Bringing the Drama

This week has been up and down being back at work since going out of town last weekend. It was my first five day week at work in a while, not counting the weeks I was working OT. I had my midterm in my grad school class to take this week which I scheduled for Friday. Having to study for the midterm and knowing it was coming was hanging over my head. Things still worked out by the end of the week though.

I had sent my dad the link to the website for It Might Get Loud a couple of weeks ago. I had heard good things from friends that had gone to see it. My dad dug the trailer, so we were going to go this weekend. The problem came in that the theatre in NOLA with the movie was only going to have it for a week, and it was leaving the theatre on Thursday of this week. I called my dad late Wednesday afternoon and asked if he wanted to go see it. He did, and said he’d get off work at 5:30 and pick me up. The movie was awesome. It was so interesting seeing where the three guys came from as far as their guitar playing, and seeing pictures and video of them when they were just starting out was cool. One of the highlights was seeing a very young U2 playing Street Mission. Also how each of them got some of their most well known guitars was cool. I’m really glad we got to go see it together. Not sure if my dad will want to listen to White Stripes now, but at least we got to talk about them.

Thursday was just a bad day. Maggie, my iPod nano, died suddenly on my way to work. The last two songs she played were Hurt by Johnny Cash and Oh My Sweet Carolina by Ryan Adams. A fitting end now that I look back on it. I was so freaked out about my midterm and having to study, that I left work at lunch to come home and study. My lost night of studying on Wednesday and then plans to go to a concert on Thursday added up to high stress. I studied all afternoon, and committed several acronyms and vocab words to memory. I ended up skipping the concert on Thursday night, which was a blessing in disguise. The hassle/disappointment ratio was so high that the only way the show would have been worth going to would be if Paul McCartney or someone showed up to play half the show. I knew if I went that I’d just be thinking about my midterm and how I should be studying. I didn’t realize how much I would appreciate crossing that off my list of things to get done.

Friday I woke up and went in to work dreading the test. I had scheduled to take it at 10, but emailed the guy in HR who is my proctor and rescheduled for 1. When I finally went to take the test, I crushed it. If it would have been a fight they’d have had to pull me off. I was the Drago to the test’s Apollo Creed. I was the Patriots and the test was the Titans. It was 15 question short answer and we had an hour to finish it. I was done in 35 minutes. My hand hurt from writing so much so fast. I filled each page with writing. The prof hopefully sees that I knew what I was talking about and more. Some of the stuff I studied wasn’t even on the test, and I could have explained that too! I probably won’t get my grade back until next week, but I feel really good about it. Maybe grad school isn’t so bad after all.

i had a pretty crappy day at work yesterday. Nothing really bad like having to deal with KCOG or anything, but just having stuff to do, and you need some help with it, but no one has the time to help you. I hate those kind of days. I had been emailed a spreadsheet, but in order to work it, I needed help with it. Being able to use the spreadsheet would solve the issue of putting together a presentation for some analysis I have been working on. It was pretty much the last link for what I was going to do. I couldn’t get any help though, because other people who did know were also working on presentations. ARGH. I did the best I could with what I had and called it a day. I was hoping for a better day today, and it was much better. I was able to get the presentation done, even got a sparsely populated report done that I wasn’t sure about. I got an email about a part I’m trying to design with White Shoes, but the email didn’t really need to go to me. Linked from the email though was a report in the format of something I was doing, and it was already finished. I was able to see what a finished version looked like, and was able to get two reports done today. They looked so much better than before. I was pretty excited about them at the end of today. They’re still pretty green as far as information, but at least now they look presentable.

On my way home I heard on the radio about a truck driver who decided this afternoon during rush hour to jacknife his truck on the Twin Span. There are two other routes to get home, and I was taking the one less traveled. On the radio though, the DJ suggests them to which I told him to shut his mouth. There’s no need to direct more people to the backup route before I take it. Traveling the backup route today though I saw where they are filming The Expendables. So basically there’s a giant blockbuster movie filming near my work. It is very cool.

On my way home today, I stopped by the store to pick up a few things. I loaded everything in the refrigerator and then got changed to go run. I heard the fridge make some noise, but it wasn’t anything that scary. It wasn’t like the clicking sound I heard last time. I still was a little worried because when I opened the doors, it didn’t seem cool enough. I didn’t hear the compressor kick on or anything, and I heard water draining (!!!). I took off the grill part and checked the coils. They were pretty filthy, and the water draining was going into the drain pan. Still though, nothing was happening with the compressor. I grabbed the shop vac and cleaned off the coils as best I could. I googled for some answers in case I was going to have to FIX THE FRIDGE MYSELF AGAIN but didn’t find anything. A few minutes after I had vacuumed the coils, the compressor kicked on and everything went back to normal. I was so relieved. I had just bought all that fresh food, and two of the last sixers of Abita Strawberry. Think of the beer!

Of course, by the time fridge resolved itself, it was 8:30. So I’ll go run tomorrow, which is okay because I’m running in the Greek Fest run on Friday. I’m kind of excited about that btw, and hopeful for some cold beer and a gyro post race.

Today’s fun fact for the day was connecting my job and the movie Top Gun. This morning I saw a video on CNN that was a sort of interview with the current Shuttle commander (they blasted off earlier this afternoon). He talked about how as a Navy pilot, he was chosen as one of the pilots to help out filming Top Gun. Not only that, but he was also the pilot who ‘communicated’ with the MiG at the beginning of the movie. You know the scene, where Maverick and Goose were inverted helping promote East vs West relations (here it is dubbed in I think Italian). That guy who’s finger keeps Cougar from being shot down is currently rocketing towards the Hubble Space Telescope as the shuttle commander. Awesome. He’s also got a badass first name. Right on.

the past two days i’ve had three separate “you went to the dark side, killed a bunch of Jedi, and your wife still died” moments. last night was a new episode of HIMYM (my favorite show). i saw on the preview that the yellow umbrella was going to be included in the show, so i was excited to see what would be the result of the yellow umbrella. when i saw what was included, i literally cried “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”, then i texted the same message.

then today, i get a message from Brandi about ACL Fest, which both of us were figuring out if it would be possible to go to. i had seen last week that the 3 day passes usually sell out after a month or so. knowing this i figured we had a couple of weeks to figure out finances, etc. but today, Brandi tells me that the 3 day passes are SOLD OUT! NOOOOOOOOOOO! in record time THIS YEAR! of course, right?

then after we bantered back and forth about how the one day passes for $85 were just crazy, she drops the news that Mute Math is now listed as playing. NOOOOOOOO!

in spite of so much NO today and last night, i took my final in my grad school class, so it is over. i’m not sure if i’ve passed yet, i’m just glad to have it finished.

With last Sunday being Easter and all, I must tell you about what made me appreciate celebrating Easter this year. After I got home from the race on Saturday, I was flipping through the channels and came across a movie. It had David Schwimmer and John Krasinski in it, at the same time, during the scene that was playing when I turned to the channel. They almost had a fist fight! I kept watching as the weirdness of Ross and Jim fighting would be too much to miss. Apparently the situation involved Ross’ ex wife now dating Jim, and how that caused drama since there were two daughters from the first marriage. I kept watching though, because it was weird to see these actors I have normally seen in comedies playing out in a drama. True, you don’t really have to go too far to find a depressing Ross because I thought he played a great non Ross character in Band of Brothers, but Jim was kind of a douche. Also, the guy from 30 Rock who wears all the hats was DS’s friend in the movie who played a wannabe comedian at the casino where they worked. I’m telling you, it was like watching multiple fish out of water, and it was fascinating. However, the movie was kind of depressing. DS’ character had just about everything go wrong in his life. He lost his marriage (I think he abused her, but I missed the first part of the movie), he took up drugs and drinking, then he lost his job because of the drugs. It was terrible. His little speech in a courtroom where he was going to have his kids’ visitation rights revoked made me realize how important having God was. It was like watching the story of Job play out without God. He admitted in the courtroom scene that without his daughters, he wouldn’t have a reason to live. Ugh. By the end of the movie somehow he had gotten over some of his problems and learned to appreciate the people that were in his life, in spite of everything going on around him. So I guess the story had a happy ending, but it didn’t feel all that happy. (the movie is called Duane Hopwood if you ever want to check it out)

I love Easter, I really do. It’s exciting. Jesus conquering death, getting dressed up to go to church, pastel M&Ms, etc. I ended up going to mass instead of service at my home church because my dad and i were going to the Hornets game that was supposed to start at 12. The mass didn’t seem any different than a normal mass, which was disappointing. It’s Easter for crying out loud! The one day out of the year that everything in Christianity is based on, and the priest just seemed to be going through the motions. I also sat next to an older lady with dark red hair who was excited when Jesus was projected on the screen.

After church, my dad and I went to the Hornets game, where they dominated the Mavs again. That afternoon, my family and I went out for Easter dinner. I got to try out some things for the first time including grilled oysters and Baked Alaska. Strangely enough, the waiter had BO, which made it a little uncomfortable. Plus we were the only people in the entire restaurant, so it was a little strange because of that too. At one point I was laughing about something and he had a plate for me so he said “take a deep breath” to which I wanted to respond “I’d rather not!” , but I didn’t. The food was great in spite of the extremely odd circumstances surrounding it. The chef even came out and we heard his life story about growing up poor in France then coming to the US by way of Canada. We didn’t hear about how he ended up in the NOLA area, but by the time he got to the part of how he got to the US, we didn’t really care anymore.

I got home in time to watch the sudden death playoff in the Masters, a perfect ending to the day. It felt like multiple days rolled into one with such a wide range of things happening, but it was a fantastic day.

today i read that Wilco is coming out with a concert movie next month. even more exciting was that they are using footage of various shows they did last spring. one of those locations was NOLA. i happened to be at both of the Wilco shows last year. i kind of started to hate general admission shows after that, because the possibility for a claustrophobic freak out was great. i really don’t like being that close to people (less than 6 inches of space if i remember correctly) for more than 2 hours, but i had to keep telling myself “it’s Wilco in a small venue, this will be over soon.” two nights in a row of standing in a packed room for 3+ hours…..but it was for a good cause. the SoCo and coke Jacob got me drinking might have helped also. anyway, i didn’t take many pictures, just because it was so crowded, but i did take a couple. i remember being close to a video camera, but i knew they were webcasting the 2nd show, so i didn’t think they were filming for a dvd. it’ll be cool to watch it and see if we are in the movie. doubtful, but you never know. the part from the NOLA show they have in the trailer though is behind where we were standing….so maybe. here’s a picture from the 2nd night:

i watched the trailer and realized the picture on the cover is from a bridge on I-65 north of Mobile. i drive over it every time i go up to Clemson. it’s a cool bridge and it’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere. i thought it was a great choice for a dvd cover.

so this morning i went to cut my grass since it was nearing the “abandoned house” height. i casually looked out one of my bedroom windows to check out the backyard when what meets my eyes but the horror of dead wildlife. is it bad that the first thing i thought of was “omg, i need to get a picture!” regardless, i got my camera, and opened by back door to take a photo. below is the view from my window…i’ll spare you the closeup.

it appears that the cause of death was “collision with house”, but with no witnesses, the cause really cannot be determined. i gave a fleeting thought to having a funeral pyre built, but instead went with the triple plastic bag into a large black garbage bag was the way to go. i knew i could not just move it and let nature take its course because nature still is taking it’s course on an egret along the route i run along. feathers apparently take a while to “disappear”.

other than the dead bird found on my patio, my weekend celebrating America’s 232nd birthday was great. it seemed very long. i realized today that it seemed like a week since i had been to work, but it had only been Thursday. i hung out with my parents on Friday, checked out their new tv that they got last week. i got home and watched “There Will Be Blood”, which in the end was rather good. Saturday i talked with my friend Len who is now home (!) then went for a long bike ride. too bad the weekend has to end and i have to go back to work.

today on my day off, i went to a matinee showing of Juno. so maybe you haven’t heard of it already, but you probably know some of the actors in it, like Sydney Bristow and CJ from The West Wing. i won’t spoil any of the plot for you, but i do want to tell you it was a fantastic movie. i laughed out loud several times, so i hope i didn’t bother the other 8 people in the theatre. though me laughing isn’t as bad as the lady who had her cell phone ring THEN ANSWERED IT during the movie. (wtf lady?!?) the dialogue was great, although at some points i felt old, and then thought, “i wish i talked like that sometimes”. i wasn’t really expecting the movie to be THAT good, but it was. the relationships between all of the people in the movie got me a bit teary at parts. the ending made me happy after a point where i thought it could have turned south. it was easily one of the best movies i saw that came out in 2007. however, the movies i saw that came out in 2007 really aren’t very many, so even though my opinion probably doesn’t matter as much, check out this guy’s. he’s kind of a big deal in movies.

after leaving the theatre, i stopped and bought the soundtrack. i’ve already listened to the song that was used on the opening credits 23 times (give or take) today. it’s probably not really music i’d listen to if i hadn’t seen the movie, but listening to the soundtrack reminds me of the great movie i saw. i guess that’s the point of the soundtrack, right?

folks, when they announced a live action Transformers movie, i threw up in my mouth a little bit. i had already had memories from my childhood tainted because Hollywood wanted to make a buck. does anyone remember the Dukes of Hazzard movie? I played with Transformers, i watched the cartoons, and hearing they were going to make a movie with live action robots just didn’t seem like a good idea to me.

fast forward to tonight, and after having seen it, it was TOTALLY AWESOME! sure the story had some holes and there was some needless politics, but seeing Optimus Prime in all his CGI glory ordering “Autobots….ROLL OUT!” made me smile. the amazing computer animation, the genuine robot transforming sound, the screechy voice for Starscream….it all worked. If only Mute Math’s version of the Transformers Theme would have made it into the credits, we may have had a near perfect movie. it was way better than i thought it would be. i was even able to forgive them for having Megatron not be a gun, Jazz not be a Porsche, and Bumblebee to not be a Beetle. i totally caught all of the references to the cartoons, which i’m still not sure if i should be proud or afraid of. either way, the imperfections in the movie were made up with the computer generated robot war going on, and i loved it.

just got back from the new die hard movie and it was great. except for the one part where he took on a plane that isn’t in production yet, i chalked everything up to creative license. i highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good action movie this weekend, or in the next few weeks. one thing though, don’t let your little cousins go to the movie. we were in line buying tickets, and there were these kids being dropped off by their mom to go see the 9:40 showing. wtf? it’s die hard, not disney for crying out loud.

so i meant to post some of the stories from the conference and wedding. first of all, i learned how to peel a banana backwards….which actually is a better way to peel a banana. we were sitting in a class one day, and one of the guys at my table started peeling a banana backwards. we all asked what he was doing, but after he explained it, this new way made perfect sense. go ahead, next time you go to eat a banana, peel from the bottom. no fighting with the stem, no squishing the top unnecessarily….just a perfectly peeled banana. i’m telling you, and it’s a good conversation starter also. when i met up with my friend heather for coffee last weekend, i bought a banana just so i could show her and talk about it.

i went to the conference last week not really looking forward to it because i’ve been to two before, and not really made friends with people from other sites. this time though, i did. we played darts and hung out, and now i’ve kept talking to new friends and might even go to their pirate party in the fall. the networking worked this time!

the wedding was great. the decorating of the car was the one thing i wish i could have had a better handle on. you know the drill, the wedding party decorates the car of the newly married couple as they drive off into the sunset. i told one of my fellow groomsmen (not a groomsman) the night before to get some white shoe polish. as the honorary best man, i was with the groom the whole time providing protection and assistance, so i wasn’t going to take the groom himself out to find supplies to decorate his car. lame, right? so i asked someone to get some shoe polish, and anything else he could think of. he was already married, so i figured he could carry out this task…no problem. so the post wedding activities are going on, and i negotiate time with the wedding planner to decorate the car. our supplies are a pack of oreos, some canned whipped cream, and these face painting pencils that you have to have water for. you can see where this is going. i chose the face painting pencils which worked less than stellar…..actually, they sucked. i actually just started finger painting on the car because the pencils were not working. the rest of the groomsmen (not groomsmen) used the oreos and whipped cream. of course, it being a summer day, by the time the bride and groom got to the car, the whipped cream and oreos had melted. other than that, we were all able to perform our duties without falling down, tripping on something, or not having the right sized tux.

the speech i gave actually came off pretty good. i was a little nervous before, but the guy who went before me kind of rambled on about stuff, i lost what he was talking about (partly cause i was trying to remember what i was going to say), and made things a little awkward by saying he and the bride’s father used to go after fast cars and fast women. (i laughed for him) i forgot to include a few parts of what i thought about saying, but i totally went without notes and winged the speech. well, maybe not winged, i remembered what i had written, but i didn’t have anything written to look at, so i did it all from memory. it came off pretty well i think….i mean, i was still in the wedding the next day so i must have done something right.

it was a really great week/weekend and i’m glad i took so many pictures to remember it by. i think i’ve finally broken through taking a lot of pictures. i used to be awful about taking pictures with film cameras. it would take me a couple of months to finish one roll of film. i am taking my camera with me to both cookouts tomorrow as i celebrate America’s birth. should be a great day of family, friends, and good brew. so this july fourth, be a true patriot, take pictures of yourself in an american flag bandana…such as this one of me from last year.