'm old and gray.