I've got all my teeth

just went to my sisters graduation from West Virginia University...and from all the speakers I've come back with the following basic points:

1. West Virginia jokes arent funny anymore
2. West Virginia football beat Virginia Tech twice in the last 4 years (they cant let it go. Who won the ACC this year...I wonder?)
3. The West Virginia economy is going to knock the socks off the rest of the country in the next 2 years.
4. Everybody that's anybody was raised in a small coal-mining town.

I'm not kidding. This is what we were told....many times....

Where were you...?

Okay, now that my brain has settled....think about how there are some things so ingrained in our memory, even if they didnt happen directly to us, we knew what we were doing at the very minute that they happened. It seems that every generation has one or two of those instances, where you can ask the question "where were you?" of anybody you come across, and they'll know exactly what they were doing. Here are some of the things that come to mind, spanning the last 60 years:

-Pearl Harbor is Attacked
-Cuban missle crisis (granted, it lasted longer, but unforgettable)
-Kennedy is shot
-The Challenger explodes
-9-11 Terrorist attacks
-Beltway sniper attacks

Notice they all have to do with tragic loss. The iron curtain fell in Europe, a good thing, but I'm a bit more fuzzy on what I was doing then. perhaps some people remember the Lunar Landing in the same light, but we certainly dont speak of the repercussions the same way. Totally different vibes are created. I know what I was doing when I learned of every single attack from the DC Sniper. I remember vividly. I remember the fear. the fear that had to be similar (though probably less intense) than that of the Cuban Missle Crisis. This last one on my list I grant is not as far reaching, and well known, but around DC it is.

The two that most influenced me would have to the be the Sniper and 9-11. In both cases we're confronted with a dark piece of information that something has gone drastically wrong, in a place dangerously close to our loved ones. The pentagon is attacked, federal buildings are evacuated, the city is a mess, another plane is coming in. Where is my father? Is he okay? Where will he be when this other plane comes in? Suddenly the fact that he works in FBI Headquarters isnt so exciting. Another shooting. This time in early morning at a PG county school while busses are unloading. Which school? Was it a teacher? Are they okay? Okay, so its not a teacher. So my mom is safe. But then I find the school is in my hometown. 3 hours before he struck I had driven past the very spot where the sniper supposedly made a "nest". According to the cops he was there then. waiting. creepy. very creepy.

Its amazing the imprint on our lives these evil people can make....

Bama

hmm...no massive cool pix today, I'm sifting through the debris floating in my head, figuring out whats good to talk about. traveling and then staying out late can cause a bit of a train wreck in your head if you're not careful (in case you didnt know). Anyway...just got back from a trip for work, and this trip has in so many ways re-ignited my desire to do well in my job. I wouldnt call it a passion (its not the same as the real passions I have), but more of a drive to do well. So for this month, here's the state list so far (I'm in VA almost every week anyway, so I dont know if that counts. Is DC a state yet?). States besides Maryland:

-Virginia
-West Virginia
-North Carolina
-Alabama
-Mississippi

I was only in Charlotte, NC during a layover, but that counts, right?. wow, I am tired. I double punctuated that last sentence on purpose. So of course I have lots of thoughts from sitting in a plane and stuff, but I'll save those for later. For now, check out this ship that I hung out around for a bit in Mobile. Its very impressive....wow, the things man has built...I mean this thing shot shells that weighed the same as VW beetles, and they had a range of 21 miles! It had devices that solved all sorts of algorithms....but not with computers....with little gears and dials and stuff. Mind-boggling craftsmanship.

www.ussalabama.com

schmooze

hey whats up? not much going on. I went with a friend to a DCBIA (District of Columbia Building Industry Association) awards dinner last night downtown. That was pretty cool, alot more fun than I expected. Mayor Tony Williams was there, and even Marion Barry. Cool food. Very elegant atmosphere, perfect for schmoozing and networking......

(yes, I have connections.....I hope I can get into more of these)

Hasselhoff

BREAKING NEWS: David Hasselhoff has been named "International Star of the Year" in India. No Joke. Guess it just took a while for them to see how cool Knight Rider really is.

Even more amusing, awards were handed out at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ.

Fulfill your craving: http://www.davidhasselhoffonline.com/

mysteries

thoughts from this week (pondering life's mysteries):

-whats the deal with english muffins...? when you buy them theyre not really cooked, but sort of....
-If you could live on this earth forever, would you want to?
-you're on a game show. Do you go with whats behind door #3, or take the only slightly exciting lifetime supply of lightbulbs thats guaranteed if you choose it?
-the devil uses our busy chaotic lives to distract us from quality time with God....but....aren't idle hands the "devil's workshop"?
-how is it possible to release a "Greatest Hits" album for a band, if they've only got two albums out anyway? It happens all the time (See Lit, All Star United, etc.)




speaking of mysteries, more publicity for the exploding frogs in Hamburg:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7654561/?GT1=6428

resolve

I found an interesting article about frogs unexplainably exploding in a pond in Germany....but I promised myself no more animal posts for a while....so I'm stickin to my guns. Honestly, its a bit disgusting anyway.....

Today's fortune cookie wisdom: "Be direct, you'll accomplish more that way".
I honestly kept this one in my wallet for a good two years. I stuck it there back when I was quite a bit more shy, and I guess self-consious. It really helped me be more open to people, and more determined to be real. To be what I wanted to be. I had a great time meeting random people the summer I spent at school (try going up to somebody you dont know, have never seen before, and spend 30 minutes over lunch with them)....but I think an interesting point was that I got to a level where I almost went too far with my directness. I tend to "wear my heart on my sleeve" much of the time, very straight-forward, extremely blunt. I've learned that sometimes I need to be a bit more tactful, and always season my words with love....interesting to think about my progress in that way. Finding the balance is key.

band of the day: The Ramones

Bovine Intervention

you gotta check out this site, its hilarous (it has to be Chick Fil-a.....I bet....)

www.bovineunite.com

And as a follow up (actually, read this first)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/26/roaming.buffalo.ap/index.html

goose whisperer

Well, what on earth do I talk about today? My brain is never empty, but I dont know if theres much there to really talk about. (no real nuggets of wisdom)

There was the helicopter thing...theyre the weirdest pieces of machinery. I saw 4 fly by this morning, all in a row. They always remind me of the cat that I grew up with. Random, I know, but whenever I was at home and a helicopter would fly over, he would be the first to know it was coming....and get this crazy look on his face. Then he would run to a window and look out, then run around the room a few times being really paranoid, then as it flew away he would find another window and try to watch it leave. Then he would just sit there and stare at me...typical of Abel. A nice siamese cat.

anyway, I think of him, and I think of traffic. Not a good sign when you're approaching the highway and theres a chopper or two hovering above it. Either means a police chase ended right there, or theres something awfully interesting (and bad) going on with the traffic.

so these are the deepest thoughts of my day so far. By the way my pasta lunch is money. I found some pasta shaped like dollar signs....

almost forgot, if you like geese, check out this site:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501386.html

my roommate and I both work at places that sometimes appear to be overrun by geese....so its a bit more amusing to us....

..........

this is the post we will not speak of

fresh music

a different faith...

pope benedict 

finally something real to talk about...So the new pope was elected, his embodiment of St. Peter being passed along by the conclave of catholic cardinals (do I smell a tongue twister?). The guy seems genuine, but instantly it seems like a repetitive human honoring thing. From MSN:

“Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me — a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” he said. “I entrust myself to your prayers,” the pope said.

“The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers,” the new pope said. “I entrust myself to your prayers.”

The crowd responded by chanting “Benedict! Benedict!”

I went to a partially catholic wedding for the first time this past weekend...half of us didnt know what to do. Definitely more pre-planned responses and protocol than I expected. Seems thats what they do. I find it interesting to see it even in the Pope's proclamation to the people. Even more interesting, and disconcerting was their response: shouting his name again and again. Who is the pope? At the most an instrument of the most Holy God. I cry out to my God, I give glory to Him. What was this event, a birthday party?! I might shout out my buddy's name in that case, or even my Pastors, but this was an event dedicating the rest of this mans life to serving God. If they worship him, do they also worship God? Let's hope so.

You may provide a rebuttal saying they were merely trying to encourage him in his new role, not worship him. Very true...but the praise and glory should be first given to Him who it is due. We tread dangerous ground when we hold back this necessary acknowledgement of who created us, and instead lift up our own flesh.

Rabbit Stew

the water's warm...

Continuing with the Rabbit theme...
I can't believe it. this site is wild, it was even on the news. these guys are threatening to eat this rabbit if they dont get 50,000 dollars by June 30. They even have a Paypal account set up! As of today people have given atleast $24K. I dont know how long the site will be up...people are protesting everywhere. They have pictures of Toby, and even an internet store. I havent seen a site like this since Bonsai Kitten (a search is not recommended).

www.savetoby.com

on food and travel

WOW, it is so insanely nice outside! I'm thinking about quitting my life...running across the road into the national park, and just living there forever, foraging for nuts and berries. If the Geese can find em, I'm sure I can. Honestly, its tempting. Then I would probably be the next Goat-man (go ahead, ask I'd be glad to explain).

Well I was just on my way to grab an afternoon pick-up when I was reveling in the nature. Snacks are nice....anyway, had to decide between Twix and Snickers. Both 70 cents....tough decision. Twix today.

So, pretty good chance that during the month of May I'll have been on atleast 10 different planes and set foot in...oh..I guess 5 states. Travel insanity. I'm scheduled to be in the following places in May: Richmond,VA; Pascagoula,MS; Morgantown,WV; San Diego,CA; Somewhere, England; and Poznan, Poland! Wow, say goodbye to normal life for a while. I'll need a break after all that.

entree of the day: the most excellent Rockfish Annapolitan (can be found at Pusser's Landing)

beltway blues

well, you know something is off when you stare at the back of the same car for about 45 minutes straight and only 30 minutes after you get off the highway you can't even remember what kind of car it was. I know there was a Toyota following me....Maybe I cant remember it because I have good vision and foresight and I'm always looking 3-4 cars ahead so I can predict whats happening next: are we going to brake again, stop suddenly, gun it, break, roll, roll, stop, roll, stop, stop, roll, etc. I only had to deal with this 1 hr and 15 minutes of commute because I forgot to set my alarm clock last night.....and slept in. blah.

I guess it could be worse, a buddy of mine got a speeding ticket this morning. 75 in a 55. Oddly enough, I was probably going faster than him for atleast 20 min of my trip, but looking at the time and everything, I averaged about 28 mph. Lovely.

There was no accident, no roadwork. This was normal. Sometimes its easier to just take the day off if you sleep in for too long. Its just not worth it. (thanks for letting me mope a bit....)

random double shot

deep thought of the day: no man is qualified to speak who has not first listened
(see I gotta be serious sometimes....)

stupidest vending machine snack name: Mrs. Freshley's Frosted Donuts
believe it or not, if you leave em in there long enough, they may not be fresh...

Bonus: www.mrsfreshleys.com. a website for snack cakes? wow....somebody is seriously committed to selling sugar. I bet I'm the only one that has actually been to that site. Actually a quite thrilling site is www.frusion.com where they have an awesome Breakfast Brawl, almost identical to the original Nintendo Mike Tyson's Punchout. Seriously, they cloned that game! Its just that now you're fighting to knockout bad breakfast choices....give it a whirl. That website actually gets my award for "most likely to be influenced by Monty Python". Where else can you Contact an Elk?. You have to check it out to see what I mean.

iWanna iPod

Okay, so now I officially want an iPod. The only thing is I can't play it in my car. I put iTunes on my computer, and just organizing all the songs is a task. They dont all have the right filenames, etc. So getting them into the right albums might take a few months itself. In order to see the songs on the iPod its worth getting that fixed, so I might just have some time to save up money for the most expensive of all the little listening devices.

This would be a big shift for me. It almost feels like switching completely from film to digital photography. You may have guessed I havent completely sold out on that yet. (although I did take a nice digital self portait while in the woods the other day. I could use that as my profile pic perhaps)

Band of the day: Copeland http://www.thecopelandsite.com/

that rabbit's dynamite!

evil rabbit 

so the weekend before last my friend Deb was driving home and flipped her car while trying to avoid a rabbit in the road. Just a bit ironic since it was Easter weekend. Maybe if she had a rabbit-trained trunk money things would have gone a lot smoother. Or maybe just a lynx (see above). The Jeep landed on its wheels again, but the roof was quite busted up. Oh, and one of the tires exploded.

After the hospital let her go, she was okay except for small bits of glass she kept finding in random spots. She couldnt get in touch with anyone to get her home (her new cell phone didnt have many #s in it. I was out of town and got the message 3 days later). So she calls her roommates to see if they could help her get home, and the first says shes not feeling up to it, but maybe the 2nd would help out, once she gets home. Then 15 minutes later she she calls back. The response: "Nope, shes too tired too. You'll have to figure out some other way to get home". At this point in the story I get a bit agitated. What kind of roommates are these? Can't pick up your roommate from a hospital 20 minutes away after a traumatic event such as this? I've heard of roommate injustice before, but this beats it all. She took a cab back home for $25.

breakfast: part II

cookie of the day: chocolate dipped raspberry shortbread

a little advertising

band of the day: Mae
why they rock: because they do
most recent band description:Offering an alternately tranquil/raging cross between emo and post-grunge, Mae plays delicate, positive music without sounding like total wimps. Even at their mellowest, however, the band avoids overly dramatic pitfalls; big, super-singable choruses are never far behind.