So my 10 year high school reunion is scheduled for some Saturday in the month of July. It is quite odd to be 10 years removed from high school. And while I wouldn't mind going into depth about what that means to me, I will instead bore you with the story of my Friday night, as it was a reunion with friends from high school as well, and required less awkwardness.
About 2 weeks ago I decided to post on my friend David's facebook wall about the new 90210 series that is coming out this fall (on the CW...stay tuned!!). David was fanatical about the original iteration of the show, and I still remember going over to his house and watching the episode that Dylan left the show, and the fact that he wore a black armband the following day at school. That post led to a small wall conversation and we decided to get together for dinner this past Friday night. We ended up at the Taco Mac for dinner, and just had a wonderful time catching up. About 25 minutes into dinner, David said that after we finished at the Mac, we were going to go sing karaoke at the former Cherokee Billiards. WHAT?!
So we went to the bar after dinner and sang freaking karaoke!! For those interested, I sang Be My Yoko Ono (by my favorite band Barenaked Ladies) and Don't Stop Believing (by my real favorite band Journey). If I were to American Idol Judge myself, I think that my version of Yoko Ono was really solid, but not all that original. My Don't Stop Believing was OUT OF THIS WORLD!! First of all, it was as far out of my vocal range as anything can possibly be. By the Singer in a Smokey Lounge line, I was croaking like a frog and sweating like a person who would be sweating alot. Someone actually threw me a shirt to wipe my face off. I was living the dream!!
The bar had several fun groups of people. There were the 9 women who were out on a Mom's Night Out (we ended up at their table before the night was through). There was Jim, the 6'4" 320lb gay guy in jean shorts who knew EVERY SONG that was played. There was the token black man, who I am pretty sure ended up going home with one of the moms. All in all the group was fantastic fun and the night was just a blast.
The most interesting part of the night involved a conversation that I ended up having with David about brotherhood and fellowship. That will actually be the topic of my next blog.
Peace Out!!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Memorial Day Weekend
Wow, I have been a horrible blogger. I apologize to anyone who has ever read my blog. I got busy with doing other stuff. Just to update my NYE blog, I ended up losing 27lbs during my quest to get in shape. I weighed in at 217 to start and got all the way down to 188 and decided to hover around 190, which is where I am today. Truth be told, the success I had in this area was in large part because of the support system I had in place. Everyone at work was trying to lose weight, and my brother as well. Together we lost over 50 lbs.
So what has happened since I last blogged. Well, I moved. I am now living with my little brother in Marietta, and we have a fantastic place. It is bigger than we should have in terms of the amount furniture we own, but it is just right for everything else. I have taken another trip to NY to visit the sister and her boyfriend. I will post pictures later. You should definitely check out this YouTube video I took while at the NY Aquarium. It is absolutely incredible. We had tons of fun on the trip, and we drove the whole way so it was nice to spend time with my parents and make that trip as an adult.
We have also had to put one of our dogs down. Casey was about 16/17 years old, and she just started to deteriorate very quickly. It was very sad, but very necessary. If I can find a picture, I will post one of her as well. No need for her beautiful Benji-looking face to not be on the interwebs forever.
And as it is Memorial Day Weekend, let me wax philosophical for just a few minutes. We are at an interesting point in our history. My generation has their Vietnam, and whereas the last generation got up in arms and protested, ours has taken a very laissez-fare approach to this point. So long as The Hills was still on TV, it hasn't seemed to matter what happened in Iraq. Our college campuses are quiet, and the biggest protests were from parents of the children fighting in this war. I do think that we have finally come to a point though where we are going to see the fruits of the silent dissension of our youth. I have no qualms in saying that I voted for Barack Obama in the GA Primary. I also think that as we approach the end of the Democratic Primary season and he wins the nomination, that we will see him ride a wave of young, normally disenfranchised, voters to a victory in November. Will he do well as our President? I have no idea. But he has instilled in me a sense of hope that he won't do what we have had to endure over the last 16 years (lies, controversy, scandal, death, wars, impeachment, "nuculer," etc...). I truly feel that we will move towards the rectification of a situation that has cost a large number of lives, and on this Memorial Day, I am hopeful. Win or lose, I am thankful to him for that.
I hope everyone is having a safe weekend, and when you get a chance, just sit and reflect on our soldiers who are fighting a war that no one wants. Regardless of the beliefs that you or I have on this war though, they are dying for something, and that truly is something that we should be thankful to them and their loved ones for.
So what has happened since I last blogged. Well, I moved. I am now living with my little brother in Marietta, and we have a fantastic place. It is bigger than we should have in terms of the amount furniture we own, but it is just right for everything else. I have taken another trip to NY to visit the sister and her boyfriend. I will post pictures later. You should definitely check out this YouTube video I took while at the NY Aquarium. It is absolutely incredible. We had tons of fun on the trip, and we drove the whole way so it was nice to spend time with my parents and make that trip as an adult.
We have also had to put one of our dogs down. Casey was about 16/17 years old, and she just started to deteriorate very quickly. It was very sad, but very necessary. If I can find a picture, I will post one of her as well. No need for her beautiful Benji-looking face to not be on the interwebs forever.
And as it is Memorial Day Weekend, let me wax philosophical for just a few minutes. We are at an interesting point in our history. My generation has their Vietnam, and whereas the last generation got up in arms and protested, ours has taken a very laissez-fare approach to this point. So long as The Hills was still on TV, it hasn't seemed to matter what happened in Iraq. Our college campuses are quiet, and the biggest protests were from parents of the children fighting in this war. I do think that we have finally come to a point though where we are going to see the fruits of the silent dissension of our youth. I have no qualms in saying that I voted for Barack Obama in the GA Primary. I also think that as we approach the end of the Democratic Primary season and he wins the nomination, that we will see him ride a wave of young, normally disenfranchised, voters to a victory in November. Will he do well as our President? I have no idea. But he has instilled in me a sense of hope that he won't do what we have had to endure over the last 16 years (lies, controversy, scandal, death, wars, impeachment, "nuculer," etc...). I truly feel that we will move towards the rectification of a situation that has cost a large number of lives, and on this Memorial Day, I am hopeful. Win or lose, I am thankful to him for that.
I hope everyone is having a safe weekend, and when you get a chance, just sit and reflect on our soldiers who are fighting a war that no one wants. Regardless of the beliefs that you or I have on this war though, they are dying for something, and that truly is something that we should be thankful to them and their loved ones for.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
New Year's Resolutions Anyone?
I don't normally do any New Year's resolutions, but this year's beginning coincided with something that my roommates and I were doing anyway, so I guess I will call it one. We have decided to work on our fitness in preparation for softball next season. Also, I am weighing in at around 210, and with my frame of only 5'10", I am starting to feel like a fat ass. So we went to the track this past weekend and did some fitness exercises to gauge where we were. It turns out that I am really out of shape in some areas, and not nearly as out of shape as I thought I would be in others.
We started out with a 12 minute run, and I was able to do about 8.5 tenths of a mile (I could have probably done more, but I have some wicked shin splints). We did a shuttle run series and I did pretty well on that one (about 15.2 seconds for what we believed to be 80 yards). At the house we did some crunches (pulled out around 30 in a minute...but I think that will increase quickly), some push-ups (I sucked here...only 11 before I couldn't do any more), flexibility (7.5" will need to get to stretching), and something called a plank - you essentially balance your self on your toes and forearms and make you back straight as an arrow and hold it for as long as you can (I did this for over 45 seconds, which I was pleased with).
The goal is to improve on each of these and track that improvement to see where we will be in 2 months when softball starts back up. We are also working on lowering our portions sizes in an attempt to shrink the belly (my brother is working on this one with me) and also doing cardio and weight lifting workouts (we did an hour or so at the gym tonight).
I figure, by throwing it out here, the 4 of you that read this thing will be able to keep me honest and on track. Or maybe I will be able to do it myself...either way, I am exhausted and going to bed.
Good night, and Happy New Year!!
We started out with a 12 minute run, and I was able to do about 8.5 tenths of a mile (I could have probably done more, but I have some wicked shin splints). We did a shuttle run series and I did pretty well on that one (about 15.2 seconds for what we believed to be 80 yards). At the house we did some crunches (pulled out around 30 in a minute...but I think that will increase quickly), some push-ups (I sucked here...only 11 before I couldn't do any more), flexibility (7.5" will need to get to stretching), and something called a plank - you essentially balance your self on your toes and forearms and make you back straight as an arrow and hold it for as long as you can (I did this for over 45 seconds, which I was pleased with).
The goal is to improve on each of these and track that improvement to see where we will be in 2 months when softball starts back up. We are also working on lowering our portions sizes in an attempt to shrink the belly (my brother is working on this one with me) and also doing cardio and weight lifting workouts (we did an hour or so at the gym tonight).
I figure, by throwing it out here, the 4 of you that read this thing will be able to keep me honest and on track. Or maybe I will be able to do it myself...either way, I am exhausted and going to bed.
Good night, and Happy New Year!!
Congratulations UGA
Before I go to bed, I just want to congratulate the University of Georgia on their victory, nay, their absolute domination of the Hawaii Warriors in the Sugar Bowl. It has to be one of the most incredible performances I have seen out of the team. Marcus Howard was epic, Knowshan Moreno was his usual self, even Brandon Coutu was unstoppable. Great season by the Bulldogs, and I can only imagine what we would have accomplished had the voters gotten the final week's vote correct. Go Dawgs!! Sic em!! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!!
So here I am sitting and waiting the final 5 hours for the sUGAr Bowl to start, and I realize that I never typed a blog about what we did for Thanksgiving this year. Now seems as good a time as any to reflect back on that weekend and explain about the festivities that surrounded the Friday after.
First of all, we had about a billion people come down for the weekend. They are:
My sister (Bex)
My sister's boyfriend (Jake)
My mom's best friend (Carrie)
My mom's best friend's daughter (Rory)
My mom's best friend's daughter's daughter (Mymy - not her real name, but I am protecting the innocent)
My mom's best friend's friend (Carol)
My mom's best friend's friend's husband (Adam)
My mom's best friend's friend's dog (Simon)
My mom's best friend's dog (Pepper)
This is all in addition to my mom and dad, my brother and me; plus Katie and Casey (the dogs).
We spent way too much time just hanging out and playing Guitar Hero III and Super Monkey Ball, but the greatest moment of the entire trip was on Friday afternoon when we officially moved Fruit Ball from a Christmas Day tradition to a Thanksgiving tradition. For those of you not in the know, Fruit Ball is essentially baseball with fruit (though there is no scoring, and everyone wins!!). It started several years ago when my mom asked my brother and me to clean out the fridge and we were exceptionally bored, so we decided to play baseball with the rotten oranges. Once we went through those, we realized that we needed to find anything else we could and play with them...we ended up hitting celery, lemon juice plastic containers...anything we could throw.
From there it evolved and we just starting playing it annually on Christmas. This year was different though because everyone was going to be here for Thanksgiving and not Christmas, so it was discussed and decided that we would play on Thanksgiving. Dad, Adam and I went to the store on Wednesday and picked up all of the fruit (we wouldn't show anyone else because we wanted them to be surprised). That Friday, the festivities commenced. What follows is a recap in pictures. Please enjoy (especially the one of my brother). Next year we film!!
And if you would like to see more pictures, please visit my MySpace page or my facebook page. Thanks!!
First of all, we had about a billion people come down for the weekend. They are:
My sister (Bex)
My sister's boyfriend (Jake)
My mom's best friend (Carrie)
My mom's best friend's daughter (Rory)
My mom's best friend's daughter's daughter (Mymy - not her real name, but I am protecting the innocent)
My mom's best friend's friend (Carol)
My mom's best friend's friend's husband (Adam)
My mom's best friend's friend's dog (Simon)
My mom's best friend's dog (Pepper)
This is all in addition to my mom and dad, my brother and me; plus Katie and Casey (the dogs).
We spent way too much time just hanging out and playing Guitar Hero III and Super Monkey Ball, but the greatest moment of the entire trip was on Friday afternoon when we officially moved Fruit Ball from a Christmas Day tradition to a Thanksgiving tradition. For those of you not in the know, Fruit Ball is essentially baseball with fruit (though there is no scoring, and everyone wins!!). It started several years ago when my mom asked my brother and me to clean out the fridge and we were exceptionally bored, so we decided to play baseball with the rotten oranges. Once we went through those, we realized that we needed to find anything else we could and play with them...we ended up hitting celery, lemon juice plastic containers...anything we could throw.
From there it evolved and we just starting playing it annually on Christmas. This year was different though because everyone was going to be here for Thanksgiving and not Christmas, so it was discussed and decided that we would play on Thanksgiving. Dad, Adam and I went to the store on Wednesday and picked up all of the fruit (we wouldn't show anyone else because we wanted them to be surprised). That Friday, the festivities commenced. What follows is a recap in pictures. Please enjoy (especially the one of my brother). Next year we film!!
And if you would like to see more pictures, please visit my MySpace page or my facebook page. Thanks!!
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