Woo survey woo.

1) What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch...although lately I've been sticking with vinaigrette or oil and vinegar cos it's healthier.

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Because there's so many places in LA I don't really have one that I go to all that consistently. I guess I would say Jinky's because I go there for breakfast/lunch quite a bit.

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of? I would get sick of anything, but I guess I could say "noodles" even though that's a huge copout because then I can have Italian, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc...

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice? If I'm ordering for myself I'll just get cheese. My favorite pizza is probably BBQ chicken. But I almost never eat pizza.

5) What do you like to put on your toast? Butter and jam or honey.

6) How many televisions are in your house? 1

7) What color cell phone do you have? It's a black iPhone.

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right handed

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body? heh...so many gross things I could say. But I would be lying.

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted? Define heavy...do weights count? If not, probably the 40 lb tub of kitty litter that I get for my cats.

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious? nope

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Not really, although it's an interesting question...I guess I'd only want to know if it was a long time from now.

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Maybe I'm just not feeling creative at the moment, but I think my name is ok.

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? What kinda hot sauce and how big a bottle? If we're talking a small bottle of tabasco or chollula or something, I'd probably do it. If it's sriracha of any quantity, no way in hell.

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own? I own one, that I've owned since I went to Puerto Rico back in like 2004 I think. And they are quite well worn and will continue to be so until they fall apart.

16) What’s your goal for the year? To be happy? At the moment my immediate goals are to find a job I like more, make more friends and do more of the things I seem to think I want to do.

17) Last person you talked to? My technician Hiliza. The last person I TALKED to in person (not counting work or random people who work at the vet/grocery store/etc..) was my brother.

18) Last person you hugged? I think it was my grandma yesterday. Or maybe my grandpa. I don't remember which order it occured...

19) Favorite Season? Probably fall, good weather and the start of football season plus baseball playoffs. Can't go wrong.

20) Favorite Holiday? Thanksgiving

21) Favorite day of the week? Any day that I'm not working, which is so inconsistant that I can't really pick one.

22) Favorite Month? Geez...probably November but I can't say I really have a favorite.

23) First place you went this morning? I'm not going to be clever...it was the vet.

24) What's the last movie you saw? I think it was Bolt, which was not on my to see list. I also saw the last 20 minutes of Seven Pounds, which didn't insipre me to see the rest of the movie.

25) Do you smile often? I smile when smiling is appropriate ;)

26) Do you always answer your phone? Most of the time but not always.

27) It's four in the morning and you get a text message? If it actually woke me up I would look at it...and if it were actually something important I'd respond to it. I'm not sure who would be texting me at 4AM though.

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be? I think my eyes are the appropriate color for me. Maybe it would be cool if they were a little more hazel but honestly, who really cares.

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic? We don't have Sonic in LA...I don't think I've been to a sonic in at least 3 years. I used to love the cherry or strawberry limeado though.

31) Favorite Christmas song? I don't really like christmas music that much. Aside from the obvious reason, it's just a bit too corny for me.

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday? I need some new sunglasses because I somehow lost mine. Maybe some new jeans. Some books? Most of the stuff my life is really lacking can't be bought...

33) Can you do push ups? Yes, been getting better at them, too.

34) Can you do pull ups? Probably a few.

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited? I'm so confused and unsure about what I want to do with my life at the moment that it doesn't really make me nervous or excited. I think ultimately, if I can make some positive changes in my life by changing my job, my living situation and other factors, I would be excited about that. But the thought of not changing anything and continuing to live my monotonous life doesn't make me nervous, just kinda sad.

36) Do you have any saved texts? I probably have a few right now, but I generally delete everything after a few weeks. I don't have anything saved for senimentality, at any rate.

37) Ever been in a car wreck? I've been in a few but nothing terrible. Only one was my fault, and that one hardly counts as a wreck.

38) Do you have an accent? It really depends on who I'm around or my mood. I think on the whole the answer is no, or at least it's nothing really noticable. But if I'm around a group of people who have a certain accent, I usually slip into it a bit.

39) What is the last song to make you cry? Music is a pretty emotional thing for me, but I can't think of a song actually making me cry.

40) Plans tonight? I get to work until 11:30 and then I'll probably go home and go to sleep! Woo!

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? I've been pretty low but I doubt I would call it rock bottom.

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday: Wine for my grandma, beer for the mothers day picnic, groceries

43) Have you ever been given roses? Nope

44) Current hate right now? People who aren't dependable and don't seem to care.

45) Met someone who changed your life? Can't say that I have.

46) How did you bring in the New Year? Umm...had dinner with my friend Carin and her son, spent a little time at a new years party at my apartment complex but gave up pretty soon after midnight because i had to work the next day (and New Years was also right around when I was most depressed so wasn't really in the mood to do anything anyway.)

47) What song represents you? I could probably think of something but I imagine it would just end up making me sound bitter, so I'm not going to bother. ;)

48) Name three people who might complete this? Jen and Mart already did it. Maybe Rachel? I kinda doubt anybody reads my blog anymore since I never actually post.

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night? I was asleep. I got home at like 1030 yesterday after getting dinner and doing a little shopping...and I was insanely tired, so I just called it a day.

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? First I thought..."I have to go pee" and then I thought..."Whatever, I'm going to go back to sleep" and then I did go back to sleep and woke up again later, when I thought..."Man, I should have gotten up earlier".


Well, either this survey wasn't up to par, or my wit wasn't as sharp due to my extreme boredon and tiredness (despite getting like 11 hours of sleep last night) which is probably due to my boredom. Allow me to repeat...the evening shift I work is BORING. Bored.

This is stupid...but also awesome.

Holy crap...there's like an electric short in my apartment and my microwave doesn't work! This is a tragedy beyond all measure! I mean, seriously...how am I going to eat! This is bad people...very very bad.

I booked my trip to New Zealand today! On March 15 I'll be leaving for 9 days and 8 nights (not including flying time...)on the Southern Island of NZ! Holy crap I'm pumped...just two more months! Now I just have to book a flight. Thankfully I already renewed my passport when I thought I was gonna go to Oktoberfest...so don't have to worry about that.

I didn't realize this, but NZ is 21 hours ahead of LA. At first I thought that would be killer with the jet lag, but really it just means that traveling to NZ is like traveling to the Hawaii from LA...so maybe it won't be so bad. It'll be weird to leave LA on a Sunday though and wake up on a Tuesday...and and to get back to LA earlier then when I leave NZ when I come back...

That's all the excitement to report out here. I was off last week so I met up with Chris and some other peeps in SF to do some wine tasting...then went to Big Bear for skiing Tuesday and Wednesday. It was pretty warm (like mid-50's) so the conditions weren't that good, but it was still fun. I think I'll try snowboarding next time I go. Skiing is fine but everybody else I know boards and they all seem to think it's better, so we'll see.

There's plenty of other stuff to talk about, but I gotta get to the gym so I can get to bed early...I haven't really slept much the last few weeks and it's starting to catch up to me...

I guess I don't get to put up a cool "I did it!" NaBloPoMo sticker this year.* Ah well.

Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing. Went up to Big Bear with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. Brought the cats as well. We pretty much just watched football and ate, which is basically a normal Big Bear trip (unless there's no football on TV...then we usually play video games instead). I was hoping there might be some snow so we could perhaps go skiing, but no luck.

Turned out I had jury duty all last week. I had originally been scheduled for June, but had to get it postponed, and on Wednesday (like the day before Thanksgiving) our HR person told me that I was scheduled for last week. I hadn't gotten a follow-up notice from the courts, so I was a bit surprised. But everything worked out, and I ended up on a case. It was kinda interesting, although also kinda boring. I'm not convinced it was better than work, but it was less hours than work, at any rate. Driving downtown is a bit of a pain, so I decided to take the subway, which worked out quite well...aside from the fact that finding parking at the subway stations is also a bit of a pain.

Friday went down to the ski show at the convention center (called Ski Dazzle...what a dumb name). A friend of mine wanted to get some skis, and I figured I should at least get some new equipment since all the stuff my grandparents have up at the cabin is like 30 years old. Got some goggles, gloves and socks. Didn't want to make the investment of my own skis just yet because a)I've only been like twice and b)I wanna try snowboarding this year. But if it's something I find I really enjoy, it's probably worth getting the equipment. And the prices at the show are outrageously good (like 50% off most things). Doesn't really matter since the convention is over...but something to think about.

Yay for UA! I really thought we were gonna blow it after the crappy first half against ASU, but in the end our superior talent got the job done. I was kinda hoping we'd pile on some more points (it easily coulda been 38-10), but in the end the game really wasn't very close...we just played too conservative on offense in the first half and gave them a free TD because of the dumb play by our punter. Despite the fact that this should have been a 9 or 10 win team, I guess we really can't complain. First winning season, first winning record in the Pac-10, and first bowl game since 1998. I'm kinda bummed because I work the weekend of the game so I won't be able to go to Vegas. But since I work the AM shift, I'll be able to watch it, at least. BYU is a solid opponent, but they didn't really beat any good teams this year. I think it's a winnable game.

I realized (on like Sunday) that I have vacation in March and that's not very far away. I've got two weeks and I really really wanna actually go somewhere interesting because for the first time I'll actually have the time AND money to do something. One thing I really wanna do is go to Germany and Belgium to check out all the cool beer-related things there...but everybody tells me March is a crappy time to go to that part of the world because it's cold. So the other places I've always wanted to go to are Australia and New Zealand. On Sunday, I was having lunch with my friends Josh and Melissa, and they said they had taken a Contiki tour to Australia for (part of) their honeymoon, and that it was really cool. Bored at work yesterday, I went to the Contiki website just to kinda check it out...none of the Australia tours really worked out very well based on the days I have off, but there were New Zealand tours that fit perfectly into my vacation schedule. So now I am very very very strongly considering this. In some ways I'd rather see if any friends can take vacation at the same time as me, even if it means I don't get to go where I really wanna go (because traveling with friends is awesome)...but on the other hand, I don't really wanna go on a cruise, and I don't really wanna go to the Carribean/Central America/South America/Hawaii because I've sorta done that already. So we'll see. But at least at this very moment in time, I'm really really excited about this possibility, and it makes me wanna go ahead and book it like yesterday.

And with that...I guess I need to go to the gym before I have to go face another probably boring day at work.**

*Because I totally didn't.
**Not all days at work are boring...but the evening shift is usually pretty slow and there's only so much time I can kill on the internet before I get bored.

I notice that Starbucks is heavily advertising the start of their (Red) campaign, where they will generously donate 5 cents from every purchase of coffee on some day (or number of days) to help support stopping the AIDS epidemic in Africa (which is a whole other rant that I don't feel like getting into). I guess in theory this is a nice gesture...certainly it's better than nothing. But in reality, it's total bullshit...Starbucks advertises that they're donating a nominal amount of money per sale to charity, and thus they bring in many more people to their stores, and thus, for at least a day, they're drastically increasing their profit margin. Now, I'm not economist (nor am I a coffee purchaser), so I could just be talking out of my ass...but hear me out. The average drink at Starbucks probably costs about 3 dollars. I assume that Starbucks is making at least $1.00 (and probably more) on every drink they sell, considering the cost of coffee, milk, labor, etc. So let's say that on an average day, Starbucks sells a million coffee drinks (I have no clue if this number if reasonable or not), meaning their profit is a million dollars. Now let's say that on December 1, they double their sales...two million coffee drinks. So their profit is two million dollars...5% of which they're donating to charity. That equals $100,000 to charity...and means that Starbucks profit for the day is $1.9 million dollars. The average wholesale price of a moderately effective regiment for HIV/AIDS per month is around 1000 dollars. So, essentially, Starbucks is raising enough money to help treat 10 people with HIV/AIDS for one year. And (at least in my scenario) doubling their profit for one day. In fact, almost in any scenario, Starbucks is going to benefit from this more than the charity.
I find this absolutely disgusting. If they were gonna donate ALL their profits, hell, even 25% of their profits, I might applaud them. But they're not, and lord knows they're not doing this because they give a shit about curing AIDS in Africa. By supporting this cause, I'd probably just be helping Howard Schultz buy himself another private jet or something. If I feel strongly about supporting some cause or another, I'll just send the money directly to them. Then I know they're getting 100% of what I donate, as opposed to them getting 5% and Starbucks getting 95%. Nice try corporate America, but your efforts have sadly failed on me.

Not feeling very interesting or motivated today...but since I'm off I guess I can try to pull something out of my ass.

I only have to work tomorrow and Wednesday this week because of Thanksgiving, so that's pretty awesome. I'd really like to go up to Big Bear, but I think probably it'd be smarter for me to stay home because my place is a mess and I have no food, etc. We'll see I guess.

Had to work this weekend, which sucked. It was also a sucky sports weekend...actually it was a sucky sports week to be honest. I figured the basketball loss against UAB on Tuesday would kinda been the Arizona crappy loss of the week, but alas the football game topped it. Don't really know what to say about the football team anymore. We're gonna make a bowl, which is great (although if we lose to ASU I guess I can't say it really matters), but we still haven't gotten over the proverbial "hump" that separates decent teams from good teams. I mean, did anybody really not think to themselves after we took the 17-10 lead "well, I wonder how we're gonna blow this game"? Because that's totally what I thought. Even after OSU missed the extra point and tried to give the game away, I still figured we'd find a way to blow it. And we did. In fact, all of our losses this year are by 10 points or less. All of our wins this year are by at least 15 points. That tells me that we don't know how to win close games. And unless you can win close games, you'll never be elite. I dunno if coaching is to blame or what...but it's been a consistent problem in the Stoops era. And while the team has improved, both in talent and in on the field performance (and wins), you just have to wonder when we'll start to win these close games. This years schedule was very easy...we should have won 8 or 9 regular season games...and now the best we can do is 7. I think Stoops deserves another year, but with the schedule next year I just wonder if we might see the team take a step back. Alas.

Went on a date last night with someone my grandparents sorta set me up with. It was absolutely terrible...from the very beginning. I have to assume she acted differently towards my grandparents...because if not I'm not sure why they thought I would like her at all. She pretty much just looked at my like I was an idiot the whole time, and any time I tried to break the tension (because trust me, there was a lot) by saying something funny, she just kinda ignored it. Ah well...I know that's just the way it goes, but it was a bit disappointing.

I guess that's about it. I'm gonna try to go on a bike ride today (went last Thursday as well), and hopefully go to the grocery store (but that might be a bit too much to ask)...and then watch some more Dexter (almost caught up!). Yay for my life.

This comic isn't always funny, but they do seem to hit the nail on the head once in a while.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net


This one is absolutely hilarious.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Because nothing is better than combining medical humor and bathroom humor. Also, I don't think elephantitis can affect only the testicles and nothing else...but I guess I don't really know.

Obviously, I totally mailed it in the rest of last week.  I wasn't really feeling NaBloPoMo this year anyway. 

Tucson trip was fun, and relaxing.  It was just what I needed, although now of course I don't really wanna go back to work.  Also, I have to do laundry because I have no clean clothes, and I have absolutely no food in my house, and I need to get back to going to the gym because I feel totally gross from Tucson trip (because I ate really badly, and drank too much, and didn't sleep enough, and really did nothing that could be confused with exercise), and I can't do anything outside because the air quality is so terrible from the fires.  I probably should have planned better and left earlier yesterday so I could have taken care of some of the crap I now need to find time to do.  The good news is I have Thursday off, but I doubt I can survive the next few days without doing said crap.  

It's nice to know that I still have friends in Tucson.  But every time I thought to myself "Boy, it might be nice to move back here", I also thought "Boy, Tucson is still not a particularly nice city".  So basically, I would prefer that all my friends just move out to LA.  But whatever...I'll tackle that issue when I decide it's an appropriate issue to deal with.

Saw "Quantum of Solace" yesterday.  It was not very good.  The plot was confusing, at best (apparently there was a lot of things that related back to Casino Royale, but I haven't seen that for two years probably), and the action wasn't really up to Bond standards.  Overall, it was pretty boring, but I guess it was worth my 7 bucks and 2 hours of time. 

Ivan is being a total attention whore right now.  Even more than normal.  My sister said that while Hugo got used to everything and played with the other cats and the dog (which I expected), Ivan found a nice place in a closet under a bunch of clothes to hide (which I also expected).  Apparently he only came out to eat.  Oh well.

Time to do laundry...yay.

Blogging just didn't happen yesterday.  I probably coulda done it from my iPhone, but that would have been time consuming and I doubt I could have done anything that could pass as a real post anyway.  Ah well.  Chances are Friday and Saturday won't happen either.  I knew this trip would make it tough.

Anyway, in Tucson now.  I managed to get up yesterday morning and get to the airport plenty early.  Grabbed a shot in the dark at Starbucks, played a bunch of solitaire waiting for my plane (yay phone games!), and actually managed to have an uneventful flight for once (you know, no delays, cancellations, terrifying turbulence, annoying screechy babies...).  The plane was pretty empty, only 64 passengers in a 727.  Very bizarre...I've not been on an empty flight in the a long time. 

Hung out with Rachel during the day, finally went to Geuro Canelo to get a sonoran dog (GOOD!) and a torta (I've had better).  Putzed around campus while Rachel was in class, went to POA rehearsal for old times sake, met up with Chris and co. for dinner at 1702.  1702 is really freaking good...the calzone was fantastic, and they have a superb selection of beers on top.  I was very impressed...Tucson didn't have anything like this when I was in school (although even if they had I probably wouldn't have noticed since I wasn't really into beer back then).  Went back to Chris's to play Rock Band (cool game but in the end not that much different than guitar hero), and ended up crashing on his couch (which sucked because all my stuff was still at Rachel's and I hate not brushing my teeth at night).  The good thing to come of it, though, was that I now have Chris's car, meaning that I'm not just stuck hanging around at Rachel's by myself or hanging around on campus by myself.  

Anyway, think I'm gonna go for a run since Rachel lives next to Reid Park, then maybe hit up Bookmans for some cheap reading material.  Kon Tiki tonight! 

I was so tired driving home from work today that I almost ran a red light...and then almost backed into someone when the light turned green because I had forgotten that I put the car in reverse to back out of the intersection after almost running said red light.  So, basically, I should be asleep right now, and would be, if it weren't for NaBloPoMo. 

Also, I have to get up at like the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow so I can beat the traffic and get to the airport early enough that I don't miss my flight.  So tomorrow is gonna be one of those "running on coffee" days.  Of course, today probably would have been one of those days, but I forced myself to drink just one cup and deal with it.  That was probably a bad idea, based on previously mentioned driving experiences.

The amusing moment of my day came when I dropped my cats off at my sister's place.  The dog, which had not been there on Friday when I took them to visit, was there.  Hugo doesn't much like dogs, so he spent the whole 20 minutes I was there growling at her.  He wasn't like hissing or angry or anything, it was just this sorta low, throaty meow.  It's especially funny because Hugo is quietest cat ever.  Even when he meows it usually just comes out as a squeak.  Ivan was completely terrified and spent the whole time clinging desperately to my shirt.  I had to like pry him off so I could leave.  The dog didn't seem too stressed by the cats, since she's used to living with three of them anyway.  Instead, she followed me around the house, but if I turned around to pet her, she ran off or growled at me.  My sister's dog is weird.

And with that...bed.

Working today was like...much harder than on regular days.  I am freaking exhausted right now and it's all of 6:30.  And since my mind is mush, I can't much think of anything to write about.  So I'm stealing LJ's "writers block" idea.  I feel like a bad person.

Fortunately, the writers block idea is about one of the things I like talking about the most, and that's MUSIC.  So their question...what are my personal top 10 albums of all time?  Let's count 'em down.

10) Silverchair-Neon Ballroom-The third album from this Aussie trio, released in 1999.  This was a much different album from their first two, with a more mature and musical sound, yet filled with much more angst and anger.  This was the start of Silverchair rebranding themselves from a post-grunge Nirvana wanna-be to a more alternative/glam band, and the last album they released until 2002.  My 17 year old self didn't really like this album because it's not easy listening...but as I gave it a second shot years later, I've come to appreciate the raw emotion in this album.  A great album for a rainy day.  Check out "Miss You Love" and "Black Tangled Heart".

9) Stone Temple Pilots-Purple-The much anticipated 1994 follow up to Core, Purple was and instant classic and has withstood the test of time (at least in my opinion).  STP never was able to recapture the sound they had on this album, probably owing a lot to Scott Weiland's drug problems.  The combination of post-grunge and Guns n' Roses-like hair glam rock on this album gives any rock and roll fan plenty to listen to.  "Interstate Love Song" and "Big Empty" are 90's rock classics, but every song on this album, from start to finish, is a winner.

8) Bad Religion-Process of Belief-After a long hiatus, this album introduced Bad Religion and their brand of intellectual punk rock to a whole new generation.  This album probably doesn't have the edge or lyrical genius of previous Bad Religion albums, but the music is a bit less three-chord and still sends a strong message.  "Kyoto Now" pretty much sums up this album with the words "we need a fresh and new religion to run our lives".  This album is also a dream for those of us with a short attention span-all songs under four minutes.

7) New Found Glory-Catalyst-It took NFG a few albums to get it right, but everything came together for them on this album.  While Sticks and Stones was a huge commercial success, it was probably a bit too bubble-gum for early fans of the band.  Catalyst moved back a bit towards the bands roots, while throwing in a few minor-key twists, but surely pleased the pop-radio fan in all of us.  And while more recent efforts from this band have been decent, it seems that the quality has gone "All Downhill From Here".  Sorry, that was a terrible attempt at being clever.

6) Jimmy Eat World-Clarity-Other JEW albums may have better songs, but this album is emo-rock in it's purest form, something JEW got away from in later albums.  The music is so relaxing and quiet, full of strong messages done in an understated way.  A great thing about this album was that JEW got to put the sound they wanted on the album because it wasn't picked up by a major label until "Lucky Denver Mint" finally started to get some radio play...and it's always nice to hear what a band sounds like without input from the corporate machine.

5) Muse-Black Holes and Revelations-I've written about this album before, but it has to be one of the coolest, most musical and most entertaining mainstream albums of the last 5 years.  Combining glam and electronica, Muse has a sound that hasn't really been heard since the days of David Bowie and Queen.  Matthew Bellamy is the perfect frontman for this band, and his singing is as good as any other rocker out there today.  This album just screams "We Kick Ass!", and it surely does.

4) Pink Floyd-The Dark Side of the Moon-It seems that more people know about how this album syncs up perfectly with The Wizard of Oz than anything else.  This is Pink Floyd's masterpiece, an album about slowly spiraling into deep insanity.  The Wall has its moments, but this psychadelic trip of an album is amazing from start to finish.  If you've never listened to it start to finish, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

3) Thrice-Vheissu-I admit that Thrice is one of my favorite bands, and Artist in the Ambulance is a masterpiece of the post-hardcore movement, but Vheissu blows it out of the water.  This album is all about raw power, and yet Thrice's use of the piano, the music box, a telegraph, and orchestral arrangements give this a highly experimental and musical aspect as well.  Lead singer Dustin Kensure switches from soft and melodic to loud and screamy in a way that doesn't come off as corny.  The only bad thing about this album is that it seems Thrice peaked with it...The Alchemy Index hasn't lived up to its lofty expectations.

2) Coheed and Cambria-Second Stage: Turbine Blade-Like so many bands, CoCa's debut album is also their best.  They just haven't been able to capture this sound in any of their other albums.  Every song on this album is unique within the album, and if it weren't for Claudio Sanchez's distinct voice, one might not realize that all these songs are from one record. The production is a lot better on other CoCa albums, but for music, lyrics, and content, this is their best effort.

1) Led Zeppelin-Led Zeppelin IV-Look, I could put any Zeppelin album here and it would be at the top.  I could probably have just put 9 Zeppelin albums on this list and thrown something else in.  But sometimes you have to make a decision.  Is there a bad song on this album?  I don't personally like "Rock and Roll", but it's still a good song.  But jeez, you've got "Black Dog", "Battle of Evermore", "Stairway to Heaven", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Going to California" and "When the Levee Breaks".  Do I even have to tell you why this album is great?  Is anybody really gonna argue me here?

Honerable Mentions
Tool-AEnima
Avenged Sevenfold-City of Evil
Soundgarden-Superunknown
Cake-Prolonging the Magic
Rush-Moving Pictures

My tech called in sick again today, which meant today was just about as fun as yesterday.  I had help from one of my old tech's for about 45 minutes, and then another tech exchanged my cassettes for me, which meant I actually got out on time.  But I pretty much had to do everything else.  In short, it was an extremely long weekend.  I really need Monday off, but just gotta survive two more days and then I'll have a nice loooong weekend in Tucson. 

The good news was Rachel was in town so got to go down to Torrance for some Korean BBQ and then a quick trip to Naja's for a pint after a long day of work.  Naja's is in the midst of their Barleywine Festival (their very first one, too), so they had some pretty good vintage stuff on tap.  I wanted to get a 2005 Double Bastard, but it turned out that to get any of the vintages, you had to order a "flight", which consisted of samples...I'd say they were probably 4 oz's a peice and you got 5 different beers.  So I picked the flight with Double Bastard '08 and '05, Moylan's Old BlarneyWine '08, AleSmith Old Numbskull '08 and North Coast Old Stock  '08.  Quick review.
-DB '08-Stone seems to keep it pretty consistant with the DB, and 2008 is as good as every.  Insane fruity malt, insane citrus hops, insanely perfect mouthfeel.  DB is one of the few 10% or above brews that is good to go right after bottling.  
-DB '05-Three years of aging really took the edge off the hops and turned this from a monster of a Strong Ale to a nice barleywine.  Sweetness really took over the flavor, with the hops taking a backseat.  Tasted a lot like the Old Numbskull actually, although maybe even a bit sweeter.  If this started as a 10% beer, I have to figure that after 3 more years of fermentation it's getting closer to 12-13%.
-Old Stock-An "Old Ale" as opposed to a barleywine.  Hammers in a 12.5%, and the alcohol feel on this was pretty stunning.  Feel was similar to hard alcohol, it had a nice sweet malty flavor mixed with a bit of bourbon, but the feel was also a bit bourbon like, and it was a bit harsh going down.  Given a few years to sit, I bet it's very good, although it would probably end up too sweet for my taste.
-Old BlarneyWine-Of the five beers I had, this was by far the most toned down.  Malt was pretty weak, almost tasted like slightly sweet iced tea.  Doing what they do best though, Moylan's put plenty of hops in this brew to give it a bit more exciting.  Overall flavor was pretty boring for the style.  I'll stick with Hopsicle from Moylan's and that's about it.
-Old Numbskull-One of the first "big" beers I ever tried was Old Numbskull 2007.  This was pretty much the same, a huge sweet malt blast with lots of delicious tropical flavors, mostly pineapple and mango, along with a nice balance of hops.  Sticky-sweet feel without too much carbonation.  One of my favorites in the style.
In general, barleywines aren't my favorite, but I felt this was a pretty good group because none of the brews were too sweet.  I was a bit dissappointed with the '05 DB...not that it was bad but it lost the great hop character that makes Double Bastard one of the best brews out there.  Also got me thinking about a couple beers in my cellar right now-an '08 Stone Old Guardian which I bought at the brewery back in January...so that one is probably good to go, and my '07 AleSmith Decadence Dead by Dawn Imperial Red that I got at least a year and a half ago...probably ought to drink that one before the malt gets out of control...

Just 2 more days...not sure if I'm gonna make it.

Holy Crap!  For just the second time since 1998, Arizona is bowl eligible, after beating Washington State to improve to 6-3 on the season!  And this time, we will almost surely at least go to SOME bowl.  The Pac-10 has 6 or 7 tie-ins right now...and there's no way more than 7 teams in the conference will end up eligible.  We also have three more games to get that magical 7th win that would assure a bowl spot.  Of course, we also have three games to meet or exceed my predicted record from before the season started.  And all three games are winnable-@ Oregon and then we host Oregon State and Arizona State.
-Oregon-Their offense is a bit one dimensional, and their defense has been less than impressive overall.  Of course, despite this, they have a respectable 7-3 record.  Oregon is going to want revenge for last years huge upset in Tucson...and also for some apparent taunting that Arizona fans gave to injured Oregon QB Dennis Dixon.  Mike Stoops has a huge vendetta against Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, because he feels that Bellotti has stoled a number of verbally committed recruits (he has) at the last minute from the 'Cats.  To say the least, there's a lot of bad blood between these two teams.  Should be an interesting matchup.  Autzen Stadium is always a tough place to win, and Arizona has not looked especially good in road games this year...but still a winnable game.
-Oregon State-OSU is of course the only team to beat USC this year.  They have a solid and well balanced offense, although they've been without their starting QB for a few weeks.  The Beavs also have a tough matchup against Cal next week, and could be a bit banged up going into the Arizona game.  Arizona has been stellar at home, and against OSU's decent but somewhat suspect run defense...I expect a win.
-Arizona State-ASU snapped a 6-game losing streak today with a win over winless Washington.  The good news for ASU is that their next two games are winnable too.  The SunDevils could come into Tucson at 5-6 with an outside chance at making a bowl.  Arizona, of course, should come into the game with a chance to pick up their 8th or 9th win.  This is almost a must win game for Arizona, even though they're already bowl eligible...Mike Stoops has just one win over ASU, and Arizona is the superior team this year.  And the game is at home.  But this game will be for conference seeding...and a win here could end up being the difference between a low-tier bowl like the Las Vegas or Hawaii Bowl and a higher-tier bowl like the Holiday or Sun Bowl.  Of course, a trip to Vegas probably beats a trip to El Paso...but I'd rather see an 8 or 9 win season than a 6 or 7 win season.
-Bold Prediction-Arizona beat ASU and probably Oregon State to finish at 8-4 and 6-3 in conference play.  The 'Cats earn a birth in the Sun Bowl against either Kansas or perhaps Notre Dame.  Fans lament the terrible losses to New Mexico and Stanford, which cost the team a chance at a 10 win season and a likely Holiday Bowl trip.  The 'Cats finish in the top 25, and everybody looks forward to next year.

Man, I don't remember NaBloPoMo being this hard last year.  I mean, it's only day eight! 
Today was quite a crappy day at work, because my technician called in sick.  I got a bit of help from one of the tech's from one of the other floors, but it was busy.  And in typical Murphy's Law fashion, I finally caught up with all my work at about 2 PM...it was quiet from 2-3...and then at 3 there was a flurry of things to do.  And since my satellite closes at 4, I had a crapload of stuff to do in a short time, with no tech, and needing to exchange casettes (med boxes?).  So I got out late...but that's pretty typical.  I also didn't get to eat lunch until about 2:30...and for me that's just not doable.  Especially since I ate breakfast at like 6:30 in the morning.  But ah well...I survived.  Now just 3 more days until blessed vacation!

You guys!  I have no fucking clue what to write about today!  Frig!

Um...since I'm gonna be in Tucson all next week, I'm gonna leave my cats with my sister and brother-in-law.  So I took them over today for a test run, since my sister has 3 cats (and a dog, but she wasn't there).  Long story short-I feel sorry for my sister and brother-in-law.  Ivan was something between confused and terrified.  Usually he just runs away from everybody but he was so confused that he just sorta walked around in a circle looking pathetic.  Then he jumped up on the stove and tried to hide in a cabinet full of cleaning supplies. Finally, he found a nice couch to hide under and proceeded to hide under it for like an hour.  Hugo, being more adventurous, decided to try and meet my sister's cats.  This led to a lot of hissing and swatting.  So probably my cats are going to be traumatized by the time I get back.  Especially when you throw a dog into the mix.  

I finally got a pair of bike shorts today.  I'm gonna try to ride more (like 3 or 4 times a week) once I get back from Tucson.  We'll see how it goes, but I have got to get back into shape!  The holiday season is, of course, the worst time to try and get back into shape.  But I will be committed...because I've been really bad for the last like...year.  Bike shorts are expensive!  They cost like 70 bucks!  That's totally insane.  I wanna get back down to Stone as well, because aside from having good beer, they sell awesome Stone Brewing Company bike jerseys...with either the Arrogant Bastard or Ruination IPA logos on them.  Or I guess I could just order one online.

Just 4 more days...

(not a bad post for having nothing to write about...?)

As you guys probably know...I'm a total sports nerd.  This goes into the realm of sports uniforms, which I find completely fascinating.  Along with stadium architecture.  But anyway...that's not really the point.  The University of Oregon will be fielding a baseball team for the first time in about 30 years, and their new uniforms were unveiled today.  In typical Oregon fashion (since their athletic department is pretty much funded by Nike), they have about 20 different uni combinations.  All of them are pretty hideous...but this one really popped out.  Seriously...that may be the ugliest uniform top in history.  A giant fucking O?  Aside from how ugly it is...is Oregon now unofficially advertising for Oakley?  I do miss the good 'ol days when Oregon had the awesome "Angry Donald" logo.  But apparently those days are long gone.

Actually, I think this is a trend for most sports team...they've tried to make logos look tougher and cooler, but usually it also ends up looking less interesting and more generic.  Or just stupider.  Oregon State is another good example...they went from this to this.  And there are many other examples..not just of logo's but also helmets and uniforms.  Why do teams go from unis that look sharp to unis that look stupid?  It's a mystery to me.

Man, I hate the last few days before a vacation (I know I've lamented this before)...but just 4 more work days until I have 5 glorious days off!  YAY!!   

Saw that Michael Crichton died today. I don't think anybody is going to confuse him as a literary genius of our time or anything, but I know I was always entertained by his books.  Jurassic Park was probably one of the first novels I ever read that wasn't written for the child/adolescent demographic.  Probably my favorite book by him was The Andromeda Strain, which I guess shouldn't come as a huge surprise considering my career.  I probably didn't make the connection at the time though (this was long before I decided to go into pharmacy), but in hindsight, I was always interested in the health sciences.  I remember as a little kid reading a book about viral diseases.  Obviously it was a book geared towards kids, but still...it was about viral diseases.  And I remember being totally fascinated by it, learning about the diseases, what caused them, the symptoms, and how they were treated. 

So it got me to thinking...growing up, I always just assumed that I would end up working for my dad...because that's just what made sense to me in my mind as a child.  You know, kinda like assuming that everybody just got married and there wasn't really any work or effort involved in that happening.  But with all the stuff I was interested in, sciences relating to people (whether it be health science or sociology/psychology) was always the thing I was most interested in.  And, lo and behold, I work in a health science career now for a living.  So my question is this: Do we choose a career, or does a career choose us?  Think about school when you were a little kid-there was classes that you liked and classes that you didn't.  Stuff you found interesting and stuff you didn't.  But it's not really a conscious thing.  For some reason, we're all just hard-wired to find some things enjoyable and some not.

I find this a bit interesting.  I don't really believe in predestination, but in some ways it's kinda true right?  Sure, we have the free will to do whatever we want, but for the most part we're going to choose to do things that we like and choose not to do things we don't like.  So we have free will, but it's influenced by things that we can't always explain.  I can't tell you why I like football but don't like soccer.  I can tell you I think soccer is boring to watch, but I don't really have a reason to think that.  And I doubt I could choose to like soccer all of a sudden.  Can you force yourself to like something?  I don't know.  And if that's the case, do we ever really choose anything? 

Um...not really sure how I got from Michael Crichton dying to a philosophical discussion about free will.  But there you go!

Yay for Obama winning! Now we can all celebrate. In like 3 months when Bush is actually no longer the president. The next four years should be interesting, with a Democrat president and a Democratic House and Senate. We'll finally get to see if the way of the Democratic party is better, or if it's all just the same old BS. But no need to worry about that today.

Anyway, I'm at work and I have no tech so it's kinda busy. So I guess that's about it.

Yay again!!!

The election is tomorrow...thank god. Actually, I was ready for the election to be over like...during primary season, but that's not the point. If I have to see one more commercial for one of the propositions on the ballot, I am going to have to punch one of my cats. And I don't really want to do that. All the props in California this year are really dumb. They're either just horrible ideas (like Props 4 and 8) or good ideas in theory that won't actually work (like Props 7 and 10). I'll probably only end up voting yes on like 3 or 4 of them...which is pretty sad.
I'm also kinda tired of hearing why I should or should not vote for one candidate or the other. I've already decided. I already decided months ago. So let's just get this thing over with!
The good news-the Washington Redskins lost this week. In 17 of the last 18 elections, if the Redskins win their game the week before the election, the incumbent party stays in office. If they lose, the incumbent party loses the office. Of course, the exception was in 2004...although you could argue that since the election was stolen* by the incumbent party, it doesn't really count.
Anyway, everybody go vote tomorrow (or if you already did through an absentee ballot or whatever then good work). Because voting rules.