Every time one of the New Balance commercials comes on, I can’t help but smile…
I think I’m going to run another Half Marathon in October. Feel free to join : )
Posts Tagged ‘life’
Internet is Back
7/9/2008 – 8:37 pm
I finally got my Internet connected at the apartment. I will try my best to start posting more frequently again.
Last Class Ever
4/30/2008 – 3:06 pm
I just attended the last class of my undergraduate, and in all likelihood educational, career. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. It has not really struck me.
I always loved school. I do not think I will ever tire of learning new things. University of Illinois certainly provided a myriad of opportunities for this. However, so much of my education has come from things I read or talk about outside of class. While it is time for me to move on, to start the rest of my life, it is never time for me to stop learning.
I pray that my curiosity never leaves me. I hope that I will still be researching my favorite baseball players’ BABIP (batting average on balls in play, duh!), searching for interesting statistical trends in data, and borderline stalking my favorite bands, TV shows, and movies late into my years.
Something tells me that I will. My education has not made me who I am. My curiosity was not artificially created by a will to succeed in school, but by a God who fearfully and wonderfully made me. While I am very grateful to the University of Illinois for the instruction it has provided me, this stage of my life is nearly finished.
I’m excited for another to begin.
Today
4/27/2008 – 10:06 pm
Today was filled with:
- Church and lunch with Andy, Alex, and Andrea
- Baseball all afternoon
- Mindless work on a technical paper
- Talking to my sister
- Taco Ring/Egyptian-Burial-Tomb
- Watching comedy central movies
Good day!
New Apartment
4/23/2008 – 4:45 pm
I had been keeping a little mum on this, because I didn’t want to post about it until things were finalized. However, I just received my welcome email, so I think its safe to post now. I found my apartment for next year! The community is called The Village at Lion’s Gate. It is a pretty spacious one bedroom apartment. It has a garage, with a washer/dryer, and a newly remodeled bathroom and kitchen. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited.
iPod: 1 - Me: 1
3/30/2008 – 10:56 pm
I had quite the scare this morning. I awoke at around 6am to the sound of my computer’s USB port doing that beeping noise it makes when it recognizes new hardware has been plugged in. I was moderately annoyed, mostly because it woke me up. However, when I actually got up for church, I found I had a nice error message on my iTunes. It informed me that my iPod’s harddrive could not be read from or written to. I then noticed that the clock on my iPod read 6:37, and it was in a frozen state. No buttons functioned at all.
I almost embarked on the long saga of how I returned my friend to a working condition, but I realize that would be boring (essentially you just need to charge it up via the wall adapter and restart iTunes a few times). On the other hand, this event did cause me to think. My iPod is probably my second most valued possession (behind my computer). Before you start railing on me claiming I have no sense of priorities, understand this: I walk to classes every day– and those walks are not short. We are talking at least forty minutes of my day is spent hiking around campus. If I were to lose my music for these trips, it would be devastating. Then comes the issue of price. I can’t afford to buy a new iPod right now, I could buy a new Bible (for some reason somebody always brings this up, when I claim non-spiritual things as being more valuable). So as far as replacement cost + utility goes, I’m reasonably sure that my iPod has been undervalued in my eyes for too long.
I had a wake up call today, and Mr. iPod, I’m sorry I have neglected you for so long. Sure, you may be really old, and have more scratches and dirt than I care to admit, but you have been a loyal friend for over three years. Other people might consistently make jokes about how clunky and colorless you are compared to your newer brothers and sisters, but I see the beauty that lies beneath. If you could hang in there for another fours months or so that would be fantastic!
P.S. Thank you Ryan Zimmerman for salvaging an otherwise terrible Opening Day in America for my fantasy team with your game winning home run.
Official Rules of Scattergories
3/6/2008 – 2:16 pm
Let me preface these rules with the following statement. I am the dominant force when it comes to Scattergories. My partner Nina and I have never been defeated in a legitimate challenge for this position. As a result, I feel it is my right and duty to dispense the official rules of Scattergories as it should be played.
Creativity is king. If your response makes me laugh, chances are I will count it. Nothing, and I mean nothing will ruin a game of Scattergories faster than playing by a restrictive set of allowed responses. This game is meant to be played as a challenge of wit and humor, not as an experience in case law. If I have to repeatedly justify all of my responses, I just won’t play with you anymore. It is as simple as that.
Don’t be those guys. Almost every time you play with a large group of people (more than pairs on a team), you end up with one group who constantly chooses ridiculous responses and acts mystified when they are unanimously rejected by everyone else. Even worse, they generally refuse to admit defeat and continue to argue for answers they knew would not be accepted. I admit, there is often a temptation to stretch for words, especially when you are not winning. However, attaching adjectives, using obscure movie quotes, or obscene humor rarely works in your favor. If nobody else the game is amused by your antics, you should stop. Everyone else probably just considers you mentally retarded anyway.
Using generally accepted slang terms to refer to an item is perfectly legitimate. Just because you wouldn’t find something in a dictionary, doesn’t mean it isn’t fair game in Scattergories. After all, this isn’t Scrabble. The other day someone rejected the word “gator” because the actual word is “alligator.” This was especially ridiculous considering the University of Florida use a gator, not alligator as their mascot. If you want to reject gator, then you should reject bunny as well, because the real term is rabbit. See the point? This should go as a supporting detail to number one, but it seems like lately people have been abusing this so much that it deserved its own mention.
Be gracious. I understand that you might not see the connection between certain words. However, everyone has their own opinion and word associations. Please be generous. The game is much more interesting when it is played open-ended. I’m not saying you have to accept every word, but its not worth losing friends to protect a one point lead (unless its in revenge, then its completely justified).
Eliminating the same word written down for a category is legit. It happens, people choose the same thing. However, you need to be careful with how far you take this. For example, if the category was ‘movies,’ and the letter was ‘a.’ Does it really seem like a good idea to discount American Beauty because someone else used An American In Paris? That’s freaking ridiculous! These are two entirely unrelated objects which happen to share a word. Now, if the category was ‘cars,’ and the letter was ‘m.’ I would have no trouble eliminating the word Mazda when someone else played Mazda Miata, because they refer to essentially the same object (although the second team should still get points for Miata).
If the category contains the word “excuses” or “reasons,” you should just give up attempting to judge now. There is no way that you can cross something off the list, unless it literally does not form an idea (see: the “that guy” paragraph above). These categories are meant to illicit ridiculous responses, and in my humble opinion, the stranger the better.
Stay away from one person inside jokes. Oftentimes when playing Scategories, there will come a time when someone chooses a word no one else understands the reasoning behind. The person will then point to one specific person in the room, or even worse try to call a friend on their cellphone, and expect that one person is able to back up an inside joke and somehow make their ill-fated choice legitimate. My rule of thumb is that if the joke doesn’t have relevance to at least one third of the members playing, you probably shouldn’t use it. Note, this does not apply to commonly known things. For example, I recently used “Kofi Anan” for president, because he was the president of the United Nations. Most of the people in the game were not aware of this. However, this is an easily researchable fact, it is not based on people’s experience, and could quickly be either confirmed or denied. It’s not my fault if you can’t keep up with current events. There is a difference.
Have fun. Sure the game gets competitive, but as soon as you take it too seriously the fun quickly dissolves. You all should just realize that I am going to win anyway, and roll with the punches.
Game on.
Doesn’t Life Slow Down?
3/4/2008 – 1:38 am
I just thought I’d make the obvious observation that life never really slows down. I continue to tell myself that after this week things will be more organized and peaceful. Then as the following week arrives, I ramp up to meet all of the requirements and deadlines I conveniently ignored. I guess maybe this is just my psychological way of dealing with all that I have going on.
Luckily, I do know that my friends are coming up to visit me this weekend. I am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to spend time with Pat and Jen. Jen has never seen my campus before, so this is especially exciting.
Well, I am going to head off to bed and watch a few eps (that’s right, I said it) of The Office.
I Don’t Write Enough
2/18/2008 – 2:10 pm
I’m currently listening to: Headlights - Towers
Every time I open my web browser I click through my list of favorites, only so that I can see who has updated their blog/website. I frequently ponder how hypocritical it must seem that I rarely post on my own blog. Often I feel this is because nobody would care about what goes on in my daily life. Then I realize that I desperately seek out the reports others write about their mundane tasks. So here goes nothing.
This weekend I went home to get a bunch of stuff done. Here is a list of things I accomplished this weekend:
- Got my haircut
- Measured for tuxedo in Jen’s wedding
- Visited with parents
- Hung out with Patrick
- Saw Nina/David
- Bought a second pair of jeans
I got back to Champaign last night. This morning, when I woke up, I found that my package from Polyvinyl Records arrived. I ordered The Headlights’ new album, Some Racing, Some Stopping on vinyl. By the way, I absolutely love Polyvinyl Records and Saddle Creek Records (and not just because they included a valentine in my package). Each of these record labels has instituted a policy of including a digital download card with all of their records. This means that I can reap the benefits of vinyl (large artwork, better sound, feeling more legit), and still have the music in a readily accessible format. I consider this to be genius.
Wasted Weekend?
2/10/2008 – 10:15 pm
I’m currently listening to: Saves the Day - Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
I didn’t do much this weekend. In fact, I can literally count on my hands the number of things I took part in. Everyone else seemed to have grand plans for the weekend, so I decided I would take it easy. I envisioned I would work on my senior project for a few hours, and check off most of the remaining work, go on my eight mile run, and then maybe rent a movie. Instead, I was unable to finish my run (having to walk after five and a half miles). I spent fourteen hours slaving over this terrible project, and ended up depriving myself of both sleep and food. Did I accomplish anything?
Despite my feelings of frustration, I did get a decent amount of work accomplished. Unfortunately, I feel I went about it the wrong way, I sacrificed my precious free time to a meaningless project that could have waited. I don’t know what it is about programming, but once I approach a problem, it consumes me. I cannot stop until I understand it. This isn’t as big of a problem when working for a company, because at the end of the day, I go home and forget it. However, with this senior project, I was at home, and I chose not to do anything until I solved the problem. This was pretty stupid.
I want my weekend back.
It’s Too Late to Apologize
1/15/2008 – 1:55 pm
My end of the year list is kind of late. I apologize. I want you to know that its hard to remember what your favorite albums were when you don’t have them sitting in eyesight. Now that I am back in the apartment, hopefully I will be able to crank the list out in the next few days.
Also, I had to drop ice skating this morning. I didn’t feel that there was any way to get from the ice rink to my next class in a reasonable amount of time. Nine-thirty in the morning may have factored into the decision as well. I hope you will all forgive me for only taking twelve hours this semester. I just don’t know if I can be inspired to attend more than two classes a day for four days a week. That seems much more feasible.
In Champaign Again
1/14/2008 – 2:27 pm
I don’t start class until 2pm on Mondays. This is a unique situation for me, because I have never before had so much time from when I wake up to the start of class. I must say it has been quite boring so far. Sure, waking up at 10:30 was nice, but by noon I had run out of things to do. Hopefully, as the semester wears on, I will find more interesting ways to plug this gap in my schedule. Maybe it will include updating this blog on a more regular basis.
Growing Up
11/28/2007 – 1:04 am
I’m currently listening to: The Hold Steady - Live (NPR Podcast)
Its a weird feeling to realize that you are basically all grown up. In the next year I will (or already have): secured myself a full time job, managed numerous projects with deadlines, traveled to a foreign country by myself, moved to three locations that are not my parent’s home. I don’t really know why I’m writing this, I just feel older this evening. Maybe its because I’ve reached the point in my life where I am able to sacrifice my short term desires in order to accomplish my goals. Does that mean I have to work pretty much non-stop during the waking hours in order to be ready for my finals? Yes. Does that mean I can (and did) take a nap for two and a half hours this afternoon because nobody could stop me? Yes.
Its a strange feeling when you realize that you ultimately make the decisions about your life. Sure, my parents could suggest that I don’t do something, but if I really want to, I can go ahead and do it anyway. It was pretty cool discussing my job options this Thanksgiving break as an equal. In fact, my parents really didn’t even give an opinion, mainly because it is my decision to make. Who knows what I’ll end up doing. Any bets?
A (not so?) Brief Update
11/4/2007 – 11:00 pm
I’m currently listening to: Explosions in the Sky - First Breath After Coma
I am a busy individual this semester. In between my frequent trips for job interviews, I feel as if I am constantly engulfed in meetings for various projects. As a result, I have done a rather terrible job of blogging lately. I hope you’ll forgive me.
A lot has happened since I last posted. In case you don’t ever talk to me, I must inform you that the Boston Red Sox did in fact conquer all of baseball and bring home the World Series for the second time in four years. It was a wild conclusion to the Cleveland series, and another lackluster World Series in which the NL counterpart did not come out ready to play. I think the eight day layover really hurt Colorado. Still, it was a great for them to even be in the playoffs, let alone the World Series. Nevertheless, one should never have to turn off a playoff game because they feel embarrassed to watch the other team perform.
In other news, I spend nearly all of my limited spare time these days practicing my guitar skills. I promise you that my ability is still mediocre, but you might notice a slight change for the better… at least I do. Lately I have been working on “Wonderwall” by Oasis, “Slide” by the Goo Goo Dolls, “Wonderwall” covered by Ryan Adams, “Come Pick Me Up” by Ryan Adams, “The Quiet Things that No One Ever Knows” by Brand New, and “She Sends Kisses” by The Wrens. Also, I would like to say that I rediscovered (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis, and I really think it is one of my top three or four albums of the nineties.
This weekend I finally made it out to the Champaign Family Video for the first time this semester, so I am going to go watch a few episodes of Friday Night Lights before I get back to studying for my finance exam tomorrow. I’ll let you know whether I enjoy the show or not, I’m kind of excited after the things I’ve heard about it. At least maybe it will keep me occupied while all of my favorite shows start switching to reruns after the WGA strike.
Dartboard
9/25/2007 – 3:54 pm
I’m currently listening to: Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Just thought I’d report to you all that my apartment is now the proud owner of a dartboard. For those of you outside of the Champaign-Urbana area, you can brood with envy, as those in CU enjoy our new way to pass time. Perhaps now we can finally settle the score in the great debate involving a prematurely ended dart game featuring myself and Justin versus Andy and Steph.