Weezer

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...

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

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

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

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

"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....

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

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.