Just a thought...

I'm drinking chocolate milk.
I feel like if I did the gallon challenge that I would drink chocolate milk. Is that allowed?
This idea is really attributed to M. Dull. But the more milk I drink the more I feel like this is a real possibility.

I like drinking it a lot so I mean I feel like it would be easier to get through more than plain milk. I chug it anyways.

Hmmmmm. Maybe I'll try it soon.

Now playing: Christmas Music.

Passing the time

I literally have no motivation for writing this post. I am currently sitting in the family room watching Nanny McPhee and wondering how Colin Firth can stand to even consider marrying the lady who wears nothing but pink and green. There are even pink and green sheep at the ceremony! Ugh. I like to skip the first half of the movie and only come in when Emma Thompson has started to lose a few blemishes. Much more enjoyable that way.

I need to go to bed soon. Mass in the morning. Feast of the Immaculate Conception, its a holy day of obligation so that means no sleeping in. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow I will get a call about one of the jobs I interviewed for last week.

Fact

The game Guess Who was developed with the intention of promoting racial and gender equality. The ingenious idea was that young minds are malleable and simply need to be shaped the right way to make the world a better place. The classic Milton Bradley guessing game encourages the use of neutral language when describing the person on the other player's card, thereby leveling the playing field for men and women and all races. Subliminally, the game may have even given a higher rank to women and those who wear glasses, as it was easier to guess the identity of these individuals, thereby making every player hope that their opponent pickeded one of these cards. People who wear hats are also in this category as a means of disguising the true intentions of the game developers, who also liked to wear hats.

This post is factually accurate.

So I punched a guy in the face

So okay, okay. I know I suck. I have started to feel like Mike Cohen in regards to this whole blog thing. No time for excuses. I know I'm a slacker. I hate myself for it. I'm sorry. I suck. Feel free to give me shit for it for a long time. (or like 3 days).

So anyways, this weekend I punched a guy in the face on the train and that's only the end of my Saturday night. It started off with sushi with my co-workers where the 5 of us plowed through several bottles of wine (5 and a half to be exact.) Then we chilled for a bit and watched some great SNL skits and then headed out to a bar. Shots all around, rumor has it we went to 3 more bars after that, I don't remember.

Anyways, we got on the train to head north around 130AM. There were a bunch of Iowa fans leaving the bars and such after they got destroyed by Northwestern. From what my blurred memory, eyewitness accounts and a text history can show, one of them really irked me and I punched him. Not sure what he did or to who but my guess is that he deserved it. Alli tried to start stuff with him too, so he was obviously an ass.
Our plans to go home were quickly destroyed when we got a text to go to another bar and thus we once again ended up staying up until past 4:00AM. I felt it so hard in the morning, but thankfully my fist didn't hurt. (though I hope that guys face does).

That's my adventure. I'll keep posting more often. Don't hate me Eric and Matt (and maybe Mike?)

Here's some AMAZING SNL skits featuring Kristen Wiig.
Surprise Party
Surprise 
Penelope - Therapy 
Penelope - Traffic School 
Penelope

Peace Out!

Lasers

On Friday I went to a social event organized by my program at a place called "Frankie's Fun Park." You can imagine what I expected: janky go-karts, mediocre putt-putt, laser tag over-run with little kids, and silly arcade games. When they told us to bring some money for food, I thought to myself, "ok, pizza and hot dogs for dinner."

I was thankfully surprised. Sure, the name needs some work, but Frankie's was actually a lot of fun. I got to shoot some people that annoy me (multiple times) and watch our faculty mentor run amuck like an 8 year old during a few rounds of laser tag. I also enjoyed the go-karts and thought about how Eric would've been nuts in one, despite the fact that he'd want to make it go 5 times as fast.

Even better: there was a bar. Our faculty mentor bought us a couple rounds (....before go-karts; questionable?) and a few appetizers at dinner. That was cool. All in all, a decent night.

I feel like Matt needs to step it up. I know he's busy with work, but I'm busy too and looky what I can do!

Summary:

Became an 8 year old for a night.

Matt is a slacker.

Currently listening to: Straight No Chaser

Did you know?

I found out last night that Foo Fighters are not just a band. The term originated in WWII when pilots flying over Germany saw bright glowing orbs hovering around them. They called them Foo Fighters. Some scientists think they were balls of charged mercury, that when gotten to move in a gyroscopic rotation, somehow hovered. The orbs were supposed to be attracted to the bombers and then disrupt the electronics of the plane, causing it to fall from the sky. If this is true it would mean that the Nazis were working on technology that is still beyond what we have today. They were producing immense amounts of Mercury toward the end of the war. No one really knows why. Several sunken U-boats have been found that had cargoes exclusively composed of Mercury.

There is also speculation that the Nazis got some of this technology from a spacecraft that crashed into the black forest sometime during the war. Crazy stuff.

Fashion and stuff

What is up with women's sweater fashions? My sister was home for the weekend last week and she wore two sweaters to various functions. One was tiny and came about half way to her waist, the other was about knee length. Do they not make clothes that fit anymore? Then there are the boots. I understand that those rubber rain boots keep you dry and uggs are warm, but they are both hideous. And who first thought it would be okay to wear tights as pants with Uggs!?! You have to have a killer body to not look at least mildly gross wearing that, and even the super hot can't avoid the skank factor. I think if I ever saw someone wearing rubber rain boots and tights I would evacuate my stomach right then and there.

I have heard that there are a number of people who check this blog almost daily. I would like to use this space to personally express my concern for your well-being if you come to a blog that gets written on at best once a week every single day. Go play some solitaire or something one day. Believe me, it is way more entertaining than this.

ScarJo is hosting SNL this week. I'm excited.

Volleyball

A group of older grad students needed an extra player on their intramural volleyball team this week. I mentioned I had played a little at Miami, and they signed me up. I even got a neat shirt!

Anyway, while Team Malakalak will always have a special (and I do mean "special") place in my heart, the team I've been playing with here, "Ph.Digs" is ridiculous. Pretty much everyone can spike the ball, they have a designated setter, and I felt like I was completely new to the game. It was intense, but fun. Sadly, we didn't make it to the playoffs, so technically, so I'm not sure when I'll play again. Either way, it was fun and very educational. I'd like to see Team Malakalak play them. Ph.Digs might be well-organized, but there's no predicting what a scrappy team like Team Malakalak can pull off. It was so unpredictable. Yes. I said that.

In other words, I went to a professor for some help and he basically said "For God's sake it's in almost a thousand textbooks. Go look it up!" I guess that when a professor assigns an exam, I assume the material will be from the class that was taught. Oh well, it gave me a reason to check out the chemistry library, which was rather sexy. Yes. I said that too.

In summary:

Played volleyball.

Went to the liberry.

Listening to: "Brothers Sing On," by the Miami University Men's Glee Club

The Bright Side of Fun-Sized

The best part about fun-sized candy is that you can enjoy the experience of indulging over and over and over....like I've been doing for the past week. I bought a bag of candy for trick-or-treaters and alas (?) no one showed up. I would be lying if I said I didn't contemplate calling three Reese's and a Kit-Kat dinner one night. I eventually realized how dumb this was and had a bowl of soup. (As an aside, I recommend Campbell's chunky sausage and chicken gumbo soup).

It's been a fairly uneventful week here in Chapel Hill. We had a two-day biophysics symposium Thursday and Friday, and unfortunately it started early in the morning and went until nearly 6pm. What this meant though was that I had free breakfast and lunch for two days! I ate so much at lunch that I didn't need to eat much for dinner, effectively spending $0 on food for two days.

Work in the lab is going well, and my NSF proposal is coming along decently. I'm also planning a trip to Target to get a few festive things for the apartment, as it's present state is seasonally drab.

Currently listening to: the fan on my laptop, since nothing is playing.

There is nothing fun about fun size

When I think of fun I always think of disappointingly small portions, don't you? I'm kidding of course. Fun size candy should be never ending, or at least humorously large. While we are on the subject, why is there no queen sized candy bars? Fun sized, psh.

On my way home yesterday, I came across an interesting sign. It was a warning against aggressive driving and ended with the phrase "drive smart Kentucky." I thought this was interesting, as most drivers in the area are not smart enough to read, let alone drive smart. Nice try kdot, nice try. Kentucky also has signs along the freeways that tell drivers to keep right except to pass. I like these signs and wish we had them in Ohio. Drivers here think it is cool to sit in the left lane for mile after mile. Morons. I blame drivers education programs. They spend hours graphically explaining the horrendous results of not wearing a seat belt, but barely spend any time at all teaching how to drive properly and avoid accidents in the first place. Don't even get me started on the complete ineptitude of the general population when it comes to merging. It makes me angry just thinking about it.

Lessons Learned While Baking

Don't use a bewitched mixer. Even if it CAN do the nose thing.

So of course it's late at night on a Friday and anyone who would've come to my door would find a) that suddenly no one's home b) the inhabitant is grabbing a large knife and c) aforementioned inhabitant was previously in the process of baking banana bread. This one has Nutella "swirled" in, and looks at first glance like a banana had the runs. I hope the final product is tasty.

You may be asking yourself "Matt, why on God's green earth are you baking on a Friday night?" I have no answer to this question that would make you say "Oh, that makes complete sense." I'm taking it to a Halloween party tomorrow, and wanted to get it done with before I go to the football game (including the biochemistry tailgate party before hand) tomorrow. I'm also planning on making cheesy potatoes, so if you want some, come get some.

I also hosted an impromptu pumpkin carving "party" tonight. As it turns out, Chapel Hill is for all intensive purposes, out of pumpkins. But the dimly (read: not) illuminated "pumpkin patch" on the side of the state highway isn't! Sure, no one was there to take our money, but we left it somewhere safe (or so I'm told). In complete contrast to prostitution, the logic of "if we pay for it, it's not illegal" prevailed. I should mention we were so preoccupied with getting caught because whilst we pumpkin-patched, the state troopers (of course there were two) were chilling in the gas station parking lot 3o yards away. They don't do a very good job.

So this leads to pumpkin carving around midnight. They all turned out fairly well, and should add a nice touch to the party tomorrow. We also baked the seeds. Fan-flipping-tastic!

That's all for now. For the impatient:

-I baked.

-I carved pumpkins.

-It is late.

Currently Listening to: "Amsterdam," by Guster

I Am Iron Man

That's pretty much all I have to say.

I was having some trouble with my car earlier in the week. It was having issues starting without the aid of a jump pack(portable battery pack used to jump a vehicle without the need for a second vehicle). This was especially concerning since I needed it to get to an interview 3 hours away. Long story short, after driving for an hour I stopped to get gas and it started fine after that. The seven hours of driving I did later that day surely helped the battery to get back to a normal state of charge.

Happy Halloween weekend everyone. Don't eat poisoned candy.

Goings-on in Chapel Hill

Since I hate when Eric whines at me, I decided that it's time for an update. It's been a month, so it could be a long one; if you don't like reading these lengthy things, skip to the bottom for a summary.

Things are going well here as far as classes and research are concerned. I really like the lab I'm in for this rotation and am making decent headway on my project. That should make the research talk I'm giving next week a little more interesting. Classes have lightened up significantly since my last post, and I've also found out that I passed at least two of the three exams in the "my-life-is-hell" class from earlier this semester. Hopefully the third one went just as well.

Fall has finally started to give Chapel Hill a tip o' the hat. The leaves are just starting to change, and the weather has been nice and cool lately (although today was in the mid-70's). A few weeks ago I made butternut squash soup. It was excellent. Most of it is now frozen so I can indulge during the winter without the work. (As a side note, I have become a huge fan of my crock pot in recent weeks. Dump everything together the night before, pull it out of the fridge in the morning, let it cook all day, and voila! Dinner for a week! If anyone has any good crock pot recipes, I'm up for some new stuff).

Speaking of fall, I went camping with some people from my program (I'd call them "friends," but I know that offends some readers) a few weekends ago. We were in the mountains about 3 hours away from Chapel Hill, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was just about the peak weekend for leaves changing colors, and of course I was all about the photos. If you want to see some photos from the weekend, they're here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msmola/ . This weekend also revealed to me that I've met someone here who serves as an acceptable agent of Nathan's "drink bish!" mentality. This girl hands me a cup full of literally everything we brought (which was an obnoxious amount) and says "Drink. Now," just like Nathan! Only Nathan makes drinks that are palatable. We're working on it.

Whilst camping, we agreed that we should check out the North Carolina State Fair, which just ended today I think. We went Friday night, and were part of the 1,000,000+ crowd that attended the fair while it was open. I have no idea exactly how long it went on, so one million people might not be that impressive. In any case, it was interesting. I'd never seen so many fried foods in one place. There was the usual fried onions, fried chicken, fried pickles (yum), etc. But on top of that, there were several vendors peddling fried candy bars (I had a fried Reese's....it was really good), fried oreos, fried hot dogs (not a corn dog...think crispier), fried BUTTER (as in, a stick on a stick), and other ridiculous things I can't recall at this time. To top it all off, a few places sold burgers on Krispy Kreme (a North Carolina original) donut buns. I split one of the bacon cheeseburger varieties with a friend I have to admit, it was kind of tasty. Not that I'd ever want to eat a whole one or that I feel at all ok with myself for having eaten 2 years of my life. Just sayin'.

In other interesting news, I discovered that in some sad areas of the country, they refer to "pre-gaming" as "pre-partying." I'm pretty sure that whenever I pre-game with people, it's like it's own little party...whatever, California is a weird state anyway.

Speaking of parties, I'm going to a Halloween party next weekend, and I'll probably be dressed up like Target Team Member Matt. It's like a costume but not. Perfect.

If you skipped all that, here's what you're looking for (or not).

Summary:

Went camping.

Went to the state fair.

Still in school.

Science rules.

Currently Listening to: Easy Wonderful, Guster's new album.

I NEED A JOB!!!

It is getting to the point that my main motivation is not even money anymore. Ok, that's a bold faced lie, but seriously. I am dying at home. I need something to do. I hate having to be near my room all day long, because if someone calls about a job I need to get there for some quiet. I want an atmosphere where I can be productive! All I do here is sit around. Sure, there is some job applying, and some follow up emailing, but my time is dominated by waiting. For nothing.

I found a new Facebook game a few days ago. It is kind of like SimCity, but without the whining from disgruntled townsfolk. It is really quite enjoyable, but I have so much time to play it, it is quickly wearing out. Its called Millionaire City if anyone is interested in a harmless diversion. It is not even as addicting and time consuming as many of the other games around.

I have been dreaming a lot lately about what I may get to replace my current mode of transportation. I will soon have a job that pays me a significant amount more than I need to live, so in a few years I will have plenty to buy myself a nice present. I really think I want a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8. I just wish the name was shorter. If my Saturn lasts a few more years, maybe I can replace it with this:

No one posts on the blog anymore. It is sad. I am willing to bet that the 3 contributors who have jobs or school encounter interesting situations, people, and things almost daily, yet they never have the decency to share. I personally have very little to talk about. I could tell you how I cleared some dead branches out of a tree, but that is not too thrilling. Or I could tell you about how close I am getting to having to make loan payments and I am still jobless. Somehow that just seems depressing. I also have had a few interviews recently, one of which was even promising. Oh well, there is not much chance anyone reads this blog anyway since no one writes in it. Welp, back to Facebook I go.

Tangents

I was amazed once again today when I calculated my average fuel consumption after a fill-up. My car got 43.6 mpg over a 403 mile span. One of those miles took half an hour and was located in downtown Cincinnati approaching the 75/71 split where, apparently, people inexplicable loose the ability to not drive like infantile morons. When you see traffic backed up in the direction you would like to go is it logical to zoom along in the lane going the other way then try to merge at the last second? No! Because that makes people want to shoot you in the eye with a crossbow. That's not what I was going to tell you.

I was amazed that my 16 year old car is still out-performing brand new HYBRIDS!!!!!! Even though it also passed 176 thousand miles in this same trip. This is because the car manufacturers do not have to make more efficient vehicles because the gelatinous masses think that it is impressive when a sedan gets 30 mpg highway. Give me a break. I wish the oil ran out tomorrow so people would wake up and realize how pathetic things are. But, of course, that would mean that the supply would dwindle first, sending the world into a killing frenzy with everyone selfishly trying to obtain the last few drops.

On an unrelated (surprise) note I decided this weekend that I am going to win the lottery and start my own car company. Unfortunately, this company will be focused on sports cars, which are not meant to be economical, so it still sucks to be you.

Banana.

Not Dead

Hi. It's been a while. I'd apologize but I'm not sorry--I've been busy.

The grad school hazing period is just about over and my life is returning to a sense of normalcy. I see things are still where I left them: Eric's still jobless, Matt loves his job, and Mike must really love his. Word on the street is that Mike got a puppy. They're made for each other I bet. I wonder who does the fetching...

Chapel Hill does not get fall weather as soon as I had hoped, admittedly crazily. I've been craving some fall weather lately, and I blame this on the fact that I recently discovered a recipe or two for butternut squash soup. It just doesn't go well with 90-degree weather. It's probably not as good as I claim anyway, if you adhere to Eric's viewpoints. (Might be making breakfast pizza soon...and we all agreed that that was phenomenal)

I finally finished furnishing my apartment with the addition of a legitimate TV stand not made of anything corrugated. Granted, my living room is now covered in small styrofoam pellets, but I blame Target's awful packaging.

I'm making no promises on returning to blog, as inevitably I'll get distracted by everything down here, but I'll try to keep in touch. I know Eric hangs on every word.

Come visit me.

Currently Listening to: Waking Up (album) by OneRepublic

WARHEADS ARE AWESOME!!!

The ridiculous destructive power! The ability to send a devastating payload thousands of miles! AHHH so cool! And the option of nuclear capabilities! It doesn't get any better!

This is what I immediately thought of when I read Matt's title.

WARHEADS ARE AWESOME!

We found Warheads at the store! I am now revisiting my childhood. I forgot how ridiculous the yellow ones were. I just cried, my mouth is in pain and Alli just ate another one and loudly proclaimed "Oh it hurts!" But otherwise warheads make for a fun night. Did anyone realize Warheads contain a warning on the back: "WARNING: Eating multiple pieces within a short time period may cause a temporary irritation to sensitive tongues and mouths."

I am all moved in and my life is returning to normal-ish, in the sense that I have time to do things when I am done with work for the day that are not work. Hooray! So maybe within a week I will be all caught up with life.

In better news Alli and I are all settled into our apartment and painted an entire wall in our awkward enclosed porch with chalk paint. Yes we have a giant chalk board and yes it is epic and yes you should come write inappropriate things on it.

I'm back. I promise.
Peace out!

I want a driving buddy

I want someone who will ride along with me on long car rides and make the trip more bearable. They can even live in my car full time if they want. I just need someone who is interested in similar things as I am and is capable of talking about these things as well as other new and exciting topics. If they were also trained mechanics, then I would never have to worry about breaking down and they could perform preventative maintenance during periods when I do not have any pending trips. That would be really nice to have.

Update

Things I did not do this weekend:

Propose to Court via Facebook status update.

Just wanted to clear that one up. I did have a lovely visit to Oxford. Got to hang out with the people who still live there that I like. It was a fun time. I was expecting to be home around five or six on Sunday. What I did not expect is my ability to spend hours talking to certain people. Not that I am complaining. I did get to see Jenn, so that basically made the whole trip worthwhile right there.

I had my first interview of the my job search last Thursday. I was 0 for about 200 up to that point. I think it went well, but I have to wait a few weeks before I hear back. Bummer.

My car started a rather concerning habit recently. The light that indicates the brakes need attention comes on when I am accelerating. It goes off shortly after I stop accelerating and almost immediately if I start braking. I see this as a very small problem, as I almost never need to brake while accelerating.

Job Hunting

Yes, it is still happening.

I figured I would take a little opportunity to blog about something other than what happens to me in my subconscious. Now I just need to figure out what that might be. I mean I know what happens when I am awake, I need to find something blog worthy.

The house was quiet today. Back to the way it will be for a while I suppose. My sister and Courtney were both here for the long weekend. They generally cause a stir when they are around. Katelyn is confrontational and rambunctious, and Court adds her bit of excitement to the house as well. At one point we were at my grandparents and Katelyn was demonstrating how to tackle me to Court. This involved hitting me in the face with her forearm and generally using her girth to drag me down. That's right, tackle me and be referred to as having girth in a publication read by ten people. That should teach you.

The long weekend is over and the house has calmed down. My bruises are healing and boredom is setting in. I may have an interview soon. I am not certain yet, but I missed a call from a guy today (I seem to miss a lot of calls around 4 in the afternoon, I sit by my phone all day and people insist on calling when I have given up for the day) and he said that the HR department would be contacting me soon for an interview. While this sounds pretty definite, I have become a jaded, cynical, distrusting job hunter over the past 4 months. Yet I still believe I will have a Ferrari soon.

You Can Call Me 'Dad'

So it's labor day. Yay, no class!

That being said, I'm taking a batch of cheesy potatoes over to a friend's place for a labor day picnic/cookout and as I wait for the bubbly goodness to arrive, I couldn't help but think of some of the fun social gatherings we went to last year. There was the Thanksgiving gathering that tested our crowd capacity (and Ben and I's sanity), the Hanukkah party at The Big Bang, and the Seder in March. I believe the latter featured 2-man wine pong.

So it would be safe to say that I'm missing my MU friends a little right now. Just a tiny tiny bit. Like, I'm not really all that sad now that I think about it. Actually, I feel great now. Glad we got over that.

It's been crazy as hell around here lately, and I don't know that it'll let up for another month or so. Let's hope it does.

Currently Listening to: Maynard Ferguson, "MacArthur Park." Someone left the cake out, in the rain....

Running

I ran yesterday. It was around 95 and very humid when I did this. My least favorite part of coming back to running after a long absence is that my lungs are out of shape. Trying to breath in 95 degree watery air is not easy to begin with, in this case, it was excruciating. I hate to admit that there was some walking. Me and my brother went about 5 miles and it took us over an hour, you can do the math. After this run, my legs were so sore.

Today, I decided to take another run and see if my legs would work themselves out. I decided to do this at roughly the same time and yesterday, the weather was much the same, as were the results. I went 3 miles and was far from swift. Perhaps the worst part is that it still hurts to move. Maybe another run tomorrow will limber me up.

Famous?

Thank you for the congratulations Matt.

So I'm in Roudebush today, where I have spent more time in the past 2 days than in 3 years of being an Undergrad at Miami, and I was turning in a payroll form when I hear, "How does it feel to be famous?" I was intrigued. And confused. I nodded to him and he said again, "So, how does it feel?"

I responded "I don't know about being famous." But then he nudged the person next to him and said. "You know who that is right?" And sure enough she called me out as the person on the Miami website (By the way, I have since been taken down)

I though that since I had graduated, this trend would no longer continue, but apparently I'm still recognizable by people in Roudebush.

Matt Smola --Don't die in a hurricane
Matt Forrest--Don't die in your new apartment
Eric--Don't die of boredom. Also, I'm tentatively scheduled to be working in Toledo the first week of October. I'm hoping you'll still be there if you have a job in Toledo, otherwise I hope you aren't there because you have a job somewhere else.

Earl

Congrats to Mike on the new job. Congrats to Eric on the millions of dollars he'll be making once he starts working. I hope he leaves some trails of money for me to follow. And congrats to Matt on the new place. It's an exciting time for all of apt212.

Things here are becoming more routine (finally), but unfortunately this means I'm routinely swamped with homework, reading, or other necessary tasks. My biophysics class is divided into study groups, and the two other people in my group came over tonight to work on an assignment. Here's what happened: actually, I changed my mind. It's a silly story that'll only end up in the story basket. Bottom line we were a bunch of nerds. But two of us did enjoy figuring out what the third meant when he'd drop some signature phrases from the mountains of NC.

In other news, a hurricane (Earl) may make landfall on the far east portion of the state. I'm not concerned right now because the uncertainty in it's future position is huge, but I do think it'd be kinda neat to have the "edge of the hurricane" experience. But really just once. It would suck to deal with that over and over and over.

That's all I have for now.

Punching Out

My mind works overtime when I am asleep.

I had a dream last night that I was flying a jet fighter. This would have been really fun, except there was something horribly wrong with the jet, and it was going down. I was very excited by this because it meant that I got to eject. I pulled the handle and waited what seemed like an eternity. I situated myself, folded my hands in my lap and waited. What happened next was worth the wait. The canopy blew off and was instantly gone. Next, the rest of the jet seemed to disappear as me and my chair were shot out of the cockpit by rockets beneath the seat. In two seconds, I went from being shot upward and forced into the seat to free falling, only it seemed like I was falling faster than normal due to the weight beneath me. Soon enough, the guide chute went spiraling above me followed closely by the main chute and my descent was slowed considerably. At this point I was not too far off the ground and was coming down on what I instantly knew as my street, only a few houses down from my house.

I don't recall much of the landing. Can't say I'm too sad. It was prolly very bumpy. Those seats are not really designed for landing that way. I was a little out of it when I was on the ground. I was stumbling around trying to gather up the parachute when some guy sitting in a lawn chair across the street got my attention. "Was that you?" He asked, pointing to the fireball rising from where my plane had hit the ground a few miles away. "No" I replied, "Mine kept going after I jumped out." Then I woke up.

Don't Read the Lyrics to Love Rollercoaster

They are pretty much what you would expect from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The song is so catchy though! I love hot chilli peppers, so delicious. Add some life to any dish. I especially enjoy the ones grown in my back yard.

Detroit has lost two of their last 3 games in extra innings. It is painful to watch. Last night, they got 13 hits and only scored 2 runs. They are never going to win anything if Leyland is manager. The only way he can win is if his team outplays the other by such a large margin that his ineptitude is a non-factor. Even so, the boys have been playing pretty well lately. I have confidence that they will finish 2nd in the division, but will have a nice run at it.

Glad to hear some people are employed. It gives me hope. Not really, I should have a job soon. Not sure how living at home while working will be. Hope I can balance a job and looking for the one I really want. Updates when things solidify.

I'm Back...Again...No Really

So I realize it has been a long time since I blogged. But first things first. Yes, Matt I'm more than happy to edit you grant proposals for you.

Like Matt Forrest, I am no longer homeless. I'm also no longer jobless. I will be employed as an Admissions Counselor at Miami starting Wednesday, so I'm going back to Oxford. And no, I am not secretly being hired by the Smola's to spy on Jenn (Eric, there is a job idea for you). Here is how it happened.

I got a call a few weeks ago saying they wanted to interview me. So I hopped down to Oxford, stayed with Alex Newman and went to the interview. Then a couple weeks later I received a letter saying they wanted me back in Oxford. That was August 17th. 3 days later I was in Oxford, and I rented a place (where 212 can crash when they come to visit) and tomorrow I'm moving back to Oxford and will have my first day of work Wednesday. They have already scheduled me for 14 orientation type events in my first 5 days of work.

Also, I did actually have dinner with Matt Forrest. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Evanston. It was magical.

I HAVE A HOME!

Matt, I'd love to proof read! You know my grammar is the best around, but seriously I wouldn't be opposed to looking it over. When I really try I'm not that bad, I promise!

Okay so here is the deal. I have been crashing on a friends couch for the last month, spending pretty much every night viewing apartments. It sucked. I was constantly drained, tiered and let down. Also, I currently have no faith in people anymore due to the number of Realtors and property managers who have blatantly lied to our face. I have thought of little else other than not being homeless at the end of the month and got way behind on life. To be honest I have thought about this blog countless times as I was falling asleep. It was not forgotten, I was just not in the physical state to tackle it.

Anyways, I have an apartment now that I both really like and is well within my price range. I am happy, relieved and can think clearly finally. It is great news and I move in this weekend so I finally have a real home to stay at for the next 12 months (it comes with a beer pong room)

In other news I had a ridiculous Miami Alumni filled night last Friday. I will provide updates on it tomorrow either before or after I meet Mike for dinner. We will see when the time comes. Oh yeah! I'm meeting Mike for dinner. Maybe I'll learn why he never blogs and report back on it here.

Peace out!

Day -1

Tomorrow I start class, while many (but certainly not all) of my friends return to work. From what I hear, grad school classes aren't really grade-centric; their goal is to prepare us for our qualifying exams at the end of our second year. That being said, there's a lot less pressure to jump through hoops for a high grade. I don't really know where this is going. Bottom line: class starts tomorrow.

I find it very interesting that Eric's dreams take him to a world where money leads him to what he needs.

My apartment is a mess. I assumed I might keep it neat since the mess in our apartment last year bothered me more than I'd like to admit. I guess with no one else to offend I'm not too concerned. I've got other things on my mind right now, but I'm sure I'll get around to it.

I'm planning on applying for a couple research grants this fall. Do I see any volunteer proof-readers?

I lose my sense of direction when I sleep

I just had a very strange dream. It started out with me looking for a house. I soon became obvious that I did not really know where this place was. I found my way to a huge Baptist church, but there was a lady standing on the steps yelling at me, so I moved on. Eventually I found myself near an abandoned school that was also enormous. I’m talking several acres of building, all surrounded by broken parking lot, then razor wire. A homeless guy came by and invited me inside. Not surprisingly, on the inside it was just a big dirty maze of rooms and did not seem much like any real building. It was very dark and there were piles of boxes everywhere. This guy was pretty talkative and told me all about how he lives there with a large group of streetwalkers. They primarily lived in the basement, which they accessed through a hole in the floor that looked like it was once an air vent. I declined the offer to come down. I almost got lost like three times making my way back to the door, and passed several of the ladies on the way. It helped greatly that they do not hold on to their cash very well, so there was a trail of money leading to the exit. Once outside, I was in a big rush for some reason. I passed Katie in the parking lot. She was talking on the phone and I just hurried by. She threw a jacket at me, I made an impressive catch and tossed it back. No, that makes no sense to me either; I never claimed my subconscious mind made sense. The really odd thing is that it was Katie’s house I was looking for to begin with.

Have Internet, Will Post.

Fear not. I'm alive.

Storytime: Cable was supposed to be installed last Thursday. Internal problems caused my installation to be pushed back to last night, between 7pm and 9pm. Cable guy shows up at...10:15pm. Stayed until 11:30pm and internet wasn't working. Guy comes out today and after 45 minutes on the phone and 3 different cable modems, I have internet.

In other exhilarating news, I'm deep in the thralls of grad school orientation. I have a lab to work in for the fall and am working on figuring out the classes I'll be taking. They'll be great, I hope. I've been busy settling in to my apartment and now that I have the internet, I feel pretty at home.

I'm thinking about a grad school blog. Thoughts?

Currently listening to: WNCN-TV news

Journal Entry, August 17, 2010

Still no word from the others. It has been weeks, if not months. The strain has warped my sense of time and I no longer remember when they last contributed to this esteemed publication. At this juncture it can only be assumed that they have perished in some grisly manner. Most likely, they all died from the terrible excitement of their day-to-day lives. I am, of course, being utterly facetious. Barring Matt Forrest being mugged, I can think of very few events that could conceivably arise that could result in death for any of them. Nevertheless, I must go on without them. Perhaps fate will cause our paths to cross again down the road.

Play Car Town!

Its an entertaining game that is not a major time drain. I could use some new friends to race and such. Its on Facebook. If you like cars, it should be worth your while. Check it out!

Heading Home

It has been a lovely visit to Kentucky, but I am going to be on my way home this afternoon. Mentally preparing for my trip, I was reminded of the time that I was driving down 75 and got my computer out and synced my iPod while driving. Good times. I was considering watching a movie to pass the time, but I think I will not.

Sorry Eric I found my way back

So the last few weeks have been crazy hence my lack of posting.
Matt and Eric came to visit. The hour after they left, I flew to DC.
Then I spent a week at National Training for my job with no internet.
Plane lands late Thursday night, Audree picks me up Friday morning to go to Michigan.
Come back for a crazy week at work and an apartment with no internet.
And that brings me to where I am today.
Eric has blogged about most of what I have been doing since I have been with him for all the fun stuff.
Smola is moving to NC this week.
I think Mike is hibernating (we texted once...he never responded.)

Peace out for now, maybe I'll tell you more later.

I Am The Only Contributor

Visiting Court for a few days. Google Maps said the drive would take four hours and fifty minutes. I did it in 4 flat. I think Google Maps was just way wrong. One thing is for sure; my car likes Ohio way more than it likes Kentucky. Hills are not its forte.

I will be writing another update sometime soon. Maybe in the meanwhile, one of the other individuals who have access to this publication can get their rears in gear.

Listening to: The Music In My Head

I Hate Job Searching

There is no way to win this battle for employment. I put in hundreds of applications and get absolutely no response. Everyone has advice, call these people, show up in person, do this. Most sites tell you not to show up in person. If you call a place to follow up on an application, something that several people have told me is important, they tell you they will call you when your application has been reviewed. This is hands down, the most frustrating thing I have ever done. What a waste of four difficult years of school. I got a degree, now I get to bang my head against a wall for months with no results.

It does not help at all that all of my friends who have jobs evidently had mostly luck to thank. I think I am starting a job soon at the place my neighbor works and it might not even be that bad of a pay rate. At least then I will be able to sustain myself. If nothing else works, I am driving my car to L.A. to become an actor. At least my shoulder is feeling more normal again.

Good Times

Spent last weekend at Brad's parent's lake house. It was amazing. Lots of cool people with lost of fun things to do. Tubing, boating, swimming, getting stopped by the sheriff for the dumbest thing ever, narrowly avoiding a $100 fine, great fun to be had wherever you look.

Lots of pictures on Facebook if you want proof of the revelry.

My shoulder still hurts from jetski riding. I am hoping it goes away soon.

Pretty Sure I Broke My Toe In Chicago

It was dark and someone put a chair with metal legs in front of the bathroom. It hurt when I ran into it and it still hurts. Oh well, the weekend was fun otherwise. Can't let one little thing get you down you know. What's a toe in the grand scheme of things anyway?

I am pretty pleased with the amount of Ferraris on television lately. Royal Pains has one every few episodes and Covert Affairs had one yesterday. I would say that USA must have one lying around, but one was a coupe and one was a spyder. They are such hot cars. I am a little confused why they all use the 360, when the 430 has been around for several years now and is quite easy to come by for someone of means. Oh well.

Currently listening to: A gentle thunderstorm, courtesy of Jenn and Matt Smola.

Top 5 Things Other People Said

Chicago was great! I'll post more extensively in the next few days and maybe some photos too, but for now, I just want to chronicle the top 5 things that other people said this weekend (other people = people I never met before in my life).

5. "..." -Alberta the Albino Pigeon and/or Dove

4. "[Chris swearing and having to put his head on the table]" -Chris

3. "I just want you to know that I don't plan on going home with anyone tonight." -Matt's Co-Worker

2. "Yeah well I brought an extra shirt for the ride home--it's gonna get cold tonight! High tomorrow is going to be 82. Did you know the train starts at Howard? I park my bike there." -CTA passenger

1. "Ok, great pictures. One more: SHOW ME YOUR TIGER FACE! WHERE ARE YOUR CLAWS?! SHOW ME YOUR CLAWS!!!!" -Guy we asked to take our picture at the bar

There were other funny things mentioned this weekend by everyone I know, and they're probably a tad funnier. I particularly enjoyed Eric's response to #3: "Whaddya think Matt, should we tell her?" Maybe you had to be there. Either way, great times. I'd go back.

Currently Listening to: the hum of my ceiling fan.

We're all in Chicago...

...it's kind of hot. It might rain, I guess we'll see.
Matt and Eric are sitting in the same room as me. HOORAY! We don't know where Mike is.
That's all I got.

Peace out!

I'm Busy

and so are you, I get it. I've been reading and even thinking of writing. The time has come.

1. Whale Wars--I don't care what Eric thinks, I saw the episode where they rammed the Ady Gil and it was intense. I was actually on the phone with Matt Forrest when it happened. Eric is just jealous that the whale-huggers could afford to build Millennium Force II in their backyard but instead spent the cash on...boats. I understand his frustration but what's better than mammalian drama on the antarctic high seas?

2. So I haven't blogged in a week and a half. My bad. What I've done instead: napped, bought new sunglasses (I'm convinced TKD somehow swallowed the old pair), worked, took more photos (duh), saw mdull (yay), watched my dad get rained on (currently underway). I've also been trying to find furniture for my apartment in Chapel Hill. That's going swimmingly.

3. The other day I was ridiculed for the size of my salad at the cafeteria at work (which rivals Farmer Fran in terms of produce quality). I'm in line and someone (who I don't even know) sees me put my salad on the scale and freaks out when he sees the rather dodgy scale sink lower than usual: "Woah! That's gotta be a record-setting salad!" This followed a comment by another salad bar patron who told me that I could put my dressing in a to-go cup and not have the weight counted against my total. Thanks for pointing that out after you watched me drizzle dressing (alliteration ftw) all over my salad. Then when the cashier (who wears pink-tinted sunglasses everyday but occasionally swaps them for chromed safety glasses) is trying to read the weight/price (she's also 85), some joker pipes up and says "$93!" Asshole. The salad was $5 and was an entire lunch, including my favorite vegetables and a good hunk of burning love chicken.

4. Fireflies plays every day on the single radio station that we can receive in our windowless lab. I pause for a minute and harken back to the days of apt212 when our only real concerns were if the losers would swim at 3am and where we could find a bachelorette party from which to borrow a corkscrew.

That's all for now. Chicago this weekend! YEAH! Photos! Phun! Phriends!

Currently listening to: the printer print.

Trivia

Going to trivia nights makes me want to drink Kool-Aid. Lucky for me I have five younger siblings.

Things you don't want to order at McDonalds...

So I recently found out I work in the McJunkin Building, which to me just painted a really bad image in my mind of a bad McDonalds menu item. "Ummm hi, I'd like to order the McJunkin meal." I don't know it kept me amused for a few.

My neck hurts, I think I slept on it weird. It's Wednesday which means Matt and Eric get here soon (as in two days). Though apparently I didn't invite Eric so I guess that might mean he's not coming...oh well he'll make whatever choice he wants. It also seems that no one other than Brad, Eric and I read this anymore :-( We even seem to have lost long time blog follower Molly Dull...that is a sad day indeed.

Now playing: Mike Posner - Cooler than Me

Peace out!

I am not a traitor

This is more or less direct at Eric, but I am sure I can fight with him over this when I see him this weekend. That is if he is still invited. I am still here. I am still blogging (unlike other two rather absent members of Apt 212.) The other blog will have rather long and wordy posts. I know you do not want that Eric, I am trying to spare you the pain or annoyance you may feel. If anything I am your greatest ally, you're just jealous I saw Transformers 3 being filmed. I was going to take you this weekend, I am reconsidering my offer.

It is less hot today. I like that. I ordered Mexican for dinner because we were all too lazy to make anything.

Currently listening to: Fans blowing, Dynamite by Taio Cruz

Peace out!

Whale Wars

Is a sad excuse for entertainment. No, I have never actually watched it, but I am perfectly capable of assuming the worst. I mean what is this? Who can be a bigger asshole? For those not familiar with the concept, the show is the story of a struggle between a group of Japanese researchers and people who obviously have too much time and money on their hands and have nothing better to do than dick around in the southern oceans bothering aforementioned researchers.

I am highly suspect of the show for a few reasons. First, we have no idea what the story of the researchers is. They are portrayed as evil whale poachers who must be stopped at all costs. I felt sorry for them, but then they smashed into the coolest boat I have ever seen and sank it. The Addy Gil (stupid anti-whalers name, it used to be called Earthrace) holds the record for going around the world in a powerboat. Now it holds that record at the bottom of the sea. That's the main reason I am suspect.

From what I have seen from ads, the two sides spend all their time being the biggest pain in the ass for the other party they are able. The researchers fire water canons at the whale huggers and the whale huggers have spent who-knows-how-much to tool around in their two crappy ships and their one really cool speed boat shining laser pointers at the researchers. Its very middle school drama.

Look up information on Earthrace though. Its a really cool boat. It is designed to slice through the water rather than ride on it. Good stuff, damn researchers.

Wedding + Open Bar = Good Weekend

Take note friends. My title says it all. Traveled to Cincinnati this weekend (which was such a tease cause I didn't get to go to Oxford) for my friend Abby's wedding. Drove down on Saturday morning and was able to catch lunch with Adams who was in Cincy for the day! Hooray!

Then went to the ceremony. (My friend Shannon almost passed out.) They are secular humanist and I learned without all the religious stuff wedding ceremonies only last about 30 min. WIN! After that there was a cocktail hour. Open bar, wine and cheese tasting stuff. Yum! Alex was at the wedding too, so I got to catch up with her.

Reception was awesome and the food was amazing. It was the type of place where the servers refolded your napkin every time you got up. It was a well done to the point where they served mimosa's in between courses...double win! Then rest of the reception went on..dancing...more free drinks...hamburgers were served as a late night snack. Overall it was my type of wedding. After the reception we hit up the hotel bar and then passed out in the most amazing bed ever. (we were awaken by a ragging party/orgy in the room next door.)

Drove back to Chicago on Sunday...hit two hours of dumb traffic outside the city. That whole traffic experience made me hate people just a little bit. Which is perfect because I work with people all day.But, thankfully I made it back in time for Next Food Network Star and such.

Work as good today. It wasn't too hot for once in a long time. Matt and Eric are coming to Chicago this weekend. Hooray!

Maybe Matt and Mike will blog again sometime soon. JERKS!

Peace out!

PS. I'm blogging about my AmeriCorp/LIFT experience here: "It's what you do and not what you say." Don't worry I'm not abandoning Apt 212, but I needed a new place to take a different perspective on things.

Titles Are Officially My Least Favorite Part of Writing a Post

Crap, the title was pretty much my whole point. Now I don't have anything to write about. But seriously, titles have always been my least favorite part of writing. They are so important and yet so tricky. If I ever write a book, its going to be call "The Book" unless something remarkably better presents itself.

Sup

Several times recently, I have opened this blog with the intention of writing something profound, only to close the tab seconds later. I have lost interest in a lot of things lately. Or maybe it is that I have lost the opportunity to do things, not a loss of interest. I think that is most likely it. After two and a half months of sitting at home, going out and doing anything can seem like a big deal. For example, this past week, Court had a few days off and wanted me to come down. I was honestly dreading it. It meant making the same drive I have done dozens of times up and down 75. I was going to go Wednesday, but then she told me she got sent home from work early Tuesday and I made a snap decision to leave. The drive down was painful, but only because I drank a bottle of water and a travel mug full of coffee during the first half of it. After a stop at a rest area I was fine. I had a great time, and it turned out to be a really fun visit. The point of the story was that I need to get out of my house more and start doing things if you didn't catch it.

While I was down there, The Kool Aid Man trivia team took 2nd place twice. We still got it.

I am going to Chicago this weekend I think.

Maybe if you're good, I'll tell you a rambling, disjointed story about that trip when I get back.

It's so hot

There is no AC...thankfully I found a job where I can escape into the AC for a few hours each day.
That is all for now.

Not Homeless

Today concludes my apartment-hunting in Chapel Hill. I had an apartment reserved before we came down here, and in true Smola family fashion, we looked at about nine more apartments before we settled on the one I had reserved in the first place. So that's good. If anyone has suggestions for where to find cheap apartment furniture/decorations/stuff, let me know!

Went to a planetarium tonight. I'd never been to one but UNC has one on their campus and my dad and I wanted to check it out. Mom came too. This was after we had dinner and went to a place for gelato (I had a mix of raspberry and dark chocolate--phenomenal.). It is clear from walking around UNC's campus that I have no clue about most of the history of the place. Top things I know: First state university, Jordan went here, basketball is huge.

So tomorrow I head home and get ready for a whirlwind set of weekends coming up. Next weekend we're celebrating my mom's 50th birthday, Molly comes to town. After that, I'm off to Chicago (Eric is invited but never really said yes or no, just that he doesn't want to go to a Cubs game, which wasn't helpful for me at all) to visit Matt (and I guess Mike too)! Massive photo-taking better be tolerated and encouraged. After that, I'm off to Michigan, then after that perhaps Cincinnati (although that's not for sure) and then it's moving time!

That's all I got. Congrats to Matt on getting a job, and to Eric for hiring a employment hitman.

Currently listening to: My dad falling asleep to NASCAR. Goodnight y'all.

LeBraby

Today I applied for jobs.

So all this coverage of Lebron is making me sick. He is a dick, now can't we drop it? I feel like the people who have had multiple status updates starting the second they found out about his decision is a little much. I also find the ones about how/what to destroy to be annoying. Seriously, stop it. People from Cleveland are almost as annoying as people from Chicago when it comes to bitching about sports. No, they are tied. Take a page from Lions fan's book and suffer through your misery quietly and don't subject the rest of the nation to it.

I called a head hunter today who is supposed to help me find a job. He didn't pick up. So now I am waiting. Fingers crossed.

I finally have something to do!

First of all, I would like to apologize for my long absence. I promise it will not happen again. To be honest I began to feel like I was treating this blog with the same lack of respect as Mike does and I couldn’t have that. (Just kidding Mike, kind of) However, my absence was not without good reason.

I spent 10 days, June 25 – July 4^th working at a booth for a Chinese restaurant the Taste of Chicago. While the money was good I would never do it again. I woke up at 6:45AM everyday and did not arrive home until after 10PM each night. The heat was unbearable and I have no desire to eat orange chicken for at least the next 5 years. I also mildly lost all faith in humanity as I watched hordes of unforgiving people savagely attack for food. Thinking about it makes me hurt, so that is all I have to offer on that.

However, in more exciting news, during the mess of the Taste I interviewed with and was offered a position to be a Site Coordinator/AmeriCorps*National Direct at a non-profit called LIFT located in Uptown Chicago. (see below for what I do) So for exciting news: I HAVE A JOB! (for the next two years anyways) I started training on Tuesday and absolutely love it! My co-workers are awesome, the organization is great and everyday is different. I’ve mainly just been learning the ropes and transitioning into the position as the outgoing site coordinator gets ready to leave. I’m also gearing about for the national training in DC in two weeks – everyone says it is going to be awesome. So hopefully this big change in my life will give me a lot more to blog about than the typical “Today I applied for jobs” that I had been doing.

My job: LIFT is a national organization based in DC and working to combat poverty in neighborhoods in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, New York and DC. As a Site Coordinator, I am serving LIFT by managing the Uptown site with one other Site Coordinator, one of our 3 sites in Chicago. The organization utilizes college students as volunteers to provide a variety of services to clients such a housing, employment and public benefits. I work to coordinate the volunteers, the client services, community outreach and mange the office. I am really freaking pumped.

There’s a quick update! Which I’m sure was way too long for Eric. Sorry for the hiatus, I’m back in the blog and ready to keep you engaged in the mundane and extraordinary! Peace out!

Wireless

I have become a member of the wireless revolution. I am now fully capable of surfing the 'net in my bedroom, or, as is the case right now, in front of the TV, or anywhere in between I would imagine. Its pretty nice. Maybe sometime later I will see how far my bargain router will throw a signal. I doubt I will blog about it though. You'll get over it.

Can I just point out how awesome Matt's cars have been? I mean, I was wondering how he was going to top the Acclaim. Aren't Sonatas the ones that they were having a buy-one-get-one-free sale a few years back? Hahaha. Just kidding, not everyone can have a sweet car like me. (confusion and disbelief just overwhelmed most of the people reading this)

Tigers are winning and in first place. Life is good. Johnny Damon just hit his 2500th hit.

I apologize for not bragging earlier about our volleyball dominance. I credit our win to the dysfunctionality of the opposition. There was a lot of yelling.

Went to the lake again yesterday. The boat was not cooperating, so we just swam in the shallow. It was kinda gross. I'm not a big fan of touching the bottom of the lake. Its muddy and full of weeds.

Ode to The Green Lady

It's been a while. I've been busy. And I've taken enough crap from my friends at home, so I'll have none of that here.

Had my sister's grad party last weekend (this was the cause of most of my absence); a handful of devoted friends came into town to celebrate. Eric of course beat everyone else here (even mdull who only needed to drive from her nearby home). There was cornhole with my wonderfully crazy aunt, volleyball in which we (Eric, Ben, Molly and me) defeated the punks who were on a team with my sister. It was great, and I'm surprised Eric didn't blog about it. Oh well, I got to.

The whole run-up to the party and the party itself left me pretty tired but finally this weekend I picked myself up and went out car shopping with dad. On Saturday I became the proud owner of a Hyundai Sonata, although this also marked the end of an era, which I'd like to detail a little further.

My junior and senior years of high school were laced with trips to and from school in a '93 Plymouth Acclaim. The third driver of this car after two great-grandmothers before me, I began to grace it's bench seat in 2005 when the odometer read a mere 50,000 or so miles. "The Green Lady," as she was so dubbed, was present for many of my fondest memories: doughnuts in the snow, trips to Cedar Point, commuting to my first science-y job (sans A/C), and a hopeful restoration of A/C by my grandfather with freon from Mexico (which failed). Needless to say, the 'Lady had been called on in my times of need, and she delivered with all four cylinders.

The only thing left of The Green Lady are her license plates, and a small pile of rust that accumulated when we shut doors, the trunk, or--most recently--freed her immobile back wheels. I followed her to her final resting place (as I choose to believe) in the back of the car dealership who gave us $250 for her. After a somber goodbye, I turned my attention to more pressing matters--the trunk release button in the new car. The Sonata currently has no nickname, and I'm not sure that it will. Maybe it will come, but I doubt that if it does, it'll ever be as perfect as "The Green Lady."

The Lake!

I went to the lake yesterday. It was not a perfect day, but we have come to expect that from our trips to the Irish Hills. For as long as we can remember (a year or two at least) every time we want to go to the lake, the weather is either cold, windy, overcast, raining, or some diabolical combination of these. This time it was just over 70 after two weeks of non-stop 90 degree weather, and was a little windy. On the bright side, it was quite sunny and the water was warm, so it was bearable.

We took the boat out just about as soon as we got there. No time to waste and all that you know? Well we made Joe unhook the boat, then it wouldn't start at first so he almost got pinned against the dock. Not really, he's a beast and just shoved it away. The ride over was uneventful. When we got to our usual swimming spot, we dropped anchor and jumped in. We soon realized that the boat was drifting away rather rapidly. We got back in, struggled with the ignition again, and moved back to where we wanted to be. This happened several times. Finally we just said screw it, and let it drift. We were drifting almost directly down the longest portion of the lake, so there was not much danger of hitting anything, especially since there were only 3 other boats out on the entire lake.

At one point, we were in 35' of water and the one anchor was obviously not even touching anymore, so I pulled that one in. The other seemed to still be on the bottom though. That has to be the most exercise we have gotten at the lake. Most of us were in the water the majority of the time, and that means we were swimming along with the boat for almost half a mile. It was drifting for almost two hours and was at the other end of the lake when we decided to head in. When Joe pulled up the anchor, it was covered in seaweed and had dragged up a rather large tree branch. In the end we all had a great time, got lots of sun, and you should just generally be jealous of us.

The goldfish is giving me dirty looks, I have put it in its place.

Happy Birthday APT 212 Blogger MIKE COHEN

Other exciting things that happened on June 24th include:
- 1374 – A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.
- 1664 – The colony of New Jersey is founded
- 1813 – Battle of Beaver Dams : a British and Indian combined force defeats the U.S Army.
- 1880 – First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français. - THIS ONE IS REALLY IMPORTANT!
 -1922 – The American Professional Football Association formally changes its name to the National Football League. - Typical to Mike
1988 - Ben Cohen, brother of Mike Cohen, is born. The simultaneous birth of Mike Cohen is said to be unrelated.
- 2007 – The Angora Fire starts near South Lake Tahoe, California, destroying over 200 structures in its first 48 hours. - Mike would later go to Lake Tahoe

Done.

Attention loyal blog readers!

Three highly qualified individuals; Matt (Forrest not Smola), Eric and Mike, are needing sources of employment. If you are hiring, know someone who is hiring or know someone who knows someone who is hiring let us know (and let them know about are amazing qualifications.)
We are a great addition to any team, fun to be around and people you definitely want on your side when the going gets tough.

But seriously, we really could use this.

It's so freaking hot...at least I can keep the fan in the window

To those who do not understand the title, you clearly are an APT 212 bandwagon follower (if you really want to know ask and I'll give you insight into the hardships we faced last summer.)

Let's see...I had a kind of exciting weekend. Christine Banks was in Chicago for an interview so I met up with her and KC Skelton at the Cheesecake Factory Friday night. It was good food and there was apparently some epic storm rolling through so KC's mom recommended we didn't leave, plus it was raining pretty hard. So we did what anyone in our situation would do, we drank for 3.5 hours at the restaurant. After the rain died down and we felt we had our fill, we ventured to Millennium Park so Christine could take in the Bean (the security guard begrudgingly allowed her to take a few pictures.) And then I happily headed home.

Saturday was uneventful during the day, went out to Wrigleyville at night. Was going to meet up with Mike, but  I failed epically at that one. I cried about it a lot (read: drowned my sadness in beer.) Had two people I only kind of recognized from Miami come up and tell me they knew me. Also did a dial-a-shot back to Oxford (delayed constantly because Brad and Nathan took forever). It basically consisted of Audree yelling a lot into the phone and me not really understanding what she was saying. Oh well we tried right?

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday consisted of more job searching. Applied to 17 more positions, probably will not get calls from any of them...sigh. I'm doing my best though and my cover letters are much improved from when I first started out in the job search. However, apparently employers don't feel the same way.

Broke the routine Tuesday to travel out to Evanston to have lunch with Liz Bersin to round out my own self-designed alumni weekend. Definitely good and we found out Giordonos has excellent lunch specials which made it even better.

Still hot, still sweating. I start working at the Taste of Chicago on Friday for 10 days. That's money right? And hopefully will bring some interesting blog posts. Sadly that means I can't go to Ohio at all this week or weekend, but it's the only source of income I have right now so I can't pass that up.

Currently listening to: Lots of fans blowing.
Currently reading: Half the Sky (must read!) & Soccernomics (couldn't pick so reading them both)

Glue

A few days ago I noticed a tile in one of our bathrooms that was loose. I loosened it more. I can't help it, its in my nature to take things apart. So, after I had the tile off the wall it occurred to me that the overall appeal of the bathroom had been damaged by the removal of the tile. So I took a bottle of Elmer's School Glue and glued it back on. It is currently quite secure.

Nuclear Powered Vehicles

Nuclear powered vehicles are awesome. Everyone about pees their pants whenever anyone mentions using nuclear power for electricity. There are bans on nuclear power. People are idiots. Submarines and aircraft carriers use nuclear power for propulsion. Nuclear subs can travel close to 30 mph and only require refueling once...in the middle of their lifespan...which is 60 years. Nuclear carriers can go on 6 month cruises and only meet a refueling tanker once, to take on jet fuel so the planes can continue to fly.

I for one think there should be nuclear land vehicles. Like a nuclear powered dump truck, or a nuclear powered crane. Nothing would be too heavy. They go 30 years without refueling! Awesome!

And, for the record, this is actually awesome. Not something that some lame, bored person decided to write about and claim it as awesome. That person should consult a dictionary before setting off to write 1000 blog posts about drivel.

Happy Official Summer

Hey all. So at midnight it was/will be depending on where you are officially summer. I spent my this past weekend ushering it in.

I was in the city last night. I went to dinner at the Billy Goat Tavern which is a Chicago centerpiece (you have to go if you're in town) and the spent the evening at Millennium Park. My buddy Josh, who I've know for 15 years here in Chicago, had never actually been, so we and a few others took him to the spitting fountains and the bean. Then Ben heard some classical music, so we naturally followed him as he wandered over there and listen to some Beethoven something or other before walking to the lake front. We then sat on the pier with our feet over the water and watched the Saturday fireworks at Navy Pier before calling it a night.

I spent Father's Day with my dad, and we went to some outdoor car show. Eric would have loved it. Ben took a bunch of pictures for him. Then we saw Alice and Wonderland, the Tim Burton one. That movie was really freaky. I'm not a big Tim Burton guy, so I don't watch a lot of his stuff but Ben said it was classic Tim Burton, so I'm gonna describe it like that.

This week should be good. I heading down to Cincinnati on Wednesday and will celebrate my birthday day there on Thursday. Then I'll be in Oxford on Friday to celebrate some more before heading up to Cleveland to see Matt Smola and celebrate Jenn's graduation with some of the gang.

Things That Are Awesome

I am going to point out some things that are awesome. This might turn into a sort of blog series thing. Should be similar to the things that always sound good post, but that one ran out of steam. I'm hungry right now and everything sounds good.

Anyways, you know what's awesome? Clouds are awesome. Think about it. They are huge masses of water suspended miles above the ground. Sometimes they seem peaceful, but at other times they produce some of the most violent displays of electricity on the planet. Big, fluffy white sky drifters, spewing bolts of electric energy. Awesome.

Both Matt's are now sunburned

The Cubs game today has left me beet red, but more on that later.

So it has been awhile since I've blogged so I'll quickly bring you up to speed from last Wednesday until yesterday morning. The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley cup! Went out to celebrate Wednesday night. Traveled home on Thursday. Went to a friend's 22 birthday party for a while. Got up early as hell on Friday for the dentist (missed the Balckhawks rally because of it) Saturday passed uneventfully. Sunday met up with my friends Katie (fresh from her year in DC) and Allison at Goose Island Micro-Brewery - really good beer! Monday and Tuesday back to the job hunt! Hooray! (I just want work, please. Anyone out there willing to hire me?)

So now we're at Wednesday. I get a call from Molly Dull, she's in Lombard and informs me that her and Sarah O are going to come and visit. I get excited. She calls me back and tells me they are no longer coming. I am now sad. Then Molly calls me yet again to let me know she is going. I remain unemotional, I do not want to be let down again. Molly and Sarah arrive and Sarah is beyond excited to be in Chicago. We venture off to a bar, Hop Leaf (I think that's its name), and grab some beer (Sarah undergoes typical post Oxford sticker shock upon seeing the prices). We are then shoved around the entire place and constantly told that we can't sit there, can't eat if we choose these tables, we can sit there but only for the next 20 minutes. Finally, we found somewhere to sit, found some good food and were shortly joined by our friend Chris. The conversation was great, we laughed a lot and it was great to catch up with Molly and Sarah again. They left and I passed out in my bed exhausted.

This morning I woke early and ventured to Wrigley Field to go to the Cubs game with my sister for her 18th birthday. We had bleacher seats which is basically a free-for-all, for those who have never been before think Miami Hockey game, and Eileen wanted front row. We got front row and all was well, minus the boiling heat and thus no matter how much sunscreen I put on I still turned out burned as ever. Some guy threw up 5 rows behind us, think waterfall of puke spilling down the bleachers, it happened. Thus a larger hole appeared in the crowd as we all moved away. The game was long and hot but the Cubs won in the end and so all is well. Came home, showered and fell asleep for a good 5 hours. Ate dinner at like 10 because of it and so now I'm here and probably won't get any sleep - great.

Currently listening to: The fan & Breakeven by The Script

Directions

I am planning on making a pretty long road trip around Ohio next weekend. With stops in Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, it should be quite the tour. In preparation for this trip, I did a little Google mapping. Basically one of my long pondered questions was answered. I have always thought it would be about as fast to go up 75 then over to Cleveland from Cinci as it is to go the route that takes you through Columbus. Turns out, Google Maps wants me to go down 75 to Oxford from Perrysburg, then head right back up before taking route 6 and 80/90 over to Clevetown. I was right. I should have known. When will I learn to not doubt myself?

There is really nothing else going on. The days are running together so bad, I had to text a friend yesterday and ask if I had texted her recently because the act of doing so this time started sparking memories of doing the same thing. I am losing my mind from applying for jobs. I feel like that bodes ill for me. On the other hand, I took a reasoning test for P&G yesterday that is supposed to take around 30 minutes and I did it in less than ten. I think they should hire me. I am clearly one of the quickest minds out there.

Listening to: My brains drip out of my ears

Oh! The Tigers have swept two series in a row! I just tried to make series plural and now the word looks really weird. I need to go lay down.

Burn Baby Burn

Disco inferno!

Right. So I'm sitting in the sunroom, my computer is on an ottoman, and there's a USB cord going out the door to...my camera. Big surprise, I'm sure. The goal is star trail pictures, but we'll see. It's a work in progress and if anything decent comes of it, I'll fill you in.

I actually took a bunch of silly photos today, involving sparklers, flashlights (thanks Nicole!) and science-y stuff. One of them was pretty cool and could be a facebook profile picture, but since Eric just demanded that I change it, I think I'll hold out for a while.

Went down to Oxford a couple days ago! Most of my friends bailed on me! I also had no wallet/ID so I couldn't do much, although no one was really carding anyway. I had most of Monday to myself, since my parents and sister were busy with orientation stuff. I walked around campus, took some pictures, and got myself up on to the back roof of Alumni Hall. After 4 years of checking doors only to find them locked, it turns out all you have to do is ask for a key. It would be better in the fall.

Had lunch with Bailey, then taught her how to use her new camera. I'm not sure I did the best job of teaching, but she'll get better as she messes with it. IT RAINED LIKE HELL (contradictory statement?) Monday night, but the lightning looked cool. Touchdown Jesus on I-75 was struck and burned to the ground. Now it's like Touchdown Terminator.

Powerwashed part of the patio today. Got sunburned pretty bad. I'm going to go slather more aloe on myself.

Currently Listening to: Dad snoring.

Good Weekend

The game Friday was excellent. Tigers won, lots of hits, good company, Little Caesars, not much to complain about really. I even made it out of Detroit with my life! After getting lost on the way home! We didn't even get shot at! I am surprised frankly. The getting lost did mean lots of time in the car to talk about people, which is one of my favorite things to do. I would like to thank all of my friends for being interesting.

Saturday was pretty plain. Babysat for the three girls next door. We had Little Caesars for dinner, so of course it was a good time. They are really lovely girls too. I play with them when they are over here, so being able to get paid for watching them is pretty nice.

Sunday we went to the lake. Saturday night I downloaded Star Trek, so me and Jarod watched that on the way up and back, so the trip was like nothing. It was really cloudy when we got there so we figured it would be kind of a bummer of a day. It has been years since it was a nice day at the lake. There was a NASCAR race at MIS at 1, so we were watching the jets doing the fly over. It was pretty sweet. Four of them flew low right over the lake, made a turn over the track and flew right back over. My mom was on the dock waving at the jets and about jumped in the lake she was so happy when the last two tipped their wings at us! Went out on the boat for a while, swam, drank, ate, it even got sunny for a few seconds. When we got home we were all a little burnt and my face was bright red. Can't say I'm disappointed.

Looking for more jobs today. Still waiting on my security deposit check from Century 21. The week is not shaping up to be as good as the weekend.

I'm Alive. And Stuff.

So this is quite the throwback. I'm sitting in King Library because it's a) hot outside b) lonely in the hotel and c) I want to. I know I've been missing for a while. I'm not going to apologize. I just have nothing to write about. Mostly.

I'm hoping to go uptown tonight with Sam and Alex (Scotty?) and here's the kicker--I left my wallet at home. I discovered a small stain on my shorts and changed into new shorts, and although I took my wallet out of the old ones, it didn't make it into the back pocket of the new ones and as such is still at home. Womp womp. My weak plan is to put a picture of myself at graduation and use that as a "hey man, I graduated, do you really think I'm underage?" I doubt it will work. My best bet is if I know who's working the door, but at this point I'm not getting my hopes up.

I'm reminded of last summer as my phone is really starting to piss me off a la Eric's phone. The battery doesn't last worth a damn and sometimes in the middle of phone calls the screen just starts blinking on and off and freezes up. Not happy. Part of why I'm in King is because I forgot my phone charger at home and I have to use a USB to charge my phone. Gah.

Saw some summer tours going around campus today. In all honest, they seemed kinda weak. I would tell our manager that I heard some guy say "dorm" and stuff, but I don't really care enough to be that much of a prick. He was even walking backwards. God bless him.

So that's all for now. I should have some more to blog about later. Sam is bringing my gnome to Oxford, finally!...I hope.

Mike's coming to my sister's grad party! Eric probably will too! Matt Forrest........? Make it happen.

Currently Listening to: Don't Stop Believin' (Glee Version)

I'm Back and I Went Back...In time.

Hey readers. Sorry it's been so long. I was out of town and then had a family issue, but everything is resolved and I'm back.

I've spent a lot of time playing basketball lately, and I have my shot back which is really exciting. Back a long long time ago I could ball pretty well, but didn't really have the chance to keep playing. So I've been going to the park everyday and shooting, and I'm ready to take anyone on. I've been sweeping games of horse and one on one although my 60 year dad won the half-court contest. My brother decided he wanted to have one and he missed his first shot and then I missed mine. My dad was rebounding, and I asked him if he wanted to try, and he shrugged and said what the hell. And first try he hit the half court shot...UNDERHAND! Rick Berry style. He just took to hands and threw them towards the sky and sunk the ball from 46 feet. Ridiculous.

I'm still looking for jobs. But instead of doing that today, I took a trip down nostalgia lane. I looked at all the pictures I had from college on facebook (Thank you Matt Smola, Courtney Bradley and Matt Forrest) and then for the first time in years I read the messages people wrote me in my yearbook senior year of high school. It was hilarious. I highly recommend doing this. Some of the people I haven't talked to since they signed the 400 page tribute to my high school, others reminded me of things I haven't thought about since I roamed the halls of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois (Not gonna lie, don't miss them all that much). But what struck me was how the vast majority of the comments people wrote were about either how they could not understand how I had so much energy, or how they can't wait to listen to me broadcast games for a living. I felt like I was living a different life. It was kind of cool for awhile. And no, I don't feel like an utter failure because I'm still unemployed and am tired today.

I'd share some stuff with you guys, but you don't know anyone I'm talking about. One person called me Ben. That was confusing. Also, I looked really really young. And my senior photo and quote were kind of ridiculous. I guess what they say about looking back at your high school yearbook is true. You always think everything is ridiculous.

Tomorrow I'm going to borders and I'll probably play more basketball. And if I'm lucky I'll get to talk to you.

300!!!

I'm pretty surprised no one has stepped up to make this historic post. I suppose it is only fitting that I do it since about half of the other 299 are mine.

I have some good and some bad today. The bad is that I have a sty on my right eyelid. It is quite painful. I looked up these little buggers online and it says not to wear contacts while you have one. Fat chance of that happening.

On to the good. I am going to the Tigers game tonight! They better win. Verlander is pitching and they are playing the Pirates. Who I believe are a triple-A team. Anyway, I am going to have fun regardless. Going to fill out an application to work at a liquor store later!

Nostalgia for last summer...

Thinking back to those days when Eric, Matt and I would all head off to the library for Internet and blog. Often posting within ten minutes of each other about the same exact thing. Those must have been Molly Dull's favorite days of the summer. Or moving around Bree's apartment in search of an Internet signal (note: only one of use could actually use the Internet at any one time) while watching Next Food Network Star in anticipation and yelling at the screen the whole time...I think I might start crying or something soon.

In tribute to last summer: 

Currently listening to: Daylight - Matt & Kim
Talk about nostalgia.

I apologize for my absence...

...I have no excuse as to why I haven't blogged in about 5 days. I'll admit, I was lazy and every time I opened this window to begin a blog I simply changed my mind and wandered off, my apologies (kind of). But in other news a lot has happened since last Thursday so I actually have something legitimate to blog about for once! Okay that was a boldfaced lie (ha ha pun.)

Friday night, I ventured to the U of Chicago to visit my friend Allison. The trip took much longer than usual due to some bus stopped in the middle of the road. Upon arriving we were getting ready to cook dinner when we learned the stove did not work, at all. Complete fail. So we ventured for some take-out and I got some really got pizza out of it so all was not lost. I watched Shutter Island which is a really creepy movie until you get to the ending and then the whole thing seems kind of silly and sad at the same time. Oh well.

Saturday, ventured back home for the graduation party for my sister (and unofficially me too, but we don't do college grad parties in my family - so I kind of lucked out that my sister is four years younger than me. Win!) A lot of the family came over, there was of course really good food and lot of Corona. Despite the on and off rain all morning, the day went well enough so we could spend time outside and all of the little cousins could too. My goddaughter still wont look at me, but that's okay I guess, she wont look at my sister (godmother) much either. I ate the most amazing homemade tortilla chips ever and there were chocolate covered strawberries...so while I didn't get to go to the bonfire I think I fared pretty well. That night my mom, of course called for beer pong and cluster and so we had some good friendly family competition (my sister's college roommates were there too, so we did have some fair competition). My mom even convinced a few cousins to stay around and join in (convinced or forced, not completely sure). The night ended well enough and I went to bed happy.

Sunday it rained all day. Ventured back with my sister and her roommates around mid-afternoon to head downtown, while they caught the train back to Milwaukee to head up to Marquette. Got some stuff done and got ready for the premier of this season of Next Food Network Star! It was epic and can't wait for this season. Texted back and forth with Smola the whole time - Bree is sure going to miss out being in India the whole time - that's what we call a bad choice. (You can check out her travels here though!)

Monday and Tuesday passed rather uneventfully. Applied and searched for more jobs (Hooray!) Last Comic Standing came back for another season on Monday, so I'm pretty much really excited for that one as well. Now I'm off to buy some thank you notes and stamps. Have to mail my friend Mia a postcard from Illinois and if you are in any far reaches of the US you should consider doing the same.

Currently listening to: Airplanes - B.O.B.

Peace out!