Moment of hilarity

Watching the Red Sox play the Dodgers in a resumption of spring training. Ortiz just hit a double and the announcer described him "scampering to second base." Um...right. I'm fairly sure David Ortiz doesn't scamper. A more appropriate word might be "trundling." Just though I'd share...it made me laugh, at least.

Edit: Kevin Cash is a keeper.

Edit Edit: I don't remember the Coliseum in Los Angeles being such a crappy ballpark when I was out there a couple summers ago...but it seems like a lousy place to play. Also the cameras are placed strangely.

Editx3: Just now seeing Wilco on SNL. Wow.

Editx4: Alright, so it was a football stadium, not the ballpark I was at two years ago. Stupid mistake. I was wondering how they fit 115,000 fans in...

I revived the Mixtape

Awakening of Spring

Or not. With the snow today, Portland passed the hundred inch mark for the winter. I suppose that's something to celebrate, in some twisted way. I would certainly not object at this point to a sudden transformation to 50 degree days with sun - spring, basically. If it snows again in the next two weeks I'm packing up and hitchhiking to Florida for the rest of April.

I'm dreading the end of break, because with it comes not only a full week of BMR rehearsals/performances but also a bio test and general business. Not to mention that I'm responsible for getting lighting equipment for the show by Monday, but have no time to drive an hour and a half to Orono to get it. And if I did, I have no car. Alas, the conundrum seems irresolvable. Hopefully someone will respond to my emailed plea for help and go get the stuff for me. If not, I'm borrowing a car and heading north.

A side note: if you are given the opportunity to see Spring Awakening, don't. It's awful.

Certifiably Insane

I've been absolutely devouring books over break, and have made my way through two Civil War books by the Shaara father-son duo, the second book in a series by John Twelve Hawks, and Good Omens. Right now I'm reading The Historian, a remarkably good, if dark book.

Watched the FX series "The Riches" for the first time last night. Eddie Izzard stars, which for me is a good reason to watch it, but it's actually a pretty good show. I'd never heard of it before, but according to Wikipedia it's been nominated for Emmys, so I guess it's decent enough. Part of the soundtrack was The National "Start a War," which was another reason to like it.

Watching late night television for the first time in a long time, I hadn't realized the amount of swearing that Leno and Letterman do. Not to come off as a prude (I certainly swear far more than I should), but...wow. Disregarding the fact that both of them think that they're funnier than they really are, the swearing kind of puts me off. There are times when a swear is appropriate, like when frustrated, angry, emotional...times like that. Swearing randomly...for lack of a punchline...not really that appealing to me.

Listening to the Eels right now. Time for dinner at IHOP, so for now, adieu.

The man, the myth, the legend

D.B. Cooper, that is. Hijacker extraordinaire, he apparently died after jumping from the plane with the money. Now his parachute may have been found, just 36 years later. Bravo to the FBI; you brilliantly recruited two kids to solve the case for you.

Ten Thirty Musings

I meant for the title to be "Midnight Musings," which actually has some appeal as a title. But it's not midnight, not by a long shot, and "Midnight (almost) Musings" seems...a tad silly. But just a tad.

Anyways...welcome to the wonderful world of nutter. The actual point of this post was to note that I blog much better late at night (the virtue of this ability is debatable, as is the truth of it). I'm trying to work out in my mind the value of a concise, to-the-point post, versus one of my near-midnight rambling stream of consciousness "posts." I noted quite a while ago that stream of consciousness writing gets you in trouble. Alas. Hmmm...I've rediscovered the zooming function of my optical mouse, which allows me to type in a font so tiny my eyes hurt. Lets get out of that...there we go. Here goes the stream of consciousness...this is just another wonderful feature of my mouse/Firefox (also amazingly convenient, despite the fact that I have used it just once, is the feature that brings up a Google search box when I hit Ctrl twice in a row. Although I think that's Google desktop rather than Firefox...but the point is obvious: IE sucks).

The question of nice and neat vs rambling mess is still unanswered, but I'm going to soldier on until I wrap this up or I fall asleep, whichever comes first. Hm...whichever is a word. "Hm" apparently is not, according to the Firefox dictionary (neither is "Hmmm," "Hmmmm," or "Hohum." Wow...it's like being drunk, and knowing that what comes out would probably be better unsaid (untyped), but being unable to resist the temptation of just saying (typing) whatever comes to mind. I feel like Smithers "I love boobies!" And a scholarship to Yale for whoever gets those two references (Yes, two references, and I want an episode number/title). For those who read this: I'm aware I'm insane. It's a hobby.

Of course, I could just as easily blame this on sleep deprivation. Seeing how I did wake up at ten of six to watch baseball. The Red Sox, by the way, won the first of what I predict will be 103 games this season. There were some promising things (Manny being the Manny of old, Brandon Moss being amazing, Dice-K settling down for four good innings), and some alarming things (Papelbon getting tagged). Regardless of how the win was achieved (disregarding the Moss tying homerun to actually get to extra innings), and allowing for Oakland to let us win, things are looking just like they should. Except that Papelbon needs to look better.

Do not worry; this will not turn into a baseball blog. Not entirely, at least. For my loyal readers, know that you will still be gifted with many mundane details of my life. Read and enjoy, and do whatever you do with the knowledge that I ramble unto you. Can I just use that as a verb? It makes me think of a verse from the Old Testament: "And Daniel didst ramble unto his readers, until verily they were bored out of their minds."

Which puts me in mind of the fantastic book I just finished, "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I picked up a reissue (first published in 1990) at Books Etc. in the Old Port the other day, and absolutely devoured it. I have time to do things like that this week. I won't actually tell you what the book is about, but imagine your two favorite authors. Then imagine them writing a book together. That book is this book, literary manna from Heaven. Unless your favorite authors were completely different. Like, I dunno, C.S. Lewis and Richard Dawkins. In that case, you'd be screwed, and the book would suck. Plus, if those were your two favorite authors, you've got some issues of your own to work out.

Okay, so I've gone through baseball and books. All that's left is music and movies. And maybe weather. Actually, I'll attack weather. Snow tomorrow. Snow Friday. Are you fscking serious? To reiterate: I love New England, and wouldn't be anywhere else. But isn't snow supposed to, oh I don't know...GO AWAY?! Sigh. I want spring, now, after many months of cold and white. And everyone I know who's in Florida, or California, or New Orleans, or anywhere warm, right now, will be sure to remind me of their experiences in the warmth when we're back on campus next week. And I can say...at least there was a little more grass visible. Alas.

Righto (another non-word), music is next. "Jessica" is playing right now, and I didn't even have to cue it up. I am officially in love with a radio station, and it doesn't even broadcast my show. If you're ever in Portland, Maine, for any reason, and you're looking for classic rock, 107.5 FM is the answer. Way up high on the dial, beyond all the country, beyond even the jazz and public radio, is this fantastic station. In the past half hour that I've been writing this junk I've heard the Beatles, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, and now the Allman Brothers. Yay! And now Queen...love continues! Here's the station's top ten for everything imaginable (all classic rock, naturally, but still).

Wow...I just came to understand the lyrics of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," when the band goes "Ready Freddie." Wowee, can I be dense. Anyhow, now it's Bad Company and the Who.

So...movies. I saw my first Kevin Bacon movie this past weekend: Silverado. Edit: the movie does not actually have Kevin Bacon in it. I was sadly mistaken by the presences of Kevin Costner and Kevin Kline. Ah well, no Bacon. Mmmm...bacon. The movie did feature John Cleese, however, so not all is lost. A decent movie, not terrific; it did feature a nice score, which apparently was nominated for an Oscar. Tonight I saw Click for the first time; a decently touching movie, although because it was Adam Sandler there were several crude moments that didn't quite mesh with the rest of the movie. Then again, given how many times the film showed a dog humping a duck, it could easily be said that the tender parts of the film didn't mesh with the crudity.

I think I've covered all I wanted to cover, and it's time to answer my question. Hang on while I scroll up to remember what my question was. Ah yes, that question. Well, my answer is short and simple, even if the post wasn't: Bully. Less simply put (isn't that ironic), I don't really care which is better; I'll write as the mood strikes me. If I have time (now, late at night), I'll write. If I don't have time (middle of the day), I won't wax annoyingly long. This applies to email, which I now remember I wanted to address. Accidental pun; kudos if you get it (the candy/cereal bar, which is pretty good. They still make those?) Aaaanywho...if I check my email, and don't have time to answer everything I need to, I file it away to answer later. If I wait too long, I forget about it. After two days, it's hopeless. Thanks to the annoying school email service, anything more than a couple days old goes off the main screen, and I have to dig for it. And that's if I remember when I get online. A memo to anyone who emails me/has emailed me: if I don't reply after a couple days, email me again. Chances are I remembered to reply to your first one while I was nowhere near a computer, and forgot again by the time I sat down in front of my laptop hours later. Apologies to anyone who has waited days, weeks or months for replies. Or you could email my Google account. If you can find it. Mwahahaha. Honestly, though, it's not that hard to guess. For now, I leave you with these, the

TOP TEN ROCK ANTHEMS
Those powerful songs that always JUMP out at you… the songs that are “what rock and roll’s all about”

10- Jump/VAN HALEN
9- Baba O’Riley/THE WHO
8- Where the Streets Have No Name/U2
7- You Shook Me All Night Long/AC/DC
6- Start Me Up/STONES
5- More Than A Feeling/BOSTON
4- Born to Run/BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
3- Sweet Home Alabama/LYNYRD SKYNYRD
2- Dream On/AEROSMITH
1- Stairway To Heaven/LED ZEPPELIN

Spring Break!

A week off of classes to have fun in the sun...or not, really. It'll be a fun week even without the sun, though. I plan on sleeping, reading, and watching baseball, often at the same time. A couple of days will be spent in the Old Port, hopefully, wandering around, and I may take up residence in a corner of Longfellow's Bookstore. It'll be fun; no doubt of that. Can't wait for baseball, hardly any time now. Fantasy draft just concluded; I don't love my team yet, but it's growing on me as we speak. I didn't get some of my favorites; I forgot about the draft, came in late, and had to deal with some automated picks. Robinson Cano instead of Dustin Pedroia, for example. Sigh. The Yankee will of course have to go.

But of course fantasy baseball isn't all-important (just close). In the wide world of Colby there's a lot going on. The student government elections, concluded in my case, are still being contested for the position of overall president and vice president. After some issues with disqualification and the threat of disbanding the student government altogether (apparently only 200 student signatures are needed, which is a piece of cake), the elections are going to be run again, just for the top positions. I keep my post no matter what. I plan on dealing with this kind of insubordination very harshly when I take office, and may enforce martial law in the dorm.

I need to sleep before my trip down tomorrow; I'm luckily going with people I know, but they still won't cut me slack if I'm late. I'll post again from Portland!

I do solemnly swear...

To be the next president of East Quad! I won the election, 43 votes to 32, and I'll be taking office next fall. It's exciting.

Exciting!

There are several things that can be described with that adjective.

Spring break, of course, which is right around the corner. Three days left, and I'm ready to be done. Thankfully my profs are complying, and I have very little work to do.

Elections for dorm president opened this morning, and the outlook is good. The current president endorsed me, I have quite a few confirmed supporters, and in general I'm feeling good about it. Knock on wood for me.

Opening day is just over a week away! In just seven days I will be going to bed early so that I can watch the first game of the season at six in the morning. It's going to be a great year.

For now, that's it. I'm mostly over my illness, and hopefully it'll be all gone by the end of the week. Peace!

Bite Me

Being sick sucks. Having the flu sucks even more. I'm glad that the flu shot I shelled out for was effective. So after a truly awful night I'm feeling mostly better; although certainly not at a hundred percent, I should make it through the day.

Aside from being ill, there are exciting things afoot. The interview on air went well; the publicity agents filmed the whole thing and the only complaint I have is that somebody walked off with my cd lists, so I was playing blind for a good portion of the show. Ah well.

I've been awake for far too long, honestly. Because I crawled into bed at nine, and because trying to sleep with the flu is a literal waking nightmare, I woke up and took a shower before realizing that it was just past three in the morning. I slept another couple hours after the shower, but I'm awake again and wondering whether or not to go to class. I emailed all my professors last night with a basic "I'm sick; don't expect to see me in class," but I feel like I should go to class.

Reading Pontoon by Garrison Keillor, and glad for a nice easy read. It's a fun book, and considering that next on the agenda is The Historian, it's a nice break from a long read like that. Anyways...snow in the forecast for tomorrow...fun. Farewell! May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.

Sweet Caroline

The fun just never ends here at Camp Colby. Today was a blessed day, given the fact that I HAD NO CLASS! We were given the day off from math, after a truly exhausting exam last night (It took me an hour and a half, and I truly believe I did well...I was one of the first to leave). Italian was canceled, for the second day in a row, because the professor is sick. So, long story short, all that was on the table for me today was working for a couple hours in the afternoon. Yay!

Last night I went door to door gathering votes for the election next week. I think I have a good chance of winning, which makes me happy. It would make it a heck of a lot easier on me with the room draw for next year. In a choice between living in the gardens, which is subsidized off campus, and living chem free, I would take chem free any day.

Today was a good day in general, highlighted by sleeping in until ten thirty, but also because it allowed me to catch up on work. Aside from an Italian test later in the week, this week is over. Hallelujah. This weekend is doghead, which bodes well, and the weekend after that is BREAK! I can hardly wait...I'll be reading for pleasure without stop, which promises to be awesome. And with daylight savings time in full swing, it's light out until six, almost six thirty now! I can hardly believe it's four thirty right now, it's so light out. It's beautiful.

I will be having Seth York on the radio show on Thursday; I got approval from my "boss," and the publicity agent called me back. It'll be pretty much right at the beginning of the show, and probably after eight thirty the show will be normal random music again. I may be celebrating St Patrick's Day, with some Chieftans and Gaelic Storm, and anything else I can get my hands on. Should be loads of fun, so listen in.

I've been borrowing a tea kettle to make real tea lately, and it's as dark as the pits of hell and amazingly good. This translates to me being caffeinated a good portion of the day, but sadly only on days when I have time to make tea. So, not on days when I have class and would actually need it. I was falling asleep in chemistry yesterday, and one of my friends, sitting behind me, leaned forward to whisper my name until I woke up. Which I did, and said something vulgar that was probably, in retrospect, far too loud. Oh well.

Today at work I learned how to lift boxes properly. Seems simple enough, right? Well, apparently not. You apparently should not look down at what you're lifting, lift straight from the ground, or lift anything over thirty pounds. This comes as news to me, who has spent nearly three years carrying sixty pound dogs around. Oops. Unresolved is the question of whether or not cracking your back does irreparable damage. I'm guessing no.

Tonight will be fun; a Nobel Prize winning speaker is coming. F Sherwood Rowland, professor of chemistry at UC Irvine, will be speaking on "Our Changing Atmosphere." I'm excited and will probably get there very early, as it will likely be crowded. Also very neat is this. A Colby graduate, he'll be conducting three spacewalks, including helping make repairs to Hubble. Something about his education seems oddly familiar...maybe I could be an astronaut some day (if the space program is still around).

Right now I'm going to see when people are planning on eating dinner. BMR rehearsal later tonight. Fun fun!

Late night musings

I'm awake, although I don't know why. Last night I was awake, but it was because I drank tea at ten thirty. Turns out that was a mistake...although I did manage to work on my biology paper at four in the morning. Reading JR Moehringer's book "The Tender Bar" now. Turns out that browsing the library is a mixed blessing; I picked up lots of books, which is good, but I probably won't finish half of them, which is sort of bad. However, spring break is coming up. That seems like an ideal time to catch up on reading.

BMR is getting more intense; the performances are just a little over two weeks from now and rehearsals are getting longer and singing and choreography is being perfected. I need costumes...how I'll manage to get those remains a mystery to me. I'll probably make a friend drive me around...sometimes I wish I had a car here. But why pay for gas to get around when there are others who will do it for you? Hey, you're going to Walmart? Can I come along? Cool.

Campaigning for president will begin in earnest this evening. I have one competitor, but also several people who have promised their votes. (That doesn't include you, Lakes). If all goes well, as hopefully it will, I'll manage to pull a victory out.

I was in a music video today; some local teen named Seth York with his publicists trying to get him signed. They tried to make about twenty students look like a packed concert hall...interesting concept, not sure about how it worked. Then they asked if anyone was involved with the radio station. I volunteered that I have a show. They asked if Seth could go on it; I said sure, I just need to clear it with my superiors. And so...if approval is had, I'll be having a guest on the program this Thursday. I'm not sure if the publicist realized that eight to ten in the morning is not a prime time for listeners...I did make sure to tell her about the time. I hope she picked up on it. She has my number; it's a classic "don't call us, we'll call you." I'm not sure if I regret offering to host...as long as it's okay by my superiors, I'm okay with it. At least if it doesn't get approved, and I can't come through, nothing can happen to me. Alright, so I'm a bit paranoid. But I hate going back on my word, and I'd hate to disappoint. I did make sure not to accept their CD and publicity packet, so if I do have to refuse them, I won't have anything they can hold against me. Okay...I'm going to stop thinking about it now, and just hope for the best. But again, what if I get called this evening, and I haven't heard yet if I can have him on the show? Is it okay to put them off for another day? Argh...too much worry.

At least I can concentrate on something else to worry about...a calculus midterm tomorrow (today, actually). I'm not worried about what I'll get on it, I'm just dreading it in general. I spent about twelve hours doing math review this weekend, so I shouldn't have any trouble with it (but that much math in two days, especially a weekend, just sucks).

Oh well. Next week is going to be a breeze compared to this one and last week. And this weekend is Doghead. Fun times :)

Oh, and the picture is one of many that popped up when I Googled "random shit" in the image search. It was one of the cleaner pictures...

And another aside: I am officially in love with the following songs: Seventeen Dirty Magazines, Cue the Strings, Mutiny I Promise You, Feeling Yourself Disintegrate, and many others. It's not a problem that most of my music comes from my mother.

Good ole Ohio

Gotta love Butler County...

On happier/less fraudulent notes, the radio show went well. Aside from my laptop deciding to hibernate in the middle of a song, causing me to run around and end up playing the theme from The Dewey Cox Story, it went well. Not much new in the life; today was nice out; everything is melting.

Also: I'm running for president of my dorm. The only other candidate I know of is another freshman. Although winning the election means I'd be living in the same dorm next year, it also means I would get out of the room draw and get my choice of single room. Plus I would be able to campaign for things that I want and my future constituents want: mainly, a key card reader outside the back door to the dorm, so that we wouldn't have to go around the dorm every time we go outside in spring and fall (and sometimes winter). Also on my agenda would be awnings outside the front entrances, where rain and melting snow create virtual waterfalls outside the key card readers. I can hardly wait to campaign.

Still reading about the history of chocolate...I have some very real cravings that I have brought upon myself. Hopefully the arrival of a new Smash Brothers game will alleviate some of this craving...my friend with a Wii is getting the game, which looks freaking awesome. Until next early morn, peace!

It's March

And the weather defies all patterns. Yesterday felt like spring in the morning - the temperature was upwards of forty, the snow was melting, the birds were singing. By two in the afternoon, though, it was cloudy and cold again. By nine it was snowing, which turned to rain, which froze, and by ten this morning it was hail coming down. As enjoyable as hail is (which is to say, not much), I would much rather have some nice weather, say a balmy 45 some day. Alas, it is not to be. I can freely say that I am good and sick of the snow, but I dread the spring melt. All that water will need somewhere to go...and there aren't storm sewers on campus. Goodbye snow, hello mud. Ah well.

Broomball is genuinely over; we played as the sixth seed in an eight team playoff and lost our game, 2-0. Next up on the schedule will be softball or soccer...I'm leaning towards softball. I've never liked soccer in the spring...too wet.

Biology exam taken and done with; math quiz the same; chem exam graded and handed back. I did considerably better than I thought I had...yay. Tomorrow is my gift day; no class, radio show at eight, work on homework (silly, I know), and then work at two-ish. Then it's Friday, and then it's the weekend again.

I've been typecast in BMR - we're singing Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat, and I'm playing the Devil. Which is perfectly alright with me, aside from the fact that the notes are nearly all far out of my range. I'm no tenor anymore...solid bass power here, and I'm glad we're singing Impossible Dream, so I get to show off some of that. Nothing better than being a bass. Tune in tomorrow; I'm not sure what I'll be playing, but you know it'll be good. Play it in school; it's clean. I might spring for the new Golden Smog cd on iTunes...although I may consider it inferior to Media Player, the store can come in handy. For now, I will read my book about the history of chocolate, and go to bed. Guten Nacht! Bis morgen! (I get to refresh my German skills; a couple friends are taking it). Tchuss!

Oh, and RIP Gary Gygax.

Late Night Adventures

So I'm messing around, looking around the interwebs for fun stuff, and I come across this. Given that just about everyone at Colby owns at least one Nalgene, it's slightly alarming. I don't actually use any of the three I own...truth be told, I've been culturing molds in both of the bottles I took on COOT...accidental at first, but in the absence of long handled brushes/incentive to open the Nalgenes, I'm letting it grow. It could be my independent research project - how well do molds grow in potentially carcinogenic conditions?

Facetiousness aside, I've discovered that there is no better way to guarantee exhaustion than the following agenda: class 9-3, study 3-4, chorale 4-5, study 5-5:30, exam (chemistry, bleah) 5:30-6:30, eat 6:30-7:30, do calculus 7:30-9, broomball 9-10, more calculus 10-11:20. Thank goodness for Stewart and Colbert, or I'd be hopeless. I'm busy reconciling the fact that it's March with the fact that there's a foot and a half of snow on the ground...this might take me a while.

On the bright side, spring break draws ever closer, and with it the beginning of baseball season. This marvelous confluence of events will be heralded with great celebrations.

This is odd...my iTunes is playing a Wilco song that I don't recognize. It's Leave Me, from Sky Blue Sky...why don't I recognize it? Ah well. I'm tired. Last night I had a bad dream that I was late for my chem exam and then realized I didn't know how to do anything on the exam (in the dream). Then somebody came over and yelled at me for cheating (still in the dream). In real life, I got to the exam half an hour early and knew how to do most everything on it. And nobody accused me of cheating, which is always good.

Right-o. I believe it's past time for bed. I really need to time my posting better...the more I write past midnight, the more I want to write. Logorrhea is not pleasant at the best of times; rambling when I'm exhausted and should sleep is just bad. To bed with this one. The best part about going to sleep with music playing is rousing just slightly at four in the morning, hearing a good song, and drifting back to sleep in a warm bed. I dare not tarry longer - bed!

More late night fun

This should be pretty short; I have class in the morning. So I'm kind of depressed that I missed Wilco on SNL this past Saturday. Why does SNL have to be on at 11:30 on Saturday night? Does NBC not realize how inconvenient that is?

Anyhow, although I missed out on Wilco on TV, I'm certainly not short on music. Turns out I do have A Ghost Is Born; apparently I burned it to iTunes instead of Windows Media Player. Which sparks a whole 'nother issue with me: Why do people think iTunes is so great? Or, for that matter, iPhones, iPods, iBooks, or any other Mac product? I may not think too highly of Windows or Microsoft, but at least they're productive and good at what they do. Honestly, Apple can't come up with their own word processing software? It has to be "Microsoft Word for Macs?" How weak is that? But aside from that...

Apple releases the MacBook Air, to much hype and celebration. It's the lightest laptop ever, it's super, yay yay yay etcetera. Meanwhile, Lenovo is over here being amazing, and no one gives a crap. Except the New York Times, which was busy also being amazing.

But enough ranting against Apple. They suck, Steve Jobs knows it, and so does the rest of the computer literate world. Not that I'm biased or anything.

Besides, I'd much rather own this.