i got it like that

well i'm here at work working. our building is actually closed today but that means nothing to my company. luckily they said we could go home at 1pm, so that's awesome. so while i sit here designing storm sewer, you may enjoy my photography skills.

here are some sweet pictures from up on the hill at jesse's families new property. it looks like the horizon is on fire.









and here are some Glamour shots by Dudley.

poor dudley.





you better know dudley smells what you're cooking.






UPDATE: it's 4:40pm and i'm leaving work. stupid Christmas eve deadline.

Billiard's New Blog

hey anybody

billy has a new blog where he posts lots of cool links. so if you weren't priviledged enough to get his emails, now you can feel slightly above unpriviledged. check it out:

http://10biscuits.blogspot.com/

133

Your overall intelligence quotient is the result of a scientifically-tested formula based on how many questions you answered correctly. But it's only part of what we learned about you from your answers on the test. We also determined the way you process information.

The way you think about things makes you a Creative Theorist. This means you are a highly intelligent, complex person. You are able to process information of nearly every kind with ease, using both creativity and analysis to make sense of the world. Compared to others you also have a very rich imagination.

When we examined your test results further, we analyzed how you scored on 8 dimensions of intelligence: spatial, organizational, abstract reasoning, logical, mechanical, verbal, visual and numerical. The 3 dimensions you scored highest on combine to make you a Creative Theorist. Only 6 out of 1,000 people have this rare combination of abilities.

this was a pretty fun IQ test (if that doesn't work just try http://web.tickle.com/ and look for the IQ test). at least you have something to prove on this kind of quiz (as opposed to Which Movie Mom Are You? character you are most like).

i can't even spell 6 months

...let alone imagine working for a place that long, however, as of yesterday i have been working for my company for 6 months exactly. pretty crazy. it really only seems like 2 or so, mostly, i think, because things were so hectic up to about september that things didn't slow down to the pace of life till after the wedding and whatnot. anyway, i think i'm pretty pleased with the way things are going. i'm learning a lot and actually enjoying the job nowadays. i'm more involved in projects rather than just picking up slack here and there. i feel like i handle the amount of responsibility given to me well. and from what i gather, my employers are really pleased with my work and efficiency. that's really great to know that the peaople you work for are happy with what you're doing. it helps you work harder and makes you feel better about your work thus far.

now i just hope we can find something for jesse. she has a job at a temp agency, but obviously that's not what she went to school for. it's not bad and she gets paid well, but it's just not what she's into for the long haul (not really even close). and the place she works for is looking for someone fairly permanant to fill her position unless she wants to stay. they seem like they've been very reasonable and accomodating so far. but i'd rather her make less and work in a field she was at least interested in that the opposite. we dont need the money... but it certainly makes things easier.



(jody at halloween)


King Kong this friday. should be really great. i took jess to see Pride & Prejudice on sunday. i think i actually liked it more than her. however, whereas she had very high expectations for it, i had none. i dont even like those victorian set movies much either. but i knew nothing about it and rather enjoyed the story.

the rest of the weekend... not as fun. almost, but just not quite. it could've been because we spent all saturday helping my mom move into her new apartment, but i'm not really sure. i dont even know how to act around my mom now. i'm so upset and frustrated because this whole thing is so stupid that i feel like i can't act normal around her. so rather than say something mean, i just dont say anything. so much fun. i can't wait for Christmas!

i was scratching a dried piece of cheese off a plate from the dishwasher yesterday and it sharded off under my thumbnail. it hurt a lot and bled. stupid dried cheese.



(byran and that wig... wow. can you imagine running into this guy on the street?)


i'm tired. got up at 5:45 this morning to make it to work by 7 (traffic is amazing at 6:30am!) because we had a group breakfast and we drove around to look at job sites. it's fun seeing things built that you helped with. i can't wait to see one of mine getting built.

speaking of work. i got a Christmas bonus the other day. which i was pretty excited about. maybe i have the wrong attitude about the bonus. i dont know. i made the mistake of calculating up my average overtime over the past 6 months and comparing it to the bonus amount. yeah, it didn't come close. but jesse says it's not supposed to be payback for that time, but rather a gift for their appreciation of you. i think maybe that's true, but i also think it's supposed to be payback in a sense because that's how it was explained to me when i asked about the reason behind everyone working overtime. anyway, i was just a tad disappointed. i mean, i'm glad they seem to really appreciate my work and that i even got a bonus. i just feel very mixed about the whole things right now.

anyway, back to work. i just had a few extra minutes here while i waited for a guy i work with to get back.

(i gotta put that picture of jody on a shirt or something)

the O.C.

If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.

-Oswald Chambers

that's from My Utmost (November 1). i printed that out and keep it in my desk. it speaks so loudly to me (particularly with all this year's goings-ons). it just almost brings me to tears everytime i read it.

i wish my mom would read it. i wish she would read anything. i want so badly for her to see what my dad, myself, jordan and everyone else in the world but her sees. that reading for November 1st probably meant more to me than anything else i've read. it was just... right on. so powerfully blunt. it's hard sometimes, but i love how there's just no halfway, no middle ground with Chambers' writings. he doesn't soften anything. everything just has a "carved in stone" feeling. uncompromising and non-negotiable.

You Are Not Your Own

i admit, i did think Xmas was disrespectful

...but here's some good (and enlightening) information. my co-worker steve said he woke up today wondering how we ever came to write "Xmas" rather than "Christmas". i too wondered about that and was appreciative of steve's inquiry. here's what he found...

Xmas
This abbreviation for Christmas is of Greek origin. The word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ's name, "X" in place of the word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Although the early Christians understood that X stood for Christ's name, later Christians who did not understand the Greek language mistook "Xmas" as a sign of disrespect.

(courtesy of The Symbols and Traditions of Christmas)

so that's really neat. and no body even knows that. did you? of course you didn't.

definitions of interest

ponce: British : PIMP; also usually disparaging : a male homosexual

(i had just wondered for a while. this isn't relevant to anything.)



dudley is not a ponce

so after i assisted in helping everyone get last friday off, i was excited about the 4 day weekend. it was a pain to get that extra day though. sheesh. my company values a work a bit too much at times. when everyone else in the world is off and you arent, i dont know, it seems like you shouldn't have to choose between family and work at times like that. but everything worked out great.

we went and saw harry potter on the IMAX last monday. it was an awesome movie.

let's see, our first major holiday married went pretty well. we got to visit both our families (mine probably more, but i had my aunt and uncle in town whom i really like hanging out with (i think jess didnt mind too much)). obviously, the worst part for everyone was the feeling of this impending doom looming overheard because we just dont know what's going to happen with my parents. other than that though everything was great. we (some of us) got up and out the mall at 6 to hit some deals. i got a couple 1 GB flash drives for $20 and some 10 mile walkie talkies for $15. it was crowded though. i dont know why i ever even go into Best Buy. what a nightmare.

we got a washer and dryer the other day. i dont know if i mentioned that. it's a nice comfort. and for $175, it was totally worth it. it takes a lot of the "school" feel out of living (the bad part of school).


smug: highly self-satisfied; see DUDLEY

we got hit by a drunk driver (for the first time in my life) sunday morning about 1.0 am. we were just about to exit off 40W onto Briley Parkway when i saw the guy coming up on us real fast. i knew he wasnt going to be able to stop. so he ended up hitting the driver's side rear bumper and swerving back onto the interstate. so as i slammed on the brakes, i looked up in amazement as he drove off. well, i wasn't "okay" with that. so i threw it (the civic) in reverse, backed up onto the interstate, and pedal to the floor. it was a wierd feeling. it was like, i didn't care about anything except cathing up to this guy. and we did. i was flashing the lights and honking the horn and everything, but he just seemed totally oblivious to it. and i totally didnt even think he was drunk. i figured he was either handicapped or foreign or something. so i followed him until he finally pulled over... onto a 3 foot shoulder! idiot! i thought we were going to get killed trying to pull over onto this shoulder so i finally pulled around him (he still didnt seem to understand what was going on only furthering my thought that he was retarded) and got him to follow us to the nearest exit, which happened to be 212 Hermitage Ave (a very shady exit). but we found some street lights and pulled under those and waited for the cops. i was pretty nervoous when we finally pulled over. i didnt know if this guy was going to be violent, if he had a knife, gun, what. but i had been praying (and i know jess had too) so that (and my frustration and confusion and anger) overode my fear. it took me almost a minute to realize that he wasn't mentally handicapped but was in fact drunk. after that realization i felt better about the possibility of fighting. so i pretty much stalled him for 10 min while we waited for the cop to arrive (note: this is 20 min faster than the UT police ...on the UT campus!) drunk people tend to repeat themselves a lot when you just nod and say "yeah" a lot. he kept saying how "really, you guys got over and hit me!" and i was like, "yeah..." once the police arrived it didnt take him long to figure out he was drunk and arrest him. the cop was really nice. he was around my age i think. he was like, "how'd you get down here?" (after i told him where the accident had occured). "i followed him," i said with a hint of smugness. i think he smiled at that.

then we went home and slept. all things considered, this went as well as it could've. when you think about how badly it really could've gone it makes you really appreciate and see the things in life that truly are important. and it's kind of wierd because not many things in life are actually important at all. really, it seems to come down to your relationships. with God. with family and friends. in all honesty, what else matters?

see you next week.

G.O.B. moments

oh my gosh. these just crack me up...


from Amigos

Michael: So I thought you might want to read it seeing as how you are the President now, even though it’s just a title.

G.O.B.: Right... yes, Well, we should “circumverent union penalties.”




Michael: Circumvent.

G.O.B.: Circumverate...

Michael: “Circumvent.” It means “to go around.”

G.O.B.: The old “reach around.”


from Let Them Eat Cake

G.O.B.: What about hash browns?

Kitty: No, because hash browns are potatoes.

G.O.B.: So, you really can’t eat anything on this diet. Wow, I wonder how this is going to affect my honey business.

Kitty: G.O.B., I have seen you get passed over, time and time again by your family. You don’t deserve that, you’re smarter than them.




G.O.B.: What about macaroni... let me finish... salad?


from The Immaculate Election

Michael: What do you need the camera for?

G.O.B.: I’m making a magic video. I’m going to tape myself doing tricks around the office. I’m calling it Tricks... let me finish... Around the Office. I figured out a way to make money while I’m working.

i can't even write how happy i am

oh my gosh. this is incredible. my hard drive crashed last year taking many documents and pictures and everything else with it. well, i got most things back, however, amongst these recovered items my music (the actual written out copies in Cakewalk) were no where to be found. this was incredibly dissapointing to me because (and you can ask scott) i spent a lot of time writing these things out years ago because i enjoyed it so much. there were several that just meant a lot to me (so i put them on my website) and i didnt think i'd ever see them again. but! i just recently found the old Cakewalk Demo CD that i'd used back 5 years ago and installed it on my computer at work. i just called Hazel Hawn (i cant think of the link where i wrote about her) and was trying to find where i wrote about her when i thought i'd look at my music page i decided to download them all and listen to them when it occured to me that cakewalk can open up midi files. so i figured, "i don't know. what the heck?" and it brought up the sheet music! incredible! my lost music is back! i mean, i dont know if i'll ever play them again, but they mean so much to me. The Star Spangled Banner i wrote for Jordan's Eagle ceremony, Hymn to the Fallen we played on senior night. i mean, i'm just... so happy.

thank you, God. You're unbelievable.

what a day

man, i wish it was one day. at least it'd be over by now.

life isn't the most fun now. it's not that i cant find fun or that i'm not having any fun. it's just that... i'm not having fun. even as i write that i realize how many great things i have. but this stuff with my parents is just wearing me down (and i've only been truly in the midst of it for a week now. i knew about the situation in general for 6 months and it wasn't that i didn't want to help; i just didnt think it was my place to do more than listen and comfort.) like, i don't even want to stop doing anything because it'll give me time to think about it. i've been playing guitar and listening to music just non-stop to keep my mind occupied.

you think just graduating's hard? try graduating, getting married, working 50 hrs a week, and having your parents try and get divorced all in 6 months. not to mention the fact that jess and i are not living in Mt. Juliet or Knoxville for the first time in 5 years and we don't have a steady church yet. we have to drive 6 mi to go exercise and neither that nor internet is even close to being free.

i'm just glad i have jesse with me. this would not be fun without her.

and it's not that i'm truly worried about my place or what's going to happen with our lives because i know God has it and i'd much rather Him have it than me. even though i know all this, it still doesnt mean i'm having a good time. it's like, for the past 5 years i've had the overall goal of graduating and getting a job. well, i've done that, so now what do i do? where do i go from here? where do we go from here?

stuff.

100 Greatest Internet Moments

Blue Ball Machine (who has this much time??)

What the crap is going on in France??



for that fact, what's going on here?

...i can't even write about it.

the new 'stang

my dad got a new car this weekend. a brand new Mustang GT (2005 or 2006; i cant remember). and it is incredible. 300hp - 0 to 60 in 5.2 sec. it is a blast. you can probably hit almost 50 mph in 1st gear. as you can see, it's bright yellow and a convertible. the best convertible i've ever sat in. really comfortable and and an awesome exhaust sound. theres just something spectacular about driving around in a car that you know can take off like nothing you've ever seen at the drop of a hat. man, when you hit the gas, it responds. fast. your insides just shift to the back of your body. oh and talk about adrenaline rush.

(i think he needs to get some black stripes put on it.)








and you can change the LEDs behind the gauges to many different colors.

just thought this was funny

look how condescending he is!

"Seems like it always seems, where I go I want to leave"

that's a line from the Matt Pond PA song Halloween. i thought it was a interesting way of describing how i feel sometimes (fairly often?). i tell you, i'm not feelin' it today. i feel tired and rather down. i know why i'm tired, but not exactly why i'm down. i think it's the same old thing. i dont have enough time in the day to relax and accomplish the things i want and need to accomplish. am i the only one who has the monthly reoccuring thought of "is this what i'm supposed to be doing with my life"? i hope not.

dang. and our gig posters havent come in and it's been almost 2 weeks. i'm beginning to think they may have gotten lost. 2 out of the 3 were the last ones they had. man, this isn't making it any better.

okay, jess and i went to Memphis this past weekend. in your mind you think "well that's in TN so, i mean, it cant be that far away, right?" wrong, in reality it's only 35 miles closer than Atlanta. good night. anywho, it was a fun trip. like a tiny vacation. and it was cool to see the school it seems like scott's been going to for 5 yrs (in reality, of course, it's only his 2nd year). and i hadn't been to Memphis in a while. it's nicer than i remember. and the weather was just fantastic. and scott lives in a frat house, but it's really cool. he has the 3rd floor all to himself...




...which isn't necessarily good for his bursitis. but he makes it look easy (and i totally think he's faking it).


here's what part of his downstairs looks like...





here's the vietnamese restaurant where scott told us about Koreans eating live squid (here's a video) (ughhhhh gosh)...





look who's squintin' now. is it the guy with the blue blockers? i dont think so.





i think scott has about 3 cubic feet of freezer space lost to ice.





the official scott ToM (that's Tour of Memphis)...





Memphis... in BB-D! (that's Blue Blocker Dimension)




anywho, it was fun. but this weekend is the Octoberween party! it should be fun.

perhaps The Flying Saucer tonight? i dont know.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

this was the coolest musical performance i've ever been to (and paid for). i got these guys' CD back in June or so and have just thoroughly enjoyed their music ever since, so i was tremendously excited to see Nashville on their tour schedule. so i made sure to jesse plenty ahead of time (because she needs to know things like that) and that we wouldnt have anything else that friday. (i even made up a flyer with direction for her. she likes things like that.) well, it turned out my office as providing pizza and beer earlier that afternoon, but that only sweetened the friday deal. anyway, we got down there way ahead of time and sat around looking for garage sales in the paper (in which one we actually got our new dining room table; it's sweet). as soon as we walked in the place we realized what this was going to be like: close. you couldnt have fit more than 100 people in there, the stage was 6" off the ground, and you could stand close enough to the stage to... well, it was really close. but i just enjoyed it so much. until i went to Sufjan Stevens, i had never really been to a concert starring a band i really really liked. like we went to some back in high school, but i was mostly just going to go with the group. honestly, my ears are pretty sensitive to highs, so unless it's music i just love, i'd rather just sit in the back or listen to the cd. but i've come to realize why people actually enjoy concerts... because you get to hear the music you love played really loudly. but on top of that! if you can watch it up close it's WAY better. it's so cool to put a face to music. it totally changes the way you listen and see the music. when you see that an actual person plays and sings this music (and well), it's like opening your eyes when watching tv (i guess that's a pretty literal metaphor. ah who cares. it makes sense. maybe it wouldnt even be considered a metaphor. whatever.)




so after we were done rockin' (and it really was an awesome performance) i went around (after a bit of encouragement from jesse (you always think you'll be so calm and cool approaching someone in this nature, but i was a bit nervous. i have a natural fear people wanting to leave while i'm talking to them or something like that, and when you know that the person might be needing to do something else it makes it even worse. so i was sort of nervous)(uh, where was i?)(oh right) to get each of the band member's autographs on my cd cover. they were really nice and very happy to do it. and the coolest part was when i was getting the last guy's autograph (Lee) i was telling him how this was all i had left from my cd after it had gotten stolen in Costa Rica and he was like, "seriously? it was stolen?" and i said "yeah, from my rental car". so he said " well hang on a sec. let me see if i can get you another one." sweet!! and he did. it was awesome. i also got some posters and stuff (including a gig poster for $10 which i wouldve kicked myself big time had i not gotten it to accompany us in our abode)

man, i would've loved to have talked to them longer, but again, we get back to that wierd fear. i mean, honestly, i didnt know if they needed to put their stuff up and get on the road or what. plus jesse didnt feel so hot (and my stomach hurt too (but i wouldve stayed till they closed or cyhsy left)(but i'm very thankful jesse came to share in the occasion with me. she knew how excited i was and i appreciated her attendence very much)). but in the end i suppose they are just people and it is just music, so, not the end of the world. i just feel so lucky to have gotten to experience such an incredible band in such an intimate atmosphere and of course, to have had jess by my side. i really think that it was a bit of a once in a lifetime opportunity. i dont think i'll ever see them in that small of a concert again. i'm glad we were there.

in conclusion, ticketmaster sucks big time. i'm sorry, but $8 is not a very convenient fee. i can drive to Cookeville for $8. what kind of convenience are we paying $8 for?! (luckily, we didnt have to use ticketmaster for this)

this girl also went to the concert. her pictures are a bit better, but she was right in front of the band (as you can see). i think that would be a bit awkward at times. who knows. she's also a radio dj for WRVU, so her description of the event is a bit more professional; much fewer "( )".

oh, and here are my pictures

i loooove gig posters!

so i've really been into gig posters as of late. i've always thought they were neat, but recently i've just really been excited about getting some and putting them up. the only downsound to collecting them is that they're a bit expensive. but perhaps they're not. when you think of them in terms of "art" rather than "posters", i suppose $20 isn't that bad. and some of them just look so cool. and for a lot of them, they'll only make around 50 or so prints. so we got 3 (for now)...










we felt that they nicely represented both our musical tastes and our style. there were many many more that i would've loved to have gotten, but alas $70 will do for now.

and tonight! we're going to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! i'm so excited. i hope it works out and we get in. it's a really small place and there were no advance tickets so i'm sort of worried. but i think we'll get over to it in plenty of time to get in. i hope they're cool. i hate hearing awesome music only to find out that the band members dont represent things i value or do represent things i find offensive. that's so tough for me because i REALLY like music. like, i was telling jesse the other day, i'd rather not know anything about a band's religious belief's or lack there of than find out that they not only dont believe in God, but also make light of Him. does that make sense? for example, the new Wolf Parade CD. it's an incredible CD. just really great. but in one song they use God's name in vain in a way i found particularly displeasing. and that was all. no more mentions of it or anything. but that one little thing just really bugs me and wont stop. and i know it's not there job to please whoever and i'm not making any judgements or anything, it's just rubs me the wrong way when i hear stuff like that. like it was really cool to see Sufjan Stevens and enjoy the music and come away with the feeling that the band members are great people. anyway, i just hope CYHSY is cool.

pictures posted

i just posted more Costa Rican pics on Flickr.

have at 'em.

(see also: pura vida and JEH)

sufjan and gastritis... an exciting combination!

so i have gastritis. and i must say, it's rather uncomfortable. in fact, it's downright painful. my whole stomach just hurts. i highly disrecommend it.

however, jesse and i did have a sweet friday night adventure! early friday morning it occured to me to check to see if Sufjan Stevens (a favorite of mine right now) was going to be playing in nashville any time soon. as luck would have it, he was. and it just so happened to be that night at 9pm. unfortunately, it was sold out. so i tried my best to find any left over tickets, but it was to no avail. i even emailed some people at the Mercy Lounge. i did however come to the conclusion that i dislike the Mercy Lounge employees and/or anyone affiliated with said Mercy Lounge. after i sent out my email inquiring as to the "solidity" of the term "sold out", i recieved a response. it was as follows:

Sold out really means sold out jackass

to which i thanked him for his kindness and understanding. (jesse also had an unfriendly encounter with some ticket taker.) anywho, long story short, sold out does not really mean sold out. at least not for a couple sneak artists (yeah, you like it? dont steal it.) such as jess and myself. we go there and the line must've been upwards of 1000 people. it looked pretty hopeless. so we took a seat on the upper patio. there we slowly gained the trust of those around us THUS gaining us entry inTO the Mercy Lounge... upstairs.

well, this was better, but not great. anyway, after a little slight of hand from yours truly (we walked down some stairs and wandered around), we managed to make our way into the downstairs stage room. in truth, all of this was sort of inadvertantly done (jesse might disagree... for good reasons). ANYway, once we realized we were IN, we slinked off to the dark corner to hide away for the show (plus there was a stool (the non poo kind) back there). and what a show! it was a really fun show. they were all dressed up as cheerleaders and stuff. it was just great. i was so excited i left my own stool (the poo kind) back there. not really, but i was really excited.

and on top of it all, (and i'm not sure if He really wants to take credit for this or not, but..) i'm pretty sure God provided this opportunity to us. we both prayed so hard beforehand that we would be able to to get in and watch the show. i think jesse actually prayed for free entrance (she's so brazen!). seriously, i KNOW He helped us. all you naysayers (todd) can say what you want, but this was a miracle. jesse and i arent this lucky.

on a side note, i think Sufjan Stevens and his band would be a really great bunch of guys to hang out with. they seem really nice. (i actually think they may be Christian.)


on an even more side note, jesse's and my new pirate names are as follows (respectively):


Black Death Quinn

&

Cap'n Jake Yellowbeard





i've also been known to go by:

Cheeky Delinquent


...which of course is my wu-tang name.

pura vida

well, jess and i are back. i talked her into driving back from atlanta 12:30am sunday morning. not the most fun thing to do, but we made good time. 3.5 hrs i believe.

we had a blast on our honeymoon vacation. Costa Rica is so pretty and the people there are so nice and helpful. we stayed at an all-inclusive hotel on the beach (as seen below). we ate so much. i dont even remember being hungry after the first day. i felt like every time i went to eat, my stomach was half full already. and there's nothing like a solid week of carb loading. big time.

let's see... we:

-went on a small walk through the rainforest
-went to some hot springs (where the water was heated by the local volcano)
-(jesse) got sick and threw up on a short un-air-conditioned bus ride
-spent a few hours at a secluded beach full of howler monkeys and with dead blowfish strewn about the beach (must've seen at least 15 or so)
-rode through the treetops and over waterfalls via the Canopy Tour
-ate
-rented a small 4x4 daihatsu and drove to Rincon de la Vieja to walk through the jungle and see lots of creatures and volcano vents (fumorals) AND a sweet waterfall!
-then continued our rent-a-car day with a trip to a nearby beach town, where i was lifted of the burden of carrying around my CDs
-sulked
-lounged around, ate more, and then ate so more (only this was nicer food)

and all the while getting to stir up the old espanol memory bank.

i'm also pretty amazed that niether of us got burned. i think it's because it was so hot we tried to avoid any direct sun contact most of the time.

the past 2 weeks have just gone off as good as i possibly couldve imagined. the wedding and reception was just wonderful. i dont think i couldve had much more fun. i hope everyone else did too. i also cant thank everyone enough for not only showing up to support us, but also for the inpouring of gifts. it's just an wonderful feeling to know that so many people love you so much. so thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

and now for some pictures...


jesse poses hardcore on the beach


the view from our hotel (this was before the crowds came)


this little fellow was quick to reject jesse's friendship


someone's looking suspicious


lots o moss


those are some sweet lense flares


those are some sweet fumorals


ah yes, this is the absolutely gorgeous beach where some douche bag jacked my CDs


here comes medicine man jesse!


i'll try and put more up.

no time!

goin' to Costa Rica. be back next saturday.

wedding was perfect. that's about the best description: perfect.

todd (and scott) gave a good description of the weekend. i'll give more later (when i'm not going to Costa Rica).

time to go get burned by the central american sun.

so brilliant, that central american sun is.

what to do, what to do

well, we found the kittens a good home. at least we think it was. they had kids and took both of them without much hesitation, so i think that was good. i was sad to see them go. they were such great animals. so good natured. i was really happy to see them take both cats. that made it easier. man, only had them a week and i felt like i was putting a kid up for adoption. sheesh.

i feel like i had a bunch to write about but i cant remember any of it and what i can remember i just dont care about anymore. like Bill Maher and whatnot. he's a doofus. but i'm too lazy to write any more.

been listening to some good music lately...

Public Enemy [Greatest Hits]
what classic hip-hop. so great (and pretty dang clean). it's just so much fun to listen to. i highly recommend it.

Ben Folds [Songs for Silverman]
man, Mr. Folds is amazing at piano. i mean, just incredible to listen to some of these songs. his cynical/uncouth lyrics always catch me offgaurd due to the sound of the music.

Willie Nelson [Countryman]
this is just a fun combination

Nickel Creek [Why Should the Fire Die]
awesome vocals. rather dark for bluegrass. still awesome.

Gorillaz [Demon Days]
good stuff. Gorillaz always have such low bass.

Death Cab for Cutie [Plans]
just started listening to this. seems good.

Bright Eyes [I'm Wide Awake Its Morning]
great lyrics. and rather unique music in general.

Sufjan Stevens [Illinois]
i've been listening to this for a while. it's just an amazing cd. 75min long! kudos to mr. stevens.

yeah there's a lot more.

oh! i won first place in a photography category (black & white special fx) in the Wilson County Fair for the picture below (it's my baby)(jesse, not the picture)...




i think we may go tonight. i'd like to see if any of my others did well at all.

okay i'm going home.

look at these little rascals

jesse and i found these on my road yesterday. they are great little cats. they have such good personalities. if i had the money and the space i'd take care of almost every animal i found. especially kittens! i hope God has a special place reserved for people who ditch animals. who drops off kittens?? who on earth is even capable of that? i have no idea. i just hope i never meet them.



(they're brother and sister)



oh my gosh. this has got to be one of the funniest parts of Arrested Development ever...



Buster: Just wanted to check in and make sure you’re aware that your ban on organized sports in this family has been violated.

George, Sr.: Ban on organized sports?

Buster: You know, how you wouldn’t let me sign up for anything when I was a kid.



George, Sr.: Is that what you’ve been thinking all these years? No, no, look, you were... you were just a turd out there, you know? You couldn’t kick, and you couldn’t run, you know? You were just a turd.

Buster: Prison has destroyed the way you talk. If that’s what it takes to impress these guys around here, then they are not your friends.



brilliant.

welcome to hump day

a couple of things...

first, this is a picture jon or aaron sent me the other day. too funny. (and have you guys seen the new Family Guy movie?) (i say "guys" as though someone other than myself reads this.)





next, i dont know about anyone else, but this whole "moving on to the next phase of life" sort of sucks so far. i've realized why every likes school better than work. it's because school, while i believe, more difficult than work, is fun. that's it. you have to work harder, but everything is just more fun. work isnt fun. perhaps if i was working with people my age it would be, but i'm not. they're close, but not. anyway, i'm looking forward to getting past the wedding and moving and settling and whatnot, but at the moment i'm borderline depressed at times. now, i'm thrilled about marrying jesse and moving in with her and starting a new life with her. i know we're going to have a great time. but at the same time, i can't help but be really down about the life i'm "leaving". i miss everyone. i miss school. i miss being around people my age. i miss church, everyone from church, and worshipping with those people. i miss playing frisbee, swimming, raquetball, and walking 100yds to go workout. i miss exercising. i miss knoxville. and not that me going back to grad school or something would bring it all back, but part of me cant help but wish i could go back. however, the other part is ready to move on. maybe not to where i am now, but to where God hopefully wants me to be. i dont know where that is, but i'm excited to find out. i'm excited to find out what he has in store for jesse and i. we have so many ambitions and talents bestowed on us that i know we'll be used for something wonderful. but i miss my old life. i guess this how it always is when you change lifstyles. this is how it was for me leaving Hungary. i was happy to come home, but i wanted to stay so much and extend that amazing time i was having. but i knew it was futile because no one else would be staying. it wouldnt have been the same no matter how badly i wanted it to. and so here i am. "in limbo" as they say.

i was never a big fan of The Limbo.

humor test

this is actually really good. it's also short and enjoyable (and i must say, quite accurate). so you should take this test and find out your true humor standings. (plus some of the test questions are hilarious)

here i am...



the Wit
(56% dark, 30% spontaneous, 16% vulgar)
your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK


You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean you're pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

Also, you probably loved the Office.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais



bingo.


oh. jess and i (and billy) went and saw March of the Penguins last night. it was tremendous. seriously, just an wonderful film (and incredible story) to watch.

those crazy brits

british humor. what will they come up with next?

(i like the one on the millenium wheel (the big ferris wheel))

of all the subjects they could have done a website on in response to the recent activities, i feel that they probably chose the most courageous.

so jesse and i watched The Machinist the other day. it was pretty creepy. i cant believe Chrisian Bale lost that much weight. i think he actually weighed 120lbs in the movie. as you can see, he looks pretty terrible...




we've watched a couple of movies recently. Lemony Snicket's was pretty good. it was a bit sad (and a bit disturbing at times). sort of an unusual child's movie.

that Wikipedia (not sure where the name comes from) is a pretty awesome resource. it's got a better movie description page than IMDb. and you can look up random things apparently. The Big Lebowski has it 281 times (although it says at the bottom that it and variants of it occurred 398 times)! incredible! what a marvelous resource!

speaking of resources, i've just gone through a paradigm shift this morning (in like 5 min! pretty impressive, eh?) i'll no longer use Mapquest.com or any other subpar direction finding source. from now on it's Google Maps for me. it's so much better than the rest. and i think it's been around for a while. not sure why it took me so long. it's biggest pro is that it's got a far better and much more interactive map than mapquest (i've always hated mapquest's maps). it's a lot faster to use too. so... i highly recommend the Google Maps.

look how far i have to drive to work!







should we be concerned with Google's ginormous expansion into everything?

seriously

okay first off, if you havent listened to music by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah




you really have to. i just got their cd the other day and it's just great music. do it.

second, this is just really impressive. it's a keyboard were every key has it's own independent display. it's wicked awesome.

third, jess and i drove to atlanta this weekend to attend/videotape bryan and oksana's off the wall wedding (just kidding it was great). seriously though it was very interesting. and rather pretty. i taped it. for 55 min. with no tripod. sheesh. after about 30 min into it i engaged one of my film techniques i refer to as "shaky-cam". the name pretty much says it all. anywho, it was a fun trip.

i won a cd (the Cloud Room) from woxy.com in a contest the other day. i was 1/25 people to win (out of 1300 who entered). "i've never won anything in my life!" seriously, i dont think i have.


woxy.com forever.

Google Earth

Google Earth is truly one of the most remarkable programs i've ever seen (and it's FREE). it's really unbelievable. the ease and indepthness of it is just incredible. it provides satellite images of anywhere on earth. with that you can display places to eat/sleep, street name, county/state/country lines, actual 3D topography, driving direction to anywhere, and more (i've just started looking at it). if you have a decently fast computer (and fast internet) i HIGHLY recommend trying out the free version. you wont regret it.

anyone recognize this?




(you can actually zoom in a little more)

(incredible)

40% OFF FIREWORKS

...now you're speakin my language!

man. me and billy and jordan and hg had a sweet time blowing up tons of stuff with fireworks the other day. they had those mortar shell ones that blast up out of tube and then blow up in the sky for so cheap. i bought $67 worth of stuff (=$112 normally).

anyway, we pretty much put those mortars everywhere we could to see how powerful they were. my conclusion: they are plenty powerful. it's safe to say it would blow your hand off if it detonated there. luckily each one has about 1.5ft fuse on it. man, but we put em everywhere: buried them in dirt, put them in a cardboard tube (to blow up the tube), shot them into trees, shot them from a handheld tube, and last but not least, detonated them underwater in a bucket. this was the icing on the cake. truly. i rubberbanded it to a dirt clod (so it would sink), lit the fuse and let it drop. the initial blast off made the bucket jump straight up at least a foot in the air. then the actual explosion shot water and flares everywhere within a 30ft radius. the first one cracked the bucket and blew the handle off it. fortunately, billy was there to "film" the whole thing on his phone. it's a bit dark and hard to tell whats going on, but when the video starts you're looking at the bucket from about 30-40ft away. (you probably will have to watch it a couple to times to fully appreciate it.

so please... watch.

video one

video two

awesome awesome music

you probably have never heard of either of these bands but they have some really great music.

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
- In This Home On Ice
- Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood

2. Zykos
- Understanding Fire

i havent heard a ton of Zykos' music, but that one song is tremendous.


seriously, amazing music. if you try it and disagree, feel free to let me know, so i'll know who to mock first for a complete lack of musical taste.

this be my "office"

look at this computer!
-3.9 MHz processor
-1 GB of RAM
-70 GB hard drive
-20" flat panel monitor

and the mouse has 8 buttons!

am i back?

you bet i'm back baby!

SHWEEEEEEEET!



and i'm getting married on September 4th!


to Jesse!


Taylor!

won't post

just won't post

no computer, no posts.

yeah, my computer crashed (hard) a week ago and i just now got my restoration disks back from home to give to Aconda Court. so hopefully they'll be able to get it running and get at least my pictures back. man, i guess i dont have to say what a complete pain in the ass this is. ...anywho

got some new headphones coming tomorrow. they are phenomenal.

jesse and i are thinking about going to ecuador. i think it'd be good.

um. come home soon, computer.

weekend at the gatlinburg

jess and i (and jordan) had a great weekend in gatlinburg spending time with God and listening to a great lady speak about her life. it's always an inciteful time. and it always comes about the time i need that break and a reminding of what life's about.

however, there was a dark spot on the weekend. and that was during the 30 min or so steve and i were playing music on the piano (and his guitar) in the hotel. we were having a great time singing and playing, when these 2 guys and 2 girls came up and asked if they could play a song. so i was like, "sure" (not knowing what was in store for us). so i thought, i guess they want to play some worship music too or something. no, one guy sat down and started play edwin mccain's "i'll be" while the other guy started belting out the lyrics in a very "emo" tone (he had a decent voice, but it didnt make this any cooler). so i started smiling and holding back the laughter. this was sheer amazement laughter, mind you. amazement that someone would come up and ask us to move so that they could play this song. and the reason the song bothered me is because NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would come down there and sing this around all these people (there were a lot of people around. it was a lobby sort of area.) unless you were just trying to show off and/or impress everyone (girls). i was speechless. steve asked if i wanted to stay and play after they were done. i said, "no". as if this wasnt bad enough, the farther they got into the song, the more people began to sing along with him. wow. never have i recieved such a musical slap in the face. and then on top of that, the friggin song has been in my head ever since.

yes, i know i shouldnt have let this consume me as it did, and i can tell this because i chose to write more about this one incident than the whole weekend. but man . . . that guy.

. . . he even had the "dashboard shelf" haircut.

links

i think i've discovered (and by that i mean, i'm the first) the cause of the death of america. may i recommend NOT getting the Double Quarter Pounder® with Cheese? (yes i may.)

kind of cool.

this is sort of funny because they're putting the worst of tv in the internet so you can watch it again and again.

top 100 gadgets of all time

pinky & the ...josh

pinky 

me and pinky 

the best of both worlds

i thought this was a pretty cool picture.



(ps - it's not real)


but this is... this guy takes pictures of his rabbit balancing objects on it's head. pure gold. except that the rabbit dies and it's really sad.

Oolong even has his own winamp skin!