Plano is mentioned in 33 posts, which ranks #4 overall for places. It is most often associated with these...

People:

Places:

Things:

I always tease Daniel about date night because the entire concept is so ridiculous and reserved only for married couples in strained relationships who really don't like being around each other, but once a week go out together and get sauced up enough to copulate. So any time we go out to dinner or a movie I like to scream, "Date night!" But in all seriousness, tonight we had a date night. Dinner for two at Halfshells in Plano. We got a crab and shrimp and andoiulle sausage platter and a couple beers. Then we went to see August Rush. Srsly, go see it. Read my review to the right for more on that. It was just perfect. We should really try to do this once a week.

One more week and I'll be Vegas bound. I can't wait. Daniel really can't wait. The Vegas trip is to celebrate his graduation, which will also occur in one week. He's already finished with several of his classes and I just couldn't be more proud of him. He's kind of a big deal. It's going to be a hectic week for me and then I have like 10 days in a row away from work, and you'd better believe me, I'm going to forget alllll about it.

One last thing about August Rush and then I'm done. I really want my brother to go see it because on those late nights when we were up recording Brother Band songs, and he would man the guitar, he always played it like August does. Two hands on the neck of the guitar ... bangin' ... making beautiful music. Only his was a fraction of a second long and had to be looped in order to sound cool. But still, same effect. I'm heading off to lay on the couch some more, my home in my home. Czech you skillets on the flip side.

In my continuing quest to save money, I got my teeth Zoom! whitened on Thursday. I hadn't really considered doing it until my 200 year old dentist put it in my head that I would be an excellent candidate for tooth whitening. Who the fuck isn't a good candidate? Honestly. Anyway, after hearing that I started thinking my teeth were fugly and yellow so I did it. If you're considering this Zoom! whitening, I want you all to think about it seriously.

I had to be in this chair for like 2 hours. They even gave me a pillow before we started, which should have been my first clue. Then they put that thing in your mouth that holds your lips back and get to work. Since Zoom! is speed up with some kind of light (I don't know what kind exactly, just that it will burn your skin if left exposed) they have to cover all of your tissue. That includes the lips, face, gums. They used some gauze-like material and shoved it into every nook and cranny of my mouth. Along my gums they used that blue shit that hardens under a light. So a piece of gauze along my gum line, and then the hardened blue shit down to the detailed sections, holding the gauze down. It was so uncomfortable. Then they shove this overhead projector inside your mouth and you can't move for 15 minute intervals.

I think my teeth are definitely better. The doctor says I went from and A2/A3 to an A1/B1, so you KNOW that's good right? But the fact of the matter is, my teeth weren't that bad before and they're not that great now, so I have yet to have anyone notice. I haven't given up yet though because I have a 2 week at home treatment to complete before the process is over. I just have to wait until Sunday to begin that or she said my teeth would get too sensitive.

My teeth are also dehydrated ... something I was unaware was possible. You'd think them being bone, first off, would make it hard to dehydrate them. And living their entire lives in a saliva filled pie hole might help too. But they assure me my teeth are dehydrated. So to drink coffee would not only be counterproductive during the whitening process, but would actually have a greater effect than usual. My teeth will soak up any pigment they are given. So essentially for the next 3 weeks or so, no coffee, no tea, no smoking, and absolutely no red wine. Arg. So far so good on all accounts. I got some vodka last night and Daniel made me a martini but the urge to smoke was growing, growing so I went to bed instead.

And that's just about all that's been happening lately. Sorry for the lack of posts, but either my life has gotten boring or my alertness as of late has made me less apt to mull over details of my day to find an interesting story for you all. Either way, I'm still goin strong. Tell your friends about me.

Do you ever just have too much to say? So much so that you don't feel like writing it down. That's what happened to me this past weekend. I decided to just sit on my stories for a while, so details that once seemed monumental are now rather trivial. It will make my blog shorter, and the stories more compact.

First things first. My brothers Stephen and Michael, from Houston and Sacramento, respectively, both visited. Their wives came as well. Stephen brought Kaylyn around so Michael could meet her, to avoid having to introduce himself to her on her 13th birthday. I just loved this picture. I assure you, she was well nutured and attended to all weekend, but this picture is so something my fam would do. 'Ahh, just prop her up, she'll be alright.' It was cute though. It was really good to see everyone that came to dinner on Friday night. I supplied the dessert -- peach cobbler from Marshall's BBQ. Oh man, is it ever good. I made everyone try it, even if they didn't want to. I also passed around my shock lighter. That was some good entertainment there. By the end of the night, we had 11 people around the table holding hands, while Stephen and I grabbed the lighter simultaneously. Everyone around the circle felt the shock. It was hilarious.

That night I went out to the bars, but wasn't really having much fun. Ryan S■■■ and I decided to just go back to his place and go to sleep. When we got there, however, I coerced him into having one drink before bed. Which turned into two ... then three ... then we lost count. Much squeezy vodka was ingested despite Ryan's attempt to fall asleep. We watched Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, our favorite movie. Since the last time I saw it, I learned all the state capitals. So when they're at the reunion and Toby Dumbfuck asks them to name all the capitals and the Frinkazoid starts off with 'Albuquerque' I KNEW that was NOT the capital of New Mexico, because everyone knows that's Santa Fe. So we called everyone we knew to tell them that and even convinced Jason and Levi to come have a drink with us. We were beyond wasted, but obviously so much fun.

Saturday night I went out with Lil Jarrod. We had a blast. He is one of my new favs ... too funny. It was so damn crowded because this weekend was Pride. You could barely move and getting a drink was an impossibility. Ryan S■■■ got fed up with the crowds and left unannounced, so our plan to stay at his place overnight was soon liquidated. Bob and his brother and friends were in the bars too. Too good to see him! We had fun all night long and then set about trying to decide where to go. Even though I had like three Long Islands and about six beers, I was feeling adventurous so we turned toward Plano. But I can't go home because my parents set a big wake-up-the-neighborhood alarm when they go to bed. So we eventually ended up in Lewisville at Lil Jarrod's apartment. I slept on his couch and hope I didn't scare his sister in the morning. I don't think I did though because she was quite lovely and it was nice to meet her.

From there we went back downtown to the Pride Parade. I'm sorry, but I love Pride. I don't care how many people are too cool for school. It is my favorite holy day, second only to Thanksgiving. I fought for beads as best I could, and even caught some, a feat not to be overlooked. I got some sun -- so hot, saw tons of people I knew, hung out with Lil Jarrod and Marc, got to go to Hamburger Mary's for the first time and meet some new people. All in all it was a wonderful day. I was sunburned and exhausted when I got home, and since then I have been in the most inane training class at work. It is downright painful. But, persevere I will.

This weekend I am going to College Station with Ryan H■■■■. We are going to watch some ring dunkings. I'm not positive who it was but I wanna say Daniel. So I won't have my car but I will have my phone so call me and meet up with. Alright, sluts, I'm out of here. I gotta go work out because I'm morbidly obese. Peace!

I am now done with orientation at work. Friday was another good Friday. For the entire three weeks, they'd been telling us about our final exam at the end and how we should be studying a little bit here and there because it was really hard and comprehensive. And of course, none of us studied. In fact, we joked, "I'm not gonna study. I bet when we walk in the door, there's nothing but cake and punch." But in reality, we were all fully expecting a test.

Well, wouldn't ya know, as soon as we opened the door to take our tests, the Recruitment and Development Department yelled out "SURPRISE!" and clapped as they stood behind ... yup, cake and punch. So rad. And then we each had a little card congratulating us, a ■■■ pen, and a ■■■ like leather zipper folder thing. It was pretty cool. We had a good time. And then we all went to happy hour at Blue Mesa Grill. I had several beers and one guy bought a round of 16 shots of tequila. These people are all pretty fun. But they were going out and wanted me to join. Something to do on a Friday night? Rad!

The other night I got really sad about the fact that I was in Dallas. Poor Josh and Nelly Ryan had to talk to me while I was upset. I've really been kind of lonely since I've been back. I have my few friends here and I see them occasionally, but I miss all my friends in College Station. A lot. So to go hang out on a Friday night instead of sitting home and going to bed early was just what I needed. That, and more cowbell. I rawked the hawk for all my coworkers who had never seen it before. I met them all at this guy Keith's apartment and we went to Arriba's for margaritas and daqueries to start with.

There was a group of about eight of us, all heavy drinkers. I'm gonna toss some names around so don't get confused. Keith's stomach was upsetting him from his drink so he asked the waitress if she had any Tums. She didn't. And she was like 18 with a full set of braces. So when Willem's check came he wrote "No Tums, No Tip" and then blackened in a big '0' on the tip line. So as we're leaving this bitch is screaming out the back door, "Real fucking cool." And she obvious thinks it was Keith who wrote it ... who is now peeing behind the truck we rode in and thinks she's pissed that he's pissing. So we got out of there pretty quick and went to Suede. So weird. People just CRAMMED into a tiny bar, no dancing, just drinking. I don't see how people find that fun. But I managed to have an alright time talking to random people. I wish I'd taken my own car though, because when these guys get drunk, they look for a fight. They tried to pick a fight with some dude selling roses. I was like COME ON LET'S GO. It took forever to get back to my car.

When I finally did I was thinking, "Holy shit I don't want to drive back to Plano right now." So I start driving and recognized this street, Thomas, right away. And I'm like, "Oh, score, I am in Ryan S■■■'s neighborhood." So I called his roommate, David, and found his apartment and then fell asleep in his bed. Good thing he didn't come home. So to you, Ryan S■■■, I say thank you. HA!

I have a bunch of pictures that I need to put up on here from the Miami trip and from orientation when we went to the top of a 49 story building downtown, but that will have to wait for another blog. Laaaaaaaaaaaaate.

I don't even know where to begin. I had intended to make a large post detailing the cruise, but instead I'm just going to say that it was a total blast. 5 days was enough for me to be on a boat though. Cozumel and Calica, the two places we got off the boat, were both beautiful and warm. I drank a lot. Surprise!

Then I came home for a couple of days, and then had to hop in the Cavy and drive back to Dallas for my dentist appointment. I hadn't been to the dentist in over two years so I was sure there was going to be a cavity or something, but I was wrong. My teeth were perfect. They took like an assload of x-rays though. I met up with Chevy while I was in Plano cause I was at Starbucks by myself and I was bored. She was kind enough to keep me company. I've only met her in person once before, so all of our communication has been via the internet, mostly from my webpage. She's an avid reader. So she decided to ask me if I wear the 'foxhawk' a lot. Foxhawk. She saw fauxhawk and read it foxhawk. I was aghast. Just so everyone is clear on this issue, it's pronounced 'fo-hawk' like 'mo-hawk' but fake. Makes a lot more sense, doesn't it? Foxhawk ... Then, I came home to College Station after having dinner with my parents at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum.

Since then I've been doing a lot of drinking. Leslie and I have been the best looking people at the club two nights in a row, and its about to be three. On Thursday night we gave her a foxhawk like a picture of Carmen Electra that she has. I put a handful of pomade in her hair to make it all dirty. It was so cool. And then she went and got her hair cut in this stair step chop cut thing. Its hard to explain, but it is so cool and original. We got new outfits to accompany her new hair. I found some badass shirts at Express that were on clearance. Bonus. I showed up to lunch today with James since he was kind enough to carry me home last night and give me a couch to sleep on. What a good friend. I'm supposed to be out with friends right now but I feel like ass and I'm probably just gonna lay on the couch instead. Hope all is going well for all of you. Ciao.

Well I'm back in College Station for a couple of days taking a sabatical from the holiday cheer of Plano. I was there for 3 days and that was enough for me. The first thing I did was put in my fake lip ring for when I first arrived. My mother went absolutely ballistic over it so I immediately had to reveal the joke whereas I had planned on wearing it all day. That kinda let some of the air out of my balloons, but it was still funny.

The next big fight was when I dared to walk down the stairs with my fauxhawk rawkin. My mother blew another gasket. She sure doesn't know how to pick her battles. Its not like we had company or anything, I was just going to sit around the house. So that was fun. I went upstairs and played guitar until my brother came home and took me with him to B&N. Oh speaking, the big news, I am going to be an uncle. Rachel, Stephen's wife, produced a couple sonogram pictures of the baby in her tummy. Thats exciting for us, even though she won't be able to participate in the booze cruise.

On Christmas we didn't exchange gifts, which, I gotta tell you, was the best Christmas I ever had. No shopping, no worrying, no wrapping, no fighting crowds ... just a family gettin together to play cards and drink liquor. I had my first taste of Courvoisier, and second, third, fourth, and fifth. I'd have to say I was a big fan. We played some Oh, Hell with everybody, ate some desserts with family friends and then went to bed.

The next day I went to see JennyC■■■ and her family. That's always fun. Then I went downtown to hang out with Ryan S■■■. We rode the rails to the Angelika Theater ... a new experience for me, v. classy. Then we ate at the cafe and saw 21 Grams. Worst movie ever ... don't go see it. Even though the movie was awful, I had a wonderful time. The next morning I woke up and drove home. And here I am. I spent last night drinking Coronas and Keystones with Josh 'n Tommy cause there was nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. It was fun.

Just thought I would fill you all in since I've been rather sparse in the updates in comparison to usual. I will be leaving tomorrow for the cruise and you won't hear from me until after the new year, so I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful new year full of drunken spirits and sloven kisses. Cheers!

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Solstice. I know I did. Now that my holiday season has come to a close, I would like to wish everyone celebrating Kwanzaa this year a wonderful time, as well as all my Jews in da house hittin up Channukah. I can't think of any other celebrations during the holidays, so if I forgot one, it must not count!

I am laying in bed right now. I woke up kinda early in comparison to recent days because I kept having horrible dreams. I had one that I don't remember, but I know I woke myself up by screaming. Then I had one where the Texas A&M Diving team was recruiting me, but they were gonna make me do a fancy dive off the top platform, and for some reason I agreed. Then I had one that I was lost in a school and every room I went into was more fucked up then the next. So I figured fuck it, I'll just stay awake.

As soon as I get off my ass, I am going to get in the car and drive back to Plano. I'll be there for a few days, and then back in CS for a couple days, and then its off to Galveston to get on the boat. Weeee.

I have some wonderful news for all of you. I am so excited I can barely sit still. I was watching the Food Network last night and there was a promo for a new show called Dweezil & Lisa. As if I had to clarify which Dweezil & Lisa they were referring to, its Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb. They've been dating for some time now, and now they're going to host their own show on FoodTV! Holy crap! In case some of you don't know, I have been Lisa Loeb's biggest fan since like the 7th grade. There hasn't been this big of a merger of my interests since I found out John Denver played with the Muppets. It starts in January and you better believe I'll be watching every episode. Its a Solstice miracle. I love you all and I see you soon!

Man, I had saved up so many choice stories for the blog this week, but at the moment I just can't remember any of them. I guess its true that beer kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that place where our beds and TV is. I got a little bit tipsy last night, which has facilitated my skipping of class and dodging of phone calls from the man ... and my mother.

My mother is calling because I told her I was coming home today. I need to pack up some dirty laundry because all of my good clothes are in the hamper. Now that i don't have a washing machine I will actually do it at home. I am going home for a number of reasons. For one, I haven't been back in a while so I need to see the rentals. My friend Ashlee from high school is in town and has been partying with Ryan S■■■ and I feel left out, so I need to do that. And Clay is leaving for Spain a couple of days so I'm gonna go hang with him.

Not that I feel the need to justify myself to all of you. Did anybody watch the game last night? Cody Scates is a badass.

500 more miles on the car, 500 more P-town memories. Lets recap, shall we? The whole reason that I even decided to go home was because my brother from California was in town and I haven't seen him in a long time. But as it turned out, I didn't get to see him even once the whole time I was home because he was busy with one of his best friends marrying his wife's little sister. It all sounded a little incestual if you ask me.

So Friday night I dropped in on Simply Fondue to see my friend Blake that I haven't seen in a while. We chit chatted for a while and then I went home. Saturday I was woken up by JennyC■■■ who wanted me to go to Stonebriar mall with her. And I did just that. We shopped for new clothes for her for a while with her mom and then I decided that I needed to find a new outfit to go out in since I had made some plans so I went to Willowbend. I walked around for a long time and didn't find jack shit to wear. It was pathetic. I was getting frustrated and had an entire day to kill since my family was all at the wedding, so I stopped into Toni & Guy and asked if they had any appointments available. They had one open but it was with the top designer guy so it was more expensive. Sounded good to me. An hour and a half later, I walked out of there looking and feeling like a million bucks.

I went to Coach then because my friend Clay that I was going out with works there and I needed to discuss our plans. He got off at 9:30 and then came to pick me up. We ended up at a bar called Minc around 11:00. We had one drink there but it was really dead because there was some huge $40 cover charge party going on elsewhere that everyone was supposedly at. So we decided to go downtown to the Village. I'd never been there before, and after skipping out on the line and the cover charge by darting in the ajar "Re-entry Only" door, we made our rounds. Not 10 minutes after being there, who do I run into but my old pal Ryan S■■■. I didn't even know he was going to be there. That was too much fun. We caught up on all the pertinent gossip. The cool thing about every other fucking city on the face of the planet besides College Station, Texas is that when the bars stop serving alcohol they don't turn on all the lights and kick you out.

I started noticing though that Clay, who had driven to the club, was almost doubling my alcohol intake, so I decided to switch to water in anticipation of having to drive home. Its a good thing I did too. We ended up staying until about 3:30 in the morning dancing to the best remixes of today's hottest hits. I was completely drenched when we left. It was so much fun. Clay had to crash at my house for the night, but since we had 4 empty bedrooms that wasn't a problem.

Today I woke up and went swimming for a while, got my first taste of the sun this summer. I got packed and ready to go and then met Chevy at Starbucks to share some smokes and stories, just like in the days of yore. Now I'm back home in College Station and I'm really rarin' to go for this next week of work. Hope you all had as much fun as I did this weekend and I will see you on the ol' flip side.

I'm headed back to Plano right now. My brother, Michael, is in town from California, and since I never get to see him I thought I would mosey on over. His wife's little sister is marrying one of his best friends. I don't care for weddings, especially of people who aren't immediate family, so I've forgone the invitation, but I am sure I'll see everyone involved over at mi casa.

A couple of shoutouts before I go. This blogging thing must be contagious. I see friends' blog popping up everywhere ... and not like Keiff's adventures in blogging that lasted two days, I mean real ones. So, if you ever get bored of mine, you should check out [Owen] and [Ryan S■■■].

That's all for now, folks. Have a wonderful weekend and I shall return on Sunday.

Still no word on when the internet will be fixed at my house. The reason there is no word is because I haven't gotten around to calling Cox to tell them that my internet has been down now for 7 days. I don't think my roommate would call either because that probably constitutes a "boy's job." So I have to spend more and more time at work chatting just to keep up to date with the goings on of my online compatriots. Sad, I know, but so very, very true.

This weekend I'm heading up to Dallas. JennyC■■■ is having a house warming party that I may or may not make it to. Its supposably tonight but who knows what time I'll hit the road, and make it to Plano. I have a few friends I'm planning on hanging out with whilst in Dallas, so it should keep me busy the whole time that I'm there. Clay lives in Plano now with his parents, so I'm sure he'll be one of the first I call. And my old friend Blake just moved into a fat loft downtown, so I might just have to go check that out. Other than that I plan on doing some shopping in a proper mall because Post Oak is a sorry excuse for a great shopping place. I'll be back on Sunday night and I will see you all then. Peace.

Yesterday I went to see Dr. Stephen Hawking give a lecture on Gödel and the end of Physics. It was really cool. I was surprised at how many jokes he threw into his lecture. For instance, he started off by apologizing for his voice, since he knew his accent was not exactly Texan. Then he went on to say something about how he holds the same prestigious chair in physics once held by Isaac Newton, only back then, the chair was not motorized. That guy can really cut it up, I tell you. I also got to be like 2 feet away from him before the show cause he kinda mingled in the lobby for a while. Now that Einstein is gone, I find comfort in other great minds to console me.

I went to the lecture with Keith, Burns, Joseph, AllieD, Jamie, and my friend JennyC■■■ from Plano. She just flew in that day to see Stephen Hawking cause she's like his biggest groupie. Anyway, the lecture was really interesting, he's an incredible speaker despite not having a voice. He really knows how to explain these abstract, incredibly involved and difficult concepts so the layperson can at least begin to understand them. I'm really glad I got to go.

Since Jenny flew here, she really has no way to get back to Plano. I said I would take her but since my parents are out of town anyway, there's really no point in going there. So instead, I'm taking her to Austin today. We're gonna hang out for a couple of days and then she's going to Greyhound it home. It should be fun since I've only been to Austin twice, and never really gotten to hang out in the city. Pearl and Matt P■■■ from high school said they would take me out tonite to have real fun since Jenny doesn't do anything fun like clubbing or drinking. Should be interesting. Anyway, I'll be back Tuesday, but will have my cell if you need to get a hold of me. Hope you're all having a terrific Spring Break.

Ahhh, the joys of a dual blog. I can always rely on ol' Joseph to fill in the parts of my stories that I conveniently forget to include. No harm done though, I doubt anyone was met with any amount of resounding shock at the implications of Joseph's last blog concerning me.

This weekend I am going to be going to San Antonio to visit Kevin. I haven't seen him since our birthday (which is July 6th, write it down). The catalyst to this decision is this gift certificate thats been burning a hole in my pocket. My parents got me a gift certificate to Steve Madden shoes for Christmas, but in the post-Christmas shopping madness, their entire stock was wiped out. So rather than settle for something I didn't want, I decided to hang onto the gift certificate to order online at a later date. Well it turns out that you can only redeem this gift IN the store. Also, it turns out there are only 3 Madden outlets in the state of Texas. Two are in Plano and one is in San Antonio about 15 minutes from Kevin's house. So wahlah, there was my decision. Earlier today I told my buddies in lab that I was gonna go to San Antonio and when queried as to the reason, I prompted them to guess. Eerily, Owen's first guess was to buy shoes. He swears he didn't over hear me saying it earlier, which just means that I have GOT to get out of the lab and stop spending so much time with him.

My brother informed me that he's going to be in College Station on Saturday which kinda sucks that I'll be out of town, but the wheels of destiny have already been set in motion and I fear the inertia is too great to reverse. So I won't get to hang out with him.

Joseph's been sending me some emails and IMs about some pretty exciting things that he would like to go on at SideshoViD.com. I don't want to reveal anything at this point, but lets just say that SideshoViD.com might be coming to a theater near you ... Okay thats a complete lie. But do look forward to some new innovations. Czech you skillets on the flip side. Laaaaaaate.

sobriquet (SOO-bri-kay) noun, also soubriquet
- A fancy nickname or a humorous name.

Well I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of you and yours a happy Solstace and a very drunken New Year. I've been in Plano for a couple days now. We went to church this afternoon, and tomorrow we're going to open presents. My parents let me open one tonight and it was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Whoo hoo. I've been playing it all night. I probably won't be updating much until I get back to College Station on Friday. I've got a whole new layout just screaming to be finished and released. I'll see you all then. Laaaaaaate.

Yesterday, I decided to cook a turkey. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions. I had a turkey in my fridge that was gonna go bad if I didn't cook it in the next couple of days, and since I'm going home to Plano tomorrow, last night was about my last chance to cook it. Not that there's anything to it. I just tossed it in an over bag, threw it in at 350 degrees and came back about 3 hours later to eat it. I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat it alone so I took it over to Sean's house cause he was throwing a Tron party for our 349 team. We were celebrating the semester being over. We ended up eating turkey, stuffing, green beans and peas. And polishing off about 4 bottles of champagne. It was a good time.

In other news, I got my new phone today. Currently it has no phone numbers on it. It had some left on the SIM card from my old phone, but rather than going thru and finding out which ones I needed to add, I just deleted them all. I can enter them into my phone via the internet like 20 at a time as opposed to typing each one in, so I'm not worried about it taking too long. Earlier today I copied them all to an excel file. I thought I was gonna hate this phone but its really not too bad. It could use a new face plate or something, but nothing too urgent. Plus, its hella louder than my old phone that I could never hear on.

Anyway, for my last bit of news, I just thought you all might like to know that some very exciting things are happening at SideshoViD.com. You know me, as soon as I get a little time on my hands, I start getting antsy. I think you're all gonna really like what I'm cooking up now. No tellin' when it'll be up. Either by tomorrow or it'll have to be after Christmas. See you all then!

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.

Well, I finally figured out why no one was leaving comments. Not that any of you probably noticed, but the "Leave a comment" and "read the comments" links are not working. I screwed something up when I was messing around with Greymatter. I'm sure its a quick fix, but I've not had the time to date necessary to investigate and fix it. So for now, you're all off the hook on leaving comments.

Not a lots been goin on. I've been in lab a lot working on projects. I finally started on the final documentation on one project by making myself a template in word. I didn't actually write anything though. Maybe I'll do some of that tomorrow. I also need to map out and order some PCboards to mount our thermometer on. And I have a test in O■■■'s 349 class on Tuesday. I'm pretty damn prepared for it, but I like to make 100's on his tests, so I'm going to study balls tomorrow. Then Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I'm going home to Plano, so if anyone else is too, let me know, we'll meet up.

Sorry to cut this short, but my bed is calling to me. In a Spanish accent no less ... that's weird. I'm sleep deprived. Laaaaaate.

Good to be back, folks. I had an uneventful, typical Plano weekend. First I got home and ate a leftover calzone from the fridge while I chilled with the parentals. Then they went to bed, and I watched TV until I fell asleep. The next day I went to see my friend Jenny C■■■. She just had knee surgery, and as you all know, I am especially sensitive to that fact, so I hung out with her all day. She was the reason that I went home in the first place, although other reasons (like getting my winter coat) came up too. We went to Wal-Mart to buy her a new CD player and then to the movies. We saw Tuck Everlasting. Keep in mind, dear readers, that Tuck Everlasting was not my first choice. However, you would have to know Jenny C■■■ in order to realize how impossible it was for us to find a movie the both of us wanted to see. It was a strange flick, but overall I wasn't disappointed that I spent money to see it. I won't be rushing the theater to see it again any time soon though.

After that, we both went out to dinner with my parents. We went to BD's Mongolian BBQ. It was a strange place. You went thru this line and picked out raw meat and vegetables, and then poured oil and sauce on these raw ingredients, and then waited in line for them to cook it. And when they were done they handed it back to you. It was all you could eat for $12.99. All in all it was pretty good once we figured out what the hell was going on. I stuffed myself on way too much food in order to screw the restaurants out of any profit they might have tried to make. After that I took Jenny home and she taught me how to play gin, and I was really good at it. I was glad to go entertain her since she came to see my crippled ass a lot two summers ago when I went under the knife. At least she only had one knee done so she can get around pretty well with crutches. Then today I went to church, gag me, and then to the mall with my parents. We ate at Chili's, bought a VCR, realized there was no Structure for me to buy pants at, and then went home. Then I drove back to College Station and I just walked in the door. Oh how I love my loyal viewers. Hope you all had a good weekend that was as relaxing as mine.

As for me, I have a symphony test tomorrow as well as a lab due, so I must depart and get started on all the shit that I've got left to do. Catch you have nots on the flip side. Peace.

Oh my gawrsh, today was so long, and its not near over. I started out with a test at 9:30. It was rough, dude. It took the whole class period and I think only one person left before he told us to go ahead and turn in what we'd finished. I think I did alright. Not great, but alright. Probably get a B, maybe better if he curves, which he won't. After that, me and Sean decided it was time to go to Fitzwilly's for a burger and a beer. That was nice after that damned test. Then I went to archery. We got to bring in a picture of something to shoot arrows at, to help us concentrate on the bullseye. I brought a picture of a bottle of vodka out of a magazine. Those of you who were there last Thursday or heard about it could probably surmise why I chose that. Then I went to my circuit design class where we talked about this digital thermo-meter we're supposed to be designing. Turns out I have no fucking clue what is going on. I'm so lost and that is so depressing.

Right now I'm going to try and take a nap for like an hour, so I can get up and go to open lab hours. We got our lab working ... all this thing does is read in a character from the keyboard and spit it back out to the monitor. Kind of like what your computer does anyway, but we actually wrote a program that will take care of that function. Kinda neat, kinda unnecessary. Anywho, we have to demo it to the TA and then start on the documentation. Typically a one page program will yield somewhere around 20-30 pages of documentation. Its ridiculous. I'm so tired though, I have GOT to get to sleep if I'm ever going to make it out to Northgate tonight. So I will see you all later. I'm also going home to Plano this weekend, so if you want to hang out with me, it'll have to be either tonight or a week from tonight. Okay? OKAY? Peace out, you have nots.

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!

Home again, home again, jiggety jig. Hola mi amigos, tu es muy tente! I have returned unscathed from the weekend. My drives there and back were both uneventful, which is always a good thing when you're driving on the highway. When I got first got to my house in Plano on Friday night, I ate dinner with the parents. We had these fatass ribs that were so good. I brought some home with me and just ate them for dinner tonight. After dinner I played my dad at ping-pong, but I totally forgot my paddle at home so I was trying to use one that was WAY cushier than I was accustomed to and I lost. I didn't get romped or anything, I even won a couple games. But overall he still beat me, even though I'm still convinced it was because of the paddle and not anything due to my physical short-comings. Although it didn't take him long to figure out that my forehand is unstoppable and my backhand is non-existent. (Shh, don't tell anyone.) After that we went swimming to cool down, and then Paw was ready for bed, and I was ready to go out. So I met up with Colleen at the mall because they had extended hours for Tax-Free weekend. We were only there a little while before I declared that it was time to go to Friday's to get a drink. We did that and it was very tame, we got there just before last call and then went home.

The next day I woke up around noon and went shopping myself. I ran into Colleen at Willowbend, I was halfway meeting her there, and halfway just looking around. I didn't shop with her though. I tried to win a 1000 dollar shopping spree but that didn't happen, unfortunately. I coulda spent the shit out of it on some Diesel apparel. Then I went to Stonebriar cause I was still in the shopping mood, but couldn't find anything there either. It was fun to people watch though. I'm starting to feel old cause I was definitely not up to date on the current fashion trends half these kids at the mall were partaking in. And I'm sorry, but I still hate the front-tuck on shirts. I will never do that. Anyway, I wasn't there long and I went home. My parents went to go see Stomp so it was up to me to find dinner. But I had a project.

I've decided that my job is going to be playing guitar at daycares. There's good money to be had in that profession and I'm damn good at it. I can play, sing, interact with kids, and I have a shitload of experience. So I printed up a flier for myself. Maybe I'll post it up here once I get it all done. I did make a rough draft though and I took it over to MaryAnn's house to peruse it. She would know about that shit. She gave me some good advice on it and how to go about getting into the business. As an added bonus, she also fed me this badass meal of fried chicken, noodles, and brownies. It was "the bomb," as the children say. After that I met up with Steve at the ol' Starbucks and had a citrus smoothie type drink. It was really good. It tasted like a liquefied Dreamsicle. And we all know how much I love Dreamsicles. To cap off the evening I went down to Carabbas to hang out with Ryan S■■■. He's the head waiter there, and I had to wait around for forever for him to close out the registers or some shit like that. But I got to sit back in the office, so that was cool. Then we went to some guys house that he knows down in Dallas. It sucked though cause everyone there had gone to the lake earlier in the day and were already asleep by the time we showed up. So it was basically just me and Ryan playin pool and hangin out, which we really could have done at my house. Ryan's going to LA soon though to be a movie writer or something, so this may have been one of my last times to get to see him conveniently. I may go home one more time or he may come to College Station, its still very much up in the air. I'll fill you all in on that. Anyway, this should clue you into what happened this weekend. Anything else, or anyone else I talked to is insignificant. So ha! Adios, ninos.

This is just a quick note to inform everyone that I am on my way home to Plano now. I'm gonna spend the weekend with the rentals and relax. I may or may not be posting while I'm home so if you don't hear from me until Sunday, fear not, I am still alive. Well, probably. Laaaaaaaate.

All I ever do: class, study, sleep, class, study, sleep, class, study, sleep. And if you believe that, I've got some ocean-front property in Arizona I'd like to sell you. But seriously folks, I do feel like I'm stuck in a bit of a rut, although it includes a lot less "class, study, sleep" and a lot more "beer, shots, wells." So I decided to go home to Plano tomorrow. That way, I can hang out with the parents, go swimming, tanning and play some ping pong. I can use some of my free time to study for my polisci test on Monday, and I can catch up and hang out with some old friends I haven't seen all summer. I think its a flawless plan. There's really not much else to report at this time.

Oh, and Joseph, try reading the damn blog. My email address doesn't work because its changed. It's now SideshoViD@sideshovid.com. Is anyone else confused?

I made it home once again. I'm only going to be here until tomorrow morning. I'll probably leave shortly after my parents force me to go to church. I got to my house around 2. It only took me 3 hours even to get here, which is a new record for me because I usually don't speed but today I couldn't keep it under 85mph. I had excellent timing because I showed up to find the tilers just finishing up. Everything is in disarray and there's a thick layer of dust covering the entire house, but at least the floor is done. And I'll be gone before they start laying the new carpet, so no workers around while I'm here.

I am getting ready to go get ready to go to KISS Party. I'm really excited. I saw Music in High Places, some program on TV, and the star of it was The Calling. They were playing live and acoustic in Italy. It was really cool, so now I'm even more excited to see them in person. I'll let you all know how it is. And if I meet Michelle Branch, I'm going to have her call Ryan. Later.

So here's the skinny. I've decided to leave Plano because I'm bored. Tomorrow morning I am heading to San Antonio to see Kevin. I haven't seen him in FOREVER so that should be tonz of fun. It's ONLY LIKE A 5 HOUR DRIVE, so I'm not skurred. Plus, the whole way is on I35, so whassup. I'm going to stay there until Tuesday or Wednesday and then I'm heading back to sweet home College Station.

I'm moving in with Ryan and Todd into their new duplex on the 30th. Classes start June 3rd. KISS party is June 8 (Does anyone want to go, btw ... Colleen got 3 tickets and only two of us are going. Let me know.) So thats my sched for now.

Is anyone even reading this? If you are, give me a shoutout sometime. Laaaaaaate.

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.

I am back in one piece. I ended up spending an extra day in Oklahoma City. When my sister asked me to come visit her, I assumed it was going to be just to visit mostly. But since she was just moving into her new house, I ended up getting worked pretty hard. I brought some stools from my parents to her, but they were too tall for her little bar area. So I hacked off the bottom of the legs and attached little foam pads to them. They ended up being the perfect height. Then I treated her whole floor with Murphy's oil since she has hardwood floors throughout the house. Then we randomly decided to sponge paint her whole kitchen and dining room area. I felt very Trading Spaces. I had to stay an extra day to finish up the painting. I'm exhausted now. I just wanna lay around for a while.

Tonight I really wanna see Star Wars but I can't find anyone in this town to go with me. So if you're in Plano and want to go see Star Wars tonight give me a call on my cell. Check you cats later.

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. O■■■, 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.

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!

Sadly, I don't have a lot to update you on. I think Plano exists directly under an anomaly in the space-time continuum which allows time to move at like a third the rate it does everywhere else.

But that will all change soon because I am leaving for San Francisco at around 6:30am tomorrow. Well, thats when we're leaving for the airport. We're taking off at like 10:30 and landing around 11. Time zones are so weird. It should be fun, and you, the loyal Sidesho-Viewer, will be the first to hear about it.

In the meantime, I've been hanging out at the mall. I got the new Kylie Minogue CD. It's pretty good, I haven't listened to the whole thing yet. That's what road trips are for. I have also seen some of my P-town friends. I went to Martinez Cafe with Ryan tonight, just like we used to EVERY day in high school. It was fun. I won't be posting for a couple days, but you can still visit my page if you like. Laaaaate.

This is just a quick message to those of you who are concerned. I'm in Plano now. I made it home alive. The drive was rather uneventful, even though it was so damn windy that i had to drive with two hands on the wheel the entire way to avoid being blown off the road. I'm sure I'll be blogging in the next couple of days since I've been here for 30 minutes and I'm already bored. Til then...

Well, Spring Break is officially here for yours truly. I had one quiz this morning that I think I aced and now I'm home. I got up early, got dressed, went to campus, and class was like 20 minutes long. That's alright though, I almost prefer it that way.

I have a shitload to do today before I leave for P-town tomorrow. I've gotta do ALL of my laundry. I typically do laundry 2 maybe 3 times a semester. So when I do its a massive undertaking. Then I'm going to go tanning and possibly work out. I can tan while I do laundry though cause I do it at Harvey Gangbangers. Then I've got to drive out and get some leasing information on a duplex for next year. Sometime today I've got to clean the apartment. I think thats about it. But still, its a full plate.

I decided to take my computer home with me so I can do some work during the 3 days I'll be in town. I still have a lot left to do for some classes, which sucks, but oh well. I figure I'll be bored enough at home to maybe try to get something accomplished. We'll see. I hope everyone has a great Spring Break, and stays safe and drunk. Laaaaate.

Sooo close to Spring Break. I can't wait. I don't know if I ever blogged about my plans, so I will now. I'm going home on Saturday to good ol' Plano. Then I'm gonna hang out there for a few days and see some people. Then on Tuesday it's off to California to see my brother, Michael. He just recently got engaged, as you well know, and I've never been to Cali, much less seen his place so it should be fun. Plus its completely free. Thats the best part of it.

I finally posted some new pictures in on the Pics section. Its been a while since I promised I would. All of them are from over Christmas when my brother, Stephen got married. I think they're all pretty good. I'll probably add captions some day, but not today. Other than that, not much has happened. Keep up the good work, kiddos.