Everything Has to be Perfect

I can steal your soul

2005-02-21T04:19:00.001-05:00

http://www.mindistortion.net/iwantyoursoul/?i_am=Johnedward

Newfound Powers

2005-02-03T21:25:00.000-05:00

I feel different. In the last few months, I've gradually found more and more ambition. Gradually drawn upon an increasing amount of responsibility and organization I never new existed. My 2 classes at school are going very good. Everything around me just seems less chaotic and more structured. I recall hearing some kind of study recently where scientists found the frontal portion of the brain (responsible for things such as organization) develops much later, at around 25 years old. I'm almost 23, so maybe I'm just thinking more clearly about such things.

I find myself organizing projects around the house. Things that need to be taken care of. I set aside time for reading (school related), and limit the time I spend playing video games and watching TV. I've even imposed some of my new-found philosophical idealogy on those around me, limiting TV for the kids, and demanding help with the projects I manage.

Don't get me wrong though. I still like video games!

Ranting and Raving

2005-02-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

So apparently I'm not allowed to get an 'A' on a paper in English unless I'm the next literary phenom. Seriously, she was explaining her grading policy, and after informing us on the criteria for getting a 'C', and a 'B', she went out of her way to drag a whiteboard 15 feet across the class, so that she could write an 'A' up there, circle it, put stars around it, and go on and on about how she rarely ever gives them out, and how if you're anything short of perfect, you won't get one.

I dunno how many of you have heard that story of the traitor, Ward Chuchill in Colorado. Erm, I mean professor. I'm not the biggest fan of President Bush, especially his Immigration policies, but this professor should be arrested and executed for sedition. I rarely post political viewpoints, and will rarely if ever post one again.

I know those who defend him are up in arms about freedom of speech. I personally think that when you're on the taxpayers payroll, and you preach seditious, traitorous, anti-American propaganda during war-time, you should be tried and executed.

In other news, life is pretty good. I'd post more often if I had time. What am I talking about, I have plenty of time. I'd post more often if I new people read it! Yeah, that sounds better.

Farewell!

Dream on!

2005-01-29T09:44:00.001-05:00

Well, I've started classes this semester (woohoo!), and maybe even met some people to play warhammer/D&D with. So life is pretty good. I think my strike is over now, even though it still bothers me that It can kill my posts while I'm typing it out. Nothing sucks more than a nice, original piece of literary ingenuity wiped out by their choice to maintain/update their site at 6 in the afternoon on a Friday. Maybe notepad can ease my pain.

So last night I had a dream I was in some war in an oriental country. My whole unit was killed and somehow I lived uncaptured. I escaped and hid out in this family's house, and when I was found, they didn't rat me out. And one of the occupants was a soldier at the original fight where all my buddies died. Eventually they gave me what I needed to make it to a place where I could get back to the US (and told me to watch out for 100's of thousands of land mines, LOL). I'm not sure why I had this dream. I was watching a show on the History Channel about the battleship Missouri.

This years superbowl is the antithesis of a good football matchup. I was listening to the sports announcer on the radio broadcasting the eagles/falcons game, and some of the quotes were like "McNabb has taken this team to the next level", "McNabb has to go into the huddle and tell everyone not to make a mistake and to settle down", "McNabb is really in a zone right now", "McNabb is telling everyone in the huddle not to make any mistakes and to just finish the game".

I mean, wtf. They're grown men playing in a championship game and they need McNabb to teach them how to play football again? I'm sorry but Philadelphia's Defense DISMANTLING Atlanta and Minnesota is why they made it to the superbowl. McNabb is a good Quarterback, and when its all said and done, he may be a great quarterback. But to give 120% of credit and praise to McNabb just makes you look foolish. Radio Broadcasters need to quit giving him everything short of a handjob.

The guy doing the Patriots/Colts game wasn't much better!

On Strike

2005-01-26T15:14:00.000-05:00

About 2 weeks ago, I made a huge post complaining about snow, and praising my attending college this semester. Blogger decided I was unworthy of posting that day, and proceeded to shut down its website, destroying my post I spent about 25 minutes on. That is all~

Words of Wisdom

2005-01-17T08:04:00.000-05:00

Just a few bits of wisdom I picked up recently that I thought I'd share:

Don't walk barefoot in the snow.
Tip the delivery driver nicely. Yes, you know you want too.
Never expect the radio sportscasters to be even remotely unbiased when analyzing their team.
Never pick a Dome team on the road in the playoffs!

In other news, I've been playing Final Fantasy 4(Japanese version translated), and its quite fun going through it again. If you you're into those games, I recommend trying to find this.

Yesterday

2005-01-14T04:09:00.000-05:00

Was probably one of the most structured days I've had in awhile. It turns out that if you go to sleep at night, and wake up at a reasonable time, you're more inclined to accomplish things (at least in my case). I cleaned the interior of my car, which hasn't been done in at least three months (It needed it!). I got some more steps out of the way so that I can hopefully take 2 classes this spring semester (only 2 because I'm paying out of state tuition until after April). I scrubbed the cabinets and counters in the kitchen. I finally got around to posted on my site again! I even squeezed in a short bit to read a chapter in my book (its on the right. See it?!). I finished several other menial chores around the house, and I even managed to squeeze in an hour of Sim City 4, and got my city up to 174,000 people. I just look back on yesterday, and can honestly say that it wasn't wasted one bit.

Today, I'm going to try and make a similar list (hello! I'm up at the crack of dawn again!), and just keep myself occupied. It goes along way towards keeping true to my New Years Resolution, and helps me harness maximum enjoyment out of life!

NFL Divisional Playoff Picks

2005-01-13T08:36:00.000-05:00

Before I forget about it (and while I have time), here are a few comments on the games this weekend in the Divisional Round.

Rams @ Falcons

I think the Rams will win this game. The Falcons have too little of a passing offense to keep up with a high scoring team consistantly, and unless the Falcons defense step up and force turnovers, the Falcons are 1 and done. Michael Vick will have to play exceptionally well regardless. I also like what Steve Mariucci had to say about the Rams beating 3 playoff teams in a row (the Eagles in week 16, the Jets in week 17, and the Seahawks during the Wildcard Round.

Viking @ Eagles

I have very little confidence in the Eagles offense after losing T.O. I think the Vikings will try and force the eagles to beat them through the air (as in, Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell). Owens was clearly a factor in the first matchup between these two teams, and with that being said, I see an NFC championship game featuring the Vikings (8-8) @ the Rams (8-8).

Jets @ Steelers

I didn't think the Jets would pull out a win last week, and I don't think they'll do it this week. This will be very similar to the first matchup, which the Steelers won in a low-scoring, ugly matchup.

Colts @ Patriots

Ty Law is easily a top3 cover corner in this league. Tyrone Poole is probably a top3 #2 corner as well. With Rodney Harrison and Eugene Wilson Back there too, its no wonder Manning is 0-3 vs. the patriots over the last 2 years. But this weekend, everything is different. Manning is on his way to have the greatest year in NFL history as a QB, and that excellent cornerback duo of the New England Patriots are both out. This game may be closer than I'm going to predict, but the AFC Championship game will feature the Colts @ the Steelers.

Darwin Award

2005-01-13T05:29:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard of the Darwin Award? I found out the hard way earlier today. We bought a new door for one of the rooms in the house. It hung out the back of her SUV just a little, and I had it securely strapped in place, with the back door (it swings vertically) tied down as well. We were driving down the road, and we were wondering if we had done enough to secure the door down. Out of sheer brilliance, I suggested I sit on it, so it doesn't move. "I dunno hunny, you might win a darwin award for that one" was the response I got. She then preceded to tell me what exactly it was (click on the link above if you're not sure either).

apparently, we should be glad that people who actually pull off ridiculous stunts like that cleanse the genepool of there stupidity. I just found most of this pretty funny. No disrespect intended towards those who have passed away of course.

New Years Resolution

2005-01-01T13:34:00.000-05:00

Have you made yours?

Mine is to quit MMORPGs for good. I've gone cold turkey since early december, so hopefully I can keep it up. They're like vitual crack, I tell ya.

I believe I've invested 227 days or so into my character on Darkages of Camelot. If you need an idea of how that timer works, heres an example: You log in for and play for 2 hours, reach level 5, and log off. Next time you play, you play for 4 hours, get to level 11, and log off. You've played for 6 hours. 24 hours in a day.... so 4968 hours (I think, as I can't find the calculator on my computer).

MMORPG's are bad.

The Frosty 5k

2005-01-01T13:09:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted as much as i'd like to recently, keeping my schedule full of events pertaining to the upcoming spring semester, New Years festivities, and playing some D&D. However today, I did manage to make it to the Guilford Frosty 5k at 10:30am. From personal experience, I will now share some advice: Train. Basically, if your not a regular runner, then run. If you are, don't stop (this was where I err'd).

I remember when I got to what I thought was the "home stretch" of the race, and Hilary's stepdad had caught up to me. "we're almost to 2.5 miles" He said. Talk about disheartening. I ended up stopping and walking about a quarter of a mile, then finishing the last quarter of a mile running. One last bit of advice: Don't pace yourself with an old guy. If they're running 3+ miles at age 65, they've probably been doing it for 55 years+.

We watched the ball drop on new years even, drank champaign (I can't stand wine btw), and that was pretty much it. Not a bad new years, plus my Longhorns get are going to open a can on Michigan later today.

Go Longhorns! Go Cowboys! Go Rockets! and comon Braves, make some more offseason moves please!

New Years Day Plan

2004-12-29T08:54:00.000-05:00

Wow, it sometimes amazes me how fast the weeks fly by. Just three days until I have something meaningful to do with my time. After working new years eve (!!@#! Like I do every new years eve), there's actually something for me to do on New Years Day.

First, there's this 5k run (aprox 3ish miles) that somebody took the liberty of volunteering me for. I haven't run on a regular basis in about 2 years (just off and on) so if my body rebels, she may find me laying facedown in vomit-stained snow before its over. I'm not even sure what kind of charity its for yet. Hell, maybe its wishful thinking on my part in assuming that its for a charity!

Later that day, while I'm at work, I get to see my beloved Longhorns flex there muscle against Michigan in the rose bowl. As much as I detest the way the BCS and College Football in general operates, and how they'll never create a pure playoff system due to the revenue bowls guarantee, I'm not about to miss the first BCS Bowl bid by Texas since the system was revamped (Insert distasteful comment here concerning their so called "revamp"). So I'm going to swallow my pride, and hope I can listen/watch alot of it while I'm at work.

On a side note, I saw 'I Robot' last night, and I thought it was a really well done movie, with the sole exception of the part where (WARNING: Possible Spoiler) the mob of thugs and street hoodlums armed with crowbars and such, charged the out of control robots. Now I'm certainly no movie critic, but this makes the movie lameness short list when it comes to good movies with one really horrible scene.

On one more side note (hey, there's 2 sides, right?) I love blockbuster online. Due to the sheer genius of this video rental service they provide through the mail, I may never enter a video rental store again. It would cost me approximately 15-20$ to rent 2 movies after calculating in the late fees (every time!). Now, I pay that much a month, and the only limitation on how many movies I can watch is how fast I can watch them. Seriously, the CEO (or whichever dev team member that came up with this idea, only to have someone else take credit) should run for governor or something. We need intelligent people like this in public service.

If there are any sides left to make a note on, I'll end with one last comment. I watched this really WEIRD Nova show about something called String Theory last night. Basically, a new way to explain everyone and everything's existence, and giving reality 11 dimensions. Granted, I don't hold faith in scientific theories trying to account for the universe (I was raised a Christian), but the ideas they come up with make a good TV show from time to time.

Life, Updated

2004-12-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

After my flight in houston being delayed almost 2 hours, sleeping overnight in chicago, landing at 11:55am on Christmas morning, and having my lost luggage delivered at 2am the next morning, I'm finally home. What a trip, and besides the extreme static-inducting sheets at the Hilton, there is very little to talk about. Oh, and those sheets kept me in bed. It was like getting electrocuted every time my foot touched the floor. Lets see, my plane in houston was delayed due to ice on the wings (I've lived in the houston area the majority of my life, and could probably combine all the instances where I've seen snow and still not come up with the same amount that fell Christmas Eve), and he airlines de-acres weren't operable. It took them about an hour and a half to get one that worked (United Airlines BTW). I missed my connecting flight in chicago, and the first one the next morning was canceled. So somewhere in all that chaos, my suitcase was misplaced. Other than that, the trip was pretty uneventful.

I'm about half-way through a really awesome book: Jack Whyte's The Skystone. An interesting historical fiction retelling the events prior to the authrian legend (Camelot, Excaliber, etc.), and weaving a fictitious story around them. Highly recommend this series (Called the Camulod Chronicles) to anybody.

I had a great Christmas, which included family and friends I hadn't seen in almost a year. The only one really missing was a really good friend of mine who won't be back from Iraq for awhile (I do plan to revisit when he's back though). Since the majority of my Christmas gifts were cash to go buy my own, I've been thinking hard about how to appropriate those funds. So far, my list is Madden 2005 for gamecube and a pair of shoes. Perhaps I'll throw in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, extended edition.

Airport payphones....

2004-12-19T16:36:00.000-05:00

Should accept incoming calls, imo. I mean, come on. Its not prime real estate for inner city drug trade. I can't afford to play 25 cents a minute to talk to someone long distance while waiting an hour and a half for my connecting flight. And almost every other airport in the country I've been to has payphones that ACCEPT incoming calls. Perhaps its just Washington DC Dulles.

In other news, flying was a breeze, even though my flight out of DC was 20 minutes delayed (we sat in the plane for about half an hour before it even moved). They guy behind me had an interesting conversation concerning some non-pilot civilian he thought he saw enter the cockpit. I wish I could remember the conpiracy theories this guy was going on about. He was still complaining when we landed!

Did you know you can ask for an extra bag of peanuts? No shit. I've always smiled as the flight attendant handed me ONE small tiny miniscule bag of peanuts and a small cup of soda. But the guy beside me was clever. He ASKED for a second bag, and she just smiled and gave it to him. I quickly followed suit.

Airports and Flying are so much fun.

I've Failed. This isn't a Blog

2004-12-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

Apparently, a Blog Is supposed to be more than just an online journal. Or in my case, more than just an online collection of thoughts. In all actuality, Blogs are Web Logs, and real Bloggers are probably Properly known as Web Logs. Darrenbarefoot is a really good example of a real Blog (and a site I enjoy reading, and will probably add to my blogroll). I'm actually not too knowledgeable on webloggers. However I've failed in my endeavor to produce a Blog therefore I shall retire into the night, and ponder the direction of this website.

Perhaps this post is more bloglike though. Look at all the linky things! Isn't that the idea!!

Applebee's No More

2004-12-17T15:42:00.001-05:00

I'm never eating at an applebee's again. First of all, the waitress didn't even get out a pen and paper and WRITE down my order. I generally change parts of a meal (no onion, add mushrooms, different kind of cheese, etc.) so I knew this was a recipe for disaster. My specific order was basically Grilled Chicken, with no onions and peppers, and Chedder cheese instead of Monteray Jack. When I finally got my meal, there were of course onions and peppers, and BOTH cheeses. I asked them to take it back and remake it. I HATE onions, and peppers generally ruin the taste for me. When I get it back, I could easily tell that they just removed the onions and peppers (and a half-ass job of that). But something else was missing. The MUSHROOMS. Wtf? I clearly stated the first time that I wanted mushrooms. Also, the cheese situation was the same. I'm not the kind of person who likes to send food back, so after one attempt , and about 55 minutes of waiting, I figured I'd eat the chicken saliva-free.

Did I mention I'm never eating at Applebee's again?

Vacation Anxiety

2004-12-16T14:08:00.000-05:00

So I'm going back to Texas day after tomorrow. Its a week-long trip, which now I kinda wish I would have shortened. Sure, I'm going to have a great time with my family, and get to hang out with all my friends again, but something's missing. I'm leaving Hilary all by herself here with the kids. I don't doubt she can handle it. Its just a culmination of factors that have contributed to this feeling. Packing enough crap to last me a week, the cost of the trip in general (airport parking, eating, gas money while i'm there, etc.), and I'm sure I could have accomplished everything necessary in a 3-4 day visit.

I'll enjoy the time I'm there just the same, and I'll have lots of time to hang out with friends/family. I gotta do my christmas shopping while I'm there too. Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day, and my plane leaves at 7am on Saturday.

At least I LOVE flying~

Straight Bananas?

2004-12-15T15:22:00.000-05:00

I heard this on some radio show not too long ago, and since It humors me to no end, I thought I'd dig it up and share

Man invents banana straightening device!:
[Technology India]: London, Oct 20 : German man Karl Friedrich Lentze has claimed that he has invented a device that can straighten bananas.

The 56-year-old Lentze from Berlin, who has applied for a patent for the method he calls cigar banana, said that he has received endless calls from people who are keen to use the novel method.

Lentze's patent application includes sketches showing how bananas will be carried along on a conveyor belt while robots chop out the curvy bits.

"This is the biggest thing since sliced bread - the straight banana. Depending on the degree of the curve, chunks will be cut out of the banana, which are then resealed using a biologically safe plaster," Bild newspaper quoted Lentze as saying.

"Once people get used to them I believe the straight cigar-banana will drive the curved banana from the market. It's easier to eat, and easier to store," he added.

Amazing? I thought so too.

2004-12-15T10:01:00.000-05:00

My life is rated R.
What is your life rated?

Breakfast of Champions

2004-12-15T09:02:00.000-05:00

Is it possible to have a meal more conflicting than a blueberry bagel and root beer? The soda doesn't even have the caffeine most people crave. Cereal with Milk, Eggs with Orange Juice, Toast with Coffee. Bagel with Soda just wasn't meant to be.

Blogology? Blogitis?

2004-12-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

My first blogsite. Well, actually, my second. Hilary was actually nice enough to make me one months ago but I totally wasn't interested in it. So actually, this is my first post on my second blogsite. I'm not actually even sure what a blog is, but I know I'm supposed to post stuff on it, and people can read it. Something like that. Anyways.

Christmas lights seem so out of place to me. I'm not even sure what lights signify, or who thought of them, and who's making massive $$$ off of them. When I was a kid, I was like, "oooohhhh.! ahhhhhh.! Look at all the pretty lights". Now I'm on the other side of the fence, showing kids the same thing and though I'm unimpressed, and somewhat perplexed, its interesting to hear them have the same reactions I did.

I'm still not sure what a blog is.