Seanitude Version 2.0

2006-11-17T10:08:00.000-06:00

Billy Cannon's Punt Return vs. Ole Miss 1959

2006-11-17T10:06:00.000-06:00

Ole Miss's greatest team in 30+ years....

falls flat on its ass vs. LSU.

Down goes Eli! Down goes Eli! Down goes Eli!

The play that earned Ole Miss the nickname of Runts from ESPN

2006-11-13T13:28:00.000-06:00

This is Ole Miss Football 11/13 Edition

2006-09-14T20:48:00.001-05:00

Congrats, you made a kick without getting your ass kicked by a Sousaphone player

and did I mention....
?

I hate...

2006-09-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

I hate....

Congrats, you made a kick without getting your ass kicked by a Sousaphone player

and did I mention....
?

2006-08-10T23:15:00.000-05:00

My Political Profile

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 70% Conservative, 30% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Also, good read here on why August 22 could be a huge day in world history (part of a longer Wall Street Journal editorial). Luckily, I'll be driving through cornfields that day and will check the radio for news before entering Chicago.

2006-08-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

Chicago Trip

For those that haven't heard, Ant and I are heading to Chicago in a few weeks. I've done most of the planning the last few days. Found us a good priced hotel on Clark Street across from Lincoln Park. Here's our itenerary:

Monday Aug 21: Drive Baton Rouge to Nashville, stay with Theresa (Ant's sister) and husband

Tuesday Aug 22: Drive Nashville to Chicago, check into hotel, dinner somewhere (probably along Clark Street) and then Second City (two blocks from hotel)

Wednesday Aug 23: Find something to do in morning, spend afternoon around Wrigley area bars, go to Cubs/Phillies game, Wrigley area bars after

Thursday Aug 24: Six Flags Great America/Hurricane Harbor, dinner/Chicago nightlife

Friday Aug 25: Downtown Chicago during the day, head to Soldier Field for Chicago "tailgating" (no canopies or alcohol allowed anywhere and only small grills allowed - amateurs) then Bears/Cardinals preseason game

Saturday Aug 26: Find something to do in morning, White Sox game in the evening.

Sunday Aug 27: Drive Chicago to Nashville

Monday Aug 28: Drive Nashville to Baton Rouge

The great thing about this trip is that once we get to Chicago, the only driving we need to do to get anywhere is Six Flags. Everything else we can get to on public transportation. Wrigley is at Clark and Addison, just hop on the Clark St. bus at our hotel and it stops right at Wrigley, with 24 hour service. All of the Stadiums seem easy to get to via bus and/or L train. Plus in a span of 5 days, we get to see 2 MLB ballparks and Soldier Field.

Can you tell I'm already excited?

2006-07-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

GameDay Final: Bluegrass Miracle

Tie Guy!

2006-07-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

General Master Shake

2006-07-11T22:46:00.000-05:00

Pee Wee's Playhouse

So Adult Swim has rotated out Mission Hill for Pee Wee's Playhouse. I'm thinking this is great, I used to love this show.

I've watched for the past two nights and I have no idea how watching this as a kindergardener didn't lead to a life on cocaine. For those of you that don't remember, let me summarize a few of the weekly mindfuck highlights:

Pee Wee Herman (weekly exposure to should have been enough to mess us up)
Phil Hartman as a drunken sailor
Claymation dinosaurs in the wall and claymation talking food in the fridge
A glowing genie head that led everyone in chants of mekalekahi mekalekiho for five minutes at the end of every show
Laurence Fishburne (yes, that Laurence Fishburne) as a gay cowboy
Pee Wee's Hawaiian pool/beach boy that never wore a shirt (despite the playhouse's indoor, mountain location)

Now, the show's fun to watch in a "just think how funny this would be if I were high" kind of way, but to think I grew up loving this show scares me to death. I guess it could be worse... it could have been Barney.

2006-07-04T23:22:00.000-05:00

Late Night Projects

Why am I such a late night work animal? I realized earlier today that in order to have my master bedroom ready for furniture next Wed (I bought a set on clearance at Kornmeyer's yesterday) and after seeing how my office floor looked with my new LayZBoy (going out of business sale @ Kirshman's), I needed to carpet clean everything today. I started moving furniture out of the master bedroom at around 9:50. Its 11:15and I'm about to start carpet cleaning. Hopefully I'll be able to cross the bedroom floor to get to the bathroom (to shower and get dressed) in the morning.

2006-07-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

4 Day Weekend

I've told everyone including myself for weeks this would be a 4 day weekend.

Yesterday I worked 11 hours.

Today I write this at work as I print out a draft for reivew.

I'll probably be in tomorrow putting the report together and getting the secretaries to compile it so I can sign it.

Some 4 day weekend.

2006-06-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

I've regressed

Musically at least. On Saturday I pulled out the viola and tried to play some of the orchestra music I played a year ago for the youth orchestra reunion. It wasn't so pretty. We're talking one song (Star Wars) that used to be really easy for me. Now tonight I pulled out the violin... Devil Went Down to Georgia... I can play OK except for the devil solo, which I can not seem to get my head around the music to piece together the chords. I'm pretty close to still being able to play Orange Blossom Special at least. One of the advantages of the house is being able to practice without bothering neighbors through thin apartment walls, so guess I will be squeezing that in between work and repainting the rest of the house. I really want to get decent again, it will just take some practice for the muscles and joints to get used to the motions again. Then maybe I can find something to do with the instruments around here.

2006-06-18T22:39:00.000-05:00

Painting update

Sadly, the house won't be near 100% ready for the housewarming on Saturday. Thanks to Tammy for helping with the guest bedroom and Darcie for helping with the future office, which looks awesome with the gold paint.

Unfortunately, while trying to do touch up elsewhere (where I was OK with the colors) I discovered that the living room paint is just off a little and the kitchen paint that was left me is no longer of any use. Also, I don't see paint for the master bedroom in what they left me, so I might have to repaint that room totally. I shouldn't be suprised. I told myself some rooms were OK and I could live with them, but its time for me to accept I'm going to redo this whole house. At least painting is a simple, low impact exercise according to weightwatchers (and many points when you do it for a few hours a night).

2006-06-12T19:52:00.000-05:00

Target on the way home = bad

The Lowes and Best Buy under construction next door = worse

Weight loss = Needing new clothes

Weight loss + Driving past Target daily = Buying too many articles of new clothes = Poor house

House purchase = Home improvement projects = Needing tools

House purchase + Driving past Lowes daily = Buying too many tools = Poor house

Sean = Nerd = Electronics, games and DVD fan

Sean + Driving past Best Buy daily = Buying too much electronics, games and DVDs = Poor house

So come see the house before driving past Target, Best Buy and Lowes puts me in the poor house. On the bright side, I appear to be in my biggest month of billing since I've started working, so thats a really good thing in relation to everything above (though I've been working alot the past week b/c of that).

One last equation:

Sean = Nerd = Posts with equations

2006-06-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Supplies

Now might be a good time to double check your supplies for the upcoming season. You probably want food and water stockpiles to get you through 5 days or so, including 3 gallons of water/person/day. Why do I post this now?

Because of this.

2006-05-23T12:04:00.000-05:00

Johari Window

The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.

My Johari Window

On the house end, I cauked all the holes last night and taped the guest bedroom. Paint commmences tonight. Please help if you can and know what you're doing. I'm working off a quick skim of a how to book at Home Depot.

Oh, and if you have 10' ceilings, an 8' ladder is probably excessive, but I bought one anyway.

2006-05-17T21:41:00.000-05:00

Let's get moving!

Thats right. At 2 PM tomorrow I go to closing on my house. I get the keys Saturday afternoon at some point when the current owners get most of their stuff out. Moving will begin then with the big stuff. Anyone wanting to help are welcome to come to my apartment around noon on Saturday, especially if you have a truck.

2006-05-09T12:03:00.000-05:00

Not that I care about MLB

but good job Philly fans

2006-05-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

Sometimes its healthy to vent...
isn't it? I hope so. Last night I had to vent. Unfortunately, having the TV on Comedy Central while I typed clouded my thought and weakened my anger into laughter at other things.

But seriously, I don't dance. I don't like it, especially to most "dance" music. Stop pestering me to change.

Saw a really great blues/gospel singer at Fest For All today. Spencer Bohren, father of the drummer from Johnny Sketch. Half his set was some old Hank Williams songs, and I'm not talking about Junior. Good stuff, look him up.

2006-05-07T02:33:00.000-05:00

Apologia

For starters, this is not an apology. Apologia is Greek for defence. I've learned this recently reading Plato's Apologia, which is a recounting of Socrates' defence, sentencing and final words to his jury.

After tonight, I feel like I have to defend myself. I went out with some friends tonight, at first it was listening to a half (at best) decent cover band playing 70s/80s songs...pretty badly. Then they went on break. Then the crap, errrr rap, and techno started. Everyone went to dance. I didn't. This shouldn't shock most people reading.

See, I got the memo in 6th grade or so that said the way to be cool is to dance to the music that's played, but as I usually do with memos from upper management (or in this case, the cool kids), I crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. I guess that's why I ended up in an independent contractor job situation in lieu of a corporate structure.

I guess the other thing that needs to be stated is that I agree with Elwood Blues on the current state of most pop (i.e., determined by executives at Clear Channel Communications) music as "nothing but recycled digitally sampled techno-grooves, quasi-synth rhythms, pseudo songs of violence laden gangsta' rap, acid pop and simpering, ciphering, soulless slush." Most of it enters my brain and triggers the crap file to open and that's where it goes. Not exactly the file that gets the body grooving.

Anyway, I'm not dancing tonight and people keep coming back to the table trying to figure out why I'm not dancing, whats wrong with me. Well, nothing's wrong with me. I don't like dancing. That's it. I find the music everyone is dancing with to be nothing more than pre-programmed electronic outputs, not the work of talented musicians. The only place it moves me to is far, far away.

Speaking of useless, soulless electonic music, a commercial featuring the new LSU jingle/theme(?) "Welcome to the Now, Evo Devo" just came on. Guess that little song Huey P. Long wrote wasn't good enough to represent my Alma Mater since its more than 10 years old. Great. Huey's turning over in his grave from the sight of the Golden Band pretending to play along to that crap in the background (I see 40+ pieces of brass "playing" and all I hear are a synthesizer, guitar, bass and drums).

Anyway, back to the original topic, the defense of my not dancing to the crap that is played as 90% of the world's dance music. By the time the 10% comes along that I like, I'm usually feeling too depressed from my inability to deal with the tight crowd and shitty music to care since everyone keeps coming to me asking whats wrong with me, making me think, "hey, something's wrong with me, I'm an outcast." Also, I get claustrophobic in the crowd. I went out to the floor tonight. In about 30 seconds I was stepped on or shoved into more than 10 times. That's not fun to me. I'm not going to do it just because society says thats the path to acceptance.

I wonder why I never meet any females, then I realize its because "going out" usually means going somewhere with dancing, and I don't dance. So I never meet anyone while I sit on the side and I get depressed and everyone tells me not to worry that I don't dance, I have so much other stuff going for me that should interest females. Well maybe I need to get my tax returns and new house/car status tattooed to my forehead because I'm told these are great things going for me. Or maybe I should tattoo the 175 IQ my boss seems to (baselessly) like telling people I have (the supposed basis of my hiring without a master's degree). Or maybe I should tattoo my weight loss up there. All supposed great things about me that tell me that the only things going for me are money and that my body isn't as horrible as it once was. Great. Anyway, I'm just sick of it all. I've always been alone and I always will be alone. I accept it. I'm moving on.

Now will come the normal sympathy posts/calls. And I don't need them. You're either A) male, so anything you say ann't lead anywhere, B) female and safely in a committed relationship, so anything you say can't lead anywhere or C) female and of sufficient distance where anything you say can't lead anywhere. Those are the people who will reply. So, please just keep it, I don't need to hear it. I'm not suicidal or depressed. Just tired of it all. It'll change when I'm that last 40 something single that meets another 40 something single and neither of us have a choice left.

2006-05-04T06:04:00.000-05:00

Sleep is for the weak

Which is why at 5:45 AM I am in the office after not sleeping last night while working on an appraisal last night. Its not on a desperate deadline, just yesterday I had a late start (from bed to office meeting in 27 minutes including a trip to Starbucks) and never got mentally into anything until around 3 PM. I was disgusted with myself for that.

On the bright side I did get to run last night and weighed in at 196.75 lbs... last week I was at 199 and that was pre-Jazz Fest, so I didn't want to be all excited about breaking the 2 century mark. But even with a bad week of eating, it looks like I am now a metabolizing machine. Speaking of Jazz Fest, if you go this weekend I suggest you walk past the crawfish bread and get the crawfish eclaire. Simialr flavor but the eclair is much more.... succulent? Yeah, I'm rambling... it happens when I start running off addrenaline.

Oh, in other news, I've seen some very good signs for young people in Baton Rouge Real Estate this week, one of which being the first gathering of the Student Real Estate Association at LSU that I've ever known of... and I've been involved with the LSU Real Estate Department since 1998. I was technically President one year, but that was just to keep the organization alive on paper, we didn't really do anything. I was just working in the office so they threw that on my job duties. Well, I'll take that back, I wrote a constitution for the club. That's something.

For those of you that have ever been to a strip club or just think they're funny, click on Kevin Smith's Myspace (yes, Kevin Smith as in Silent Bob) from my top 8. He has an interesting blog entry on strip clubs, not to mention pretty good blogs in general, but what else would you expect from the guy that wrote Clerks and Chasing Amy?

OK, rambling over, back to work

2006-04-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

I thought this was going to be about Jazz Fest...

I was all ready to come on here and post about my Jazz Fest plans next Friday and to ask if I was insane to want to see Cowboy Mouth while Bob Dylan is on another stage and Dr. John while Ani DiFranco is on another stage. All because Johnny Sketch is playing next Friday.

But then I logged on to my bank's website to find there was a lot more cash in my checking account than there should be. Then I looked at it and saw that I had two checks returned. Who were they from? The IRS. Turns out Whitney didn't post a transfer from one account to another and so there wasn't cash in the checking account to cover my 2005 taxes and first quarter 2006 taxes. So now I have an NSF Fee and will be getting a bounced check and late payment penalty from the IRS.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

But if anyone wants to go with me to Jazz Fest next Friday let me know.

2006-04-19T16:38:00.000-05:00

Dating Strengths	Dating Weaknesses
1. Open-Mindedness - 81.8% 2. Financial Situation - 76.9% 3. Independence - 71.4% 4. Intelligence - 71.4% 5. Spirituality - 69.2%	1. Humorlessness - 75% 2. Appearance - 66.7% 3. Pessimism - 66.7% 4. Shyness - 66.7% 5. Insecurity - 61.5%

Dating Strengths Explained
Open-Mindedness - You are open to trying new things and entertaining new ideas, and this widens your pool of available girls. Financial Situation - You've got your financial situation under control, which is a very desirable quality. Be careful to avoid girls who are only interested in your money. Independence - Your strong sense of independence comes in handy while dating. You are not held back or tied down; you are free to pursue your interests. Intelligence - Your sharp intellect is a valuable asset. Use your intelligence wisely; avoid condescension. Quiet, confident intelligence is very attractive. Spirituality - Your spiritual side brings you peace and balance, and keeps you grounded. This is attractive, as you can help reinforce this quality in other people.
Dating Weaknesses Explained
Humorlessness - You need to learn how to take a joke, or better yet how to tell a good one. A well-developed sense of humor is high on the list of desired traits for daters. Appearance - Devoting a greater effort at making good first impressions is a must. Try to be fit and develop a style if you want to catch a girl's attention. Pessimism - Too much cynicism can be a turn-off. Try to see the brighter side of things and people will be attracted to your positive outlook. Shyness - You know all too well the limits shyness places on you. Putting yourself out there in social situations may be difficult, but essential to your dating success. Insecurity - Your insecurity makes you doubt yourself, but you must learn to love and trust yourself if you want to succeed in dating.
Take the Dating Diversions Latest Online Dating Quiz

2006-03-31T14:26:00.000-06:00

I went to look at a house today. Grossly overpriced of course. Then saw the house next door was FSBO (For Sale By Owner). Pulled out the forms and saw that its owned by a residential appraiser our office knows. We made an offer over the phone and its been accepted, just waiting for the purchase agreement to come back. Check out my soon to be new home here.

2006-03-29T19:23:00.000-06:00

One Year of Weight Watchers

I did my weekly weigh-in tonight, and when I got home to put it on the spreadsheet, I realized today marks the end of week 52 (year 1)! So I decided to post my year 1 chart:

The little graphics are for my birthday, holidays and that bitch Katrina.

One year ago, I was at 322.2 lbs and tonight I weight in at 205.5 lbs, a total loss of 116.7 lbs. Yeah just felt like putting an update out there on a "milestone" day. I would go get some Cold Stone in celebration, but I just had to give up ice cream for Lent. Oh well.

In other news, I put an offer out on a house that hasn't been rejected yet!

2006-03-29T11:46:00.000-06:00

New Tailgate Equipment

The Orleans Parish Public School System is auctioning off flooded school busses on eBay. Seriously, a bunch of people throw in a few hundred dollars, fix it up, get an RV pass and its tailgate time.

2006-03-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

I am decoratively challenged

I looked at a house to buy today. I really like the layout and neighborhood. But the house needs work.... new floors, new paint. Owner said its been about 20 years since its been updating. Kitchens and bathrooms are in decent shape, just need to patch up the crown molding above the kitchen cabinets.

While I've spent most of the day running numbers in my head, I just had another thought enter.... colors. What would I want? I have no idea. I suck at decorating. There's basically nothing on my walls at the apartment. My office has 3 things hanging, my LSU Diploma, a ceramic plate of Country Day and a cheaply framed LSU football schedule. That's it.

So, if I buy this house, I'm really going to need some major help from whoever out there is good at decorating. The whole house will need painting, new carpet/tile, etc. Volunteers? I do have limits... no pinks/fuscias, etc. Otherwise, I'll be ready to let someone to go to town... I just have veto power.

2006-02-12T12:32:00.000-06:00

Bob Walker's New Orleans Jukebox Gold

This is a collection of New Orleans music podcasts basically. I'm listening to an all-Mardi Gras one right now. Great stuff. Enjoy

2006-02-06T17:40:00.000-06:00

Mardi Gras by Phil Johnson

Found this posted on WWLTV.com. It is Phil Johnson's traditional Mardi Gras Editorial....

-- And what else is there to talk about except that which everybody else is talking about…of course, Mardi Gras.

It's that time again: that wonderful, crazy, colorful, crowded, happy, mixed-up but glorious time when all New Orleans forgets itself for a day, lets its hair down, puts on a rubber nose, a funny hat, and walks around laughing at the silly people in their crazy costumes.

It's a day for contrasts…a day for change.

A day when legions of quiet, timid, introspective little men forsake their cashier's windows and their neat clerk’s desks, put masks across their faces, and suddenly become Don Juan.

A day when a secretary can become Queen of England…a housewife, Annie Oakley.

Mardi Gras is fantasy in a fright wig, reality with a burnt cork on its nose, a dream with a scepter in its hand, and pompousness about to be punctured.

Mardi Gras is fun and laughter, vulgarity and coarseness, color and light, and at the end, quiet.

Mardi Gras is a state of mind, an attitude, a pose, an opinion. But at its most basic…and perhaps satisfying of all, Mardi Gras is the one day in the entire year when New Orleans can tell the world:

"We're going to have fun!" And we do.

2006-02-03T10:25:00.000-06:00

Updated music, countdown and added a few links. Check out my Yahoo music station down under the links. Time to actually do some work now!

2006-01-29T20:33:00.000-06:00

Shame of Shames

I was unable to finish my potato at Port of Call last night. I know this is a great indignity and I now open myself to everyone's ridicule. Even with this great shame last night, at least I learned that you can order a plate of bread to snack on while you wait, which no one in all my years of Port of Call has known until last night.

2006-01-27T13:14:00.000-06:00

My Birthday

This describes me suprisingly well...

***Your Birthdate: October 20***

You are a virtual roller coaster of emotions, and most people enjoy the ride.
Your mood tends to set the tone of the room, and when you're happy, this is a good thing.
When you get in a dark mood, watch out - it's very hard to get you out of it.
It's sometimes hard for you to cheer up, and your gloom can be contagious.

Your strength: Your warm heart

Your weakness: Trouble controlling your emotions

Your power color: Black

Your power symbol: Musical note

Your power month: February

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

2006-01-25T20:41:00.000-06:00

Roses

"Why that title?" I'm sure you're asking.

A friend has told me that in Weight Watchers, when you reach a certain total weight loss, you get a dozen roses. That total loss is 100 lbs. As Wednesdays have been my official weekly weigh in since I started going to meetings and continued weighing here at the gym, today is the day that counts. And as of today, I have lost 101.5 lbs since I started last March 30.

Miracles do happen

2006-01-24T18:58:00.000-06:00

Mail from Elizabeth Dole

So I take off work a little early to come home, work out, eat and do some more work tonight. The plan is going great and then I check my mailbox after getting of the treadmill. I am intrigued by a thick envelope from Senator Elizabeth Dole. Inside I find a four page smear job on everyone left of Adolf Hitler and a survey that I could opt to send back with a donation to the National Repulican Senatorial Committee enclosed. The survey is even more slanted than the letter.

I will say this now because I'm sure its being asked why I even got this. I'm registered Republican. Thanks to our wonderful two party system, I get to choose between bureaucrats that let Jerry Falwell influence them and bureaucrats that let Michael Moore and Janine Garafalo influence them. I chose my party affiliation on general fiscal policy more than any social issues.

Anyway, gist of things. I'm going to take this damn survey. But they're going to have to find my way to my blog to get the results. Many questions are yes or no. Additional comments are my unsolicited thoughts

Part 1: General Questions
1) In general, are you pleased with the job President Bush is doing? Yes or No.
Yes or no? If anyone answers either way, they're either blinded by hate or stupidity.

2) Which isses are most important for President Bush and the Republican Party to focus on this year? Very important, Somewhat important or Not important
Economy - Very important
Jobs - Very important
War on Terrorism - Very important
Illegal Immigration - Very important
Education - Very important
Healthcare - Very important
Abortion - Not important

3) Additional Comments
I know my answer to the last one has ruined me from ever running for any public office with an R behind my name.

Part 2: Economic Agenda
4) Do you agree with liberal Democrats who want to reverse President Bush's tax cuts? Yes or no
No and I don't agree with the moderate ones that want to either

5) How important is a balanced budget? Very important, Somewhat important or Not important
Very important

6) Should the Republican Part push for additional tax cuts to further stimulate the economy? Yes or No
Yes, for the MIDDLE CLASS

7) Do you think we should fix the federal tax codeso that it is simpler and fairer? Yes or No
Yes

8) Which of the following is the most important priority: Creating more jobs, Making tax cuts permanent, Balancing the budget, Fixing the tax code, Growing the economy so the stock market rises
Balancing the budget, and I can't believe they put in "so the stock market rises"

Part 3: Retirement Security
9) Some Democrats have been lobbying for government-run health care in the United States. Do you support a plan that would hand over your health care to the federal government? Yes or no.
No, but there needs to be more available for those without insurance. Just let me keep my insurance

10)President Bush wants to modernize and strengthen America's health care system by giving Medicare recipients more health care choices and the access to affordable prescription drugs. Do you support his Medicare reform plan? Yes or no
Yes, if that's the plan.

Part 4: Homeland Security
11) Do you believe our nation is too dependent on foreign oil? Yes or no
Yes, but I think we're too dependent on oil period.

12) As the world's most powerful nation, President Bush believes that the United States has a special responsibility to help make the world more secure. Do you support President Bush's vision for protecting our nation that includes both opposing and preventing violence by terrorists and outlaw regimes, as well as fostering an era of good relations among the world's great powers? Yes or no
Good relations with other world powers is part of President Bush's vision? The US Government's duty is to its citizens, not the rest of the world's. No.

13) Do you favor the death penalty for terorists found guilty of killing innocent Americans? Yes or no
Yes, for anyone that kills an innocent American in cold blood. Western justice. Hanging in the town square.

14) What further steps - if any - should we take to safeguard our homeland?
ooooooh, open ended question. How suprisingly brave. There is the matter of those two massive underprotected borders to the north and south, stronger coast guard protection of our ports and Category 5 hurricane protection levees for Greater New Orleans.

Part 5: Foreign Policy
15) Today, on the continent of Africa, over 30 million children have the AIDS virus. Do you support President Bush's plan to provide $15 billion in emergency relief to turn the tide on the global effort to combat HIV/AIDS? Yes or no
This is horribly worded. Turn the tide on the global effort? $15 billion to stop the global effort? I know thats not what they mean, but this reads bad. Yes, I support the support

16) Should the United States provide more humanitarian aid to foreign countries? Yes or no
No, it should provide that money to its own homeless, sick and children.

Part 6: Family Agenda
17) Do you believe that every American should have access to quality healthcare? Yes or no
Yes

18) Should we put an end to lawsuit abuse that is draining our economy, ruining our healthcare system and costing jobs? Yes or no
Yes

19) Do you support President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" act - which is an absolute commitment to closing the achievement gap so every child can receive a quality education and the act is producing real results for every child? Yes or no
No, public education should be handled locally not by bureaucrats

20) Do you support a plan that would allow parents to decide which school their child attends? Yes or no
Yes

21) Do you support President Bush's faith-based initiative that would increase the tax benefits for donating to religious or community charities? Yes or no
Yes

Part 7: Social Issues
22) Do you support the protection of traditional marraige - between a man and a woman? Yes or no
Absolutely. I hope to one day find a woman that would actually marry me and no one better take that right away... speaking of, who's wanting to?

23)Should the United States ban Human Cloning? Yes or no
Depends on what happens with Iran and if Jango Fett will be around to base them off of.

24) Should we continue to fight for law-abiding indivuduals 2nd Amendment rights? Yes or no
Yes, absolutely.

Part 8: Campaign 2005-06
25) Do you agree that defending and strengthening our Republican Majority in the US Senate is critical to passing President Bush's agenda and fighting for America's future? Yes or no
Yes, thats a no brainer. Hard to do those things with a Democratic Congress isn't it?

26) Do you believe that building the Republican Party at the local grassroots level is key to strengthening our Senate Majority from Democratic fillibustering? Yes or no
Yes, absolutely, but don't build it with blind wannabe kissup bureaucrats

27) Will you support the NRSC's (National Republican Senatorial Committee) effort to build a foundation of grassroots support for President Bush and his agenda for a stronger, safer and more prosperous America? Yes or no
No, the NRSC should be focusing on the Senate, not the President. Its in its name.

28) Will you help continue to build a strong foundation of Republican grassroots support for President Bush and his agenda by making a generous contribution to the NRSC today? Yes or no.
Hahahahaha, NO.

Seriously, this survey and its focus pissed me off to no end. I really hate our two-party system. I'm too moderate for either it seems.

If anything, this post might actually spark some discussion. Fire away.

2006-01-23T23:50:00.000-06:00

Questionaire

from a MySpace friend:

1.How tall are you barefoot?
5'7''

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
Nope.

3. Do you own a gun?
No but I probably will someday

4. Rehab?
is for quitters

5. Would you ever "do" someone in their parents bed?
that would disturb me a lot less than in my parents bed

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
Not a big fan anymore

7. What's your favorite Christmas song?
Gloria in Excelsis Deo

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Frappucino light

9. Do you do push-ups?
not that often

10. Tried X?
hell no

11. Are you vegetarian?
I think I'd try X before giving up meat.

12. Do you like painkillers?
Yes!

13. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
If it exists, its secret even to me

14. Do you own a knife?
Yes

15. Do you have A.D.D.?
Not diagnosed

16. Do you love the pain a tattoo brings?
Wouldn't know and don't intend to know

17. Top 3 thoughts at this exact moment:
I need to get to bed. Why did I start this questionaire. My eyes hurt

18. Name the last 3 things you have bought.
groceries, hot white chocolate and an italian soda yesterday

19. Name five drinks you regularly drink:
Water, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke, Starbucks Frappucino Lights, Diet Minute Maid Lemonaide

20. What time did you wake up today?
8 AM

21. Current hair?
short

22. Current worry?
work

23. Current hate?
work

24. Favorite place to be?
haven't found it yet

25. Least favorite place to be?
Fred's/similar places

26. Where would you like to go?
Scotland, Washington DC, somewhere quiet in the woods

27. What do you wear when you go to sleep?
shirt and boxers

28. What do you think you'll be doing in 10 years?
On January 23, 2016 at 11:40 PM, I will probably be asleep

29. Do you burn or tan?
tan

30. Last thing you ate?
half of a wheat pita

31. Would you be a pirate?
argh!

32. Last time you had an alcoholic drink?
a few nights ago, some red wine

33. What songs do you sing in the shower?
I'm usually still too asleep to sing in the shower

34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
Skeletor

36. Last thing that made you laugh?
Quagmire walking up to two lesbians "You girls ever been penetrated?"

37. Best bed sheets you had as a child?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

38. Worst injury you've ever had?
I think I tore something in my knee freshman year at LSU that I never really got looked at.

39. What are your dreams like?
People from various periods in my life together in combinations and locations that they should not be together in. Like elementary and middle school friends at my highschool, though ther was 0 overlap between those groups.

40. How many TVs do you have in your house?
2

41. Who is your loudest friend?
Nick/Franz

42. Who is your most silent friend?
probably me

43. Does someone have a crush on you?
not likely, but if anyone reading does, feel free to clue me in

44. Do you wish on stars?
no

46. What is your favorite candy?
peanut butter/chocolate fudge

47. What song do did you want played at your wedding?
Pregame/Touchdown for LSU... I've seriously heard of people buying their friends 5 or 6 Tigerband players to show up at receptions and play

48. What song do you want played at your funeral?
Whatever will bring most comfort to my loved ones, I won't be there to listen to it if they chose something crappy.

49. What were you doing 12AM last night?
sleeping or getting ready to sleep

50. What annoys you the most about MySpace?
I'll keep jacui's answer: How inconsistent it is. Sometimes it works great, sometimes I can't even log on.

2006-01-20T11:54:00.000-06:00

Quick Update

Got my car back yesterday. Someone overnighted the part to the dealership, but they didn't know about it until they got it. Also, only 2 more lbs to 100 lbs total lost! Lastly, I'm fighting off a head cold right now, but the pain/aggravation of it seems to come and go... seems like its just the changing weather.

2006-01-16T22:57:00.000-06:00

Car Trouble

So I pull up to Starbucks this morning and as I'm shutting off the car, I notice my check engine light is on. After getting my morning coffee, I drive to my local dealership and drop it off. This afternoon, I get the call. What exactly is wrong I can't comprehend because it has a long name. It has something to do with the air intake system as well as emissions. Yeah, I know alot about cars. Really doesn't matter because the car's under warranty. No, here comes the kicker.

According to the computer system, which links all the GM dealerships in the country, not a single dealer has the part I need in stock. It will need to come from the vendor. The even better part, my Pontiac Vibe is a Toyota Matrix with a slightly different body on it. In other words, I'm guessing my part will be coming from Japan, whenever it gets in.

Now the GM warranty does provide me with a rental car for free, but it had to be a GM car. So what did Enterprise have available for me? A Saturn Ion. Now if you drive and/or love this car, please click back now. This car is a piece of shit. The drivers seat feels like its maybe 6" off the ground. I cannot position the seat, back and steering wheel in any position that is comfortable. My back was hurting after a 10 minute drive. The damn spedometer and gas guage and all isn't behind the steering wheel where you can look at it in a direct line while you drive, no its in the middle of the dashboard so you need to turn away from looking straight ahead just to check your speed. I have not found a single thing about this car that I like. I just hope that part comes in sooner rather than later, I don't know how long I can stand this car, especially if work makes me go any long distances.

In other news, I finished the Chronicles of Narnia last night. I now wish I had read that last book when I was into the books in elementary school, but my attention span got the best of me so I quit. Up next, Leadership by Rudy Giuliani.

I had a root canal last week with several more cavaties left to be worked on. You say you hate the dentist because of this, but when you don't go, its worse when you finally do go because you're so far behind on the cleanings. Lesson learned, until the next time I feel like not going to the dentist.

Work is kind of blah right now, but at least one of the bosses left for a 2-week vacation today, so that is making things somewhat quieter.

Home Movies now comes on nightly as part of Adult Swim. I don't know where it came from, but its the same style/voices from Dr. Katz and is pretty funny.

Diet is going very well, will be at 100 lbs total loss in the next 2-3 weeks.

Last night's The Boondocks was so very, very wrong.

Sugar Ray Nagin today at an MLK rally said New Orleans will be "chocolate" again "as God intended it." Wow. Just wow. I hear this is getting some national play tonight already, but the next few days will be interestiing. On the flip side, wonder what kind of national play it would get if Aaron Broussard said Jefferson Parish would be "vanilla" again "as God intended it."

2006-01-01T18:47:00.000-06:00

New Year, New Books

Decided to go to Books a Million today because they were having some clearance sale. Also I needed a planner and my yearly Dilbert desk calendar. I might have gone a little overboard. My reading for the next few months:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - I already read The Magician's Nephew and will be reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe tonight.

Leadership by Rudy Giuliani - Have heard very good things about this book. Since chances are Rudy's going to be running for President, it will be nice to get to know the candidate before the national poliical machines begin too much of their praise/slander.

Our Nation's Archives: The History of the United States in Documents - This book starts with "How the World Was Made" by the Cherokee Nation and ends with "William Jefferson Clinton is acquitted" by Supreme Court Justice WIlliam Rehnquist. I also saw The Contract With America two entries before that. So this book seems to be a pretty straight forward compilation of laws, articles, speeches and various art. The book is only 995 pages with tiny 2 colum type.

A Patriotic History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen - They state their purpose is to refute the angle many history books tend to give to American history now ("My country, always wrong!"). This was the only book I was able to get at clearance. It clocks in a 823 pages

So chances are I'll be buried in one of these books for the next few months.

In other news, I took a few weeks off of the diet for Christmas, but am back on and on my way to a 100 pound total loss within the next month.

2005-12-14T16:49:00.000-06:00

Saints to win last 3 games of season!

OK the article doesn't say that, just that Aaron Brooks is demoted to benchwarmer. This officially means the Saints have given up on the season. Guess they're trying to become a late entrant into the Reggie Bush Sweepstakes.

2005-12-09T00:56:00.000-06:00

X3 trailer

I couldn't believe how many mutants I saw in this. Lineups for the movie look like this:

X-Men
Professor X
Cyclops
Storm
Wolverine
Iceman
Rogue
Kitty Pride
Colossus
Beast

Brotherhood
Magneto
Mystique
Pyro
Juggernaut
Callisto

Unknown/Tweeners
Jean Grey/(Dark?) Phoenix (seen with the X-Men as well as with the "Brotherhood", when she's in the maroon Dark Phoenix wore)
Angel

Magneto talks about "curing" mutants, which makes me think this movie will feature Mr. Sinister in some way and perhaps Angel becoming Archangel.

Yes, already looking forward to this movie

2005-12-08T09:51:00.000-06:00

Evidence points to man-made disaster

Well, I've only been calling the flooding in New Orleans a man-made disaster since September 2 or so. About time someone picked up on that fact.

This needs to be publicized, announced to the world that what happened to New Orleans was a failure of engineering, that the area can be protected with proper funding and design... things most people (in the city and around the country) thought we had.

The more I hear that levees were not built to specs and that, had they been, it would basically be life as normal in most of New Orleans, the more hope I have for the long-term rebuilding of the city.

What we need (and this is coming from a pretty hardcore small-government conservative) is a massive public works project to fix the levees to their proper level of protection. You could spend 10-15 years doing this with a few hundred workers, or 2-3 years with thousands of workers. I'll take the latter.

2005-12-04T22:14:00.000-06:00

Male Best Friend
You scored 46 despair, 50 relationship potential, 67 feelings, and 100 patience

You're always there, you're nice, you're the shoulder to cry on, you get along just fine, why won't she/he date you? you're the "male best friend"

DragonflyBlade21: A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.

This test tracked 4 variables. How the score compared to the other people's:

Higher than 68% on despair

Higher than 26% on potential

Higher than 10% on feelings

Higher than 46% on patience

Link: The Why Are You Single Test written by luminiscent on Ok Cupid

2005-11-03T11:33:00.000-06:00

Audubon Zoo to reopen after Thanksgiving

Excellent. Audubon Zoo will reopen on Thanksgiving Friday. That will be the day of the LSU/Arkansas game. Anyone want to go that Saturday or Sunday?

2005-10-15T00:20:00.000-05:00

This Thursday's my birthday. So what do I want?

I want to go back to New Orleans

I want to go have beignets at Cafe Du Monde and walk to the Historic New Orleans Collection to see their Battle of New Orleans display (featuring the sword surrendered to Gen. Jackson). Both open this week.

I want to drink a Monsoon and have a burger and potato at Port of Call that have absolutely nothing to do with my diet. Then I want to go to Pat O's and keep paying the piano players to sing Hey Fighting Tigers every time someone pays them to play Dixie, Rocky Top or (lord forbid) The Eyes of Texas. I've seen no news on when either will open.

I want to go to Country Day and give them whatever I have that they need. A bit of repayment for those 4 years of scholarships. School reopens a limited program on Nov 7.

I want to go see Johnny Sketch in thier first concert back in New Orleans after Katrina. Right now scheduled for November at the Howlin Wolf.

I want to go to Audubon Zoo, spend the day there and roll down Monkey Hill. The Zoo is closed indefinitely.

I want to go to the Sugar Bowl and watch LSU kick someone's ass. I've heard a rumor that the 2007 Sugar Bowl might be the first event the refurbished Superdome will hold. This aligns with the time table presented today.

I want to eat Chicken Box chicken and Popeyes biscuits on the Napoleon Avenue neutral ground and hand some up to the Thoth riders. They say Mardi Gras will go on as planned, so this one looks probable.

I want to be able to flip between WWOZ, WTIX and 106.7 while driving around at home. Kool 95.7 has taken on Bayou 105.3's format (planned pre-Katrina) and it seems like another part of New Orleans is gone.

The only thing on this list that I'll be allowed to do for my birthday is Cafe Du Monde/Historic Collection but work and LSU footbal will get in the way of that. I'll just have to be patient. Luckily, it looks like all of these things will be doable... eventually.

2005-09-01T00:29:00.000-05:00

Katrina Update

Stayed up late Friday night watching this thing grow. Knew it looked like one bad ass storm. Got my mom out Sat afternoon, telling her to pack all non perishables. Quick trip back to BR, I got out prior to most evacuation as usual.

Sunday, I'm starting to worry in Baton Rouge. The size of this storm and the track over New Orleans would mean bad things for BR as far as wind. Not liking all the windows in my apartment. Charles offers space in Lafayette and we take him up on it...Only a 4.5 hour drive on US 190! On the way, we find that my grandfather has, for the first time in his 88 years, evacuated New Orleans for a storm, going to my uncle's in Covington.

Monday the storm hits. I'm up at 5 AM watching. Communication east of Ascension/Livingston non-existant. Around 3 PM, we get ahold of my neighbor (from Kenner) Ronnie, who has heard from a neighbor that stayed behind that he has 2 in of water in his house. He is in Galveston. We call the neighbor tht stayed behind, get through, and find that while the canal side has water in the houses, she is looking at our house out her window and sees our grass! (We are on a high point that has never flooded... a sort of island in past floods). Minor roof damage also reported. Around 6 PM, I am on the phone with Chris when I hear Erin in the background scream "POWER!" Car is packed and we are in Baton Rouge in 45 minutes. Later I realize my laptop was not packed from Charles's! Oops

Tuesday, mental anguish over rumored levee breaches and rising water in Jefferson after being told that water in Kenner had lowered enough so that the police got Super Wal-Mart open to sell supplies. Also, no contact with Northshore. We assume the best as the news is lots of trees down and no power/cell service but not major injuries. Late at night I try text messages to get a hold of people. AIM too.

Wednesday, things look better. Jefferson is drying. After lunch, my uncle calls. He is on Airline at a Cracker Barrell getting lunch, then heading out in search ice and propane. I have them, so they come to my office and we go home to suprise my mom and stock up. My grandfather is with him and we decide he should stay here, where we have A/C and somewhat more peaceful setting. Also, other family in Tangipahoa contacts us via text. Everyone in my clan appears to have made it through this safely and (so it appears) with minimal property damage, though I want to get back into the places. Cautiously optimistic best describes how I feel about my mom's house (in Kenner) and grandfather's apartment (on the levee in River Ridge).

I also have started recieving calls about locating apartments in BR. Sadly, I can report that you're not likely to find them. Even condominiums have been bought up at an alarming rate in the past 2 days. My complex has gone from 89% occupancy to 100% occupancy before the end of the day today. I suggest people look west, north and mabe even east (Gonzales, Prairieville, Denham Springs). Baton Rouge is about to experience a potentially bad refugee crisis. Traffic is packed with northshore/Livingston residents coming for food and gas and this is the closest location for people from New Orleans to find themselves now that the Twin Spans and highrise are not structurally sound. This is the first real stop on the only way out. Looters have already found their way out of the Centroplex/River Center into downtown Baton Rouge, and things have reportedly been ugly in N BR near Southern today. And that's happened only with the first refugees to get here.

Baton Rouge is a little scarier tonight, but we are high and dry here. Everyone is in my prayers that has been displaced, however, coming here without housing fully shored up is not advisable at this time. Baton Rouge seems full if not overfilled already. I wish I could say otherwise, but the stories I've heard on the real estate side (residential sales and residential/commercial rentals) just won't let me. We're not built to absorb 200,000 to 500,000 people in a week's time.

2005-08-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

If there's one thing Sooner fans are good for, its farking...

2005-08-13T15:46:00.000-05:00

No words for this.

Well, "Gotta have faith," but that's about it.

2005-07-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

Hurry up and wait

The last few weeks have really sucked. I've been burned out tired. Then last week I had a project at work I just couldn't get through. I'd get maybe 5 pages done at work in a whole day and that was the progress I made some days. Got nothing done after coming in on Saturday, ended up going home and sleeping 14 hours. Wrote most of the report on Sunday and it went out in a mad flurry including copier failure yesterday. Now, I ahve nothing to do. Been going through all this stress and slogging through work. Now I'm at a point with a pile of work that's all at a point I can't work on, so I've done next to nothing today (because I can't). Anyway, work's just wierd like that.

Work should have me down in New Orleans this week, probably overnight one night, if anyone down there wants to do anything. I think everyone knows my cell number.

2005-07-05T11:07:00.000-05:00

WE'RE TAKING OVER!

This Thursday on Smackdown, its the return of the Blue World Order

For those that don't know, that Da Blue Guy, Hollywood Nova and Big Stevie Cool.

2005-07-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

I've gotten really bad at updating this. For the longest, I was just trying to avoid commenting on a certain situation involving friends, so I shaded away from the blog for a while.

Anyway, I'm past that now and just wanted to put some news out there.

The biggest news is that in mid-June, my Pontiac Sunfire was retired. It was a 1998 vehicle and getting close to the 100,000 mile mark. With the new trend of "employee discounts," it was time forme to get the car I've been wanting for over a year, the Pontiac Vibe. Its a great vehicle, has storage space closer to an SUV than a car, Toyota interior, Pontiac exterior and gets great millage. Also got a decent deal after trade in and rebates. First thing I did was go to New Orleans and get precut plywood for my mom's windows since I could actually transport the wood now.

Also I decided this week to stop going to Weight Watchers. Not that I'm stopping the diet, I'm just not going to pay $11 each week to go in and get weighed (since the meetings do nothing for me, thats all I do). I need to adjust the tally on the side of the page b/c there seems to be a difference of about 11 pounds between weighing at Weight Watchers and at the apartment complex. Some of that is different scales, but a lot of it is that at Weight Watchers, I was coming from work in heavy shoes and clothes and with wallet and all in my pockets, while at the complex the scale is in the gym so I am in t-shirt and shorts and leave the wallet and most of the other pocket stuff in the apartment. Anyway, right now I'm closing in to 275 (apartment scale) and a total of 50 lbs lost.

If anyone reads on Sunday or Monday, I am doing 4th stuff at the apartment, call my cell for details. Thinking to grill arond 3 or 4 and then head out to the fireworks downtown on the river.

2005-06-10T00:14:00.000-05:00

This quiz and the one below are courtesy of Rhonda.

Your dating personality profile:

Intellectual - You consider your mind amongst your assets. Learning is not a chore but a constant search after wisdom and knowledge. You value education and rationality.
Wealthy/Ambitious - You know what your goals are and you pursue them vigourously. Achieving success is important to you.
Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters.

Your date match profile:

Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living.
Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind.
Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw her out of her shell and get to know what she is all about.

Your Top Ten Traits

1. Intellectual
2. Wealthy/Ambitious
3. Practical
4. Romantic
5. Religious
6. Conservative
7. Adventurous
8. Shy
9. Traditional
10. Sensual

Your Top Ten Match Traits

1. Practical
2. Intellectual
3. Shy
4. Religious
5. Adventurous
6. Conservative
7. Sensual
8. Traditional
9. Athletic
10. Romantic

Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions

2005-06-10T00:07:00.000-05:00

You scored as Darth Vader.

Darth Vader

81%

Yoda

61%

Clone Trooper

61%

R2-D2

58%

Anakin Skywalker

56%

Obi Wan Kenobi

53%

C-3PO

53%

Mace Windu

53%

General Grievous

50%

Chewbacca

44%

Padme Amidala

44%

Emperor Palpatine

33%

Which Revenge of the Sith Character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

2005-06-08T17:37:00.000-05:00

Under 300

Just thought I'd update that as of today I am officially weighing in under 300 lbs, for the first time in at least a year and a half, maybe longer (I know that my scale was useless when I started Weight Watcher, hard to tell at what point it last worked). Officially from Weight Watchers, I've dropped 34.6 lbs in 10 weeks. I've also lost 3-4 inches off my waist. Not sure that the rate of 3.5 lbs/week will hold (pretty sure it won't) but this seems to be working just based on diet (I've been slacking on the walking since I moved).

Star Wars ruled. The end suite is very good, with Williams choosing to include new variations on the victory ceremony from A New Hope even though that music wasn't featured in Revenge of the Sith. The end credits suite musically ties the movie to the original trilogy. That's a nice little touch.

The LSU baseball team managed drop from preseason #2-#5 to not making it out of the Baton Rouge Regional. Smoke is going to keep his job, but his contract is up next year. Averaging 4,000 fans in attendnace again (and thus only making half the hot dog/coke money) will be his undoing. Skip has a new Box planned, and there will need to be butts in the seats to pay for it.

For pretty much all the other stuff going on rectently, I can refer you to Matt, Bobby and Brain's blogs to the left.

2005-05-01T14:59:00.000-05:00

Move it on over

I was already in New Orleans on Friday when Place DuPlantier called to tell me that they have a girl that wants my apartmet on May 21, so they want me out by May 15. That's fine, by signing a May 1 lease with the new complex, I am getting a discounted rental. Anyway, I've spent most of this weekend packing instead of Jazz Fest like I planned. I get keys to the new place tomorrow and will be bringing over a carload of stuff.

The plan for the moving of big stuff is next Friday and Saturday. All are welcome to help, especially those with larger vehicles.

A project I'd like some help with is that I have a pile of LSU sports stuff, mostly Reveilles, Advocates and Times Picayunnes after big wins, that I'd like to decorate either a room at the new apartment or, even better, my office with. Problem is I don't want to just put the papers on the wall with thumbtacks like I did when I was a student. Anyone that can think of a better way to present them or would like to just do the decorating (I'll pay all the costs), let me know.

Call or leave a comment if you want to help out with the move, I'll take all the help I can get.

2005-04-20T08:18:00.000-05:00

I am worth $1,996,080.00 on HumanForSale.com

Well no wonder I'm alone, no one I know can afford me.

2005-04-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

Found a neat Are You a Neoconservative? quiz. Turns out I'm a:

Realist

Realists…

Are guided more by practical considerations than ideological vision
Believe US power is crucial to successful diplomacy - and vice versa
Don't want US policy options unduly limited by world opinion or ethical considerations
Believe strong alliances are important to US interests
Weigh the political costs of foreign action
Believe foreign intervention must be dictated by compelling national interest

Historical realist: President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Modern realist: Secretary of State Colin Powell

I can live with being aligned with Ike and Colin Powell. Guess I think like a General.

2005-04-18T13:17:00.000-05:00

Found on Pete's site...

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Empathy	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Interdependence	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	76%
Intellectual	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Mystical	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Artistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Religious	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Hedonism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Materialism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Narcissism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Work ethic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Self absorbed	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Conflict seeking	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Need to dominate	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%

Romantic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Anti-authority	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Wealth	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Dependency	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Change averse	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Cautiousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Individuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Sexuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Peter pan complex	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Physical security	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%
Food indulgent	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%
Histrionic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Paranoia	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Vanity	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Female cliche	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Um, Yeah.

2005-04-12T23:13:00.000-05:00

Quiz things. Weight Watchers tomorrow. Will be inerested to see what it says, I've felt some clothes fitting a little looser.

You Are the Helper

2

You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you.

You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know.

Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere.

You connect with people who are charming and charismatic.

What number are you?

Sean Christopher McDonald's Aliases

Your movie star name: Ice Cream Clif

Your fashion designer name is Sean Paris

Your socialite name is Big Mac New Orleans

Your fly girl / guy name is S McD

Your detective name is Tiger Country Day

Your barfly name is Ice Cream Abita

Your soap opera name is Christopher Ole Miss

Your rock star name is Snickers Life

Your star wars name is Seageo McDjac

Your punk rock band name is The Bored Meatwad

The Amazing Meganame Generator

2005-04-07T13:14:00.000-05:00

Doctors visit was to show me my cholesterol was out of whack and to further try to convince me to eat better and start exercising. Since I've started both, it was a pretty fast visit. The scale at the office showed that I've lost 9 lbs since last Monday, which makes sense b/c I started walking and cutting back on foods two days before starting Weight Watchers.

2005-04-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

First weigh in... 326.4. Down 7.4 pounds since last Wednesday!

Also, on the doctor, from what the nurse told me today, my cholesterol is a little high, and I'm guessing I will be told to alter my diet (Weight Watchers, check!) and get some exercise (been walking at least half an hour per day weather permitting, check!), so everything will hopefully be good with the doctor tomorrow (i.e., no more tests, medicines, etc).

2005-04-04T14:17:00.000-05:00

Doctors office just called.

They need me to come in this week to talk about my blood test results. Nothing life threatening but don't want to wait until the May appointment I made.

Really not sure what that means.

2005-04-03T22:37:00.000-05:00

Updates
Fixed links to my office's website (upper left) and Beth's blog.
Also added a Weight Watchers Log to the right column. Hoping that keeping updates there will act as added incentive for me to keep things up.

2005-04-01T20:08:00.000-06:00

Just thought I'd drop a quick line on the Pope. While my personal views and the official views of the Catholic Church sometimes are at odds, Pope John Paul II is a great man. I'm not feeling so much mourning for what is going on tonight because its time for him to finally rest. Very similar to how I felt when my dad finally reached the point of no return. He's suffered very long and its time for him to escape from the pain.

WWL's put up pictures of the Pope's Visit to New Orleans in 1987, and you can see how alive he was back then versus his declining state the last 5+ years. Seeing him at Mass and the Youth Rally in the Superdome donning a Mardi Gras mask with Archbishop Hannan makes his passing hit much more than the pictures on TV of him being wheeled around and propped up in recent years. I hope that his passing tonight is peaceful and painless, which it sounds like his doctors are ensuring.

Kinda random, just had some thoughts to get out. Seeing the slideshow on WWL just hit me.

2005-03-31T21:59:00.000-06:00

Sickness

The past week has been interesting

Most of last week I felt like crap all week. Thursday I finally left work early and bought a thermometer. That night I had a 103.4 fever and ran myself to the emergency room. Apparantly you're NOT supposed to sweat out a fever under the blankets. They did chest x-rays, blood work, urine work, etc. and gave me fluids. Doctors were closed for Good Friday and I spiked again Friday night, but it came down fast.

The fever went away on Saturday and I spent Saturday and Sunday working up myself into sickness thinking everything under the sun was wrong with me. Sunday night I fooled myself into thinking I was having a heart attack (my arm hurt and I thouht my heart was beating fast). EMS came out and said it was more like an anxiety attack.

Next day at the doctor, I thought I was having breathing problems, possibly bronchitis. He said the chest x-rays showed nothing, stethescope showed nothing and that the only thing I had from the blood work was a slightly high glucose level. Everything else was just my nerves getting to me and going stir crazy.

The most important thing to come out of the doctor's office was that I weight 335! Holy shit! My scale stops at 300 and I thought when it was swinging around to 10 (above 300), that was 310. Also, he wrote down the words I had never seen before on my records "morbidly obese". He gave me a perscription to Weight Watchers (paperwork for some medical insurance programs that cover that). I know my dad peaked out around 350-375 and I don't want to "beat" him (even though I still wouldn't be as wide b/c I'm taller).

I have taken his perscription. Today was day 1. I managed to get a smoothie and eat at Picadilly (grilled fish) and Chimes (grilled chicken platter) on the points system. I've also taken the advice of making time to walk by getting up early to walk the neighborhood for half an hour, though it was too nasty this morning.

Its time I learn from my dad's mistakes. He stayed overweight an entire lifetime and he didn't make it to 65. His quality of life after age 50 wasn't that great either. I'm not expecting to become a toothpick, but I can do better than where I am now. I think Weight Watchers can help me get there. So I will be counting points for a while... probably a long while, but its suprisingly free in food selection. Less pizza and fried foods, more veggies and grilled foods. Also, I can still have a drink or two... light beers are only 2 pts for a 12 oz. can. I get sweets too, 2 scoops of low fat ice cream/yogurt is also only 2 pts. Not a bad evening snack.

I will try to keep updates on my "weigh in" weights as I see fit. My official weigh in last night was 333.8, down from 335 at the doctors, likely difference is the scale and maybe 2 mornings of walking. They automatically set your first goal at 10% of body weigh, so I'll be at my first goal when I get down to 300. No time table on that, but I hope it will be sooner rather than later.

Another decision is that the house purchase is off for now. These 4 days of being sick alone in the apartment scared me. Living alone, I was here driving myself insane. I need friends nearby. I've also decided that a house is a lot for one person to take care of, physically and financially. What I could afford and what I want weren't aligning well at this point.

I'm trying to move to Regency Club Apartments, the complex Chris and Erin live in. Its just across Sherwood Forest from my office, has the fireplace I've wanted, is closer to lots of friends and has a fitness center that will hopefully help me stay on the exercise I need. It will be a good place for me to live. I will miss being a hop, skip and jump from my Alma Mater, but its only a 10-15 minute drive on the Interstate.

One last thing....

Ohhhhh, oh oh, ohhhhhh, oh oh... WRES-TLE-MAN-IA... Fightin' to survive

Thats the old lyrics to the Wrestlemania (now Linda McMahon) theme song. Predictions:

World Championship
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Dave Batista
Logic says Batista leaves HHH a bloody pulp in the middle of the ring. Unfortunately, logic isn't married to the owner's daughter. HHH is saved when Randy K. Orton returns to Evolution.

WWE Championship
John Bradshaw Layfield vs. John Cena
This is a world title match? You're kidding. Smackdown sucks. Cena wins I guess.

6-way Ladder Match
Chris Jericho vs. Chris Beniot vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian vs. Edge vs. Kane
There's a 50% chance that Chris will win. My pick is Chris Jericho.

Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels
I pick Kurt Angle to win this so he can feud with John Cena for the Smackdown World Title and so HBK can reunite with Marty Jannety and bring back the Raw tag division.

Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker
Undertaker somehow manages to job at Wrestlemania. Might take half the roster to do it, like at the Royal Rumble when they stuffed him in a casket.

WWE Women's Championship
Christy Hemme vs. Trish Stratus
Lita turns on Christy and we get Trish and Lita as the hot uber bitches running the women on Raw. Christy goes back to bouncing around and being generally annoying.

Big Show vs. Akebono
Sumo match? Not sure what this is supposed to be and I'm not sure the WWE does either. My pick is Big Show since he's actually a WWE employee.

Smackdown Tag Champions Explode
Rey Misterio vs. Eddie Guerrero
Scrap Big Show vs. Akebono and the Women's match and give these two 45 minutes. This will probably be the match of the night if given enough time. Rey Rey wins, eventually leading to the return of Rudo Dick Eddie.

Really sad to see no tag matches at Wrestlemania. They need to get the tag divisions up and running again and not just with matched up singles guys.

2005-03-25T12:06:00.000-06:00

Wrestlemania 21 Trailers

These are really funny WWE movie pardoies (since Wrestlemania is in Hollywood this year). Check out When Harry Met Sally and Basic Instinct.

2005-03-22T13:42:00.000-06:00

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Hmm, OK then.

Long time no update.

Cliffs notes version:
Still working.
Doing fine.
Fire Brady.
House hunting.

Questions?

Other news:

CKI/associated friends get together on Apr 23 courtsey of Ms. Erin Nesom. Not affiliated with any organization.

Please visit Brandi's blog and comment (on my left column). She's feeling lonely with no thoughts there but her own.

2004-12-28T12:03:00.000-06:00

Yet another reason to hate the UN...

U.N. official slams U.S. as 'stingy' over aid - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - December 28, 2004: "politicians in the United States and Europe 'believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It's not true. They want to give more.' "

Well I'm glad to have an international bureaucrat from Norway standing up for my American right to pay more taxes, a right I truly treasure. Can we please kick these idiots out of NYC and send them to Switzerland where they belong?

2004-12-04T21:09:00.000-06:00

Thankfully the dark day of having to support the Barn is over. DIE WAR CHICKENS DIE!

I feel much better now.

So, I currently have 2 Capital One Bowl tickets and 2-4 more coming from LSU. Who wants to hit Orlando for New Years?

2004-12-03T01:46:00.000-06:00

Bowl Season makes for strange bedfellows.

2004-11-08T23:37:00.000-06:00

A friendly reminder since everyone's favorite inbreds are coming to town...

2004-10-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

Another Birthday has come and gone.

So I'm 24 now. One year from a quarter century. I almost went out and bought myself a 2004 Pontiac Vibe, but I decided I needed to get out of debt before taking on more debt. I'm planning on getting a 2005 Vibe (taking advantage of year-end clearances) next October as part of my official quarter-century crisis.

Other things going on. I went down to New Orleans last Friday for a property visit and I was suprised to find that Country Day had a major game against district rival (and #2 in the state for 1A schools) Boothville-Venice. I was shocked at this coincidence. Anyway, the CD Cajuns took out 5 years of anger on the Oilers (we hadn't beaten them since my senior year) with a 45-0 blowout. I chose a really good game to go to, I mean I chose a good Friday to go work in New Orleans.

Then Saturday it was down to Thibodaux for Jason and Mary's wedding. Fun time at the reception. Duck quesadillas taste a lot better than they sound. I left my credit card at Rox's Bar with a tab because we left so fast, I never got a second drink. Its in the mail and will hopefully get to the office tomorrow.

Yesterday I didn't do much for my birthday. The boss usually takes the office out for birthdays, but we have 5 in late Sept/Oct, so to save time and money, he just takes everyone to Ruth's Chris. They happened to choose yesterday, so that was good. Otherwise I didn't do much at all.

Interesting speech at Country Day tonight by my history teacher for their Homecoming: "75 Years... In Spite of Ourselves". Wish I could see it. Maybe they will have him do it again Alumni Weekend in the spring.

Friday night is a guy's night at Hooters, names being withheld to protect the soon to be guilty. Saturday is my birthday party/Homecoming. LSU finally takes on the Trojans (even though its Troy, not USC) and I will be in the student section for it (for those of you keeping score, I have not sat in my season ticket seats since the first game).

The next few weeks look like work will be sending me down to New Orleans at least once if not more, so if anyone's doing things in New Orleans, let me know and I might end up being down there for work at the same time.

2004-09-27T23:48:00.000-05:00

Nope, this isn't Ole Miss.

2004-08-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

I've been too busy with work to post too much lately. The big news is that I'm now an LSU Season Ticket owner (South Endzone Section 17) and that I've upgraded to a laptop (since my desktop at home had an incident with its motherboard and static electricity).

In the next few weeks I'm going to post my musings on college football this year in three categories, the Sisters of the Poor (all the Div 1-A schools in Louisiana wasting taxpayer money to support programs that should be 1-AA or 2, i.e. UL-You Pick Em), non-SEC Top 10 teams and the SEC. Will I boldly predict that LSU will go undefeated for the next 3 years? Check back and find out.

2004-07-28T22:04:00.000-05:00

In the immortal words of Eric Cartman... "Democrats piss me off."

Earlier, Al Sharpton said that Republicans still owed African Americans the 40 Acres and a Mule President Lincoln promised them. Ho boy.

Then, I caught the tail end of John John Edward's speech tonight, just in time to hear him talk about how much he and Big John are going to support the military in funding, technology and numbers (do I need to go over Big John's Senate voting record on military funding? He didn't want the B-2 bomber!) how they won't take 3 years to make changes in intelligence as suggested by the 9/11 Commission (a report President Bush has had... two weeks? and once again, I didn't see Sen. Big John proposing anything for the last 20 years from the Senate) and, in a sure plea to the informed Democratic base, proposed an increase in the minimum wage.

Sad that the suggestion of increasing the minimum wage got more applause than supporting the troops, but I'm not shocked. Promising an increase in the minimum wage is nothing more than pandering for votes, though they claim it will END POVERTY. Let's think about this.

If you increase he minimumwage, those companies that employ people based at minimum wage must make the difference either by cutting jobs or increasing prices. An automatic hit is felt by everyone INCLUDING WORKERS PAID AT MINIMUM WAGE as McDonald's, grocery stores, WalMarts, etc (who all employ mass numbers of employees at or just above minimum wage) increase their prices to make the difference. At best the "playing field" is slightly leveled for maybe a year until cost of living increases kick in for many higher-paid workers.

The minimum wage workers will enjoy a bigger number on their paychecks, but then two years later they'll ask "Why is milk $5/gallon when it was $4 two years ago?" Minimum wage workers will still be in poverty just in time for Komrade Klinton to suggest another increase when she runs. Increasing minimum wage has no real effect, it washes out.

If you want to beat poverty, improve schools and keep jobs in America instead of shipping them to India. Those will have real effects as generally the more educated you are, the better paid you are and there will then be jobs here for people to work at.

2004-07-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

Make-A-Wish Foundation Asked To Punch Barry Bonds In The Nuts

2004-07-11T02:07:00.000-05:00

So Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes finally get a concert in Baton Rouge and its at Fred's... I'm going to have to break my anti-Tigerland policy. its Thursday July 22. Anyone want to go?

2004-07-08T17:45:00.000-05:00

Its the Ambiguously Gay Duo! (no, not a Jesuit joke...)

2004-06-26T12:54:00.000-05:00

September 4, 2004
5:00 PM
Tigers Eat the Beavers
ESPN GAMEDAY WILL BE IN BATON ROUGE, again

2004-06-25T11:13:00.000-05:00

Let the Jesuit/Tulane/Ole Miss jokes commence!

2004-06-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

From My Yahoo

Sean's Daily Libra Forecast

Quickie: You keep hearing something. But what? Listen harder. It's a voice in your own head.

Well, good to see I'm not insane. The voices in my head are really there!

Overview: If you're flying solo-style, it's probably because deep down you want to be alone. The right person will find their way into your life when you're ready. If you're coupled up, give your copilot the day off.

Hey, I tell myself that all the time!

2004-06-24T16:44:00.000-05:00

I-UH AM-UH THE GAME-UH!

2004-06-14T08:59:00.000-05:00

Some jokes write themselves

Auburn Housing

2004-06-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

Ronald Reagan has died.

Gaelic Prayer
May the roads rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

2004-06-05T15:08:00.000-05:00

Ronald Reagan is on his death bed. Take a loook at how some DemoRats are discussing it....

Democratic Underground Forums - The timing is perfect for Bush isn't it

Makes me sick. That is all. I'm at work and watching LSU vs. USM baseball. Don't want to comment right now.

2004-06-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

Check out what us classless, toothless, redneck, vulgar LSU fans did to the Army baseball team today at the Box.

2004-05-31T22:29:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone, the back seems to be healing up. Still a little stiffness/soreness here and there but nothing like a week ago. Taking most of this weekend off and staying in bed almost all day Sunday seem to have been good decisions (though I did not write or look at one page of work stuff for three days... hope they don't kill me tomorrow LOL). Tomorrow night is Tigerland Kiwanis' Charter Night Celebration so we'll officially be a Kiwanis Club in 24 hours.

I went to a doctor 3 times last week. Thats after not seeing a single doctor for 3 or 4 years. Hopefully I don't need to see one at anytime this week. (Friends in med school excepted, of course)

2004-05-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

Update II

Wholistic place was a joke. Thought I was getting a massage, but got put on machines that tried to massage me instead. One hurt and I almost killed the doctor's 60 year old wife jumping off the bed. Also, they put on a "relaxation" tape that sounded like Buddist monks "OM"ing. It may have had subliminal advertising, but I can't prove it. All I know is that George Bush is Satan and I am voting for John Kerry now.

The lady thinks the medicine I was on poisoned my liver and that I need to get her recipe for a liver flush smoothie to have for breakfast once every two weeks. Yeah. I should also come back and have her husband (the doctor) look at the red lines in my eyes as lines in certain areas show where polutants are located in your body.

Anyway, because of the pain at the wholistic place, I finally went to the after hours clinic again fearing the words "ruptured" and "pinched". They shot X-rays, saw that I could touch my toes and concluded that I was having muscle spasms. No liver poisoning and no studying of my eye to see whats wrong with my back. I'm now on a muscle relaxer, an anti-flamitory med and heat. They are thus far (3 hours in) working.

2004-05-27T11:14:00.000-05:00

Update

I was able to sleep for about 5 hours in the bed last night and when I woke up, it only took 2 or 3 minutes for me to be able to stand up instead of 5-10, so thats an improvement.

I've scheduled an appointment this afternoon to hopefully have my back realligned. The wholistic doctor I talked to said it sounded like my pelvis was a little crooked and that treatment with rollers should be able to correct things. Since the pain started on Monday, the injury is recent enough for this to probably work.

2004-05-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

Adventures in Medicine

OK, prepare for a trip folks, this is going to be interesting.

Saturday Morning and Afternoon

Its a nice Saturday morning, helping Eddie move into the new apartment. We move a couch. I feel something pierce my thumb by the nail. After dropping the couch, I look at the thumb. A little blood, nothing else so we finish moving. A few minutes later I feel the other side of my thumb and there's a bump. A tip. A splinter is COMPLETELY IN MY FINGER with neither side sticking out of the skin. Jason drives me to Our Lady of the Lake Emergency where there's a 4-5 hour wait, they send us to the After Hours Clinic. They get to me fast. the doctor cuts a hole in myfinger and digs for at least 25 minutes. He got the tip of the splinter about 10 times but could only get a millimeter or so off so he has to dig deep and grab near the base. He wraps it and gives me perscriptions for Augmentin XR (taken twice a day to fight inspections) and Vicodin (as needed for pain). I get ominous warnings that Augmentin and Vicodin can cause extreme diarreah in 1 OUT OF 7 patients and that I should go to the emergency room if the finger pusses up badly. If somehow that doesn't happen, go to the afterhours clinic on Monday night for a quick checkup.

Saturday Night

Long, stressful day with some thumb pain leads to Vicodin #1.

Sunday

Nothing of consequence. Thumb is doing fine, just keeping it well-wrapped and clean (as I continue to through tonight).

Monday

I go to work. everything is fine except for back pain developing in late afternoon. After work, doctor looks at my finger, is amazed at my level of healing and says to keep doing whatever I'm doing (cleaning with hydrogen peroxide and wrapping in sterile gauze). I go home and take a Vicodin for whatever minor pain in my thumb and the building pain in my back...

Tuesday

wake up with back pain but tough it out (as I usually do with any ailment, for better or worse). I walk around the office pretty decrepitly, but no one notices (I suck up as much pain as I can to walk normally through the halls. I use my massage cover for my chair for the first time in months and even change out chairs to one without wheels (with better lower back support). A little after work, pain is subsiding. I take my nightly Augmentin and play NCAA football, pain comes back. I try to go to bed. Everytime I lay down, if I move I get extreme pain in my lower back. I keep falling asleep, curling up and waking up in huge pain. I try to get out of bed and can't straighten my back. I end up crawling on the floor some to loosen things up. Once the back loosens (after 5-10 minutes) I can stand fine with little pain. Through all this I consider trying to get to the cell to call Eddie (who has the spare key to my apartment) because I can't get downstairs and/or, for the first time ever in my life, calling 911. Once I get standing and find out I can traverse the stairs, I decide to do neither. After sitting downstairs, potential causes run through my head. My car seat's been messed up for a year and a half, with the pressure at about the point I'm having problems. Then something else hits me. I hadn't shit in 2 days.

I get upstairs to the computer (once I'm out of bed and walking, things are pretty normal, just a little stiff, like a mild sprained ankle) and do some research. Turns out these meds, in addition to causing diareah in some patients, can also cause constipation. Think about that for a second. Anywa, I decide I have two things I can do, drive to get Exlax or drive to the emergency room. I go for the Exlax, I hate hospitals. I call Walgreens and find out it is safe to take the Exlax and Aleve with the meds I'm on. Can;t take other medicing within two hours of Exlax, so its about 5 AM when I finally take the Aleve and fall asleep in my recliner. I wake up around 9 with minimal pain.

Wednesday

I do not take my Augmentin. Back doesn't give big problems till 2 or 3 in the afternoon, a good 10 hours after taking Aleve. And the Exlax helps take some "pressure" off the back too.

After walking around for a few minutes and figuring I'm in good enough shape to try to go to work, I get the car to a repair shop. It will be 2-3 days just to get parts in, but I leave it anyway, I am not driving that thing and messing up my back any more than I alreay have. People at work are supportive, boss offers to take me to his health club for the whirlpool (which I will probably do tomorrow) and secretary (who has had a broken back and has the lingering effects) is going to bring me a business card for the theraputic masseuses she uses. Hopefully I will see them tomorrow afternoon or Friday. I also have gotten a rental car for at least the next week. It has the same seat as my car (except not damaged) and the support it gives is so much better.

Tonight I swam a little and took a soak in Epsom salt. Neither seem to have done much but stretch me out a little (which I am feeling). I will be sleeping in the recliner again tonight b/c I've already tried to lay down for a few minutes and get up with not much more luck than last night (I'm not going to chance laying down all night and not being able to get up or turning a wierd way waking me up in pain again).

So thats where I am right now. If I'm tempermental or short, please be understanding. Also so people don't worry, the worse pain was at about 1-2 AM. Things have gotten better and throughout today the lower back's been making me know its there, but not excruciatingly. I think its just a bad pulled muscle or two. Hopefully it will be straightened out (literally?) soon. I think I might be having to pull out of Magnum Night/Day for obvious reasons (lots of walking and drinking and medicine don't like each other).

2004-05-20T01:27:00.000-05:00

Andy Kaufman is ALIVE?!?!?!

2004-05-18T09:21:00.000-05:00

No time to comment, but the headline should suffice: Committee Clears Transsexuals for Olympics

The German powerlifting team just got a lot harder to beat.

2004-05-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

Here is why we are having trouble in Iraq!

2004-05-12T23:27:00.000-05:00

So I was told today that by not putting up a facade to mask how miserable I am a lot of the time, I'm being insensitive to everyone else's problems. Apparantly people would just rather me not be around than deal/help with whatever's bothering me. Discuss.

2004-05-12T00:44:00.000-05:00

I think I've mentioned it before, but never shown a pic. Meet the Krewe of Ragoo'sWeapon of Mass Comsumption!

2004-05-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

From My Yahoo's daily horoscope:

Daily work (by Astrology.com)
It's time to reexamine why your job stresses you out. Maybe your present career track needs to come under review as well. Working for a living is necessary at this point in your life. It's up to you if you want it to be more fun.

2004-05-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

Youth orchestra prepares for season's finale [Founding members return to youth orchestra for season's final concert]

2004-05-06T10:14:00.000-05:00

I found this today, its a summary of NBC's biographical movie on Jesse Ventura. It was a greatly researched historical film featuring a reinactment of Jesse's 1975 wrestling debut vs. World Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg and announcing career alongside Gorilla Monsoon in WCW.

The Jesse Ventura Story: Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story

2004-05-05T16:11:00.000-05:00

If you're coming to the concert on Saturday, please call, e-mail or leave a comment before 5 PM Friday so I can buy tickets at the rehersal Friday night. They might not be available at the door.

2004-05-01T01:42:00.000-05:00

KEVIN IS HOME!