A whole mess of stuff

Drats! I’ve been found out!

The neighbor’s open internet connection is now password protected. I guess it had to happen eventually, but I figured it may not, because I am not downloading mass amounts of things through their connection, the home landline is much better for those purposes even if it’s almost always in use by someone else.

I’ve found that my amp makes a great single speaker for my room, plug in the laptop and crank out the tunes!

Dear Miller Light truly you are a tasty cheap beer, no PBR, but tasty nonetheless.

So many things to blog about, where to start?

My birthday came around about nine days ago. Rachel was in town. It was a great weekend, and what really made it incredible was a trip to Lula’s for dinner and a visit to my new favorite bookstore afterwards. Lula Café played host to what I believe to be the greatest dinner I’ve had in my life. It was a real restaurant, with emphasis on presentation. I’d really never experienced anything quite like it. All of the food came from local sources, which made it doubly cool. Not to mention that I do not think that anything as delicious as this has ever crossed my lips before. After dinner we were off to Quimby’s. Now let me tell you what, I love that place. With a selection of comics the likes of which I’ve never seen in my life and collections upon collections of diy zines, how could it not be? I honestly spent more time trying to comprehend everything that I was seeing, then looking at everything that I was seeing. Next time I will remedy this. I highly recommend it to any and everyone who visits the good city.

As you know from the previous post, I then took an impromptu visit to Grand Rapids with the lady. It was a good, fairly uneventful trip. And in a stark contrast to how I normally operate, it was exactly what I needed.

Last night I went to Brazzaz, a Brazilian steakhouse downtown with Matt, Chester, Ben, Christy, Joel, and Amy, (I believe that I remembered his wife’s name correctly). It was all you can eat and did we ever. These people just walked around with these skewers of the greatest steak, chicken, lamb, etc. and cut you off some. I had to have eaten minimum two to three lbs of meat. It’s was crazy and I was crazy full upon leaving. The best steaks of my life. Matt and Chester picked up my tab as a birthday gift, thanks guys!

Rachel gave me a new messenger bag for my birthday; something that I was in desperate need of. Thanks babe!

I’m incredibly psyched for 24 tonight!

I’ve been on a reading mini-binge as of late. It has been so refreshing. Since I last blogged I have finished World War Z. Started and finished Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner, (more to come on that one). Started and finished Carnet de Voyage by Craig Thompson, which was his sketchbook/journal from his time in Europe in promotion of his outstanding graphic novel Blankets. I loved getting a glimpse in to his life, thoughts, muses, the sites he saw, and the interactions with both locals and fans and friends both old and new. Back to Mudhouse. I need to reread it. I loved it. It tells the tale of Lauren’s desire to find out how she may incorporate many of the practices of her Jewish upbringing with her newfound Christianity. I will try to write more in depth on the actual substance of the book at a later time.

Currently Listening to… All things Sufjan Stevens
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Living With the Living
(here's a little taste from a song off it performed live by the man himself)

Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (if you haven't heard the first single stream it from the link)

Currently Reading… Project: Romantic – An anthology dedicated to love and love stuff
Girl Meets God – Lauren Winner
Box Office Poison – Alex Robinson

Up, Up, and Away

So as a spur of the moment decision, I'm taking a little vacation in Grand Rapids. One semi-unexpected benefit of this is that I'm really not wasting the mass amounts of time that I have in the day. Since I know virtually no one here, I have the entire day to devote to looking for a job and all of the other things that I'm not, but should be doing.

It's snowing here, it reminds me of those lazy Tech days when I would sit down and just watch the snow come lightly down. It's one of those snows that I love. It's not blustery or coming down hard. It just exists. I wouldn't even say that the snow is falling, it seems to harsh. There is simply snow in the air and fluttering this way and that, but mainly it is moving steadily, slowly, downward with a new flake to take it's place as each descends. There is simply snow in the air, and I love it.

The bitter cold has broken and while I hear from some people that it will return shortly, I am happy about this spell and will savor every moment of it.

I'm in the coffee shop again. I love sitting down, drinking and thinking. About nothing. Nothing in particular at least. And writing. I would like to be writing more, I would always like to be writing more. A stark contrast to my youth. Writing was always an arduous task for me. Something a dreaded in my youth. Something that did not come easily to me. So many things came easily to me; I had little to no roadblocks in whatever I did. It's hard to say now that I wish I did have those roadblocks. But I almost do. If there were more present in my life would I have buckled? Would I have persevered? That I didn't seems almost unfair, that I was intrinsically inclined to excel at almost all I undertook. Why was I blessed with so much while others were to struggle through. Not that I am that full of myself that I think I am great at nearly everything I have done, mind you. I have been soft because of this. In the beginning of college I did little to no work, and I received A's. Again everything came so easily. When things finally decided to become harder, I learned that I could not simply put forth zero effort anymore. It was a shock to the system. I failed classes because I didn't attend them or do any work for them. I buckled. I saw something difficult and decided it would be easier to do nothing at all. However, I have bounced back since then. I have rediscovered a love of learning. A love of things that do not come easily for me. I'm reveling in it. I want to accomplish great things. If I am greatly gifted in something I want to pursue it further, not simply stop when I believe that it is becoming difficult. I believe that I am capable of great things. But back to where this began... writing. I've developed a desire to write. I love it. It's cathartic. It's different. I think that it has helped me to gain perspective on myself and life. And no matter if I am not a good writer, it is rewarding.

My goal for this week is to apply for a decent number of jobs. No set total. Just an amount that makes me feel comfortable, that makes me feel as if I put forth a good effort and made headway.

I'm happy, relaxed, and really feeling good about life. It's nice.

Currently Listening to... A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes, and Life

Currently Reading... World War Z

Business Analyst

Oh man....

As crazy as it seems I think that I finally found out what I want to do for my first job out of college. The answer is in the title... business analyst. So, I was busy scouring the net for a job, any job. In other words I'm sick of not having one. Then I came across a posting for a business analyst position for a gas company in Hotlanta and I thought, "I could totally do this!" And as such I have finally found a way to narrow down what I want to do. I'm actually going to find a job now. I'm, yet again, TomCruisePumpedtm. Even if I don't work for this company that I found, I know what I'm going to do for my first job now and that has me excited.

Rachel is coming on in to town tomorrow as well; another thing for me to be TomCruisePumpedtm about.

I'm turning 25 on this Saturday. This will be one of the last significant birthdays that I will have. 25 just seems like it's the beginning of adulthood. The beginning of being old. The beginning of the end? Not really that one, but it's fun to say to old people. I'm out of college. It's time to live. I couldn't be happier.

Now Reading... World War Z

Now Listening to... Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards (it's amazing)

P.S. if you are looking for an enjoyable novel I highly recommend Diane Setterfield's - The Thirteenth Tale. An excellent story all around.

Daaaaannnng It's cold

Even after all of the time that I spent up at Tech, I'm still fazed by this cold-snap. Now it's finally supposed to break, if you can call it that, on Wednesday and the scheduled temperature is about 18 degrees or so. I think that this is the first time in my life that I'm happy that it's going to be in the teens. I believe that it hit on Thursday and has pretty much stayed like this for the duration. Again... I'm pumped like Tom Cruise for the teens. (Out of context, that sentence is and was hilarious)

The Bears game didn't exactly go as I predicted. Humble-pie devoured.

As much as I don't want to say that we have a quarterback problem... we might. Rex has so many things that he needs to work on. As of now, he is not a franchise quarterback. But I really want him to become one. I want a 3rd to 4th round qb in the upcoming draft that may be able to put Rex on the hot seat, or a free agent that may compete for the job... i.e. better than Griese.

Currently reading... World War Z, and Thirteenth Tale (audiobook)

Currently listening to... Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry

Two Awesome Things

As I speak I am coming off of a four hour long bender from guitar hero. It is simply the greatest thing ever invented and way more fun than it should be. That's the first awesome thing. The second is that it just turned midnight and that means that it is superbowl day! Oh it's on. Prediction... Bears - 394, Colts - 0

Currently reading... World War Z, The Thirteenth Tale (audiobook)

Currently listening to... Against Me!

Groundhoggles

So I did one awesome thing today... and that's watch the movie Groundhog's Day. It's just as good as I ever remember it being.



I needed to get out of the house so I headed on down to where I am now, Beaners. MMMmm... coffee. I never thought that I would see the day where I would say that, but as a few of you know I've made it my goal to start to drink coffee. And after a half a year, I've totally got this taste acquired. *Backs up to the beginning of the day* So, I spent a good portion of this morning just surfing around and looking for a job and the one thing that I have a hard time decifering is which of the fifty-million jobs out there are decent and worth persuing. That's the hardest part for me right now. I'm feeling better about it now.. i.e. not as anxious to just have a job. Which is good. I really just don't want to take the first thing that I'm offered. (Which I didn't).

So I also got this great idea. Using the magic of bittorrent I'm now downloading audiobooks to listen to while I'm doing dealer trades for my dad. I did one the other day and was listening to Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. Here's the thing that I find interesting about audiobooks in my albeit short experiences so far. It takes a little bit to get accostomed to hearing a book. You know how some books take a little bit to get into, well now you have that combined with getting into a frame of mind to listen. It can be work sometimes. You have to pay attention, (at least I do), because you can lose track of what is happening easily. In this respect it is much like reading as well, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets into a reading mode in which all of a sudden you realize that you really haven't taken in anything for the last few pages and have to back up. The similarities are actually vast yet with slight differences. As for the book itself. I'm four cd's in and it's good. Very engrossing. So far it gets a thumbs up.

Currently Listening to... Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
Rival Schools - United by Fate (Thank you Patrick)

Currently Reading... World War Z
(audiobook) The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

Oh and also, spring is right around the corner! The bitter cold tells lies!