Thoughts of The Trevor

Go School, Go!

2010-03-16T09:06:00.001-04:00

Read this.

Nice story about an NFL player giving up oodles of money for an offseason workout plan in order to finish his college degree.

We need more stories like this.

JUMPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-14T15:21:00.003-04:00

Stokes loves jumping.

We have the evidence to prove it:

Dreams

2010-03-03T08:38:00.002-05:00

So, last night I had a dream that both my brother (Erik) and my father were professors of History at UF, and that I found a job as a professor there (because an undergraduate degree in History totally qualifies you to teach at UF).

I got there my first day and was informed I would be teaching British Military History and.... drum roll please..... a class entitled "The Persian influence on Thailand and Vietnam"

I can only imagine starting my lecture during the first class of the semester:

"There is none."

Dreams are weird.

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-01T12:23:00.006-05:00

So, the new Tim Burton joint is coming out in the coming weeks... a surrealistic sequel to the Lewis Carroll/Disney class "Through the Looking Glass" or "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" or "Alice in Wonderland" (Way too many variations of a title...)

Johnny Depp is portraying the Mad Hatter, the mercury-high host of the tea party in the original story.

My real question is: Why in the world do you cast Johnny Depp when you obviously were going to use makeup to make him look just like Elijah Wood? They both play crazy/insane very well... and Elijah Wood is already pretty creepy. I think they could've saved some money by paying Wood half of what they gave Depp.

See?:

Desert Island: Part Two

2009-12-29T09:30:00.001-05:00

This time around... songs. So basically, your 5 favorite songs, or the 5 songs you could listen to forever without getting tired of them. The 1st 2 for me are easy choices, the next 3 could vary if I think about this for more than 2 minutes.

1. Only In Dreams - Weezer
2. Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones
3. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
4. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
5. Ramble On - Led Zeppelin

Obviously I am alive in the wrong era for music... or simply, today's music is stupid and not worth listening to very often. The most recent song on the list, I Believe in Thing Called Love, is 8 or so years old... and just makes me happy, it isn't the greatest song ever... it's just fun.

Desert Island

2009-11-09T13:31:00.003-05:00

I love Top 5 Lists... or Top "#" Lists of any sort. What are your top 5 movies of all-time, that you would take with you to a desert island for the rest of your life? (trilogies, etc. count as 1 movie)

You can tell from my list that A) I'm a total nerd, and B) My taste in movies does not match my mental acumen in the least. I find dumb things funny.

1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Star Wars Trilogy
3. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
4. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
5. Best in Show

Politics I can get behind...

2009-11-03T09:03:00.002-05:00

The Sports Fans Coalition is a group founded recently, whose main goals are listed below. I urge you all to join, as it really boils down to accountability in spending, curbing waste, and helping the average American gain access to the games they love, without fattening the pockets of lobbyists and mega-TV conglomerates.

I know only one of my readers really cares about sports (That's you, Ms. Greene), but in general this is an idea we can all get behind right?

Who We Are

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Stokes at 1 Month

2009-10-28T21:38:00.011-04:00

He's got lots of swagger and eats and sleeps like a champion. He weighing in at 10 lbs 8 oz these days, and is in the 70th %ile for height and weight. Somehow he's only in the 40th for head size, which is odd because Jen and I have huge noggins. For those that haven't seen, and for those that always like to look at cute babies (I'm talking about you, Tat), and for those that happen to stumble across my blog (creepers)... here is a smattering of photographic representations of C. Stokes Bryan.

New Born (9/29/2009)

At the hospital, Day One

First Car Ride

Addison Brown meeting Stokes

Stokes and Yoshi are friends

First Tub Bath

Almost 1 Month Old! (a few hours shy)

I'm Terrible...

2009-10-19T17:20:00.004-04:00

Well... actually I'm pretty amazing, but I'm terrible at posting.

Since the last time I was here, I got a year older, started another semester of grad school, have witnessed the football team I know and love collapse spectacularly (except against BYU, suck it BYU), and become a father.

Fatherhood is something I'm still trying to understand. I love Stokes, trust me, I do, but I feel so helpless at this early stage in his life... I don't provide nourishment, I don't think I can really teach him anything at this point... I'm simply a diaper changer and rock-to-sleeper. I know that will all change all too soon (he is growing so fast!!), but for now, I will just enjoy having such a beautiful young man to share a roof with.

I'll try to be better about posting, between the baby and classes I'm just about going nuts. Classes are entirely hard... just tedious, especially my online Data Mining class... doesn't it sound fun? It's even duller than it sounds... But, I can persevere.

Love you all (the 8 of you that read this)... for pictures of the young man check my Facebook profile... I will post pics here later, but I'm pretty lazy today.

Birthday Fish!

2009-07-31T18:06:00.004-04:00

So today my Birthday Fish arrived, a wonderful gift from my wife.

I'm letting my loyal blog readers (all 8 of you) have a hand in naming these new beauties:

I got a Royal Gramma:

A Sixline Wrasse (also known as the Jap Wrasse or Pajama Wrasse... feel free to get racist with your naming of this one):

And... a Knobby Starfish:
Give names to 1, or all 3... I may or may not use them, as I reserve all rights to do whatever I want.

IM Bowling is over....

2009-07-30T08:56:00.002-04:00

For us.

For the teams that actually win games and come through in the clutch... it is still going on.

We lost in heart-breaking fashion, in the last 2 frames of the 3rd game.... 8-7.

I personally shoulder the blame as I bowled 2 horrible games, after starting with a 178.

1st Game - 178
2nd Game - 97
3rd Game - 120

Average for the day: 133.67

Average for the season: 146.0

To adjust for potential outliers, I will find the standard deviation for the sample, and determine if any scores from the season need to be disregarded as outliers.

Mean: 146
SD: 27
Range of 2 SD: 96 - 200

As all scores fall in that range, my true average for the season was 146. Not 150, but at least I don't have caterpillars on my face, Lish.

Jen has a protector...

2009-07-25T20:34:00.007-04:00

Yoshi has been demonstrably better in the last few months... which is a welcome relief, as he can be a real pain sometimes. Ever since we've had him, his favorite activity has been to sit on our bed, or on the floor, and look out our window that looks over the driveway and the street below. He has never really barked at anything at all, but has simply made whining noises when he saw something that he wanted to chase... but his whine is barely audible.

However, ever since Jen has been pregnant, he has progressively started barking more and more at passersby (who can probably barely hear him due to the distance from our window to the street) in a fairly menacing manner. He has become quite territorial of our driveway (even though we share it with 3 other apartments) and considers it his territory. Additionally, he has followed Jen around more often that he used to, and has been quite the lapdog for her.

This got me thinking, and I used the Internet-machine to discover if dogs can tell if someone is pregnant, after all, they have been found to be able to tell certain types of illnesses and even cancer in humans. While there is little scientific evidence, there are mounds of anecdotal instances that have been reported. The change in hormones/pheromones are perceptible to our little dog, and he has been great... even when he wakes us up in the middle of the night barking at some passing car. I'm glad to know that there are 2 of us that are concerned about Jen.

Additionally, he has been really good with the "baby training" we are putting him through. Randomly we'll just pull his tail, grab his paws, yank his ears, etc., to prepare him for a little kid. It is recommended so that Yoshi is prepared to react kindly and not with aggression when irritants are presented to him. He gets lots of positive reinforcement when he doesn't react with snarls, barks, and bites, and he has become pretty good.

You can't help but love this little guy....

(crawling inside an empty food bag)

(sleeping on Grandma Kelli's couch)

(wrapped up in our Papasan cushion, like a doggy-burrito)

(Yoshi hiding from Jazz by getting on top of his crate)

VICTORY!!

2009-07-23T08:29:00.002-04:00

We (Kyre, Richie, and I ) finally got over the hump, in a big way, and won our 1st IM Bowling match. By a score of 10-0, we crushed our opponent, giving us momentum going into the playoffs next week.

Because of the blowout, we only bowled 2 games, not 3... my personal scores: 128 (horrible) and 159 (acceptable).

Week 3 Average: 143.5

Total IM Average: 150.3 (Still above 150)

Diet is going well, Jen is mostly happy and healthy (about as happy and healthy as one could be during the 7th month of pregnancy), and the summer semester is finally winding down (thankfully).

Bowling Update

2009-07-15T20:41:00.002-04:00

Tonight, Rollin' Dirty was narrowly defeated by a tally of 8-7. It's OK though... we are pretty certain we can turn it on during the playoffs.

My individual scores:
1st Game - 145
2nd Game - 164
3rd Game - 180

Avg: 163

Overall Season Average: 152

Diet Update: Back on the wagon, doing fairly well, but it's only been a few days... so it doesn't really count yet.

IM Bowling

2009-07-08T20:28:00.002-04:00

Intramural Bowling started tonight... and in accordance with Lish's wishes (rhyme time!) I will be posting my scores, as he does not believe I bowl in the neighborhood of 15o.

I bowled 5 games, and though I'm not one to make excuses... my arm/hand were falling off the last 2 games.

1st - 182
2nd - 141
3rd - 161
4th - 110
5th - 133

That is a total average of: 145.4

I will continue to post the scores, in order to appease Lish's evil desire to see me fail.

Overall, the team of Kyre, Mark, and myself lost 11-4, after a great 4-1 start.... next time Kyre and I won't practice beforehand.... and we may have a shot.

Diet Update: I fell off the wagon... soda is too good. Send me messages of encouragement (nice ones and mean ones) to get me back to where I should be.

I think I'm gonna be afraid all the time now... ALL OF THE TIME!!

2009-06-25T10:46:00.003-04:00

Read this article.

Now tell me you aren't afraid of random bursts of meteor-air that will destroy us all!

BubbleSpinner Update: 35,677

Diet Update: Feelin' healthy... cheated a couple times on the soda... but overall doing better. This heat helps in the weight loss.

Stumbled upon this....

2009-06-16T16:45:00.003-04:00

So I had occasion to break out some of my old C.S. Lewis books and quote lists when discussing life with a friend a few weeks back... and one quote in particular has been weighing on my mind:

"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in."

Too often I catch myself viewing the actions of others as bad, deplorable, what have you. However, I'm sure there are other things I do that are just as bad, just in a different way. I don't know what temptations are placed upon others, just as they don't know what tempts me. We are all "bad people" in some regard, there is something that each of us gives in to, without any fight, that is inherently bad. It isn't the same for everyone, for we aren't all the same.

I don't want to look back at my life and find that I've been "sheltered" by never resisting temptation.

Diet Update: The diet is going well, some weight loss, I certainly feel less fat.

BubbleSpinner Update: 34,254. Word to your mother.

I went to James S. Rickards High School

2009-06-09T16:24:00.005-04:00

And at least 2 of my readers did too... so the next message is not directed at them...

SUCK IT! (to all other Tallahassee high schools, and most schools in general)

Rickards has been ranked as the #48 high school in the United States, by Newsweek. While the 4 of the 5 Tallahassee high schools were ranked in the top 300 (Godby was somehow absent altogether from the top 1500 schools... oh yeah, that's no surprise)... Rickards was the cream of the proverbially crop.

While these rankings are really based on Rickards 2 biggest strengths, IB Testing and small graduating classes, and shouldn't be considered to be indicative of anything... I'll gladly take the honor of being a graduate of the #48 school in the US of A.

Find your school here!!! (I bet it is ranked lower than mine!)

Diet Update: Still no soda and I have had fruit everyday so far.

Updates

2009-06-08T21:46:00.002-04:00

So, after 3 days... I have refrained from the soda and had nothing to eat that's bad for me.

No real news other than that... but oh well. Just keepin' me honest.

Averagest Loser

2009-06-06T12:34:00.002-04:00

I have no desire to drop 100 lbs... that would be terrible and traumatic on my body, I would probably need to be in the hospital or something.

However, I do want to lose 10-20 lbs (like 5-8 stones, Tat). 'How in the world will you do this Trevor?', you may ask. 'You are the healthiest, most fit guy I know!' you may demand. I know, I know.

In all seriousness, I will have a hard time, because I love the Coke. I am dropping soda from my daily diet (unless you count icees/slurpees, because I can't go to get Jen one and not get one for me!) and adding some light to mild exercise (above and beyond playing sports).

I will be logging my success daily here... hopefully I'll have other stories too... but this is a way of keeping me honest.

Salt Water + Electric Current = Trevor is Stupid

2009-05-08T09:10:00.005-04:00

So, you guys remember in the movie "So I Married an Axe Murderer" the scene where Mike Myers et co. are hanging out at a diner talking about terrible situations (re: bran muffins and coffee then getting stuck on the Golden Gate Bridge in traffic)?

No? Maybe you haven't seen the movie enough.

Anyway, they all come up with elaborate stories... until Tony's GF (portrayed by Debi Mazar) simply states, "How about, being electrocuted." She draws blank stares and the conversation quickly ends...

Turns out, she was right... being electrocuted sucks.

Last night, after a harrowing experience of cleaning the fish tank, replacing the filter, and buying a new pump (which was a crazy experience that required 2 trips to 2 hardware stores to modify the pump to ensure proper flow).... where was I?

Oh yeah, I electrocuted myself because of my wet hand grazing the power strip socket as I was turning the lights/pump back on. It hurt a great deal, and was very scary. Kyre and Jen were witnesses to me screaming... and I'm proud to say it wasn't a girly scream at all. Yay me!

Caution: Contains Nudity

2009-04-30T23:11:00.009-04:00

Junk.

It is what my infant, baby child has.

Here's his face....
Hands/Arms over his face...

And the junk... oh yeah.

So, the due date is Sept. 23rd... his name will be Campbell Stokes Bryan... and he will go by Stokes.

The 8 of you that read this... enjoy.

The Trevor: is complaining about Facebook.

2009-04-28T08:12:00.005-04:00

Before I begin, I realize the inherent irony/hypocrisy in sharing the following the story via my blog.

I'm going to rail on technology for a second, as it is severely limiting my generation's ability to compute on their own.... or maybe my generation is just lazy. Probably both.

Jen is pregnant, this is the first time I've mentioned it on the blog or anywhere on the Internet. So feel special all 8 of you that read this blog. I don't think it is something that needs to be broadcast in an overt way through Facebook statuses or 'tweeting'. However, because every single person in my generation thinks that all life news, from the PBJ sandwich they had for lunch to the details of their various illnesses, needs to be shared via Facebook, not mentioning the pregnancy on Facebook can lead to some confusion.

I had a friend of ours approach me and timidly ask, "Are you guys pregnant?" After replying in the affirmative and the obligatory "Congratulations!" and "Thanks!" She followed up, "I heard that you were from some people, but then I checked Facebook and didn't see anything about it, so I wasn't sure."

Ugh. Really?

(This friend is an intelligent person, too. No offense to them if they read this, but I think even they can see the ridiculousness going on)

For my peeps...

2009-04-23T14:06:00.003-04:00

I read a column on ESPN.com called "TMQ" (The Tuesday Morning Quarterback) that is written by Gregg Easterbrook. He writes about the NFL... kind of. About half of his weekly articles (during football season, with a few in the off-season) deal with politics, pop culture, religion, and high-tech science stuff/astronomy. His main gig is as a Managing Editor at the Atlantic Monthly, a magazine of some repute.

In an column last week, he talked about the timing of Easter in relationship to Passover... I thought it was a great read, and I agree with his thoughts. Just wanted to share.

WWJHE -- When Would Jesus Hold Easter? Last year, Easter fell almost a month before Passover. TMQ complained that Easter should always fall on the Sunday after Passover begins. Jesus, after all, just before his crucifixion had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. So why doesn't Easter fall immediately after the first night of Passover? Dating for Passover has always been determined by the ancient Hebrew calendar; in 2009, Passover began on the 15th of Nisan, exactly as it did when Jesus walked the Earth. Easter dating involves a complex formula having to do with the vernal equinox and paschal full moon. During the Middle Ages, the Roman church established that Easter dating formula in part to de-emphasize Christianity's relationship to Judaism. Protestant denominations decided to accept the Roman dating, though nothing about the equinox-and-moon business is mentioned in scripture. Formally linking the observance of Easter to Passover would benefit both Christianity and Judaism, by emphasizing common history. Actually, it would benefit Western Christians. As pointed out by readers, including Sylvia Denisov of St. Louis, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Easter always falls on the Sunday following the first night of Passover.

[+] Enlarge

Alex Wong/Getty Images "Western dating of Easter has about as much in common with scripture as the Easter Bunny."

Changing the Western dating formula for Easter, to sync with Passover as is done in Eastern Christianity, would be both historically accurate and a nice ecumenical step. This spring, Easter in the West did fall on the Sunday after Passover began. Turns out that for the next six years, Easter as observed by Western Christianity will follow the first night of Passover; the schedules aren't out of whack again until 2016, when Easter falls on March 27 and Passover does not begin until April 23. That creates six years in which Western Christians could stage a campaign to restore the Passover-Easter relationship. How's about it?

How to Trap a Jew

2009-04-20T19:16:00.009-04:00

For those who do not have a sense of humor, stop reading. By sense of humor, I mean tolerance of mild, jocular intolerance. Cool? Cool.

So, if Beyond Balderdash is to be believed, the word 'Jubate' means 'fringed with long hair'... however, I was interested in a different kind of Jew-Bait.

My good buddy Lish is of Jewish descent, and happens to live down the street from us. The trapping was more due to his place of residence, not his ancestry.... so relax.

After Mark and I started a war with some other students in my program (re: we threw some water balloons at them)... I still had 5 water balloons leftover on Sunday. Jen and I were looking for some fun, our conversation went something like this:

Trevor: "Hey! Let's go throw water balloons at Lish!"
Jen: "How will we get him out of his house?"
Trevor: "We'll bait him with Candy Beans!"
Jen: "He won't eat them off the ground"
Trevor: "We can put the Candy Beans on some napkins!"

The plan in place... we trotted over to the Harris residence. (note: While one may immediately think of Gold or "Buy-One, Get-One" Sales on Yarmulkes as appropriate Jew Bait, a little known fact is that Candy Beans are more effective.)

So, in a quiet way, we placed 5 napkins leading away from his door, with a handful of Candy Beans (SweetTart JellyBeans) on each napkin. Jen then went up to the landing of the apartments above Lish's door and I knocked on the door and hid behind some bushes.

Lish opened the door, happily surprised by the Candy Beans that had been sent like Manna from Heaven. As he walked away from the door, I scurried to cut off his escape back into the house and launched a water balloon attack as Jen dropped balloons on his head from above.

We then ran away laughing. Included is a diagram of the sneak attack.

A small ray of hope for this generation...

2009-03-31T21:30:00.004-04:00

So I generally think of myself as a pretty considerate person. If you feel otherwise, go ahead and leave a comment to the contrary. However, I'm not sure I'm as considerate as the person I encountered earlier this week.....

A few days ago, I arrived on campus to head to my Internship. I have a few options for parking when going to the Stadium for work; the Stadium general parking lot, the circus lot (next to the FSU Flying High Circus), or the Leach lot (across the street from the Leach, our gym).

The circus lot is my preferred choice, as it leaves the least legwork for my fat self. However, it is the smallest of the 3 lots, and sometimes takes a minute or seven to find a spot. Parking on campus is terrible, at least it is terrible if you want to be anywhere near your final destination. There are a couple places always available... but they aren't near anyplace that I've ever had to go, so they don't count.

To make a long story longer... general protocol in parking lots at FSU is that whoever arrives a spot where another car is backing-out first has dibs on that spot. Dibs is usually called by turning on your turn signal. So, for example, if I see someone backing out, if I get near it with my blinker on first, it is my spot.

Now to the actual story. I pulled into the circus lot, circled a few times, found nothing. After about 2 minutes of waiting, I spied someone walking to their car, and slowly followed them (a very common occurrence). However, as I followed them down one aisle, they suddenly realized their car was in the next row over, and headed through the parked cars to their vehicle. Much to my chagrin, I saw someone in that row, looking for a spot. Hoping against hope, I looped around to the aisle and saw my targeted driver entering their car, with another car already waiting with a blinker on. I gave up and decided to continue my search. However, as soon as the leaving car pulled away, the driver of the other car (blinkers on) flashed his lights at me, and beckoned for me to take the empty spot. He recognized that I had been following that person and just got hit with some bad luck. I graciously accepted, mouthed thank you, and parked. As I walked to work, I thought about how great this was, the first true act of kindness I've witnessed in an FSU parking lot in 6 years. Maybe there is some sliver of hope for my generation, the Me-Generation... and that hope resides in the driver of that Mini Cooper.

Thanks Mini-Cooper Driver Guy!

Where the Wild Things Are!!!!

2009-03-25T23:33:00.003-04:00

Sorry for my lameness, my life isn't terribly interesting, so I don't blog much. I'll try to be much more active in the near future.

Click!!!

One of the greatest children's books of all-time will be hitting the big screen very soon. Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" has been made into a film.

We can all thank Spike Jonze, one of the truly great directors of our time, for making what appears to be a great adaptation.

I'm way psyched, even though I'm 25. You should be too.

New High Score

2009-03-10T12:44:00.001-04:00

Sorry, my life is sorta boring.

**15,056**

Bubblespinner. Catch the fever.

Legitimate Theatre

2009-02-22T15:25:00.004-05:00

Last night I took in a play, one of the Bard's most famous... except it was performed by one man, and it was definitely warped from the original script. MacHomer is Rick Miller's interpretation of MacBeth, if MacBeth was a one-man show where every character is represented by a Simpsons character.

After consulting with my peers (Lance and a few members of my cohort from school) we decided that it was all-in-all pretty darn impressive. His Homer impersonation wasn't great, but the rest of the interpretations were awesome... especially Marge. Bart and Lisa were barely featured... and it is our guess that he isn't very good at those either, so they were substituted by others. Overall I would guess there were at least 40 characters, ranging from Dr. Nick to Dr. Hibbert, and every non-Dr. character in between.

If it is ever being performed in a town near you, go see it. It was well worth the $10 student tickets.

No real news....

2009-02-21T11:46:00.002-05:00

Just...

I GOT A NEW HIGH SCORE IN BUBBLESPINNER!!!!!!!

***11,652***

Play here.... beat me if you can...

In other news, people don't really know how to use punctuation. Check out this blog. It is a collection of misused quotation marks. It gave me many belly laughs. Enjoy.

So Jen hates Tat....

2009-02-05T23:40:00.002-05:00

Jen now hates my sister Tatiana (so mean, right??!??) because Tat introduced me to this:

Click Here!!!

My high score is 1906.... try to beat that. I have been playing a week and have already wasted so much time.

I LOVE BUBBLESPINNER!!!!!

P.S. - in other items... I'll try to update more often. Sorry.

New Camera

2008-11-17T08:11:00.004-05:00

So, my wife is awesome. She got a new digital camera for her birthday (thanks everyone!) even though she has never really, really wanted one. I pretty much convinced her we needed one. However, I think after a couple days, she is a convert to digital technology.

Why you ask? Because it can do things like this.

Yeah.... that is underwater filming with a digital camera... sweet.

The Showdown

2008-11-06T23:09:00.003-05:00

So Brian "BB" Barabash is the man. I challenged him to a shootout (soccer/futbol)... which is something you should never do when your opponent has an ammunition related nickname.

Going in I talked a lot of smack, saying I could score 8 of 10 on BB.... I failed. Miserably.

Kyre filmed it for us.

Here it is. (Scroll down)

Back from Zion

2008-08-02T21:48:00.003-04:00

Here are some pics from the Reunion, and a video.

Thank Erik for his great work, as all these are his, I will post more that I like later (when I can gather pics from Dan, Bonnie, Renae, Reggie, Tat, and Mom...)

In the video we are singing (duh) for the Clawson Family Talent Show... we just made up a song. Tat was the lyricist, she did a primo job. Pay attention to the line about our skin tones... It is OK to laugh a lot, Reggie said so.

We had a blast, I really like my family.

Weezer

2008-07-18T22:06:00.005-04:00

So Weezer dropped a new self-titled album a few weeks back... and it rocks. This is the third time they couldn't come up with an adequate name so they just resort to calling it Weezer and letting their fans call it by the color of the background of the album cover... in this case... red.

This is the best work since Pinkerton, far surpassing Weezer (Green), Maladroit, and Make Believe. I highly recommend it, especially the tracks "The Greatest Man who Ever Lived" and "Dreamin'"

Also, I found out that Rock Band 2 is coming out in September. That will be really cool. Jethro Tull will be on there... beat that.

It's been a while...

2008-07-12T13:12:00.005-04:00

Not a lot has happened that I have felt is "blog-worthy" recently. Mufasa died. He was stubborn and would not eat frozen food and he wasn't getting enough nutrition from the live food we were giving him every 5 days or so to keep him alive (per the instructions of 2 aquarists)

So cross lionfish off of the list for things I want. They are finicky eaters and hard to maintain with the other fish. Lesson learned.

Our anemone is doing well though, so that is a plus.

On the very brightside, in 5 weeks, I will be leaving Capital City Bank and venturing back to the "Ivory Tower" of academia. In the midst of those weeks, I have a 2-week vacation. One of those weeks will be spent in Utah at the Quadrennial Clawson Family Reunion. For those of you who know Blair and are immediately thinking, "that doesn't sound like fun" ... you are wrong. In fact, if you are going by your opinion on Blair, you may think the Clawsons are a lot like the Schrutes. This is not true, the Clawsons are actually a fun bunch to hang with. (sidebar: I love Blair, but come on, it is fun to pick on him)

Lastly, if you enjoy The Office (American Version)... check out the British (original) version. Brian "I hate UT-Austin" Barabash lent me the complete series... it is wonderful. The language is a little rougher, because that is how the Queen likes it, but if you can get past that, you won't want to miss the midget/dwarf argument.

Have a great July weekend.

Assistantship

2008-06-23T11:37:00.005-04:00

Put another one in the "It's better to be lucky and blessed than good" column... I got an assistantship.

After a few months of swinging and missing (à la the Florida State bats against Miami with runners-in-scoring-position), I was afforded an amazing opportunity by my program head, Dr. Joseph Beckham. He offered me a choice of two jobs that will pay me a small stipend as well as provide me with tuition grants for the coming school year. Both were far better than I deserve (in my mind) and one stood out greatly. So, I am taking the opportunity and running with it (à la Walter Dix and the Back-to-Back-to-Back National Champion Florida State Seminole Track and Field Team.)

For the next year I will be working with Florida State's President, Dr. T.K. Wetherell, developing courses in the Higher Education Department. This is new ground for both of us, so hopefully I won't mess it up too bad for him.

I am very grateful and humbled by this offer and look forward to getting back to school come August. This is a lesson to show that missing out on perceived opportunities is not always something bad, as I theoretically could have been offered other jobs in the past few months and missed on this extraordinary chance, but things have worked out in the absolute best way possible.

Mufasa

2008-06-15T21:19:00.004-04:00

Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa!

So cross getting me a lionfish off of your list. Yesterday we decided to add to our aquarium family and purchased Mufasa, a red lionfish.

He is fitting in sorta well... meaning he is a solitary loner and is difficult to feed. Hopefully we can figure it out soon.

We also got an anemone and some Mexican snail things... they are cool too.

He looks like this, so the fact that he is hard to feed, highly poisonous, and doesn't socialize with the other fish is not a big deal at all:
In conclusion, there are 50 days shopping days left until my birthday. Remember that down.

Popcorn Popping Right Before my Eyes

2008-06-09T10:11:00.004-04:00

My short run in the best calling in the Church has ended. I am no longer a Nursery worker. No more snack, Play-Doh, or building blocks. However, I still get to skip Priesthood and Sunday School.

I am now the Primary Music Leader. Scary huh? I am rather intimidated by this calling, but I think I'll be alright after the first few Sundays.

To anyone with thoughts or ideas, I will graciously accept them along with any encouragement you have to offer.

The Eternal Question of No Import

2008-06-05T13:12:00.021-04:00

"How about the power of flight? Does that do anything for ya? That's levitation holmes. How 'bout the power to kill a yak, from 200 yards away! With mind bullets! That's telekinesis Kyle." -- Tenacious D "Wonderboy"

Through the ages of time, man has dreamed of having supernatural powers. But the question continually begs, which superpower is the best? Given the choice of only one power, what would your desire be? When the ubiquitous Brian Barabash posed it to me last week, this question returned to the forefront of my mind. Since then, I have assembled a veritable "who's who" of the world's foremost experts on superpowers; Logan Anderson, Lance Anderson, Kyre Lahtinen, and myself.... maybe not so much a "who's who" and more of a "who?".... but I digress.

Several powers were discussed, including flight, invisibility, telekinesis, teleportation, etc. Each panel member weighed in, and these are the results:

For the good of the world, Brian Barabash's favorite power, "The Sterile Touch", ranked very highly, but our panel members were not necessarily in it for the good of the world. This power basically allows you to play God, or at least surgeon, and suspend the procreative powers of any man or woman you deem not suitable for parenthood. I believe this power would be fantastic, but the responsibility would be so enormous that it would make the job quite undesirable.

On the ability to control the weather, panelist Logan Anderson concluded, "Maybe I'm just not being very creative here, but I can't see that much use for this power aside from destruction and super cool electrity/fire/water shooting. Which is super awesome, but would eventually not be needed to be used that much. This power jumps up to #2 (almost #1) in my mind, mind you, if it includes the ability to summon Captain Planet." This panelist agrees, Captain Planet rocks.

Invisibility has it's advantages, or as Kyre Lahtinen puts it, "The Universal Law of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon dictates that any individual possessing the ability to become invisible, either intentionally or unintentionally, immediately takes on the properties of the Five Degrees of “that individual’s name” raised to the Kevin Bacon. That, my friend, is a scientific fact; and you can quote me on it." I don't understand it, but Mr. Lahtinen does.

Telekinesis has been commented on by panelist Lance Anderson thusly, "Any simple scratching of the backside would be easily relieved through the power of your mind. I think that the real reason that Yoda was so feeble and short and everything was because he was too busy lifting X-Wings out of the Dagobah swamp with his telekinesis/force powers, and not pumping some iron with those green wrinkly arms."

However, these powers all failed to crack the top 2. The biggest debate is Flying vs. Teleportation. According to Lance, flying is cooler because chicks dig it and it looks way cool. Logan and I agree that teleportation is way better and offers a vast array of exciting money making/crime fighting/break dancing maneuvers. This power becomes especially cool if you are able to take someone with you by touching them, à la Side-Along Apparition from Harry Potter.

The real winner? Post-discussion, Logan Anderson concluded that Time-Travel would actually be way cooler, because it would be: Teleportation + Ability to Witness Cool Events in History + Ability to be like Biff in Back to the Future II and make loads of cash. I can't help but concur. Time-Travel wins in a landslide.

Quick Update on the Life and Times....

2008-05-29T13:37:00.003-04:00

A quick refresher for everyone on our little family.

Jen is still working at the Tallahassee Neurological Clinic, where life isn't so bad. It isn't where she wants to end up, but, for now while we are childless and I am still studying, it pays the bills.

I am still employed by Capital City Bank, until August 15th when I will make a mad dash for the door and never turn back... except when I have to come and handle personal banking business I guess... CCB has been really good to me in a lot of ways while I've been an undergraduate, but it is time to move on and focus on a career, not just a job.

Yoshi is fully recovered (as far as we know) and is still on his Vitamin K treatment to boost his clotting factors. He has been sorta aggressive towards other dogs since the fiasco, we need to call the vets in Gainesville to see if this is normal. Either way, he will probably be going to obedience school for a quick minute just to get some refreshers (he is great at home, not great other places.)

In August I will be starting a Master's Program in Higher Education at Florida State. I am very excited to get back into school and hopefully I'll never leave again (though once I finish the degree I hope they will pay me to administrate something in some capacity.) I am currently applying for assistantships... so pray for me, because I do not want to be in debt. My end goal is to work in some administrative capacity in the Athletic Department (preferably in Academic Support, but I wouldn't turn my nose up at anything they offer me post-graduation.)

Just so you know, it is 67 days until my birthday. I want a lionfish, an iPod, and a digital camera. Pass it on.

Doppelgänger

2008-05-16T14:15:00.009-04:00

So Meredith (lil sis) called me today to announce she had found some odd picture of me somewhere on the WWW. It is a guy hanging out near black people (sounds like me), with a goofy grin (sounds like me), and striking an awkward pose (again, sounds like me.)

The thing is, it isn't me. I was never that tall, thin, or owned that shirt. She found my doppelgänger. I'm kinda freakin' out right now, cause the dude does look an awful lot like me... enjoy.

My tax dollars pay this guy?

2008-05-15T09:12:00.014-04:00

Arlen Specter.

Even his name sounds creepy at best, sinister even.

If you don't know, he is a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. He has been in office for more than 27 years now and has been very involved in many of the big legislative events of the past 3 decades.

He is a Republican, but unlike most of the GOP, he is unafraid to break ranks and vote how he truly believes, for which I must give him mild kudos (mostly for speaking out against the impeachment of Bill Clinton, but also for his support of a substantially higher minimum wage and his support for stem-cell research.)

However, like almost all politicians, he gets caught up in matters that are suspect and seemingly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. He has time and again taken up the banner, crusading against the National Football League. Now why would a politician continue to rail against the NFL? We'll get to that answer in a few moments. Recently, Specter has demanded answers of Roger Goodell (the Commissioner of said League) regarding "Spygate" (the scandal involving the New England Patriots and illegal videotaping of opposing teams signals.) He believes the investigation by the League was biased and that there was an inside cover-up, now demanding that a Congressional investigation be initiated to uncover the truth.

This is not the first time he has taken a hard stance regarding the NFL. In 2005 he sought to have the NFL investigated for violation of anti-trust laws over the Philadelphia Eagles and their handling of Pro-Bowl wide receiver Terrell Owens. In 2007, he sought to have the law that allows the National Football League to sign lucrative television contracts on behalf of all 32 teams repealed. In February 2008, he sought to have religious organizations declared exempt from NFL copyright laws.

Why would one senator keep attacking one organization so harshly? Could it be that he actually feels that the NFL doesn't deserve an anti-trust exemption? I mean, he is on the anti-trust subcommittee headed by Herb Kohl of Wisconsin (who coincidentally owns a major sports franchise.) Is he just an irate Eagles fan who is still bitter about a Super Bowl loss to the "cheating" Patriots? All signs point to no. This is the point the sinister nature of his name comes back into play.

The second largest contributor to his campaigns over the years has been Comcast Cable. The largest donor is the Law Firm Blank Rome, which "coincidentally" represents Comcast Cable. Comcast has been locked in a legal dispute with the NFL and its own television station, the NFL Network for the past 3 years. Arlen Specter has publicly declared that he would support legislation ending the NFL's anti-trust exemption, allowing local teams to negotiate their own cable contracts to the benefit of Comcast. It appears that Specter has violated the code of ethics for senators because of the link between his two largest donors and his attack on the NFL.

It also appears to me that he is currently violating a humane code of ethics, in that he is concentrating his legislative and influential prowess into something so irrelevant as the TV contracts for football teams, when he could be doing something good. Especially when put in stark contrasts of the events around the world in the past few months; an estimated 200,000 deaths in Burma, 300,000 displaced Chinese citizens by the forthcoming Olympics, increasing teen drug usage, housing markets falling, foreclosures increasing, trade deficits with almost every trading partner we have, increasing "pork" in legislative bills, a still broken New Orleans, etc, etc, etc.

Instead, Mr. Specter cares about football. Rah Rah Rah.

Geriatric Appreciation

2008-05-12T12:04:00.010-04:00

Sorry it's been a while, but I'm lazy.

Last night (Mother's Day) I enjoyed a chat with my Grandma Ada and as always, picked up some fun tidbits. In describing Yoshi's appearance to her, I figured I would compare him to something she knew, coyotes. Living on or near a farm in Texas or Kansas for her entire life, she certainly knows about coyotes. So, after coyotes came up in conversation, she dropped this interesting tidbit....

The high-chair and rocking horse that were originally purchased for my Aunt Kay over 60 years ago, which have been used by each subsequent child, grandchild (yours truly included), and great-grandchild, were bought using coyote bounties. Apparently Grandpa John collected bounty on coyotes (@ $2 a pop) to earn additional fundage back in the day. He (presumably) shot them, then cut off their ears and tails to take to the county offices for credit, where they would give him money for helping control the "pest" population.

Amazing. While 2 of my grandparents have passed away, the remaining 2 have vast databases of great stories that I really need to hear while they can still tell them. You don't hear great stories about coyote bounties every day. So the lesson is, enjoy your grandparents while you can!

Hopefully I'll have great stories for my grandchildren, but almost certainly they will not be impressed that I bought their high-chair with my debit card... sad.

Potpourri

2008-04-23T10:00:00.021-04:00

For you today, some diversions from ye olde daily routine.

First, Logan has discovered (through his sad World of Warcraft addiction) a website that allows you to subtitle foreign film clips (Indian, 20-30 seconds). It is basically Mystery Science Theatre with your own funny lines. It is good for a lark for us at work, because the hours of the day go by very slowly.

Included is one of Logan's masterpieces, "The Poopy" ... I never said it was high-brow humor.

Secondly, did you know that there are World Beard and Moustache Championships? I didn't either. But there is a website devoted to this competition, with events ranging from the "Full Beard Natural" category, to the "Partial Beard Freestyle" category, the fun never stops. Lastyear's events were held in Brighton, England and the next World Championships will be held in 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska. Most of the beardsmen are from either the United States, Germany, or Sweden. I don't know if that has any significance, just thought I'd mention it. For a game you can play, navigate the site to find the beardsman who was formerly a "pizza delivery professional"

Tertiary, Micah introduced me to the concept of Extreme Ironing a few years back. He knows I love to iron (which I still do) and came across this activity somehow, someway. If you love ironing as much as I do (like you always pick the Iron when playing Monopoly), we should organize some sort of extreme ironing adventure... but I'm not jumping out of a plane. They also have a website and are very organized (as you would expect from a group of ironers)

Here are things that would be cool to do:

Rodenticide is NOT for dogs.

2008-04-20T19:00:00.013-04:00

So this week was probably the most hectic and trying of Jen and I's young marriage. On one hand, that means that we are pretty lucky that we haven't faced bigger problems, but on the other hand, it still sucked to go through it.

On Monday when I got home from work, I discovered our dog Yoshi was bleeding from his wang. I'm no veterinarian, but I know that isn't normal. I rushed him up the street to our Vet's office (conveniently located about 2/10 of a mile away) and they immediately had him come back into the exam room. X-rays were taken and Dr. Hale (Vet) concluded it was most likely an infection, as no stones were found in the X-rays and Yoshi at 2 yrs. old isn't a likely cancer candidate. We were sent home with an antibiotic and some pain meds for our pup. We were nervous, because Yoshi was still dripping blood and was growing increasingly depressed. He wouldn't eat or drink, and had great difficulty sleeping because of the pain he was in.

By the next morning, we expected the bleeding to subside, yet it was still steady. Jen stayed home from work and took him back to the Vet. Once there, blood-work was done and his red-blood cell count and platelet count were low, and the Vet was worried. By 3 o'clock, Yoshi was not improving, instead he was rapidly getting worse. His blood wasn't clotting and he continued to lose it. I was summoned from work with instructions that we had to get Yoshi to the Veterinary Hospital in Gainesville ASAP. When I arrived around 4:15, Yoshi was immediately loaded into the backseat, with several blankets and hot water bottles to keep his temperature up (his feet were quite cold... which was quite unnerving). Our makeshift doggy-ambulance hit I-10 around 4:40 and we reached Gainesville around 6:20. The drive down was very scary, and I feared we would lose him along the way. One saving grace was Jen's constant work of rubbing him to promote warmth and talking to him to keep him awake and alert. His breathing was shallow and blood-pressure very low when we arrived.

Again, he was rushed back to the exam room and work was immediately begun to keep our little boy alive. After deciding (which in and of itself was difficult for financial reasons) to go ahead with all the necessary tests/treatments to make Yoshi as good as new. Looking back, it was almost silly that we worried about the finances, because in our minds, money can be replaced and Yoshi can't be.

We went about finding a place to lay our heads in Gainesville, and Jason D. Wiggins was gracious enough to donate a one-night hotel stay he had won in a raffle to us. So we went to the hotel, laid down, and worried.

Overnight, Yoshi received a blood transfusion and and plasma booster. In the morning he wasn't much better, but we learned the results of his blood-work from the previous night. He arrived with a red-blood cell count of 11, under 10 is supposed to be fatal and 40-45 is normal for dogs. So we arrived just in time. In the morning it had already doubled to 22, but his clotting factor (platelets) were still precariously low. The Vet on call that night seemed confident that rodenticide (rat poison) was the culprit. The results in the morning were consistent with that diagnosis. Rat poison causes animals clotting to go haywire, eventually killing them.

Yoshi probably consumed it at my parent's house, or at Grandpa's, a week before this all started (it takes one or two weeks to manifest itself). We don't blame them or anything, but we are pretty sure it was at one of those two places.

Throughout the day Wednesday we sat and waited around Gainesville to hear more about our pup. Around 1 o'clock we got to see him for the first time, he was droopy and kinda sedated, but we walked him around a bit outside. To kill time and take our minds off of the events at hand, we went and saw a movie (by the way, Leatherheads isn't that good).

That afternoon Dr. Spect (Gainesville Vet, great guy) informed us Yoshi would have to stay another day for observation and he assured us everything was progressing normally. So we came home because we both had to work Thursday.

After work Thursday, we headed down to Gainesville again to pick up our healthy (-ier) little Shiba Inu. We arrived, the bill was less than we thought, and our dog got a free haircut! (Not really a free haircut, he just had a shaved belly and abdomen because they did an ultrasound on him). His platelet count had tripled in 24 hours and his red-blood cell count was recovering. He should be back to completely normal levels within 2 weeks. He needs Vitamin K every day for 6-8 weeks to keep fighting the anti-coagulants in his system and due to severe trauma to his bladder (3 cathederizations, internal bleeding, and possible clotting) he will continue to leak pee-pee for a week or so (we hope it's only a week). He is pretty much his normal self, his appetite is back and he is generally playful again. He is pretty sensitive about other dogs messing with him, so the Dog Park will have to be put on hold for another week or so.

All in all, it had ended happily... but I never want to go through this again.

Crazy Cup Stacking!!!

2008-04-18T18:12:00.003-04:00

6.69 seconds.

I seriously used to do this for an hour every day when I worked at Hawks Rise Elementary. My best time was 9.7 seconds, but most of the time I was around 11 or 12 seconds.

This kid recently set the world record at 6.21 seconds for the full "cycle". (I couldn't find the video anywhere online, but I did see it on PTI)

The "cycle" includes 3 individual stacking formations, a 3-6-3, a 6-6, and a 10 to finish.

This activity is becoming very popular in elementary schools all 'round the country, promoting hand-eye coordination and dexterity. Honestly, I love cup stacking (I know, I'm weird) but the kids of this generation don't need more hand-eye coordination and dexterity (our old excuse about how video games were good for you)... they really just need to run and learn how to enjoy actual exercise.

Even more Crazy Cup Stacking!!!

2008-04-18T18:06:00.002-04:00

Check out this little kid, the world record holder.

Lish told me to...

2008-04-10T16:39:00.001-04:00

So here it is, my selections for my All-NBA Team (per the parameters set forth by Lish himself, 2-3 Hall of Famers, at least one current player). A team that could play well together, on the court and off (unlike the 12 players, 12 cabs 2007-2008 NY Knickerbockers), as well as a team that could pretty much walk on to any court anywhere and never get beat.

At the point, John Stockton

"There absolutely, positively, will never be another John Stockton - ever." - Karl Malone

The all-time assists (15,806) and steals (3,265) leader, Stockon not only had great seasons, but amazing seasons, year-in and year-out. He is the model of consistency that typifies the PG position, playing in all 82 games for 17 of his 19 years. Not only did he distribute the rock with extreme efficiency, he shot an astounding .515 from the field for his career, good for a big-man... great for a guard. He led his team to the playoffs every year he was in the league, guiding them to two Western Conference Championships, only to be derailed by the Jordan Bulls and Jordan's infamous push-off.

Awards and recognitions: All-NBA First Team twice, All-NBA Second Team 6 times, All-NBA Third Team 3 times. All-NBA Defensive Team (Second Team) 5 Times. 10-Time NBA All-Star. Olympic Gold Medalist in '92 and '96.

At Shooting Guard, Reggie Miller

"He's the kind of guy, when you play against him, you want to smack him. But when you play with him, you have his back." - Patrick Ewing

While he pales in comparison to his sister Cheryl, Reggie can shoot the 3. On my team I need someone whose lone responsibility is to curl off screens and force defenders to guard out to 24-25 ft. No one has ever done this better than Reggie Miller. At the time of his retirement he was the NBA's all-time leader in 3-Point FG's made. While never reaching the pinnacle of an NBA Championship (not his fault, the next best player on the team was Rik Smits... come on... Rik Smits???), Miller was certainly clutch in big games, proving season after season that the 4th Quarter was indeed, Miller Time.

Awards and Recognitions: 5-Time NBA All-Star, 1994 World Championship Gold Medalist, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist.

On the wing, Tayshaun Prince

Not for use by children 3 and under, for they could poke their eye out with his pointy knees, elbows, and more elbows. At first glance, you might think the poor man needs a cheeseburger... however, he is one of the hardest working young players in the NBA today. He is an absolute lockdown defender on the ball, capable of guarding any position 2-4 (1 or 5 in a pinch) and is a great help defender off-the-ball. He is so good, he can even embarass other players on my team (evidenced by his unreal block of Reggie Miller in the 2004 Playoffs). As Lish pointed out, he doesn't need the ball in his hands to succeed, and already plays on the most selfless team in the Association, so transitioning to a team where the other players need more touches than he does wouldn't hurt his ego one bit.

Awards and Recognitions: NBA All-Defensive Second Team twice.

Power Forward, Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk, the reigning league MVP, has been by far the most successful European player in NBA history. After trail-blazers such as Drazen Petrovic and the aforementioned Rik Smits, Nowitzki arrived in the wave of European players that has produced great players such as Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu. Nowitzki, in a scant 9 seasons, has already become the Dallas Mavericks all-time leading scorer. His defense leaves something to be desired, but he has shown steady improvement throughout his career. In addition to all that, I think Dirk is the one player who would improve the pick-and-roll that Stockton and Malone perfected in Utah. Dirk (arguably) has a better jumper than Karl and is just as adept at driving to the basket. Dirk also offers longer range than nearly all power forwards in league history, leaving his center room to operate without fears of a double-team.

Awards and Recognition: NBA MVP - 2007, All-NBA First Team thrice, All-NBA Second Team twice, All-NBA Third Team twice. NBA 3-Point Shootout Champion - 2006.

Holding down the post, (H)Akeem Olajuwon

"You don't solve Hakeem" - David Robinson

"He's got about 5 moves, then 4 countermoves. That gives him about 20 moves." - Shaquille O'Neal

The Dream, an athletic big man from Nigeria was the first player to capture the MVP, the Defensive Player of the Year, and the Finals MVP all in the same season ('93-'94). He led those '93-'94 Rockets, as well as the following year's squad, to Back-to-Back NBA Championships, giving my team the champion's mentality that it needs. Of course, Michael Jordan playing baseball didn't hurt those Rockets teams... but that is a story for another day. His defense in the middle allows for a weaker defensive player at the 4 (Nowitzki) and his athleticism doesn't slow down a team, as many centers do. He is also one of only 4 (and the most recent) players to ever record a quadruple-double.

Awards and Recognitions: NBA MVP - 1994. Finals MVP twice. Defensive Player of the Year twice. All-NBA First Team 6 times, All-NBA Second Team thrice, All-NBA Third Team thrice. All-NBA Defensive Team 5 times. 12-Time NBA All-Star. Olympic Gold Medalist 1996.

Coming off the Bench, Dennis Rodman

Thought of as a key contributor to 5 NBA Championship teams, Dennis Rodman spent about half of his career coming off the bench, so I figure that qualifies him for being a "6th" man.

A hard-worker, tenacious defender, and instinctive rebounder who never quite lost his love for the short-shorts (so he and Stockton would get along just fine), Rodman is the perfect addition to any team, coming off the bench to add energy and can substitute for either forward position or at center. He is not a selfish player and rarely takes offensive initiative, unless it comes from a rebound putback. When he does shoot, it's high%, Rodman posted a career FG% of .521.

Awards and Recognitions: All-NBA Third Team, twice. NBA All-Star, twice. NBA Defensive Player of the Year, twice. All-NBA Defensive Team, 8 Times. Led League in Rebounds 7 Times.