return of the josh

yeah. i havent written in a while. so what? wanna fight about it?

i just got back from dinner with Mt. Juliet. i think many were in absentia due to the recent inclement weather. well i say nuts to that. "nuts" i wish jess wouldve been there. it was good to see everyone. even hayley. just kidding. seriously though, even we got along. so that was pleasant.

i had Guiness tonight. honestly, it was pretty dang good. i had had it in the bottle before and i hated it, but draft, well, not bad. not bad at all. not bad enough to have 3 pints (for those of you who dont know, thats not a lot. it's just a pint/glass). and another thing! i popped my jammed index finger for the first time tonight since i messed it up (10/21). it was exciting and felt great. at this rate, i'll be able to pop my ring finger by . . . summer 2007. rock on.

i havent been doing anything (basically) except sitting around playing nintendo and watching simpsons and seinfeld for the past 2 weeks. it's been marvelous.

this is kind of neat. when you type in "group beer" in Google Images, a picture of mine is the first to pop up. see for yourself. i'm famous.

anywho, i'm off to florida on the 25th to see my baby and her family.

have a great Christmas everyone. Jesus loves you.

And God Said

I said, "God, I hurt."
And God said, "I know."

I said, "God, I cry a lot."
And God said, "That is why I gave you tears."

I said, "God, I am so depressed."
And God said, "That is why I gave you Sunshine."

I said, "God, life is so hard."
And God said, "That is why I gave you loved ones."

I said, "God, my loved one died."
And God said, "so did mine"

I said, "God, it is such a loss."
And God said, "I saw mine nailed to a cross."

I said, "God, but your loved one lives."
And God said, "So does yours."

I said, "God, where are they now?"
And God said, "Mine is on My right and yours is in the Light."

I said, "God, it hurts."
And God said, "I know."


Author Unknown





thanks, jess.

and now for what i originally got on here to do

well, the majority of my break was quite enjoyable. i got to sit around a lot, watch tv, take pictures with my 35mm camera, play Metroid Prime 2 (even though the memory card got corrupted and we lost all of our game data.), go early morning suicide shopping with my dad and brother, sort out all of my recovered Europe pictures, and eat heartily. jesse and i watched Fahrenhype 9/11. it was really great and i now have even less respect for michael moore. a good time was had by all.

however, on saturday morning we got a call. my dad's brother's son, Scott Hunter, was killed in a car wreck early that morning. well ...that was pretty much terrible. he was 37. we were really close to him, particularly my parents. he was like a son to my dad (obviously, being his brother's son). i dont think anything is harder on me than seeing my dad cry. it absolutely breaks my heart. and all i can do is just hold him. i can't even begin to know how my uncle Bob feels (he's my dad's brother). you hear it said that no parent should have to bury their child. i cannot, in fact, think of anything worse than that. my mind isnt even able to being wrapping itself around that concept. it's that terrible. when i try to imagine what i could possibly say to Bob i find myself reduced to nothing, so much that all i can even do is pray that somehow God will comfort him and help him understand that it's part of His plan, even though we may never know that plan. the reasons for death can be impossible to grasp sometimes. there have been, what seems like, a great deal of deaths recently. first, my best friend's (from franklin (adam)) brother died from cancer. he wasnt even 30. then, one of his pallbearer's died. and within the last week, a great guy from my scout troop died from a heart attack. he was great friends with adam's dad (the scout leader) and in his 50s. and just the other day my dad tells me about another dad from scouts dying (also in his 50s). and now this. i was always told how much like scott i was when i was growing up. he was a smart guy, but he was never very careful with his life. man i feel terrible for bob. he is probably one of the nicest guys i've ever known and easily one of my favorite relatives. i love bob and my heart goes out to him.

take care everyone.

stupid Haloscan and it's 1000 character limit

(sorry jess, just two more cents from me.)

(not trying to publicize this or anything, but had to post my comments here because they were too long for haloscan.)

here are the comments from the previous entry:

ouch guys. maybe we could just stop talking out subjects we aren't too knowledgeable about.

talk to each other about it, but the public doesn't need to hear propaganda. any more.

todd and scott moore.
jet | 11.28.04 - 8:41 pm | #



i guess it would be nice to hear sammantha's side of it some time. i get jesse's side of it from her blog and this blog and i mean... lets just give her more credit than to say that whatever the problem is, its definitly all her fault. neither of them are perfect individually and its clear that they arnt perfect together as roomies,,, and i would say the same thing in jesse's defense if they wernt getting along and everyone said "how could anyone not get along with samantha!?"
just my two cents
scott | 11.28.04 - 6:53 pm | #



yeah, wisdom dies with...

im not saying jesse is a crappy person, but we're all people here and we all have the right to like or dislike each other for whatever reason.

its just not true to say that everyone is as gloriously radiant as st. jesse - and knowing this, how can any of us lesser mortals be expected to understand her greatness? such knowledge is too wonderful for me. obviously.

its samantha youre talking about and shes the one talking to at least me about this, so... yeah its heavy and its personal and all that. who could just not tell anyone about that? besides pat.

let's not act like there is simply no case to be had here on samantha's part.
todd | 11.28.04 - 1:51 am | #



thanks babe. you can say whatever you want. :*
jet | 11.26.04 - 2:27 pm | #



yeah, so i think if you got another cat that was as bitchin-awesome as Big-Studley, then i think this would solve everything.


don't you?

happy turkey day joshman. PEACE!
~Jon
J-MAC-asaurus | 11.26.04 - 1:05 pm | #

and here are my comments:

first off, i agree with jon.


secondly, i dont think the sarcasm is warranted, todd. i'm not saying jesse is perfect (in fact, i never even hinted at that. i said, "how COULD anyone be so upset about living with jesse??") but i would put money on jesse being easier to live with than sam anyday. i've been around them. sam isn't nice to me either. i'm quite sure she'd ignore me completely if i didnt try to say something "funny" to try and get her to smile everytime. and i'm not quite sure how you just go with everything sam says 100%. especially after you've known her for so long. i'm not saying she's a liar by any means, i just think she (as do others) has a tendency to skew things a bit in her direction (and even more than that is how you take it and present it to jesse with your spin on it). perhaps instead of coming to jesse in a provoking manner about her roommate's dislike of her, you could encourage sam to simply to TALK to jesse. no, samantha isnt completely at fault here, yes, jesse has trouble confronting people about problems between her and them, but let's just do a straight up comparison here: who do you honestly think would be harder to coexist with? because if you think it's jesse for one second, i have to think you're absolutely crazy. i dont even think sam would say jesse.

and scott, i dont really recall jesse writing that much about her situation with sam in her blog at all (with the exception of the current entry). i understand you wanting this to be fair and all, but have you talked to either one of them about this? i'm not just saying all of this from a purely outside party view. i'm up there in their room from time to time (although i generally try to never be there when sam is because it seems to give her more to complain to jesse about), and what i'm talking about isnt just speculation off what i've heard. it's also what i've observed. and no, the fault doesnt lie entirely on sam, but... let's just put it like this, i honestly can't imagine anyone ever asking "how could anyone not get along with samantha!?" without expecting a laugh afterwards.

thanks for reading. hope you guys had fun in old Lone Star this weekend.

see post below

so jesse mentioned something yesterday that seemed to be bugging her (just a tad). and it wasnt anything new, but it certainly was puzzling. it was something along the lines of "how can sam dislike living with me so much?" and more than that, how can she dislike it so much that she talks to others about it instead of talking to jesse (who those others are, we'll probably never know). what IS this?? i kept thinking about this notion (like i friggin HATE to do), but only got more and more confused. how COULD anyone be so upset about living with jesse?? this would be like me complaining about living with scott... all the time... to everyone but scott. it's that absurd. of course people have differences, and will disagree at times, but there's no excuse after 3 years of living together. this is just stupid.

i always feel like i cant say anything about stuff in jesse's life to anyone but jesse (because said "things" did not occur to me firsthand), but holy crap, where do you draw the line between being "courteous" to others and being concerned and caring for the one i love.

second thoughts

i've been thinking more about those websites. i like that they're creating a medium for (relatively) positive interaction between peoples of the world, however, i dont like the motivation behind it. i dont like that everyone else in the world thinks that 51% of us are a bunch of Christian know-nothings. obviously i dont mind the Christian part (duh), but the fact is, THEY are the ones who dont know all the facts. not that anyone could know all of them (duh again) but i think there are a lot of things they have no idea of. not to mention the fact that a lot of them aren't Christians and therefore don't have the same values as many of us do. so yeah, it's great that the democrats/liberals in our country are apologizing on the rest of our behalfs, but i dont like the message that it sends about the rest of us.

here are 2 maps of interest. it just doesnt even look close.

the one on top is by state, while the one on the bottom is by county.





that's a lot of redneck born-again-Christians.


and these were just too good to leave off...
-robodump 1.0
-new citroen c4

everybody's sorry

i guess a lot of you have seen www.sorryeverybody.com. it's pretty funny. and apparently it's inspired a few spinoffs such as...

www.apologiesaccepted.com

www.werenotsorry.com

www.notsorryeverybody.com

while i dont feel any need to apologize to the world for our actions and our president, i find it pleasing to see people all around the world communicating with each other in a relatively peaceful manner. it shows those who dont understand it, that we're all people (even the french :) ). no matter where we are. i think everyone forgets that. we only see/hear about the actions of everyone elses government and we forget that governments tend to not be entirely representative of it's people.

i dont know. it's just nice to see.


oh, and odb died. that's weird.

this is pretty sweet.

this is pretty funny.

and this is just freakin retarded.

josh hunter, m.d.

so i'm pretty much the best stitch removing guy i know. i was sitting at bible study tonight messing with my stiches, when i realized, i dont need to go to the doctor to get these taken out. i can do it myself. and oddly enough, i could and did... without producing further injury! not that it was difficult. i just pulled out my multitool, opened out the miniscissors and snipped away. i rule.

before



after


(pretty good pictures too! i had the stitches in for a week.)

i'm sort of tired of hurting myself, so i think i'm gonna try and stop. however, i did realize tonight that i've had virtually no back pain since i stopped doing marching band.

what a deal.

haha.

osama says...?

straight from the horses mouth ...or whatever it is they say.

i was with him right up until the "And Allah is our Guardian and Helper, while you have no Guardian or Helper" part.

now i just plain dont like the guy.


i wonder if his michael moore write his speeches.

you just got skunked

so this was Dudley's Halloween costume. unfortunately, he wouldnt stop trying to lick off the paint, so we eventually had to wash it off him. little terd.

jesse and i went to our church's fall retreat this weekend. in my 5 years at UT i've never been, and i gotta tell you, i REALLY didnt want to go this year. it wasnt anything personal towards my friends or anything like that. i've just been so busy lately with school and church and asce and work and i just havent had time to do anything i've wanted/needed to get done in the past few weeks. and i'm not trying to sound like my being busy is a special case or anything, i'm just saying i'd just about had it with "obligations". so i was definitely planning on not going until the very last minute when i decided to (at which point i still wasnt happy). anywho, after listening to the speaker we had friday night, i realized that i was supposed to be there. it was funny, because after i decided i was going to go thursday night God seemed to grant me a very productive night as sort of a ... i dont know, an "i'll meet you halfway" sort of thing. so i finished all these things i need to get done (fixed the cathodes on my car, got new stitches, fixed the apolstry on the door panel, put all 4 items on ebay that i'd been trying to do forever). it was a great time of fellowship with everyone, but what was really great was the time i got to spend alone. i really needed the quiet time and solitude that i got this weekend. i've been too busy. when you're too busy for God, you're just too busy. i tend to lose my focus every so often and just need that reminder about what's important. so the weekend was a blessing.

yesterday i shaved for the first time since last christmas. feels weird. but good.

oh, and i was "the dude" for halloween (eve). (except i didnt have long hair)

happy sunday to you.

two links worth your time

so billiard sent me this.

at first i couldnt figure out what the crap i was looking at and then i just couldnt stop laughing. it's really amazing.

crazy flying... thing.

(it may take a minute to load, but it's worth it.)


oh, if you still havent seen kicked in the nuts then you have to right now. truly a work of art. and brilliance. brilliant art. hilariously brilliant artastic art.

(oh and to those it may concern, corey's blog link is fixed.)

unbelievable

hmmmm...

so the moment that pissed me (and the rest of neyland stadium) off the most this weekend was definitely the complete lack of respect displayed by the Alabama kickers and kicker coach during halftime on saturday. it started with the Alabama band taking forever with their halftime show forcing UT to run longer than anticipated. so with over 3 min remaining in halftime, some of the Alabama players came out of there side and walked through the band as they were standing on the field playing Amazing Grace with the Bagpipes. there was absolutely no need for them to do that. they just did. and then as the band was marching to the position where they play the alma mater, the kickers and their coach came out and walked through the band and actually bumped into several of them as they walked through them. so as they stood on the field and prepared to kick field goals, the band was standing there waiting to play the alma mater. well, the band doesnt even get to play it and the refs come onto the field and pull the Alabama douche bags off the field. unbelievable. i couldnt get over the total lack of respect. unbelievable.

the josh times

man, my blog template is totally messed up when viewed with Firefox. so, my apologies to all. i'll try and fix it soon.

dont you hate it when it seems like everyone else is growing and doing new things and stuff, but you you're still sitting there where you feel like you've been for like a year or something? yeah i do too. i'm just glad i dont feel like that. actually, i feel prety good about everything... except school; i'm totally sucking at that. i just had 2 tests today. one in AutoCAD, the other in Systems. both were the first tests we've had this semester (in those classes), so needless to say, there was a ginormous amount of material on both. AutoCAD was an 18pg test (but i think i did really well). Systems had 5 questions and i'm praying for a 50. which is bad. but hey, i've only got one more class for this week and a job interview today at 4pm, so i'm already feeling better.

speaking of jobs, my current one is going very well. i got in at 11am and work till they run out of work for me or until i have to leave for school. so i'm getting paid to do AutoCAD (which is just plain fun). and it's really great experience.

i'm progressively worrying more about my finger(s). my index finger is significantly better; still sore and slightly inflexible but better. however, my ring finger is still "disfigured" and highly inflexible. in fact, i cant even straighten it out (much less close a fist with it). i really dont want messed up fingers. i mean, i NEED them... all the time! turns out, about 98% of the chords i play on piano i use my ring finger for. so i have to untape it everytime (it's "buddy" taped to my middle finger). but on a good note, i found the chords for some songs the other day that i enjoy. Glycerine, Hurt (cash), some Saves the Day stuff, and several others (jars of clay, dashboard) so that's enjoyable.

hmmm. i think i'll get to visit with scott this weekend. havent seen him since school started.

i dont shave. ever. i dont remember the last time i shaved. maybe when i got back from Europe? once? i dont know.

speaking of, i think jesse and i are gonna make the haul out to Colorado for Thanksgiving break to visit my friend John Karspeck (the one on the left... i think. it's been a while.)



take 'er easy.

www.reasons.org

this is the website for one of the smartest men i've ever listened to. and on top of that, he's a Christian. he's a Christian Astronomer (more accurately, a preacher). i've never heard someone speak about the scientific evidence in the Bible in such an incredibly . . . factual way. i mean, this guy had so much proof for any question you had. in fact (oh, his name is Hugh Ross), he chose Christianity because none of the other religions were accurate in their depiction of the universe. someone asked him why he chose the religion he chose and he went through each one saying why they couldnt be right because their desriptions of the universe around us were wrong. how awesome is that? it was just amazing listening to how thoroughly he studied everything scientifically and Biblically. anyway, i could write a lot about the various questions he answered, but i think his website has a lot of question/answer. it's a great place to find scientific answers to things that dont seem to line up in the Bible. i mean, this guy even goes into Hebrew translations (a lot of them).

anyway, i was impressed and quite pleased to listen to him for 2.5 hrs.

check it.

irony

so on my way to class this morning, i fell off my bike and jammed/sprained/chipped two of my fingers...



and it wasnt a cool fall either. i stepped onto one side of the bike (as i tend to do at times) and somehow the bike fell over (although it felt like it fell out from under me) and i landed on my fingers. it hurt real bad. i was almost in a daze after it happened. like i just sat there for a sec trying to figure out what the crap i just did. then i got up and went off to class (needless to say it made for one of the more uncomfortable computing experiences). oh yeah, and i landed on my right hand as you can see. i knew i shouldve put more time towards becoming ambidextrous. anyway, this is a fairly maltimed injury (course i guess the immobilization of your prefered hand is always an inconvenience). never have i had a professor that refuses to make copies of his notes. until now. even if you come to him after class, he'll make you sit there in his office and hand copy them. then of course there's my computer class (which i'm working on mouse thing). and on top of that, i start my job tomorrow (which i have worked hard to get)... doing AutoCAD (on a computer). and then, when i asked the doctor if i'd ever play piano again, she said she didnt know. but seriously, i guess i wont be playing this week at church. so maybe the title shouldn't be 'irony', because like i said, this would be an inconvenience at any point in you life. maybe i shouldve titled it s.o.b.

blog much? no.

so i guess i'm the only one who doesnt blog anymore. i say "i guess" because i never read anyone else's blog either (no offense). i just never feel like it. i dont mess with my website either. too busy i guess. granted you make time for what you want to do, but... i dont know. maybe i dont want to.

anyhoo, watch Battle Royale. it's awesome.

i've been remembering fond times in Hungary and Europe in general lately. they make me smile. like remembering a good dream. only it was a great dream.

i think i have a job working for a "big" structural engineering company in town here. i think they're going to pay me (how much i dont know yet) to work on AutoCAD 5-6 hrs a day, 3 days a week (give or take). so that's really great. i think later on i'd like to work for ExxonMobil. they pay well and i'd get to travel.

i got a sweet Coleman tent for jesse and i to camp in. i'm looking forward to seeing it in action. i'm also looking forward to getting hit by Ivan... sort of.

well, i guess i dont really expect anyone to read this, so if you do... i appreciate it.

saturday ho!

well, first off, you may notice a few differences on my page. there's the bar at the top that you can use to search for other blogs and also if you click "next" it will take you to some random blog (i think one where that person just posted and entry). so that's cool. also, there's the little green exit guy button over there to the right. that's more for if someone's reading this at work and shouldnt be. you can just click on him and it takes you to the weather channel's website (something neutral i decided on). so, if you're ever in need, just click on that. let's see, i also added quentin tarantino's and michael moore's blog over there to the right. thought those might be interesting. qt's is better that mmoore's. and i added this really interesting page that shows the movie title screenshots from like every movie ever made (under the links parts). it's pretty cool. oh and i'm about to add billy's phone cam blog thing. just check it out sometime.

anywho, we went to see Napoleon Dynamite last night. that was hilarious. i highly recommend it.

and before that we had a square dancing thing at my church where everyone learned to square dance. ...it was... good. i just dont like most dancing. even if it is in a "square".

and then after the movie (which we saw with like 20 friends from church), jesse and aaron and i went to the "old town" part of knoxville and walked around and "clubbed" and whatnot. it's really cool over there. i like it better than "the strip". i'd really like to look inot the public transprtation over to that area.

things to do this week:

1.find a job
2.go see Zatoichi and Garden State

i guess that about does it.

no wait! there's more! check out my newest toy:



except mine has about 5 or 6 different colors and combinations that it cycles through.

night ultimate, here we come.

okay i guess it's time to start back up

alright it's been a month now,so i guess i'll write SOMEthing. school just started and it's good. i'm really enjoying living with jon and aaron. they're a lot of fun. and dudley too. he's awesome. and jesse. :)

well, frisbee has been way too freakin crowded since school started. i finally got to swim tonight. i was gonna last night, but sam ran into a curb twice and blew a tire, so i went and fixed it.

we went to buffalo wild wings tonight. good stuff. $0.99 domestic drafts every day (i think). so that's fun.

okay i'm really freakin tired. i'll finish this tomorrow.

i'm gonna regret writing this tonight tomorrow morning

The Bourne Supremacy was good, but not so good up close. if you go see it, give yourself an extra couple of rows because it's got a lot of actiony hand cam stuff. so it's a bit rough watching it up too close. but it was really good.

then on saturday night we watched Bottle Rocket. if you like the Wilsons (Owen and Luke), then you'll love this movie. it's almost about nothing, but it's pretty funny due to the high Wilson content.

then tonight jesse and i watched Before Sunrise. it took me a while, but i finally remembered seeing previews for it a long time ago and wondering how they could make a movie about one night, of course, back then i wasn't as brilliant as i am now, so it's only normal for me to have thought that. anyway, she wanted to rent it because the sequel is out or coming out. i dont know exactly. yeah, but it was a good movie. i dont know how many people i know can really relate to it, but maybe? hard to imagine a movie about 2 people talking to each other for over an hour could be somewhat moving. they did a really good job interacting. it was very natural. these kind of movies sort of worry me; that this will happen to me or perhaps already did. i dont know. i guess you could go around worrying that you'd miss out on the excitement of something like this by being with someone permanantly, but i think perhaps it's much wiser to hold on to that person that makes you happiest when you find them even if the way you met wasn't some adventure story. because i don't think it'd be an enjoyable existance always leaving someone in hopes for an adventure with someone you might love more. this might sound really stupid to you all, but it's kind of like a thinking "outloud" session for me. yeah. i'm glad i have jesse. and just because we didnt meet on an adventure doesn't mean we can't have adventures together. i look forward to those, babe.

i found a lot of new music that i really dig today.

one more week of work. "easiest thing in the world"

Jerry Goldsmith, we hardly knew yee

well, i don't really know much. i guess it's been a little while since my last post. not having a computer at my desk makes it a lot harder to find the time blog.

Jerry Goldsmith died 2 days ago. that's a shame. he was a wonderful composer. he composed music for an enormous amount of movies including Rudy (probably my favorite) and tons Star Trek.

i'm about to enter my last week of work and i'm quite certain... i do not want to work for the state. i would so much rather get paid more for actually doing work than get paid regular for doing nothing. i hope i find something good in the next year.

i hope everyone's seen Anchorman because if you haven't you're a big fat idiot. it is quite possibly the hardest i have ever laughed at a movie (even more than Jackass, which i came out of hoarse).

jesse and i went on a secret afternoon movie rendezvous wednesday. that was fun. we saw Harry Potter on the IMAX. it was spectacular. it was so clear and huge! not to mention louder than all get out. even though jesse said she totally didnt want to see it and everything, i think she's thanking me in her heart for taking her ;)

so one of my neon bulbs went out the other day rendering the whole set useless (without a replacement bulb). however a replacement bulb would have cost more than an entire new set, so rather than just the single bulb, i got an LED underbody kit for over $10 less than i paid for the neon set, which is what i wanted in the first place! dangit. and much to my surprise, the LED kit is capable of patterns (actually i knew it was capable but it wasnt mentioned in the auction so i didnt get my hopes up). it has about 6 or so different ones. anyway, with the help of my reluctant dad, we got almost the whole thing put on last night. and i must say, i like it. the LEDs aren't as ambient as the neons were, but they are considerably brighter i believe. (not to mention the patterns). i'll put a video of them up as soon as i can.

i was sick the other day(s). very uncomfortably sick. coincidentally, bryan was also sick on the same day(s). weird stuff...

...the bottom line is. i learned my lesson.

well, i'd like to see The Bourne Supremacy this weekend.

i sent out like 15 emails the other day to various people and i havent gotten back ONE friggin response. what the duece?

ah whatever. oh yeah, and i'm leaving work today at noon to meet jesse for a secret lunch in the park rendezvous. i cant wait.

and i get cool new glasses on monday! they look just like john lennon's only not black. (his were circles in case you didnt know)

peace out. please.

i am the webmaster

i'm sure none of you looked at the old ASCE website that i'd been talking about, but if you had looked at it and then you went and looked at the new one i just created, you would crap you pants (as would everyone around you). i did all of this in one evening (granted it took ALL evening, but still!)

check it out, peehan!

happy 200th.

well this is my 200th blog entry. it's been a crazy road. lotta "in's", lotta "out's". not to mention the "ups" and "downs" of course (and "lefts" and "rights"). i think the most interesting part is probably the entries written during my hungarian adventure. i keep meaning to compile them into "book" of sorts and print it off. someday. i've actually been fairly "busy" lately. not at work of course (because i dont do squat), but after work. i have but a few hours to try and get stuff done that i "need" to do.

A) my website is currently under going a facelift
2) the ASCE website is in DIRE need of a HUGE facelift (i really dislike the way it looks. whoever did it knew how to do html and whatnot fairly well, but he knew nothing about style)
D) i cant seem to get the neon lights under my car to work well for an extended period of time. seems like something needs fixing on them every week. the whole thing is like a long algebra problem; once you make a mistake, it's really hard to figure out where you went wrong
5) i STILL havent fixed the fulcrum on the catapult!

and all the while i'm trying to find time to exercise and spend time with jesse.

i am however getting to read a LOT lately, which is a really nice change. i finished 1984 last week and this week i FINALLY finished the last 70pgs of Return of the King that i had left from over a year ago (sheesh). and now i'm working on Chaos (very interesting stuff).

i think working for the state (TDOT) is not what i'd prefer to do. at least not until i'm ready to quit working. this doesnt seem like a place that rewards motivated employees and stuff. and i've come to realize that so much of engineering isn't just problem solving, it's legal stuff. you gotta get permits EVERYwhere for EVERYthing. lotta paperwork. so i'm leaning more and more towards my interests in construction management and some sort of water transport (for people who aint got no agua). we'll see. but first and foremost concern as of recent is that i'm doing what God wants me to do. as long as i'm obeying and pleasing Him, everything else will just fall into place. such an odd concept to me at times. odd in that i dont see how i didnt realize this before, but also odd in that it seems too easy; i just do what God wants and He takes care of the rest. amazing.

jesse and i and jon and ian(sp?) went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 this past weekend. honestly, it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be. i mean, it was, but those parts were just so ridiculous that i could only laugh at them. although, there were some very interesting points along the way. if i havent said it before, i'll say it now... i do respect michael moor for what he does. he's a very regular american-looking guy who is using his gifts to try and better the world in the way he deems appropriate. now whether or not it IS in fact appropriate, i cant say (sort of). so i commend him on rising above what the average guy does with his life and trying make a difference with his. that being said, i think the majority of 9/11 is propaganda...

noun
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

and i think he will lose a lot of his message's effectiveness because it will be viewed in this manner. maybe he's invented a new genre: the docuganda. or perhaps the propumentary. (well, you get the idea.) (either way, he's really good at propaganda.) in the end i tend to think a lot of the "facts" his evidence is based on is most definitely skewed. this is a great informative article about moore and his "facts". and here's a delightful segment from what the guy says about France...

"Wait until France gets a hard shot in the nose. Wait until France reacts with some nasty work. They’ll get a golf-clap from the chattering class over here and a you-go-girl from Red America. France could nuke an Algerian terrorist camp and the rest of the world would tut-tut for a day, then ask if the missiles France used were for sale. And of course the answer would be oui."

nice. this is really a great article. you really should take 10 min and read it if you have any opinion whatsoever regarding michael moore or the current war.

we went downtown and watched the fireworks. i wasnt really looking forward to it simply because the promise of fireworks just isnt enough to motivate me to fight the crowds of people, but i still had fun. i think everyone else did too.

well it's 2:00pm now. that 3:00am (friday) for hong kong sam and 7:00am (also friday) for kiwi corey.

good travels to you all.

sorry. been busy and away from the computer.

but at least i'm not scott. lazy.

so this cat...



...got locked up in my grandmother's garage the other day when my brother and dad were mowing. so we've been taking care of him(?). funny cat. he hisses all the time, but doesnt do anything else, just hisses. funny. as lame as it sounds being one of those people who thinks kittens and puppies are adorable, i just cant help it; i think they're adorable.

my white neon underbody kit wasnt working for a few weeks (because i was on vacation for a week). buti finally fixed it the other day (after a great deal of (unnecessary) trouble). turns out i ran the wires over the catalytic converter (which i could not have identified before now; nor could i have told you that it gets up to around 1000?F) which melted the wires and caused the fuse to blow (everytime). anywho, i got it fixed after a great deal of troubleshooting. and here it is... BAM.



yeah and my current job is really easy. i ride around middle TN checkin things out. i get to read a lot.

which is good.

one more thing. look at all these countries coming to my website! i love it.

"if you're going to san fran....diego,..."

me and the fam are off to San Diego tomorrow (well, today). i'll be back friday. see you then.

i forgot to the get that book from you scott. i'll get it when i get back. and congratulations.

big time.

thank you Deborah Orin

sweet merciful crap! this is the greatest article i've read in the last couple months. the topic of this article is what i've been thinking about the whole time all of this stuff about the president "lying" about the reasons for the war in Iraq. okay, so maybe there IS no connection between Saddam and Bin Laden, does that mean that there's no justification for this war? that seems to be what the media proposes. they seem to get sidetracked so often during this war. can't they see past this minor intelligence "glitch" and understand that there is a much much bigger picture here; that the Iraqis have been suffering under Saddam's rule in ways we can't even fathom and that that time is over thanks to us? yeah, i know we're held to higher standards (but why? because the Iraqis aren't capable of such ways?), but this whole prison "scandal" is so ridiculous and inconsequential in the grand scheme of this war. i say, reconsider your pow policies, give these soldiers a slap on the wrist, and move on. i heard a guy (some lawyer or politician) say soemthing along the lines of... "this will be talked about and looked at 50 years from now." that was the final straw. what a moron. SHUT UP!

here it is plain and simple:

Reporters have to face up to the fact that right now, if we highlight the wrongs that Americans commit but not — out of squeamishness — the far worse horrors committed by others, we become propaganda tools for the other side.

thank you Deborah Orin

crazy like a Firefox

for all of you out there in the market for a new web browser, i have a recommendation. Mozilla Firefox 0.9. and here are some reasons to do so (besides the fact that jeff will be you're new friend). it seems to be pretty nice and crap free. only time on the net will tell. but i say give it a whirl. jeff whittle would.

(however, currently, it does not display my blog correctly.)

oh YEAH. i'm not a big fan of online gaming, but this Matrix online game looks really awesome to me. as dumb as MMORPG's seemed to be from watching HG play, this one sounds really fun. you get to go around the matrix and gain skill and do missions and all sorts of cool stuff. i just dont think i'd be able to get my money's worth for $20/month. ah well.

p.s.

oh yeah, and i forgot to wear a belt today. so now i look like that nerdy guy who always has his shirt tucked in, but doesnt wear a belt. dangit.

and i was 6 min late to work.

the fade to bluegrass cd i got from the burkas is great. i love when someone breaks down that kind of music and brings it to you in a way in which you can hear the real musicality in the original piece.

opinon time with josh

you know, i'm getting just a bit tired of reading about how inhumane and abusive Americans are. did anyone see the beheading of Nick Berg? well i highly dont recommend it (that link is not to the video, by the way). it is unbelievably horrible image. i started to write about this a few weeks ago when i saw it, but i didn't. i really couldn't comprehend it at first, but when it finally sank in, i was enraged. i was so mad at so many people. first and foremost, at the "people" that did it. i hope they enjoy eternal damnation. he wasn't even a soldier. and secondly, at the countless people criticizing our country for its "inhumane" treatment of pow's (even though none of our pow's were harmed). yeah, the stuff those guys (and girl) did were not right. yeah, those pow's were probably extremely humiliated. but last time i checked, extreme humiliation does not even come close to matching the magnitude of beheading someone. what the hell are some of these people thinking?? i can't stand how some people are so stuck on either being liberal or conservative that they don't even recognize that the other "side" may actually be right here and there. and it happens just as much on both sides. so stupid.

and another thing, why does Michael Moore live in america? why the country he criticizes the most? why not canada? he seems to love canada. that's who funds him anyway. don't get me wrong, i think he has quite a bit of potential as a director (or at least documentarian), but i think he has an extremely tacky way of proving his point. and i really feel that he loses a lot of credibility because of that. at least for my part he does. you can see the trailer for his new movie at the link above. on that same note, here's an interesting article that seems to blow the whole point of Fahrenheit 9/11 out of the water. kind of funny. not the article, but the topic of it. yeah, his film won the highest award at cannes film festival this year. phhhh. the french. what do THEY know about movies? ...that's what i thought. (and don't tell me they invented them.)

here's a guy who disagree's with moore. actually, there are quite a few websites dedicated to fighting moore. ah well, i'll probably go see the movie (for free, of course, through my good friend billiard hammock).


okay, and now for some (non-political) links...

-10 foods to avoid

-kind of an interesting article on the evolution of blogs

-i didn't know Gmail was so sought after!


oot

i got skills. (they're multiplying.)

i got me lights on. it took me around 6 hrs to install them, but it was worth it. besides, i really enjoy doing it. (oh and i was doing it entirely by myself, so that added a lot of time to the installation.) i'm really proud if the job i did. it's nice and clean. also, the lights can't be seen, just the effects of them, which is perfect. and i'm extremely pleased with the 'white'. it looks exactly like i'd hoped. so i'm excited. (in case you didn't know, i'm refering to my neon light underbody kit.)(i'll have a picture up soon)

now i gotta fix the catapult. i got a new fulcrum. just gotta replace the bent one.

we watched the movie, Short Cuts by Robert Altman. he has an intersting way of depicting life. and it's generally never in the way you hope for/expect. we also watched Barton Fink (and early coen brothers movie). it was... not as funny as advertised. niether was Short Cuts. both claimed to be very funny and niether were. not that they weren't good movies, just that i felt mislead. but at least you can hear new ways of saying something common in a coen brothers movie. the dialogue in their movies has got to be my favorite.

did i mention the other day that i ordered Fatboy Slim's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars", Chemical Bros' Dig Your Own Hole, and The Big Lebowski, all for $23 on amazon.com? well, i did. i've determined that all are essential for any music/movie collection.

anybody wanna go see Cake at Dancing in the District this thursday?

enter 'bored at work' post

looks like it's definitely just going to be a sunmmer of work (as opposed to a summer of fun and partying. well, i'll still have fun. i guess the partying will have to wait till fall though.) my job's going fine. it's getting harder and harder for me to sit down all day, but i make up for it in the evenings by exercising. and i drink at least 2 Liters of water everyday. and i eat a turkey and pepperjack cheese sandwich for lunch everyday. delicious. i was drinking coffee, but i've stopped that due to the necessary amount of sugar i have to put in it in order to enjoy it. Jordan's working construction. it's good for him. it'll make him appreciate jobs later on. the way i see it, he's getting paid (rather well for someone his age) to work out all day and get a tan. of course, along that same line, i'm getting paid (decently) to watch TVs all day.

i hope corey's situation improves. it sounds like it is. i can't believe the guy complained because he thought a girl was flirting with him. what a douche. i know, i know, i dont know him. i'm sure he's great. he just lacks people skills (as do others around her it seems). i think corey's a great a person, which causes me to think these other people are stupid when i hear how they act. but we have to remember, corey's the one who gets to spend the summer in New Zealand, not us. dang you, corey.

my 'missing friends from europe' seems to come in waves. as does anything i guess. (at least with me). corey said something in her blog about how hard it was going to a new country and not knowing anyone and whatnot. that challenge alone pretty much sold me on the idea of studying abroad. i loved it. if it weren't so painful being away from jesse, i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

speaking of botat, she's working with her mom nowadays and she's getting up earlier than i've ever had to. heheh. it's about time ;) i'm just glad she's working. that in itself is an answered prayer. but i haven't spent much time with her this week, so i miss her and am looking forward to this weekend. my time after work on weekdays seems to just disapear in a flash.

speaking o prayers, please keep my grandmother (my mom's mom) (and my mom and dad) in your prayers. she's been in the hospital lately with pneumonia and an unknown mass in her back. it's looking slightly better at the moment, but your prayers would be very appreciated by all of my family.

gonna fix the catapult this weekend (because the weight bent the fulcrum on the first firing). so get ready.

josh

i kind of wish i was at bonnaroo.

come get some.

now.

enter long post

well work is going alright. i'm finally getting more involved in doing stuff. i enjoy the work but it's gets a bit boring for me. maybe not so much boring as it's just really difficult for me to sit here all day. by the time i get out at 4, i feel like i'm about to explode. but i'll be doing actual traffic engineering in a week or 2. i guess by the end of the summer i'll know whether or not this is the sort of stuff i want to do when i get done with school. just a warning to all you new coffee drinkers out there: go easy on the dark stuff. you may not like the effects of it (particularly on your intestinal system). go figure. took me a week to pinpoint exactly what it was. no more of the "dark brew" for me. gonna stick to the "special roast".

stuff got a little rough with jess and i the other day, but i feel a lot better about it now. i hope she does too. i think we've come to a good solution. one that will be best for us. at least for now. man, problems get a lot tougher as a relationship furthers. seems like everyones going away. jesse's sister just went to Florida and will soon be in Thailand, "never" to return to TN. Sam is in K-burg and will soon be on her way to Hong Kong. Todd's going to Maine in a few weeks. HG, Ryan, and Hayley are going to Europe soon (phhhh... newbies.). Scotts going to... school... and then to memphis (i think?). i'm... not going anywhere. YET. and niether is jesse. yeah, it's looking less and less like i'm going to get to drive out west this summer. son of a... i was really looking forward to that. so yeah, john, i may not be out there as soon as i thought. but mark my words... now.

jesse is now employed! and she gets to go to work earlier than i! it's about time she learned what it was like to get up that early everyday. yeah. God is very good. it's a real blessing that He helps jess and i be strong for one another when it's really needed. i truly believe that there isn't a problem her and i can't work out through God's help.

operation "eat less, move more" is underway. we'll see if it's a success.

update: operation "build wicked catapult" is almost completed. oh man, this thing is gonna friggin rock. i just took the concrete weight out of it's mold. what a hog. i don't see how this thing COULDN'T work. the arm alone (without the sling) is going to swing about 11ft in the air. then add the 5ft sling at the end og that. man that's going to be some good compounded force! i hope everyone's stocking up on water ballons.

i emailed all my friends from Europe a "5 months later checkup" letter yesterday. i hope i hear back from some of them soon. i miss those guys. some of the neatest people i've ever met.

well, i guess if i write anymore you probably will get bored. ah who cares, nobody's forcing you to read this. get off me.

i enjoy chris rice's voice. and the lead jars of clay guy. if i could choose a singing voice, it's be one fo their's.

i bid on Dig Your Own Hole on ebay. i'd like a real copy of that cd. it's a great one.

oh! i talked to corey from church last night at 11:00. it was 4pm today her time, which is awesome. she sounded great. i think she's having a great time with the mission work. i wanna go to new zealand. corey said i'd like it.

later.

yeah. i'm still alive.

man, that was one long blogbreak. i thinks it's good for you.

what's up with this new blog. i dont know which way's up!

i havent been doing much these past few weeks. gellin'. you know. actually, i just started construction on my Trebuchet. i have both sides built and i've figured out how to create the most useable 200lb weight. shouldn't be too long now. it should throw a 3lb object about a football field. so that's gonna rock.

i've been put in charge of my school's ASCE student chapter website. it looks pretty lame right now, but with the help of some of my brother's legally aquired programs and his extensive history using them, the site should look pretty sweet come fall (or earlier).

I started my job at TDOT today working in the ITS center. it's pretty sweet. on that first link you can click on any one of those cameras and see what i see on those big screens on the second link (except mine are in real time). i actually work in that room with the wall of TV monitoring traffic and accidents and backups and closures and everything else. then, when something happens, we call the TDOT truck(s) and they go take care of it. and we can see the whole thing on camera. (there are 59 or so cameras all over the nashville interstates; they can look in every direction and have an optical zoom of about 200x.) we also put messages up on the sign you see over the interstate. i feel like i'm working at NASA when i walk in the room. but i'm not. but i also dont have to live in Florida. but i guess that wouldnt be too bad.

dinner time.

if you havent seen Shrek 2, go. it's . . . great.

that's all folks

i'm done. it's all over. i had my final test today. my final exam in foundations. the final exam which determined whether of not i failed foundations. i won't lie, i was feeling a bit of pressure to do well on it. and i'm terrified to say that i feel like i did perfect on it. now, i can almost guarantee that i looked over some soil type somewhere and used the wrong equation as a result, but it doesn't matter now. i feel like i did the best the i could on 10 hrs of studying, 4 hrs of sleep, and a big thermos of coffee. i made a 42.5 on the 1st exam, a 70 and the 2nd, and i have like a 1/10 quiz average. man o man. and i really dont feel like i'm not putting in the effort because the rest of my class grades are (probably) A, A, B+, and B. so it's going to look really odd when i get D (or F) to put next to those. (however, currently i dont feel that i failed.) do you know how extremely pissed i'd be if i failed?? not only would i have an F to help my subpar GPA, but i'd have to sit through another semester of the same crap. every class would be the worst class ever simply because i would have to be there. anyhoo...

i only had 3 exams this time around (and one was a take home). my first exam was Waste & Water Transportation. i studied a lot for it. i got a 10/21. not great. fortunately, my grades in there had been high enough that i still got a B.

i started watching Dawn of the Dead recently, but due to slightly more important things on my plate, i've only finished half of it. it's pretty good so far. the zombies are very quick and . . . bite-happy.

wow. i'm done. i've been dreading this morning for about 2.5 months now.

oh. i think i'm working for TDOT this summer. Nashville has a new ITS (intelligent transportation system) (the room in The Italian Job with all the moniters showing traffic all over the city) and i think i'm going to work there. so that's pretty exciting. it's a brand new thing here (and lots of places; it's only in big cities around the country). so i hope this works out (i think it already has. God's the best.)

i'm looking forward to doing ANYthing tonight. anything at all. (as long as it's with my baby.)

party on.

Dogville

See it. you won't regret it. it's seems rather odd at first (that's because it's different), but like i said, you won't regret it. it's so interestingly done. it's like reading a book, watching a play, and watching a movie at the same time. and like jesse put it, it seems like a class in acting (really good acting). i won't write more because i don't want to give anything away, but seriously, a powerfully thought provoking movie.



(that being said, i've got the movie if you're interested)

you've got gmail

(stupid blogger and it erasing stuff i dont want erased)

so anyway, if you didnt get my mass email about changing my email address, (dont get mad, i didnt forget you, Webmail just didnt have you saved in the address book) i'm trying out a new email service by Google (Gmail). so here's my new address:

josh.hunter(a)gmail.com

i'm just tired of the totally featureless Webmail that UTK uses (as do so many other colleges) (plus i get a feces load of spam in that account). so yeah, i'll still check my UTK one, but, well you know how it is.

The "(a)" was jeff's idea. (it means "@" in case you arent with it.)

i forgot

i forgot. the other day i (finally) put up my pictures from our NYC trip. they can be see here.

i felt it was my duty after that turd fest scott put up on his website.

more recommendations for: May 1, 2004

don't fax things from Kinkos. they charge $1 for long distance faxes. i just finished paying $14 to fax in this application. geez louise.

Josh's Recommendations for: May 1, 2004

if any of you haven't seen Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2 (and i know almost none of you have), you need to go out now and rent it. particularly Evil Dead 2, it's tremendous. the combination of awesome cinematography and bruce cambell's over-acting is the epitome of just-too-muchery. and if you're interested in downloading old cult horror films that are really hard to find, check out SuprNova.org. it's got the good's in all the different movie fields. seriously. tons of great movies. tons.

check it.

now.

so rather than putting all these pictures i wanted everyone to see in my blog, i put them on my main page

so rather than putting all these pictures i wanted everyone to see in my blog, i put them on my main page. there were enough that it was worth it. you gotta see this dog. it's so wonderfully funny. everytime i've gotten upset at something whilst sitting here at my computer, my mood has been completely changed simply by seeing my background, which is one of the lying down pictures.

my family came up this weekend and stayed from mid saturday to mid sunday. it was fun. i've been wanting them to come up visit my church and stuff. i've really come to love and take pride in my church. this past semester has been great for all of us (at my church) i think. particularly me. i truly look forward to attending every event we have. at first the smallness of it makes you feel fairly exposed, but i've come to take comfort in that too. sam thought it was weird or the people were weird or something, but i think she's just a jerk. (and she thinks i'm a jerk because i'm not my normally jolly self around her. (i'm not normally jolly). and if i WERE, she get freaked out because that's not how i normally am. anyhoo... the church...) yeah, i really love the smallness of it. it's such a great atmosphere for learning and growing. and such a contrast to UT. i've gotten so used to the smallness, that it's hard to really appreciate larger congregational churches now. i'm not saying those are bad or not as good, just saying i've found what works well for me.

jordan is coming up here to UT next year. that's neat to think about. i havent gone to the same school as him (at the same time) since elementary school (i was in 5th and he was in 2nd). after that we always missed each other by one year. i've sort of missed out on some big growing years of his. not totally, but things have changed a lot since i left for college. i've really enjoyed the time i've gotten to spend with him in the last year or so. he's a pretty cool guy. i hope he does band.

he showed me this movie downloading site that's pretty sweet. i finally got Bubba Ho-tep. it was very Army of Darkness-esque (and awesome). jordan also showed me this other music DLing program, Ares. it's a nice change.

there are more things, i think. i found this guy Chris O'Riley, that plays Radiohead songs on piano, but they are really beautiful versions of them rather than just straight transcriptions. very interesting.

okay time to go help jesse. she's just decided against writing a paper that isnt optional. go look at those dogs some more. it'll do you good.

i dont know if any of you have heard the song Let Down by Radiohead, but you should. it's a good song, but i've been listening to a version by that string quartet and it's so beautiful. you gotta check it out. so great.

i literally just finished the worst night of frisbee in my entire life. i could not have done anything worse. dang.

yeah

yeah. KILL BILL Vol. 2 was really great. i think it was a really good contrast to Vol. 1. Like how the character of Bill went from untouchable and mysterious to very human (and yet not always). and on the whole, i just thought it was a really good film. quite well-rounded. i still think the first one rocked, but they were good for different reasons. man, i really felt claustrophobic in that one part! that was good cinema!

the frisbee tournament was pretty cool on saturday. my makeshift team was doomed to fail. but i really just wanted to play. i know i'm not great at running, but why couldnt i be a substitute or something on my friends' team? (i mean, i do throw the frisbee better than your average bear, right?) they never even ask me if i want to play on things. i mean, it's not like they just stopped asking me, they just never did. i guess i just didnt think i was that bad of an athlete. oh well. TDC did really well. i put several of the day's pictures up on my main page. (nice job, elissa)

the roof party was good.

oh yeah. we learned to foxtrot and waltz on friday night before viewing KB2. as slow and lame as those are, it can be quite tiring after 2 hrs. this old couple, that taught us, could dance EVERYthing. you want funny. watch old people cha cha. that's good stuff.

i won a white LED underbody kit for $70 yesterday! i dont think it does any patterns, BUT here's why i optioned for this:
1] i dont know how long i'll have my current car. i'm in "talks" with my dad about another car once i acquire employment.
2] the one that did patterns would have cost me $130-$140, therefore, a 50% price reduction is enough incentive to get a step down (also see reason 1)
3] i dont know if the next owner of my car will want this. if they have no objections to it, i will probably leave it on my sable, therefore i'd rather not get a top of the line one (one that does 10 patterns) because if any of you have every wired something before, you'll understand me not wanting to remove something such as this that takes a lot of time to put on (not that i mind the time it takes to put stuff like this on. me accomplishing the installation is a big reason i love this stuff). anyhoo... i'm excited.

and i think white will look sweet (and not ghetto). plus i dont remember the last time i saw white lights under a car. seems classier to me :) it should look something like this...



(only it will be white rather of blue)

could be worse. i could be her. and you thought I was LED crazy! (well, that's a fair assumption)

got a huge test tomorrow that determines whether or not i pass this one class. i guess i should go to sleep instead of continuing to type this. yeah.

i found the rosetta stone of AIM!

never get left out again!

finally!

so this is where all the stolen hood ornaments go!

hmmm

(i'm looking at the second Subaru one)

it sure has been a long time* since i had a flat tire

it sure has been a long time * since i had a flat tire. luckily, my wait was over yesterday after i ran over a nail puncturing my left rear tire. i think i'll go out and fix that now.

The Butterfly Effect was actually quite a bit better than i expected, so that was good. i hope to see The Last Samurai while it's still at the (cheap) theater.

after jon sent me a cool drum line performance of Paranoid Android i took it upon myself to find more versions. i found an awesome piano version that rocks (plus a string quartet version that i'd heard on 90.3 a while back). they also have a great version of Karma Police.



*i lied. it has not been a long time.

you just don't get any funnier than...

i'm not gonna lie. this comic made me slightly angry.

plus it's by this girl who's comics who aren't funny at all.

good weekend

good weekend. i have to get away from school sometimes or else i'll never stop thinking about school (which i have to do everynow and then or else i'll go crazy). i got to spend some good time with my family (which i felt i hadnt seen them in forever) and jesse's.

jordan made a potato gun the other day and we messed with that for a few minutes on sunday. it's consistent of a pipe, an electric ignitor (like from a grill or something), and so sort of (im)flammable spray. well the first shot went about 30 ft, the next about 40-50ft. for the last one we (jordan) decided to spray a little more than we had previously (approx 2x-3x as much). click. . . click. . . BOOM! (at this point i think i shat myself.) we were standing outside my basement garage door. that potato shot past the back tree line, which is about 100 or more yards away. the handle of the gun blew off (i was holding the gun) and there was a good ringing in my left ear. it was the coolest thing ever.

i'm going to build a trebuchet catapult this summer. so if anyone wants to help, bring it. it's going to be awesome.

i also learned how to crochet this weekend and am currently underway in producing a scarf of many colors. it's pretty fun, and i picked it up fast.

i think we'll pay $2 and watch the Butterfly Effect tonight. i know it's supposed to not be good, but it's $2.

welcome to josh's "new" BLOG!

with translucent action!

i dont think i've ever experienced the true magnitude of Murphy's Law quite like i did friday

i dont think i've ever experienced the true magnitude of Murphy's Law quite like i did friday. it was astonishing. it crossed the line between angering and hilarious too many times. i went to get my tire changed (which busted as i caught a piece of curb sticking out during a parallel parking session) at sam's where i was supposed to have a warranty on it. i couldnt find the paper work from it, but my dad figured it'd be okay because they'd probably have it in their computer. well of course none of their computers are connected with any other sam's(') computers. cool. well i gotta have a tire so i'll go ahead and get one with my credit card. "what's that? you dont take visa?" well, that's... normal. fine. i'll go to an ATM and get some cash out. "that's weird. it's not taking my card." oh right, my ATM card became inactive once i got my debit card (which i messed up on and am currently waiting for my 2nd one). so at this point i realize i have no way of getting any money. sweet. so i call jesse and ask her if she could maybe bring me some money up to sam's. she does and it finally gets to my turn in line (again or the 3rd or 4th time)(and at this point i have already done all the paperwork and my tire is sitting there waiting to be put on). i go to give them the money and my tire is gone. one of the other guys says he just put it on someone else's car less than 10 min ago. oh, and that was the last one they had. amazing. so i wait a few more minutes for them to confirm that the East Towne Sam's (i was at west towne) had that tire. they did. so i drove over there going about 5 mph down half of 640 because it was reduced to 2 lanes. anywho, they had the right size tire, but it was $36 more than at the other sam's. somehow i had enough money for it. and i got my tire. a sequence of events like that really makes you appreciate a lot of things (which i wont go into). while i was getting the tire fixed jon called and asked if i wanted to see Hellboy and i said "definitely". it was pretty cool. and that was friday.

i was thinking that i'm really glad i'm not God. too many extremes in that job me thinks. first off, i'd hate to know everything because lets face it, learning is fun. secondly, can you imagine how incredibly sad and happy you'd get during that job (speaking about scenario of a human doing God's job)? you'd see so many wonderful things. i've always been jealous of the fact that God gets to see all of the beauties of the earth and surrounding universe anytime He wants. what a perk that would be. but on the other hand, you'd witness all of the atrocities commited day in and day out. i have absolutely no concept of how horrible life can be for some people. none whatsoever. but you'd see it all. i'm glad God is God and not me.

we watched The Believer tonight. that is a good movie. it's about a jewish neo-nazi and his struggle with what he is. it sound bizarre, but i highly recommend it. it's like i was telling jesse tonight, that i think the worst (and most unimagineable) (to me) part about the Holocaust is that no horrific story is too farfetched. nothing. because the worst things that ever could have happened to people did so there. unbelievable.

i'll have the "picture of the week" tomorrow (today).

while we're on quotes...

while we're on quotes...

my transportation II teacher said one today (some thing along these lines)...

"necessity is the mother of invention, but laziness is the father."

i dont know. i thought it was funny when he said it. course he's also oriental and has an accent, so that makes a lot of things funnier.

i was just reading an Entertainment Weekly article on Eternal Sunshine and found exactly what i wanted to say about it

i was just reading an Entertainment Weekly article on Eternal Sunshine and found exactly what i wanted to say about it:

"Joel, embracing his memories, comes to appreciate the fragile glory of each moment and every moment simply for being that moment. Watching Eternal Sunshine, you don't just watch a love story - you fall in love with what love really is."

- Owen Gleiberman

that's it. i mean, that's exactly it.

i almost teared up reading that.

i need a haircut.

badly.

jeff sent me this

jeff sent me this. it's by this lady who rides through the chernobyl area on her motorcycle. it's pretty amazing. definitely worth looking through if you've got a few minutes sometime.

i FINALLY got to finish watching Lost in Translation that i've had for a month or so now

i FINALLY got to finish watching Lost in Translation that i've had for a month or so now. i can see why bill murray was up for best actor now. he was really great.

jesse and i went and saw The Ladykillers on friday night (after our hot dinner date). it was... not exactly what i expected. i liked the movie, and i'm sure there's a lot of symbolism that i missed (because, yes, i'm not very good at that sort of thing), but... i dont know. there was so much cussing in it. and tom hanks was really funny, but almost out of place in the cast, it seemed. still a funny movie though. but it's not as lighted hearted as the trailers lead you to believe. it's quite dark, in fact.

then a bunch of us (and i do mean a bunch; like 13 or so) went and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. what an awesome movie. it's one where you like it as you leave and the more you think about it later on, the more you like it. first off it was just really neatly done. very surreal. and just really cool with all the memory erasing effects. i think this has to be one of the best male/female relationships in a movie to me. it was so sad at times. really sad actually. and what a good ending. i love the last scene with them talking to each other. it was really touching. just the whole message you got from the film was really touching. i highly recommend it.

this is pretty fun.

i got stuck on level 30.

well i'm currently working on the worst project ever

well i'm currently working on the worst project ever. i'm working on redesigning an existing water system here in k-burg and it's going figgin' no where. and it's due tomorrow. dang, it....

okay, now it's tomorrow and we are still working on it. we went to get help from the teacher this morning and even he didnt know what was going on. anyway, i think we just got it. ridiculous.

so i just got back from the job fair and talking to a few companies. i now am motivated to get out of school. i cant wait to start working. i'm really leaning towards construction management. it's like i get to use my knowledge of practical engineering things in combination with managing skills, which is cool, because i like the fundamentals of engineering AND i think i'm good at managing things. remember cak in 5th grade or whatever when you took that test that told you what you should be when you grow up? well mine said management. AND i'd get to be working with people (which i think i like). anyway, it almost makes me wish i was graduating. oh well.

oh man! great new! that project that we just barely finished by 5pm was actually due at 4pm! haha. that's so awesome. ah well, who needs 15 points anyway? hahaha. i do.

i went to tampa, fl this past week(end) with the UT student chapter of ASCE. i had a great time. it was a great opportunity to get to know other students and teachers. and it helped me to realize that i actually don't hate engineeing (which is good because i would be feeling a bit of regret after all these years i'd put into it), i hate school. so that makes me happy too.

me and wes one 2nd place in the transportation competition



and me and matt and jamie (not pictures) won 5th in concrete frisbee

so jon just sent me a link to The Brick Testament

so jon just sent me a link to The Brick Testament. it's pretty funny (from what i saw). i didnt look at much of it, but it didnt look sacrilegious. i just thought this picture of the Holy Trinity was really funny.



i go to tampa tomorrow.

i watched Annie Hall last night

i watched Annie Hall last night. it was pretty dang funny. for the first time in a long time, there were tons of jokes i didn't get. woody allen was hilarious. i dont think i've ever seen one of his movies before. i think he must have had a lot of influence on Jerry Seinfeld. i mean, you could see it right off the bat. funny stuff. i highly recommend it.

i dont think i care much for diane keaton though. i think when an actor/actress plays a similar character over and over again, it says something about the way they are in real life. and i don't like her characters. so yeah.

i'm changing my movie page. i think it's a good change. and the updates to it will be much simpler.

sorry about the no "picture of the week" this week

sorry about the no "picture of the week" this week. i had some business in new york city that i had to take care of. i'd never been there before. frankly, i really liked the city. it's size is quite overwhelming, but at the same time inspiring. i love the largeness of it all; the almost surreal scale that everything is presented on. it's incredible. and how such an amazingly diverse group of people function together as an enormous single entity. it's truly something to see. for some reason i've always had a lot of respect for nyc. this trip has merely strengthened it. don't get me wrong, i love the openness of the countryside and probably prefer it in all fairness, but nyc is definitely a place i could live for a bit. no problem.

i think everyone had a good time on the trip. my apologies (again) to scott for the bed situation. we should have be more obvious in our offering of the bed. (then again, i didnt see myatt giving up those couch cushions either :) .) the drive up was kind of rough with all the bad weather and traffic, but the weather coming back was perfect (although there were more trucks on the road than i've ever seen before). but i think the trip to and fro was pretty fun. we watched some family guy, listened to music, and slept. i was thankful for my laptop and it's many abilities. (i think everyone else was too). glad to be back with a couple days to spare though.

it was fun "exploring" again. only this time i could read everything, so that was nice.

i'm it's now and not last week. man was last week a bad week.

:*

happy 5/2 to you to, bt.p.

:*

...and so begins my funtastic week

...and so begins my funtastic week. i was up till 4 last night because i had to watch the stupid oscars and study afterward. usually i'm not in favor of one movie making a clean sweep of the oscars like LotR did, i really felt they deserved it this year. it was just too amazing of a movie. then, instead of getting up at 8 for my 11am test, i woke up at 10 till 10. alarms are tricky. especially the ones with am AND pm.

i had a great weekend. jess and i went to gatlinburg with our church for a personal perogative christian conference (not to be confused with a fundamentals of christianity conference). millard fuller was the speaker. he's the founder and president of Habitat for Humanity. what an amazing guy. his speaking was definitely a blessing for me. it's very easy for me to get discouraged and lost motivation when i think about how small and insignificant i am in the grand scheme of things. i'll get to feeling like i'm not really making a difference if i'm not out doing mission work and stuff like that. like if i'm not out there doing great things for tons of people, what good am i doing. but this mr. fuller's speech (his life story, so to speak) really gave me hope. it helped me to realize that you can make such a huge impact on so many people, if you just listen for God, go where he wants you to go, and act when he wants you to act. it's as simple and being the best christian you can be everywhere you go because you just can't imagine who you'll cross paths with and what that person will learn from you and what they'll do with that knowledge. to make a long story short, this preacher in a very small georgian town had a major impact on Millard Fuller, and that lead to all of the great things he's done such as Habitat for Humanity. and HfH changes people's lives everyday all over the world. it's just an unbelievable chain of events. i think God really digs the Butterfly Effect. so i'm really going to start working on several things in my life because i want to be where God wants me to be. i hope i can.

me and millard

dont ask what was going on with my hair. jesse said it looked a duck.

2 tests and a project left.

this is data

this is data. he came by my apartment today and ate my food. and he knows a lot of the same people i know.



he's a special little guy.

oh man

oh man. i just got a highlighter and a schedule book. i'm SO gettin' organized.






(and yeah, i realize i'm going to forget i even have it in 2 weeks.)



so when is jeff coming to visit?

so this hungarian guy linked to website back in november

so this hungarian guy linked to website back in november. how bizarre? how bizarre. i left a comment on his latest blog to see if i could figure out what it was about (because everything is in hungarian). we'll see.

this is the entry in which i'm mentioned (it's like the second or so link in the entry).

so i dont get it

so i dont get it. is all of this stuff with t*dd (the * is to protect those involved) really not as big of a deal as it sounds? i'm just really hoping that it just SEEMS big because it's on the internet (and everyone knows: the internet makes things bigger). because i KNOW that NO one would purposely add this sort of drama to their lives and those surrounding.

so what the crap is going on? does t*dd treat all of his new friends as well as he does my girlfriend? i sure hope not.

does t*dd understand that there's a fine line between being honest and being hurtful? i can't even tell anymore.

and i really hate that lately, more often than not, i feel like i dont even know t*dd. what's going? i feel like it's been growing further and further in this direction ever since sometime sophomore year (mine), as far as i can recall.

what happened?

i think i'll take up ee cummings' titling system

i think i'll take up ee cummings' titling system. snowboarding friggin rules. yeah, i went to ober on Friday night. i've always heard such crappy things about it but i thought it was pretty cool. it was so mountainy! i had a great time. snowboarding is just so much fun. i need to buy one. yes. that's it. i went with some fellow engineering students. chad was snowboarding around with a backpack full of Coors (light, i think). a good time was had by all.

jess and i didnt do anything "big" for vday, but i think we're both okay with that. i personally dont feel the need to express my love on one particular day of the year. but i do. and i guess that's how it goes sometimes. anyhoo...

i'm all about finding all these cool new fonts for me to use on my website.

i guess that's about it. church went really well. it was a smaller group up there doing the music (me, jess, and 2 other guys). we got several comments on it, so that made me feel like i was doing what i should be doing.

oh yeah. there was a "discussion" on homosexuality in this human sexuality class last thursday. sam (our preacher), a unitarian, a metropolitan(?), and a catholic guy were there fielding questions. i thought sam did awesome. the unitarians seem lame. "well, there are so many rules in the bible that we break everyday, that there's really no need to be "sticklers" on any of them." yowza. and the metroloitan church is made up of all but 30% gay people. hoo-ah. so sam makes it fairly clear that he is against homosexuality and thinks it's wrong, but he doesn't judge those people and he feelings are out of love for them. but of course this one girl (in a rather rude manner) asks how he thinks he has the right to judge them or turn them away from him or how he has the right to refuse to marry them, insinuating that he doesnt have that right as a christian (or something like that (you get the point)). and after the girl asks her question, this one half of the room starts clapping and this one jackass stands up saying "amen" and whatnot. it was difficult to watch. and then sam's like BAM! BOOYAH! right in her face. only it was really him saying, "well, yeah, i do have that right. do you have the right to intervene on a friend's dangerous drinking habits or something like that?" and the girl was like, "well, i'm just stupid like that i guess." i cant remember if she said that or that she didnt understand. either way. i proud of sam. he definitely owned her. and that whole dumbass side of the room. there was more to the dicussion, but as you've probably already noticed, it'd lose a lot in me typing it and whatnot.

i can't wait to sleep. and eat. i'm hungry.

i miss hungary.

holy crap. the song Death Letter by White Stripes is so friggin sweet. download it now. but get the "live session" version.



thanks again, jeff.


so awesome.

i'm famous!!

okay so the White Stripes played the song Seven Nations Army and some other song on the grammys tonight. does anyone know what that other song was?

because i dont.

and i'd like to.


oh yeah. and here's a few snapshots of my burka weekend extravaganza...



not everyone was so happy to be there...

get ready

hey everyone. i know i haven't done diddley squat to my website since i've been back, but i'm going to start putting random pictures from my trip that i think people will like to see up on my main page. and i think i'll change it once a week. so don't be a stranger.

yes.

one of the weirdest things in a while happened today... i saw wayne begarly (sp?) (a.k.a. little scott burka). and for a second there, i really thought i was in MJ. that was the weirdest part. and seeing wayne. that was weird too. nah, he's a good guy. he seemed well. he does band.

i have to go to bed now. but there's more.

i know you are, but what am i?

well, it's been a week, so i guess i'll write something. (i've just been having so much fun reading everyone else's that i haven't felt like it.)

so i won't have an engineering job this semester after all. after i finally got a hold of the guy, he said (as if i already knew the information he was telling me (which i did not)), "well, like i said before, we don't have anything for you right now." like he said before?? yeah, i never heard that. and another thing, if i ever become an engineer, i'm going to return people's calls. EVERYone's calls. because that's the right thing to do. and it's just courteous. i cant STAND when people don't return my calls! holy crap it makes me mad.

i am all about these internet radio stations. ever since i started getting into movie music, i've wondered why they don't have a radio station out there that plays movie soundtracks. well stop the presses because THEY DO! i found a station through RealOne player that plays all sorts of movie music all day. i love it. i usually just leave it going all day (and sometimes night). and i'd say i recognize about 1 out of 7 songs they play, which may not sound great, but you have to realize how many friggin movies there are out there. (there are a ton.) i also have several drum & bass stations on my favorites list. and they come in at like 128Kbps or more. it's so great. this part of the country, i think, just really doesn't seem to appreciate that kind of music. maybe it's our country in general. i dunno. that's one of the one things i always appreciated about todd. i felt like he was one of the few people i could listen to electronic music with without worrying if the other person was getting bored or not.

i was reading about Jupiter and it's Red Spot in my Chaos book. it's SO interesting. (i was talking to jess about this) i hope when i go to heaven, all the answers of the universe aren't revealed to me in a flash of light or anything. i want to still be curious about everything and get to go find out the answers. can you imagine knowing everything? i would hate it. how old would that get? and fast! ugh. oh yeah, but the Big Red Spot. it's really interesting to read about a lot of the initial theories. i gotta go find more information on it. i would love to be an astronaut after we invent the warp drive. this chaos book is like a history book of how chaos was found and the steps that mathematicians/physicists have gone though since it's discovery. it's really interesting.

i've started playing keyboards for my church which is kind of an answer to a prayer i never prayed. it's really great because it gives me at least one creative musical outlet. and i fell like i can really contribute to our church's music ensemble. not even so much in my incredible musical skills... but more so in that i think i have a good ear for balance and can really assist in that. i hope i do well.

i think i've been "sick" for the past month. my stupid sinuses. and now the ligament or something under my knee hurts. i think it wasn't used to running, so i overexerted it or something when i got back and started playing frisbee. so now i have to give it a week before i do anything. so THAT rules...

i guess sunday at doug's or something(?)

i just got my chacos resoled! apparently, chaco (or vibram. i cant remember) doesn't distribute the original soles for resoling purposes, but i got some that look similar. the sole on mine had broken through to the straps. i think it was a $30 well spent.



i was going to get new footbeds and soles put on my 'stocks, but it would've ended up costing upwards of $60. so i'm thinking about just getting a new pair off ebay for $50. we'll see. i'm in no urgent need for sandals.

oh and just in case anyone was wondering, i did a word count on me and scott's recent entries and here are the results:

me: 702
scott: sucks big time

(and that doesn't count that last sentence.) (or that one.) (or that one.) (or that one.) (or that one.) (or that one.) (or that one.) (or that one.)

(or this one.)

i thought i'd lost you, nalgene

shortly after i got back home yesterday from my one class, i realized i was no longer in possession of my precious nalgene bottle. i quickly came to the conclusion that the nalgene bottle i had carried with me all over europe, was probably lying on a seat on one of the many T buses. motherf-er. i couldn't believe it! after all we had been through, all of our journeys and mishaps, it was simply removed from me by a single trip on the stupid T bus. by stupid gravity. unbelievable. just as i had accepted the fact that some wanker had probably swiped it already, jesse comes into my room and hands it to me. the Lord is good. she had asked one of the drivers and he radioed the others and the bus behind him said he had it. miraculous. man. good stuff. thank you, jess.

i burned the hair off my thumb via my zippo and a can of Raid. rock on.

had a great party with everyone last night. and apparently the sangria was the best to date. at one point there were 15 people over here. a special thanks to dobbs and hg for helping with the preparations.

(for those who live over seas)

titles are stupid

i went to a meeting with several other exchange students who had just returned the other night. it was good. kind of like a re-entry sort of thing, but was cool was that most of the advice they gave to us i had sort of already figured out on my own and through talking to my dad. so that made me happy. plus i got a free pizza at the end of the night (which i just finished eating) because there weren't many people there.

ate at olive garden last night, but got duped by the endless soup/salad/bread deal because it was like $2 more for dinner (which isn't really THAT bad, but still). it was a nice dinner. except for super rude sam who kept bothering everyone. (i think she's on her period.)

i just printed off a CRAP load of sheet music. if anyone needs ANY piece by chopin, just let me know...because i have all of them.

frisbee.

oh yeah, and i don't know if i like oc or not. it's stupid, but sort of fun to watch. i think.

i'm getting used to my staticly super charged room. but don't even THINK about touching the tv antenna. it still hurts BIG time.

i went skiing this weekend. it was rainging the whole time but we still had a lot a fun. jordan's friend, warren, went with us. he's a pretty funny guy. bizarre as all get out, but funny. i love snowboarding. it's a such a fun motion. i think it's more difficult to learn than skiiing, but the payoff is great.

i had an interesting conversation with my dad on the way home regarding my recent feelings of not fitting in. basically, i came away understanding this: people go and do things that change their lives all the time; things that, in many cases, are much more extreme than mine, but they come back, hold on to their memories, tell people bits and pieces of them here and there, and go on with their lives. because that's all you can do. and i think that's a difficult thing to do because you basically have to accept that the world doesn't revolve around you and your adventures (unless you're indiana jones, i guess), but at the same time realize how amazing what you did was. i guess it's that way with a lot of things in life. i think my problem lately hasn't so much been that i've wanted everyone to be interested in the last 5 months of my life, but more that i've just needed someone to talk to and relate to about it. someone who was either there or had a similar account. because i'm more than happy to answer questions from people, but there's so much that happened and that's in my head, i'd rather not even begin trying to explain my time in hungary to someone who knows nothing of it. it's just painstaking on my part. i mean, you have to figure people are only interested in about a 30 second summary of my 4 months there. how do i even do that?

"hey! how was it??"

"it changed my life."

"great! good to have you back."

"yeah."

i don't know. i guess you just have to suck it up and press on. i guess it gives you a better understanding of others though and how they think and want to be heard. who knows?

i saw big fish last night. i thought it was great. it was one of tim burton's most "normal" movies, but you could certainly still see his creepiness in there. i think i probably missed a lot of symbolism in there, but i was kind fo tired and just happy to watch.

failed a quiz and didn't turn in my homework in on of my classes today all because i dont have a stupid book yet. i shouldve just bought it at the store (rather than ordering it) (or i shouldve ordered it earlier).

is scott back yet?

HOLY CRAP!! i just deleted this whole thing and was about to cry when i right clicked and saw that there's an "undo" option! THANK YOU, BLOGGER!

i call him rec-lor

i went to the new rec center today because the bubble was closed until 4pm and as nice as shelbourne is, i can't do all the things i want to do. so yeah, that place is huge. i mean, really huge. and there were TONS of people there. so many freakin machines. like they have these massive machines that work the same muscles as you a simple excercise with free weights could do. but i guess most people don't know how to use free weights . . . well. nice place though.