The sixth installment of Febrehab has come and gone. And while this was one of the easiest transitions yet, it was probably one of the most successful. The side challenge this year was to visit at least one uniquely Dallas/cultural establishment each weekend. And we chose the Dallas Museum of Art, The Dallas Aquarium, The Nasher Sculpture Museum, and The Sixth Floor Museum.

DMA was good. I think I addressed that in an earlier blog. The aquarium was fun because my sister was in town and she came down on the train with my parents and we all met up. It was neat, but I think I'm really glad I had little kids with me, otherwise I would have blown through that joint in 20 minutes. But they made it more interesting. It's a little confusing the ratio of underwater to terrestrial exhibits they have. So many birds and monkeys and snakes and bunny rabbits? What the hell kind of aquarium has bunny rabbits? But whatever.

The Nasher Museum was pretty cool. Lots of neato statues. But for 10 bucks, it really only took us about 30 minutes to go through that so I'm not sure if it alone was worth it. If you're gonna go I would suggest having lunch out on the patio and maybe a glass of wine and lingering for a while to make your dollar go a little further. Now for us, the thing that made it worth the money was running into Miranda Hobbes while we were there. She was just walking around with her mannish lesbian lover and a couple of friends looking at the artwork. Nobody was bothering her, so far be it from us to be the only two stargazers. After our initial giggling and hitting each other, we basically left her alone. But then lo and behold about 10 minutes later we were in this huge empty installation minding our own business and she walked in all by herself. So it was me, Daniel, and Miranda standing there looking at these sculptures on the wall. So finally I turned to her and said, "YOU are Cynthia Nixon." And she smiled and said, "I am." And I said, "We're really big fans." And she said, "Thanks." And then I nonchalantly turned back to Daniel and pretended to continue a conversation we'd been having about the sculptures. It was too fun.

I can't believe I've never been to the Sixth Floor Museum -- which is the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository that Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy from. As much as I love History Channel shows about it, I've just never gotten off my fat butt to walk over there. It was pretty cool. I have to say, they always describe it as such an impossible shot from an impossible distance, but when I was sitting up there, looking out the window at the road directly below, it did not seem far to me at all. So that pretty much sealed the deal for me and I'm now convinced it was Oswald.

And that was February. Totally fun. This weekend we went to the Convention Center for the Dallas Auto Show and to try out for Wheel of Fortune. It's a life long goal of mine to be on the show, but it turns out, I'm not the only one with that dream. There were thousands of people trying out. It felt a lot like American Idol. There was a raffle system to see who even got to go up on stage to play a fake game. And they called about 40 people during the hour long slot that we got into, and I wasn't one of them. So boo. But I tried and it was totally fun sitting there thinking your name might be called next. So I counted that as a victory. Then I got to see a Chevy Volt and sit in a Smart car, and see Allison who was working the Mini booth. So also a pretty good day. I wouldn't be disappointed if this do-something-every-weekend continued all year round. Huzzah.

Any suggestions for next weekend?

I made some of my jean extending clip on cuffs. I just haven't implemented the clip on functionality which is why I haven't photographed them yet. The Allistralian was just at my apartment the other night and she was really stoked about the invention because she has a hard time finding jeans that are the right length. This product could totally be marketed to the big and tall -- not just wieners with high waters. Why didn't I think of this?

Last night I was going to order Patch Perfect -- the shakeable grass seed -- from an infomercial. But I decided to do a little research on the internet first. Everyone gave it 0 out of 10, but they said it was because it didn't cover nearly as much area as it claimed, or they said this is just grass seed, why is it so expensive? So I compromised and went to Wal-Marts and got a bag of grass seed. I've had these planters outside of my bedroom window for years now and to date have been unsuccessful in keeping anything alive for more than a day. I was under the impression that plants could survive hours, maybe even days, without constant care. Not so. I have killed everything from plants to herbs and always in under a week. So now I'm growing grass. Heat resistant, drought resistant grass. If I can keep it alive, get it to grow in pretty thick, and then cut it to a uniform length, I think that could be real attractive. If I can keep it alive.

And now, another million dollar idea from yours truly. Strange how I have all of these million dollar ideas, but not a million dollar bank account. Anyway, you know how celebrity gossip and tabloids are so popular? And also you know how reality TV is so popular? Okay, now put those two ideas together:

REALITY TABLOIDS!!!

I'm going to write nasty articles about how fat women in my neighborhood are getting. And I'm gonna snap pictures of two bitches out at bars wearing the same outfit and have people vote on who wore it better. I'll do everything the paparazzi does to celebrities, but I'll do it to regular people. It'll be so awesome. Breaking neighborhood scandals. Having people see themselves leaving a local bar and falling down. This could really catch on. I'm working on the first issue now. It'll be a twofer purchase with the first issue of the Conduit. Suckers.

Today I accepted a job offer. After about 2 years of frustration in my current position, I will be transitioning over to tech support for my company. It's a big move and one I think will result in crazy amounts of job satisfaction. The only downside is that I won't be sitting next to all of my friends, but I'll still be in the same building and we can still go to lunch together, so hopefully that won't be a very big deal. It's been a long time coming and I can't wait to get started. But I don't make the move until May 15.

I don't normally talk about work, but I thought that was at least worthy of a mention. In other news, damn I haven't updated in a while. I'm falling back into that mindset of maybe I should let SideshoViD.com join the annals of history. It doesn't do me any harm to keep it going other than 19 dollars a month, but I just hate stagnant blogs and mine never has been one before. We'll see.

We've had a little bit of fun since the jury duty episode. For one thing, the Allistralian and her then fiance Dom stopped through town. I had them help me hatch an elaborate birthday scheme for Daniel's 25th. A few days prior I had gone and purchased the new Dyson DC25 vacuum as a present, but rather than just giving it to Daniel, I concocted a script with Dom. He came over on a Saturday because Allison was busy at a wedding shower or something. And he brought with him a birthday potted plant. I think it went over so well just because he's British and when he says, "Everyone needs a pot plant," Daniel just took it as normal. Then he said, "But don't water it because it's already been watered." I had asked him to throw that in there because the plan was to knock the dirt on the ground and I really didn't want it to be mud.

So we were spending the day in and out of the apartment by the pool. And when we got back before Daniel, Dom spooned some of the dirt onto the carpet and then exclaimed, "Oh shit Daniel sorry," right as he was coming back in. And just as planned, he ran to get the vacuum. Only our vacuum was gone and replaced with the Dyson. It was pretty classic. He seems to really like his birthday present. Derrr. Wouldn't you? On a sadder note, Allison and Dom have decided to go their separate ways starting right meow. You can read about that on their travel blog whileyouwereworking.com.

Not much else to report at this time. If I think of something, I'm going to try to update a little more going forward. Later, skillets.

My brother sent out this picture to my whole family. He said that he and his wife weren't really dressing up as anybody in particular, they just both chose wigs they liked so they could wear them to a party. But when he sent out this picture, he said he was going as me for Halloween. Flattered and a little impressed. It's always nice to know what you're going to look like 5 years from now. I have to say tho, Krista doesn't look a thing like Daniel. I don't think I'm going to dress up this year, so I'll also be going as me. I'm not even sure that I'll be doing anything this year. I already missed the block party downtown.

But I celebrated in my own little way. I bought a pumpkin and roasted the seeds with a sprinkle of clove, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Delicious. Then I also bought two eating pumpkins (they're small and green) and I cut them up and roasted them. So delicious. While I was in Australia, we had pumpkin a few times and I grew to love it as more than a canned pie filling. So that was awesome even though I sliced a couple fingers open. Those fucking pumpkins were like rocks. I finally had to just cleaver them open.

But more important than Halloween, New Year's Eve is coming up and I want to do something fun outside of Dallas. I was really thinking like a cabin on the lake with a few friends and a keg. But I really couldn't find anywhere within driving distance that I would want to go. Does anybody have any ideas of something fun they've done in the area? Lemme know. Kthanks.

There's a new commercial that's flooded all of my favorite channels for the Teeter Hang Ups Inversion System. It's basically this pivoting table that you strap your ankles in and then lean back and hang upside down. I used to use one in my yoga class in college and always loved the way it made my back feel. So I went to the Teeter website. $400. Give me a fucking break. I was relaying this story to a coworker as we walked around Wal-Mart on a lunch break and decided to go look and see if they had an inversion tables. And they did! Gold's Gym brand for about a 4th of the cost. So I bought it.

It took like 4 hours to put together. And it comes with a chain so that you can limit the angle that you can fall back to. The manual suggested limiting it to around 15° to start out with until your body gradually gets used to being inverted. But I was like fuck that I wanna go all the way. So no chain. I got on, threw my arms back, passed the pivot point of balance and flipped in one swift motion 180° until i hit the cross support bar and then hung there unable to get up. I was terrified, laughing hysterically, and fighting the rush of blood to my head all at once. I screamed to Daniel and he came and rescued me. Only to decide he wanted to try it himself and suffered the same fate.

But now I'm gradually lengthening the chain and I really like what it does. It just feels so good. I wish the ankle supports were more comfortable though because that's what really limits the amount of time I can spend in it. My feet go numb and my ankles hurt. I may come up with my own solution. More expensive models have boots you wear and I can probably make some.

Oh, in other news, the Allistralian and her fiancee Dom are keeping a travel blog of their 13 month trip around the world. And they asked me to set up their blog for them since mine is so kick ass. And I didn't want to tell you all about it until it was done ... and I'm not sure it is ... but it's close enough. So go check out whileyouwereworking.com.

Today we're going on The Walk with Hanson and then to the concert tonight. We might get to meet em. Mmmbop!

I am home again. After another full day of travel I finally landed back in Dallas a whole 3 hours earlier than I was supposed to. As was the theme of the traveling this time, my original flight home was canceled by the time I was ready to get on it. I got to see Daniel and I gave him his new pants (underwear) and lounge pants (pajama pants) from Peter Alexander, a poncy (fancy) little underwear shop in downtown Sydney. He looks awful smart in them. And my brother was in town for his last day of a business conference, so he took me to Kenny's! What a welcome home!

During my last week in Sydney, Al and I had some fun adventures. First we both went to get our hair did. I love the chick that cut my hair. She went to town on it. Allison called it classic Aussie metro. Then she got her hair dyed back to her natural color and got a real sassy short do. She's traveling for the next 13 months through lots of countries that don't appreciate blondes to any degree, so this haircut should last her through it. After we got all dolled up, we went to Al's leaving do (party) at the Fire House Hotel (pub (bar)) in North Sydney. She has lots of wonderful friends. But it was weird how they want back and forth and around the table and every single one of them was like "Well, it's just like when I lived in the UK for 6 months prior to my year of traveling around southeast Asia." And another would chime in, "Oh yeah, when I lived in the Carribean, I spent a year touring before I got my residency in Australia." And I'm just like who are you transient people? All of them have been all over the world, lived all over the world, and I'm just like Addison! rules!

But it was a really fun party. Two of the girls were especially fun and they called Daniel early in the morning while he was at work and tried to convince him they were Kylie and Danni Minogue. Even tho the accents were pretty authentic, he didn't fall for it. Shucks.

My last day there we took a guided tour of the Hunter Valley (the Aussie Napa Valley). We went to like 5 or 6 different cellar doors and drank some very good wine. I ended up buying 4 bottles, I think, but we drank some before I left. I brought home 3 bottles and some aged goat cheese from some Hunter Valley goats. So ridiculously good. And the Shiraz is just ... huge. I can't even explain it. That was major fun. So we did that, picked up Noodle Star take away (to go) and ate it with the shiraz. And then the next day I left.

So here I am. I do not work until next Tuesday, nor do I intend to check my work email or answer my work phone until then. So if anybody wants to hang out and tan or something, let me know. It's summer again for me and I intend to take advantage this week. Laaaaaaaaate.

They say you don't know a city until you walk it. "They" being the one and only travel book I've ever read that was left here for me by Erin and Jezza. So when Allison needed a day to herself to get some stuff accomplished, I decided to set out on foot. Armed with only a basic layout map of the city, I set out heading south. Allison lives in North Sydney and I wanted to go to South Sydney, the separation being the harbour. So I got to walk over the Harbour Bridge. That was one of my goals before leaving. It only took me about 45 minutes to get to Circular Quay where the Operahouse and all the touristy stuff is. My original plan was then to figure out the bus system and see the rest of the city. But I am just not cut out for buses. The first one I wanted flew by because I didn't know you had to flag them down. And the only other one I tried the guy yelled at me because he wasn't going where I wanted to go. So I was like fuck that and hopped in a cab.

He took me down to Oxford Street in Paddington. It's where all the fancy boutique shopping is. I walked up and down the street, stopped to have some lunch, but never really shopped. Everything was really expensive but not necessarily Aussie by nature. And if I ever feel like purchasing some expensive clothes, I can just do that in Dallas when I don't have to carry it through customs. So then at the complete opposite end of Oxford Street are all the gay bars, so I decided to just hoof it over there and check it out. And then Hyde Park was just on the other side, so I walked through there. And then Circular Quay was just up the street from there. And then just over the bridge. So I ended up walking an obscene distance, nearly 5 hours of walking minus the cab ride. But it's true what they say, I totally feel like I know the city now.

That night Allison and I revisited Oxford Street and got shitcanned. But on the way I told her, "Yeah I found a couple nice places we could go to. But it seems like all the places I thought looked good were actually hotel bars." And she laughed. Apparently in Australia a "hotel" is a bar. Some law forever ago said that if you served alcohol you also had to have places to sleep, so they became one in the same long ago and now it doesn't mean hotel anymore, it's just synonymous with bar. Before we went out, we stopped for some dinner and I said, "This place is awesome. It's so nice but the entrees are so cheap." And she laughed again. Apparently in Australia an "entree" is an appetizer and a "main" is an entree. That's what's so fun about being here. It's all in English so I'm not totally lost, but it's just wrong enough to keep me guessing.

After walking around Sydney for an entire day, visiting several museums, landmarks, botanical gardens, hotels and restaurants, I really felt like I knew a lot about the city. And it made me realize how pitifully little I know about my own town. I couldn't begin to name one restaurant in the West End. I've just always assumed I didn't want to. But it's stupid that I know more about every city I've visited in the world than I do about Dallas. So I made a decision. When I get back, I'm going to take a tour of Dallas. I'm going to buy a travel book, get a hotel downtown, walk all over the place, see the grassy knoll. All that shit. I'm not even sure I know what the travel books will say to do! It won't be easy convincing locals to join me in my wide eyed camera toting tour of downtown Dallas, but we're going to do it by g*d. Who's with me?!

The first time that I experienced jet lag was in Sweden 3 years ago. No matter what I did, every night I would lay awake through the night staring at the ceiling wide awake. I wouldn't start to get tired until about 6am, which was right around when I had to get up and go to work. It was awful. No matter how tired I was or how much I attempted to exhaust myself -- either through exercise or booze, I couldn't sleep at night. It took a full week for me to adjust.

I'm experiencing it again. Only this time, the opposite. Every night here around 8pm, I get excessively tired. A few nights I've managed to stay up until 10 or 11, but not past that. A couple nights I've fallen asleep at like 8. I tried taking one of my sleeping pills to encourage me to sleep in a little bit thinking that would help. That night I slept 13 hours and stayed in bed until 10, but it didn't help. It's just so completely independent of how much sleep I'm getting. I'm just prone to this anomaly known as jet lag. I'm hoping it will clear up soon. I'm going to try a power nap today. Because we have going away parties to attend this weekend and it won't be very good if I'm sleeping in the corner.

But I've still had plenty of time during the day to do some really fun stuff. Yesterday we went to the zoo and saw kangaroos, wallabies, koalas and dingos. But maybe my favorite part wasn't the animals, but the expansive view of Sydney Harbor from across the water. It really is a beautiful city. After the zoo we took a ferry over to the opera house. It was pretty crazy to be standing on the steps touching this super iconic landmark. The whole white part of it is actually like regular sized white tiles. I had no idea. So Allison and I sat at the opera house bar, had a cocktail, and watched the sunset. It was so wonderful.

The best part about coming and staying with Allison is that I'm getting a good balance between touristy activities and the locals. One night we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of ingredients to cook a traditional Paesta. It's actually something we made up on our car trip home from Jervis Bay, but we decided to make it a reality. I remember when my grandmother used to make us a paesta on the holidays. The best thing about a paesta, though, is how it brings together family and friends. It ended up being a terrifying blend of vegetables, pasta, bacon, chicken, heaps of ancho chili sauce, and a few spoonfuls of an Aussie blend of Ranch dressing. It's a good thing that everything goes with ranch. Despite the improvisational nature of the dish, it actually turned out pretty good. So good that Dom had 4 servings -- and nobody is THAT polite, so I think he really enjoyed it.

I think today we're going to take it easy. We are going to get some acupuncture done because neither one of us have ever done it and Daniel always tells me how amazing it is. Aw, the only thing that could make this trip better is if Daniel was here with me. I miss him. Anyway, we're resting up today because tomorrow we're going on a vineyard tour of the Hunter Valley. So it's going to be a helluva day and we want 24 hours of sobriety prior to that. Should be interesting.

Well I made it to Australia. Let me tell you something. If you are planning on coming here, make damn sure that it is something you really want to do because it is not an easy trip. After my flight out of LAX was delayed 5 hours in the middle of the night, my total travel time was 27 hours. And then as soon as I landed Allison and Dom (Allison's fiance) and Erin and Jeremy (friends from America who are leaving on Monday) were all waiting for me. We were supposed to go to Jervis Bay at 7:30am when I landed, but instead I got in around 12:30. So immediately after getting through customs we hopped in the car and drove 3 hours south. Brutal.

As we were piling into the car Allison was like "You can sit up front." And I kind of paused, assessed the situation, and then said, "I really don't think you want me to drive." I'm an idiot. First time I've ever been in a country where they drive backwards cars. It was really weird. I couldn't quite get used to it. Every time we went around a bend in the road and I saw traffic coming toward us in what my brain was perceiving to be our lane, I would tense up for a split second thinking a head on collision was imminent. I was already a little shaky from no sleep.

But we finally got here. I knew it wouldn't be hot since we're in the souther hemisphere and we went so far south, but it's even colder than I thought it was. And there's not really a beach here. We're going to drive out today and find some beaches. But we got this really cute little 3 bedroom place right near the water. I fought and fought to stay away last night. We stopped at a grocery store and bought all kinds of meat and then bbq'ed it last night. I got a picture of myself throwing some shrimp on the barbie! Then we ate, explored, drank some beers. Finally around 10, I think my eyes closed for the last night and Allison took me to bed. So I woke up around 6am. I got up and turned on the radiators to warm up the place. And then I made a cup of tea and went out on the patio to just kind of look out over the water. And right then four bigass kangaroos hopped right in front of me. We saw some kangaroos over where we got the keys to this place. Like 15 of em. And then we saw two in the neighborhood eating out of a bowl someone had put out on their front lawn. And then this morning I saw those four. So I've already seen like 20 kangaroos. We were joking that it was working out so well that next we'd see a koala riding on the back of a platypus.

It was really fun out here. I loved doing something mundane like going to an Aussie grocery store. I read the ingredients for Vegemite -- yeast. Gross. I'm going to eat some when we get back to Sydney. I can't wait to see the big city but it sure was fun to be out here. I'll be back with more exciting stories soon. Peace.

After 3+ years of all talk, I am finally going to do it. I just booked my non-refundable 22 hour trip to the land of Oz. On August 14th, I will lift off from Dallas ... and on August 16th touch down in Sydney, Australia. I wonder what TV is like on the other side of the planet. I can't WAIT to find out. Do you think they have DVR? Do you think they call it DVR? Do you think it records backwards?! This is going to be so fun. Oh and I might hit up a wine tasting or a zoo or an opera house while I'm in the neighborhood. But best of all, I get to see my lovely friend, the Allistralian on her home turf. I will be gone for two weeks returning on August 27th. Best part of the flight home is I touch down almost before I take off. I will bring news from the future.

After booking my ticket, I was kind of on a roll. Like you do. So I went and ordered my KitchenAid copper stand mixer for my birthday. Really it's a birthday present from Daniel, but we used my credit card to get it. It's going to take a week to get here, but I really excited about it. I'm going to whip cream to stiff peaks.

Man, I'm more excited right now than Evan on American Gladiators. Rocket is the best Gladiator. And he's my friend on Facebook. I love TV.

We just went to listen to Salsa in the park here in our neighborhood. Turns out I really don't like salsa music. I had fun last week but the band was much better. Oh and I was waaha-hay-hay-hay-sted. So it was sounding good. Tonight I exited early. I basically woke up in time to go listen and it's hot and the band was terrible and I wanted I wanted to sit on the TV and watch beers. So I came home.

Oh, last bit of news. KaboomTown is next week. Everyone's invited. This year we will serve various skewered meats and vegetables. As well as skewered pound cake and strawberries to dip in chocolate. I call it ... Shish-Ka-Boom. You should come. And then the 6th is my birthday again. But this year it falls on a Sunday, so on Saturday July 5th, I am having a little gathering at a bar here in Addison! if you would like to join me. That would be awesome. Czech you all on the flip side.

I just got back from a week in San Antonio. I was there to take a training class for work. It was from 8-5 every day in the hotel I was staying at next to the airport. Needless to say I was bored out of my gourd. I took this picture as I was checking out of my hotel room because I thought it rather succinctly summed up my entire trip. People in my training course were kind of laughing at me because I was eating each night at places like Papadeaux's and Applebee's. They thought I should get out and experience the local fare. But I was just like, c'mon, I'm from Dallas. It's not like San Antonio is a foreign country. If I managed to find something uniquely San Antonio it would just be a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place with meat, cheese, and tortillas combined in a variety of ways. So I opted to eat at places I liked, albethem chain restaurants, because it was free. And that made it special.

So I made it through the week with little incident. Last night Daniel and I went with JennyCole to see the new Sex and the City movie. It was fantastic. If you haven't seen it yet, you definitely should. We went to the Studio Movie Grill to watch it so we could get loaded at the same time. But ultimately, the same thing happened to me that always happens there. I end up having to pee so bad by the time the movie's over that I have a hard time sitting still. But I made it through. There was one thing about the movie that pissed me off. And it's not a spoiler, but if you don't want to know anything about the movie don't read this next part. So Charlotte adopted that little Chinese girl, right? And what did she name her? Lily. How many times have I said that I'm adopting a little Asian girl and naming her Lily because I want violin music while I eat? But I also always said that if I had another little girl, I would name her Rose. Not so much because of the obvious floral reference, but because I like the really old-timey names. Okay, so Charlottle has a baby and they name it Rose. So now if I ever by some fluke of nature have two daughters, and name them Lily and Rose, people will be like, oh yeah from Sex and the City. And that will piss me off. So I'm having my tubes tied.

In other news, the Allistralian came back to the states for a visit. She is leaving Australia soon and convinced me that it's now or never if I want to go visit her. So Daniel and I are going to Australia. For REAL this time. No joke. It'll probably be somewhere in the August range. It's gonna be a pretty baller ass vacation, but that's okay because those are the kinds of vacations we need to be taking. I'll keep you all posted on details of that. If anyone would like to go with, the more people we have the easier that 12 hour flight will be. Lemme know. Peace out.

Last Thursday Aaron Carter -- son of the famed N'Sync member, Nell Carter -- was arrested in Junction, Texas for possession of marijuana. When reached for comment, Carter said only, "Oh, dag! I'm in trouble!"

I find two things about this story interesting. First, it's a good way to dispel the rumors going around that Texas had decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. When in fact, if you had, say not enough weed to roll one joint AND a medical marijuana card in your possession. You're looking at jail time. Now, let me just make it clear that I do not do marijuana cigarettes, nor do I have any desire to, but I think that these laws are so ridiculous. Texas just needs to wake up and realize that smoking weed is no longer a purely Mexican habit like it was in the 1800's so the racism behind the law has kind of fizzled out, and therefore is no longer any fun.

The second thing I found interesting that nobody cared to mention or explain is... what the hell was Aaron Carter doing speeding around Junction in his Cadallac Escalade? If you were to locate "Nowhere" on the map, Junction would be smack dab in the middle of it. And he was alone, so it's not like some tour bus convoy got stopped. So bizarre. He was probably buying weed.

In closing, I'd like to thank Allison and Keiff for emailing me this news story before anyone else had seen it. What does that say about me that they knew it would be big news to me? I guess the same thing it says about them. I'm going to make my stance clear though. FREE AARON CARTER! Why? Why shouldn't he be subject to the same laws that govern our society? 5 Words: Aaron's. Party. (Come. Get. It.)

You're welcome.

I'm really diggin' this ClustrMaps thing I have going on. I want to thank Joseph for emailing me about it. Looks like the Sidesho is a lot more popular on the east coast than the west. Should I mold my brand of humor to benefit my already strong demographic? You know, make jokes about the Atlantic ocean n stuff. Or maybe I should be focusing on trying to bring up the readership in states I don't already have an uncompromising strong-hold on. Perhaps I'll start with Utah. Haha, fucking Mormons. They're all insane, did you know that? It's like the perfect blend of xristianity and Scientology. They think jebus will fly them a spaceship and drop their asses off on their own planet where they'll be free to engage in secret handshakes and secret tacky underwear without being under the watchful eye of rational people. joey smith bless 'em, they're all fucking mad!

Well that was tangential. My hungover posts tend to be a bit more random than the sober ones. My brother's wife's brother was supposed to come get my old couch, oh, 6 weeks ago. I was going to donate it but as a personal favor to him, I held onto it. It's totally cluttering my apartment. He couldn't find a truck so I gave him 3 weeks to do so, after which my brother's wife had to go to the hospital for a bit and her brother went to Houston to help out. So then I felt bad and had to give him an extension on picking it up. But that was like 3 weeks ago, so I've had this shit for a WHILE. On Thursday, the Salvation Army is coming by to get it. I can't wait to get my entryway back.

Went out on the yacht again on Thursday. I left work early and met the troops. They pulled into port to pick me up and were just gonna swing by the dock, I'd make a running leap onto the boat and we'd speed out of there. No need to park or any of that nonsense. So they pulled up, I jumped on and we sped off ... right into a sandbar. Luckily the lake was deserted, because we were fucking stuck. It was pretty funny but we couldn't laugh because Alexander was getting pissed. After about 20 minutes of revving the engines in reverse and kicking up a ton of dirt in the water, we finally got out on the lake. They had blown up a little 3-seater raft and were dragging it behind the boat. I rode it for a while. It was hella fun but I'm not much of a thrill seeker so I got back on the boat and let Kelly take my place. Next time we do that, I'm gonna go ahead and suggest we all have life vests on. As much as I'd hate a life vest tan, Jordan almost died. We hit this huge wave, Daniel threw up, and Jordan went limp, airborn, and under. It was scary and funny. He said he didn't remember falling out and woke up in the lake. Luckily he was okay. Not too much else happened -- oh, except that I can officially say I've been skinny dipping in Lake Lewisville. No details!

So I haven't worked out in like a month. Don't know why, I'm just lazy and can't get back into it. I was really concerned when I went the other day (isolated incident) that I would have gained back all that weight I worked so hard to lose. But I weighed myself ... and I lost three more pounds!!!1! Do you believe that shit? This "eating right" malarky must really work. g*d, I eat so much more than I used to. I usually have at least 6 meals a day and they're all packed with nutritional goodness. That makes a grand total of 21 pounds lost from the time I started eating right. I don't think you could have looked at me a few months ago and said "hey fatty mcfatfatfat fuckfat, lose some weight." Like I don't think I looked that fat, but fuck me, I look good now. I don't even think I weighed this little when I graduated college. Rawk.

Let's see, let's see, what else can I brag about. Oh! I think I might be an amazing cook. The other day I was in the grocery store and randomly decided to cook dinner for Daniel. I think all he ever eats is fast food junk food, and he's been having problems with his stomach so I thought a home cooked meal would be good for him. I roasted a g*ddamned chicken! Do you believe that shit? I like stuffed it with onions and celery and put a dry rub on it of salt, pepper, all spice, and cinnamon. And I baked it for 2 hours, and basted it every 20 minutes. It was so insane. I'm a masterbaster. It came out like perfect. Its the best chicken I've ever had. And on top of that, the whole bird was 6 dollars, and I got two very large dinner portions and a whole heaping plate of leftovers. I'm going to roast a bird once a week from now on. If we'd stop going out for oysters and wood fired lobster maybe I'd actually get a chance to eat some of my chicken delight.

I think that should be enough for now. I'm heading to my parents' house to watch World Cup Soccer with my brother Michael. He is in from California. His daughter Kelsey is THE cutest thing on Earth (perfectly tied with Kaylyn and Ann Marie). Then I get to have dinner with Miss Allison "Google" Hoffmann. What a great day. Oh and my sister called. She is having a boy! Two nephews coming soon! Later skillets.

I just got my new Chuck Norris shirt in the mail. If you go to ChuckNorrisFacts.com you can order one too. Also, if you haven't been to ChuckNorrisFacts.com then you are an idiot and you need to go read all the facts immediately; they are riotous. The best part of ordering your shirt is you get to design it yourself. You can choose from like 30 slogans and icons and size, arrange, color and combine them however you please. I <3 Technology.

I went to the Richardson Wildflower Festival on Saturday. Don't get me wrong; I like wildflowers as much as the next guy, but the reason I went was to see my beloved, Lisa Loeb. She was fantastic. There are few things in life that make me smile more than hearing "Stay" performed live by Lisa. When she got done, Daniel, Jenny, Steven and I moved into the shade by the gate to smoke a cigarette and look for Lisa's sister, Debby, so we could yell at her that she rocks. She was on the reality show #1 Single with Lisa and she ... well ... rocks. It turned out to be a good vantage point because Lisa walked right by us as she was paraded to the autograph signing table. I yelled, "I love you Lisa!" and Daniel yelled, "Great show!" and she totally looked at us, smiled, said hi, and thanked us. Eat that, you idiots that waited in line!

Today, I got up early to go to my Pillar Procedure check up. I ran down to my car with about 20 minutes left to make my appointment in time. When I got to the garage, I saw that my left, rear tire was fucking flat. I have never had a flat tire in my life. I called my dad to ask what I should do. He suggested changing it. DERRRRR. And that DERRRRR is for me, not him, since I honestly hadn't thought of that. My dad taught me how to change a tire once when I was 15. I thought it was an absolute bore, but thank g*d he did that. I managed to change it myself, with many dramatic text messages to Daniel claiming I couldn't. I was pretty proud of myself. I made it to my appointment about an hour late, but it wasn't a problem. Everything is healing nicely. No uvula snipping until everything is completely healed. Doctor's orders. Damn. Best part of the day? Both my checkup and fixing my "screw"ed up tire were FREE! FREE I TELLS YA! Thanks National Tire and Battery.

UPDATE!!!!1! Holy shit, I can't believe I forgot to include, like, the whole reason I started blogging today. This one requires a little bit of a back story that some of you have probably already heard but I'll tell it again because it's the greatest story ever told. One night while I was studying in the MSC with Allison our freshman year, I got up to use the bathroom. Having forgotten that they locked the downstairs bathroom at 9pm every night, I was quite embarassed when I walked full speed into a locked door. Furtively glancing around to make sure no one saw, I ran upstairs to pee. On my way back down, it hit me like a ton of bricks. As I told Allison the story, I looked at her and said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" and we quickly gathered our things and ran giggling to a hiding place near the bathroom. We made a crappy hand-made sign on the back of a flier that read, "DOOR NOT WORKING PROPERLY. PUSH HARD!!!" Only "HARD" was underlined like 8 times. Then we used some tape from another flier to affix it to the locked bathroom door. We hid behind the stairs leading into the cafeteria and waited. Guy after guy after guy after guy walked up, read the sign, and then proceeded to fight with the door for a few minutes. One Chinese dude took a flying leap at the door and hurt himself. Two frat boys sat there each taking turns screaming at each other, "DUDE! It says push HARD!" All the while, we sat not 10 feet away with tears streaming down our faces, fingers firmly pinching our noses closed and our other hand suffocating the hysterical laughter. It still goes down as one of the best nights of my life. So you can imagine how hard I laughed when I went to use the restroom at NTB and found this sign on the door. I didn't want to photoshop it so you'd know that it was a real picture, but it reads:

You can only imagine how many times I looked around to make sure two teenagers weren't perched within viewing distance laughing at me. Fucking punks.

Kelly went away for a while. When she returned, she brought with her a man named Alexander. Alexander has more money than you or I will ever see in 10 lifetimes. Aside from that little tid-bit, he's a really cool, laid back, generous guy. Him and Kelly get along really well. That said, I've had a few firsts as of late.

First, I broke the Sidesho-Land Speed Record. I'm not sure what it was before, probably about 100mph that one time Allison and I made it from College Station to Dallas in just over 2 hours. The new record is 150mph. Did I mention Alexander used to be a race car driver? He has some really awesome car, but I obviously don't remember what kind it is. The other night Daniel, Matt Cweech, his friend Sean, and I met up with Kelly and Alexander here in the circle. Afterwards, he took us for a spin down the Tollway. Treating lanes as if they were a mere suggestion, we weaved our way in and around traffic until we hit a top speed of just around 150mph. I was pretty scared, but it was such a rush.

Shortly thereafter, we were invited out to the boat. Yup, I broke the Sidesho-Water Speed Record. Can you believe that I've never been to Lake Lewisville? Or I hadn't, rather. Well, I have now and I must say the next time you get out that way, you simply must do it on a certified yacht. This thing had a little picnic table in the back, and a couch, and a bedroom, and a kitchen, and a bathroom, and it hauled ass too. It was so nice. He let me drive it a little bit even though I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. And when we were sitting out front on top of the boat, he would veer wildly trying to knock us off. I spent the whole day out there sipping on beers, chatting it up with Daniel, Hunter, Lauren, Matt Cweech, and of course, Kelly and Alexander. It was just a gorgeous day and way too much fun. I'm hoping we do that like every weekend.

I had to get those stories out there because I'm gonna have a different story to tell when I get home in a few hours. Daniel is about to take me down to see the doctor that does the Pillar Procedure. I'm getting that done as well as a turbinate cobilation (?). They're gonna stick foam pillars in my throat and shove a laser up my nose, essentially. Here's a link to that article Ryan Short wrote about me for the Dallas Voice. I don't think I ever shared it with you all. So wish me luck. It probably won't help me sleep, but it couldn't hurt. Ciao bellas.

Have you seen this Colgate commercial? They're implying that if your gums bleed a little bit when you brush that it could be a sign of gingivitis and that brushing with Colgate will fix that. But what gets me every time is the chick who says "When I saw a little pink in the sink...." You cannot tell me I'm the only one who hears "two in the pink, one in the stink" and looks up expecting to see the shocker.

I have a new goal. Well, actually, it's an old goal, but I'm going to go for it now. I want to own everything as seen on TV. I'm talking everything. I'm going to begin with the Faraday Flashlight. It's a flashlight that charges itself based on the electromagnetic principles discovered by English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday. I'm really impressed they named it after him too. I also like that you have to shake it in a masturbatorial motion in order to get it to work.

How was Vegas? Oh, I'm glad you asked. I won about 700 bucks. Yay! Unfortunately, I lost about 850. It was pretty fun though. I hit a couple of big pots on the slots. I was just in such a mood for slots. You know how it is, when you get all slotty, put on your slottiest outfit. I got to see the Allistralian! She is back in the contiguous United States. We were in Vegas together for her last night and my first night. Good times. I need to call her now that she's in Dallas. The rest of my trip was resignation fodder, but the odds of that blossoming beyond an idle threat are small. I used to have ambition. Sigh.

I don't have to work tomorrow. Rawk! Oh, I almost forgot it was still Febrehabruarii and I have to comment on it. I didn't crack whilst in Sin City. It was a huuuuuge challenge, but no problemo for yours truly. I've been having a lot of sober fun with my fellow rehabruaers, Daniel and Brett Sabulous. Oh, and in closing, let me just save you all 8 bucks -- do NOT go see Date Movie. Laaaaaaaaaate.

In a twist of irony, I will be in Sin City next week Tuesday through Friday. I will be working in a hotel right near The Strip. It just sucks that this had to happen during Febrehabruarii. I have decided that there is a Vegas caveat in the rule book. If at any time during February I am sent to Vegas for a week for free, I will allow myself 300 dollars to try and win enough money to quit my job. Still, though, no smoking and no drinking. The office in Vegas had offered to take me out and show me a good time and have me stay through the weekend on their dime. I had to decline the majority of that. I'll be home on Friday. Plus, Allison will be here. To add to suckiness, she'll have left Vegas the day before I arrive. Oh fate, why must you mock me!

In other news, everything else has been going well. I think a lot of weak people are mad at me, but there's very little I can do about that. So we trudge on. I'm really starting to look forward to March 1st, even though I think I won't break the rehabruarii until March 3rd because I'm running some training courses the 1st and 2nd and don't really need to be hungover for that. Start brainstorming what we're going to do that weekend to celebrate. I want it to be something fun. Laaaaaaaate.

I think I might need to start a Sleep Files of sorts. This will be last installment in that epic saga for a while. I went to the clinic today. They asked a lot of intelligent questions. They said I definitely need to come back and spend a night in their sleep lab. If anybody wants to go with me, we can totally spoon ... though I'm not sure if that's allowed.

The doctor was also kind enough to point out the two physical features I am probably the most self conscious about (although that term is just relative since I'm not really self conscious). He asked me if I'd ever broken my nose and then seemed to think I was lying to him when I said no. He said I have a deviated septum that could be contributing to my problem. He also commented on my overbite and said that my lower mandible being farther back could be pressing my tongue against the back of my throat as I sleep. Both of these could be corrected with very painful surgery, but I know a thing our two about blindingly painful surgeries, so I'd be willing to go along with it if they thought I needed it. That's kind of a last resort and they're not even sure it would come to that until I complete the sleep test. Still, if I did do that, I'd totally have a cosmetic surgeon come along for the ride to make the pain and suffering and rehabilitation worth it.

That sleep test won't be happening until I return from Cincinnati, though, so we can close this chapter for a while. I was quite tired at my appointment today due to breaking the sleep rules last night to go downtown for a couple glasses of wine with JD. Definitely need to make a habit of that.

Today at work, my body builder coworker delivered my 10 POUND BAG of whey protein that I told him I wanted. I am now supplementing my diet. But seriously, 10 pounds is sooo much more than I thought it was. Picture like a bag of dog food, only completely filled with powder. I laughed so hard when I saw it. It's going to last me well past its 2007 expiration date. So I came home from the workout, drank my shake, and then cleaned Tuna's tank. It was way past due. He seems rather pleased that I finally got around to it. I set him next to the laptop while I was in the bathtub scrubbin his rocks. When I came back out he was surfing around Friendster. Did he add you?

Finally, at lunch today somebody made a mention of an alias. All three of us in rapid succession offered up our aliases, mine being Donovan Blankenship. Then that made me think of Joey and Phoebe being Ken Adams and Regina Philange. And naturally that led me to think about how Allison adopted Fionula Flannigan as hers. Having a cool alias is a MUST. So I ask you, dear viewers, to post your pseudonym here on a comment. And with that, I bid you adieu.

I just got done wiring up my new programmable thermostat in my apartment. I know it's not like me to do shit ... but I did! I took the old ghetto Johnson Controls (blech) mechanical thing off the wall, like the one we all have. Then I unwired it, removed the baseplate, replaced it with my baseplate, rewired everything, found some batteries for the display, mounted it, programmed it ... we are in business my friends. No longer will I accidentally leave my apartment at a frosty 65 degrees while I'm away at work.

Speaking of Frosty, I got my pictures back from Cameron Frost a while ago. I didn't really make a hoopla about it or really show them to many people. It's not that I didn't like them, quite the opposite, in fact. I like them a great deal. I just don't care what anybody else's opinion on them is. But, I have gotten lots of requests recently, so to satiate the insane lust for all things Sidesho, I've decided to post you one picture here to look at. I know, it's sex. You don't have to tell me.

Dear Justin, Thank you for my belt. I have never felt like more of a rockstar than this weekend when I got to wear it out and hang out with you at the same time. Dear everyone else, this belt was revolutionary. It's blue LEDs that scroll messages across your crotch. Mine said "JUSTIN GAVE ME THIS!" "THIS IS SO TRASHY!!1!" "BUY ME A DRINK" "BLING! BLING!" and then had some scrolling hearts. But the best message was my phone number. I got a lot of laughs for it, but only two phone calls the whole night. All in all it was a major hit, and while I'm not gonna Sean-Wardle the thing, I think I won't retire it as diligently as I often do with kickass articles of clothing. We shall see.

Dear Allison, I'm sorry that I'm not coming to see you next month. I know we had joked about which one of us would flake out first, but I just wanted you to know that my delaying of the trip is entirely financial. I had really been looking forward to seeing you. In fact, I can proove it. I was so stoked about getting to hang out with you, that I devised a little gift-of-sorts. For the past 3 months I did not shave my upper lip. I kept my chin trimmed and the sides of my face shorn into something I dubbed the "three-tier beard," but the stache just grew and grew. You see, I thought it would be really funny if after having not seen me since January, I stepped off the airplane to greet you with the biggest, bushiest, best mustache I have ever grown in my life. It was heart wrenching to finally shave it off, but I just couldn't keep it going until February. So, dear Allison ... enjoy:

I was just talking to Allistralian and I remembered a story I totally forgot to tell you all. I was sitting in a hotel room in Oshkosh, WI watching TV with my mom, my brother-in-law Bryan, and sister-in-law Krouton. There was nothing particularly good on (except the old school Saturday Night Live hosted by Pee Wee Hermann with musical guest some-crappy-zydeco-band) so we were flipping. As my mom breezed by TLC, I saw the logo for Sheer Dallas and made her stop.

As I explained the premise of the show, they announced that the stylists were going to pair up for a big hair contest. It was a radio announcement I knew all too well, since I was in Pompeo, the salon, when it happened. I mentioned that this was where I got my hair done, although I refused to tell my mother just how much my haircut had actually cost. About halfway through the show, I said, "Hey, there's Xristopher, my stylist!" And a few seconds later ... you guessed it! ... BAM, a full head shot of yours truly. I was on TLC for 3 glorious seconds, sitting in a chair with a head full of foil. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. If anybody else happened to witness the blessed event, do be sure to let me know.

Next order of business, I went and saw Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith tonight. I was gonna put it on my movie reviews, but I thought it was deserving of blog status. This movie was so badass. If you're a Star Wars fan at all, you're going to love it. If not, you'll still probably love it. There were so many badass elements to it, but my favorite was at the end. Before you whine and bitch, we all know what happens at the end, so I'm not ruining the movie. That'd be like me telling you the Titanic sinks. But when Darth Vader walks into the ship with the Emperor, they made it look exactly like Episode IV. They didn't revamp it at all. All the computers had ridiculously large, square LEDs that serve no purpose and all the dudes in there were wearing the old skool military uniforms. Love it. Go see it and let me know what you think.

To tie it all together, I think on my next haircut, scheduled for sometime in late June, I might go towards the dark side.

BUM BUM BUM BUMBA DUM BUMBA DUM

Dear all you bitches who said I would get fired,
I got a raise today.
Har dee har fucking har.
Love,
Sidesho

In fact, my year-end review said that I was doing "outstanding," had "exceeded all expectations," and had "received praise from co-workers both in and out of [my] department." It's kind of hard to argue with that. And that's in print, bold-faced, and in my permanent record. So to everyone who scoffed at me going in late 6 months in a row, everyone who turned their nose up at my mid-day naps, anyone who thought noon was too early to call it a day, and the nay-sayers who thought skipping a day was grounds for immediate termination, I say sit on it. I'm doing an outstanding job. Besides, you can't hold it against me that I'm as much as three times more productive than the average human.

The only thing my boss said he was worried about, concerning yours truly, is that I would be quitting relatively soon. He said I have too much education and potential for this job to hold me longer than 4 years. He doesn't know I was planning on quitting Tuesday. But, he does make a good point. I am terribly bored with work. But you just can't deny how sweet it is to land yet another job where I do what I want, and the allure of making that into a career.

Oh goodness, look at me going on and on about myself. How dreadful. You all KNOW how I hate to toot my own horn.

My workouts are going well even though Mr. Kenderdine has fallen "ill" and I've been flying solo every day this week. Except this time I'm being literal; I have gone every day this week. Even though I am still morbidly obese, at least my arms are muscular enough to lift my fat ass off the ground. Hopefully Febrehabruary will take care of that. (I changed the name from Frehabruary to Febrehabruary. While they both look fine in print, the latter is definitely easier to speak aloud.)

Did you notice my grammatically correct usage of the semi-colon in the paragraph above? My grammar book (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) is positively fascinating. I am learning so much from it. And its fuuunnnnny.

Allison left for Australia yesterday. I hope she likes lederhosen and wienerschnitzel, ja. JKJK. I'm not much for sloven goodbyes, but I did get her a picture frame that said "Best Friends" along the top and then "Sydney July 2005" along the bottom. When I saw it on the shelf, I thought it was so appropriate and definitely freaky that they were mass producing them. JKJK again! I had it engraved. That's my new thing. You're nobody unless you get an engraved gift from me. Except for Ryan Short who got a kickass DVD stand. That was from the heart. Anyway, back to Allison. She'll be gone for a year but I'll see her this summer, so that's not too bad. I wish her the best ... shrimp on the barbie.

I bought a big bottle of pomegranite juice. It's called Pom. Much like every other juice ever produced, it claims to be really good for you. I'll tell you one thing: it's fucking delicious. If you are just joining us and aren't familiar with the fruit, search my site for it. I have a great explanation somewhere in the past. The only downside of the juice is that it was 10 bucks for something the size of a cranberry cocktail. That's too expensive to have it on my permanent online shopping list, but a definite treat now and again.

I think I'll end on that note because I'm rambling a tad. I miss you all and apologize for my continued unpluggedness. We'll all get through this soon enough. Peace out, my little have nots. I love you all.

I am contacting you all from the year two thousand and fabulous five ... oooohhhh. Rang in the thang with a bang, and then a hang ... over. Pacey McSipperson came up to hang out with me. I apologize for the code names, but his massive web of lies has engulfed me. We went out to the Velvet Hookah Thursday with Allison and Noah, and Kieffer showed up. Disaster! The service was the worst I've ever experienced, the drinks were so weak we had to send them back to have them put liquor in them, and my tab was 100 fucking dollars. If I spend 100 dollars at a bar, I expect to at least catch a buzz. I will have to be more weary of the help the next time I go. Owen's friend Joanna's friend Aaron has always been a good bartender, and he's more fun to look at.

After all that nonsense we went out to the bars and got drunk. I accidentally didn't make it to work at all on Friday, which is an unprecedented first for me (at this particular job). I hope no one noticed. I might have to sacrifice a vacation day if they did. That or be fired, whichever. Friday was New Years, so Debbie Downer and I went shopping for new outfits. We both got the coolest shirts from Source Paris in the West Village. Everyone go shop there. Their clothes are incredible. Adam was stalking us the entire time.

Went out with the crew, much of the DS Crew was out as well. Hit up Station 4, henceforth to be referred to as S4. There was much revelry to be had, although at midnight I didn't get a kiss. Instead I got a dirty look from Glarin' Thomas right before he ditched me. So now I'm walking around the club by myself looking for my friends. I found them though and all was well in 2005. Next night, much of the same. Went to S4, got ditched by Shady McDitcherson and entertained myself until Glarin' Sean called me over to Round Up. I met a bunch of A&M people so that was fun.

Enough narrative though. To sum it up, I've spent an exorbitant amount of money and drank an unhealthy level of beer, vodka and wine. I also painted two walls in my living area red like my kitchen. I love it. But you have to wait to see it until I finish painting the rest of it tan. It'll look much better then. Get excited!

Last bit of news, I went to this website because they had an advertisement on myspace. It's too fun. Everyone go to Neighborhoodies.com and buy me something. Then we'll see whose hoodie or tshirt fits my personality the best and that person will win. If you need my shipping address let me know.

The other night when Allison was spending the night I had a dream that was upsetting enough that I decided to come get on my computer and type out what had happened. In case you don't know, I've diagnosed myself with both insomnia and sleep apnea, so when I finally get tired enough to fall asleep, I never really hit REM, which makes for a plethora of fucked up dreams. This is what I typed out at 4am when I woke up:

i was walking along the street when there was this bright light that i fell into
i woke up and i was a soldier on the battle field
when the commanding officer asked me who i was i said 'david fisher' but since i had no ID i was arrested for lying
i was in jail and i was asking all kinds of questions about where i was and what was going on
thommi was in jail
i finally discerned that i had fallen into a wormhole and woken up 17 years later at the age of 40
i called matt pakes from jail and asked 'are you 40' and he was like 'wow haven't heard from you in forever, yeah im 40'
so now i'm freaked out
start the fragmented nonsequitor portion
edward spencer was a doctor
my apartment was no longer mine
i got onto my old screen name though
i was excited that i had 17 years worth of movies to watch
i looked in the mirror and saw my face at the age of 40
i asked a lot of questions about everything that had gone on
they were upping the quota of stem cells that were produced
drugs had been completely irradicated
i started to think maybe this wasn't so bad, i had skipped some boring ass parts of life
i talked to keith at work, he used the same phrase he used to use 17 years earlier about wanting me to come work again and he hated working with idiots
he got me my job back at TAC
my cell phone still worked
my parents called and left a voicemail
i realized they'd been calling me every year on the day of my disappearance
my mother kept repeating 'i told myself i wouldn't do this, i told myself it wouldn't be this hard'
she was crying
i called our old house number hoping it would be the same
she answered
i couldn't speak, the enormity hit me
there was no passage of time for me but her son had gone missing for 17 years
my mouth went dry
'its david'
she angrily, hopefully, emotionally replied 'what?'
'its david' i said again as my voice cracked in tears
'oh my god'
'mother its me david!' ... i woke up speaking these words aloud and crying

HAPPY SOLSTICE!!!!!1! Today it was 70 degrees and the forecast for tomorrow is snow.

Here are some things I've probably told all you at one time or another, but I need to get them out there, because it will make future blogs easier to write.

First, I am giving up drinking for an entire month. I have selected February as my dry month, for the obvious reason that it is the shortest month and I'm concerned that this will be next to impossible for me. There are several reasons that I am doing this. The first of which is that I'm concerned that this wil be next to impossible for me. It's that whole, "I can quit anytime," mentality that gets people into trouble. So I want to make sure I can still quit anytime. I have also been disturbingly unproductive since I moved here. I need to finish decorating and painting and everything. But the biggest reason is that I need money. I am going to see Allison is Australia in July and one alcohol free month will pay for the entire thing. Yeah, its that out of hand.

The fun thing is, February is 28 days long. So I am going recreate Sandra Bullocks commanding performance in 28 Days (not to be confused with its sequel, 28 Days Later).

In foreign news, I might get to go to Sweden for two weeks for work. I don't care if they make me do fucking manual labor in Sweden, it will fucking rawk. It's not certain in the least that I will get to go but I really, really, really hope I do. I've been pretty pushy about it at work, vying for the opportunity.

Lastly, I am never cutting my hair again. Never. Every day that I don't cut my hair, I am happier than the day before. This counteracts the fact that every day that I go to work is worse than the day before. So I am flatlined right now.

I think that's all that I had to report. I've had about 15 conversations during the time that I was typing this so I got a little sidetracked. Time to go to the gym for a cardio day. Whoo hoo. Later, sluts.

What a week. What a weekend. What a time to be alive! This weekend I made the trek to College Station once again to celebrate Thanksgiving as well as Allison's graduation and bon voyage as she prepares to move to Australia. On the way down, I called Brandon to see how he was doing and he convinced me to swing through Austin and pick him up. That was a fuck load of driving in one weekend (with the traffic jams, I was in the car for 12.5 total hours this weekend). But, it was worth it to get to hang out with Brandon.

We arrived in CS on Friday around 10 and got ready to go out to Halo. Good times, good times. I had a completely empty stomach so I was trying to take it easy, which eventually didn't happen, but I did behave for an uncharacteristically long time. The next day we joined Allison as soon as the hangovers subsided and went to buy last minute supplies and a keg. I dropped even more money this weekend. Shit. Finances are in a dire situation. Dire meaning that I can't buy new jeans tomorrow if I want everyone to have a X-mas present, not dire I can't pay the rent. Even so, my lifestyle is compromised.

The party was a raging success, if I don't mind saying. We did a Trash Can Grab. This was new to me. We had a trash can full of ice and water and everyone brought a little something to throw into the trash can. Then you had to reach into the black abyss and drink whatever random alcohol you pulled out. At first, I thought our alcohol supply, which involved a plethora of wine from dinner, a keg, and the trashcan, was overkill, but we ended up drinking all of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Allison for being a most wonderful host, and thanks again to Dustin and Trey for putting me up for the weekend.

In other news HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, #27!!!!1! Our little David27 is growing up, chronologically at least. This past Saturday, Dec. 11 was his 20th birthday. He's not a teenager any more. Congrats on surviving two decades. Mwah!

This week I have a Secret Santa party at Ryan Short's and a Nieman Marcus office party with Ryan Short. Then I'm not doing anything. Nor am I ever going out of town again. If you ever want to see me again you'll have to come to Addison.

I hope I don't piss any one off with this next comment, but I can't help but think about everyone taking finals right now... and how stressed out they must be, and how tired, and overworked, and sick of it, and just wanting to be done. And then I kick back, stretch out, open another beer, and sigh audibly. It is so nice to not be in school. I can't believe it's been six months since graduation. Time sure flies when you're skipping work. Peace out, sluts!

As many of you, undoubtedly already knew, when I described the plans for Thommi's 21st Birthday as, "nothing too ornate or elaborate," I was being completely perfidious, hoping Thommi would read it and be further thrown off of the fact that I was planning a surprise party. The true story goes a little something like this:

When Thommi and Dan were here last weekend, Thommi said something along the lines of, "I've always wanted a surprise party." And I replied, "Yeah well it isn't gonna fucking happen, so you can forget that. Besides, who would we invite? You don't have any friends." Okay, at the time, I was just being mean, not calculating, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought I might able to pull it off. I only had 5 days, though, so I made some quick decisions about when and where it would be and started making phone calls. You all know how torturous it is for me to talk on my phone, so I was really proud of myself for maintaining my cool as I called old friend after old friend and told them to get ready to par-tay. An e-vite naturally sealed the deal. The party was on Saturday night and I told everyone to get there at 8:00 knowing that everyone would be fashionably late. I had hoped to trick them all into being there before 10:00 when I was bringing Thommi over.

Sean Wardle accompanied me on my vacation. What a fun road trip partner! He's going back next week for Thanksgiving as well. Hurrah! So it was Sean, Dan, Thommi and me getting ready for a fake night out on the town while my gracious and ever so wonderful hosts, Dustin and Trey, held down the fort. Trey, Sean and I had spent the afternoon running around town buying a keg, some liquor, and about 20 bucks worth of streamers, flags and balloons from the Dollar Store. The apartment was decked out ... and all in pink. I'm sure the guy that rang us up at the store thought we were throwing a party for an 8 year old girl. Well ... kinda.

So Sean and I took Thommi and Dan out for a nice birthday dinner, all the while doing everything we could to stall our little engagement. We didn't want to raise suspicions by making dinner too late, but we knew that 4 hours to kill was going to be a lot. By the time dinner was over and we made it back to Thommi's apartment we had two full hours to kill. I'm so glad Sean was there to help. First we laid around and pretended to be nonchalant about the whole affair. As Thommi was getting impatient, we started out on our plan to eat up as much time as possible doing hair. I did mine first and then Thommi's. Then Sean went. He must have spent about 45 minutes in the bathroom fixing his hair. Hilarious. Then I did Dan's hair as well ... anything to kill more time. At one point, I literally walked in slow motion.

My phone is blowing up all evening -- very uncharacteristic. But I'm answering every inquiry with terse responses to not raise suspicion. Still the whole thing is fishy. Around 10:00 Trey texts me to tell me that only 10 guests have arrived so far of the 27 who RSPV'ed. g*d damnit! We dragged our feet some more until Thommi was getting visibly annoyed and I received another text saying that 17 people had arrived. That was enough. On our way we went.

The whole thing was planned down to a T. When we got close, I called Trey and asked him what the gate code was, which was actually just code for, "Hey, we're close." He got everyone organized, and when we arrived at the door, I knocked Hullabaloo and took a step back. As soon as the door opened, Thommi looked inside to see a mass of gaudy decorations and a throng of people and took three steps backward. In my favorite quote of the evening, I grabbed his shoulders, gave him a hearty push, and yelled,

"GET IN THERE, YOU ASSHOLE!"

Haha! Surprise! He had no clue. It was so great. A few more people came and went as the night dragged on, but I was very grateful to everyone that showed and helped us empty the keg, the vodka, the wine, and the bottle of Johnny Walker Black that AllieD and Jamey brought me as a gift (having read my Thanksgiving post where I said that's what I was most thankful for. It pays to blog!). Needless to say I got shitcanned, everyone had a blast, we went to Halo for all of 10 minutes after they'd stopped serving, and got a couple waters from Aaron. WINK!

All in all I'd say it was a rousing success. I was more than pleased with the results considering Ryan Short didn't help me plan it one bit. This next weekend is Thanksgiving, ya'll, we're gonna do it up Gill 'n Al style. So get ready for your e-vite to that shit. And one last thing:

PICTURES!

Dan, Sean, Thommi and I as we enter the party. This was after I pushed him through the door. Some people likened his reaction to that of the plastic keg cups, but you can see here, the photographic evidence of a fleeting smile. Good ol' Glarin' Thomas.

Sean, Dan, Thommi, me, Luke and Rob pose for a group shot. Check out those kickass decorations in the back. Those represent a lot of standing on stools. I'm sporting the Surprise Hawk, a hair-do I invented just for the occasion.

Whew let's see if I can name everyone here. From left to right as best I can: Dan, Sean, Jason, Dustin, Bob, Phillip, Luke, Me, Noah, Rob, Allison, Thommi, AllieD, Jamey and Owen. This isn't everyone who eventually came, and doesn't include Trey behind the camera, but I think it's a really cute shot. Oh yeah, we also bought some princess crowns, in case you're wondering whats on some of the heads.

Sean and I pose for a quick Team Dallas picture. Sean entertained himself by making snide remarks about the lack of concierge and valet services throughout town. He'd do JUST fine in College Station.

Bob, me and Dustin pose for a quick one. We had such cute keg cups even. I'm not entirely sure what Bob is doing here, nor do I seem to mind.

And finally, the princesses of the ball, Thommi and Dan. I think they both had a really good time and were genuinely surprised, which is what it was all about. The other thing its all about is my hair there in the background. RAWK!

Oh, joy! It's my favorite holy day once again! The day our lord and saviour, the turkey, willingly gave his life so we might enjoy eternal dressings. "Take this drumstick and eat it, for this is my body, gobble, gobble." The day Christopher Columbus killed all the Native Americans. He killed them all, great and small, so he could put their heads up on his wall. It was the day Chris Columbus killed all the Indians.

Now that we're finished with the history of Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to discuss with all of you, the meaning of Thanksgiving. It's like I always say, "Tis better to thanksgive than to thanksreceive." Let's all try to keep that in mind this year. And I know, I know, the food is a big part of it. Who doesn't like to sit down at a table with a 24 pound roasted bird carcass, mashed potatoes made with heavy cream and butter and garlic, green bean casserole made with soup from the can (because any attempt to gourmet that up and no one will eat it), mac n cheese made from scratch, cranberry sauce nobody will touch but it has to be on the table anyway, french bread to sop up the leftover gravy made from stock, candied yams and pumpkin pies and AHHHHH I'm overstimulated. But with all of this, I still must contest that Thanksgiving is not just about the food.

It's about the booze.

The red wines, the white wines, the boxed wines in between. The smooth burn of a single malt scotch as it gives your stomach a welcome hug. The brandy soaked peaches. The cases upon cases of beer in the fridge "just in case" even though you know no one's leaving til they're gone. And this year, I made red roosters, a thing I saw Emeril do. Cranberry juice and orange juice concentrate and a whole lot of vodka, into a large pan and into the freezer. I kicked it up a notch by using raspberry vodka. I hope everybody likes it. BAM!

I am going to have a very Hoffmann Thanksgiving this year by spending it with my dear friend Allison and her parents (Krazy K and Big D) and the rest of her family. Should be a riot. I'm so excited I can barely sit still. I hope all of you have the most wonderful holiday with friends and family (because they're a part of the day too). Take a moment to think about this: for what are you most grateful this year? I know mine -- Johnny Walker Black.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good buzz!

My trip to College Station was a rousing success. I saw so many people that I haven't seen in forever. I met a bunch of new people too. And somewhere in the middle of those two experiences ... I met lots of people that I've known for years but never bothered to remember -- namely, ALL of Keiff's female friends. The drive down was a b-last. It's been so long since team Gill 'n Al have made a road trip. We rawked out the whole way. Trying to describe it in words will only fall short, but I'll just say that I almost passed out from singing the Moulin Rouge soundtrack too loud.

I don't want to go into too much narration about my weekend, but I did take a shower at Jason's, stop off at Dustin and Trey's, see Marshall at Hoblob (his hair is so hot now), check out Tommy's ultra chic downtown loft, visit Josh and Nely, and attend Burns' and Lauren's ring dunking party. Burns was pretty optimistic about beating my modest 65 second mark, but he fell quite short. I think he came in at 94, which I say assuming he will correct me if I'm wrong. Lauren took several minutes, but I was still proud of her for finishing decently for a girl. Of course, chugging beer is what college ... nay, life ... is all about, but I suppose some congratulations are in order for even attaining the coveted Aggie Ring. So congrats, children, congrats.

After drinking all the free beer we could, Dustin, Trey, Jason, Tommy and I all ventured over to Halo. I saw so many people there. It was way too fun. I drank myself retarded, attempted to dance, had many conversations that are not catalogued in my ever decreasing memory banks. This was a fantastic trip to CS, I accomplished all of my goals of alcoholism.

In other exciting news, Allison got herself a job for when she graduates in December. She's been interning at HP for a while now and has decided to further that career professionally. The exciting part? She's been hired in Sydney fucking Australia. How awesome is that?! Major congrats to her! I am already saving up for my plane ticket to go visit her. Who knows ... if I like it there, I could always transfer to Sydney. Our three world headquarters are Sydney, Australia, Malmo, Sweden, and Carrollton, Texas (obviously). I'm way excited for her, even though it's a little depressing that she'll be on the other side of the world by the end of January. So our party on December 11th in College Station that you're all clearing your calendars for will now be a Thanksgiving/Graduation/Bon Voyage. Huzzah!

And finally, I've been inundated with the word 'insurgent' since this whole Fallujah thing, in conjunction with my NPR habit, started. I finally decided to look it up and find out what it actually means.
in·sur·gent (n-sûrjnt) adj. --
1. Rising in revolt against established authority, especially a government.
2. Rebelling against the leadership of a political party.

Turns out, I'm an insurgent.

I have about a thousand things I want to talk about, we'll see how many of them stick in my memory by the time I really get into blogging mode. First off, I spent the weekend chillin in the OC ... the OKC, that is. I actually had a good time. On Saturday and Sunday, my impregnito sister and I painted her nursery. Pink on the walls, green on the ceiling. It was so, so cute. Now I'm rarin' to paint my apartment. Who wants to help? Prior to this, on Friday night, we went bowling.

I was bowling in Oklahoma on a Friday night.

It ended up being really fun though. My sister's husband made the comment, "There's no way I'm going to lose to my pregnant wife and a gay guy." So I annihilated him. He didn't know that I spent the better part of high school bowling obsessively, and then transferred that hobby to college with Kevin. By the end of the night, he had admitted defeat and encouraged me to join a gay bowling league, because I would be "the man" there. I'm not sure what the difference is between a gay bowling league and a bowling league. I guess we would use pink balls?

Speaking of Kevin, he's not going to be able to join me in College Station this weekend. What a fucking bummer. I was so stoked. I mean, I still am because I get to see Burns take longer than 65 seconds to chug a pitcher of beer and get shitcanned with the whole crew, but still... everyone knew I was just going to see Kevin. I'm actually going to drive down on Saturday morning, and give Allison a ride back.

Speaking of Allison, we are planning a Thanksgiving to end all Thanksgivings. The date we decided on is December 11th. The location: Allison's house in College Station. I am planning a detailed blog about it, but had too much to say to devote this entry to that. Look for details in the future, but for g*d's sake clear your fucking calendars. This is going to the put the last one to shame!

And finally, my new hobby is listening to NPR (National Public Radio). I feel like I'm already smarter for doing this. Many thanks to my brother who originally suggested it to me when I told him how annoyed I was with radio DJs and commercials. Today they were talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger possibly running for president. Of course, he's not a natural born citizen, so the constitution would have to be amended. We all know Bush has no problem amending it. They made a good argument that someone who has been in the country for 20+ years, obtained citizenship, understands the political system, and has obtained public office should be allowed to run for president. And Arnold was talking about how everything is more global these days so it makes sense. And I agree. Hell, at least he speaks two languages ... Bush doesn't even speak one.

Even though Arnie is a Republickin, he is not conservative on issues that educated people aren't conservative on -- stem cell research, gay marriage, abortion, to name a few. Conservative X-tian Republickins would fuckin hate him. But maybe there's enough political momentum behind the Republickins to get him in the White House. To me, this would present a win/win situation in 4 years. Either someone that agrees with me on issues I find important would be elected, or the Democratic party would win, and maybe even put Hillary in the White House, which would rawk. People who argue against this amendment say that the Constitution shouldn't be viewed as a totally maleable document, and certainly should never be amended with a certain individual in mind. One guy said go ahead and make the amendment but say that it doesn't take effect for 20 years. He makes a good point. Just thought I'd give my readers something to discuss at their next cocktail party.

Items of interest, just to recap: OKC was fun, I kick ass at bowling, I need help painting my apartment, College Station this Saturday, Thanksgiving December 11, listen to NPR and tell me what you think about the President-inator (lame). Peace out, sluts!

Beltline is the road here in Addison/Carrollton that I live/work on. Every day I drive its length once in the morning and once in the evening ... okay ... afternoon. I am the most well tempered driver that I know, but frankly, dear viewers, the way people drive on Beltline is starting to get to me. The way I see it, there are only three kinds of drivers on this road.

Unconcerned With The Speed Limit
This person does not care what the speed limit is on the road, they are not in a hurry. Despite the 40 mph speed limit, they choose to go anywhere from 30 to 20 mph, even when no cars are in front of them. I'd say this is the majority of Beltline drivers. I admire their lackadaisical approach to the passage of time, but when you're already 40 minutes late to work, they can be a bit frustrating.

In The Wrong Lane
Despite their best efforts, these drivers simply cannot get into the correct lane. If they're turning right, they stay in the left lane as long as possible. This requires them to make evasive maneuvers to get into the lane they need to be in, often decreasing their speed well below that of Unconcerned With The Speed Limit to get behind them. I don't have to tell you that this only complicates the problem.

Wife In Labor
Whenever someone is being a jackass, going too fast, and swerving between lanes, I always try to be understanding. I generally assume that their wife is in the passenger seat going into labor and they need to get to the hospital (or sometimes the mall or movie theater) as fast as possible. Residents of Addison must be fuckin like rabbits because there are tons of people driving around with wives in labor. It's not exactly easy for them with our other two personality types, but somehow they dangerously manage.

So this is my plea to anyone who drives on Beltline. Go the fucking speed limit and stay in the lane you need to be in and we can all get where we're going faster. While I was stuck in traffic, I was composing this blog in my head, so you'll have to bear with it's length. I was only going to talk about drivers until I heard a radio ad for free booze tonight. I got so excited. Until they went "BOO! There's one free!" Fuck me, they meant free 'boo's. Give me a break. Don't joke about free booze.

Then that reminded me of when those bible thumping dumb fucks in the dorm would post signs that said, "FREE BEER! Now that we've got your attention, come to bible study." It's just not cool. The bible, I mean.

Then that reminded me of when we had a couch burning at the dorm. Somebody found a loveseat and innocuously stored it outside the dorm during the day. Then around midnight Operation Hot Pocket torched that shit. The next day Allison and I hung up signs on all the doors that said, "Has anybody seen my couch? It was a brown loveseat. I left it outside the dorm last night." It was hilarious. Then that reminded me of when Allison and I hung signs in the MSC on the doors of the locked bathrooms that said, "Door not working properly. Push HARD!!!" That was even funnier.

Today on my way into work, I found two dollar bills laying on the ground. Chalk it up to good luck, I thought to myself. Not an hour after sitting down at my desk, a guy came by and gave me a check for 20 bucks to buy a Thanksgiving turkey -- a gift from the company. Score! Like an hour later, I find out that I got a bonus check for the third quarter. Big score! I was feeling so lucky that I bought like 5 scratch off tickets trying to capitalize on my newfound diety status. I lost on all of them. Oh well, I still came out ahead.

And that concludes my predetermined blog material. Thanks for reading, you have nots!

Holy crap. I had no idea this was going to take so long to prepare. I sure do hope you all find this as humorous as I did when I was making it. The beard is gone. It was a fun little experiment, but one that I don't expect to repeat any time soon. Of course, when you shave a beard off, you can't just shave it. You've gotta style it. Pictured below is a beautiful array of facial hair stylings. Go ahead, rate them on a scale of 1 to Pure Sex.

I got my hair cut tonight by my friend Chad. It is a lot shorter than it is in all of these pics. I would take a picture of it, but after sizing and photoshopping all of these silly pictures I just wasn't in the mood. Besides, that's more incentive for you all to come see me in person anyway. I also owe you some pictures of the apartment, but you might have to wait until I paint before I'm comfortable letting you all see where the magic happens.

This weekend is Halloween, and I'm not dressing up. I just don't have a costume. I might find something last minute. One of the best things you can do for a Halloween costume is take any ordinary noun and add the word 'slutty' in front of it. For instance, you can be a slutty fireman, a slutty cat, or be like Allison and go as a slutty Jolly Green Giant. Ho, ho, ho. Who would have thought we could use that tag line two years in a row? But if you want to know the truth, I'm just planning on going downtown, doing a little people watching and a whole lot of drinking. I was out last night when I got a late night call from my mother. Concerned that she would call me late at night, I snuck outside to a quiet nook to answer. No worries. She was just calling to let me know that my dad bought a banjo! What the fuck?! My parents must really be missing me.

And finally, because I know you all want it bad ... sexy 'stache pics! Woohoo! (My brother is probably the only one that can possibly confirm this, but don't you think I look like Uncle Al?)

Big news, kids. I am officially an independently functioning member of society. This little bird has flexed his wings and gone out on his own. Granted, everything in my apartment was donated by my parents, but we'll ignore that fact from here on out. I will show you pictures of my apartment as soon as it is in a presentable condition. I moved in on Sunday instead of Saturday because it was raining too hard. Not to say it didn't rain all day Sunday, but we got it done. There's still a few things back in Plano that I need to go get, but there's no rush there.

In other news, I haven't had a haircut in many, many months, nor have I shaved in many, many weeks. Yes, I have a beard ... and this time, her name isn't Allison. Pa-zzzing! I'm not really sure how I feel about the look, but I'm going with it. I had originally dedicated myself to no haircuts before 2005, but that may have changed. Marc and I went over to his friend Chad's apartment last night. Chad and his friendgirl work at Toni and Guy and were watching videos about how to give fucking badass haircuts. I can maybe get a really badass free haircut. That's what I'm planning on doing. I mean like woah, badass haircut.

On the horizon is lots of tidying up around the apartment. I might have a housewarming get together sometime in late November. Nobody from College Station will attend, so none of you are invited. Unless you want to come, then you are. Something more anecdotal to follow. Peace out.

I certainly couldn't go a week without blogging. I haven't done that in ages. Time's a little tight right now because it's midnight and I'm gonna be a wreck at work tomorrow. Big news! I worked 8 hours today. Like actually produced real programming that will be used in a real project for 8 hours. And I'm gonna do it again tomorrow. Things are looking up. So the job, while I still go on the public records as hating it, is looking up. My hair gets longer every day, it's quite shaggy. And I've decided to stop shaving yet again. If I ever hit puberty and the facial hair fills in, I'll let you all see it. My workout routine is going well. I am starting to regain my flexibility, and it feels so good to work out after work. I just need to find some goggles so I can start swimming again.

Went to College Station this weekend. It was pretty fun. Ryan Hudler drove and we went and watched Daniel dunk his ring (120 seconds). We "stayed" at Todd's even though I neglected to sleep there either night. We went to Margarita Rocks with Allison, Lindsay, her underage sisters, AllieD, Jennifer, and another pretty girl whose name escapes me. Then we went to a little keg get-together out in the country and Tommy showed up. I shocked Fucking Frank with my lighter. Everyone finally realized why I think it's so funny. From there we hit Northgate. Ran into Roper Joe, that was a blast from the past. Saw Brian and Justin. Owen walked over from campus and Keith was a horrible influence on me. Owen and I got split from the group and decided to take CARPOOL home but it was taking too fucking long so I woke up Marshall and made him take Owen home and then slept in his bed. I'm trying to drop every name possible. If I forgot you, leave a sassy comment and I'll insert you into the list and pretend like you were always there. It will be hilarious.

The next day I was hungover like the entire day. It sucked, but was pretty expected. Lunch with AllieD, back to sleep on Todd's couch the rest of the day. I woke up at 1:30am and had Dustin come pick me up and drank over at his place with Raul. Spent the night on the ground accidentally. Came home the next day. I breezed over a lot of details, obviously, but I had a really great time. Thanks for driving, Ryan!

Whenever I meet someone new, or get someone's screen name for the first time, I always ammend it with a buddy comment. I'm not sure if anyone else uses these but they're a g*dsend to me. I put people's names, jobs, home towns, physical descriptions ... anything I might want to know, or pretend I've remembered later. You should all be using them. Anyway, sometimes the descriptions of someone I've met for the first time, and later become close friends with, are a tad outdated. They tend to be on the insulting side from time to time, so I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by posting names, but one of them that I just edited the other day said, "that impudent little imp." If you want to know if you have a buddy comment, hit me up with an IM.

And in final news, HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY TO TOPHER (known affectionately by some as Yale Boy). I meant to call him at midnight, but then I realized that I don't understand time zones, so I'd better just call him when he gets out of class tomorrow. But this is my proof that I've been thinking about him and did not forget. (And no, I didn't use a buddy comment to remember.) I love you, kid, have a wonderful birthday, a kick@ss summer, and stay cool.

The party on Friday night was a rousing success. We estimated around 150 guests all told, which exceeded even my optimistic predictions. There were a few bumps in the planning process, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. I left work early (duh) and headed over to Ryan Short's apartment. We decided to go to one of those always christmas stores to buy lights to string around the roof of Ryan's building since there is like no light up there. We made it to the store and bought 4 strands of light, though in retrospect we probably could have used even more. Oh well, we can always get more before the next party. Brandon was on his way to Dallas with his parents for a wedding and I was supposed to go to Northpark Mall to pick him up since he was going to be dropped off there. But as soon as we got back into my car, I turned the key and heard nothing. No click, no groan, no squeak ... nothing. My car was dead.

Being the easily exciteable person I am (yeah, right) we called AAA and ordered a tow truck and then called Sean Wardle to come pick us up. Thank you, Sean! We also made arrangements for Brandon's parents to just drop him off in the parking lot we were stranded in. After a quick jaunt to the corner convenient store for Powerade and cigarettes we sat and waited. Brandon's parents came. His dad, being a super nice guy, popped the trunk and diagnosed the problem as a dead battery. His mom, being a horrendous bitch, called me stupid. They thankfully left and we waited for Sean and the tow truck. Sean arrived and took Ryan home. Brandon and I waited for the tow truck. This fat black guy with all gold teeth comes roaring through the parking lot not even slowing down for speed bumps. But he ended up being one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He concurred with the battery diagnosis, towed me to an Auto Zone, went into the store with me while I bought a battery, and then put it in there for me. We were back in business.

Once we got back to Ryan's we lugged the two kegs up four flights of stairs, got those tapped and iced down, strung lights around and sat and waited for the guests. There were only about 8 or so people there around 9:00 when the party was scheduled to begin and I casually remarked to Ryan, "Did we put the cups out yet?" To which he replied, "What cups?" Ahhh! Two kegs and no cups ... that's like having a carton of cigarettes and no lighter. David Spielman saved the day by stopping and getting cups on his way. Then the party started picking up.

Certainly by midnight things were in full swing. I dedicated myself that night to introducing myself to everyone I could and making sure that everyone I was in a circle with knew each other. There were so many friends there I could hardly mention them all, but Allison did show up with her crew. I was excited to see Kerin. I also got to meet Christine's co-googleworker, Lindsey, who has been a loyal Sidesho-Viewer since she first overheard Christine's laughter. It's always nice to meet a viewer, though sometimes it can be creepy, she was very classy about the whole thing.

The only thing that marred the night whatsoever was one group of guests. They mistook our evite to a swank uptown soiree as an invitation to drink two bottles of vodka, show up to the party trashed beyond good taste, be exceedingly rude to my friends and guests, vomit in Ryan's kitchen sink, disrupt the party in a desperate attempt for attention, unplug our decorative christmas lights, become irrational and violent towards their host, ignore several polite requests to remove themselves, and try to ruin the party for everyone by dialing 911 to report underage drinking. I guess next time we should be more specific about the nature of the party. As this person was pressing "send" on his cell phone to alert the authorities that we were having a good time without him, Ryan did the only logical thing he could. He grabbed his cell phone and threw it from the roof of the building to the streets below. I can't say I condone his actions, but it sure did seem appropriate at the time.

The second keg floated around 1:30am and while I drank a little while longer off of a hidden stash of emergency liquor, the party pretty much dissapated when the beer was gone. I spent the night on the best palette ever made by man on Ryan's floor with Brandon and the next day the three of us cleaned up a pretty good mess. I would say that this party was one of the best I've been to, even though you all know how much I despise tooting my own horn. Really, I wasn't to blame for the success. Ryan set up all the party plans and made sure everything was on schedule. And the rooftop of the Heights was the perfect sized party venue and the weather could not have been more agreeable. Will have to have another rooftop party post haste.

In other news, if any of you are still with me, my brother and sister are in town for Labour Day. Stephen brought the baby with him, but I've barely gotten to see her. They're at his wife's family's house right now. I went to go work out today while the family went to church (sue me) and when I was done I decided to get lunch at the gym. They have a really nice little deli counter there. I stood there trying to decide what I wanted and just as I was about to order this big black guy butts in front of me and yells, "GIMME ONE OF THOSE TURKEY PANINIS I LIKE THOSE TURKEY PANINIS." And I'm about to make some snotty comment about how I was about to order, but he's so big that I decided to let it slide ... lucky for him. Well then some random dude walks in and goes, "Michael, how's the competition on the basketball court today?" and it was then that I realized I had just been cut in front of by Michael Irvin. So now that I know he works out at my gym, if anybody needs crack, I totally have the hookup.

Thanks to all of you who showed up to ULDE, my pity to those who couldn't make it. Until next time, take it easy ... and if it's easy, take it twice. Peace out, sluts.

This weekend I made yet another trip to beautiful College Station, Texas. There were good and bad things about my little vacation. Instead of dividing them into two categories I thought I would alternate between one good thing and then one bad thing to keep things all evened out. Starting with the good, naturally.

I got to leave work at 2:30 on Thursday because I had finished everything for the week, which means I got to take a Friday off for free! When I got to College Station, Marshall didn't want to go out and refused to even attempt to have fun. But AllieD was rarin' to go so we got all sloshed and had a rip roaring good time. The next morning I was completely hungover. So Allison and I went to see Napoleon Dynamite and it was really funny. That night I was ready to go crazy at the bar but got completely stood up by Marshall. Allison came to the rescue after I stopped by a party of hers and took her out to Halo. It was completely dead there. 27 showed up. I rounded out the evening back at the party fairly bored and not drunk enough. The next day I got see meet up and go out to lunch with Tommy. I was supposed to go see his new loft downtown when he got off work at 5, but despite knowing that he was home he refused to answer the phone and let me up and I haven't talked to him since. But he lives next door to a bar, so I spent that time drinking beer and talking to the hippies at Revolutions. I wanted to make a shirt like the one that Napoleon wore in the movie, but I ultimately couldn't find the right supplies. So I went back to Marshall's and took a nap. He never called me after he got off work, despite the fact that I put gas in his car that had been sitting empty on the side of the road for a couple of days. I had plans of my own, though, since Brian (Allison's fab friend) and his roommate James were having a party. I was still pretty hungover from my previous days' binging so I really couldn't drink a lot. And the highlight of the weekend, Chris came to the party.

End the pattern. Did everyone notice it alternated good and bad? (I color coded it after the fact.) I didn't even have to try, because the good and bad was chronological it turns out. But yeah, seeing Chris was really good. I miss that kid so much. It's a lot easier to forget that when I haven't seen him in 6 months, but seeing him again brings that all back. It was a good time though. Maybe I'll see him again in 7 years when he graduates from grad school. Raul and Rob accompanied us to the party. That's always a good time. Brian and James have the coolest friends. It was an excellent party. Other highlights included seeing Justin McK and Charlie at Halo, 27s friend being delightfully nice, and Texas Toothpicks. Other lowlights included not seeing Stino, 27s other friend being dreadfully rude, and Marshall leaving for "lunch" while I was still in bed on Sunday and then never ever coming home. I don't think I'll be going back to College Station for a while ... not without reason.

Tonight I went swimming. It felt so good. I realized I haven't been out of breath or felt my muscles burn in months! I felt just like Michael Phelps. Oh great, now everyone googling for pics of the speedo-clad Phelps are going to end up here. It probably won't help that I'm about to say gold medal Athens 2004 Olympics. (After typing this, I've decided to make tricking googlers into coming to my site a permanent feature on my site.)

Last business to discuss. September 3rd: ULDE:IYDKYDG. Ryan Short, Brent Wager, and I are throwing a party to celebrate a day of Labor Pains. That stands for Uptown Labor Day Extravaganza: If You Don't Know, You Don't Go. If you would like to come, leave a comment, and IM or an email giving me your email address and I'll make sure you get on the e-vite list. And with all the e-vite list theft going on around town, you'll probably be invited to several subsequent Dallas parties as well. I'm expecting some College Station folk to attend. Also, October 2nd: Stephen Lynch and Mitch Hedberg, the two funniest men alive, performing together at the Paramount in Austin. I'm buying tickets this Saturday so if you would like to go, let me know. Tickets are $35.

I hope you all have an alternatingly good and bad time this week. And remember ... if you don't know .. you don't go!

There is nothing like Neil Diamond to make rush hour traffic an absolute joy. I am in the best mood now. I was jammin out on the way home from work to my new two disc set. I bought it because I was wearing my Neil Diamond concert T this weekend and got many comments on it, which made me start thinking about how I wanted to hear his music. One guy, as we were walking into Jason's apartment complex, accused me of not even knowing who Neil Diamond was, so I launched into a few drunken verses of Forever In Blue Jeans, Kentucky Woman, and Love on the Rocks, to name a few. Sure showed him. HA!

I bought the CD at the Borders in the West Village. Silly me, I never even knew the West Village existed, and Ryan Short lives so close to there, and I used to work like right there. They have some of the best stores I've seen since I left Miami. I wanted to buy a whole bunch of stuff, but decided to save a little bit of money instead of blowing it all on clubbing clothes. I did buy one shirt for 40 bucks, though, because it's totally hot and it was half off. Half off, but I got a whole shirt. It's awesome. I can't wait to sport it this weekend when I'm in College Station, make all you bitches jealous.

Yes, that's right, this is probably your final reminder. I'll be pullin' into CS on Thursday night, depending on what time I can feasibly slip out of work on Thursday. Since I'm skipping Friday, it might not be such a hot idea to leave at noon again like I did last time. I can't wait to see everyone, but there are some things on my agenda. I have to hang out with Christopher before he trucks back off to Yale. I'll be spending as much time with him as I can. I have to go out with AllieD before she trucks off to Austin for the weekend. We have much to discuss ... and by 'discuss' I mean 'drink.' I have a party to go to with Brian and James, Allison's new crew. That's on Saturday night. Anyone and everyone can go with me if you'd like, I put myself down for 20 guests. I also need to see Tommy's new apartment ... now that I know he hasn't been ignoring me for the past few weeks. He hasn't even had internet, so someone else is on all of his accounts. If it's a Sidesho-Viewer, what you're doing isn't very nice and I think you should stop. It made me think Tommy hated me, as preposterous as that sounds.

I went apartment shopping this weekend with Ryan Short. I really want to live in Addison Circle, but they were at like a 98% lease rate when I went. That means that there are no good apartments left, and the ones that are left, they have absolutely no incentive to cut me any specials on. I was pretty gung ho about moving out but now my spirit has been crushed. I gave the lady my email address and told her to give me a heads up on any upcoming vacancies. I know I could go live somewhere else, but you know me. Once I decide I want something, I just can't settle for something else. Instant gratification, people, it's what makes the world go 'round. Rest assured, though, loyal viewers, I am fully intending to move out of my parents' house, perhaps in the near future, as my rent budget may swell.

Work goes on. Life goes on. Beers go down. Not much else to say. I love you all, and look forward to seeing everyone in CS this weekend. MWAH!

Today was a productive day. I probably haven't mentioned my co-worker, Trey, in my blog as much as I have in real life. Trey is awesome. He's an old rednek with no formal education who is a jack of all trades. He's helping to train me at work. He talks ... really ... ... ... slow. It's awesome. He also happens to have pi memorized to 1250 digits. Today I made an Excel spreadsheet that would check him 10 digits at a time, and I sat and watched him successfully enter 500 digits in a row before I finally decided that I really wanted to go home. I told him I would memorize it out farther than him ... I'm up to 32 digits now. Don't believe me? 3.14159265358979323846264338327950, bitches. If you would like to race me on memorizing it, download my pi Excel sheet here.

This weekend was too much fun. Friday, I went on my lunch break at work ... and then decided that I really didn't want to go back. So at 1:00, I hit the road for College Station. Technically when my boss said, "Leave whenever you need to," I think he meant anywhere from 4:00 to 4:30. But you just can't say something like that to me and not expect me to take full advantage of it. I got into College Station around 4:00 and went straight to Hobby Lobby to visit Marshall while he worked. After a little bit of that I met up with Allison, her friend Brian (who is fab squared), and JonSteed for some evening cocktails. I picked up the tab because I have money and I spend it recklessly.

Halo on a Friday night, man I miss that. They were having some wicked drink specials, so after the nine of us drinking on my tab finished up, the total was only $50. Allison brought her friend Brian from earlier in the evening, and he in turn brought his friend James, who tried to open a tab behind my back, but I got it transfered to me. JonSteed came against his wishes because I promised him free drinks. Marshall and I got buck wild. Raul made a grand appearance, and Justin made his presence known. We definitely got our 50 bucks worth, drinking and dancing the night away. But you know me, my faithful Sidesho-Viewers. That's just not reckless enough for me. So I drunkenly vowed that on Saturday night, I would have a $200 bar tab. Everyone thought I was kidding ....

The next night when we went out, Marshall jokingly referred to my 200 dollar proclamation, to which I replied, "Let's do it." More drinking, more fun. Despite our best efforts, the total came to $85. In my defense, James was bartending, and being the good friend he is, he told me that he had "hooked me up BIG TIME." So jebus knows how much we actually managed to spend. It was way too much fun though. After the bar, Dick was having some people over to go swimming at his apartment. Raul and I swung by Marshalls for the half bottle of raspberry vodka I had purchased the day before and managed to drink that while wading in our underwear until 4am. It was crazy, crazy drunken fun. The kind of fun business professional people do not have. I can't wait to do it again soon.

Speaking of segues, I think I will do it again soon. I got a call from Chris, the boy who goes to Yale, for those of you who are bad with names. He was in Plano last night and he got to come by my house and then I gave him the full Plano experience by going to chit chat outside Starbucks with overpriced coffee and chain smoking. He is in CS through August and I will most certainly come back sooner than planned to visit him again before he whisks away back to the east coast. It was really good to get to see him and have a chance to sit down and talk about everything that's gone on in about the last seven months. Another reason I need to get back to CS in the near future is that I really need a haircut. I'm not backing out on my decision to never cut my hair again, but my last hair cut by the fat bitch at Toni & Guy was so bad that it's just not growing out right. So I'm going to get Hannah to fix it for the long haul.

The final piece of news is that I got to swing by Humble on Saturday from about 1:00 to 7:00. I went to see my 2 week old niece, Kaylyn. That was too much fun. She was sooo small and so cute. I got her some socks, a blanket and some shoes. I told you all how much I love shoes on babies, right? G*d, that cracks me up. They are too big for her at the moment, but I can't wait until she grows into them. She was so funny. She doesn't really have control of her arms or legs yet. She kind of flails around without rhyme or reason any time she gets upset. So when she yawns and her pacifier (otherwise known by its brand name, Soothie) falls out of her mouth, it is a challenge to get it back in her mouth before the screaming starts. Every time you get close, she knocks you out of the way. So my brother does this thing where he grabs her tiny hands and kind of holds them to her chest and says, "Let's get organized!" It was way too funny. Visiting Kaylyn will definitely have to be a priority in the months and years to come. I was thinking about going out of town for my 3 day weekend over Labor Day, but Stephen, Rachel and Kaylyn are coming to Dallas to visit, so I'm modoubly staying for that. Plus, I think Ryan Short is having a party, so all you College Station boys should come up for that. Start making plans.

This blog is ridiculously long, but I had a lot to say, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. My call to action is for each of you to post your thoughts and experiences with pi, big bar tabs, and tiny babies. Until then, peace, my friends. And good night.

I can't believe how much there is to say, seeing as how I haven't blogged all week. You would have thought that with my birthday and everything I would have been chomping at the bit to tell you all about it, but in classic Sidesho-style I blindsided you all once again with my cunning and prowess. And by "cunning" I mean laziness, and by "prowess" I mean "general malaise."

My birthday was fucking awesome. I mean, I had to work and all, but that wasn't too bad. My coworkers all wished me a happy birthday. After work I went to dinner with my parents at a place called Smith and Wollensky. It was fucking awesome. To sum it all up, they used a crumb duster at the table. I ate and drank until I could barely move. I would venture to say it was the best meal I've ever had. I went to bed just a little early that night.

The next day my coworkers, remiss for having been denied the pleasure of a birthday happy hour, dragged me out to Duke's in Addison. Even though I had vowed publicly long ago to never go there again. I figured happy hour didn't count. Plus they were having their weekly dodgeball tournament and I wanted to see it. The co-s kept me with a beer in my hand the whole time. At one point, someone went to get me a drink while someone went to close out a tab while someone was leaving, and they all decided to get me a beer at once. So I had three full beers in front of me. It was AWESOME. I didn't end up staying to watch dodgeball so I can't tell you if it was cool or not, but I may check it out at some other point. I came home that night to my grandmother, 10 year old girl-cousin, and her 10 year old friend. I barely had time to say hi before I went to bed even earlier than the night before.

Speaking of, the girl-cousin is in my shower right now singing her fucking head off and it's about to use up my last nerve. It was nice to get to see her and get to know her a little bit, but there is a reason I don't hang out with 10 year old girls on a regular basis. Many, many reasons. And my mom has been fighting with my grandma pretty much since she got here ... which I find to be hilarious, because it reminds me a lot of when she and I fight. But it's not very fun for either of them, so that sucks. My dad remains stoic with the glass of Jack on the rocks.

Last night was Katie and Jeff's wedding. Congratufuckinglations you two. They are too cute together, so I braved the cathlick church to watch the blessed event. I went with Ryan Short and we were the ONLY two wearing any color. My outfit was kickass. I got some new chinos from Banana and paired it with this kickass purple shirt and blue/red paisley looking tie. It was a killer combo I'll just say that much. As soon as I get some pictures back from Allison I'll add them to the imaginary picture page I keep promising. Ryan was wearing a pink shirt and a pink tie and we looked stellar. Of course, we were the only ones there who didn't look like we were going to a hoe down. It was so typical. My hair was in a wedding-hawk, a hairstyle I invented just for the wedding.

The reception was ridiculously fun. Much Coronas con lime ingested. Many high school friends and many, many Aggies. A little dancing, a little mingling. Ryan caught the garder ... too funny. After the reception ended almost everyone went to TABC, a bar in Uptown. Chilled, drank a little more. Ryan and I headed to Round-Up to meet up with everyone around closing time. A couple more drinks, to TMC to dance, and then Whataburger! Taquitos at 4am, nothing beats it.

Now here I am upstairs in my room with the door closed trying to avoid everyone for the remainder of the night. I cooked a turkey for dinner ... not exactly of Thanksgiving proportions, but another winner. So I feel I've deserved some quiet time. Sorry for the hiatus, you know I was thinking of you all every moment I was AFK. I'll try to keep you more informed in the future. Crack is whack.

Welcome to June, everybody. The date of my departure is nigh. I'm thinking I'm gonna go to Austin on Friday to stay with Leslie and hang out with Brandon and then head back to Dallas to await my start date. I have to be at work at 8am. This is going to be quite a challenge. The only way its going to possibly happen is if I'm in bed by 10pm. I'm not sure I'm ready for that lifestyle, though if you asked my body it would probably disagree. Who knows, though. Maybe work will just be a blast. I'm getting to do design instead of installation so that is good news.

Two nights ago, Allison and I got krunk on Coors and sat out back of Northgate drinking our free beer. On the way home, I was absolutely starving, as I've been saving money by only eating once a day whilst in College Station. We decided to stop through Whataburger (duh!). I just wanted to let you all know that this is a possibility, in case it had not occured to you previously. We got four bacon, egg and cheese AND sausage AND potato taquitos. Omega, get excited. They were incredible. And when I saw my friend who now recognizes me at Whataburger, I told her, "Oh yeah and also throw in a handful of fries for free." And she did! How fucking rad is that. I love her. I had to tell this story since there was a request for it on the last post.

You know what I was thinking about the other day? When you just kind of meet someone one day but don't really know them ... but every time you run into them you're obliged to say hello. And we call these people "Hi" buddies. Well when I'm online, I have "Hey. Sup? NM. Coo." buddies. Chew on that.

The rest of our time in Miami was much like the first half: fucking incredible. Tuesday night we went to the bar that the clothing store girl suggested. It was like straight up velvet roped Sex and the City style club. The bouncer let us in free, which was cool, but once we got in we were like "oops." Then we had to suffer the indignity of turning around and walking back out. It was pretty obvious we were out of element, so we ran away. Everyone was in suits and it was very upscale. We're used to dead animals hanging on the walls.

So we went to a bar called Score. That was more our speed, for several reasons. I ended up getting shit canned and leaving all kinds of hilarious drunken voicemails on my friends' phones. On Josh's message I said something to the effect of, "OH shit I'm about to run into a phone poll." Good stuff. Wednesday night, we took it pretty easy, just had a nice dinner on Ocean Drive (lobster linguini - YUM) and then some wine with strange Columbian men. Thursday was a long day of traveling back to Dallas.

Friday we drove back to College Station. Traffic was HORRENDOUS. I have never seen it so bad on 45. It took us an hour and a half just to get through Corsicana where it goes down to one lane. So we made an executive decision to take Highway 14 through Mexia to try and avoid the congestion. Allison had to pee and wanted a drink so we took a tour of Mexia looking for the McDonalds or Sonic. I don't know how many of you are addicted to VH1 like I am, but surely a good lot of you have seen the biography of Anna Nichole Smith (aka Vicky Lynn). She grew up in Mexia with the most white trash family I've ever seen and worked at a fried chicken store. Well, as we were driving to Sonic we fucking found the chicken stand. I immediately pulled over, ordered a couple drumsticks and bicuits and Allison took a picture. Now that is the kind of sight seeing that I am interested in ... true American landmarks. We were laughing so hard the entire time.

That pretty much saved our 5 hour trip from Dallas to College Station and gave us something to giggle about the rest of the way. Last night was a glam Halo night with one of my new shirts that I bought. I looked awesome ... as usual. I got shit canned ... as usual. I crashed at Marshall's ... as usual. Good times had by all. I found out that Josh has internet so I'll probably be mooching off of him while I'm around. I will be sure to update you all if anything of interest happens. I will probably be back in Dallas around Tuesday or Wednesday. Or later. Who knows? Later kiddos.

Hello all I am updating you from an ultra shady tour company that also has computers available for increments of 15 minutes online. Don't you feel special. Really, I just wanted to sit down. We have been walking up and down the beach and through the streets of South Beach all fucking day and I am more tired that I have been in a long time.

In short, I am home. I fucking love this place. As soon as we got here I knew that I was going to have a good time. Every club we've been to has been absolutely bumping. Every person we've seen has been beautiful. And the shopping! OMG. I can't tell you how awesome the stores are here. I dropped 150 bucks today in a shop called Scorch, and it was all I could do to not empty out my bank account and charge the rest to my credit card. The clothes here were out of this world. Well, out of this country, actually. She said one of the shirts I got was from Spain, not sure about the others. The sales girl was so nice though. She said any time I want I can call them up and she'll take some digital photos of new clothes and send them to me if I want them. I will definitely take her up on this. 27, you are going to be so jealous of one shirt I got.

The beach here is also beautiful. We spent the morning getting over hangovers and basking in the sun, even though I was wearing SPF 48. Hahaha, my white ass is not going out to a club with a lobster burn. Last night we cruised up and down Ocean Drive, which is like the most happening street I've ever bar hopped on. Then we ended up at this gay club called Twist. It was out of control. Allison and I earned free drinks by getting on stage with the emcee, who just happened to be a large Columbian drag queen. Whatever, you know us, we'll do anything for a free drink.

Not sure whats up for tonight. We already spent the afternoon people watching at Wet Willie's -- this bar where all they serve are frozen drinks, but they have like 30 flavors. We're big fans ... but we didn't tip today so we don't feel like we can really go back in good conscience. I think we're gonna go to a club on Lincoln Street (the best shopping street I've ever been on). The girl from Scorch suggested it to us. She was so helpful. Thank god we finally got the scoop from a true hip local. This is truly paradise, kids. I am not playing. If I could find a job here in the next two days, I would honestly not come home. Now I know what Will was talking about when he called Miami his second home. Definite vacation spot in the future.

I guess I should go now, I only have a little bit of time left on my 15 minute interval and I don't want to pay anymore money. I would share pictures but my camera is out of batteries, damnit. Don't worry about me though, just in case you were, cause ITS ALL GOOD. Laaaaaaaaate.

Allison and I eventually did nail down our plans. I am reaching out to you all from the comforts of Plano at my parents' house (soon to be my residence as well). We drove up here today when I woke up from my drunken stupor and are departing tomorrow at 8am for Miami, Florida. I hear the rainstorms ain't nothin' to mess with, but I can't feel a drip on the strip.

We got a combo flight and hotel deal, so that's all taken care of. But I definitely had to go buy a whole new wardrobe for going out in South Beach. Ain't no surprise in the club to see Sly Stalone. I didn't want to look out of place so I spent $200 at Express. I needed to do that anyway. I even bought a pair of shorts -- my first in years and years. I've heard temperatures can reach 500 degrees on the Carribean Seas with the hot mommies screaming, "Aiy, Papi!" So I didn't want to get too hot.

Not sure how we're gonna get around so much. Hundred thousand dollar cars, e'erybody got'em, but we're too young to rent a car so we're just gonna try to walk everywhere. At least our hotel is right on the beach so that won't be a problem. We should be back on Thursday. I only came for two days of playin', but every time I come I always wind up stayin'. This the type of town I could spend a few days in. And then its back to College Station for my swan song ... then real life begins.

I'll be sure to update you all just as soon as I return to the land of peon, wanna-be, have-nots. Can ya'll feel me? All ages and races ...

So as of yesterday I have become officially homeless. Allison was kind enough to allow me to deposit the remainder of my earthly possessions in the middle of her living room and I've been driving around town with a car full of pots, pans, and a life-sized cut out of the late, great Albert Einstein. G*d, he was a great American.

But the past couple of nights I have spent the night at Marshall's pad. I know he doesn't mind, I just hope I'm not a burden on his roommates... though I doubt Owen would agree with me that I owe it to my friends to be mindful of their roommates. At any rate, when I woke up this afternoon Marshall and Co. were all at work at the Hobby Lobby so I washed their dirty dishes. That's my rent.

The only problem with being homeless is that my two host families, Allison and Marshall, are the only two people in this century who live in homes not equipped with internet. I figured I could just plug in my laptop while they were out for the day and go about my merry way, but as it were, I have been offline for like 2 days. I couldn't take it anymore. After I woke up, I went to see about having my hair highlighted (but you know Hannah is in such high demand that I can't get in until June 1st. What?) and then came right to the SCC, the computer lab on campus. My parking pass and my lab account are both still active until June 1st so I figured I should use them. I'm not even talking to anybody right now. Well, nobody but you, dear Sidesho-Viewers, but I am still instantly calmed just having the potential for somebody to contact me. And that's what this whole thing is really about ... potential.

So I had a dream last night that they had to take my diploma away from me for some minor technicality. And I got really pissed, as you would expect, and I torched Thompson. Well, I guess torched is putting it mildly. I mean I put explosive charges all over and doused the whole building in fluids, and all these people were begging me to stop, and I didn't. And I burned it to the ground. That ... dream ... was ... AWESOME!

Not sure what's on the schedule as of yet. Right now the only thing for sure is that I start work June 7th. Until then, who fucking knows. Maybe Allison and I will nail something down this afternoon. If so I'll let you know as soon as I get another chance to be online. Hmm, it appears to be Beer:30, gotta run!

So much has happened since last we met, faithful Sidesho-Viewers. I apologize half-heartedly for the impromptu hiatus from the blog. Since last we met, a couple of very exciting and life-altering things have taken place in my life. Let's discuss, shall we?

First things first, I graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Technology. Whoop. This might just be a piece of paper with my name on it, but it is also my ticket out of here. You see, that company that finally called me back have made their official offer and I have accepted. It's off to the Big D for yours truly. Any of you that have followed my webpage have only ever read about my many adventures while living in College Station (unless you are a VERY long time viewer and remember Chicken Cherry Cola or If I Had My Own Domain, It'd Be Vid.com). Now we're all going to have to make this move together as I transplant my life back to Dallas. Ironic, isn't it ... that the one child that probably wanted to get away the most has traveled the least, as the crow flies.

At the onset, I am going to move back in with my parents. This will keep me from having to go and find an apartment right away. I'm not sure if I want to live in Carrollton right close to the office, or if I might like to live downtown, or somewhere else. So this will give me an opportunity to see if I have a social life in Dallas and where the epicenter of that is. It also keeps me from having to pay rent. Which is a good thing. As long as I am staying at home, every dime I make is pure profit. So I want to save up for at least a couple of months just to have some money to stand on before I try to move out on my own and start accumulating nice things.

Since graduation all I've done is eat, sleep and drink. And its surprising how having NOTHING to do can keep you so busy. I am moving out of my apartment on Thursday. So I'll no longer live here. I think Friday, Allison and I are going to float the Guadalupe again, and then Monday, maybe flying to Miami. Our plans have changed slightly and may no longer include California. We shall see.

And last but not least ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHALL!!!!1!!!!!

Free at last. Free at last. Thank g*d almighty, free at last.

I guess thats the last time I'll get to utter those words in response to the end of a semester. That's right kids, you heard me right. I am DONE with college. I just wrapped up my final doc for my final project. I need to go to Copy Corner when they open at 7am and have it printed and then turn it in and that's that. It's an odd feeling. Graduation is on Friday at 9am at Reed Arena, if anybody feels like coming.

I was pretty stoked about my plan to just be a bum and try to figure out what the hell I was going to do with my future. Then as luck would have it, I received this email from T.A.C. (that company I interviewed with):

Dear David,

Good afternoon! As a follow up to the phone message I left today, I am writing to let you know that we are very interested in moving forward in our hiring for the project engineer position, and you are a top candidate we are strongly considering. Please let me know as soon as possible what your employment status is and if you are still available to be considered by TAC. Thank you!

I told them I was still interested. We'll see what comes of that. They haven't made an offer or anything yet. Sigh, I am so tired but unable to go to bed just yet. I can't wait to be done so I can sleep all day. I slept all day yesterday but it didn't help much. By the time I went to bed I had been awake and working for roughly 80 hours. I took one final, gave a presentation, finished a project (well, Owen did), wrote 5 papers, and finished a takehome final in that time. Our presentation went wonderfully. Its looking like I'm really graduating.

Pretty soon I'll be leaving College Station. Seems like it will be for good. It's odd. For five years all I've wanted to do is leave. And now that I'm leaving, I'm not sure I'm ready. But I'll tell you what I am ready for. Tomorrow Allison and I are going to the Association of Former Students party to get stickers for our cars, and then we're getting all snazzy and having dinner at Mesina Hof. That was one of our other goals before we left ... eating at Christophers and Mesina Hof. It's going to be so good. I love rawkin' the Hof. Then its drinky drinky time. I hope I'm not too tired.

Can't think of what else I had to say, but I wanted to let you all know whats been going on. My whole family will be in town on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but I'm hoping to sneak away for some just-graduated-college style partying, so hit me up if you want to join (and buy the first round whooaahh). Later you have-nots!

OUCH, my head hurts. It's 3:30 in the am ... I woke up a couple hours ago completely disoriented and confused as to what time it was, where I was, etc. Owen was watching TV and I was sleeping on the couch and the shows he was watching kept ending up in my dreams. It took me a few minutes to realize I wasn't the general of an army throwing people from a moving vehicle. God, why do I always have such murderous dreams.

Anyway, the reason my sleep schedule is so fucked up is because I pulled an all-nighter last night to finish a project. I did a piss poor job. I'm concerned I won't pass this class. Hopefully there will be a large curve. But I was already so tired to begin with, I couldn't believe I made it through the night and into the next afternoon. It was not without the help of coffee and cigarettes. I finally got to bed around 1pm and woke up at like 6. I thought perhaps I could stay up and be normal but after Owen and I ate at Fitz's, I crashed again, hardcore. This is not good because I have an assload to do by Thursday, but once again my stupid body is requiring food and sleep. It is so annoying like that.

The schedule for the next two weeks or so: Thursday, user manuals, installation guides, trouble shooting guides etc are due as well as the technical presentation and demonstration of our greenhouse project we've been working on for the past year. Probably the biggest hurdle. Friday-Saturday, feverishly finishing final documentation for that project, studying for a final in the class that I'm concerned about passing. Monday, take that final. Monday through Wednesday, work on a program that will test parameters of an Analog to Digital Converter that Owen and I haven't started yet. That is due Wednesday at noon along with our take home final. Wednesday night -- drink lots and lots, pray that grades go through. Friday at 9am, my graduation. After that, I will move all my stuff out of my apartment back home to Dallas. May 20th my lease is up and somewhere in there, I am going to California with Allison. Very hectic. Cannot wait to be done.

So if I don't update, please don't hate me. And for those of you moving back home for the summer and stuff, don't forget to bookmark SideshoViD.com and keep in contact with me. Where ever I go and whatever I do SVC will remain a constant way to see what I've been up to. I love you all, in spite of the fact that you are all a bunch of have-nots.

I just got back from my free hour and a half long full body massage, and I have to tell you, it was the best. I was so hungover this morning so I spent the day laying around waiting for my massage, and it just took care of every lingering symptom of hungoveredness. I got to do it because my friend Rob's mother works for the Austin School of Massage Therapy and they needed volunteers for students to practice on. Shit, sign me up. It was awesome, and totally free.

I've also been snacking on tons of free barbeque that Allison and I stole from a picnic she was invited to. The professor she TA's for does the study abroad program and was having a meeting since it's Parents' Weekend. After spending about 20 minutes driving around looking for the park that it was at, we realized that it was being held at the park that my apartment faces, a stone's throw away. That was kind of embarassing but we soon lost inhibitions as the beer was free. And we'd already spent our afternoon at Bourbon Street Bar and Grill drinking martinis for a dollar a pop. What an awesome day. So there we were with a cooler full of beer and three plates full of meat walking back to my apartment giggling.

Then it was off to the drag show, which was awesome. Brian did such a good job as Britney dancing to Slave. Good stuff. I was already drunk so I didn't spend any money on booze ... I maintained by buzz by sipping off of other people's drinks when they weren't looking. And yes, they were all people I know. I'm not that big of an alchy. Anyway, Lesbie Ann is still in town so I'm gonna follow her tonight, more than likely ending up at Halo. Good times. Czech you all later.

I'm really only updating to benefit my dear friend, Allison, who is up in Virgina for Spring Break and is feeling out of the loop. Fact of the matter is, there's no loop to be out of. I have not done a damn thing for the past few days but slump over on the couch in a slightly catatonic state staring at home improvement and cooking shows.

I had another amalgamation of two of my favorite things in the world. If you'll recall, the first time this happened was when I found out that John Denver did duets with the Muppets. Then, only recently, Lisa Loeb got her own TV show on the Food Network. And now, Dean Johnson, host of PBS's Hometime, is doing infomercials!!1! I fucking love infomercials. I would rather watch a good infomercial than a 30 minute sit-com any day ... any day. And now one of my heroes is hocking the "Little Giant" fully adjustable ladder. Sure, it's a little more expensive than a discount store ladder, but can you really put a price on your safety?

I think I am going to depart today for Houston. My brother's wife recently had some complications with her pregnancy. She has to be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy (which is hopefully going to be a full 4 months). Since I'm an old pro at being in bed 24 hours a day, I thought I might be able to help out a little while my brother's at work during the day. Or as his wife put it, "Help feed and water her." I'll probably be there until Friday and then its back to CS and Spring Break is over. It sure has flown by. I might need to take another one before graduation. Speaking of graduation, all of my siblings are going to come. I am really excited now. Alright, you sluts, I will catch you on Friday.

I got that outfit I wanted, but when I got home the shirt was fucking huge so I couldn't wear it. We got ready anyway and went to see Starsky and Hutch. I didn't bust out crazy laugh at all but I did laugh constantly through the whole movie. I would suggest it to all of you. The movie ran a little late so we had to call Christopher's to push our reservation back about 20 minutes. We went home and freshened up and then it was off to the restaurant.

Ohhhh emmmm geeee. We started off at the bar enjoying a couple glasses of wine while we waited for our table to be ready. There was a live jazz trio that was pretty cool. Our table was ready after only a short wait so we took a seat. We were so prim and proper all sitting up with correct posture and everything. It was so fun. Allison ordered the mediterranean salmon and I had a duck breast in a blueberry sauce. Holy fuck. You can't imagine how wonderful the food was. It came with all kinds of vegitable sides -- mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, some kind of greens, rice, and these little sweet potato crispy things. That's all I can remember. Needless to say it was fucking decadent. We also treated ourselves to a bottle of 2000 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It was definitely not the cheapest bottle available, but not nearly the most expensive either. Delicious! Just when we thought we couldn't eat another byte, they had to bring around the dessert cart. A raspberry chocolate truffle?! Give me a break. I will do anything for raspberries. It was incredible. Allison's said "Happy Birthday from Christopher's" in chocolate around the edge of the plate. Very classy. Thank you for taking me, Allison!

We could barely move after the meal was over. Allison was out for the count, going home to go to bed, but I had social obligations. I was supposed to go that concert with Marshall. Unfortunately, I was too full to do anything. David27 came over and I slowly but surely got ready to go out. Sometime after midnight we finally ended up at Halo, had a few drinks, met up with Marshall, Sonia and Chevy, and then went home.

When we got home Owen was complaining that someone in the parking lot was playing Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" entirely too loud, so me and 27 went to tell them to shut up. It was two girls jammin out in a car after coming from Northgate. As it turned out, it was Erin, the girl that I got into an accident with in my parking lot. She was with her friend Courtney and they invited us to go back to Erin's apartment to party with them. She lives in the apartment like next to mine but upstairs. It was so close. We took some beer with us and sat on her porch drinking and smoking cigarettes and bullshitting. They were so cute and fun. They said they want to go out with us tonight to Halo and I'm totally going to invite them. I will have to let you all know how that turns out. Ryan Short is currently en route to College Station with 3 Dallas boys in tow. Tonight is sure to be crazy. More on that, after this....

This Friday is uber special. First off, I didn't go to class this morning. While there may be ramifications dealing with this oversight at a later date, it sure did make today more fun. So I just rolled out of bed at like 2pm and took a bubble bath. I spoil myself so. Now that I'm all clean, Thommi just asked me to go work out with him. Whatev, just an excuse to take another bath. Then we're gonna go to the mall and get me this new outfit I want that was out of my size when I last looked. So I'll be lookin fly tonight because ...

Tonight is my date with Allison for her birthday. She got her hair did and got a new outfit to wear. So we're both gonna be lookin spiffy. And we're going to Christopher's on someone else's tab. Wahoo. But before we go to dinner, we're going to go see Starsky and Hutch. Oh shit, I just realized I'm gonna be cuttin it close here with the time. Oh well. After the movie we're going to the Groove with Marshall to see Skyler Blue ... some local band that a guy he works with is in. They're supposed to be pretty good. Good enough for me to waste a cover charge to go see them, thats for sure.

Anyway, I hope you are all having as wonderful of a day as I am. It's not easy bein the Sidesho ... but somebody's gotta do it. Peace out, have nots!

I am so lucky. I'll give you twenty-seven guesses as to why but you'll only need one. These past couple weeks have been some of the best in recent memory. It's nice to have a constant partner in crime who likes to sit and watch home improvement shows and smoke too many cigarettes. I'll rip your face off and chop it in a million pieces.

In other news, Allison made reservations for us to eat at Christopher's on Friday. For those of you from out of town, Christopher's is the only nice restaurant in like a 100 mile radius. I'm really excited cause I've never eaten there before. Her parents said we could go eat there as a birthday present. Get excited! Then she bought tickets for us to see Starsky and Hutch but I already promised Marshall I would go see this band play at the Groove. We're gonna have to remedy that situation. I talked to Marshall and he was cool with it even though he said he wouldn't be if I tried to back out. But whateryagonnado? For my graduation Allisons parents are gonna pay for us to eat at Messina Hof. How fun is that? Maybe I should remind my parents that they didn't get Allison a graduation present and see if we can go to P.F. Changs in Houston or something.

I really want to go shopping before all the boys from Dallas get here on Saturday but I doubt I'm gonna have a chance. Ryan Short had so much fun during his night here out at Halo that he convinced like 10 of his friends from Dallas to come down and stay in a motel and get shitcanned College Station style. We're gonna be sure to show them how we do. Chevy is coming into town on unrelated business so I'm sure she (and hopefully Ms. Sonia as well) will join us in our revelry. If anybody else wants to join in just let me know. I'm planning on drinking on Saturday from about 7pm until about 5am. Which means this one will be on beer all night as to monitor my alcohol intake, since Aaron always tries to kill me and almost always nearly succeeds.

It's like 5am and Im just now starting to get to bed. Shouldn't have taken that nap tonight after waking up at 2pm. Oh well, I had fun doing it ... SO fun. Catch you sluts lata.

Hey, Allison. It's your birthday. Hey, Allison. It's your birthday ... today! Happy 23rd Allison, I love you!

In other news, I was crusin around today with the birthday girl. We went to eat lunch at Souper Salad. Took us a good hour, which you know was trouble with the all-you-can-eat buffet. Then we decided to go to Wal-Mart to see if they had little shelves we could put in our bathrooms since Bed Bath & Beyond only had like 40 dollar chrome ones. Well, first we stopped off at Total Tan so I could get a membership but the girl was a bitch so I left without filling out the paper work. The big news though is that George Bush East is OPEN! Omega this is going to make it so much easier to get EVERYWHERE from my apartment. I am so completely stoked.

I have this vague feeling that I was the first car to drive on the newly opened road. They had just moved the baracades and there were still DoT cars on either side of it. And as we drove down, people who live on that street were out in front of their houses jumping up and down and cheering. We cheered, honked, and waved. It was too much fun.

Tonight I have a lab to attend. Blech. I'm kind of giving myself this week off as much as I can on account of having to do shit last week. But then Allison and gang are going out to Ninfa's. Even though I loathe Ninfa's and enjoy it even less on Tuesday nights when all the second rate frat boys and girls overtake the place, I am totally going. I'll just have to down a few drinks right when I get there to soothe myself. Then who knows what will happen. Do you ask where a shooting star will fall? Peace out, you have nots.

This is more of a pity update than anything. I realize that I haven't been very dedicated to the SVC this week even though a lot has happened. I have much to break down for you, but for now let's just hit the highlights. First, and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LESLIE! I tried to call her today and see how she was durrin, but she didn't answer. Hope it was wonderful. Tomorrow is Allison's birthday which will have me occupied for the whole night, if not the whole day as well.

The symphony was pretty cool. They played selections from Tchaikovsky and Chopin. The piano was beautiful. I dunno though... she was called the 'Nora Jones' of classical piano. I think that was completely inaccurate. She was just a really accomplished pianist ... and was impregnito at the same time. Now that takes talent.

This weekend was all about mixing business and pleasure. We had our mid-term presentation for my senior project today. We really weren't prepared for it so I spent almost every waking hour of the weekend working on designing a couple of printed circuit boards for our project. I managed to slip out in time to get drunk both Friday and Saturday, which was a blessing. I even kept myself under control, which I got a lot of props for ... getting props for not falling down drunk ... sign #236 you are an alcoholic.

Anyway, I won't keep you in suspense. Our presentation went really well. It's over now. My head hurts. My shoulders hurt. Yet I have a beer and 27 is on his way. Things are definitely looking up. More on that ... after this.

Omega, I fucking hate tow trucks. What fucking purpose do they serve? There are 40 empty parking spaces in a row and they have the nerve to come and try to tow the one guy who is here visiting me. They are the lowest of the low, the modern day untouchables. If I saw a towfuck crossing the street I wouldn't brake. To hear about my past personal experience with getting towed, please revisit Monday, September 9, 2002: "Got fucking towed".

So anyway, David#27 came over because we were highlighting Allison's hair (which turned out great despite her zero confidence in my abilities with all things hair). We were chilling on the couch when he was like, "Is that my alarm?" He looked through my window and then sprinted out the door. I followed soon after with his sandals to find him talking to my most hated enemy, my hyena, the tow truck driver. The guy said if we gave him 40 dollars in cash that he would put the car back on the ground. I think thats extortion and I'm pretty sure its against the rules, but fuck it, its better than driving halfway across the state to pay 100 bucks. And since I didn't have my gun (I believe its legal to shoot him in Texas to protect property) we gave him 40 bucks.

I just doesn't seem fair. But I don't want to go further into that rant again. I just hate tow trucks, omega, I hate tow trucks. I complained to the management but they looked at me like I was crazy. I'd rather hike a mile in the snow to my apartment because all the spots are gone than to contribute one dirty fucking dollar towards feeding anyone low enough to drive a tow truck.

On a lighter note, I just got an AOL trial CD in the mail. Allison and I have always loved the random word combination passwords they give you. The two I got today (which I think Alfie would probably list as band names for the day) are NEPHEW-GNAWER and EARFUL-EXAM. Wonderful. Well I'm off to build a Digital to Analog Converter, design an Equipment Interface PC Board, polish off the Internet-Based System User Interface, and prepare for our Technical Advisory Team presentation tomorrow. Busy, busy, busy... HA!

I'm not sure where to begin this blog. There is much to say about the past 24 hours. The first thing I did was take an ultra long time getting ready. The SideshoGang was all out at Margarita Rocks and wanted me to join them but I opted for a cucumber melon bubble bath instead. After a really long soak and getting my hair delightfully hawked, I stopped off at Allison's for her dessert & wine soiree. I stayed long enough for some strawberry cheesecake and a glass of merlot.

From there, I headed over to David's to get dressed, Tommy's to pick up some clothes I left there, Mosher Circle to pick up Sonia, and back home to get some shoes and wait for the arrival of my dear friend Ryan Short. He drove in from Dallas and arrived around 11 o'clock raring to go out on the town. Of course, we dropped by Allison's one more time so she could see Ryan and then headed out to Halo. Ryan came just short of his goal of dropping 100 bucks at the bar, which meant many beers and shots for the two of us, as well as anyone in the immediate vicinity.

After sufficient intoxication and dancing resulting in bruises, we headed back to James's for more of the same. I had a blast last night, and I know Ryan Short did too. We went to Fazoli's today to eat and go to witness a car jump the median, run over a tree, and speed through the parking lot. It was very random.

Oh, and the big news of the hour: The Olive Garden burned down. Information PLEASE.

Update: Now the fucking train derailed over by Tommy's apartment. WTF is going on in College Station today?

I honestly never really thought that I had a problem with spending money. I always just figured I could kind of stop whenever I needed to. Wrong! Now that I am using my checking account for everything (I cut my beloved credit card into 3 pieces ... I have one, Allison has one, and Tommy has one) and have an opporitunity to watch the expenditures accumulate, I realize just how ridiculous my spending habits are. This weekend alone I managed to spend 200 dollars ... and I have nothing to show for it. That's like almost a pair of pants I could have had, blown away on food and booze. Alas, I disciplined myself by going to Pier 1 and buying the coolest little tea candle holder. I need some ambience for when I yogate.

Although I have to admit that all the money I spent this weekend was well worth it because I was joined by my old, dear friend, Edward Spencer. I haven't seen him in a couple of years, but the fact that we've known each other for roughly 15 years allows for such gaps. He came in on Saturday evening, we ran around buying booze and food, and then headed to Tommy's for a pre-party. The pre-party ended up being attended by Tommy, Edward and I, so it wasn't much of a party. Then we went to Halo and drank a whole bunch. Edward's like in medical school or something, so he's not used to doing this every night like we do. But I think he had fun. The after-party at Tommy's was out of control ... I heard the cops came around 5:30 and told everyone to leave. Whateeeeever. The next afternoon, we dragged out of bed, Edward went back to Houston, and I took a nap.

I put my John Denver video on while I was sleeping and when I dozed off, the tape ended, rewound automatically and then the VCR shut off. As it turned out, when the VCR shut off, there was all this stuff about a SuperBull or something. Who woulda thought. I wanted to make some Wolf Sauce, a recipe for queso I got from BreakfastParade, so I went to the decimated grocery store, bought some ingredients and then took the crockpot over to Tommy's. James came over and we all ate the Wolf Sauce, which was delicious, but I forgot to turn off the crockpot so by the time we checked, the cheese was blackened and disgusting. So much for leftovers. I would comment on the game, but the portions of it that we did watch, I pretty much slept through. I don't really even like basketball, as most of you know.

On a final note, I've decided that I'm not going to answer my phone anymore. I have begged. I have pleaded. I have harangued, but people still call me just to see whats up and try to hold my attention for long phone conversations. Since nothing I can do can make you all stop, and nothing you can do can keep me from feeling like ants are crawling out my eyes if the conversation lasts more than 30 seconds, this is the only viable solution. Just leave me a voicemail and I'll call you right back. That way I can see what you want before hand. And a "Hey its me, call me back" doesn't count. Thats what a missed call means. Sorry to have to do this. Talk to you all later (MAYBE HA).

School starts tomorrow afternoon. I have one class and a lab, and I guess I'm gonna go back to work. I dunno, I sure do hate work, but I am so fucking broke its not even funny. Let me see if I can even remember all of the shit that has gone down in the past few days. First off, my cell phone has been working for a while now. I stole a charger from Aaron's apartment while he was out of town. I think it may have been mine though, but either way, I'm back in business and hating it as usual. I know I've said this far too many times before, but based on the conversations I've had in the past few days, I'm just going to briefly reiterate ... I fucking hate talking on the phone. It makes me want to cut my eyes out with a spoon. Because its dull, you twit, it'll hurt more! So if you're just calling to see 'whassup' then don't. And if you're calling for a reason, keep it short and to the point. I would really, really appreciate it.

So anyway, back to the narration. Thursday and Friday, we went out to Halo as usual. Despite my announcement that I was completely partied out and most definitely not going to drink, I got shitcanned both nights. There was much vodka consumed, and much dancing. Nothing severely out of the ordinary. Saturday, I had promised Tommy weeks ago that I would go to Houston with him. I don't usually leave town, and if I do, I need like some serious emotional preparation in order to do so. I mean, despite the fact that my wallet is almost rotted in two, I still haven't gotten a new one because I'm not emotionally ready to commit to a new wallet. Thats the kind of person I am. Very much about the rut, and any deviation from said rut is stressful. But Tommy gave me ample time to prepare so to Houston we went. It was quite traumatic, I'm not gonna lie. We went to South Beach with Todd and I managed to have fun once I got a few drinks in me. They spray liquid nitrogen onto the dance floor in this huge cloud so thick you can't see two inches in front of your face and its really cold. And when you're hot from dancing it feels so good.

We finally got home around 4am. I slept the whole next day, never even made it home. By the time I woke up, Tommy had come home from work and was ready to go get something to eat. And then Aaron called me and said everyone was staying at his cousin's house in Houston and going to South Beach again. So despite the fact that by this point my body was REALLY beggin for rest, I agreed. So Tommy and I turned back around and got back on the road for Houston this time with Allison in tow. It was a blast again, especially because everyone from College Station was in attendance. Much fun, much alcohol, much dancing. Aaron's cousin lives in a mansion. It was too much fun. I didn't go to sleep until like 6am. I spent the day today cleaning up a little around the apartment and doing some laundry. Its time to stop having fun, go to school and work every day, and then graduate and the fun is REALLY over. Sigh. Good night, fuckers, hope everyone has a good first day. Leave me a comment letting me know how it went.

I have been putting off this blog for some time now. I have to talk about Thanksgiving. Part of the reason I was stalling was because I had to find out all that happened that night. I couldn't remember the last part of the celebration. Whoops. Anyway, it was quite riotous and out of control, just the way the holidays should be.

I cleaned my house all day long in between preparing the turkey, and had it spotless by the time AllieD, the first guest arrived. Shortly thereafter, Ryan and Todd came. By the end of the night, the meal consisted of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bread, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole ... and taco salad. Ha! Gotta love pot luck. Let me see if I can run down the guest list without forgetting anyone and irrepairably damaging our relationship: AllieD, Jamey, Allison, Ryan, Todd, Leslie, Josh, Ryan, Josh, Kyle, Aaron, Ty, Rick, Bob, Antwat, Trey and Thomas. That's the best my faded memory can do. It was a lot of people. Then there were the 14 other guests ... each one a different empty bottle of wine. Yeah, we drank 14 bottles of wine ... as well as a box of Franzia ... and a 30 pack of Stones ... and a couple cases of Bud ... and a bottle of expensive scotch.

Needless to say it was a whole helluva a lot of fun. The next morning I woke up feeling wonderful, but soon discovered I was just still drunk. Later on the hangover hit me and I spent the day throwing up. But it did wonders for my abs. You should have seen the kitchen. It totally should have been deemed a bio hazard and demolished. We're talkin food everywhere, like turkey grease and shit. Wine stains on everything. Dishes piled high all filled with leftovers. Broken glass galore.

We broke 2 glasses and one bottle of wine. I only saw one glass get broken ... the other two must have happened outside since there are shards of proof. Aaron and Trey got towed. Aaron got hit in the face with a wine bottle? Antwat got taken advantage of in the back room. Somebody stuck novelty fingernails on my right hand ... and there's a pair of handcuffs on my bathroom sink. My toe is all but broken. I woke up next to Allison wearing more clothes than I had remembered. Somebody stole some DVDs from me.

I will never drink wine again. Thanksgiving was absolutely insane but totally fun. Can't wait to do it again whenever that holiday happens to roll around. Then I had to get serious cause I had two finals on Friday. I bombed the first one and did alright on the second one. The second one was Control Systems, and it was only two questions, but took me the full 2.5 hours and I didn't finish. Cra-zy. Then I went home for a spell, got dinner with Kyle at Rumors since he's goin home in a couple days, and then started working on documentation. We have huge documents due on Monday. Sucks. I should be working on them right now, but I didn't want to leave you all in suspense any longer. I'll be so much happier when all of this is done.

I just rode the bus home. Owen has repeatedly told me that he rode this bus, but I didn't quite believe him. I'm speaking, of course, of the Milk of Modern Art bus. (Check out Tuesday, November 25, 2003: Milk of Modern Art if you missed that story). I was overjoyed to see the painting again, but a little saddened that it had been completely decimated by footprints since I saw it last. I guess thats really appropriate in a way. Art is so tragic.

In place of the modern art, there was some performance art on the bus. The actor was a small, half-full Dr Pepper bottle. (Make sure you don't put a period after Dr -- it's just plain incorrect.) He was sashaying along the aisle, moving erratically left to right. It was harder for him to move forward and back because it required a good deal of acceleration to overcome the static friction. I never really realized how much the bus rocks back and forth, even on seemingly even streets. This just further resolved my stance against ever giving up my seat on the bus for a girl (see Thursday, September 4, 2003: More like chauvilry for my views on that).

To top off the entertainment, there were two dumb sorority chicks on the bus with me. They had to sprint in order to catch the bus outside of the MSC. Of course, they were too dumb to realize that the bus wasn't going anywhere. We sat in front of the MSC for a good additional 5 minutes after they came on huffing and puffing and screeching without every once thanking the bus driver they thought had waited for them. At one point, the girl with the nose ring was trying to express to the other, as loud as she possibly could, that their mutual friend was going to fail this semester. "She has taken 1 out of 3 tests so far," she stated aloud. Her friend pointed out what I found to be blaringly obvious ... she had held up 1, and then 4 fingers to illustrate her point. She realized her error, and laughed, explaining that 4 minus 1 was 3, and that was why she had been confused. Sorority girls should be terminated excecution style. Refer to Monday, September 8, 2003: Sorority girls are dumb for more on that subject.

The final thing I wanted to discuss was my cell phone. I was bored on the bus and desperately trying to ignore the destitute art, dancing soft drinks, and waste of breath sorority bitches, so I started clicking around on my cell phone after Allison McDoesntpickup called me back. It had a running total for hours that I've used my cell phone since I got it. You all know how I feel about cell phones (and if you don't -- Monday, November 10, 2003: A definitive opinion on cell phones). My total since I purchased the phone was just over 40 hours of total talk time including incoming and outgoing. I bought this phone around the beginning of July. Lets just say for math's sake that I talked for 2 total days. There are roughly 160 days in that time leaving me talking on my phone for about 1.3% of my life. I have got to get this number down.

I'm on my way to HEB now to buy a turkey with Allison. How do you like that massage Mr. Turkey? I hope it thaws in time. Then tis go time on the documents I have due next week. We are so fucking screwed. Peace out, sluts, I will see you all here tomorrow.

Last night was pretty tame. I sat around most of the night not really doing anything. You'd never guess by my behavior that finals are right around the corner. There was a party going on over at Julius's apartment last night that a lot of my friends were at. So my phone was ringing off the hook with people telling me to get over there. Which is flattering, but you all know how I feel about my phone ringing. Eventually Dustin and Trey came to get me, because I kept stalling.

I didn't go out earlier because I was over at Allison's looking at her new baby dog, Colby, whom I call Winky. This dog is cute and nice, but has a gimp eye, and a crazy streak. He kept spinning full speed and barking at the ceiling and then ramming his nose into the ground. And he sleeps with his head propped up on his nose. Too funny. I'm sure she'll be thrilled that I'm making fun of her new dawg.

So anyway, I eventually ended up at Julius's around the time the alcohol ran out. I had one cup of punch ... just enough to turn my tongue blue so I would fit in with everyone else. Naturally, I ran into Leslie, Rick, Ryan, Thomas, KYLE, Josh and Josh, among others, and have to mention them. However, I decided to put a little twist on their sudden SVC fame. Since I talk about them so much and there are so many names to remember, they will henceforth be referred to as The SideshoGang.

So I was standin outside talking with the SideshoGang when Leslie decided to tell me that my story about my first time on the internet wasn't funny. I don't know where she got the idea that this was an open forum, but nonetheless, she offered up her negative feedback. She redeemed herself only by laughing at my interpretation of Britney Spears "Me Against the Music" where I wonder why she's always singing about getting a p'zone. Speaking of, that does sound kind of delicious. But back to my story. Josh and Ryan scored points for the SideshoGang by saying the story was, indeed, funny, so they're back to a collective par. Way to go, gang!

I got woken up this morning at 4:00pm by Josh and Ryan telling me to open my front door. So I did and they shared gossip and stories from last night. One of the stories was that Ryan had spilled a big coke on his lap on the drive home, and had drenched his phone in soda. So it was not functioning today. He had a Nokia phone from T-Mobile, so I went into my room and got my old Nokia phone and said he could have it if he wanted. Because all you have to do is insert your memory card into a phone and it works as yours. His away message right now said that he was so excited about his new phone that he's going to name it SideshoViD. I wonder if that has anything to do with the front screen already displaying SideshoViD. Either way, I'm still flattered. Its like I gave birth to my own baby boy, only he's a gigantic baby boy who smokes and says 'shit' a lot. Y'know?

So my weekend was pretty good. I went out one night with Owen, Allison, AllieD and Jamey. That was rather uneventful. Last night Ryan, Todd, and I decided to just drink a whole bunch of beer. I actually bought 30 Stones to contribute to the party. But then Rob called me and reminded me that it was his birthday and that his party was going on. There was a keg, so naturally, we decided to go there. It was a quaint little party at a house that I've partied at before, even though I don't know the guy who lives there. There were a few people there that I knew, most of whom I hadn't seen since this summer. I drank a whole lot of Shiner, and Allison gave me a ride home. Fun times had by all.

I have an exam tomorrow at 8am. I should be getting to bed soon. I just got done studying at Sweet Eugene's with a group of friends. I think I understand everything well enough now to pass the test. The trick is going to be getting up and going. Hence the early bed time. But it all works out okay since I only got like 4 hours of sleep last night and I'm still a little hungover, so I've been looking forward to sleeping for quite some time.

In fact, I think I'll go do that.

I don't think I've ever said this before in my life, but I am really glad that it's finally cold. I usually feel the same way about cold as I do about rain, but this year is different. Maybe it's because now I own several fabulous beenie's I can't wait to start wearing every day. Maybe its because the weather has waited well into November to finally dip below 80 degrees. Maybe it's because I've been keeping up with forms of physical therapy and haven't felt the stabbing pains of cold in my knees lately. Maybe I'm just growing up and have decided to accept the fact that seasons exist. Whatever the reason is, I say bring it on. I'm ready.

Speaking of it being November, you all know what that means right. Even though I tend to celebrate this holiday year round, its still more fun to have THANKSGIVING! in November. I'm not sure what's going to happen exactly this year, but I know I'll be celebrating with at least a 16lb turkey and I know that you're all invited. All you have to do to come to my feast is bring something: side dish, bread, wine, a centerpiece, I don't care. There's a chance that Allison won't be joining us this year which would mean that we'd be missing out on green bean casserole, candied yams, and pumpkin pies. So hopefully she'll decide to stay and play.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all the heads up so you can start rearranging your scheds to accommodate me. I'm expecting to see you all here. Peace out, have-nots.

Is it just me or does everyone I know now have a prescription to something? Allison has her injured back that awarded her muscle relaxers and hydrocodone. Sean just tore something in his knee and was awarded some hydrocodone. Owen has his speed 'prescription' and he stayed home sick from school today so he'll probably win some more pills for that. He's gonna try to claim that I got him sick, when in reality, its some Austinian disease he brought back from his Halloween adventures.

I got strep and was awarded Penicillin. Which I didn't think was very cool until my brother just informed me I could tell people I was "chillin' like a villain on penicillin" and not be lying. Rawk! The only thing that isn't cool about my booty is that it doesn't really make a very good bargaining chip. On the black market of pill pushers and poppers, there's no way anyone is going to vie for an antibiotic. They have no side effects and are so easy to come by. Looks like I'm going to have to sweeten the deal if I'm going to get my paws on any of those hydrocodone circulating around. And to top it all off, I didn't even get molested by the doctor this time. What a rip off!

Tonight we have to go to Navasota to Martha's Bloomers to pitch our project proposal to the owner out there hoping that he'll fund our little operation next semester. That means I have to dress up and act polite, my two favorite things to do. But if all goes well, we could be sittin pretty next semester, and that ... is a good thing. Peace out, skillets.

Holy shit, where do I begin? I guess we should start with the costumes. I forgot to charge my camera so I wasn't able to get pictures, but Allison took a couple. Only they were with a real film camera, so its going to take time to develop them and scan them etcetera. Anyway, to dispell the anticipation, I was Santa Pimp and Allison was Slutty Mrs. Claus. They were good costumes, too. Owen went with us to the party. He was dressed as the Incredible Hulk, e.g. painted green and wearing a ripped up T-shirt. Classic.

It was a killer party, too. Everyone was pretty into our costumes. And the fact that Santa showed up with a gift sack full of condoms didn't hurt either. I hope everyone who got to reach into Santa's sack had fun playing with their new toys. So the drinking ensued, and I got more and more obnoxious with the fact that I was Santa as the night went on. Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture.

Also at this party was none other than Spongebob Squarepants. This was a pretty big dude wearing a foam shirt with corners on it shaped like Spongebob. And he was pretty drunk. We talked to him for a little bit and he asked me what year I was about 5 times, and I think he asked Allison about 12 times. He was class of '05. He told us so many times that I still remember today. Weeeellllll, as things would have it, I pissed him off. I don't remember what I said, or when I said it, or if I really actually even said anything. But the next thing I knew I overheard, "Santa better watch his fuckin ass before I kill him." I'm not a hater, so I went to diffuse the situation. I was like, "Hey Spongebob, everything's cool man. If I said something I'm sorry, I'm not talkin shit, I'm not saying anything." And he was assuaged momentarily, until I start hearing, "Santa better get inside and get away from me."

Time out. Just for a second. I want to make sure nobody is missing out on this point. He was dressed up as Spongebob Squarepants. Mmmkay, looked like an idiot. And he is threatening to kick Santa's ass. My life rules. So all these people on the porch attempted to mediate one more time, I told Spongebob that I was sorry, they all told him that Santa was cool and wasn't talking shit, but in the end they decided that maybe Santa should go inside. Next thing I know, Kevin, the guy whose party it was, is asking me to please hide in the kitchen while they escort Spongebob out of the party. BAM! Somebody is pounding on the outside of the house. You guessed it. Spongebob was out of control.

We had been talking to these two twins for a while in the party, and they joined me in the kitchen as I hid like a little bitch. So I did what anyone with a brain would do. If this guy was going to kill Santa, then I'll stop being Santa. So I took one of the twins and innocently said, "Hey dude, put this on." On went the beard, the wig, the hat, and even the shirt. I don't think he was really cognizant of the severity of the situation because as a group of people were ushering a belligerant Spongebob out the front door, here comes the psuedo-Santa around the corner screaming epithets. And Spongebob fucking lunges at him. And he was just egging him on like, "I'm not scared of you bitch." Classic. This girl yelled at him to "shut the fuck up" so he cooled it. Once Sponge was gone, we all had a good laugh about the entire thing.

I'm not sure what time we went to bed, but I know that we woke up at 1pm. Or should I say noon. Rawk! I should probably go to work today, but more immediate concerns involve Excederin, tacos and a nap. Peace out sluts. Merry Christmas, and remember to wrap your meat. Santa hates VDs. Ho ho ho.

I saw Kill Bill (vol 1). This is the movie where Britney Spears dresses up like Bruce Lee and fights with swords. I have yet to enjoy a "Quintin Tarrentino" movie that I've seen, so it shouldn't surprise me that I didn't appreciate Kill Bill. However, I will say that there were many, many redeeming qualities that I hope and pray some filmmaker I enjoy will steal and use. Fighting in the dark with nothing but shadows -- very cool. Excellent wire effects. Great soundtrack, all fights should be set to cool music. On the negative side: ridiculous amounts of gore ... I got a little queasy at a couple parts. Anime is not cool, not even when you try to be artsy about it. That's my official review. It was worth the money, but just barely.

I spent yesterday running around town putting together my Halloween costume with Allison. We're doing the themed thing again. As soon as I'm done sewing, we'll take a picture and I'll throw it up here. Until then, hold your breath.

Have I said lately how much I enjoy Martha Stewart. She is so great. And truth.com ads drive me to smoke more. Not surprising that they are funded by Phillip-Morris. Smart people working there. Evil, but smart.

Lastly, I got a shoutout from the past today that absolutely made my day. Anytime people tell me they read my webpage (which has been happening a lot lately, I'm starting to blush) it makes my day, but this one was from my old elementary school flame.

MissyHo12: i just had to give a shout out to my boyfriend for 3-5th grade. wanted to let you know that i frequent your website and find it laugh out loud hysterical! thought i'd say and let you know that! take care

I took a midterm today that I think I bombed. That sucked and it was very stressful. My boss is in China for a week now so I have yet to make it to work this week. And I'm broke. Like absolutely broke. That is all I have to update you on for now. Viva la vid.

I had two goals for this weekend. First, I wanted to get really, really drunk. Not a problem. My other goal was to accomplish absolutely nothing. Its a hard goal to accomplish because you're never really sure when you've finished it, but I know that I did it because of a little thing I've dubbed the couch-a-thon.

They kind of went hand-in-hand because my fabulous hangover kept me from wanting to do anything. I woke up on the couch the next morning and proceded to drink dr. peppers and lie about. I spent the whole day watching food network until Josh IMed me and said he was going to make some sloppy joes. He just lives two seconds away, so I actually got up and went over there. But dont' worry, because all i did was lay down on his couch. We saw the coolest show on ABC called Swapped or Switched or something like that. Check it out.

I went home after that and laid down on the couch until Allison called. We ventured briefly to Blockbuster but it smelled like ass in there so we went to Hastings. I bought The Transporter and 8 Mile on VHS cause they were cheap. So we went to Allison's to watch The Transporter and I laid down on her couch. As soon as that was over, back to my couch I went, and chatted with Neumann until 6am. I haven't talked to that guy in like 4 years, so that was a little surreal but cool. I slept on the couch, and its now 3pm and I'm still here.

If you all had pledged a nickel for every hour I could sit on a couch ... well, I'd have a shitload of nickels. So who is proud of me?

I was putting off this blog because I know its going to be lengthy and I have a mid-term paper due tomorrow. But after proofreading this document for about an hour, I'm ready for a break. I'm also waiting for AllieD to come and get me to go to dinner. Marijuana ... harmless?

So I left on Saturday morning to go to Plano. I was in a particularly inertial mood so I sped the entire way like a maniac. I never speed, but I felt like it so I did. I made it in just around 2.5 hours. Shaved an entire hour off the drive. I got home still a little hungover from the night before, so I took a bath in my parent's jacuzzi tub. Decadent. Then I did my hurr, got dressed up, and headed over to the Methodic Church. Methodic weddings are so much different from cathlick. The damn thing was over in about 10 minutes. For those of you not keeping up to date on your SideshoViD.com blog, it was Allison's brother getting married. Congratulations Amanda and Matt! Allison was the second prettiest bridesmaid at the wedding.

After that it was on to the hotel where the reception was. Allison's parents got us a hotel room, which is a lot radder than my parents. OPEN BAR, DUDE! Four hours of all the Coors Light you can drink ... did I die and go to heaven? We had so much fun, because of, and in spite of the DJ. It was a small wedding and I knew most of the people there so it was a blast. After they shut down our little shindig (aka stopped giving me beer) Allison and I decided to go out to Dukes in Addison. Big ups to Delilah who slipped me a crisp, new 20 before we left. (Don't worry, I never told Allison.)

Okay, if I had to describe Duke's in one word, that word would be: rude. The door man was rude, the people there were rude, the people who worked there were rude ... and I was already wasted, at the point where I start loving everybody. I was going to this one beer bucket girl all night and buying beers, and tipping her $2 every time. Towards the end of the night cash was slipping, so I checked my wallet before I walked over there. And when I did, she goes "Do you have any money to tip me?" And I said, "Well its tight, but I've got 50 extra cents." And she has the nerve to say, "Fuck that, I'm not selling to you." WHAT?! Its GRATUITY! Its GRATUITOUS! Holy shit, I pointed out to her rather rudely (when in Rome) that I had been paying her two dollars to twist off a cap all night, and she begrudgingly sold me my last beer for a 50 cent tip she didn't deserve. Fucking bitch.

Then we came back to the hotel and started meeting strangers. We met one guy who had some beer so I invited him up. Then we met some guy who had been riding the elevator up and down all night, so naturally, he came with. Then guys from the bar started calling Allison because she'd invited them all over, and one of them came. Although we had no idea who he was based on his name. Then Allison got molested by the elevator guy, so he had to leave. When I woke up, our room only had me and Allison in it, thankfully.

So then I pretty much had to high tail it back to College Station for a special Sunday class ... bullshit. And now I'm working on this paper. Then I have the huge NASA review over the project I've been working on for 6 months. Then a mid-term on Friday and another on Tuesday. I haven't done shit in 6 weeks and all of a sudden, I'm busy. Sucks.

I made an observation on myself today. Thought I'd share it. Whenever I don't like somebody, I always refer to them in quotes. E.g.: I don't know what's up with this "David" but I don't like him. Keep that in mind, in case I ever say, Hey "%n". (For all your AIMphiles out there). Peace out.

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am going to Dallas ... again. This time it is for Allison's brother's wedding. I'm not real big on weddings, but I sure do like free booze. I should actually be on the road already, but I'll be there soon enough. I might have to speed cause the weddings at 4. Shit happens.

I went out again last night with Dustin and Trey and their friend Josh. It was a lot of fun. The reason I mention this is because ended up back at their place and our friend Ryan Byrd came over. (This is a new Ryan, I gotta quit making new Ryans.) Anyway, he got a phone call and says "I'm over here with Dustin, and Trey, and David ... I mean SideshoViD." So naturally my ears perk up and I ask who's on the other end that would recognize me as SideshoViD. It was his friend Leslie whom I've met a couple of times. She said she goes to my website "every five minutes." So to thank her, a loyal Sidesho-Viewer, I thought I'd give her a shoutout. Big ups, Les.

Beat the hell outta Baylor. My prediction: Aggies 38 Baptists -7.

Tonight I was going into my backpack to get out some homework assignments due tomorrow when I came across my Yoga textbook. I realized that I've barely cracked the thing since I (and by "I" I mean "my dad") bought it those weeks ago. I felt like I was at a point that I could do some independent yoga, so I popped it open to see what was in store. You're supposed to start with basic spinal twists and stretches ... which is major boring shit. So I skipped right to the head stand. After a few painfully unsuccessful attempts, I decided to start with their starting positions and read the instructions, rather than just jumping on my head. I'm proud to say I successfully held the headstand for a few seconds. As Owen as my witness, I did it. I wasn't too successful at the Crow, even though I did get into it, just not as cleanly as I would have liked. And the Peacock was NOT going to happen anytime soon. I also came dangerously close, with the help of Owen pushing on my back with his foot, to touching my nose to my knee. Allison made a bet with me, I do hope she's remembering, that the first person to touch their nose to their knee gets an entire night of free drinks at Northgate. And I am actively persuing that goal.

Why do I keep having dreams that I've killed people? They're never violent dreams, they generally only deal with the guilt and paranoia of having just killed someone. Why can't I have wet dreams like a normal person...

Let me add one more rule to my list of Aggie Ettiquite. After the game, go home and shower, people. It's cool to go directly to Northgate from the game, but it is not cool at midnight to be still standing around in your sweat drenched Maroon Out shirt trying to spit game. Honestly.

So Allison and I came home and showered and then went up to Northgate. That was pretty fun. I got to see some people from high school and my old roommate Cade, who apparently has cleaned up his act. Always a good time when Cade's around. So we had a couple beers on Northgate and then decided to go check out this big party that was going on. We said our goodbyes, made our way to the front of Duddley's and then made a break for it across University to the dorms where we had parked. Next thing I notice is a cop has altered his predetermined course to turn into the dorm parking lot as though he were coming after us. I jokingly recalled the story when Todd got pulled over for jaywalking and told Allison the same was going to happen to us. Telling that story might have been a bad idea.

Because we decided to avoid him. When he was on the right side of the cars, we walked on the left. As he circled around we meandered through the cars. It was becoming more and more apparent to us that this dude was trying to talk to us, so we darted through the cars and went to Moore for a while. I needed to pee and I was seeing if anyone I knew was there. My old summer roomie John was outside. So then it was time to make a break for the car. We figured that there was no way this guy was going to expend anymore energy than he already had on a stupid jaywalking ticket. Wrong. He was still there waiting for us. We went behind the dumpsters and around and got to my car without him being able to talk to us. Success.

Wrong. We pull out of the parking lot onto University and the fucking cop pulls out right behind us. At this point I'm considerably alarmed, but I don't want to say anything to Allison and get her paranoid. Turns out, she was thinking the same thing. Just to check that he was actually following me, I thought I'd get in the left lane and let him pass me. Wrong. I got in the left lane and he switched lanes as well. So now I'm officially being tailed by a cop, and I cannot show up to a party with 5-0 on my tail, so I change my destination from the party to not-the-party. And I guess the fact that I was switching back into the right lane to try and get away let him know that this was the end of the road and he hit the lights and pulled me over.

Now I'm thinking to myself that jaywalking is not that big of a deal and everyone does it, he sure did go to great lengths to catch me. So I hand him my license and he says "The reason I pulled you over was because you're wearing a black shirt." [Insert dramatic pause] WTF? Well, as the story goes, someone in a black shirt was shooting paintballs at people on Northside that night, so I guess its common practice for the police department to pull over anyone coming from Northgate wearing black, since it is, by all means, a rare and hard-to-find shirt color. Although it was fun explaining why we were totally avoiding him in the parking lot. I just told him that we were deciding whether or not to go visit people at Moore and he bought it. Whew.

So then we got to the party and proceeded to tell that story many, many times. This party was total sensory overload. I've never seen so many beautiful people under one roof. We totally took this guy up on his offer to drink as much as we wanted and I soon realized that I was not going to be driving home. But CARPOOL stops running at 3 and we were not going to leave this party at 3, far too early. Next thing you know you're waking up on some strangers couch without a care in the world. I called Allison to find out where the fuck she'd gone. Turns out she was on a couch not 10 feet away from me. It was a killer party dudes, 5 bucks to get in, but I seriously didn't mind. Rock n roll.

And the final piece of news, today is Chris's 19th birthday. I would put up a link to IM him for his birthday, but he is never online these days. So in lieu of contacting him, let me just say Happy Birthday Chris!!!

I just got back from the Aggie football game against Pittsburg. We didn't win like I had predicted, but that's okay because I was sitting down on the front row of the second deck ... can't beat it. There were two guys in the student section behind us, though, that couldn't seem to have fun. They were completely preoccupied with yelling at people to take their hats off. Now, I'm all for yelling "UNCOVER" to remind someone or let them know that a yell is starting. Its another thing entirely to scream your head off for the entire game. "Hey you in the front row, I know you can hear me, take your damn hat off" And by the time they're done yelling that, the yell is over, the play has commenced and they're missing the game. Keep in mind, we were sitting in the COURTESY SECTION. One couple that wouldn't uncover was like 90 and the other two guys who wouldn't were not speaking English to each other. But these guys would NOT let it go. Please, people, don't be that guy.

We had a guy sitting next to us that knew way too much about the Aggies. He knew like every players name and number and background. It was a little bit creepy. He also went thru about 18 rolls of film. I just thought it was funny sitting next to someone so knowledgeable as I'm yelling out things like "HAIL MARY! THEY'LL NEVER SEE IT COMIN!"

Also, don't heckle 2-percenters who leave the game early. They're really essential to getting everyone out of the stadium in an orderly, timely fashion. But we got to do some horse laughs (the officiating was laughably bad), and a Sit Down BusDriver, which was exciting. All in all it was a wonderful experience. Tonight I'm going to some huge party with Allison, should be interesting and cheap. Which will be good considering my tab last night was $75. Whoopsadaisy. Peace out kids, taker easy.

I've been putting off this blog because its going to be pretty long and I haven't really had the time to sit down and type it since I've been home. As you may know, I went home to Dallas this weekend. There's no need for pretense so we'll just jump right into the story. I got home on Friday evening and saw my mother briefly. My parents were going to Oktoberfest in Addison Friday evening and then leaving for my cousin's wedding in Denver, CO the next morning, so I really didn't get to see them. No bother though, it actually worked out better that way.

So Friday night I met up with Clay and we went to a housewarming party in Highland Park. It was the coolest house I've ever been in. It was three stories tall with four bathrooms, a huge backyard deck, beautifully decorated, a media room upstairs, and a room with some really expensive X-Men comics in it, which I appreciated. I got a little bit drunk, but we left early because we knew we were going to be getting up early on Saturday to go to Six Flags. And thats just what we did.

I woke up around 10 on Saturday and showered and got ready and Clay came and picked me up. We met up with 4 of his friends downtown and headed out to Six Flags. Has anybody been there recently? We got this thing called a Q-Bot which essentially allows you to wait in line electronically. It cost us like 60 bucks between the 6 of us, and you take this little thing around with you and you lock into rides. And it saves your spot and beeps you when its your turn to ride the ride. And then you just walk right up to the front and get on, while all the have-nots look on in disgust. It was SO fun! We got to ride every ride in the park without once waiting in line. Its actually genius on so many levels though, because if you're standing in a line for 2 hours, thats 2 hours that you're not spending money. The Q-Bot freed us up to walk around and buy shit all day long. I really only spent money on water the entire time, so I didn't lose too much. I did get my knife confiscated at the door though, that was pretty funny.

Anyway, then everyone was planning on going out, but I, naturally, had to go home and shower. I was exhausted by the time I was ready to head back to Dallas, but being the trooper I am, I managed somehow. I called up Ryan Short to see if he was going out and he was, so instead of going back out with the group of new friends I'd just made, I called and left them a message saying maybe I'd see them out and went to Ryan's. Good thing I didn't rely on them, too, cause apparently they went home and fell asleep for the entire night. Anyway, Ryan and I got ready and picked up his friend David Spielman and went out downtown. We started out at JR's and the beers were not really making me feel well, so by the time we went into the Village, I was ready to just sit down. I was really falling asleep. So I did just that. I have no qualms, people probably just thought I was rolling to hard anyway. But I wasn't a total drag the whole night, I got up and danced a little bit although I didn't drink anymore. By the time we ended up at a late night restaurant watching these two scarf down chinese food, I was about to fall asleep on the table. We finally got back to Ryan's around 4 and I just crashed there because I was too tired to do anything else.

The next morning Ryan made some delicious pancakes, I borrowed a shirt (it says Texas is for Lovers and I liked it so much that Ryan gave it to me -- THANKS!), and we went back downtown for the parade. It was so much fun. We were catching beads and stuff. Ryan took an assload of pictures, but he took them with film (who does that). So as soon as he gets some scanned in, I can put them up here for you to enjoy. The parade was nuts, we ate some lunch. After the parade there was like a political rally and the people for Howard Dean were there. I got a button for my bag. It looks quite striking next to my peace propaganda. After that we took a nap and then I hit the road bound for College Station.

All in all it was one of the most fun weekends of my life. I really needed that. Thanks to everyone who was influential in making it happen. In other news, I pulled some handi-capable tickets to the game on Saturday against Pittsburg. Allison and I are going to be on the front row of the second deck for a game that is going to be televised on ABC. We want to wear T-shirts that spell something out, but so far all I can think of it either "GO" or "TX" or "AM". Any ideas? I'll tell you one thing though, it'll be nice to be sitting through all of those damn TV timeouts. I predict we will win 67 to 12.

And in international news, I've decided to leave the country. I'm not sure when, but lets just say ASAP. My new dream in life is to move to Germany and get a job writing technical documentation for German companies auf Englisch. I guess in reality it would be better if I could be a straight up translator, but I'm probably at least a year away from that. I used to be almost fluent, but not so much these days. Anyway, I think that's about enough blog for now, thank you for your patience, you have-nots. Laaaaaaaaaate.

A simple equation for all of you who find yourselves with nothing to do some weekend. Here's the story behind that. Allison comes over to my house around 2pm and tells me to get ready because we're laying out on the most gorgeous day in a long time. So I decide that I would like to go to the Campus Lodge pool cause I had so much fun the last time I went there with Todd and DAvid. So we're laying out and then realize that we really wish we had some alcohol. Surprising considering I was nursing a considerable hangover from the night before with Dustin, Trey, and Ryan. Anywho, we went to double quick and got the nastiest Mai Tai wine drink and some Michelob Ultra Light.

Next thing we know, these three boys bring a keg out to the pool and invite us to drink from it. Not ones to decline free booze, we started sucking off their keg which turned into a day of sun and suds and swimming. They ended up being pretty cool. One dude asked me what kind of music I listened to because I had said that I'd never heard the Tool song that was on the stereo and I replied, "Folk." And he goes, "You mean like John Denver? What about James Taylor or Neil Diamond?" It was as though he had done research on me on the internet and was divulging just a little bit too much information about me. But I think he just so happened to hit the nail on the head.

So we drank all day with them, and then told them all to meet us up at Margarita Rocks to watch the De La Hoya fight. They went, but we didn't. Whoops. I crashed for a couple of hours and then me and Allison got ready to go out for the night. On our way to Northgate, she says to me, she says she says she says, "Hey I bet they still have that keg, we should just go back over there." And we fucking did. We knocked on a strangers apartment to see if he still had a keg and/or was having a party. We were the first ones to the party. Nonplussed as ever, we resumed where we had left off earlier that evening. I had a total blast hanging out with all the people I'd never met before.

I put up some new songs today. Hurt may not be the most iconic Johnny Cash song, but its my favorite. I never thought I had any kind of connection to the guy really, but I watched a VH1 special on him and bawled my eyes out. He was a great musician and will be missed. I guess its time to get up, get cleaned up, and make some ld phone calls. Check you skillets on the flip side. Laaaaaate.

It finally happened, and just shy of two weeks into the semester. I skipped my first class. We all knew this was going to happen sooner or later, but I'd always assumed it would be on a Friday morning. 8:00's are beat up, as Brandon would put it.

I needed a drink last night so I went out to Northgate with my good buddy Keiff. We used to work at Jiffy Lube together. So I had a couple scotches on the rockses and he had a couple gins and tonics. Miss Allison showed up with her new grad student friends. Me and Keith did not withhold our opinions of these gentlemen but we did politely wait until we were alone to express them. Then we went home around midnight. And believe it or not, Keith was a bad influence on me. He's got me drinking during the week, and then coerced me to smoke a cigarette when we got back to his place. So we're back to hour 9 of being smoke free. Nobody said this would be easy.

So anyway, delightfully liquored up and nerves finally calmed, I came home, chatted for a while, and then feel into a deep sleep I've not felt in days. When the alarm went off at 7am, I just so happened to be enjoying the most wonderful dream imaginable, the details of which I will leave to your imaginations, and I plum decided to turn the fucking alarm off and finish out the dream. It ended with me waking up in a complete stranger's house with an iguana running loose and me deciding to just take a shower and then crawl out the window. So it ended a little strange, but whatever. I needed that. So now I'm off to tackle the day. So long, suckers.

Yesterday was really fun, but weird at the same time. I have never been so clueless about what time it is in all my life. It may not sound that mind boggling to any of you; however, I will still attempt to explain. So I woke up on Saturday at 10am because I had told my boss that I would come into work and mill out a circuit board. I was so hungover it wasn't even funny, which sucked cause I didn't even get drunk the night before. I guess these things happen. Or maybe I was genuinely ill, but just didn't notice because I drink too much. Either way, I was not rested and my head was pounding. So I called my boss to see if he had finished the design for the board and thankfully he had not, so I went back to bed.

Allison came into town to move into her new shithole, I mean, apartment. It's modest, we'll just say it that way. Anywho, I had to go move heavy things in the hot sun which really helped my temperment. Then I had lunch with AllieD, Jaime and AllieD's mom whom I'd never met before. That was delicious although Los Cucos has about the worst service I've ever seen (and I've eaten at Kerrie's Stacked Enchiladas). So anyway, after I was done with all that, I went home and fell asleep. I woke up around 5pm cause Todd called me to go meet him out at the Campus Lodge pool. Enter beer.

There were some random people in the pool that were pretty cool. They had this little game called Alcohol Poisoning. It was really quite clever. There was a basketball hoop, and the rules were a lot like Horse. The only twist is that anytime you miss a shot, you have to drink an entire beer. And you play until somebody spells out Alcohol Poisoning. I'm not a big sports guy, so I neglected the invitation to play but I did drink a bunch of beer and get some sun. Great day. I went home and absolutely crashed.

I wake up at like midnight with no concept of where I am or whats happened. And I see 7 missed calls on my cell phone between two people. So I called Chris and we went out for like an hour until the bars quit serving and I managed to get a little drunk all over again. I went home and thanks to the fact that Todd never called me back (jackass) I fell asleep in my recliner ... again. Now all of a sudden its 6am and I'm not tired anymore. So I made myself some food since I hadn't eaten the night before, took a shower, and went to bed.

I wake up again at 11, pay some bills, clean up a little, and I'm thinking, "wow its almost dinner time," when I look at the clock and realize that its only 12:30 and time is absolutely dragging by. So here I am at work, taking advantage of the internet connection. I was hoping my boss would have sent me the design to mill and I could do that today cause I'm so fucking bored, but alas, in true style he did not. Oh well, I guess I'll just sit here for a couple more hours and then go chill in my empty apartment some more. I'll catch you sluts on the flip side. Laaaaaaaate.

Thank you to everyone who had something nice to say about the new layout, screw the rest of you. Also, thanks to everyone who pointed out that the abdominal muscles on that one drawing are a tad ... howyousay? ... emphasized. But it's soon to be true because I have worked out for the past four days in a row and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I ran into my friend Scott at the rec when I randomly went on Tuesday and decided that he was going to be my workout partner. If I have someone call me and say, "Okay I'm heading up there," then I'm way more prone to stick to it. So we'll see how that goes.

This past week I attended a 3 day tutorial on how to mill circuit boards from scratch. You may not think thats cool, but I'm frickin' excited about it. This machine we have is so badass. You draw a circuit board in software and then hit go and it goes and shaves off copper from a board until you're left with the circuit you designed. Its really cool and if you're lucky, maybe one day you'll have one of my circuit boards in your brain.

Last night I went to Shadow Canyon with Ryan. It was fun, but the story I want to tell is from when we first got there. We didn't end up going out until 11:30 because I was workin out, eating, and showering. So we decide to start with a shot to get us caught up, so naturally I order a couple of 4-Horsemen. But Ryan didn't hear me. So when I handed it to him he said, "Whats this?" to which I replied, "An oatmeal cookie." Nonplussed as ever, he threw it back to an unpleasant realization that it was indeed a 4-Horsemen. I had to laugh. Although, I'll probably get in trouble if I don't credit the true creator of this gag, Allison. She did it to me one time at Fitzwillies with a Liquid Cocaine. Same effect. Anywho, that's all I can think to report, if breaking news comes up, you'll be the first to know. Ciao.

Well, here it is, without warning ... a little something I like to call SideshoViD.com Version 8. I woke up this morning, decided I didn't want to go to work but that instead I wanted to redo my webpage, and I did just that. Its almost midnight now and I'm just finishing up. So far this layout has been met with mixed reviews, but I don't care, I like it. SVC has always been about metamorphoses and reinvention. Who wants the same old webpage version after version just in different colors? I always try to take a radical departure from each of my old layouts.

Anyway, hopefully some of you find this one at least the smallest bit amusing. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think. I'm about to go watch a movie with Allison now but she is already drunk because she graduated college today. Yay. Congrats to her. Later, have nots.

And I'm 22. Wow, feels good to be a palindromic age again. I suppose there are a lot of stories to tell from this past weekend so lets jumponit.

Friday, Allison and I woke up around 7:00 and got ready to leave. We hit the road around 8:30. There was some severe ass weather on the way to New Braunfels to the point that I almost, almost pulled off to the side of the road. But there was no traffic so I braved it through the storm and it didn't slow us down too much. It was a little disappointing though since we were on our way to hopefully float down the Guadalupe River ... and a raging thunderstorm wasn't what we were looking for. We eventually made it to Jenny's parents lake house and met up with the girls were were chillin with. They were iffy on floating because of the weather, but they were also going to be there all weekend, so it didn't matter if they didn't go on Friday. We eventually coerced Lindsay and Jenny into going with us that day. So we loaded up the cooler with sandwiches and tonz of beer and headed out to a rafting place.

If you've never done this before, you need to go this summer while you still have the chance. It was so much freaking fun. Even though the water was freezing cold and my ass was completely numb by the time we were done, and even though the sky blackened halfway through and threatened to storm. We drank so much damn beer, all floating on inner tubes with our feet propped up on the middle tube holding the cooler. At one point, a police officer in the river pulled us over to check our IDs. They were all in the cooler in a ziplock bag with our money, so I had to stand up to get them out. Bad idea. Drinking in an inner tube for hours and then standing up in a river is a bad combo. Yeah I fell down. We all thought it was hifuckinglarious, but I'm not so sure the sheriff saw the humor. We eventually made it down the river about 4 hours later and then were treated to the most fantastic dinner of brisket, beans, potato salad, cake, and watermelon.

At one point, my good buddy Kevin drove up to the lake house to see me. As you know, he has the same birthday as me and we weren't able to celebrate it together this year. But he was in New Braunfels so he dropped in to say hello. That was a good time. It's always good to see Kevin. Btw, Happy Birthday Kevin ... I don't want to deprive him of his SideshoViD.com shoutout just because he shares the momentous occasion.

The next morning we had an awesome breakfast of homemade egg McMuffins and then hit the road for Austin. We stopped off at the San Marcos outlet mall but didn't find anything to buy. We got to our hotel around 3 but our room wasn't ready yet so we went to go eat at the Hula Hut. Its some Austinian restuarant that Allison ate at years ago and wanted to find again. Brandon joined us there because he was in the neighborhood. I have to admit the food was damned good. After that we went to our hotel room and showered and then took a nap until about 8:00. We watched some TV while drinking beer and then got ready to go out on the town.

Man, did we ever have a time out in downtown Austin. It sure is a far cry from College Station. Much, much different in all the best ways. It was so much crazy fun. We tried to hit every bar on 6th street. I'm pretty sure we never did but we came damn close, my friends. I drank so much that by 2:00 I was pretty ready to go back to the hotel room. I'm not sure what time that finally happened, but I woke up the next day with a lovely hangover.

We drove back to College Station and now here I am just chillin on my birthday. I partied myself out last night so I'm in no mood to get crazy tonight. Allison is baking me a birthday cake right now and then I think this kid is going to bed. Thank you to everyone who called or IMed, you all made me feel very special today, and for that, you deserve the best of luck making it to the flip side. Where I shall see you there. Peace out, have nots!

I'm about to save you all a lot of money, and keep you from wasting precious hours of your day. I have several hints to throw your way (Heloise style -- except these are actually applicable). The first deals with a movie that was released today called Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.

Whatever you do, do not go see this movie. Under no circumstances should anyone pay to view this trash. If I had to pick one word to describe it, I would have to politely decline the proposition in favor of a slew of slurs. And it goes like this: This movie was trite, cheezy, slapstick crap. It was nonsequitor, unbelievable, and completely contrived. The characters were 2-dimensional props without brains whose decisions and feelings were unfounded and motivations unclear. Their main source of comedy was sexism, gay bashing, and all around stereotypes. The plot, albeit thin and patched together, managed to hold together long enough to suck throughout the entire length of the film. At one point I desperately tried to fall asleep, and at another, I completely had to leave the theater for a breather from the idiocy.

I may sound exceedingly critical of this light hearted movie, but there is a reason. I loved the first installment of this storyline. I thought the characters were great, and the idea behind it: to overcome adversity by being yourself, was a great message. Part 2 had none of this. No characters, no adversity, no message, no nothing. Absolute cinematic crap. I reiterate: Under no circumstances should anyone ever pay to see this movie.

The next 3 advisories deal with restaurants in College Station. After the lackluster theater experience, Allison and I decided to hit up a new restaurant to change the course of the evening. We began with Ozona Ranch. I don't have a huge complaint about that place except that the menu sucked. We sat, perused the selections, bitched about how the menu sucked, and then excused ourselves.

We headed to the new Mexican restaurant that now occupies the location that no restaurant can stay alive in for more than a couple of months. I don't remember the name of it. We walked in to be faced with a large sign at the front door that says, 'We are not responsible for lost or stolen items.' As if that isn't a red flag that this place is just a tad shady. So, while holding my wallet, we walked in and asked for a menu. Without even having to read it we knew we wanted to leave. There was a stereotypical Mexican man with a sombrero playing god awful Tejano music on a keyboard to entertain the guests. Not gonna do it. Especially when I'm already running the risk of being robbed.

So ... we walked over to Karrie's Stacked Enchiladas. Great food. Don't get me wrong. Really enjoyed the food. The staff, however, dear friends, left much to be desired. The hostess was hopped up on something. God knows what, but she would not leave us the hell alone. The bus boy kept trying to take Allison's plate before she was done eating so he could sneak a peak (all so slyly) at her breasts. I asked a waitress for a straw, and she all but fisted it into my drink for me, to which my response was to take it out and place it delicately on the ground. The manager was creepy. And another waiter wouldn't stop sprinting around the restaurant to bring people drinks and food. Good effort, but it kept making me think the building was on fire. Long story short, I'll never go to this place ever again.

So there you have it. You are very welcome. I save you money, I save you time. Tomorrow we depart for the river, and then Saturday night we will be partying like rockstars in downtown Austin. If any of you are going to be in the area, let me know. Ciao bellos.

I just decided to edit this paragraph here post-publication because more details have arrived about my weekend. First off, the fucking river is fuckin on for the 4th. We are going to spend Friday relaxing in an inner tube floating down the Guadalupe. Tres exciting. We being me and Allison and some of her friends. Then we're going to spend the night in some chick's lake house, get up the next day and head to downtown Austin. In case you forgot, the 6th is my fucking birthday and I wanna do it right. So I booked a hotel downtown for Saturday night that is 1 block away from 6th street. 6th on the 6th we'll call it. Its gonna be insane, I can't fucking wait for this weekend. Tomorrow I have a big design review early in the morning and then who knows what will happen.

In space news, I got my program working. It was pretty sweet. I don't want to bore you with the details (although if you want the full story, you can IM me, I love talking about myself). The jist of it is, I had this data recorder (which is like a fancy schmancy high definition $50,000 VCR) that I'd never seen before and I was supposed to write a program to control it. So I wrote a program without testing it, spliced together a ghetto ass cable with limited resources, operating in a communication standard that was unfamiliar to me, and basing it all off of documentation that had typos in the title. So the loaner recorder comes in and they're like 'Yay, David go get the microcontroller and control this thing.' Crunch time. And like, the champion of geniuses that I am, we plugged it in and first damn try, I hit play and the thing started playing.

That is why they pay me the big bucks. Whooahhh.

This is your first official warning that my 22nd birthday is in exactly one week. That is Sunday, July 6, 2003. I expect you will all be prepared for this joyous occasion. Me and Allison and some other people are going to float the Guadalupe for July 4th, which means I'll be in Austin. So there's a possibility we could stay and party on Sixth Street for my birthday since I've never done that. Kevin is also turning 22 on that day, so there's a chance I will head down to San Antonio to share that with him. Although, he has already made a slew of plans, none of which hint at the fact that I could have possibly wanted to party with him, so I may just say fuck that. The third and most likely option is College Station Burbon Street Bar throwing back far too many raspberry martinis. I will keep you all posted though. Also, Happy 21st to my best roommate ever, Keiffer. It's going to be happening somewhere around here soon!

I think I've decided that I party too much. It was easy to slip into the habit as day after day of summer rolls by with little more to do than to make sure I get to work in time to go to lunch with my friends. An excess of money and a shortage of nightly activities led to a pattern of coming home from work, getting cleaned up and ready to go, arguing with Allison about where we're going, finally begrudgingly settling on Northgate (again), drinking 2 or 3 beers at various bars until finally deciding that they all suck and always do, driving home around 1, getting into the personal stash until 2 or 3, passing out, and going to work at noon the next day.

Well, I've had enough. This tomfoolery has got to stop lest I lead a trite and meaningless existence. Last night was the first night in a long time that I didn't drink. I intend to do the same tonight. You know its bad when you've become so habitually addicted to drinking that you actually have to make a conscious effort not to. I'm also disgustingly fat, so I'm going to start going to the rec nightly again. On top of that, I bought this rad yoga video at the grocery store to help me prepare for my yoga class next semester. I watched part of it and it was too hard for me to do, so instead I just chose two or 3 of the positions and tried to do them. This is definitely a physical workout, so it should be really good for me if I can do it. Its a lot of squatting and then standing up ... shit I don't do so well. But I'm going to give it a go.

I'm excited about my new lease on life. Granted its like my third one that I've had this summer, but this time I think it may be different. So from now on, if you need to get a hold of me, no longer wait around Northgate, instead try the Rec Center. Laaaaaaaaaaate.

Hello esteemed colleagues, lesser-thans, and have nots. I would have loved to have updated you all sooner, but unfortunately, Cox Sux. These guys can't keep an internet connection going for more than a day. Every time I come home from work my AIM says I've lost my connection. And now, its been off for like 3 days. We had a pretty significant storm here the other night and since then the internet hasn't worked. To my understanding, some of my neighbors are having similar problems, so maybe this is something that affects more than just me, but I've never really given a shit about stuff like that. I need to have the internet or I will wither away. In fact, thats why I'm staying late at work tonight, just so I can abuse the ethernet connection.

Not much out of the ordinary has been happening to me. I'm going to pay off my credit card debt this month, which is exciting. I didn't think I'd be able to do that so fast this summer. In other words, money is good and I am back to the life of excess that I used to know and love. A lot of that money has gone towards alcohol, I am ashamed to admit, but it has been an absolute blast on Medina these days, nights, and wee hours of the morning.

The other night I invited a bunch of people over because we had a random hankering for some Pictionary. There is nothing more fun than drinking beers and playing Pictionary. Todd, Allison, Joseph, Will, and Cappy all came over to partake. Scooter and his friend Tony stopped in for a spell later on in the evening as well. I kicked ass as usual, though I don't think we ever ended up finishing an entire game. Despite this fact, we managed to play until about 6am, as well as polishing off around 60 beers. Good times, good times. And there's plenty more of that to come.

Future bashes may include a study session for Brandon who is training to become a bartender. He said he could benefit from some practice, I said I could benefit from a live-in bartender. Wallah. You know I'll be inviting the whole neighborhood for that one. I'll keep you all posted on any other bashes that may sporatically spring up.

I haven't gotten a comment in 23 days...

Oh man, was Thanksgiving ever delicious. It turned out to be an awesome meal and even better company. Lets recap. I came home early from work to prepare the turkey and get it in the oven. Allisons stayed at my house to keep an eye (and a nose) on it while I went back to work to finish up for the day. When I got home, I smelled the turkey and got prepared for the other dishes. I was also responsible for the scratch macaroni and cheese. Its an old favorite of mine that my mom makes, so you know it contains mostly Velveeta. I also made the salad. And by "made" I mean I cut the bag open.

Allison was the champion of the evening being responsible for the most dishes. She made green bean casserole, candied yams, boxed mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pie. They were all delicious. Will showed up with a fancy schmancy loaf of bread that was enjoyed by all. Owen contributed a bottle of cabernet saviougne (or however the hell you spell that, I just tried to make it look French). The wine was a big success and his job of seasoning the mashed potatoes was not overlooked, even though the potatoes would have been better suited as an industrial strength adhesive than a side dish. Joseph also contributed a bottle of wine -- he was rawkin' the Hof. Once he decided to share we all enjoyed it very much. AllieD beefed up the dessert with some homemade brownies that I am still enjoying on a regular basis. She made way too many, but as long as I've got milk, I'm not complaining. Finally, there was Cappy who brought the cranberry sauce at the last minute to save the day after Joseph really dropped the ball.

After we all stuffed ourselves to excess, discussed our favorite pies, and finished off the wine, I headed up to Kroger with Owen to get another 30 Stones. When we got back, Allison popped in Old School and we drank and watched the movie. Next thing you know, the fuckin fridge is empty and I'm drunk. Who woulda thought. The crowd dispersed and I passed out ready to face another day hungover. I would have to say that last night was a blast and I can't wait to do it again the next time Thanksgiving rolls around (and who knows when that will be). Thank you to everyone who brought something and I will see the rest of you have nots ... on the flip side.

We are not slaves to the Byzantine calendar. We like Thanksgiving and turkey and stuffing and having friends over to eat and drink and be merry. So damnit, thats just what we're doing. This Wednesday I'm going to host a turkey dinner with Allison and you're all tentatively invited. If you would like to come, just shoot me an IM and let me know as well as what you could bring to add to the bounty. Its gonna be rad.

I adopt the vocal patterns of whoever I'm around.

Sorry for the Dave Matthew's Band reference in the title, it was all that came to mind when I was trying to title a blog that I had so much to say in. Don't get me wrong, I like Dave Matthew's one song, I just don't think he should have been allowed to release it 15 times. Anyway, I haven't blogged in a really long time which means that half of the things I really wanted to tell you about are going to have to fall by the wayside.

I went to Dallas last weekend and had an absolute blast. I went shopping with Allison. She needed to pick up some make up. That was totally fun. I bought some rad new pants that I just debuted at Northgate on Thursday to rave reviews. I also got my hair cut and colored. I'm now the proud owner of black highlights. Who gets black highlights? No one does, thats crazy talk.

Work has been going well. I work long hours and have been fairly productive as of late. The gravity sickness is starting to go away and I'm actually kind of getting used to the space food. The strawberry dried ice cream isn't as bad as the vanilla that I'd been eating. I have to do a spacewalk next week that I'm a little nervous about but it shouldn't be too bad.

Brandon just came in town this past week as well as this afternoon. He was subleasing his apartment for the summer and had to fill out some paper work on both of those days. We went to go see Finding Nemo with Allison. I highly recommend. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Of course I also cried, but what movie do I not cry in, am I right? We saw a preview for a new Will Ferrel movie where he's an elf. If you get the chance to see the preview the movie looks absolutely hilarious. Its coming out in November.

Damnit, I know there are way more things I wanted to talk about but they'll just have to wait or be omitted because I'm sick of typing. I haven't been very dedicated to the blog as of late and the numbers are starting to suffer, but fret not, this happens like every summer. Soon enough we'll be back to the daily blog fest and you will all be able to satiate your insatiable appetites for all things ViD. Have a great weekend. LAaaaaaaaaate

Never being one to disappoint my most loyal Sidesho-Viewers, I thought I would do my old roomie, Keiffer, a favor and update my page. He told me that since he's been home he has checked my webpage every day in order to feel like a part of him is still in College Station. I was much chagrined at the fact that my best viewer was sitting expectantly day after day and I was only updating once a week. So to Keiffer, I apologize. And to all the ladies of Flower Mound -- this one's single!

Today, Owen and I sealed the deal on our apartment for next semester. Looks like its off to Sundance for yours truly. Its a pretty nice place, especially after the floors, cabinets and fume hood are replaced. They drew the line at crown molding though. Bastards.

I just got a call from the Aussie Allison. She is finally back from her world tour. I might head on up to P-town this weekend to see her and Keiff and some others. I'll have to keep you all posted on that venture. Until then, I bid you all adieu. And, Keith, go make some friends. Laaaaaaaate.

Ooookay, time for the ring dunking episode of my blog. It was a total blast. I guess I'll just start from the beginning and take you through it. Kevin arrived around 4:00. He was starving and I didn't have a pitcher yet so we hit the town pretty immediately. I tried to get a pitcher at Aggieland Outfitters but they were all sold out, so I took Kevin to eat at Freebirds. I, on the other hand, did not eat solid food after noon that day. I didn't want anything but pure beer coming back up, cause that would be nasty. So we were pulling out of the Freebird's parking lot when Allison called saying she was at University Bookstore buying a pitcher, so I told her to pick me up one. Her dad paid for it too, which was really nice of him. Thank you Big D!

A few people had gathered early and I started drinking at 6. My plan was to be drunk but not full by the time we started so I was trying to get some beer in me first. Around 7 we started filling pitchers. It was pretty daunting to see just how much beer it was as you sit there for 5 minutes with the tap flowing. I let mine sit out unattended, but eventually that just wasn't cutting it, so I started pouring it back and forth between two pitchers to get rid of the carbonation. It was also too cold, so I put it in a sink of warm water to bring it up a few degrees. When I decided it was at the optimal conditions, we kind of started gathering with our pitchers in the backyard to signal that the hour was nye.

The people that were dunking were me, Allison, Ryan, Christine, Katie, Scott, Virant, Burden, Gabe and Charlie. I'm pretty sure thats everyone. Soon after, the crowd counted down and got going. For those of you who aren't familiar with this tradition, we took our senior rings and dropped them into a pitcher full of beer. Then we preceeded to chug it as fast as we could. It was insanity. I started off strong really puttin' it down. I had planned on breathing through my nose intermittenly, but that proved too difficult, so I ended up holding my breath. This meant that I had to stop and breath, though. The first breath break was clean and probably only cost me a second, and I got right back into it at a good pace. The second breathing break almost turned into a vomitting break, so I had to pause a few seconds to maintain and then kept going. I was slowing down by then. I had to take one more breather, and then I decided that I wasn't gonna stop until that ring was in my mouth. It was really hard to keep going, but I had the ring in my sights and managed to pack it all down. When we watched the video later, we were able to get the exact time of 65 seconds. Whoop! I didn't reach my goal of under a minute, but I was pretty damn close, and I came in fourth place overall. Allison, of course, waxed everybody and came in first. God I love that girl.

Pretty immediately after I finished, I turned my back on the crowd and let it go. I had also hoped to keep it all down, but that didn't come anywhere close to happening. That was so much liquid. Breezy got the best damned picture of me throwing up. Its not for the squimish though. I am going to put a link at the end of this blog to a pictures page, so if you don't wanna see it, don't go.

I wanna thank everyone who was there. Ryan and Priscilla showed up for the dunking. Todd came in from San Antonio and showed up with his girlfriend Shannon. DAvid and Sam from Southwest came with the other Todd. DAvid looted the Southwest AV club and brought a really nice camera. Maybe someone smarter than me with time on their hands will be able to convert it to a real player format or something. Later on that evening Matt Pakes and Pearl Ho showed up from Austin. Travis dropped by for a while. Matt Kerin was definitely there. He's been wondering what it takes to get mentioned in my blog. Katie's boyfriend Jeff came with her from Plano. Allison's parents were there, along with several other sets of parents. I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I heard that some of the parents were doing keg stands later on that night. Fucking rad! Allison and Jaime came too, naturally. I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, if so, I'm sorry. Let me know.

After we'd spent the whole evening drinking it was decided that we were going to Northgate. Okay, I did not need to be going to Northgate, but whatever. I hadn't eaten dinner yet and they were selling the most delicious sausage wraps. I think I ate three. We went to Shadow Canyon and hung out and drank until 1. It was pretty fun. When we finally got home, I think I pretty much crashed right away.

Overall, it was an excellent night that I wouldn't do again for anything. Thanks to everyone who came out to support the most alcoholic of Aggie traditions. I think its about time for me to take a shower, clean up the cups and cans, and then see what I need to accomplish today. For those of you interested, here is the link to the picture page: Click here. It was getting dark outside so some of the pics are dark and some are a little blurry, but I did my best to photoshop them up. They turned out pretty good. Enjoy!

Too bad disgruntled reader won't be around to read this. Something new! And just for all my loyal Sidesho-Viewers. A lot has happened, but I am going to try and summarize it into just a few paragraphs. First, we have to start off with Ms Allison's 22nd birthday! Happy Birthday Allison! We had such a crazy night that night. We started off partying at home and then went to Northgate, where I realized I did not have my ID because I gave it to Ryan the night before to buy drinks for 2 people. So I was SOL until Ryan could make it up to Northgate. So I chilled at and had a sub from New York Sub. Tres good. That night was the night of chuggin, I dare say. We started off at home with Flaming Dr Peppers and Jäger Bombs, and proceeded to Northgate for a massive amount of shots, Flaming Dr Peppers and Saki Bombs. After the Saki Bombs they gave us some raw crab to munch on. It was so damned good that I had to go get some for lunch the other day.

Other than that, school is going well. I had a big test today that I wasn't all too happy with. I knew everything there was to know, but just fucked up and forgot some stuff on the test. And it wasn't like I was sitting there wracking my brain trying to remember, I just straight up forgot to include it. Thats what sucks about it. I left the test thinking I had a 100 and the more I think about it, now I'm expecting like an 80. Ohh well, at least I have an A in chemistry. Boo yah. I'm making an A in a freshman level course ... something I've never ever done before.

So I have one meeting tomorrow and then Spring Break is upon us. I think I'll spend most of my time lounging about and working on projects. On Saturday I am going to listen to Stephen Hawking give a lecture on campus. I'm really stoked about that. My friend JennyCole from Plano is coming up to see him. She's the biggest Hawking fan ever. I don't think she ever misquotes him, but she does like him. I was also supposably gettting a ticket to Peter Paul & Mary from mi padre, but he just called tonight and said the show was totally sold out. He's gonna see if he can't get a couple tickets on cancellations, but I'm not getting my hopes up. That totally sucks, that concert would have rawked.

Anyway, I'll be in College Station for the majority of the Spring Break. Jenny is flying here, and I may give her a ride home, even though my parents are like gone for the week or something. And I might go see Kevin again if I can't convince him to come here. Other than that, its calculators, mobile platforms, and DUT test plans for yours truly. Hope everyone has a crazier Spring Break than I!

indite (in-DYT) verb tr.

To write or to compose.

It seems that this has become a bit of a weekly occurence these days. I'm sorry to all of my loyal Sidesho-Viewers ... I just don't ever feel like blogging anymore. I've been really busy and enjoying that fact. I do my best to have a list of things to do every day and get them done. So far my system has been flawless, but I just know that one little monkey wrench will cause the whole thing to self destruct.

Last night I went to Ptar's with my neighbor, Breezy. We met up with Ryan and Todd and their friend Sam. Sam was insistent on buying everyone shots. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't complaining, and I certainly wasn't declining ... but I got real drunk on Thursday so i was trying to take it easy last night. Well then I get a call from my lab partner, Owen, and he's at Northgate. It had totally slipped my mind that it was his 21st birthday. So congrats to Owen, Happy Birthday.

Now, some people at the Ptarmigan were a tad perplexed that I would leave them to go to Northgate to hang out with my lab partner. But if you know me at all you know that me and my lab partners spend more time together than me and my roommates do. Plus Owen never drinks so it was a special occasion. Me and Breezy met up with Owen at Northgate and headed right for Dry Bean. I knew that I had to buy him a Royal Fuck, the best shot on the menu. That was fun, then I decide we need another. So we took a Sex with an Alligator. Good stuff. Then Kerin came in and he was having a round of Jäger Bombs. So I threw in for Owen to join us. Immediately following that Owen claims that he's always wanted to try a Saki Bomb from Kyoto Sushi. What a champ. So we went and took a Saki Bomb. Needless to say, it was Carpool for the ride home. I ended up seeing Allison and Christine out at Northgate so we rode together. I know that I drank a few more beers, ate some frozen Mexican food and then passed out on Allison's couch.

It was a great night. Man, these weekend posts are consisting of nothing but a drink menu from my night before. Oh well, its more exciting to talk about than digital outputs needed to control an SM-E040 stepper motor. I called Owen today and he said he threw up in Chevron and then at home, for any of those that were wondering. The story wouldn't be complete without that. So I hope everyone else had as good a weekend as I did. Leave a comment some time this week if ANY of you have the time. Peace out, have nots.

I'm sure more important things have happened to me in the past two days, but there is only one thing that I want to talk about and I am absolutely dying to tell you all this story. It starts off with Allison getting home for her hour long break from work. She said she wanted ice-cream but didn't have a lot of time, so we went right over to 32 Degrees on Southwest. The lady working there was so nice, she really made our selection process a joy. I got a raspberry cheesecake shake. Yeah, it wasn't very good, but thats my fault ... the ice cream by itself was incredible. Anywho, we decide to sit outside on the bench since it was a nice day ... the bench facing McDonalds.

Ok this is where the story really gets good. We see this fat old woman dressed from head to toe in all white walking away from the shopping strip into the parking lot. Her cart is just filled with bags and shit and we both kinda laughed at just the sight of her ... because we're evil. Anyway, then she almost gets hit by a car and we laugh again ... again, because we're evil. Then she stops in the middle of the parking lot and we are like 'Where is she going?' cause she's nowhere near a car. And she rearranges the contents of her cart so that these two plants wrapped in shiny shit are up on top. I'm thinking she's gonna walk herself all the way home with that cart ... but I was wrong.

She makes a turn and pulls into the McDonalds drive-thru HAHAHAHAHAHA. By this time we're laughing uncontrollably. Allison even busted out crazy laugh and she almost never does that. The crazy old lady was behind like two cars just calmly waiting her turn at the window ... it was so damn funny. I'm laughing right now just thinking about it. Then she finally gets up to the window and I guess she just asked them a question cause she didn't order anything, and she pulled onto the sidewalk and walked out of our lives but not before brightening both of our days. So to you, crazy lady, I say thank you.

Anyway, it was one of those situations where I was like 'Damn, I wish I had a digital camera right now so I could share this on the blog.' But since I do not have a digital camera, friends, I went to the trouble of recreating the scene in photoshop. This is a pretty accurate representation but NOWHERE near as funny as the real deal.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the year 2003, WHOOP! Today is an absolutely gorgeous day outside so I thought I'd waste it by playing Grand Theft Auto all day. I'm getting pretty far in the game, and its so damn addictive. So you wanna know what happened last night? Well I'll tell you. First I went and actually bought alcohol. That almost never happens, and wouldn't you know it, we barely touched it. I had a beer before we left and I think Ryan had a beer and that was it. So I'm set for a while. First I went to Northgate with Brandon, Allison, and Ryan. We started at 315. We saw the guy make some flaming Dr Peppers. It was incredible. He had the shot resting on top of the rim of the beer glasses, and then he took a lighter and a mouthful of 151 and sprayed this massive fireball and lit all three shots and then knocked them into the glasses. It was tres cool. Then we tried MadHatters but it basically sucked.

So we decided around 11:00 to try Hurricane Harry's. I have not been there since my freshman year, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. They were playing good music, not kicker shit. They had free champagne and a free buffet, so we partook in both of those. At midnight they played the Fight Song, which was pretty cool. We ended up leaving without Allison who found her own ride home. I'm sorry, but you'll have to hear that story from her, its not really mine to share. *WINK*

In other news, I talked to my professor about that unexplained C that I got in his class and he said it was a straight up mistake, it was supposed to be an A, so that's taken care of. Then I asked him if he needed a webpage guy next semester and he said he would rather I was a TA. Its kind of flattering for him to tell me he wants me to work for him, so naturally I did not decline. I have an appointment with him tomorrow to talk it over and see which class I want to TA for. I just need to make sure my chemistry class doesn't conflict with either of them. Hopefully it won't. Anywho, Happy New Year again. Your homework assignment today is to post your New Years Resolutions on the comment board. Mine is the same as it is every year: to be more open and honest with my opinion. Haaaa. I know its not the most noetic resolution, but its worked for me thus far. End of Line.

Aaaaaaaand scene! Well that puts a close to my first night out in College Station since I've been back. We organized a little group to go out to the ol' Northgate. I was accompanied by Allison, Ryan, Cappy, Brandon and Elizabeth. Turns out like half of Northgate was closed down for the holidays so our options were a tad limited, so we limited ourselves to just Dry Bean (of course), Hole in the Wall, and Fitzwilly's. It was a good time had by all. I ended up getting vury drunk as usual. But not as drunk as Ryan. Ha.

We were really excited because Shadow Canyon was advertising a New Years Eve costume party where the first prize was $1000. We were gonna brainstorm and come up with really great costumes and try to win it cause that's a helluva lot of money. But when I went to go pick up my car this morning I saw that the sign said New Years Party Cancelled. Those bastards. Oh well, now we're going to have to find something new to do and I do hate having to think, as you well know. Hmm. I'm hungry. And I need to go talk to one of my profs, and I should probably go to Best Buy and try to spend some of these gift certificates I just got. Okay, that settles it, I'm outta here. Peace out.

Last night I got out of lab and got home around 11:00 at night. Allison had decided that we were going to Northgate, so she showed up with a couple of beers to drink real fast before we left. We ended up getting there around 11:30. Omega, the place was off the heezy fo sheezy. It was so damn crowded there. You all know how much I hate crowds.

We started off at the Dry Bean, and ended up there later too. In between shots though, we met up with Allison's whole posse at Fitzwilly's and had a beer, and then a drink at MadHatters. MadHatters is really the place to be as of late. Its where all the cool kids hang out. I also ran into Steve-o there. Steve-o said that he visits my webpage every day but that I never mention him. Always aiming to please, as I do, I'm gonna mention him a few more times, and in bold, no less. Its convenient because the rest of our story revolves around Steve-o.

Steve-o and all of his friends are really fun to hang out with and party with, so I jump on it every chance I get. He was leaving to go to Betsy's house, so I tagged along. When we got to his car, Steve-o decided he shouldn't drive, so I took the keys. This girl Shannon that was with us was about to pee her pants so we stopped off at my house first. I grabbed the remaining beers from my fridge and we continued on to Betsy's house. Betsy and some guy, I think his name was Mike, were watching Office Space. Thats always fun. I drank my beers and had a good time like always. Next thing I know, I blinked and I was sitting in the same exact chair in the same exact position, only it was bright outside. So I was like 'umm okay.' Steve-o had to work at 11, and drive out to Iola beforehand to change clothes, so he was up early. When he was ready to go we got in his car and he took me home. I promptly showered and went back to bed until it was time to go to lab. I was in lab all day. We got wireless communication kinda working. It works sometimes. Thats cool.

Not sure what's on the menu for tonight. I'm still trying to find something or someone to do. If you would like to get some major name drops on my page, like Steve-o you'd best be callin me to hang out with me tonight. Or, just hang around Northgate and I'm sure I'll be there soon enough. Alright, skillets, I'm gonna head to the flip side. See you all there.

Where to begin, where to begin. So much has happened since I last posted, this may end up being a long blog. So go get something warm to drink, perhaps a blanket to wrap up in whilst you read, and lets begin. First off, why haven't I posted? Well, the end of the semester was a really busy time for me. I had exams, presentations, and projects to work on. I still have one exam to take and two projects to work on, but the deadlines are further away for those.

The first project was our closed loop controlled dc motor supply. Me and my group, the Users, had been working on it all semester. We had to finish it up and debug it and do all kinds of crap. I was in charge of the documentation for the project. Basically you have to document every little thing you do all semester long. The final product was 100 pages, front and back. My obsessive compulsive anal retentive nature came out while working on this document. Everything about it had to be absolutely perfect. In the end, it was. Its the most gorgeous comprehensive thing I've ever made. My professor was very impressed and even said he couldn't wait to read it. And I don't doubt that he meant it with all sincerity. We also had to put together a powerpoint presentation to show to the prof. We did our presentation pretty quick the night before it was due. We had plenty of time though since the last day, we started working on it at 10:00am and didn't finish until 9:00am the next day. I was bound and determined to have the thing finished before I went to sleep. And I did. Our presentation went well even though we got absolutely grilled on the Q&A. Our prof wanted to give us questions that were a cut above the normal question, and they were hard. I think I answered one completely right, and the other one I had to say "I don't know." I wasn't too happy about admitting defeat, but I had no choice.

After the presentation we all went over to the Chicken to relax, drink beer, and play pool. Our professor even joined us, and helped us close the bar down. I paid the pool guy 10 bucks to take the door off of the pool table, so we got unlimited pool the whole night. Because I did that, I didn't have to buy any beer the whole night cause everyone felt indebted to me. That was pretty cool. I got pretty stupid that night but I had a great time just hanging out with everyone from my major. We spend so much time together up in lab, it was nice to kick back with them and just talk about things not related to a 68332 microcontroller. Turns out, my classmates are fun people. Ryan and Todd showed up to Northgate and I was supposed to go home with them, but they ended up ditching my ass when I went inside MadHatters to find Allison. That was cool ... NOT. But whatever, me and Allison ended up getting a ride home from two guys she had met 2 seconds before I showed up. I was under the impression that she knew them, but it turned out that she didn't. Their names were Buck and Kix ... wtf? Why she was talking to a couple of guys named Buck and Kix, I'll never know, but we got home safe and thats all that matters.

Another thing I had to be doing this past weekend, in between my 14 hour stints at the keyboard working on documentation was attend concerts for symphony extra credit. I was concerned that I wouldn't be passing the class. Turns out I was right. Its a good thing I did that extra credit cause it bumped my grade up to a D. A D will really fuck my GPA this semester (which would have been a 4.0 otherwise) but at least I get credit for the class and my fine arts are out of the way. An interesting turn of events though. Our prof in symphony informed us that being a 300 level course, there were prerequisites to get into the course, which only a handful of people knew about. They messed up in the catalogue and allowed us all to sign up for an upperlevel music major course. So depending on the grades, he may curve the whole class, which could potentially bump me up to a C. That would be nice. I'm not counting on it though.

Another project I'm working on is a digital thermometer. We designed the circuit, built it, and tested it and it worked. But for any extra credit points, we have to have it etched onto a pc board. So we frantically designed a pc board, something none of us had ever done before. It was hard, but we got it done and verified by the prof before sending it off to be fab'ed. Turns out it's gonna take way more than the estimated 3 days leaving us with 24 hours to test and debug our system. Sucks. So I don't know what were going to do. Soldering the parts on alone would take that long. We'll see what happens, it may not be possible. I have an A locked down, so I couldn't care less, but my teammates could use the points. We bargained on so many added features (7-segment displays, dual celsius and fahrenheit capabilities, mounting it in a remote control car, and wireless capabilities) that we could earn as many as 10 points to our final final grade. That's so out of control.

Finally having time to relax is weird. At first I was having trouble sleeping. I would wake up every couple of hours and jump out of bed constantly thinking I was either late for something, or wasting time not working on anything. I'm better now though. I slip back into my slothfully prefered mode quite easily. All in all this was a pretty good semester, though I'm not sorry to see it go. Making the highest grade on every test in every class was pretty funny.

I've run out of things to talk about even though I'm sure I've forgotten some things. If I remember I'll post again. Anyways, I'm back now, so fear not. Updates will commence. Peace out, you HAVE NOTS!

Welcome, loyal Sidesho-Viewers ... and a happy Turkey Day to all of you. I hope you're all enjoying your Thanksgiving break, and I do hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. I am back in Plano right now chillin at the ol' casa de la Rentas. Today I woke up and went into lab for a while. I talked to my professor about the grade I made on the last test. If you want to know what it was, IM me and I'll tell you, since I don't want anyone in my class reading this and knowing what I made. We worked on our pcboard for the thermometer for a while. And then I ate and packed and got in the car with Allison to make the trek back to Plano. We actually made pretty good time thanks to a daring (albeit illegal) off-road maneuver by Allison to avert about an hours worth of traffic thru Corsicana. It was good stuff.

I went out to eat with my parents at Mac's Grill, which we all assumed was like a burger joint. But in reality it was this fancy-schmancy restaurant where I ordered one of the best filet mignon's I've ever had. Then I went to the mall with Colleen for a little bit, and then to Starbucks. Then I rushed home because my sister was supposed to be reporting live on the Dallas NBC news about a plane crash in Oklahoma, but they never cut to her, so I'm not sure what the deal is with that.

In other news, THE COMMENTS ARE FIXED ... SO LEAVE ONE. Thanks, and again, happy holidays.

Omega, I don't usually update when I'm drunk but there are TOO many stories from tonight for this to wait until tomorrow (or according to the date on this blog, I guess that would be today). Okay lets start from the beginning. The day begins at 2:25pm, which is when I woke up. This is significant because I had a test at 2:20 today. The deal was that I was up on campus until 4am the night before studying with friends and then I came home and set my alarm but forgot to TURN THE FUCKER ON. Deerrrrrrrr. I freeeeked out and ran to all of my neighbors looking for a ride. I ended up offering a perfect stranger 'anything she wanted' to take me to campus but as she was getting her keys Allison called me and she took me to my class. THANK YOU ALLISON I LOVE YOU. It totally saved my ass. Ahhh, Abba just came on my MP3's, they rule. Anyway, I took the test and trust me, I didn't set any curves. But I did alright.

So I got home, finally showered and got ready to go to this review session. So I went to that and then right to this Diversity Symposium on campus. It was SO cool. There was a panel of one A&M guy, one lady from HEB, some other lady and then Danny from the Real World New Orleans. They just talked about stuff in general, most of it concerning diversity both as a notion and as a specific reference on campus. It was really really refreshing to just listen to people talk who share the same opinions as me. As you might have guessed this doesn't happen very often on this campus. Long story short, I really enjoed just being in the audience listening.

Then it was time for some fucking beer. But first I had to eat, since I hadn't had a chance to do that before. So I called Joseph and we went over to Fitzwilly's for some Fitz Favorites. We bullshitted for a while and made plans for tomorrow. Its his 21st birthday. That'll be really fun. Then I went over to Ryan's and chilled until we were ready to hit Northgate. We started out at the Library, but it was fucking dead. No one was there, so we went to Mad Hatters. There we ran into Humpty and Paco, guys I went to high school with and lived in Moore with but NEVER see anymore. Humpty said he still reads my blog so I wanted to give him a big ol' Shout Out. Leave a comment fucker. Anyway, from there we went to Duddley's, and then home.

I just got home and my neighbor Colette gave me a beer. Then the other next door neighbor's boyfriend Kevin came over and brought me beer after beer while we shot the shit on the porch. Now it is way past time for me to go to bed. I hope you all had as good a time tonight as I did. I love you all ... especially YOU. Laaaaaaaaaate

It's time for Monday again ... my favorite day of the week. It signals an entire school week ahead during which I'll be able to further my knowledge (and love) of digital and analog circuitry. This week is an especially exciting one since I'll be able to take a test on Thursday over a bunch of stuff that I really don't understand. Anyway, I don't really like talking about school. You know what I really like talking about.

Last night Colette and Brianne (the girls next door) both dunked their rings. It was really fun to watch. Brianne came in around 150 seconds and Colette followed shortly thereafter. And then, of course, there was a whole keg of beer left that had to be drank. I did my best to drink as much of it as I possibly could. It was a really good time. Todd, Ryan, and Sam showed up later, but I don't really remember even talking to them much. Allison swung by for a while. Matt and Keith both came as well as John and Courtney. Basically it was a good night of just sitting around doing what we do best.

I do have one misgiving about the whole weekend though. This morning (Sunday) I woke up with an enlarged uvula. For those of you who are not aware, thats the thing that hangs in the back of your throat. The only time this has ever happened to me was when I had my second knee surgery and my uvula got stretched out by the tube being shoved down my throat. Allison found something on the internet that said it could be caused by stress or an infection or something so we'll have to see what that's all about. It is SO annoying because its just resting right on my gag reflex. Yes its that long right now. I'm hoping beyond hope that I'll wake up and it'll be back to normal. Anyway, thats totally gross. I'm going to try to take a picture of it. Check you sluts later.

UPDATE: I just woke up this morning, and while my uvula isn't back to its original size, I think it is definitely smaller than it was last night.

Oh man, did we ever beat the ever livin', ever lovin' HELL outta OU yesterday?! WHOOP! That was one of the greatest Aggie football games that has even been played within the hallowed walls of Kyle Field. In my book it was the #2 greatest game ever, second only to t.u. in '99. Reggie McNeal is a god. He ran through the OU defense like it was tissue paper ... and when he couldn't, he would just make 40 yard touchdown passes. It was so damn exciting. And we won 30-26 for those of you who don't follow Aggie football very close.

Another exciting aspect of the game was when me and Allison went down on the field at halftime for Boot Line. We got right up front on the gate. It was really fun, I was about 2 feet away from Cardo, the yell leader. Then after that me and Allison were TOTALLY on the jumbotron for like a good 30 seconds. So far Lindsay is the only one who saw us. If you happened to see me or Allison on the jumbotron at halftime, please leave a comment. I know for a fact we were on there. That has been one of my goals at this university for a long time. Now, if only I could get on the cover of the Battalion ...

So everyone in this whole damn town was in the best mood ever last night after our stunning upset on the #1 ranked team in the conference. So naturally it was time to party. Me, Todd, Ryan, David, and two of David's friends from Southwest went to Concepts ... the place that used to be Tonix ... the place that used to be Charlie's ... the place that used to be Epi-Center. It was pretty cool except that there was a $5 cover for over 21 and a $10 cover for under 21. It wasn't $5 cover great. But since we were already there we paid and went in. I got completely faded and danced my ass off. It was a good time had by all. Then we woke up today and ate at Chicken Express. It was yummy.

So in summary, this has been like the best Aggie week of my life. Now next week's REALLY gonna suck. I'll see you all there (on the flip side I mean). Peace out.

God I love Halloween. That is, like, my favorite holiday all year long. The day started off pretty sucky, but it got so much better once I mixed in some drinks. I went to class around 9 and did that whole thing. Then I had to talk to my prof about the presentation I'm going to have to give to a class next week. He said we're going to shoot for Wednesday. I really don't want to do this, but its going to change my D to a B, so its definitely worth it.

After that I had to walk to archery. We had our form test, which means we didn't even shoot. Each person took turns having the prof watch us. You had to shoot two arrows at a target that was like 5 feet away, cause he didn't care if you could aim, just your form. I got 14/15 points. He said my form was really good, but I didn't pull the bow back the same distance both times, which I'm sure is true cause I'm not very good.

Then I went to my circuit design class. That was business as usual. That gets out at 3:30 and I decided to get ahead of the game and figure out my schedule for next semester. Turns out my department has a new lady whose only job is to be an advisor. We have a real live advisor now! Like someone who actually knows what she's talking about and gives a shit. Its nice. We used to just talk to professors who had way more important things to do. Anyway, I got my sched for next semester kinda figured out. I might take chemistry at Blinn, but I don't know how to do that, so we'll see.

After that I went to the computer lab to work on my presentation a little bit, but that didn't end up happening. Instead me and my lab partner, Owen, ended up on Yahoo! games playing pool against each other. I lost twice and won once. It was really fun. Then at 5 it was up to the lab to work on our multi-channel pulse width modulator. Fun stuff, it never ended up working. Then I left to go to my car and realized I never went home so I didn't have a car. That's always a fun feeling. So I started making calls.

Keith was in Fort Worth. I swear I need to start listening to him sometimes. Then I called Allison and she was too drunk to drive ... at 9 oclock. Halloween rules. So I called Brandon and he gave me a ride home. Then he came in while I made myself some leftovers and he ended up falling asleep on my couch, and he slept there all night. Didn't bother me. So I got ready to go out and did just that. I had my neighbor Brianne paint my face with eyeshadow so I looked like really sickly. I tried to snap a pic of it, but most of it rubbed off last night. So I went and picked up Ryan and we hit Northgate.

We started out at 315, the place that used to be the Reef. Then we ran into Allison and we went to the Library. That was pretty hopping. We spent the rest of the night there. Halloween on Northgate is too much fun. Everyone's in costumes and just getting CRA-ZAY. God I can't wait for next year. So then we went to Stev-o's house. It was fun. There were drinks and I think there was some oregano going on in the back room, but I'm too innocent to know. Well I ended up passing out on the couch in blissful slumber. I was rudely awakened a while later cause I guess Stev-o's roommate came home and it was his weed everyone was smoking or something, I don't know. I was just told we had to leave 'now!' So then Justin gave me and Ryan a ride home. Thanks for that, that was cool.

Today, I might go to class, but probably not. I hate my Symphony class, its so stupid. I do need to take a quiz I missed on Monday cause I was sick tho. Ehhh, I dunno. Then I need to go to the parking garage and get my car. Its so cool that you can just leave it there overnight. Very good call on the part of College Station. They usually just do stupid shit, but this makes sense. Then I don't know what else is on the slate.

One more quick note, sorry this blog is too long. There are some very exciting things happening at SideshoViD.com. This time ... he's not alone...

Yay! I got new shoes. So I can't technically afford them, but that's what credit is for, right? They're Sketcher Sports. They look kinda like the Diesel shoes I've been wanting for forever, but now everyone has them and these are a little bit different. So its all good. I decided to go to the mall today randomly by myself cause I've been needing brown shoes for a long time, ever since I left my old ones at the hotel at Allison's step brother's wedding. Now I have some. So I'm excited about that.

I also need a new beanie to wear now that its frickin' cold. I hate the cold and I hate cold fronts, and I hate rainy cold days, like it was today. I have the grey one I bought in Germany and that's served me well for a long time, but I want a new one that's thicker and warmer. So if anyone knows where to find a good one, please let me know. Everything else today was rather uneventful. I have to do some stuff for school tomorrow and then I'm going to bed. So I will see you all tomorrow. Have a grrrreat day.

Another weekend has drawn to a close. This was a particularly fun one, and if you're lucky I might tell you why. Okay, you're lucky. Lets see, last night me and Allison spent the better part of the night together. We took it slow though, no sense in chugging beers when you've got all night to drink. *WINK* Yeah so we were drinking like champs, what can I say? After got a little toasted we made some calls and my friend Stev-o came over to do a little drinking of his own. Then my neighbor Brianne came over to party with us and Keith came home. Before you knew it we had a little party goin'. Drinkin' some beers, telling some stories. Good times had by all. Then Matt came home with one of his friends, and it was just an all around good time.

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed. Okay, there's two lies in that sentence. I didn't wake up this morning, it was more like 2:30 in the afternoon, and I was surprisingly un-refreshed. Alas, it was worth it. I showered and got ready and went to the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra concert. I was a little bit disappointed. I knew what to expect, so I wasn't surprised, but my god could Baroque music BE anymore repeatative. I don't think so. Me and Keith both fell asleep in alternative intervals. Now I have to write a paper about it, which I'm not too thrilled to do, but whatever, it won't be hard. I don't have anything else due tomorrow since we got assigned a 2 week lab last week in my 349 lab. So thats a nice load off for a Sunday night. So in other words, no plans for tomorrow, just business as usual.

I hope you all had a good weekend too, and good luck with everything goin on this week. Keep checkin' in to keep up with yours truely. Laaaaaaaaaaate.

Hey kids. Boy have I ever not been in the mood to blog lately. That just happens sometimes, y'know. Like you get into the groove of blogging nearly every day for a long time and then suddenly its the last thing you wanna do with your time. Anyway, I'm back now. You've sure missed out on a lot of good stuff, but thats half the fun of me not blogging is you not knowing whats going on, so instead of trying to catch up, I'm just gonna talk about yesterday.

I woke up a little hungover so I spent the morning eating a nice breakfast I cooked for myself, drinking water and juice, and taking a shower. I felt much better after that, and it was such a beautiful day that I couldn't help but be in a really good mood. Keith and Matt left for Dallas to go to the Who concert so I had the place to myself. I decided to turn off the AC, open up all the windows and turn on all the fans. Not only did I air the place out but it felt so good. I had the digital cable music station blaring as I vacuumed and dusted and disinfected. The place is currently spotless. We'll see how long that lasts. So when I was done, I decided to get ready to go to the football game against Vergina Tech. I like to wrap my knees to facilitate standing thru the entire game, so I did the tight ace bandage, metal supported brace combination. No one knows I'm wearin it though cause my overalls go right over it. Man was it hot at the game, especially in these overalls. But it was so fun. Well, besides the fact that we had 3 über-bitches standing next to us all in a huff cause they thought we were in their seats. Whatever. It was just me and Allison so instead of trying to squeeze into our seats, we just took some empty room a few rows back. It wasn't a big deal though, cause they were only there for one quarter and we left before halftime to go down for senior yell so they were only bothering us for like 8 minutes.

Senior Yell was awesome. We went down and lined up and I saw so many people I knew down there. It was like a little '03 reunion. We got to go down on Kyle Field while the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band was doing their show. Then we did two yells and welcomed the Aggies back onto the field. I could have SWORN I was on the jumbo-tron, but so far no one had seen me. The guy with the camera was panning our faces and I had the camera RIGHT in my face for a few seconds, so if it was on the jumbotron then I was too. If you saw me, please let me know. After that they herded us off the field and we went and found a new place to stand in some room of people that left after the band played. The game kinda sucked, mostly cause we lost, but I still had a blast. I got really sunburned in the face, like I knew was gonna happen. But despite all that, it was too fun. Certainly better than sitting up in one of those boxes. Thats just a random opinion of mine, not directed toward anyone.

After that, my brother Stephen was in town, so he came over to see my place. Then we went to go eat at Rockfish. Once again, I ate seafood and enjoyed it. We both got seafood enchiladas. I also ate a shitload of peanuts. Blech. Anyway, I also had a couple beers with dinner, and then stuffed myself with enchiladas, so when we got back we laid around and watched TV, and then Stephen went back to Houston. Almost needless to say, immediately I fell the fuck asleep for a good couple of hours. Allison finally woke me up by coming over to see what I was doing since I wasn't online, and I wasn't answering my phone. Then I went over to her place and watched Super Troopers. It was a pretty funny movie, I would recommend it to all of you without hesitation. After that I got online for a while, did some real nice chatting, drank a couple beers. Keith got home and we went to Taco Cabana at like 4am. Good times, I haven't done that in a while. Now its Sunday and here I am. I don't have shit to do today, so I ain't gonna worry about nothing. Maybe I'll go lay out or something. You know how I do. Anyway, now you're all up to speed, no more complaining. Czech you skillets later.

Oh, and download the new song of the day. Its the JAM, seriously.

Hey all. I'm about to run out to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding with Allison and skip out on open lab hours. Me and Owen (my lab partner) got a lot more done today than anyone else, so its time for another break. I had a fairly productive day despite the rain. I went and pulled a couple football tickets for Vergina Tech on Saturday. Me and Allison are just going together. Its too hard to coordinate a big group for us. Then I went and cut the sleeves off my Harley Davidson shirt cause they were bothering me. Then I ran into both Justin and Arash each on opposite sides of the campus (both of whom you'll remember from the towing blog). So that was fun. Then I had my Symphony class where I fell asleep, and then my lab, which I already discussed. Which brings me to the now.

This is off the topic, but me and Keith watched Wayne's World last night while we ate, and I made a comment about how much of that movie is in my regular rotation of phrases. And as we watched it, i kept count of how many lines from the movie I use on a daily, semi-daily (or even hourly) basis. The count got way into the double digits. Lets just put it that way. It made me kind of sad.

On another note, I told you all I would let you know how Jay's endeavor in the ToughMan competition turned out. This thing went against everything I believe in, but I found myself being very entertained. Jay 'Soda Popinski' did not advance past the first round. He lost after 3 one-minute rounds in a unanimous decision. It wasn't all for naught though, because he made the front page of our school newspaper today. And I felt obliged to share it with all of you. Gotta run, check you all latah.

I think I have a lot to talk about. I haven't blogged in a couple of days. So sit back, relax, and strap yourself in for this fast paced eye popping blog of all blogs. Okay thats a total lie. Anyway, what's been goin on? Wednesday passed like any other day, not much to talk about there. Thursday a lot of little things happened.

In my archery class we got to select bows. I chose a left handed 26 pound bow. I am left eye dominant so I'm taking the instructor's advice and firing left handed. He said initially it will be harder, but a better idea in the long run. And since I'm going to be a complete natural at archery, I want to be as good as I can be down the road. On Tuesday we actually get to fire arrows. I'm so excited.

On my way back to main campus from archery, my friend Nadia called me just to see what was up. I have a large break in between classes so I met up with her outside of the Bright Building just to say hi and bullshit. On the way, I ran into Adam, the guy who was in our speech class with us. We chit chatted for a little while and then parted our separate ways. The rest of the day was a total bore of class and stuff. But I did not go to open labs for the first time this week. It was a nice break. Instead, AllieD invited me over for dinner. She made beef strogonoff (if anyone knows how to spell this word I would greatly appreciate it). It was so damn good. She made a LOT tho, and it was just the two of us, so we ended up completely gorging ourselves while we watched Van Wilder (an excellent flick, I highly recommend).

After that I wanted to come home, get ready and go out. Turns out Allison was (a) in a good mood and (b) wanting to go out. So we actually went to Northgate just the two of us. That doesn't happen too much. We had a friggin blast. Well I know for sure I did, and I'm pretty sure Al did too. We started off at the library. I ran into some of my friends and we all shared a table. Allison had a Cosmopolitan cause she was already looking fabulous so she wanted to accentuate the obvious. I had a Jack and coke cause I'm a simple man with simple tastes. After that we went to Duddley's and drank some beers until they kicked us out. I completely forgot that we had parked in the garage, so I was thinking that Moore Hall was on the way to my car, so I made Allison go all the way over there cause I had to piss like a racehorse and everywhere on Northgate was locked. Burns let me in, and we chilled for a minute. Some guy was riding around on a skateboard, so Allison told him she had a phone call for him. It was the 80's and they wanted their skateboard back. Needless to say, she wasn't making friends. So we split. I got home, drank a few beers, chatted for a while, and then went to bed.

Today I woke up at like noon, didn't bother showering, went to my Symphony class. Then I did this assignment for my 349 class and turned it in, and now I am home. End of story basically. Tonight, me and Keith are going to the Toughman Competition. Our friend Jay has decided that it was necessary to gain like 7 pounds in order to be able to fight in the lowest weight division. He's going to get in the ring, hit somebody he doesn't even know as many times as he can, and I suppose its gonna prove something. Whatever the motivation though, we're so there. I know I shouldn't complain about the idiocy of such a contest when I'm funding it with my ticket price, so I'll try to keep an open mind going in. We'll see though. I'll let you all know how it goes. Til then ... be cool, stay in school.

Last night I decided I wanted to go out. I had my out-fit on. So I went over to Allison's to discuss the proposition. To make a long story I don't wanna tell into a short story, two and a half hours later, it was decided that we would indeed, go to Northgate. This was around 11:30, which means we didn't step foot into a bar until midnight. By 'we' I mean 'me, Allison, and Katie.' There was a line for The Library (where I really wanted to go) so we opted for the new MadHatter's ... since none of us had been in there yet. It was pretty neat. They played nothing but 80's music the whole time, so I guess its kinda fun to have a themed bar on Northgate. Their drink specials were chocolate martinis for $2.50. That really didn't sound appetizing to me, but I didn't want to be left out, so I opted for an apple martini for a couple bucks more. Mmmk, if by 'apple martini' they meant 'a big glass of sour apple pucker.' Needless to say, I didn't really enjoy my drink much. Allison and Katie didn't much appreciate their chocolate/alcohol concoctions either. It was a little disappointing. We did run into some of our neighbors there, though, and talked to them for a while. And I saw one of my friends from elementary school and said hi to him for a while. All in all, I had a lot more fun that if I had just gone to bed.

I don't know about Princess tho, she was about as sour as my drink. We got home and she went to bed pretty much. I drank a couple beers and watched an episode of Cheers and then went home and drank my last beer. I was all alone and bored and getting drunk and I needed some company, some conversation, and another beer. So who did I call? Naturally, I called Holly. What a class act. She drove over to my place with 2 beers so we could sit and chat and share a drink. She's too cool. After that I called Keith to make sure he was alright cause it was like 4am and he's usually home before that. Turns out this kid decides to drive to Austin with Burns last night just spur of the moment cause they were bored. Whaaaatever. So then I went to bed and woke up today hearing a howling pouring rainstorm. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. I hate rain.

I heard my Aggies won 14-12 against Pitt. That's good news. Too bad I didn't get up to actually watch the thing, but oh well. Not sure what's on the plate for tonight, but I know I wanna get out of the house at least and mingle a little bit. We'll see what happens and I'll keep you all posted.

So much to say, so much to say. Let me start with our first football game. As many of you know, there are very few things that I love so much as Aggie football, so naturally I was pretty excited about the game. My sports pass wasn't renewed like I thought, so I had to wait in this long line in order to get it renewed. The point of telling you that, is that I couldn't pull with my friends so I just had a single ticket. So did Lindsay, so we decided to sneak in somewhere and sit together. I called Todd's cell phone and made him come down from his seats with two tickets so that we could sneak into his section, and then we ended up standing on his row since there was room. We had to move a couple times and Lindsay stood in the aisle for a while (I'm such a gentleman) but in the end we had plenty of room.

The girls behind me were pissing me off though. They were 3 ugly wenches and they kept talkin shit about every single play. They'd be like "Oh boy here comes our offense, this outta be good ... of course our defense is nothing great either" or "Oh great catch, I can't believe how bad we're going to be this year" and it was just constant. I mean they didn't shut up for the whole first quarter. So finally I turned around and I said, "Hi there. Excuse me. I was just wondering if you came to watch my Aggies play or if you just came to criticize every damn play. Can we please get a little team spirit back there?" And they kind of ignored me, but they shut up for a while. It was really sappin my fun though, so I had to say something. The game was great, I rank it #3 all time behind t.u. my freshman year and Notre Dame last year. We may not have played all that great, but thats not really how I rank football games. I really like turnovers, and there were more than enough to keep me jumping up and down the whole game. I'm not sure what the final count was, but there were seriously like 8 interceptions. And we won 31-7, which always makes for a good game. Anyway, I thought it was great. And thats the name of that tune.

When we got home, my neighbors Vinny and Cheyney (sp?) had gotten a couple of kegs, so the whole neighborhood came out again. Ryan and Todd showed up too and ended up spending the night here because we all got a little bit toasty. There were some people in the next building that were having a party too and theirs was much bigger than ours. They had to have had a good 60 people just in back by the keg. And every guy there was massive. I went inside their party for a while and I was absolutely dwarfed by everyone there. It was kinda weird. I don't know if they were football players or what. I met my other next door neighbor last night too and she was pretty cool. Her name is Brianne. She made us some fucking good mashed potatoes from scratch at like 4 in the morning. We know so many people in our neighborhood now, I'm gonna need to start jotting down names on a map to remember everyone. Its so great ... so incredibly different from the Enclave last year where we didn't see, let alone meet, a single neighbor in an entire year. Except for Candy, who we met once and then totally fabricated a personality for her until she was this fictional Kramer-esque 2-dimensional comedy schtick character. Whoo-ahhh!

So anyway, the parties were a little off the heezy so like 6 cops showed up and started IDing everybody. They never IDed me though, oh well. Apparently its illegal to drink in public after 1am, and the area between our duplexes is considered public. I was not aware of that. I didn't get any tickets but both of the people hosting the parties got slammed. Like $500 or something big like that. I'm not sure of the exact figure, I haven't ventured out of the house yet today to see the damage. Anyway, I'm gonna get back to the Food Network now. I just finished up a Good Eats with Alton Brown marathon (thanks for letting me know it was on Allison). I'll catch you skids on the flip slide.

Well, I was planning on waiting to make another post until I got my internet up and running, but it turned out that I just couldn't wait that long. I am using Keith's computer right now. His works just fine, yet mine two rooms over will not even find a connection. Its very frustrating. I've been on hold with Cox Cable for about 30 minutes now. I just moved in yesterday with my roommates for the next year Keith (who we all remember from last year) and Matt. We got ourselves a nice little duplex. If you wanna know where it is, send me and IM and I'll probably tell you. I just don't want to broadcast that information. Anyway, moving in has gone semi-well. I made myself a curtain today out of heavy canvas material because the sunlight was coming directly into my window this morning and I couldn't sleep past 8am, which is insanely early for me, as you know.

But enough about me. Lets talk about my weekend. I left around 9:30am on Friday with Allison to head back to Plano because my brother, Michael, got married. Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was nothing. It took like 10 minutes to tell us all where to stand (I was a groomsman) and then it was off to the Radison hotel in Richardson for the dinner. It was a pretty good dinner, some chicken with this sauce on it and rice and a torte for dessert. There was also an open bar. That was pretty cool. I didn't much care for the country and western DJ until he put on some Eminem. It really flooded the dance floor, and I think it was the only rap song he had, so he just played it over again to keep everyone out there. As a gift for all of his groomsmen and ushers, my brother got us headlights. They're these 3 really bright LEDs that are attached to a headband and they can either produce a steady stream of intense light or you can make them blink or dim it or anything. They're really cool. So everyone out on the dance floor had these blinking lights attached to their foreheads. It was pretty cool. I was driving so I had to stay semi-in-control. I did a good job though. Even though after the dinner party me and Allison joined some of Michael's friends across the street at the Fox and the Hound for another drink.

The next day I just chilled around with the fam. Almost everyone went off the take a nap, but I wasn't tired cause I stayed in bed until well into the afternoon. So as everyone retired, I called my friend Jay in Plano and went over to his house. I haven't seen him in like a year. We ended up going to Bennigan's for a beer and he bought me a shot. Let me tell you, it was exactly what I wanted right before the wedding, but it didn't end up being an issue. The ceremony was at 7:30 at night. It was a nice wedding. Krista, my new sister in law, looked great. And, more importantly, so did I. Everything there went off without a hitch. They flew back to Sacremento, CA yesterday and left for Maui today. They're going to be there for 8 days. Fun stuff. The party after the wedding was another fun one with another bad DJ. It was the same DJ that did my brother, Stephen's wedding. He said his name was DJ Brian. I told him he was really clever. He played all the greatest hits of 20-30 years ago. Kind of sucked, but there was free beer, so we managed to have a good time. It was good to see all the family and old family friends and stuff. Even though I really only got to talk to each person for about 5 minutes. The next day I was moving into my new place so I got up, had brunch with Allison's family and then we hit the road for College Station. I ended up giving Kari (Krista's little sister) a ride back too, so it was the fullest car I've ever driven to school.

Now here I am in my new duplex, just chillin waiting for somebody, anybody, from Cox to pick up and tell me how to get my computer connected to the internet so I can get my AIM running 24/7 and my webcam too. Hopefully that'll happen in the next couple of days. If not, I'll be contacting you all from Keith's computer at a later date. Excelsior!

The time is upon us, dear Sidesho-Viewers. In about 12 hours I will be on a plane to Las Vegas, Nevada for 3 days of glorious sinful fun. I'm starting to get really excited as I pack my bags and make last minute errands and purchases for things I might want. Hey, I know. I'll tell you what. If I win more than, say, $5,000 at the craps table (which is fairly likely) I will give anyone that leaves a comment a crisp, new $100 dollar bill. Yes my friends, the Sidesho-Bribery is back!

I will return to College Station on Tuesday. I'm going to chill and relax until Friday to go home for my brother's wedding. I would leave sooner but Allison is my date to the wedding and she only got off work for the weekend. Then (as I think I've stated several times) I will rush back to College Station to move into my new duplex. Then, of course, its time for the house-warming par-tay ... ooowwww! I'll let you all know when that's gonna be, cause I KNOW you all wanna be there. Anywho, I'm gonna go eat, take a nap (our sleep schedule's gonna be all screwy with the 6am flight and losing 2 hours) and then pack my bags and be on my way. Wish me luck...

Viva Las Vegas!

I spent almost all of yesterday with Allison. She called and woke me up to come eat lunch with her at the Cotton Snatch, where she works. So I got up, threw on a clean shirt and headed out there. I had Brocorri Cheese soup and a salad. Allison had a glass of water and a crouton. Then we went to Kroger and did some brief grocery shopping and went back to Allison's pad. We hung out there for just a little bit and then headed over to the mmmovie theater to see Austin Power's in Goldmember. I really enjoyed the movie. At times it was slow and at times it was the opposite of funny. But it was overall generally entertaining at all times. The real key was that when it was funny, ohmigod, it was hilarious. So I was either looking at my watch wondering when it would end or having a groin grabbingly good laugh. I would definitely recommend seeing this movie.

After AP, Allison wanted to stop by Academy sports and outdoors, the right stuff the right price. So we did just that. Turns out, all their summer stuff was on sale. And I've been wanting a new beach towel cause my Darth Maul towel from like 2 or 3 years ago just isn't doing it for me anymore out poolside. So I got a new towel for like 6 bucks. I've also wanted a new suit cause I had swimming laps in board shorts. So I got a more sensible lap swimming suit for like 5 bucks. Its ugly as hell, but the only one left in my size. Then I bought a sleeveless workout shirt for about 6 bucks and a pair of A&M workout shorts. I have a new workoutfit, which I unveiled last night to RAVE reviews, I'm sure. I also bought a pack of undershirts, because all of mine seem to say FUCK on them in one fashion or another. What a dirty little habit of mine. Anyway, after that we decided to slurge once again and go to On the Border for dinner. I got some chicken enchiladas and Allison had a light salad with dressing on the side. After that I came home and slept until I woke up around 10:30 and went to go work out. I just woke up today and nothing has happened yet so I'll have to tell you about it tomorrow. Excelsior!

Friday night was a right proper blast. It ended up that we decided to stay home and drink some beer. We had a pretty good turnout too considering we didn't really intend on having a party. Maddou came over early on in the evening to start sipping on a few brewskis. Later on then John showed up with one of his female friends. Jennifer drove in from Houston, also with a female friend. Doug and Nicole showed their faces once more and managed to convince a couple people to play drinking games (not me though, I always heed my own advice -- never play Doug's drinking games). There was some other guy there that I think came with Doug, I'm not sure. He had really cool tattoos. I'm sure was a little too interested in them, but I was drunk and they were really intricate. To top off the guestlist, Allison made a semi-surprise visit. We had such a blast. Me and Allison haven't gotten a chance to party together in forever. I don't think we stopped laughing hysterically the entire night. Everything was funny to us. Funny because it was true -- it was funny and true.

If you can imagine, I may have had just a little too much fun on Friday night, though I don't regret it one bit. So last night I took it pretty easy. We watched a bunch of TV and that was just about it. Maddou invited me out to Northgate but I honestly don't have any money. I have like 12 dollars in the bank right now but you need at least $20 to get it out of the ATM ... cause I ain't paying the service fee on the $5 ATM they have on Northgate. Anyway, it turned out to be a right bore, but I think I needed it. Oh yeah, this is off topic, but I talked to Stuart the other night. He finally called me back. You all remember Stuart from Moore Hall, right? He lives in Nashville, Tennessee now. Talk about fucking random. Whatever floats his boat though, I'm sure its better than Fort Worth.

Alright, I think today I'm gonna go to the rec and work out since I have such a fabulouso body now. My weight hovers right around 150 still, I haven't gained a damn pound in so long. The other day I was 152 a new high, and then yesterday I was back down to 149. I don't get it. I can't gain weight for the life of me. And that creatine was giving me heart palpitations so I quit taking it. Anyway, then I'm gonna lay out. So my day is full. You all be good ... and don't forget to tip your waitress.

YESTERDAY: Yesterday was a hella good time. I skipped class because I was exhausted from the Austin trip and just bummed around the duplex all day long. For dinner I met up with Allison and her mother, Delilah, at Wings N More. The whole Allison gang was there, her roommates, neighbors, and fratdaddy friends. It was so great to see Delilah, not only is she the coolest mom ever, but she's one of the (if not THE) most loyal Sidesho-Viewers. Gotta love that. After a wonderful dinner of chicken tenders, fries, and toast, all soaked into way too much ranch, I went back home to get ready to go to Karaoke Night at Shadow Canyon. We got there around 10 to take advantage of the $3 pitchers until 11. It was around 11 that Allison, in tote with Christine, Katie and the rest of the Dexter gang showed up to Hole in the Wall. For those of you not from College Station, Hole in the Wall is connected to Shadow Canyon. So Allison called me and I met them down there for a couple more pitchers of some Coors Light. We swear it was Coors Light and not Natty. Shadow was Shadow for the rest of the night, a few pitchers and couple chuggers later and we adjourned over at Doug's house (if you'll recall, Doug is the guy who taught us the vicious drinking game last weekend). At Doug's we played a game of 42. Me and Todd completely wiped the floor with Ryan and Doug, and I don't have a clue how to play really. So that was lucky. We finally came home and went to bed, but there was a good time had by all.

TODAY: Today I was forced to skip class again. Big shocker there. I'm going tomorrow (err, today technically) if I ever get to bed. Today I just bummed around again. I did start on the coolest pair of pants ever though. I am cutting up a pair of jeans and stitching them back together with thick ass twine. It looks so cool thus far. Hopefully it will continue in that trend.

TOMORROW: Tomorrow I'm going to class, and then coming home for lunch and stuff. Ryan's parents should be here around 3, and I've never met them so I'm going to wait around for that. Then I am departing for Houston because it is my brother, Stephen's, 24th birthday. I'm going to stay there over night and then come home on Saturday because I have a polisci test on Monday that I'm not too sure about. I did read 3 chapters today though and the test shouldn't be too terribly difficult if the guy gives like 40% A's on pickaprof. Alas, now it is time to hit the proverbial hay. I'll catch you have nots later (incidentally one of the gov. chapters I read tonight was on the concept of haves and have nots. Pretty cool huh?)

Today was the first day of the new summer session. I'm only taking one class: PoliSci 207, State and Local Government. My professor seems like a nice enough guy, he gives lots of A's. But he also believes in engaging the classroom in discussions, which I'm not really into, especially in a class of 300 people. He spends a lot of time just waiting for someone in the room to respond to his (what I consider) rhetorical questions. It shouldn't be too bad though, its only one class and its at 10:00 so I'm done early.

I tried to start working on my summer long project, finally. I've already pissed away half the summer. I went into the lab and downloaded all the files I need, but my computer ended up crashing 3 times and it pissed me off. They also keep it like 30 degrees in the lab, and since I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt I froze my ass off. I decided to just come home instead, like I knew I would anyway. I'm going to dress warmer tomorrow, which will be fun because I can sweat my ass off the rest of the day.

I inadvertently omitted Todd from San Antonio from the last blog. He's Kevin's roommate. He paid for mad drinks for us on our birthday and I am, of course, very much obliged. I like it when people buy me alchohol. I'm not sure what's on the slate for tonight. Allison usually goes to Ninfa's for the Ninfaritas and I'm supposed to accompany her sometime, but I think she said she doesn't want to go today. If that's the case I'll probably sit at home watching movies and drinking some beers. My life is too exciting.

I found out today that AOL finally figured out that I haven't given them a penny in like 7 years. I got an email from them saying that since I no longer work for them that I have until July 16 to either start paying or have my account canceled. That totally sucks. I have so much stuff coming to my email address regularly ... I mean I've had it for so long. I'm going to have to transfer it all over to somewhere else. My webpage comes with like 30 email addresses, but I can't figure out how to set them up. Once I do my email will be SideshoViD@sideshovid.com, which is cooler anyway. I'm still not happy about the whole arrangement.

I laid out in the sun yesterday for like an hour and a half. I got some good sun, but only on half of my body. Serves me right for going out there late in the day. I need to remember to turn my chair, I guess. My legs itch. I'm out.

Greetings from the land of 21. First let me thank everyone who attempted to call me on my birthday. If you forgot, good news: I'll never know. My cell phone, apparently, was telling everyone that, "This VoiceStream customer is no longer in service." My feelings got progressively more hurt as the day went on because NO ONE had called me. So around 10:00 I decide to call my parents to find out what the dillyo, and they were like "DAVID! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WE'VE BEEN CALLING ALL DAY!" And then I called Ms. Allison and got about the same reaction, so that made me feel better. Like I said, if you didn't call, just say you did and make me feel special.

So what did I do this weekend. Well first, me and Todd drove to Kevin's apartment. We had to take two detours on our way there because of the severe flooding all around San Antonio. You should have seen the Guadalupe River. My god, the thing was beyond swollen, it was crazy. We eventually made it to Kevin's, and he worked until about 10 that night. And as soon as he got home and we all got ready we went out to a pool hall called Bradley's. There were a bunch of Kevin's friends there as well as Todd and my friend Will from College Station. We got there around 11:00 and the door girl said she couldn't count me and Kevin as over cause it wasn't midnight yet. So we got big black X's marked on our hands. At midnight, we went back to the door and some guy in charge told us it would be okay if we went to the bathroom and washed the X's off our hands and then served us a free beer. The drinks then ensued. I had a load of beers, and one shot, which naturally, was a Four Horsemen. Thats a damn stout shot. I can get sufficiently drunk off just that. We tried to play a little pool, but that proved difficult. Kevin could hardly hit the cue ball. And this is all by 2:00 cause that was closing time.

Then we went back to Kevin's pad and had a little party with everyone. I don't know exactly what happened, but I know I was drinking all night, and I somehow out lasted everyone at the apartment. I was so drunk but I was up and watching a movie and everyone else was asleep or had gone home. So I went to bed and got around 4 hours of sleep before I got up on Saturday. I was so damn hungover it wasn't even funny. And it was one of those wonderful 24 hour kind of hangovers. So I felt like shit all day long. Saturday night we went to Fox and Hound and had a couple beers, nothing too fancy. Everyone had already kicked off the party that night back at Kevins. When we got there, I had no choice but to take a nap. My head was pounding and all the lights and noise was too much. So I fell asleep for a couple hours and then rejoined the party. It was kinda fun cause they were t-rashed and I wasn't drunk. And as an added bonus, I wasn't hungover this morning when I had to drive home.

This morning we woke up and got ready to come back to College Station. We said our goodbyes and left San Antonio around 3 after we had a little lunch. We decided to take some new and improved way home, I'm not sure what possessed us. But we ended up in Austin, and I called Will and asked him how the hell to get back to CS from there. Thank god we finally got here, and just a shade over 4 hours later. Oy! But I am back, and thanks again to everyone who left a comment or tried to call. You're all beautiful. It was especially good to hear from Joseph, who has been AWOL all summer. He'd best be keeping in touch if he knows whats good for him. And that's the name of that tune. Peace out, you have nots, stay in school.

God, what a hangover that was. I'm not sorry to see it go. I decided to sleep it off this time instead of dealing with it. I just woke up and its like 3:00pm. Gotta love the weekends. Last night we hosted a little get together at the Green Monster. Allison Delerie and her boyfriend Jamie came over as well as Todd and Ryan's friend David from Arlington. Later in the night my friend Allison came over after she got off work. And the final two guests were Erica and Zach. Erica is from Ryan's logic class and Zach was visiting her from Austin. It was a grand ol' time. All I know now is that I spent the morning in bed drinking water to alleviate a splitting headache and there must be about 100 bottles strewn about the apartment tonight. I ain't sorry though, like I said, it was a blast. I'm not sure whats on the menu for tonight, but I'll let you all know about it later. Peace out.

I just returned from Conroe where I attended Allison's step brother's wedding. I had so much fun last night, but boy am I paying for it today. Let me start from the beginning though. We started out the first night by going to the rehearsal dinner at the Macaroni Grill. The food was so good and I was so fetted and full by the time we were done. That night was pretty moderate on the partying. I we had some beers with dinner and then went over to Chili's for a little after party. I ordered a big ol' blue margarita, didn't even get carded. After that me and Allison each got a 24 oz beer at the gas station and drank that back at the hotel and just hung out by the pool chatting.

On Saturday I didn't have jack to do all day but everyone I knew was in a frenzy. It allowed me some time to just sleep late, lay out by the pool, and read my book that I still haven't finished. I got kind of tan though, I need to be laying out every day, when I can find the time. Anyway, then all I had to do was be ready to go to the wedding at 7:00. It was an outdoor wedding and it was really pretty. It was a fairly short wedding, and the minister-type dude made it all rhyme. Needless to say it was nothing like a Catholic wedding. It was at this quaint little bed and breakfast with white picket fences and shit. We stayed there drinkin and then went back to the hotel pool for the after party. I ended up staying up drinking until 5am. I was more than a little intoxicated. It was the really good kind of long periods of slow drinking saturated drunk. Which more than explains my splitting headache, aching body, and queasy stomach today. But it was worth it, I had a really good time.

On the calendar is a Speech test tomorrow morning and a Stats test on Friday. Nothing too strenuous. And I need to start on that damn microcontroller project. Catch you kids tomorrow.

I got the grade for my speech today. I got an 85 on it. Its not that great, but it was the highest grade in the class. He said with a little effort I could be much better. I suppose I can't argue with that since I did the speech in less than a day. Once again, I got the comment that I am too monotone. If I had a nickel for every time I'd heard that in my life ... well, I'd have a shitload of nickels.

Today was a good day though. I slept in late. And by late I mean 9:20, but it still felt good. I went to class but nothing was due, so all I had to do was show up. Then I walked my happy ass over to Burger Boy for lunch. I felt like I needed it. After that I met Allison, Christine and Katie over at the Rec Center pool to lay out in the sun. Summer can be so rough sometimes. After that, I came home and Ryan cooked steaks. Yum. Gotta love protein.

I think tonight I'm going to do my stats homework and try to get to bed at a reasonable hour, after I watch the first half of Costa Rica vs. Brazil, of course. That is, if we decide to not go to Shadow Canyon for karaoke night. I don't think we're going to though. I also have to get my workout in, so I'll be heading back to the Rec Center again tonight. Right now I'm weighing in at 150 lbs straight up. My target weight is 165. I'll keep you all posted. I may have already gained a pound, but its hard to tell on that scale, so maybe I'll just report every 5 pounds I gain. Either way I look damn good. Boo yah. Czech you later, skillets.

Well today was fun. About a week ago we were assigned a speech for my SCOM203 class. If you'll recall, it was supposed to be over a significant historical event. I pissed away my time trying to think of a really stellar topic until it became the day before it was due. I finally had to just pick a topic, any topic, and start writing the speech. I chose the murder of John Lennon. Not that I'm a huge Lennon fan, nor did I particularly care for the Beatles, but I wanted to do something with music, I respect the man and his work, and there weren't any good sources over John Denver's death.

I feel it necessary to give thanks to a couple of people. First Ryan Short for helping me get started, figure out a killer intro, teaching me about ethos, pathos, and logos, and telling me to just shut up and write the speech. Also to Allison who let me come over at like 11:30 to help/encourage me to finish my speech and then listen to me read it a few times. I ended up finishing writing the speech and the outline I used to speak from around 2am. And I got up this morning at about 8 to get to school, print it out, and practice it. In fact, that reminds me that I used my ftp to transport the files, so if you would like to read my speech you can do so here.

I managed to memorize the thing in a little over an hour this morning and was feelin good when I got to class. There were 8 people speaking today and I was fifth. Some of them were clever, a couple were well written and a couple were even pretty good speakers, but all of them before did nothing but bolster my confidence that I was going to do fine. And I did. I didn't studder or mess up or anything. I'm pretty confident that it went well, I'm just hoping my outlines and stuff are in the proper format so I can get full credit there.

My friends in my class were very supportive of my speech, which was flattering. And we all know I do like to be flattered. My friend Adam leaned forward after I sat down and said, "And you hadn't even picked a topic until last night? You bastard." And I made a new friend today, Nadia. She volunteered to work the camera so she was sitting right next to me. I think I like summer school, everyone's so much friendlier, I think. Or maybe just I am. Oh well. Catch you skids later. Give peace a chance.

Well I am officially moved into my summer place. I am living with Ryan and Todd, you might remember them from my old friends pages. Incidentally, I'm thinking about bringing something similar to a Friends Page back. But instead, it would be a cast page. That way, when I blog about somebody, you could click on their name to view their vital stats so no one is ever left in the dark. Its such a good idea, and it eliminates all the politics of a friends page, since you would have to interact with me in a meaningful way in order to join the cast page, as opposed to just feeling like you deserve to be called my friend.

Anyway, I'm way off topic. Our new pad is totally sweet. Everyone thats in College Station for the summer should totally come check it out. Its down in Bryan right around Welborn and Villa Maria. I still need to get my computer and a bunch of other crap from over at Allison's but she's working right now so I'm not able. Once I get my computer hooked up here and we get our DSL rollin, I'll be back to updating the page once a day and getting a new Song of the Day.

On one other little note, my cell phone gets absolutely no signal anywhere near my house. I'm not sure why, I think the house is made of lead. But it doesn't work outside either. So if you need to get a hold of me, call my cell and leave a message. I will call you back as soon as I venture out. Or if you want you can email me and I'll send you our apt number. Aight, back to watching our new DirecTV. Boo yah.

Well, I made it. Here I am in sweet College Station hangin out with my good friend Allison. I thought I'd fill you all in on the recent events since Kevin didn't have internet ... whaddup with that? I stayed in San Antonio at Kevin's for 3 days. I had a lot of fun there. We didn't do a whole lot. We went bowling once, we shot pool for a couple hours, got drunk once, and I played NBA Street a LOT. Its my new favorite PS2 game and if I ever get some money, I'm totally gonna buy it cause i'm so damn good at this game.

My road tripping days are pretty much over. I've put about a 1000 miles on my car in the past week and a half, but I'm stickin here for like a week. Then I'm going home again for KISS Party. I can't wait, The Calling is the greatest band ever.

Check you have nots later.

Well the dinner was a raging success. Everything turned out wonderful. Except for the fact that I was supposed to bake cookies but never got around to it. So I was supposed to bake cookies today but again didn't get around to it. I'm just lazy, I didn't feel like doing it. Maybe I will tomorrow when Allison gets here. She loves to bake.

Can I please tell you how bored I am to be in Plano. The only reason I don't go back to College Station like right now is that I know its not going to be much better there either. There's just not a damn thing to do all day long. And my dad has the AC programmed to go off during the day when no one's home ... nevermind the fact that I AM. Its so hot and boring. If anyone is in Plano and also bored, email me or IM me or use your detective stalker skills to find out my cell phone number and call me. I'm bored off my rocker.

Peace out, you have nots.

Hello everyone. So good to see you again. As I type this, I am sitting in my parents' room on their computer. I made it home alive. I ended up leaving College Station around 1pm because me and Allison (that makes 6) stayed up late drinking wine and watching Sex and the City season 2. It was a fabulous time. I made one stop in Fairfield to grab something to eat at the Jack in the Box there. Traffic thru Dallas was fucking awful, but I finally made it. I think my mother is ordering in pizza ... so much for that homecooked meal.

I haven't decided what I want to do first whilst in Plano. My brother is coming in tonight with his wife. I could hang out and wait for them, but I think instead I'll call some peeps and see whats goin down in P-town. I'm sure I'll be ultra bored soon, but for now I need to unload my car. Adios, you have nots I will catch you on the flip side.

God, I am so sick of moving. I have like two more car loads and this place will be deserted. I just keep taking car loads to the storage unit and the pile I need to take out isn't diminishing. I am moving everything over to Allison's tonight because the damn storage unit closes at 9pm and I want to be out of this apartment tonight so I don't have to worry about it and can check out. But tonight I am unplugging my computer which means no more being online 24/7. If you need to get ahold of me, email me and ask me for my cell phone number.

I am going to leave on Thursday for Plano and will be there until the 30th. Thats the plan anyway, I may come home to CS sooner than that.

Tomorrow I am meeting with Dr. Ochoa, the professor who owned me last semester. I seem to have gotten a D in his class and I'm not quite sure why. I'm also wanting to do his webpage next semester so we already had a meeting set up. So I get to go talk to him about that and then slip in there about why I got a D. While a D is certainly passing, it sure as hell doesn't count to get me to the next round of classes, and it will royally screw my career plan if I have to take this course over again. So we'll see. I'm in the worst mood right now. And while I won't be online as much, I am going to try to update the page at least every 3 days. So do keep checking back. Thanks and gig this.

Today is the day that I move everything I own into a storage unit. I'm going to stay in College Station until Thursday just chillin. I'm also taking care of my friend Clay's birds and fish and he's getting back Thursday. I was thinking that I'd stay in Plano for a good while, but now Allison had a revelation and canceled her summer school to support herself in College Station. I still have some people to see and hang out with in Plano but there's a chance I won't be staying as long as I had planned. Plus, my parents are having new carpet and tile put in. I don't remember exactly when that's happening but I will definitely be gone for that.

There isn't much else to say, I have been such a waste of space this past week. But I think I deserved it. I did add the 'Song of the Day' to the left there. Click it to download and listen to whatever song I happen to be obsessing over at this very moment. The title 'of the Day' may be a big seficious since I'll be damned if I'm updating it every day. I may rig up some JavaScript to rotate it or something, but for now, just check out Strange Relationship. Its pretty cool. I think its the guy from Savage Garden. I suppose I could look up his name and see if its Darren Hayes, but it sounds like him so that's why I think it. Aight kiddos, time to load up the truck.
There is no spoon.

Four days left for me to be in my apartment. I think today I'll start making trips over to the storage unit with everything I can carry myself. Keith & Family are in his room right now getting the last of his things and taking him home. Allison's away message says she's packing to go home today too. So sad, everyone's leaving. Oh well, I'll be gone soon too.

I should be getting to Plano like Thursday I think. I'm just gonna chill while I'm there. I'm gonna watch TV and let my mom cook for me. It'll be great. There are some people I need to see, but I'm just gonna let that happen of its own accord. Then summer school starts June 3 so I'll be back in College Station on May 30 to help Ryan and Todd move into their new duplex, where I'll be staying for the duration of summer school. Then, of course, its back to Plano for KISS Party on June 8 where I'll be seeing The Calling. Whoo hoo. So that's the layout for this summer. Whenever my schedule coincides with yours, you best be callin on me. Holla!

My apologies for the blog haitus. Most of them extended toward Allison who, against her morals, went to my site TWICE and didn't find a new blog. Well, Allison, my name is Zoon and I live on the moon, and I'm here to give you a blog. And without further adieu...

Not much new. Sorry, rather anticlimactic, I know. I've been working a lot on school and usually just don't feel like sharing boring information with you all. Oh, I do have one story though.

On Wednesday, I went to campus for open lab hours (5-9) and afterward I didn't feel like riding the bus home. So I was gonna call Keith to pick me up but he was, unbeknownst to me despite constant reminders, at the Tenacious D concert in Houston. So I ended up sitting on the benches waiting for him to pick up for like an hour. I started bitching about being stranded so this girl that I'd just met turns to her friend, whom I'd just met, and says, "Wanna go with me to take Gilligan home?" To which another guy responds "Hey, you didn't ask me if I wanted to go!" Long story short, 3 semi-random complete strangers are getting up for the expressed purpose of taking my ass home.

But the story doesn't end there. When we get to the car, this girl hands me her keys and says "It'd probably be faster if you just drove." I said, "You don't even know me." She replied, "Well you know how to drive don't you?" So in the end, I drove myself home in a car that wasn't mine with 3 people I didn't know. When I got to my apartment I just hopped out, said thanks, and went inside. It was odd, but fun in a way. There aren't many opportunities to be spontaneous in circuit design, y'know what I mean. It was a nice vacation from the norm. Anyway, tonight I'm going to Allison's to drink the bubbly and I'll see you cats laaaaater.

To start this blog, let me explain a process to you. Its kind of strange, so try to keep up. First, a person lays down on the ground and covers their face and hair with a wet towel. Next, a hollow tube of wax about a foot long is inserted into the ear. Once it is comfortably seated in the ear, with a helper holding it in place, the opposite end of the tube is lit on fire. As it burns down, a third person makes sure the ashes fall into a bowl of water. When the tube has burned down to about 4" long, it is removed from the ear and extinguished. The process is called "Ear candling."

Why on earth would I be telling you about this, you may be asking right now. In short, because thats what I did on Saturday night. I was over at Allison's with Katie and Kelley and I brought some ear candles with me. Its supposed to be really soothing, so we turned down the lights and lit some candles and stuff. And the instructions come with a step by step process for a face massage. So we really got into it. Once we started going though, it turned out to be more humorous than relaxing. It was an odd sensation and it clogged my left ear for like 2 days, but they're back to normal now. If you would like to learn more about the process, you can visit Wally's All Natural Supplements for Your Health.

Keith is now standing in my room in his workout clothes being a bitch and hurrying me along, so that's where the story will have to end. I guess I'll fill you all in on the rest of the goings on at a later time.
End of line.

What a crazy and fun Friday night. That's how they should all be. The evening began at Fazoli's with Keith to get some dinner. I had the lasagna with broccoli. It looked gross but tasted great. The breadstick girl gave me attitude because I made fun of her for flirting with Keith. I was chewing on a lemon and she came by to tell me that she used to eat lemons when she was little. So I said, "Yeah, well I used to be fat when I was little." No I'm kidding, but that's what the old immature me would have said. I didn't really retaliate except by making her throw my trash away.

After I was fetted and full, I went to Ryan and Todd's to commence the binge drinking session. We played 6-Cup, our favorite drinking game. Its a lot like Power Hour in that you don't ever have to really drink all that much at once, but after you've been playing a while, it hits you pretty hard. I was playing with Ryan, Todd, David, and Joseph. Sometime around 3am everyone started passing out, but me and Joseph were still wide awake. I got a call from Allison telling me she was at a killer party and that I should stop by. So I called Keith and had him drive me and Joseph over to Allisons.

When we got there, there was no alcohol except for some Skyy drinks that belonged to some girl. So we drank those, but we weren't supposed to so we had to disguise the fact that we were drinking these bright blue bottles. I put mine in a Keebler's Crackers box, and Joseph hid his in a neon yellow fanny pack. Soon after we got there, everyone started going home or passing out, which sucked. We could have passed out on the floor of Allison's duplex, but I really wanted my bed and Joseph was gonna sleep on my couch. There was only one way to make it home though ... and that was to walk.

For those of you who are familiar with College Station, we walked from Welsh & Southwest Pkwy to Texas & Holleman. Its pretty damn far and it was a little chilly. We ran into one guy who was sitting on his porch smoking a cigarette so we stopped and had a smoke with him. I don't remember if he was cool, but we'll just say he was. By then it was probably around 4am. We happened to be walking right by Leslie's apartment, and despite the fact I hardly ever talk to her anymore, I decided I would like to see her so I called her cell phone. She didn't answer but I left a message that said "Hey it's David. I'm just about to walk by your apartment and thought I'd stop by but you must be sleeping," And we continued on.

A couple minutes later, we're a ways down the sidewalk and I hear this faint "DAAAAAVIIIIID!" Turns out Leslie had just listened to my message, so I yelled back and ran back to her apartment. We stopped in there and chilled for a while though all we had to drink was water, since we were a bit parched from the walk. I saw this guy I went to school with from like K-8 grade and he didn't remember me which offended me. I mean, I probably haven't seen him in like 8 years, but still. I remember everyone from my elementary school. Well, around 4:30, I think, we left Leslies to finish off the walk home.

When we got back to my apartment, we made some Easy Mac and drank a bunch of water. Keith came home and was enjoying our drunken antics as Joseph tried to make some tuna concoction to eat. It was pretty funny. I think we went to bed around 5 or 5:30am.

To sum up the evening, it was exactly "how I do." Every Friday night should be as adventurous. I woke up around 2:30 today and went to Wal-Mart with Allison and Keith. I didn't buy anything, but we did stop by GNC and get some of those candles that you burn in your ears. Its odd, look 'em up, I'll let you know if they work. Oh, also, in Wal-Mart I kicked a ball into this toddler's face. It was hilarious. Tonight I'm gonna go to Allison's to eat lasagna and watch Life as a House, which is an EXCELLENT movie. So, I'll catch you kids later. Excelsior!

3 Day Weekend. Ah, the old American pasttime. Ain't nothing like it. Big shout outs to Jebus for bringin' us the Good Friday holiday. Tonight I'm just going to relax. And naturally, by "relax" I mean "get drunk." Tonight's festivities will commence around 7 witeh watching some Friends. Allison's getting some wine for us, since we're all wino's now. From there, I'm gonna go to Ryan and Todd's and play some 6-cup.

Tomorrow I'm planning on being productive since no one will be in town. Everyone I know is going to home to celebrate the resurrection and eternal life of their lord and savior Jebus Christ by finding chocolate eggs left in the night by an enormous bunny rabbit (circa Bill Hicks). That should give me some time to get caught up on school and just chill in the apartment by myself ... something I don't get to do nearly enough.

Anyway, if you are staying in town, be sure to give me a call cause I'll have lots of free time and no one to spend it with. On a footnote, thanks to everyone who has already written me in for senior yell leader. If you haven't already, be sure to go to http://vote.tamu.edu and write me in. Thanks and gig this.

Moore Hall, Nati Light, put 'em together, what a hell of a night! That was pretty much the theme of my night last night. First I went to Allison's and it was her friend Scott's 21st birthday. They were going to Salty Dog and I didn't feel like going, so I called Keith to find out what he was doing. He picked me up and we went to a Moses party. Burns rode with us, and when we got there, the whole gang was there -- Slim Jim, Maddou, Schu, John, Marcellus, Kevin. Well the cops busted that up pretty soon after we got there, so Keith and I left.

Then we went over to another Moore Hall-ish party. It was over at Blinkie and Grover's pad and all the big names were there -- Cody, Jay, Horatio, Bread, Tye, Humpty. Naturally, we played the Lean-Fro song from the original parchment that we made a year ago outside of G Rollie. In short, Gilligan was resurrected for a night, and it was fun. Moore Hall Truckers, Bad Mother Fuckers ... whoop.

Well, as was expected, last night was crazy. There was a massive amount of alcohol consumed. We started off gathering at Allison's duplex. Everyone that was going rode in two cars. It was Allison, me, Katie, Jeffrey, Christine, Ed, DVL, Pool, Virant and some chick named Coony.

We started off at Cheyney's party drinkin some beers. But it was still relatively early, like 8:00, so the party was not hopping, to put it mildly. So we decided to head to Northgate so Al could order herself some shots. We started at Fitzwillies, then went to Hole in the Wall. Allison headed to the Dry Bean Saloon before coming to Hole in the Wall. Then she took a little trip to the Crooked Path while we were there. Needless to say she had a whole lot of shots in a minimal amount of time.

So we decide that we need more to drink. But I hate drinking at bars, although I managed to surpress that and polish off a good third of a pitcher at Hole in the Wall. So we all go back to Cheyney's and hang out for a good while. By then the party was rocking. There are lots of funny stories, but not really any that I feel like posting on this webpage. If you wanna know them you can IM me.

The night ended ... well, wait, I don't really remember that. I know that we all accomplished our goals of getting real real drunk. And I had a most excellent time. Can't wait to do it again next year (or weekend).

ATTENTION: Today is Allison's birthday. I've probably shut down the entire site in reverence of the occasion, but just in case I didn't get around to it, be sure to tell her happy birthday. She's 21 and will be buying me lots and lots of drinks tonight. WHOO HOO.