January 2005 Archives

Over the course of the last year, I came up with the basic four Things That Old Cranky Guys Say. They're very useful sayings, as they can be applied to many situations during life in a college town. Most of them stemmed from my frustration with pedestrian traffic while trying to navigate the various side streets and apartment complexes in my car. It only seemed appropriate that I write these down now that I'm the proverbial "old man" around town here.

So here, in no particular order, are the Things That Old Cranky Guys Say (subject to additions later):

"Put some clothes on!"
"Get a haircut!"
"Turn down that music!"
"Get out of the road!"

Practice saying them every now and then, and I think you'll find that they'll fit nicely into your everyday interactions. Say them in your car, or while riding your bike - even while walking down the street! You'll emanate the cranky old guy attitude in no time.

A big thank you to everyone who made it out to Gina's surprise shindig for my birthday last night, and also to those who couldn't make it but signed the card! It really means a lot. Gina played it all off fairly well, as if we were going to have dinner and possibly go to a movie ... an evening of just the two of us, which would have been great anyway. During the meal, though, she faked a stomachache to call the rest of the gang, who were assembled at Wesley. When they arrived, she busied herself in the kitchen and pretended to be surprised at the various knocks on the door. Only at this point did I start to suspect anything, but she had put a balloon over the peephole in the door. So, I opened it hesitantly to shouts of "surprise!" It was pretty darn neat to have a bunch of my friends file in to the apartment.

Gina also bought me the DVD of Garden State, which we all watched after having some cake. It really has become one of my favorite movies, ever.

Today, my parents came in for a few hours, between snowstorms. It was great to see them, as well, even if for only a short time. The Cracker Barrel breakfast was, of course, delicious.

Now, we're all ready for an evening inside, since the snow and slush and ice are piling up. It's a fine way to wrap up the week and my birthday. Even though I'm the "old man" of Wesley now, I still feel pretty darn good.

Thanks again, everybody, for the kind wishes!

I realize my posting has been sparse this week, but I'm expecting that it will return to normal once the beginning-of-the-semester organizing and planning takes care of itself. The good news on the job front is that I have a lot more information about my options now, so I feel like I'm closer to reaching a decision. Hopefully, everything will come to a head over the next couple of weeks, so I can put this major turning point behind me ... and look ahead toward actually moving and working.

Highlights from this week:

... I finally won a ticket to a men's basketball game here at Tech this year. If I only get to attend one game this year, I'm glad it was the UVA game at home. Not only did we win, we won convincingly, and we proved for the fourth time in a row that we can play. With this victory, we're tied for third place in the ACC. Third place? ACC? Virginia Tech? Basketball?! You heard me right, and man is it exciting. We should've listened to Glenn all along when he said that Tech actually did have a basketball team that we shouldn't overlook. And it's definitely looking like we and Miami belong in the ACC for basketball, too. TSPN has more.

... Tonight, Gina's cooking a nice meal in celebration of my birthday. Man, I'm a lucky guy. My parents are driving down tomorrow, which will also be fun. It'll be a good weekend! I'm not even noticing that I'll be turning 23, older than pretty much all the other students in Wesley. Pffsssh, who cares. Older = wiser, right?

... I just found out that Ben Folds' new album is coming out April 26, preceded by a remastered version of Whatever And Ever, Amen, the second album from his old band, Ben Folds Five. I've been digging songs from Ben's four EPs over the last year, and I think his songwriting has just kept getting better ever since BFF's breakup. I'm really looking forward to this release!

With Guster, Ben, and DMB all set for spring releases of their new albums, it's gonna be a great summer for music!

Well, my streak of weird events continued yesterday. I met Gina after my two early classes, with the intent of getting some lunch with her. As it turns out, she had received a voicemail in the middle of class, from a person in Mish Mish (the local arts and crafts store), using my phone!

You may notice the peculiarities inherent in this story already. How did my phone, which I had picked up as I left my room yesterday morning, find itself in Mish Mish? Who was this mysterious Mish Mish employee, and how did they know to call Gina?

On the way to the store, Gina exclaimed that I was very weird for losing my phone. I had to agree, but by then, I was starting to see the whole situation as the latest in a string of wacky events occuring over the last few days.

The mystery unfolded quite nicely when we got to Mish Mish. Despite the store's statement that someone had simply found the phone on the street (the employee there most likely had no idea who had left it with them), my mom mentioned a nice girl named Debbie who had actually found it by the bookstore, a good three or four blocks away from Mish Mish. Debbie, it seems, found mom's number, called her, received Gina's number, then made her way to the store to drop it off. Why she picked that particular store, I have no idea. She may work there for all I know. The only other thing we know about Debbie is that she left the phone there for us to find. I can only infer that it must have just fell right out of my pocket when I was walking to class a few hours earlier.

I suppose this actually could be considered good luck on my part, because someone could have easily made off with my phone and made a number of calls to China and the FBI and the like. There are still nice people in the world. Thanks, Debbie, wherever you are!

... I also managed to buy the wrong book for my Environmental Engineering class. I had the wrong book for a whole week. This is very bad when you try to do the homework the night before it's due, thinking that it's going to be easy because the questions in the book are easy, and then it dawns on you that none of the question numbers match up with the assigned problems. Luckily, Tom's in my class and had the correct book, so I rushed through my homework on Sunday night.

This was another major kick in the pants, especially when I lost my receipt and Tech Bookstore wouldn't let me return my crappy, wrong book. But ha! Perhaps my luck is changing, because Tom also bought the wrong book and ended up giving it to Fred, so I'm going to abuse the system and return my book using his receipt.

Take that, Tech Bookstore!

I don't know what it is, but this has been one of the unluckiest weekends for me in a long time.

... Last night, at Backstreet's, I was carefully sipping a tall glass of Dr. Pepper when it completely slipped out of my hand. The moment that the glass hit the table, the top half shattered into pieces and spilled all over the menu, table, floor, and me. I spent the rest of the meal trying to dab my pants dry, and it was a curious feeling walking back to Wesley, let me tell you. We joked that it was my super strength, but I must have just dropped it in a spot where some kind of vibrations reinforced the transverse waves traveling through the glass, disrupting the crystal structure. Right.

... Today, after a lunch at Sharkey's, I got up to find out that my foot had cramped up unexplainedly, causing me to walk with a limp all the way back home. I think it's worked itself out now, but it was definitely another freak accident.

I'm really afraid of what else is going to happen before the weekend is over. The best way I can describe it is that I've been off my game since Monday. I think I should probably just stay in bed for the duration. Too bad I can't do that.

My classes for today went very well. I know at least one person in each of my classes, which will definitely make them go faster. And as far as I can tell, my earlier prediction that this could be an easy semester holds true. My second creative writing class may be tough, since I have to write one more story than I had to last semester. However, I think I've still got my creative writing gears well-lubricated, so I don't think that will be too much of a problem. My senior design project is running a little behind, but if we can hit the ground running this semester, we should be able to make a lot of progress.

Now if I can just get my sleep habits back to normal, I'll be set. I've been feeling worn down a lot this week so far, and that's naturally affected my mood a bit. I hope to pull out of it once I get used to getting up early again.

Also, one of my high school buddies, Alan, is an Ebay seller extraordinaire. I haven't heard from him in a little while, but tonight he sent me a link to one of his latest auctions (link is good until January 21). I don't normally advertise auctions, I guess, but I think you should check this one out. It could be very valuable someday.

Today was the first day of class (nope, Virginia state schools don't get the day off for the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., unfortunately). If at all possible this semester, I'm going to enjoy myself. It's my last one in school. Things like deciding on a job and preparing for graduation might make that harder than it may seem at first, but I'm still determined. I'm only taking 14 real credits (the other two being a review class for the dreaded FE exam), and the two classes I had today weren't too bad. I did learn today in Environmental Engineering that you should definitely watch out about your tap water. It could have an exorbitant amount of lead in it! Otherwise, there's not much to report about the classes, except that I'm in two with Tom and one with Fred and Matt. Good times.

...24 was as good as ever tonight. If you haven't gotten in on this season yet, it may be the best - and most realistic - one since the first year (er, day). And best of all, there are no repeats or breaks from now until the end of the season! They're paying us back for making us wait all through the fall.

...The Bretcave Version 4.0 is up and running. I only made some minor cosmetic changes in this version, like some added signage and an updated picture board, but it was enough for me to warrant the upgraded number. Plus, I hadn't really changed anything in a year, and I have been living here almost four years now. That in itself is worthy of note, I think.

It was a dark and ... dark night. I was happily playing video games with my high school friend Joe when the phone rang. I don't have a phone in my room at home here anymore, because Dad got these caller ID phones that yell out the calling number in a pleasant-but-loud female voice. It took me a week or so to get used to hearing a cacophony of voices chime in with the already annoying beeps and warbles. So, I only heard the ghostly echoes of the other phones in the house ringing.

Joe and I heard one, two, three rings - and the call was done. We figured it was for Dad.

Shortly after that, Mom came into my room asking if Wesley had a pay phone. The ID on the call simply said "Pay Phone," and it had a 540 area code on it. I didn't recognize the number, and to my knowledge, the only people I know in the 540 only have my cell number. I resolved to call the mystery person back, just to be on the safe side...

...only to find out that "the number you have dialed is no longer in service."

What! A ghostly pay phone call from the hereafter? Possibly.

If that was you calling, then by all means call us back, preferably before 11:30 this time.

In other news, Gerritt has his Sugar Bowl / New Orleans pictures up, as well. He's got a brand-spanking new digital camera, so the pictures turned out really awesome. He and the other group also stayed a lot longer in the city than we did, so he's got a lot of different and cool perspectives on the Big Easy. Check it out!

As promised, I am proud to announce that the Sugar Bowl Road Trip Journal is now online on this very site, at www.projectbs.org/sugarbowl. I spread the work for this one out over the last few days, but I was still able to complete it almost a week to the hour of our arrival in Blacksburg last Tuesday. That's an incredible turnaround time for me! I hope this is a good sign for the other projects I've been trying to get done.

Major props go out to Daryl and Gerritt for a great many of the ideas I put into the code behind this version of this journal. This hearkens back to the grand Gator Bowl Trip of '01, if you'll recall. Thanks, Brothers Lang!

Enjoy the journal. I know we did.

I haven't posted much since I got back from New Orleans, mainly because I've been working up the Sugar Bowl journal / photo gallery page. That will be up soon.

The other big time consumer has been organizing my physical photo albums. I have totally inherited my mother's love of photography; it's a fact I've realized since my junior or senior year in high school. On Saturday, mom and I had to do some re-arranging of shelves so I could put some of my old textbooks in my room here, in some space where she'd already put a lot of old family albums. I took over moving them to the other room about halfway through the operation, which was a bad idea. I couldn't resist the urge to crack one open every time I took an armful down off the shelf, to sneak a peek at the memories inside. That's one of the things photographs do, after all - store memories on a little piece of 4 X 6 paper, serving as a Rolodex for your childhood.

What could have taken maybe ten minutes stretched on for nearly an hour as I saw faces from childhood up through high school that I'd very nearly forgotten about. After the albums were stashed and my books were put away, it was a natural next step to start digging into my old yearbooks and that senior year memory book everybody gets where you write in the latest fashions and how much a gallon of milk cost when you graduated. I never finished mine, but what I did write was truly hilarious - sometimes on purpose. This nostalgia spilled over into my college albums, which I finally attempted to label and sort chronologically so I won't have to take so long tracking something down the next time I want to. It's photography geekery.

I know I have a lot of pictures up digitally, and that's great, but I also am the type of guy that likes to have an actual print of most of the pictures I take. If you know me very well, you know that I take a LOT of pictures, which equals a lot of prints ... and a lot of time spent putting them all together. It's worth the cost and effort to me, but I'm starting to question my sanity in all of this. Nostalgia has gotten the best of me. I've got a photography fevuh. It's like an addiction - when I get extra money, I spend it on pictures! What has science DOOOOONE?

Well, you don't have to worry, kiddos, because I'm not about to steal my niece's stash of money to go buy film. I'm still pretty stable in that department. And now that the albums are done, I think the fevuh will subside.

Until it's time to tackle my online stuff. Watch out!

Hey folks! Just got back in from the grand Sugar Bowl trip this evening. I've visited nine states over the last 10 days, almost 20% of the country, and I'm really feeling it tonight. You'll be seeing lots more about the trip in the days ahead, but for now, it's time to curl up on my bed and try to get caught up on rest. New Orleans and I parted ways on good terms.

Happy 2005, everyone! As I write this, Team Sugar Bowl and I are getting ready to head to bed and get rested up for the big trip. I've already had a great few days with Gina up in Kensington, but I'll be relaying all that stuff as I transcribe the Road Journal for this whole shindig later. For now, I wanted to post my thoughts about 2004 as a whole, and what's in store for 2005.

I'll remember 2004 as being a year of preparation. I started it out ready to finish co-opping and start focusing on my last year of college. Gina and I began it together in Suffolk, a visit that spawned a pretty nifty mix CD. I'll also remember the tough start to the spring semester, which saw Gina and Ben having to take time off from school. Gina thankfully pulled through her surgery, though, and both she and Ben were able to join the Singers on our 30th Anniversary tour. Traveling through Florida was outstanding, with a terrific group of people, and we had a great time. I'll remember growing closer to Gina even though we didn't get to see each other very often for a few months.

I'll remember 2004 for the awesome summer, for the Hershey Park road trip and all the fun times with everyone who stayed in Blacksburg. I'll remember this year for the challenges I faced as President of Wesley for the first and second times. I'll remember it for being a part of a group that pulled off a 30th Anniversary celebration with very few hitches, and for Wesley surviving some times that threatened to pull our organization apart. I'll remember the friends I didn't get a chance to see very often and the ones that I became closer to over these last twelve months. I'll remember my grade in SQC hinging on the strength of a rubber band... and triumphing over it all, anyway. I had my best semester yet academically this fall, and I'll certainly remember how proud my parents were of me. I'll certainly remember the strength of my parents as they dealt with my aging grandmother and the difficult decision to move her into a nursing home. I'll remember a deadly tsunami that killed so many people, and a devastating conflict in Iraq that many people disagreed with. I'll remember stressing about getting a job and my first few "real" interviews. The Red Sox. The Hokies!

As for 2005, I remain hopeful in landing a solid job and for finishing my college career with a bang. I hope to see an end to the division that this past election and war has caused, and hopefully the hostilities in Iraq can finally find some closure. In 2005, I will graduate college and, most likely, move into my first real apartment and the "real" world. Holy moly.

I could go on and on like this, but I just want to wrap up with a few best of moments:

Best 2004 Countdown Memory: Regis Philbin yelling and screaming about the orange hats that seemingly everyone in Times Square was wearing. "Look out for the orange hats, Tim! They're closing in on you!" It was definitely surreal.

Best New Song: Snow Patrol - "Run"

Best Sports Moment: The Hokies' win over UVA, setting the stage for the ACC Championship showdown with Miami. It was my last home game as a student. I almost made it to the field!

Best Road Trip: Since the Sugar Bowl trip lands in 2005, I will have to go with the Hershey Park trip in July.

That's it for 2004. Take care, kiddies, and I look forward to blogging plenty more in the '05. All the best to you.