12.14.2006

"Hold on, my hands are glued to my face."

hola blogworld

well it's been a quick past couple of weeks for me as we near the end of the year. last weekend was our merry christmas madness event which is kind of the end cap event of the year. it's a giant video scavenger hunt, so now i have myself buried in front of my computer editing hours of video and i couldn't be happier. this event kind of signifies the start of a new time for me, and with the success that we had last weekend (no cops involved, no parent calls, and no kids throwing up on camera) it really is nice to be off to such a strong start for this upcoming year.

so onto the observation stuff...

must read.
i've been reading this great book lately, '9 things you simply must do'. i highly recommend it for all of my friends in the post college years that despite age, career and education are still trying to figure some stuff out. a lot of books are written for teenagers, and there is a whole section at any bookstore for people that are slightly older, but there really seems to be a vacuum when it comes to the mid twenties. it's almost as if we're supposed to have most of life figured out by now, and you're kinda out of luck if you haven't. i like this book because it doesn't assume that the reader is completely messed up, but takes a look at an average person and offers realistic suggestions on how personality traits can be amped. good stuff. right now i'm on the sixth principle so i'll wait till i'm done to give a synopsis.

you ever notice how a new haircut can completely change a person's personality?

uncle.
dantheman and futuremom called last week with news that she is five weeks pregnant. awesome. i can't wait to be the surrogate uncle that spoils the kid rotten. anyways, we were talking on sunday and i decided that instead of going the usual route of suggesting names, i would offer up a list of names they shouldn't name their kid. so here are the:

TOP TEN WORST BABY NAMES
10. Adolf
9. Ebert
8. Manny
7. Jezebel
6. Orenthal
5. Buffalo
4. Katrina
3. Velveeta
2. Tupac
1. Khadafi

riding a bike.
so after six months off, i've officially started back on the dating scene. yes, it was my choice to take six months off, and no, i'm not really in one of my 'high fidelity' moods just yet. anyways, i've had a few dates in the past couple of weeks which is always a good feeling. i'm figuring out too that my largest obstacle to overcome at this point is probably proximity. at least that's what i'm telling myself. if that's not the case, don't tell me. gracias. if anything significant comes out of these dates any time soon i'll be sure to update everyone, but for the time being, it's good to be, as george kastanza put it so well, "out there".

the berlin wall.
there are certain things we never thought we would see in our lifetime. the berlin wall come down, the end of communism, pauly shore disappear, the list goes on. add to that list me calling myself a fan of country music. before you get any images of me wearing a sleeveless nascar shirt, i have to explain. it started over a decade ago when i first heard ring of fire, and started listening to johnny cash. then came willie nelson (thanks to dad) and some waylon jennings. then there was the swingers soundtrack with roger miller and george jones. i kind of stalled for a while but this past year i've really started listening to more country. i think the key is i have to find the right kind of country. i'm not big on the mainstream toby keith, kenny chesney stuff, but throw in some kris kristofferson, randy travis, george strait or even some hank williams and i'm good to go. i haven't given up on my old punk or reggae music, but i'm realizing that when it comes to content i'm able to relate a lot more to some country singers more often than other guys. call it growing up, call it being employed, call it whatever, but the more i listen to some of these guys sing, i really like what they have to say. there's a sense of everyday life that these guys really get a hold of, and a lot of the country i'm hearing really lines up with my spirtual beliefs. to be honest, i would actually rather listen to most country singers sing about God than christian artists. i think there's a lot more honesty coming out of the country scene, and def more originality. well. i'm not moving to nashville anytime soon, but i figured anyone that knows me well would get a kick out of this.

onramp.
the onramp is there for you to accelerate to a safe highway speed. use it for such.

super bowl.
chargers 38 saints 27

customer service.
so i was in the apple store today because my ipod has been having some issues lately, and i couldn't get it to recharge. i'm waiting in line when this guy cuts in front of me and demands the lady at the counter fix his problem. so he starts in on this story about his ipod nano not working for the past few days and starts asking questions about his warranty. the lady plugs his ipod in and nothing happens, then she flips the ipod over and sees a huge dent in the back. "What happened here?" she asks. "I stepped on it a few days ago", he replies. she shoots a quick glance over at me shaking my head, and then asks the guy, "is that about the time that it stopped working?" "Yeah, i think so." at this point i'm thinking this guy is just stupid and doesn't deserve and ipod, but that changes as he keeps on talking. he then goes on a twenty minute rampage about how the warranty should cover this, and wants her to open up his ipod to prove that the dent is what is causing the ipod to not work. pan over to me sitting at he counter with my best 'you've got to be kidding me' face. so now this guy is actually getting irate and starts on some tangent about how there has to be some defect with ipods. the defect is they don't work when you step on them. so the lady goes to the back to print out this guys warranty contract, and he looks over at me expecting sympathy. i just shake my head. then he starts talking about how stupid it is that apple doesn't cover this kind of damage to me. i just sat there and listened to him ramble, and it became increasingly obvious that hew was trying to get a free ipod. so as he's going over his warranty, the lady steps over to me to help me out. i mention that my ipod isn't working either, so she plugs it in and takes a look at the diagnostics. she says that the battery isn't charged, and i mentioned that i had it plugged in all night, so we figure there must be something wrong with the battery. then i remembered that my car charger had not been working with my ipod for a couple of days, but i thought it was the chargers fault. so she goes to the back and comes back with a big box and says, "i'm really sorry, but you're going to have to up load all of your music again, because i have to give you a new ipod". this makes the guy down the counter just incredibly angry and he starts bringing over the manager. so now he's yelling at both of these ladies when i hop in and say, "look man, it's pretty obvious that you're just trying to get a free ipod. you broke yours, own up to it. it's your fault. you wouldn't blame toyota for a car wreck if you ran a red light." the ladies are doing their best not to just crack up at this guy being called out. he asks the manager for a formal complaint form so i step in again and ask for a customer service satisfaction form. the guy asks who i am so i hand him and the manager business cards he just kinda stops and she starts to laugh. so she looks at me and smiles and says, " i'll get both of those for you guys." long story short, i walked out of there with a new ipod and didn't have to pay this fee that they would typically charge and that guy walked out of there a tool with no ipod. gotta give props to both of those ladies though, they never lost composure once and even after he left they still didn't talk bad about him. i complain enough about poor customer service, so it's only fair to mention when people really excel.

mockingbird.
i've been thinking bout getting another tattoo, this one for my mom. i want to get a mockingbird holding a yellow rose, but i'm not really finding pix of mockingbirds that i like. any help would be appreciated. oh yeah, the story behind the tattoo is this: my mom has always loved the book/ movie 'to kill a mockingbird', and she has always called me 'boo', after her favorite character in the story, boo radley. the yellow rose is my mom's favorite flower so it kind of works well together. now all i have to do is figure out where i want to get it.

and last of all, i thought i would leave you with my favorite items from this years merry christmas madness list. hope these make you laugh.

Top Ten Items on the Merry Christmas Madness 06 List:
10. set someone's clock ahead one hour w/o them knowing
9. drink a bottle of syrup
8. ride a bike as slow as possible for thirty seconds
7. saran wrap the entire team together
6. find someone with 1% milk and let them know they could drink whole if they wanted
5. glue your hands to your face for ten minutes
4. pick a strangers nose
3. sing 'bad boys' with a police officer
2. give a stranger a wet willie
1. sing a christmas carol to someone named carol

well, check youtube soon for some highlights. one love, one heart.