Things I'm excited about

1. DRINKELODEON event tomorrow. Don't know what to expect but am excited nonetheless
2. Fall kickball league. New team, potential douches. Hotter girls. Excited to have it back in my life.
3. New team and league for hockey this fall/winter. More competitive league with less old timers. Wednesday nights, starts in September. Hockey Wednesday, Kickball Thursdays = my new weekend.
4. Potential Beer bust at Saturini's in EP next Saturday for the new hockey team. $5-$10 for Beer all day/night. Come on out.
5. To hear the details of Illman bringing home a fat girl while he was in New York from Egan.
6. Winning the powerball tomorrow.

SHIT, them boys havin the time of their lives!

Coming Soon

An update!

What a lovely time of year

It was brought to my attention by a couple different outlets that my NHL season predictions were spot on. Some were in such aw that they just had to hear what I had to say about the NHL playoffs, which start tonight. There wish is my command. Once again, I advise you all to call your bookies or a friend in Vegas and bet your 401k (do those even exist anymore?) on these predictions.

I'll just keep it simple and start with first round match-ups. It wont matter because I can just add on my second round-semis-and final round predictions as they go because they will be a carbon copy of what actually happens.

Western Conference Match-Ups

San Jose vs. Anaheim
Sharks in 5. MVP Dan Boyle scores 4 goals and 4 assists in five games. Storyline: Chris Pronger attacks team and demands trade to Leafs and his butt buddy Burke after series is over.

Detroit vs. Columbus
Red Wings in 7. MVP Johan Franzen scores 6 goals making his shitty new contract seem even more ridiculous. Storyline: Detroit barely escapes first round behind terrible goaltending from Osgood and Conklin, call Howard up.

Vancouver vs. St. Louis
Blues in 7. MVP Chris Mason battles Roberto Luongo all series long but by the time game seven rolls around Luongo is so intimidated by Mason's beard that he can't focus- Nucks lose 0-4. Storyline: Anti-fan Tyler P. Hoiseth of Wayzata, Minnesota falls in love with one of his biggest nemesis, TJ Oshie.

Chicago vs. Calgary
Flames in 7. MVP Michael Cammalleri nets 13 points in 7 games making Kings fans ponder "why?" for another two weeks. Storyline: Color blind people across North America struggle to wonder who to cheer for throughout the series but figure they will win in the end.

Eastern Conference Match-Ups

Boston vs. Montreal
Bruins in 6. MVP Milan Lucic single handily distracts the Canadiens from actually playing hockey. Storyline: Andrei Markov returns to the Canadiens line-up for game 2 only to be injured again in his second shift.

Washington vs. New York
Capitals in 5. MVP Alexander Ovechkin scores 7 goals in 5 games. Storyline: Don Cherry's head explodes on live television when Ovechkin celebrates all seven goals with passion. Non retarded people around the world celebrate.

New Jersey vs. Carolina
Devils in 7. MVP Zach Parise leads plyoff goal scoring with 11 goals. Storyline: Staal brothers hit by a truck at an end of the year gathering. Eye witness: Brothers were taunting traffic...again!

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
Flyers in 7. MVP Danny Briere explodes back into relevance with 12 points. Storyline: Shocked that four players on his own team finished with more penalty minutes, Daniel Carcillo makes it his goal to somehow surpass his psycho brethren. Related story: Sidney Crosby cries in post game interview.

So there you have it. As far as who I want to win goes, I can really say I have no preference. The match-ups are all incredible if you ask me. It is more of who I don't want to win it rather than who I'm rooting for.

Who I don't want to win and why.
Detroit. Why? Chris Williams.
Anaheim. Why? Chris Pronger.
Vancouver. Why? 2003
Carolina. Why? I miss the Whalers.
Philadelphia. Why? Scott Hartnell
Pittsburgh. Why? Sidney Crosby.


I must say that I had been kind of down and out about the playoffs and really not even that amped up for them. After all, we had to watch the Wild all year. Also because I was in attendance for the Nashville game where they looked amazing. People walked out of that building holding onto the slightest hope that we could sneak in, only to be hit with reality two short hours later. They missed the playoffs by two points. That hurts. What hurts more is that they will probably not be even close to making the second season for a while now. Lemaire is gone. As much as I'm looking forward to a new playing style for the future I can't help but wonder what this team would of looked like with any other coach this year. It would have been ugly. Gaborik is gone without a doubt. So its up to Doug Risebrough to put together a new make-up and team. Does anyone have confidence in this man? You're kidding yourself if you do. He did a fantastic job early on in this franchise but since the lockout he really has nothing to show. My pessimism isn't anything new. As a Minnesota sports fan I'm conditioned to failure. I won't even get into Tampa Bay's season this year.

That has been my mood since around Friday night. It quickly changed as I put together this post and actually looked into some of these exciting match ups. I also strolled over to youtube and watched some season highlight reels and those got me more in the mood for hockey. On top of this the weather outside is perfect and I came to the conclusion that it is a glorious time of the year so I should buck up about the downer MN sports teams.

I'm just going to get busy living...for a month because we're booted from this home then and I'm more than likely Young American bound.

Long live the NHL

-thoy.

This Just In...

...there have already been more buzzer beaters in the NCAA hockey tourney than in the basketball tourney.

Why don't you do something about it basketball?

The SHL in the early 90's???

Bizzaro, cooler group of peeps if I do say so myself.

St. Patricks Day

I had this post all complete last night and than all of a sudden my computer went bonkers with virus'. It was absurd. I got it up and rolling though without having to completely reformat like last time so hopefully it can hang in there for a little while.

Anyway, I thought I would pay homage to the Irish on this beatiful holiday by recognizing some of my favorite micks from television.











EDIT




That is all.

It's MOYD season!

I apologize for yet another broken promise on a post. I put it off like always. I had a major set back immediately though. I was disappointed and embarrassed about it so I couldn't bring myself to talking about it. I regained courage though and started the running diary over at the old stomping ground Thoys Life. I'm going to keep this blog relatively clean so you can catch up on my discomforts over there.

-Thoy

P.S. I would love to hear the argument that won the rights for the Girls to play at Xcel this year.

Thoy's Oscar Preview (sort of but not really)

Not really a preview but basically my uneducated opinions on the films I saw this past year. Don't worry about spoilers because there are none.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Terrible. Don't ever bother with it. Don't even think about thinking about renting it if you ever see it on the shelf. Just don't do it. Save your time. Unless of course you're in need of a sleeping aid, than by all means view Mr. Buttons. Sure I can appreciate the cinematography and the make-up and all that jazz but there are plenty of other films that I can say the same about that also don't bore me to death.

The Wrestler
Wasn't a big fan of this or Rourke's performance. I mean it was okay and Rourke pretty much nailed it but I didn't feel the role was that hard to nail. I think I stand alone. Maybe if I were a little older and experienced the whole Mickey blows his life away ordeal I could appreciate it more? But hey, I saw Rumble Fish and loved him in that so I have cred there. Marrisa Tomei loved to show her boobs in this though so that was nice. I can't not recommend it though because I can see a lot of people liking it so go see it at the two dollar theater, or rent it as soon as its on dvd.

Note: I got my two downer movies out the way. I loved something about everything else pretty much.

Milk
Sean Penn was great. I guess the purpose of the film was successful because I had never heard of Harvey Milk before I saw this. Now I know that he was a gay dude who ran repeatedly for a small political position and eventually won. The supporting cast looks amazing on paper but really didn't deliver. James Franco basically plays a gay version of Harry (When he's not the Goblin)from Spider Man. Emile Hirsch was okay but they never really seem to develop his character but that is understandable because the film is called Milk, not Cleve Jones. Josh Brolin's performance is highly overrated. Didn't do anything at all for me. Wait to see this when its showing on the LOGO channel.

Frost/Nixon
I liked it. I wasn't at the edge of my seat at all though and there were definitely moments I felt like they were trying to be "edge of your seat" moments. I can't help but think I would really enjoy the play over the motion picture. History interests me and this is one of the most historical events (Watergate that is) of The United States. Watch it when it's on HBO

Slumdog Millionaire
A very cheesy story that I was completely into. I didn't see it until after the Golden Globes and some other awards show and they kept showing that same clip when he phones a friend and that girl runs to the phone trying to get there in time. I watched that clip and thought, "this looks terrible, what the fuck." But hey, the way the story is set up is a simple concept that I can dig. Not to mention that it is visually intriguing. After the hype of it I wouldn't race to see it if you haven't yet just because I did this with Juno and couldn't stand that. So what I would do is Redbox it for free with one of those promo codes.

The Reader
Loved it. Kate Winslet was fantastic. Plus she loves to show her tits too (bonus!). My only issue is the acting in the male lead. Not Ralph Fiennes but the younger version. Something about him really bothered me throughout the entire film. I can't really put my finger on it so I just blame it on being German. Don't rush to see it. Just google Kate Winslet nude for the time being and wait for it to show up on an Encore channel in a few years.

Doubt
I loved pretty much everything about this film from start to finish. Production, story, acting, it was all wonderful. I'm a little annoyed that it isn't nominated for best film. Every actor in it is nominated but the director and film itself got no love. If you're a catholic and have been raped by a priest like me, go see it right away. If you're not a catholic but want to laugh at the corruption, go see it right away.

Gran Torino
Thought it was awesome. Awesome is not an adjective that I would use on a lot of the other nominees but this was AWESOME. And what do you know, it got no love from the Academy. Probably because people like me think its awesome. I guess I can understand why, because the acting is pretty awful by everyone in this, including Eastwood. But man, it is absolutely hilarious for the first 80 minutes. Plus the ending is, one more time...awesome. See this immediately if you want to learn some new racist vocabulary. Like "spooks" for black people. Hilarious.

Rachel Getting Married
My favorite film not named In Bruges of the year. I don't think a lot of people know much about it so here is the trailer.


Even watching that makes me happy. I actually feel very silly for liking it so much. But you know what? Chris Connelly loves it as much as I do, so it's cool. Fun Fact that I had to google because it drove me nuts the entire duration of the movie, The man Rachel is marrying is the lead singer of TV on the Radio. So good for him for having a sweet new album out and being in a great film, I guess. I'm a little embarrassed by my excitement for this so I couldn't really handle rejection from others due to my recommendation. So don't see it. I'll keep it all to myself.

The Visitor
A cute, sad, little film that I enjoyed. I don't think anything else really needs to be said.

Vicky Christina Barcelona
I enjoyed this quite a bit. Can't really argue with a Woody Allen film featuring three beautiful ladies who like to make love to a beautiful man. It is quirky and the narration might bother some people but I would recommend this as a great date night film. I have used it recently for that and it worked out perfecttttt...god I'm so lonely!

On to the awards.
Best Picture

It has to go to Slumdog. I'm okay with that I suppose because it was super entertaining for me. I wouldn't be upset if The Reader won but if any of the other three somehow steals it I might write an angry letter.

Best Actor
I think it's a toss up between Rourke and Penn. Rourke's got the town on his back but might have ticked off some of the members of the academy because he has been partying a little hard lately. Penn was good enough to steal Rourke's thunder. Plus we know how much they love homosexual roles. Pitt sucked, Langella was ok, and Richard Jenkins should be very satisfied that he was nominated.

Best Supporting Actor
* Josh Brolin in “Milk” - NO!
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” - Never saw it but he was funny in the trailer
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” - Very solid. Who I want to win.
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” - Very Solid. Who will win. I'm actually a little nervous that I might cry when his little 3 year old daughter comes up for the statue.
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” - Never saw this. Heard it was boring.

Best Actress

* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” - Obvi my choice
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” - Never saw. Heard it wasn't that great
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” - Never saw, nor know anything about
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” - Excellent. I hate the Streep hype but she sold me in this.
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” -Thanks for the tits Kate. I have a feeling you'll win. Please don't cry.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in “Doubt” - Super Job. You're a young, good looking, talented, female actress. You have at least 3 more years until your looks fade and you're dependent solely on your skills.
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” At the beginning of the film I said, "Damn, no one is as good looking as Scarlett" than about 40 minutes later Penelope came onto screen and I said, "Damn bitch, you just ousted Scarlett"
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” - This chick was in the movie for basically 1 scene! Yeah it was a great screen but man I wish I could focus on a performance for one scene and than get nominated for an Oscar.
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - Ok, you were very cute lady, but the movie was just that terrible that I can't root for you.
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” - You'll win. Congrats. Tell Vinny I said hi.

I'll end with the predictions/thoughts there. I feel like I'm dragging on quite a bit. Just wanted to point out that the Academy is worthless. In Bruges was completely overlooked. If you haven't seen this, go buy/rent now. It is wonderful. You'll love it. I'm happy that I got the invite to Molly and Steve's for the viewing once again. We had a ton of fun last year so hopefully we can repeat some of that.

It's kind of late and I gotta work at 9. I won Chris' drawing and will be attending the Red Wings game with him tomorrow night. I look forward to that. I will be checking in here soon with my upcoming plans for lent. So until than, have a good one and drive safe out there.

-rp mcmurphy

eh dere

I had to comment on tonight's premiere of Survivor real quick because something has been bugging me. To you fellas out there, and if you happen to not be a fella pretend to be one for a second, who would rather spend time with while stranded on Survivor, in 120 degree heat and skimpy clothing, and close living quarters?

The beautiful Carolina?


Or Ms.Crabtree


?

I don't understand what goes through the heads of these young men. I need to get on Survivor. Like right now. This has happened every season for as long as I can remember. 1st vote = get rid of the hottest chick that was cast for the show. I just did some quick research and looked up the first people voted off of Survivor. Here is what I found:

Michelle (was actually pretty strong too. It didn't make any sense)


Mary (First to go after Johnny Fair Play quit)


Ashley (She was that pro wrestler girl. There are actual nudes of her online. Technically she was 2nd voted off but I don't think we can count Chicken Man)


Do you get my point. No?

Jessica (The only one you could really even look at from this particular season)


Cecilia (Ok she was third, but very good looking)


Brianna


There is a theme here. The list goes on for pretty much 18 seasons. All this post is probably doing is angering those who care, maybe two people. And with that, laaaaaater.

-dick-tation

"Han Solo never fucked Princess Leia in no Star War..."

I didn't see much of the Grammy's last night because I was watching some new shows on over at MTV. Rob Dyrdek's new one, that college humor show and Travis Pastrana's new one. I loved Rob and Travis' shows and thought there was some good stuff in the college humor one, though I don't think they'll ever make anything as funny as those meeting skits where they talk in internet slang the entire time (see those here). The only thing I caught from the Grammy's was Taylor Swift and Miley's performance. I shed some tears there because it was so beautiful. I caught up on some stuff though over at durden today though. Like Radioheads pretty sweet performance...

Radiohead - 15 Step
by Alisvideo

and Katty Perry's ginormous tits...



I also caught the tail end of some riveting performances from Kid Rock and that klan* of T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye, Lil Wayne, and M.I.A. Needless to say I wasn't upset that I missed the ceremony. Music sucks now. Whenever I think about the Grammy's I think of that Simpsons episode that shits on them. I actually think there are a couple of episodes that do. Anyway, for those that watched you might find some humor in quest loves running twitter from the night.. I saw that over at Estaban's blog.

Yeah, basically a nonsense post that was an excuse for me to get back into the swing of things with html codes. Righty-o. Good day. Stay dry.

Your basic, run of the mill, update that you have seen from me numerous times

So I'm not in the type of zone that I usually try to be in before updating for the first time after awhile, but I have put this off long enough so I'm just going to go for it. This is the update where I bore most of you with my current doings.

Hi my name is Thoy. I'm 22 years old. I'm a carpenter. I'm also a salesman/skate sharpener/basement dweller at General Sports. I like to play hockey. I like to watch television and movies. I like to listen to talk radio. I like to play trivia at the bars. I like to party.

I don't know why I just did that.

Right, so yeah I started working at General Sports about a month ago. I got thrown into the mix on a super busy Saturday after the New Year and somehow I landed on my feet and earned the trust of my peers. I enjoy the job thoroughly. I work with hockey players who like to drink so I kind of fit right in. My brother landed me the job and I'm forever grateful for him for this because man has work died off with my dad and I. We had all these projects lined up for after the holidays but they kept getting pushed further and further back or got canceled. Go economy! So if I didn't have the excitement of a new job my days would be spent watching my mind lose itself. Plus its nice to actually work with other people that aren't my father for the first time in a few years. I haven't driven them nuts for 20+ years yet so they have more patience with my antics. Well all of them except my brother. He is an extremely hard worker and has always made me look bad. I'm just trying to keep up with him so people can't say things like, "I see that all the hard working genes must have skipped a beat" or something like that. I don't know. That sounded stupid.

Other than that I have been playing hockey. I didn't get outdoors as much as I would have liked to because of the new job and all but that's alright. Our Monday night mens spring league starts up on Monday so that will be nice.

Note: I started this entry over 24 hours ago and put it off. Since I started this I have started to play Zelda for the first time in two years (never actually beat The Twilight Princess), watched the Edina-Minnetonka hockey game (Edina got crushed. I look forward to talking to the citizens of Edina about how the team just isn't jelling right now, they need more secondary scoring, but they have plenty of time to get it back together before playoffs, tomorrow at work.), watched The Office, (hilarious. "Is that Jim's!"), ate shit on a patch of ice outside my house, played trivia (placed 4th. won a free drink. We got fucked hard in the music round. One team absolutely killed it though so we didn't have a chance for 1st), returned to playing Zelda (I somehow beat a dungeon with some beers and a few cocktails in me. My puzzle skills are still alive apparently), watched "Vicky, Christina, Barcelona" (I thought it was pretty solid), watched an episode of LOST (I like where this season is going), an episode of The Real World (I have a boner for Ryan. I think he is an interesting person. I also have a boner for that tranny Katelyn, damn she fine), thought about the plot of Eyes Wide Shut extensively while I was taking a shower (Up until the orgy scene that movie is just a bunch of nothing), ran up to General Sports, ran to the bank, and than I returned here.

And because of the pause I now have another paragraph of junk.

So what else about the current rp mcmurphy? I'm a dirty bastard right now. Not really different I guess 'cause I'm a dirty bastard probably 10 months out of the year. My beard is starting to turn red, which is usually my calling card to shave. The mop of a haircut I have is starting to become a tangled mess and is bothering my brother at work. He is the only one that has told me to get it cut though. Everyone else just tells me that I look exactly like he did when he started there. They called him Bob Seager and thus the reason I'm called the son of Bob Seager by one employee. I told Andy and Chris this already, but one of the girls that just started working there asked me if I was in a band and said I looked like I was, my erection poked her eye out I'm pretty sure.

I don't listen to much music anymore, sadly. My computer crashed a while back and I have not yet gone through the process of ripping all of my cds. The idea of going through that for a third time kind of frightens me so it might be awhile before I actually do. I only have a few albums on my computer right now. One being Lykke Li's album, which I'm listening to right now and am quite fond of. I only went to one concert this past year as well which is kind of discouraging in a way, but I just can't afford shows anymore. Instead I spend my money at bars on trivia night.

The Oscars are around the corner so I have been trying to watch some of the nominated films because I always watch that hanus award ceremony anyway and it's always better if you have actually seen some of the films. I'll post about what I thought of the films once I've viewed more. I'll just say that In Bruges is still my favorite film of the past year. Highly underrated.

I haven't really been reading that much. I read "Boys Will Be Boys" by Jeff Pearlman. It chronicles the rise and fall of the Cowboys dynasty of the 90's. Some of the stuff is pretty crazy, the partying, drugs, hookers, and whatnot. Highly entertaining. I started Dennis Leary's new book but only got about half way before I had to return it to the library. Some of the passages were absolutely hilarious though. But yeah, our book club never really took off. Oh well, maybe sometime when we're older and grow vagina's and need an excuse to get out of the house away from our alcoholic husbands we'll get it going.

We have been spending a lot of time at Chris' and Illman's house sitting gig. The house is gorgeous. I think I like to be over there because it's like living in a house that I know I'll never be able to afford ever in my lifetime. So I might as well experience it for 6 months.

I want a dog to call my own. Unfortunately I don't think I have the funds to support one. I would buy one and than become piss poor broke and become homeless and be one of those homeless people that has a dog. I'm the type of person that sees that scene and feels more sorry for the dog than the human. The people who Chris and Illman are house sitting for have my dream set up for pooches. 1 black lab, 1 chocolate lab, 1 beagle. Perfect.

As I have said before numerous times, the future of this blog is bright... Hopefully I stay up with this time. If I don't I see no other option but opening of the MOYD diaries for this upcoming lent season. But that's a few weeks away so we'll see how I do.

That is all for now my fellow Americans/Canadians/Hispanics. Hopefully I did not bore you as much as I bored myself while writing this.

-The Fuck Tard, thoy

I'm Back! (in pog form)

This is my half ass attempt at returning to the blogosphere. I'm a little drunk so I'll leave more serial topics for a latter date. I just wanted to point out that my new years resolution was not in fact to quit smoking cigs, drinking, jerking, or to lose weight or stop drinking soda, or to stop cussing so much, or to stop ridiculing my family members, or to save some money, or to find a girl, or to get better at writing, hockey, selling myself. My New Years resolution was actually to blog more. I dropped the ball big time on that. But (dear English majors of the 20th century, I love starting my sentences with but. I always have and I always will. I don't care what you think of that. Judge me, fuck you I don't care, I'm doing it) Sean's recent return to this world has giving me the urge to return. While I'm prepared to return with some semi rational thoughts, this is not the post to do that. I promise to return the 1st of the month they call February. I never really got that first r they put in there. It makes people like me, who sound shit out, look a little mental. Instead of something people might actually read I will instead post something that people will mos definitely not read. It is one of those random list things that use to circulate live journal (if you want to find out what a wino I was you can visit my old lj at www.livejournal.com/users/thoy ) Don't ask me why I'm doing it. Well actually I'll answer that. I'm doing it because I ran across one of them on a blog of a forum pal's site that I go to everyday. http://estebanwaseaten.tumblr.com/ is the site and he is a goddamn pop culture king and would kill it on trivia nights at the bar. So if you hate what I'm about to do you can blame him. So without anymore rambling, here we go....

Thirteen Things I Love (Note, I'm going to steal some things from estaban's blog that I agree with cause that makes me have to type less. I'll bold those):

1. Hockey. Playing it and watching it. Why so few sports writers in America don't appreciate it boggles my mind.
2. Noodles, pasta, anything involving that stringy grain.
3. Fantasy Sports. It gives me something to research 365 days out of the year
4. Thrift shops.
5. The East Coast.
6. Girls with red hair.
7. Girls with accents.
8. Chipotle. Specifically Chipotle Steak, no beans, corn, extra sour cream and cheese, and lettuce.
9. The Legacy. I have probably spent about half the amount I paid for the dyke mobile in repairs but I still love er.
10. Mixtapes.
11. College b-ball.
12. Podcasts.
13. Cold weather

Twelve Things About Me:

1. I puke when I drink a lot. I usually feel shame when I fall asleep after throwing up but when I make up in the morning I usually fist pump because my hangover is less severe.
2. I think the porno industry in very intriguing.
3. I shower daily. Hard to believe, I know.
4. Before Justin put the pull up bar in the laundry room I could only do about 3 tops. Now I can pump out 10.
5. If I could afford it I would buy Jameson Whisky every time I went to the liquor store. I would never think twice about something higher than that.
6. I think finding new music is a chore.
7. My eyes are the most endearing quality about me physically.
8. I like watching shows like scarred because it makes me love my ability at falling gracefully.
9. Any show that incorporates some sort of montage during one of its episodes usually makes me love the entire series.
10. I believe long johns should turn on females when in actuality they turn them off.
11. I have never skied, snowboarded, or water skied in my life.
12. If people on my hockey team knew I wrote a blog like this I probably wouldn't be invited back for spring league.

Eleven Foods I Love:

1. Pasta obvi
2. Chipotle ovbi
3. Pizza
4. Walleye
5. Roast beef
6. Corned beef and cabbage
7. Grilled cheese and tomato soup
8. Cranberry chicken
9. String cheese
10. Sun flower seeds
11. Any sort of egg role

Ten Albums To Which I Still Rock Out:

1. The Impossibles- Return
2. Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind.
3. Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene
4. Weezer- Blue Album
5. The Rolling Stones- Sticky Fingers
6. Midtown- Save the World, Lose the Girl
7. Atmosphere- Overcast
8. The Hold Steady- Separation Sunday
9. The Twilight Singers- Powder Burns
10. The Plastic Constellations- Mazatlan

Nine Things I Dislike:

1. Losing in the playoffs to a team named the Townies in Mens league when I know that half their team played college hockey and were not in fact a true townie like myself.
2. Public restrooms.
3. Watching movies involving adult situations/dialogue with my parents.
4. Fake boobs.
5. People who take advantage of the 10 items or less line at the grocery store. Specifically elderly people who do. If one more Grandma gets in front of me with 30 items I just might have to make a scene.
6. Serbians...ok basically just Djokovic
7. Anybody in show business striking
8. Whisky cokes heavy on the coke at the bar
9. Not having a cool animal to live with at my current address

Eight Things I Wear Everyday:

1. Underwear
2. Necklace
3. Socks.
4. A pube stricken beard
5. Deodorant.
6. Long hair.
7. A constant look of disappointment
8. A form of pants... I don't know, what a stupid category.

Seven Things I Do Everyday:

1. Go on the internet and check bullshit
2. Tinkle.
3. Drink some form of caffeine whether it be coffee or soda
4. Watch the tele
5. Listen to music.
6. Wish my balance in my bank account was higher.
7. Check the tivo.

Six Current Television Shows I Watch:

1. Damages
2. LOST
3. Top Chef
4. Real World
5. The Office
6. 24

Five Things I Want:

1. Xbox 360 with nhl09
2. Health Insurance
3. A 40 hour week of work with my paps
4. S17 Easton Stick
5. A day in the life of Martin St. Louis

Four Things I Say Too Often:

1. "So"
2. "Yes Sur"
3. "No"
4. “I'm the coolest person in the history of the world. Why I get so much pussy boggles my mind."

Three Things I Wish I Would Do But Never Will (and why):

1. Grow a beard for 2+ months. I lack the willpower.
2. Quit television. I'm addicted basically
3. Join match.com. 'Cause Dr. Phil owns it.

Two Things Without Which I Could Not Survive:

1. The legacy
2. Booze

One Person With Whom You Could Spend the Rest of Your Life:

1. Some red headed Irish chick with a dirty mouth and big tits.

Note Time

Fuck Me!

Only a matter of time- NHL predictions

I got a wicked virus this afternoon from downloading a torrent of the season premiere of Californication. This was one virus I could not fight. With out hesitating I reformatted the hard drive. I'll probably look back in anger on my poor attempt to fight this massive trojan fighting illness but I'll just try to suppress the memory. I haven't had any issues with a computer in a long time so I was quite timid when my desktop became littered with all sorts of porno applications. On the brighter side, my hard drive was pretty close to full and now I don't have to worry about getting a new one. On the not so bright side, I lost all my music and I dread the process of re-ripping all of my albums for the millionth time. I'll probably just avoid it all together and give up on music.

So to look past this unfortunate event I shall move my mind forward and focus on the future with what I think will transgress during the 08-09 NHL season. These choices are not biased what so ever. I have spent the past three weeks dissecting every little bit of information out of every single training camp. If you were smart, you would travel to Las Vegas with a sack full of money with the knowledge you're about to learn.

Northwest Division
1. Minnesota Wild
2. Calgary Flames
3. Edmonton Oilers
4. Vancouver Canucks
5. Colorado Avalanche

Pacific Division
1. LA Kings
2. Phoenix Coyotes
3. Dallas Stars
4. San Jose Sharks
5. Anaheim Ducks

Central Division
1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. Columbus Blue Jackets
3. St. Louis Blues
4. Nashville Predators
5. Detroit Red Wings

Western Conference Final Standings
1. The Wild
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. LA Kings
4. Calgary Flames
5. Columbus Blue Jackets
6. Edmonton Oilers
7. St. Louis Blues
8. Nashville Predators

Eastern Conference

Southeast Division
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Washington Capitals
3. Florida Panthers
4. Atlanta Thrashers
5. Carolina Hurricanes

Northeast Division
1. Boston Bruins
2. Montreal Canadians
3. Buffalo Sabres
4. Toronto Maple Leafs
5. Ottawa Senators

Atlantic Division
1. New Jersey Devils
2. New York Islanders
3. New York Rangers
4. Philadelphia Flyer's
5. Pittsburgh Penguins

Eastern Conference Final Standings
1. Lightning
2. Bruins
3. Devils
4. Caps
5. Canadians
6. Isles
7. Rangers
8. Sabres

Playoffs
Wild beat Preds
Hawks beat Blues
Oilers beat Kings
Flames beat Jackets

Wild beat Oilers
Hawks beat Flames

Wild beat Hawks
--
Lightning beat Sabres
Rangers beat Bruins
Devils beat Isles
Caps beat Canadians

Lightning beat Rangers
Caps beat Devils

Lightning beat Caps
--
The Wild beat The Lightning in 7.

Awards
Hart: Martin St. Louis
Vezina: Karri Ramo
Norris: Brent Burns
Calder: Kyle Okposo
Con Smythe: Martin St. Louis
Lady Byng: Martin St. Louis
Selke: The entire Minnesota offensive roster
Jack Adams: Barry Melrose
Presidents: Tampa Bay Lightning
Art Ross: Martin St. Louis
Maurice Richards: Martin St. Louis

Biggest News Story of the Year: RW Gaborik traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for RW Martin St. Louis. Gaborik pulls groin in first game of the Stanley cup finals versus The Wild. The Wild go on to win in 7 as Martin St. Louis sets records for year end awards.

You heard it here first folks. I just booked my ticket to Vegas. See you there.

O'Rourke's, 1:20am

So I have to apologize for the most recent "return to journaling" entry. It was pretty scattered but give me a break, I spent the prior three months trying to ruin my life. But a return post should be taking on with skepticism.

Right, so in the previous post I started to mention all the things great about fall around here but than went on to only talk about football and than somehow transitioned to a rant about politics (something I'm never proud of). So if you would obliged me, I would like to contribute a couple more great fixtures of the season known as autumn:

-The weather is gorgeous. Thats a fact. Everyone knows it. It doesn't need to be said. Sleeping with the window open waking up cold but not caring even a little bit. I'm back to drinking coffee every morning too. I couldn't stand drinking something so hot and so early during the summer so I started to drink a coke or mountain dew instead. Once again, for about the tenth time this year, I'm trying to lose one of my biggest vices, soda pop. The changing colors are what I love most about this time of year. It is the only time that I actually don't dread the drive out to Young America. The countryside is beautiful and my mood is, no matter what, content. I'm super excited for Halloween. My dad has become quite the gardener out in the boonies and this year we pressured him into trying out pumpkins. He didn't know what to expect getting into it but the patch ended up going well and he's got a good 15-20 pumpkins to choose from. Some are massive too. I hope to get a hold of one of the big ones and carve the shit out of it and cry when some kids smash it while I'm out getting shit faced on the 31st.

-The return of quality television. Who didn't see that coming? My Tivo is happy again. It gets bored and sad in the summer. This is where I pimp a show for those to watch... Californication. It's awesome. Watched the first season in about two, cocktail filled, days when work was slow. I have adopted this tag line for the series, "It's like Entourage, but funny. Plus more boobs." So check it out so I can laugh about it with someone else. I don't feel like getting into all the shows I watch because thats a tired old tale I have done every year in the past. I just wanted to say that the Emmy's are a mess. The only credit they get is for giving Bryan Cranston an award for "Breaking Bad". I mean 30 Rock? Really? I love the show but it's really over hyped. It's just a random show that's funniest jokes are stupid slapstick shit. It's a shame when a show like Arrested Development gets shit on by a network but the same struggling 30 rock gets a new season each year because Alec Baldwin is plastered all over it.

So I have been pretty busy the past couple weeks and that resulted in a lack of posts here. By busy I mean completely bored. I wanted to post but just couldn't bring myself to do so. I started reading instead. I figured I needed to know more about economics and finance in this trying time we live in. To learn more I read "Marley & Me." A tale about a family and a pooch. I feel so much more educated on all the shit that went down last week now. No, but seriously, I had put off reading this book for awhile and now I'm kind of happy I did. We had to put down Lucy this summer. July 5th to be exact. I'll never forget that day because it was one of two experiences during the summer I look back on in agony and it quite possibly might have been the worst day of my twenty two years of existence-> see drinking until 6am getting retarded drunk the prior night-getting a call at 10am to come say goodbye to my dog-getting stuck in an unfinished highway 6 I should of detoured on the way out-getting chased down by a gas station employee because my credit card "didn't register"-having my mother, god bless her heart, tell me while balling her eyes out that I smelt like shit. And I did. I reeked of booze and cigarettes still from the holiday-seeing my dog in extreme pain-bringing her to some old fashioned, country town, veterinarian clinic-having some old fart treat this like every other animal he has put down. No emotion, only difference being it was the day after the 4th and we had to pay extra for getting him to show up- Having the douche not give me or my dad a chance to say one last final goodbye. In case you're wondering that was me venting blog style. But really, reading "Marley & Me" was a great way for me to exude certain feelings I had after Lucy's passing. And for her remembrance heres your prototypical "ahh cute! little kid plus a dog!" picture:

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Work has been a little slow but thats nothing new. I actually have had some fun weekends since last time I checked in though. And because of laziness I shall go to bullet points for the rest of this blog.

• Family events, specifically large events, are a hell of a lot more tolerable now that I don't hesitate to drink at them. I have a rather large extended family and conversations used to be awkward but now they seem to come naturally as long as I have a beer in my hand.

• If you like to drink, learn a little game called boxing. It will get you feeling pretty good.

• Don't play boxing when you know you're getting up at 8 the next morning to go get drunk while tailgating for the Vikings game.

• Also, dearest brother and friends, don't drink a bottle of vodka split only three ways on top of the beer you're drinking. Nothing good can come when you're out in public (see next bulletin point)

• Accidentally spilling beer on the little kid in front of you in the stands is not the best way to break the ice with your newfound neighbors for four quarters.

• Despite engaging in an incredibly random conversation with three extremely nice and hilarious Canadians at halftime, I should of known better leaving the previously mentioned young adults alone. (Consult me for full hilarity of the rest of this adventure which include the story of being kicked out of the game, a neighboring Metrodome bar, and the shadiest strip club this side of the Mississippi River.

• Dry weddings aren't too entertaining. However, I'm happy it was a dry wedding in which my second parents were present. Also, being the sober cab for the people you were with who apparently had been drinking before hand (I didn't help the cause by insisting stopping at a bar before, during, and after the wedding) isn't the funnest way to spend a Friday. I feel your pain Chris.

• Concluding with the theme I started this post with, fall happens to be my favorite time to go to my cabin. In recent years it has become the only time I actually go up there. Spirits are raised when you catch an 18 inch walleye off the dock with your first cast just by using a simple jig stick.

Righty o. I'm going to the Wild's preseason game tomorrow night. I'll report with a summary and my season predictions.

Pause for edits and spell check.

Same Shit, Different Year

Hello, hello, hello. As predicted, this blog took a back seat once summer took off. As also predicted, I return during the time of the fall. I'll stay away from a summer recap because, well, as Tom would put it, you were all there so you know what happened. Well almost all of you were there, at least the people that read this blog were. Mark missed out on the second half of summer and Sean missed out on the first half so those two can just converse and share notes. Noodles? Well I thought you would be here by my side now but your not. Froda? Well you disappointed me this summer so you'd probably rather not see a post about fun things that occurred while you weren't here. I'll just say that it was damn fun as usual and it's a bummer that people are gone. However, once people leave a new kind of fun begins, good ol' fall fun. It's a great time of year for the sports and sweatshirt lovers of America.

My plan? I thought I would be rolling in dough after a summer of work but work turned out to be patchy at best. I'm surviving, but barely. I had hoped to make enough money this summer so I could return to school with a more than full class load and not have to work at the same time. That obviously didn't happen. So I continue with my father and honestly, I'm more than ok with that. I really do enjoy learning something new every day about carpentry. It is a skill that is under appreciated and I'm more impressed with how much my dad knows each new day. I see myself in this career more and more as time goes on. My brother works with us every now and than and I can tell that he would much rather be working with us than in a career involving retail. It just sucks that construction is so down. People are watching every dollar they spend so it leaves us hanging. My dad has dropped his price as everything else in life's price seems to go up. It fucking sucks. But it's times like this that will make the 50+ hours of week, that are hopefully in the near future, bearable and allow me to be more appreciative.

Onto the things in life that make being poor worth living. First off, football. Yesterday was the first full day of NFL games and it was glorious. I brought the computer out into the living room and monitored my fantasy teams as the games went on. It's because of the NFL that if you have a boring Friday or Saturday, you don't care. That doesn't happen during the summer. I'm very pleased with my fantasy teams. Two out of three are stacked, and the other is a big question mark that will make me be a better manager. Having games back makes AM radio that much better too. Hour long segments of what people think will happen are now over. PA's retarded predictions are brought into reality. Common's retarded predictions actually come true. And Hartman is still a loser.

It is an election year. No one around here really seems to care, but thats no surprise. Sean cares though, so its nice to have at least one person to talk about it with- At least while drunk. I'm still 50-50 on who I'm going to vote for. I didn't learn anything from the conventions besides Obama is a good speaker and the Republicans know how to bring fire. So the debates will be worthy of watching. It's hard not to watch all of the shit and be completely cynical about politics. It's also hard not to be completely apathetic about the election because really whoever is elected wont matter to me, personally. That probably sounds pretty contradicting after the first couple of sentences of this paragraph, oh well. My dad told me once that a 20 year old who votes republican has no heart but a 30 year old who votes democrat has no brain. I laughed that off when he told me that but I guess its making more sense as I learn more about politics. All I know is that I don't agree with Obama's oil crisis resolution and that I am for drilling on US soil. I'll end it there because I really didn't want to get into it that much on here.

Monday Night Football tonight. I'm excited. People will probably come over to watch which will be cool because Andy just bought a 42 inch plasmaaaa... oh wait he mounted that in his room. Makes sense. I have one close match up in fantasy vs. Paul. He has Jennings going and I have Mcfadden. Should be a barn burner. I'm having issues trying to buy Stat Tracker. I think God is trying to tell me something though because it was this time last year that I made fun of people for being so cheap and not buying it. It was than that I actually over drafted. Whoops. So maybe I'll hold off and wait until my next paycheck to purchase it. Speaking of this time last year, I was in Young America driving an hour and a half during the week for school and being completely broke. Well while I'm not exactly mr. money bags right now (Come on Powerball!) at least I'm back around peers and not losing my mind out in the Y.A. It's good to have fall back.

What am I spinning these days? I kind of fell off the wagon as far as music goes. I lost some outlets to new music. I pretty much listened to the new album from The Hold Steady all summer. It was a nice soundtrack. Albert Hammond Jr. and the Islands new ones also found there way in the cd player at times. Right now I'm listening to the new one by TV on the Radio and it is pretty great. Definite thoy approval. If you have any new stuff, swing it my way because I'm in need.

The future of this blog is bright. I shall return with posts on a frequent basis. I need something to keep me occupied as the nights get longer. Hope people find this sacred place once again.

Jesus, etc.

Greetings from basement room east of the Botham household. I got off work early today so I thought I would update since I haven't in a couple weeks.

People are back. It is great. Before, the weeks went slow. Now they go super fast. Tomorrow is Friday, which is crazy to me because it seems like yesterday was my birthday and that was seven days ago. Speaking of the birthday, it went well. Didn't have to work so that was great because I got more drunk than I intended to the previous night at bowling and chilling here afterwards. I went out to the legend with my family and Bob and Andres for an all you can eat spaghetti dinner. Sounded perfect to me so I was excited. It ended up not being that great but I wasn't pissed or anything. After that Bob, Andres, and I went to Inn Kahoots for a shot. It was brief. Whats his face Brady, from Wayzata, was there playing in a cover band and none of us were too excited so we just got a shot and went out to Bob's. The fire was great. I had a lot of fun. My new favorite game that is sweeping the nation is, "Who can hold the most chickens (cocks)". Andres is pretty unbeatable and I couldn't stop laughing as he kept going after more chickens. Pictures are on facebook if you haven't seen them yet. The next day Tom and I were suppose to go fishing. I was up early because thats what I do but Tom slept forever and we planned on going Sunday instead but he slept forever again. If I don't go fishing soon I might lose the bug and I can't let that happen so I better go somewhere this weekend at least once. We ended up grilling at my house for Bob's birthday. The night was pretty chill, pun intended, and we kind of just hung out. I think all of us were pretty tired from the previous nights events. We played some whiffle ball, went out to Bayside for a little bit, and hung out down at Shiloh park. Sunday nothing really happened besides SHL, but that was fun and tiring and overall the weekend was a success.

Monday I was back in work mode. Ended up going to a movie, What Happens in Vegas. I wanted to see it because Zach G is in it and even made the previews, probably a first in his career. I went in expecting it to suck royally but ended up chuckling at multiple parts. Zach's role was incredibly small but he still had the funniest moments and lines. It was the type of movie that is right up Marks ally (and if you're reading this and haven't seen it, go. It might be up there with A Guy Thing). Tuesday we played some whiffle. It's nice to be playing again. Much to Justin's dismay, we're already tearing up the grass. The field itself is tricky. It doesn't really have an identity yet either as a home run Coor's field type park (like Seans) or as a pitcher friendly Petco Park field because we have played games where both happen. The neighbors already hate us for playing, thats refreshing. It's only going to get worse people, it's only May so you better get used to it. I really do hate old q-tips. Last night Bob, Tripp, and I went to the twinkies game. They got smoked but it was student and dollar dog night so there was people watching and fun to be had. In one section of the upper deck a group of kids smuggled in a shit load of blow up beach balls. Like really, I mean a shit load, and they let them go all at the same time. Security was going nuts. Than later in the game, when it was well out of reach for the twins, a kid fled from a security guard in our section and raced all the way to the way upper deck, where no one sits, and started running around the stadium to the applause of the entire section. It went on for a good 20 minutes and an inning and a half at least. The best part was that he was all the way at the top and three security guards had him cornered and we thought that he was finally done for. He made one last juke and just started dashing down the seats leaping over them. He could have easily lost control and just ate it but he didn't. That was his last hoo-ra though and he finally conceded. It was funny to think that he probably didn't even do anything that bad but now he was in a ton of shit and ended up being cuffed and everything. Yea, so that was the highlight of the game really.

Only thing on the agenda for me tonight is street hockey. That should be fun. I'll probably call it a night after that though. Some lames are going to Spin, which I will probably never go to unless I'm already trashed and you ask me on a good day. I haven't got much sleep this week so I might take a nap in a little bit but probably not because I'm not a big fan of naps. My new temporary sister, Tory, is my best friend right now. I stopped at Village Meats and got some jerky and we have been sharing it. She is passed out in my closet on my dirty laundry right now and I really wish I had a camera. I decided on getting a new bike, probably next paycheck, because I got too frustrated trying to fix my old one and I really want to get out there and start biking. My next purchase will probably be a cheap camera, maybe even a film one. Do they make ones that do both digital and film? That would be perfect as long as it wasn't super expensive. This journal needs pictures because I feel it's losing entertainment value. Update: Tory has moved from the closet to my bed where she is sprawled out, head on pillow, and acting like a human being. Really, a camera is necessary.

K, I'm going to take care of some chores and start a book. I just got "Blindness" by Jose Saramago from the library. It's suppose to be really good and I hadn't heard of it even though its from 1995 and the author is a nobel prize winner for literature. I just found out with my internetting skills that it was made into a movie that is coming out pretty soon. I'm always late to these awesome book parties. It takes them being made into movies before I actually read them. The movie looks pretty sick though and has an awesome cast, including one of my top 5 girls- Julianne Moore. Peep the trailer:



Alright, I'm out kids. Congratulations to those who graduated and I hope everyones summer has started off well.

Fucking Old School

The Legacy of the Legacy

First off, this title will probably end up being misleading. I have a feeling this entry might be all over the place.

This past weekend I made a trip up to Duluth to hang out with Kelly and Tom on Friday. From there the plan was to head down to Eau Claire to go to a party at Allies on Saturday. The trip was kind of thrown together all of a sudden but I was definitely excited. The previous weekend was my first free time where I wasn't sick and devoted to a bed and I had kind of a downer of a time. Chris was absent, Dave was out of town, Botham's were being Bothams, and Andy was occupied with his new dog. I sat around the house and got drunk by myself and eventually ended up watching montages of Tommy Gavin and Rescue Me on youtube for well over an hour and got really emotional while watching them. It was awkward. So yea, talked to Kel, found out Alex was already making the trip up, cool. Talked to Tom, found out he was going to Allies, cool. Sounded like a fun weekend to me.

My dad got sick, he blamed me for that- I called bullshit, so we didn't work on Friday and that allowed me to head up earlier than I had planned. This was my first "road trip" in the Legacy. I put it in quotes 'cause really its not a road trip but it was the first time I was going to drive further than Young America and back. I was nervous too because my car had been acting up during the last few storms of the winter, which only occurred a few weeks prior- shows how fucking long this winter has been. I knew I would be driving through hard rain and possibly thunder storms and snow so that didn't help my mental state either. Turns out I was just being anal because the drive went perfect, minus some traffic heading out of the cities. The weather the next couple days was beautiful too so any negative thoughts were out of my head. I can't wait to really test the boundaries of this car. She's (yes, I just called her a she, and in my head she also has a butch ass haircut) not the type of car you just give up on and say "hey, I'll just try to get a grand or something for it while I can." She's the type of car that you drive until you know she's about to break, in which case you drive north, south, west, or east on the back roads until it can't go any further. From there you lose the plates and push it into a nearby pond, swamp, or ditch and hitch hike your way back/onward. This will be a glorious moment. I don't see that happening any time soon though, I'm close to rolling 200 on it and my goal is to get to 300. Too many people my age have nice shiny cars. It's cool I get that its fun to have nice things, but really I don't see myself in anything new/nice until I'm at least 30 (perfect because I don't plan on living past 30) and I'm completely cool with that, I'm only 21. Ok, I'll get off my high horse now and, if you couldn’t tell, I should probably stop reading and obsessing about "Into the Wild"

Alright, the weekend. I’m going to be brief about this because most of it was a drunken stumble and there were plenty others present to rehash these stories later. I got to Duluth around 6ish and met Tom and the girls for dinner. After that we went to a house party that one of Kelly’s friends was having. Her friends were all nice and enjoyed video games like the shl. After that we ended up back at Kelly’s place. I dived into Jameson and than proceeded to puke in a cup a couple times (I have performed this move before--most noticeably at an Andres party, nonetheless not a proud moment) while we were hanging out in a big group. Had enough skill (got lucky enough) that only a few people noticed though. Passed out on a really uncomfortable couch and woke up early in the morning because that’s what I do now. I read Men’s Health for awhile and starred at the ceiling until others woke up. After that we went to Tom’s place in Superior. Superior. It frighteningly reminded me of Sterling, Colorado. Side story, Sterling was a little town in the middle of nowhere-Colorado that Bob, Andy, and myself stopped at on the way out to California. It was probably the most depressing little town in America. It made all of us want to kill ourselves- end side story. I loved Tom’s digs (when did I start saying things like digs?), it reminded me of my living space when I lived with my sister, small and perfect for going solo. We chilled there for a while and than headed out to Eau Claire. The girls decided to come with, which was cool. It especially made the drive easier/better. Allie had a ton of food at her place and three kegs, plus a ton of girls. It was the complete opposite ratio that I was used to so what is a guy to do? Make it easier on myself, power hour. Power hour started out with a ton of people but ended with just Tom, Jake, and I. Ok, I haven’t been brief, here is where that happens. Me and Jake killed Alex while she was doing a keg stand, she “passed out” early but we found out later, when she was in a coma, that she had a concussion. Got in a cake fight with Tom and Allie. Texted Sean all night. Went to the bar where I saw RJ. Got in a fight with one of RJ’s friends in the bathroom. Walked home with the same guy. Passed out with a loss of dignity.

So, really, a fun weekend. Came home on Sunday expecting to go the Murder By Death concert that night but I had left my credit card at the bar and had no cash and just barely got home with the gas in my tank. I was pretty bummed because I was looking forward to the show all week. Oh well. We played street hockey that afternoon but I mostly walked around with a stick in my hand and was moaning inside my head.

Update within the update à I wrote the above a few days ago meaning to add more but never did. It’s now Thursday. It has been quite the sluggish week. Monday I turned what should have been a 4 hour job at work and stretched it into 8 hours, not even realizing it until 4 o’clock rolled around and I heard Dan Barreiro’s voice on the radio. My dad’s still sick and hasn’t worked since last Thursday. He doesn’t really trust me enough to send me to sites on my own, and I don’t blame him after being a slacker on Monday, so I had been doing odd jobs out in his workshop in Young America. The drive sucked but was made up for by two home cooked meals in a row. Plus my dad keeps a TV in the shop so that makes work not work. I was hoping to head to the cabin for the fishing opener this week but it looks like tomorrow and Saturday we’ll be working long days. I told my dad that it was bullshit because I was sick right when I started working with him but I was putting in 9 hour days. Stupid old people. It’s fun when your boss is your dad though, you get to talk shit. For instance he just got this haircut that makes me laugh every time I see him. He gets its cut at the barber (also the school bus driver, fucking small towns) shop in Young America. The guy is a Vietnam vet and also cut hair in the military. I swear the guy has flashbacks every time he gives someone a haircut because my dad’s hair is like shaved on all the sides and back but long on the top and front too. It’s really goofy looking.
Oh, before I forget to mention this, I was listening to KFAN at work and none other than Matt Kowalska showed up in studio. Apparently he just started working there. Kowalska was part of probably one of my top five moments in sports. He was the one to score the game tying goal with under a minute left in the 2001 title game vs. Maine. Instantly when he scored he raced to the bench and all the adrenaline racing through his body allowed him to leap into the bench. Here, watch if you don’t remember. It’s at the 1:40 mark



Anyway, his hockey career never really took off. He played a few games for the Islanders but remained mostly in the Juniors and in European league. The reason he was at KFAN though was because he was forced to stop playing hockey. Why? He has a heart murmur that never went away. He had it in high school, same as me, and they told him that in almost all cases they just go away, same thing they told me. Ah, man, I can’t wait until I collapse at an shl game and people think it’s a joke. It will be a real tragedy.

Like I already said, it’s been a sluggish week. The highlight so far was yesterday. I got a text from Justin when I was at my parents house asking me what type of beer I wanted because we were going to grill out and watch the sun set together. So I raced home and we ate steak (probably the best tasting steak I have had in a while, honestly), corn on the cob, rice, and drank good beer like kings. It wasn’t over after that though. The night was too perfect so we had the houses first unofficial bonfire. It was wonderful. Today I started to work on my bike. I used to be able to fix anything on my bike when I was 13 years-old but for whatever reason the knowledge escaped me because I fucked up trying to put new wheels on it. Ah, what is a project without road bumps though, right? I need to get that baby up and running though so I can start biking places and save some money on gas.

Its that time of the year again when people start to filter home. It’s hard to believe it’s already that time because the weather has only been nice for a good week or two (another testament to how shitty the winter was). It might also be hard to believe because it’s a little different this year. Some people aren’t going to be home, some will be home only for a short stay, others are starting their careers, so yeah, it might be a little different but I’m still really excited and looking forward to having fun with the people that are coming back. Andy’s going to be working pretty much the entire summer so he spends his time trying to bring me down about summer in general but my optimism can’t be tarnished. Next Friday is my birthday and than Saturday is Bob’s. This should be a lot of fun. We didn’t get to celebrate our birthdays together last year because he was abroad so hopefully we make up for it this year. Like every year though, I don’t have anything planned out so people can help me out with that. Go out, have fun, hopefully a bobfire is incorporated one of the nights. Yea, I’ll wrap this up. It got a little long. Hopefully somebody reads it.

When I started this new blog I thought I was going to just comment on different things going on and shit like that but it has basically turned into another electronic journal. I’m ok with that though. I’ll end with the latest “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifnakis” that I don’t think many have seen yet.

Some Jottings on a Sunday Afternoon

Here are a few observation/notes that I made toward the end of the week and weekend.

On the way to work on Friday it was absolutely pouring out. I passed this black guy walking on 101 and he was laughing hysterically to himself. This image stuck with me for the rest of the day at work and every now and than I would burst out in laughter. I think my dad thought I was high.

Kix and Reese's Puffs are an awesome cereal combo.

Pseudoephedrine does absolutely nothing for me. Is anybody cooking up a batch of meth? Because I have 96 pills to contribute.

Survivor has become a carpet party, the most unappealing thing to watch and everything I fear in starting a season. I don't get why girls always do this on the show..."Lets us girls stick together and vote out all of the guys." "Yea, high five for dyke's!" Never before have guys sat around and said. "hey, lets just vote out all the girls. Go bros!" Give it a rest ladies, the womans liberation movement happened a long time ago. So why don't I just stop watching the show? I can't, I could try, but It wouldn't happen. I haven't done drugs for the majority of my lifetime but survivor is my heroine and I have been using since the summer of 2000. I can't kick it.

Thursday's episode of The Office was one of my favorites yet. Toby jumping the gate and Dwight at the club, too funny.

Grain Belt Premium cold and out of a bottle might be my favorite beer.

Nicole Kidman is at the top of sexy in Eyes Wide Shut. Like seriously.

Drunk and bored, there is no better filler than watching videos of Tommy Gavin on youtube.