Everything is kind of insane right now. Lots Lots Lots on my mind. I got really spoiled on the idea of goofing off on vacation - cuz getting back into the groove of homework is hard. I'm really thankful I have a bunch of friend's material from classes they've had and I'm taking right now. I'm also thankful that the hardest class I'm taking this semester with my blood-brother, Alex.

Alex bought a new TV. So we're back to "civilized" TV watching - two at once, baby. The only way to fly. The grill continues to work out nicely. I grilled chicked w/ zuchinni in a teriyaki marinade last night - it was delectible. My room is still nice and big - but it seems like I'm just using the extra floorspace to spread my crap evenly around the room (isn't there some kind of analogous biological theory about how a goldfish will grow to the size of the fishbowl?). I still need to make that trip to University Bookstore to get binders & dividers to start my meticulous organization of class materials (which, by extension should get the crap off my floor). The kitchen is also already a pigsty. I'm going to clean the living hell out of my room, the bathroom (which doesn't need it - I just want it to smell lemony-fresh), and the kitchen before this weekend (see below).

But man am I happy it's past Wednesday - the rest of the week should be a breeze. I've already finished my assignments for Thursday, and I only have a couple of small things for Friday. Then this weekend Stace visits & (hopefully) we'll together watch the Boilermakers trample their opponents on the field of battle. So things are on the up and up for the moment. Tonight should certainly afford my opportunities to drink beer and play video games. Isn't that what we all want, anyway?

Also, in a shameless plug to get my Google rating up, here's a link to my tools webpage that's supposed to showcase what a bright young man I am - don't go there, though - it's still under construction.

Also also, Adultswim is playing a show that I'm actually excited about (which hasn't happened since I wanted to shoot myself in the face after watching an entire episode of "Tom Goes to the Mayor" about a year ago) - it's called Metalocalypse; and it's about, you guessed it, an absurd metal band. It's animated. It's overstereotyped. It's Metal. There's an interesting interview with the creators here. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the original guys who worked on Aqua Teen worked on this show - not only does it have a similar style of random humor, but on several of the "commentaries" for episodes of ATHF, there's a guy just shredding on a guitar for like 10 minutes... so yeah.

Dethklok is muy caliente.

End Transmission.

Back to School. The transition back to classes has been rather smooth so far. I'm fairly optimistic about all my classes except for Heat/Mass Transfer, where the teacher is apparently a huge douche. That plan about buying a grill and using it has turned out very very well. I had brats for lunch. It was mind-blowing good - and I didn't even warm the buns.

I'm on a gap between classes now.....two hour break before "Mechanical Engineering Ambassadors" - which I think should be easy....and hopefully will look good on a resume.

My computer has really been pissing me off today. I spent about 2 hours trying (as in, I never actually suceeded) to do something that should take about 20 mintues. I just know there are little virus goblins in there messin' things up.... and it bugs me. my new DVD burner came in over the weekend and I hooked it up this morning - hopefully tonight I can start backing up my files (27 Gigs of Naruto....dang). Anyway, I don't know what the solution is (since all I can see is symptoms of what could be caused by any one of a number of serious problems)....but I'm ticked enough to start trying aggressively to fix it.

On the bright side - we played a lot of MarioKart yesterday. I lost quite a bit, but it's still relaxing. Craig is getting a lot more confident in speaking with vulgarity - mostly with reference to video games (e.g.: *very loud* "Fuck. You. Alex." ). I like it.

I remember Kevin Badger actually HAD this phone....man that was weird.

Peace ppl - send me good vibes to start ramping up my productivity. This semester's going to be a lot lot lot of work!

Wow. Being on vacation is amazing. I'm so spoiled right now I can hardly stand it. I got home from 2 days in Cinci w/ Stace yesterday afternoon - so relaxing. I finally got to meet more of her co-workers, which was nice because she spends all her time with these people now and I need to keep up with everything that happens. We also spent a nice evening with Oma - Stace's grandma. She is, by far, the coolest Grandma I've ever met. I'm back home in the WL now, and I just have one week of vacation left before the fall semester starts. I know it's cliche - but all the work/school I've done really makes me appreciate time when I don't really have to do ANYTHING.



I'm writing this from the new house - which means I sucessfully set up the internet router in the basement *go me*. I'm leaving in 2 hours to pick up James & go to the Indiana State Fair w/ Kellen, Erin, & Jay. So that'll take up the rest of my day. Riding in a ferris wheel, eating deep-fried-snickers bars...oh man I can't wait. The last time I was at the Indiana State fairgrounds was for the gun show, which some people thought was laughable - but I enjoyed anyway. Hell, I saw Wagner there (as in Wagner's Gun & Barber Shop - best haircuts I've got in Indiana - for the record). Too bad I'm not on the market for a quality firearm right now. I dunno what else there is to do & see there - but that's the idea - it'll be a new experience.

There are still a ton of interesting & productive things on my "to do" list before school starts. So far I've adopted the unfortunately-wasteful trend of just watching TV with my spare time - but that can't continue. I know how valuable this time is so it shoudn't be squandered on the 500 channels of joy I'll be able to watch all year - I need to do some of this stuff I'm not going to have time to do for another couple of months. Vacation time is precious!!!!

1) Buy a suit. Honestly, I'm kind of intimidated. This is one really important high-dollar purchase every young man has to make sooner or later (but I have a wedding to go to in 2 weeks, so this needs to happen SOON) - and I want to look really good. I think I know what I want, but there's so many options. I'm kinda scared. My eyes really suggest I should go with a standard blue suit (because damn, when CAN'T you wear a blue suit?) - but I think I'm so goofy that a more serious theme like black or charcoal grey might be a good choice.... I dunno. whatever I end up with I'll post pictures of the wedding.

2) Repair glasses. Because I'm a clumsy fool when I drink, I sat on my $300 ralph-lauren frames one evening when Stace was over. Thank god they're metal and can be bent back into shape. Urgh. My Dad would kill me.

3) Update Resume. Because Industrial Roundtable is an opportunity one can't pass up in my position. Delta may offer me a job, but maybe they won't. I need to explore my options (and with the aforementioned suit, I'll look damn good doing it).

4) Spraypaint a Mural. Because our basement is really barren and I haven't done anything remotely artistic in years. I have spare sheets. I have tons of cheap spraypaint sitting around. If it turns out crappy - oh well, it's just going in the basement...who cares? I'm thinking something school-spirit plus graffiti-culture themed..we'll see. I just feel a need to do something wild like this.

5) Build a Bar/Decorate Basement - see earlier posting on this. I want this room to turn out cool, but with Craig & Alex not showing up till late we might not get much done. I'll try to convince them, though.

6) Buy/Install DVD burner for my computer. I haven't backed up my files in forever and this PC is reaching the end of its expected lifespan. Losing all my music and pictures right now would be a catastrophe. Plus, it's acting all sluggish... I need to backup my critical files and reformat.... a cleansing absolution of my computing sins should restore my formerly-awesome performance. This thing was purchased in 2002 with a pentium 4 and 1 Gig of RAM.... it's pretty fast even by today's standards- so you can understand my frustration when Winamp starts making the music skip when I just open mozilla....LAME! There must be bots hiding somewhere that Symantec doesn't know about (even though I repeatedly scan).

7) Buy a Grill. Craig and I agreed on this one earlier in the summer. Getting a new house with a deck means we NEED a GRILL! Grilling food is super-easy & super-tasty. It represents a rite-of-passage all young men must go though sooner or later - a maturing from boiled-water-hot-dogs to the fire-broiled tastiness of grilled bratwurst. From george-forman frozen burgers to half-inch thick new-york strip. By God, as 22 year-olds this is a natural step we deserve. I can promise you this - we won't be giving Wal-Mart our money on this one.

That's a pretty ambitious list for just 7 more days of freedom. Not to mention that Alex & Craig should be coming back by Tuesday or Wednesay - and they will naturally distract me with video games and the like. I do miss them both a lot, and I can't wait for them to get here - but I know my productivity's going to hell once that PlayStation gets plugged in. Oh well, at least I have high hopes. To tell the truth, I've already accomplished a ton - I just know there's a huge potential to do a lot more. Wish me luck!

New House. New Year. Vacation.

I finished moving out of my crap-hole appartment on S. Salisbury today. Turned in the keys with a self-addressed stamped envelope for the (much reduced due to massive urine stains) deposit I should be getting back. I'm about 1/4 done with arranging my stuff at the new place...there's just so so so much room to move stuff around. My bedroom is like a small auditorium, and it has a kickass view.

The gas doesn't get turned on until tomorrow afternoon - so it looks like it's going to be a cold shower for me in the morning (and I mean COLD - Stacey can tell you just how cold it is...). Internet/Cable TV gets set up Wednesday, so that should give me a couple of days to get things done before I start rotting my brain.

Sidenote - the new house has a huge bar-room in the basement; except that it still needs to be turned into a bar-room. I think when the guys get back, our group activity will be :
A) building the bar (we're manly men! we use powertools and varnish!)
B) buying/hanging a dartboard........foosball and billiards are also acceptible
C) stealing as many neon/non neon alcohol signs as we can.

See there, alcoholism can be wholesome, too.....

So that's exciting. I'll be gone wednesday afternoon to Friday morning to visit Stace... busy busy!

My math final's in an hour. I'm prettymuch studied out. I had a Mad Mushroom Chicken grinder for lunch (which Alex knows I affectionately call "the sandwich of life"), and I feel more or less prepared. I've (re)done the homework assignments for the entire summer in the last 3 days. I've memorized three pages of formulas/bizzare mathematical relations. I can't really do much more at this point to channel my chakra into doing well on this exam - in three hours I'll be home playing FFVII again only to start cramming tomorrow for Friday's exam in 352. Maybe Craig will come over for a while. That would be nice.

Oh yeah - the new Bronx album DOES rock. And Mastodon made another single from the new album available for streaming on their myspace page.... so I'm definitely pumped about the concert - I've been getting in my daily dose of rock-out-time.

Pumped about this weekend. New house. New room. Girlfriend time. And No Schoolwork :) Peace
everyone!