Happy New Year

I was going to make a list of things I had discovered in 2006, movie, author, music wise. But, I'll be honest, I was lazy, and I'm not going to do that.

Blogger has been switched. I really see no difference, exept some buttons aren't as big and imposing.

So, I'll just say Happy New Year, and all that buisness. Let us hope 2007 Rocks as much as...well, whatever year you thinked rocked. I hope it's a good year, as it's my last year in my 20s.

Acceptance is happiness.

The whole point of a blog is to write more. Laugh at me or mock me or whatever, but writing something has been a dream job of mine for as long as I can remember. Why didn't I pursue it back when I was out of high school? Mainly, the school had the worst guidance department ever. Also, being an impressionable child, my parents were trying to keep me around home, so they were really pushing for Iowa Central, and the guidance councilor's office found out about my interest in music and told them about the radio program, and myself, and I went with that.

I was doing all this radio schooling around the advent of the "shock jocks". So whenever I would tell people I was going to school for radio, they would think I was wanting to be Howard Stern. In all honesty, pretty early on, I HATED being on air. Airshifts bored the hell out of me. I loved doing production though. Writing the scripts and then producing them, was about the most fun I ever had.

My first(and only) full time job in radio, was at the Webster City radio station. When I first started, my airshift was three hours a day. Not bad at all. I then did a ton of production, which pleased me a lot. Then the sales people had me write scripts for the ads, which had a blast doing. They got positive reaction from them and I got to write more. A few months in, we got a new manager. He had this huge thing about me being a "rookie" and that I shouldn't be doing scripts, and that I should be on air as much as possible. My airshift went from three hours, to six hours. I couldn't stand it.

This new manager and I really didn't start off well. On his first day there, he wanted to meet everyone. So when it was my turn, I came into his office and he asked me about where I went to school and whatnot. When I told him what high school I went to, he asked if I knew Andy Jepson. I said, yes I did, I was in his class. He then said "Boy wasn't he a great guy, and man could he play football." My response was "I thought he was a bit of a prick, and could care less about football". (Yes, believe it or not, I used to be much more blunt about things than I am now). The rest of our "meeting" was him trying to convince me that Andy Jepson was a great guy. I'll admit, some of it was probably my fault. But some of it was the manager's as well. He was a tosser.

I could go into the long story about him, and how he practically ruined the station, and the spirit of everyone that worked there. I'll just say that one of his last comments to me was how he could "ruin me." I told him if he meant in radio, go right ahead. I really didn't care anymore.

Anyway, it's been pretty much dead end jobs for me since then. I went back to school for a bit a few years ago, but life got in the way. I've been working on getting things straightened up, and am hoping to go back to school next fall or at the latest, next Jan(2008). When I was doing radio, the only job I really loved was working for the NPR affiliate. Usually to work for them you have to produce a show. Which I think would be great fun to have some sort of show. Not sure exactly what I'd like to do for a show. Something like "This American Life", one of the best shows on NPR. I've also always thought it would be cool to do radio dramas. Not to do them in the old style, ala The Shadow. Or not a call back to that sort of show, such as "A Prarie Home Companion". But modern type stories, with excellent production. Maybe every year for Halloween do one the old fashion way. All the actors in one room, live on the air, with a foley artist doing all the effects for us. I think that would be more fun than anything.

Anyway, the whole point of this is that I hadn't "blogged" for a long time. So here it is.

Crows are sour and surly, with reason I suppose.

Why did I give up on the "post everyday for a month" deal? Is it because I really have nothing to say or nothing has really happened.

..and the answer, she come back to me, and it is, sadly, yes.

Things have been same old same old for quite some time. Which is fine in some aspects. Not so fine in others. Work is one of those. I've plans in place, so we'll see how that happens. Though those plans are about a year or so away, but it will be good.

Um...really, I've got nothing. I've not really read much, or listened to much new music or anything. I should do something different I suppose.

Sorry for a lame post, I thought I'd have something to write about but, alas, it's not true.

For fans of GOOD comic books.

Alan Moore is going to be on The Simpsons...

http://www.northantsnews.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=317&ArticleID=1865011


BRING ME A MUFFIN!!!

Whoops!

Well, I almost made it halfway through the month. I was being lazy yesterday and doing nothing at all. Before I knew it I went out for supper, and then a movie, and then the bar. So, I didn't get home until three thirty this morning. So I lose at the post everyday for a month.

In all honesty, it's sort of dumb, not even an author could have something to write about everyday, I think. Looking back at my posts they were just basically bitching about the little things that happen everyday, which you usually forget about the next day anyway.

It was fun, and I'll try to post more now I think, but I am definitly NOT going to take a stab at everyday.

The End.

With 12 minutes!

WOOOO!

I almost forgot. I was going to do this this afternoon and laid down for a nap. I didn't fall asleep. Then I kept doing one thing after another and never got to it. So, close call.

Today not much happened.

I stood my ground(sort of) and gave my opinion(sort of) on certain matters. I believe that it was noticed(in a way, not how it should of been) and my opinion fell on deaf ears. I care too much sometimes I think.

That last paragraph has to be the most vague thing ever written. Forgive me, for I am tired and don't really want to write about that right now.

No poker tonight, not enough people to make it fun. But sitting around and just talking was pretty fun. Also watching Hogan Knows Best. Stupid VH1. I think they lace their programming with acid so you get hooked. Your better judgement tells you that you shouldn't like this crap, but you watch anyway.

I'll call it there for tonight. Have fun.

Remixing elevator music.

Salut!

Once again, not much today.

I must admit, I am having fun doing this. Having something to write everyday. I should actually think up topics to write about or something, instead of sitting down and telling how boring I am. Perhaps I'll think a list of topics, or maybe do album reviews or something. Don't know, I'll think about it.

Started watching The West Wing Season 2 today. I forget how much I like that show. It's not really the type of show you just sit down and watch whenever. The writing is top notch and you find that you really care about the characters. There aren't a lot of shows that happens in. Heck, as enteraining as Lost can be, I really could care less about the characters themselves. But back to to sit down and watch whenver. I sometimes get the notion that a show or movie is only a "five star" entertainment if I can pop it in at any point, and know I will enjoy it. That isn't always the case though. The West Wing is a perfect example of that.

This weekend or some night instead of wasting an evening with the telly, I believe I might work up a resume and put it up on those job websites(monster.com and the like). Mainly out of curiosity to see if I'd get any responses, and also, I believe I'm getting a little burned out at my job now. At the begining of this year, I didn't mind getting up and going to work. Now, I wake up and it's just not as inviting as it once was. I also find myself looking more and more forward to the end of the day at work, and it seems to drag a bit, which is always a sign.

As for the my day today. Pretty standard fair. Woke up, got ready, went to work, came home, watched TV, came in here and wrote this, and now I believe I shall read.

Good day. Peace and love.

At the end of the world, everything is half price!

So, today, I wondered what it takes for you to decide when it's time to move on. First this started with thinking about my job. You have bad days. Sometimes those bad days stretch into weeks and months. I guess it comes down to if you enjoy what you are doing, and if you want to advance, is there a chance of that.

As I was thinking about that, I then started thinking about other things that you move on from, but probably don't think about moving on from it. Such as movies. I used to really only watch action movies and comedies when I was a teenager. Now I'll watch anything, and usually are annoyed with the typical action flick and the typical comedy. The same goes for books too. In middle school, all I read was sword and sorcery or science fiction type books. I rarely touch either now.

Granted a lot of this is "growing up". I guess that is just what you are always doing, is growing up.

Anyway, very boring day today. Today was a day I didn't really enjoy my job, and I actually sort of get that vibe from everyone there.

Other than that, I'm just happy to live in a world that has Borat and Russell Crowe.

That's it for today.

THE TEENAGE GUIDE TO POPULARITY

I have no idea why, but today, the song "Popular" by the band Nada Surf popped in my head. It's a funny song, and the video was pretty funny too. But I hadn't thought of the song in forever. The part that makes me laugh the most.

Being attractive is the most important thing there is
If you wanna catch the biggest fish in your pond
You have to be as attractive as possible
Make sure to keep your hair spotless and clean
Wash it at least every two weeks
Once every two weeks
And if you see Johnny football hero in the hall
Tell him he played a great game
Tell him you like his article in the newspaper

Next, my post from yesterday seemed to irk a few people. I'd like to say I don't believe that all women are that way. I usually ignore stupid "pass it on" things like that, but this one just seemed to ring true for something I'm going through. I apologize if anyone was offended.

Now, my voting story. There was a polling place two blocks from my place. Two Blocks! I checked the map to see if that's where I should go, as I know they had changed around the wards or whatever. So I look on the map, and it says that, yes indeed, I am suppose to vote at that particular polling place. So I go down there. They inform me that, no I'm at the wrong place, I should go to the church that is about a mile or so down the road. What? But the map...it said....here. Oh, I should mention that I was the only one there wanting to vote.

So I go down to the church and the entire population of Ames is at this place to vote. It goes quicker than I thought it would, thank goodness.

Oh, funny, stupid thing of the day. Jen and I were walking back to work after she went to pick up her lunch and she got a cookie. She then said, "I'm going to warm this up in the microwave so it's...warm." Probably not as funny to read, but I laughed quite a bit.

Booyakasha!

Well, I'm cheating for this entry today. I'm usually not one for those stupid "repost this" type blog posts or emails or bullitens. I'm also not one to be whiney or "oh feel sorry for me" type person. I just tell it like it is. But, this was posted in a bulliten on my myspace page, and it rang very true, So I post it here.


This is to all of the girls in the world who can't accept the nice guys for who they are:

and whats really sad...is most nice guys are giving up...because being last...isnt the way they wanted to finish.

I'm sorry
that I feel I have to be an ass hole
to get your attention

I'm sorry
That my body's not ripped enough
to "satisfy" your wants

I'm sorry
that I open your car door,
and pull out your chair like I was raised

I'm sorry
That I'm not cute enough
to be "your guy"

I'm sorry
That I am actually nice;
not an asshole

I'm sorry
I don't have a huge bank account
to buy you expensive things

I'm sorry
I like to spend quality nights at home
cuddling with you, instead of at a club

I'm sorry
That I am always the one you need to talk to,
but never good enough to date

I'm sorry
That I always held your hair back when you threw up,and didn't get mad at you for puking in my car,
but when we went out you went home with another guy


I'm sorry
That I am there to pick you up at 4am when your new man hit you and dropped you off in the middle of nowhere,
but not good enough to listen to me when I need a friend

I'm sorry
That I don't understand that he cheats on you but you take him back;
but I'm not good enough to understand that he loves you

I'm sorry
If I start not being there, and being used as a door mat, only to be thrown to the side when the new asshole comes around

I'm sorry
If I don't answer my phone when you call, to listen to you cry for hours, instead of getting a couple hours of sleep before work

I'm sorry that you can't realize.. I've been the one all along.
But hey....now You're sorry

I'm sorry
If you read this and know somebody like this
but don't care
But most of all

I'm sorry
For not being sorry anymore

I'm sorry
That you can't accept me
for who I am

I'm sorry
That you tell me how much better I am
Yet I am not good enough for you

I'm sorry
that im attracted to your personality
instead of your body

Im sorry for taking yor
drink away when you were puking on my shoes
and didnt get mad at you

Im sorry
for being there when you wanted to bitch like
hell.

im sorry
that i wasnt cool enough because i didnt drink,
but i still watched over you at the party.



Ladies always bitch and bitch to their friends that there is never any good guys out there anymore, and they always end up with assholes who treat them bad. Well ladies next time your bitching, maybe look up to see who your bitching too, maybe that special someone is right there hanging on your every word like usual, screaming in his head "why don't you give me a try?"
Because the person you are usually searching for is right by you.

Word up!

Nothing much to report for today. Spent last night hanging out at home, reading. Talked to Heather right before hand, and she kept trying to convince me that I should make Charlie go do something with me, but he had plans. I felt like staying home anyway. She's not said one thing to me today, and not been online. Perhaps she's stewing over what I said to her yesterday or she's been busy. Really, I don't care too much.

Didn't do much with my day today. Got groceries. Started cleaning up a bit, but Crawford messaged me over G chat, so I talked to him as I hadn't in a long time. It seems everytime I decide to buckle down and clean up, something happens to interrupt it.

Had a dream that I thought was, odd. I can't get it out of my head either.

Short post for today, as nothing has really happened. Which is always good, I guess.

Have a good one.

Saturday.

The thing about this blog everyday for a month thing, is I'm not looking back at what I've wrote before, so you might get to read the same thing everyday, until it's solved.

Last night poker went well. I don't remember what exactly happened except that Charlie won. I think I'm still a little zoned from not sleeping well for a week. Perkins afterwards was fun as well.

Today, I woke up and goofed off for way too much longer than I should of, and it was time to go to the movie. Borat is the most I've ever laughed at a movie I think. Not for everyone though. So I hate saying how much I loved it, and I just know someone is going to go see it and just be appalled.

In crappy news, my DVD player to just decide to up and quit. I was watching episodes of "Da Ali G Show" and after an episode was done, I got up to do something, came back five minutes later and the disc had frozen. So I ejected it, put it back in, and it wouldn't read the disc. I've tried all sorts or movies and it never ever reads them. It's a bit of a annoyance, as now I have to watch movies and whatnot at the computer, and I sit at the computer with work and at home for way too much time than I'd like. So now I'm sitting at the computer to watch DVDs. *sigh*

Also, one thing about myself, that I see, is that with people, I can usually figure out what they are about. Something about them, like how far they can be pushed, or at least no their limits and know what is they are thinking. But there is one person, whenever I talk to them, it drives me nuts as I never get anything out of it. Anything that would help anyway. Something I want dealt with, and it never gets dealt with. Sorry. That was all a bit vague.

Until tomorrow. Peaces!

Doing this now!

Who knows when I'll have a chance to write this for today, so while I can, I shall.

Boring day at work. I think I talked most of the day instead of worked, but oh well. Nothing much gets done on Friday's I think.

Sitting around waiting to see if there will be poker.

DVD player was working, and then not. Not fun at all. Hope it isn't something major.

Um...yeah!

Until tomorrow.

Confessions of a 28 year old man.

So I was thinking, how I like to push peoples' buttons sometime. See how much it takes to get them going or whatever. I was thinking about this and thought of something from my childhood and this character trait has been in me for a long time.

When my youngest sister, Patty, was born, Mom had a troubled delivery so she was in hospital for quite sometime. Since dad was at work, and this was the summer, I was home from school. Joe and Jenny(my brother and sister for those that don't know) were too young for school. So we had to have a babysitter. I was seven at the time, Joe was three, Jenny two.

Her name was Mabel. 6000 pounds of pure terror. Now a days, she would of probably gotten in a lot of trouble for how she treated us. But remember this was 1985, and Mom and Dad really had no idea what to do babysitter-wise. Mom was a stay at home mom so they never really got us a babysitter. Things I remember her doing was dragging Jenny down the steps because she didn't want to come down, and throwing my meal away. She had no reason, except to be mean. She really liked my brother Joe, he never did wrong. So she made the meals and she said that mine was bad, but not Joe's. I suggested splitting Joe's and she said that wouldn't work.

So, another of her habits was in the afternoon she'd watch TV, and fall asleep. We never got to pick the program until at five o clock when Dad would come home, and she'd tell us that I had to tell Dad that I got to watch what I wanted all day. So, one day when she fell asleep, I rallied Joe and Jenny to help me with my project. My project? To take all the toys out of the toybox. Not just dump them out, mind you, but to spread them all out with landmine proximity. Each toy, each block, was about four inches from all the ones around it. I did this throughout the living room. When she woke up, she sees toys everywhere, but placed ever so carefully everywhere around the living room. She gets irrate. She starts yelling at us, why would Jenny and I do such a thing? I say that Joe helped, and she didn't believe that. She asks again why we did this. My response was "Maybe if you didn't fall asleep, we wouldn't of done something like this".

So, on one of her last days there, Dad came home from work early, to find her sleeping in the chair. He asks me if she does this all the time, and I said, yeah, she does. So he goes back outside and slams the door. Mabel immediatily wakes up and pretends that she'd been awake the whole time. Dad tells her that he caught her sleeping, and that I said she does it all the time. She said something about you can't believe kids, they like to make up stories.

The last few times she was suppose to babysit, she didn't show up. She sent her son one afternoon, his name was Joe(which explains the favourtism). The last few afternoons someone else took her place.

A month or so later she wanted to come see Patty. When she came to visit, Joe and Jenny went and hid upstairs. Mom said she didn't think it was as bad as all that, and didn't realize until they went upstairs to hide from her. I didn't hide, I stayed down there, I figured if I stood there, and didn't hide, that showed I wasn't scared of her.

So yeah, anyway. I've liked to be annoying since I was seven. Probably other stories going back earlier of my behaviour as such. But this is the one I remember.

Almost messed it up on the first day.

Oh well.

Nothing much for today. Other than almost forgetting to post on the first day of the month.

I've not slept well for almost a week now, and it's starting to get to me. I feel so worn down right now and it's only nine o clock. Perhaps getting this worn down will be enough to make me sleep most of the night tonight and be back on track starting tomorrow.

Let's see. Lost tonight. A lot of people seem to think it's losing it's direction. I for one thought it was hopeless last season and everyone seemed to like it. I've liked this season and everyone seems to think that it's hopeless. I was never much on being with the "in" crowd.

Would of had more to write if it wasn't for being so tired.

Until tomorrow.

Look at me!

Starting a day early. Posting everyday the month of November, as I said in the last post.

Was "in charge" at work today. Which meant nothing at all. Ran around town taking care of things in the afternoon. Pretty boring day for Rob.

Funny thing said today, between me and someone at work...

Jen: Tomorrow is November.
Me: That means today is October.
Jen: Whoa...that's true.

Ok, see you tomorrow.

Like a Pavlovian Dog...

So, somewhere out there in the wide internet world, I found something that said November is National Post on your Blog month, or something like that. I'd find out what it is actually called but I've lost the link. But it sounds as if it's a lofty goal, so I'm going to try it. It should be fun. Fun in we'll see how long I can actually keep it up, and see how long it takes before it devolves into a post that says "I went poo today."

That's it for now really. I said I was going to clean today and it is 3:30 and nothing has been cleaned. Oops.

Until November probably.

Edit: I should actually say what the "post on your blog month" thing is. You are suppose to post on your blog everyday in the month of November. It's was devised under the guise that most people start a blog so that they will write more, so this will get you writing. Yeah.

Saturday at home.

An actual slow Saturday. Which I'm fine with. It's been nice to sit around the house and do nothing. I should clean and pick up, but...meh.

So a work story. This past Tuesday I was sick. Friday, Talitha asks me which day it was that I was sick. I tell her that it was Tuesday. She then asks if I was in on Sunday. I said, "No, I never come to work on Sunday". She then tells me that they are running a Websense report. Websense is a proxy that blocks websites that an employer can deem not worthy of employees looking. It also keeps track of all sites you go to.

Talitha then tells me that it must be broke or something is wrong with it because it says that I used the internet at work on Sunday and then on Tuesday. I was nowhere near the building on either day. Talitha then tells me that she's going to ask Dave about it, maybe something is wrong.

So, a bit later, Talitha tells my team that if they want to see the Websense reports, to see if we stay on task, we can. I decide I want to see mine. So I go over to her and say, "I want to see mine, especially I want to know what I was looking at on the days I wasn't here." She then says "I don't know what is going on with that, it's really weird, and Dave doesn't know either, all he could say is that we should check the security tapes and see if you came in on those days and aren't telling us."

So, at first, I didn't really think much about it. Then I got thinking about it and it kind of annoyed me what Dave said.(Dave by the way is the manager, the boss.) I told a few people. Then when I had lunch with Carmen, I told him about it. I came back from lunch and sat back down at my computer and then realized that I was really mad about it, that I didn't really appreciate that comment. Dave basically called me a liar, and said he trusted a really shitty program that we use, and have a lot of trouble with, over me. So I decided to tell Talitha that I wasn't too happy about that. I almost went directly to Dave, but then thought, well, he didn't say it directly to me, and I didn't want to get someone in trouble for maybe saying something they shouldn't.

Talitha then told me that she said I did have a reason to be upset, that it was uncalled for on Dave's part, and she said something to him about that. She apologized because she brought it up to Dave(I said she was just doing her job, she had no reason to apologize). She then said she'd say something to Dave about it again if I wanted her to. I decided that I was happy with someone knowing I was upset about it, and plus, in my opinion, Dave's a wanker. He seems like a nice enough guy, but doesn't seem to be someone that cares if he's upset the people under him. So instead of butting heads and me getting more and more frustrated, I decided to just let it drop at Talitha.

Other than that the week has been pretty decent. Heather got me started on Old Chicago's World Beer Tour thing. They do "mini-tours" occasionally. Her and I go on Wed. typically because it's buy 2, get 1 free. Well, this past Wed., our waitress either made a mistake or liked us a lot. She gave us a bunch more than she should of free, plus she let me cheat on the mini-tour, so I got the t-shirt at the end before I was suppose to. She was really slow though at taking the bill though. That made us a bit upset. Plus I was getting really tired, and it didn't help when Heather will dump beer she doesn't like or doesn't want anymore in my glass. That just makes me extra tired.

Oh, South Park with World of Warcraft in it. That was great. Haven't seen South Park in forever.

That's about it, really.

Oh, I got a postcard from my friend Amy who lives in Japan. It was from Singapore. The guy on the front should be an Arcadia character. I should show it to you Carmen.

The end.

Answers to a survey, answers dated Oct. 11, 2004

Ok, here is that survey. My answers today are on the post before this one. See what being sick does to me, I get so bored. Enjoy my answers from two years ago....Oct 11, 2004.

Note that I didn't read these before I filled them out in 2006, so anything that's the same answer is creepily funny.

1. last person you wrote a testimonial?

No one, I think

2. sport you would love to play

the one where I sit on the couch.

3. last movie you watched

Dogma, on Saturday

4. what do people first notice when they see you?

I really don't know, maybe people don't notice me.

5. do you like peanut-butter?

yes, but not the smell.

6. most memorable place

I don't know, I haven't really been much places.

7. do you read comics?

yes. I haven't lately, but I haven't really done anything I enjoy(hobbies) lately.

8. how pretty/handsome are you?

I plead the fifth on this one, I think I make enough self depreciating remarks as it is.

9. do you like earthquakes?

I never met one, I'll tell you later.

10. worst nightmare?

I don't know, I usually forget them after I have them. I remember though for about five years I would have the same nightmare when I would be sick. I would have it the night before I got sick, and while I was sick. I don't remember it very well though, I remember it had a mouse hole in the skirting in it. and a very nefarious mouse.

11. most beautiful place you've visited?

don't know.

12. wanna be a celebrity?
No, not at all. If I were, I'd probably be a recluse.

13. do you like surveys?

when I'm bored.

14. your high school close friends:

I had a lot of them. Nathan or Katie were probably the closest friends I had in high school, and both relationships ended badly.

15. your best physical asset

that self depreciation thing again.

16. your worst physical asset

You think this one would be easy, but I really don't pay that much attention to myself.

17. most people would describe me as...

nice

18. one thing you hate about yourself...

that when it comes to certain things, I don't have the confidence to do or say things.

19. vegetable you hate

what the fuck does these surveys have against vegetables.

20. you like to go out on a grocery?

I don't like shopping actually.

21. favorite person/s in the world?

I don't know if I have a FAVOURITE person...maybe I do...

22. can you dance?

depends, slow dance, yeah, anything else. no, a thousand times no.

23. favorite past time?

reading probably

24. are you happy?

despite a lot of things, yes I am.

25. do you believe in God?

no, but I respect people that do.

26. what is the worst rumor you've heard about
yourself?

I heard that Katie(the one from high school yes) was telling people that she got a restraining order against me because I wouldn't leave her alone. I was hanging out in front of her house because I loved her and didn't understand why she didn't love me. I have never had a restraining order on me. One day Katie just stopped talking to me. I tried a few times to find out what I did, but I never found out, so I stopped talking to her. The law was never involved. I heard the rumor from two or three different people. I told you it ended badly.

27. what is the most stupid thing you did for the
person you love?

I don't know, forgiven something I probably shouldn't of.

28. are you in love?

I don't think so...I have feelings for various people, but I don't think any of them is love.

29. do you miss him/ her?

depends...I hadn't thought about Katie for awhile. I shouldn't even remember her in all honesty, it's been almost ten years, but I remember... She is married with a kid now, but... I do miss her.

30. what is your greatest personality?

I don't have multiple, so I guess I would say my personality is the best.

31. what time is it?

11:02 AM on Monday morning...good god, I have a whole day left.

32. aside from answering this survey, what else
are you doing?

Um...listening to a cd, thinking about what I want to accomplish today...thinking about Katie.


33. first thing to do when you wake up tomorrow?
go to work.

34. where are you right now?

In my bedroom, that needs picked up something bad.

Wonderful!

Almost two years ago (on Oct. 11, 2004 to be precise, I took this survey...I thought I'd fill it out again, now, just for fun...(i didn't read my answers yet from two years ago, I thought it'd be fun to see if I say the same things or not. I saw glimpses of them as I deleted them, but didn't read them thoroughly).

Also, this was posted on an old blog I had, from two years ago...that blog was mainly started as a place to complain about Rebecca without her being snoopy. She would look at my chat logs,I used Trillian at that time, and it keeps logs of all conversations, she would read them and get mad at me for talking about her to other people, so I set up the blog so that a friend of mine could know what was going on. As I was home sick today, when I had the energy to sit up, I was reading these old blog entries and ran across this survey. I will post my answers from two years ago after this, so we can all laugh and compare. Ha Ha!

Anyway, here are my answers, right now

1. last person you wrote a testimonial?
Do people write testimonials?

2. sport you would love to play
Raquetball

3. last movie you watched
Well, if we count Mst3k then, "The Beatniks" if not...I think "Fight Club"
4. what do people first notice when they see you?
I'm guessing "Harry Potter" glasses, which wasn't my intent when I picked the frames...next year I think i might get new ones.

5. do you like peanut-butter?
yes, but the smell makes me sick...figure that one out.

6. most memorable place
hmm...what does that mean? I'll say..."a chair".

7. do you read comics?
Not as much as I used to. Apart from a very few, they seemed to be lame now a days.

8. how pretty/handsome are you?
Not really.

9. do you like earthquakes?
We've never met.

10. worst nightmare?
I had one a year or so ago, where some lady was filling up her car at the gas station, and she just started on fire, she walked towards me and these other people, the whole time screaming and her flesh melting off, while these three or four other people are taking pictures of it happening. It ended with her on the ground as the scream was dying, and her just a skeleton. Needless to say I woke up very startled and couldn't fall back asleep for awhile.

11. most beautiful place you've visited?
I have no idea.

12. wanna be a celebrity?
Not really.

13. do you like surveys?
Not really

14. your high school close friends:
I'd say Nathan or Katie. Though both friendships ended badly. the lesson I think is that you should be friends with me, it always ends badly.

15. your best physical asset
Ha!

16. your worst physical asset
Probably my teeth. Stupid family.

17. most people would describe me as...
fun to be around...maybe?

18. one thing you hate about yourself...
Only one? my teeth.

19. vegetable you hate
Most of them.

20. you like to go out on a grocery?
this isn't even a complete thought. Next!

21. favorite person/s in the world?
Well, if I picked just one, then the rest of the world would be jealous now wouldn't it?

22. can you dance?
Poorly

23. favorite past time?
Reading

24. are you happy?
Indeed I am.

25. do you believe in God?
It's not something that I really think about or concern myself with, but have utter respect for people that do believe in a superior being.

26. what is the worst rumor you've heard about
yourself?
I had heard from more than a few people that I was stalking Katie(the one from high school). she told people that she had to get a restraining order because I wouldn't leave her alone and would hang outside her house wanting to talk to her. I've never had a restraining order against me, and the most I think I ever did was ask people that knew her how she was doing, since she'd give me the cold shoulder the two or three times I ran into her after she decided not to talk to me anymore.

27. what is the most stupid thing you did for the
person you love?
Forgiven something that was unforgivable.

28. are you in love?
No, probably not.

29. do you miss him/ her?
Who? You have to be more specific. But really, I don't miss anyone.

30. what is your greatest personality?
Seeing as I only have the one, I'm picking that one.

31. what time is it?
Buy a watch! Ok, it's 6:04 pm

32. aside from answering this survey, what else
are you doing? Um..talking to Heather, coughing an awful lot, and listening to music.

33. first thing to do when you wake up tomorrow?
Probably sit on the computer and see if anyone messaged me while I was asleep, or if I have any email.

34. where are you right now? I am in my bedroom. at home.

My Crane Wife.

Not a whole lot really. I should post about the two adventures to Minnisota. One adventure featured Bryan Bornmueller, and the most awesome pickle salesman our time has ever seen. The second adventure features two dogs that like to vomit. But I'll save those for later.

Other than that, it's been a pretty fast month this month. With a whole lot of nothing going on. Frank's new game started, I've been writing training documents at work, which is something different. Spending a lot of time with Heather which is...

Um, didn't know why I opened this. Nothing really to say. Oh well.

About the last post.

Written at a time of anger, and no one really to vent to. So why not the blog. What is a blog if it can't be all teen and angsty. But if it was teen the post would of looked like this...

Y doesn't she like me...OMG WTF?!?!?!?!?!??LOL?!?!?!?!

Or something like that, I don't get how that stuff works.

Poor poor English language, I weep for you.

Anyway, that's really about it. Thanks for watching.

anger and frustration.

Now, first and foremost I'm going to start this by saying that I understand that you can just not want a relationship with someone, or just don't see a person in "that way" and all that buisness.

But, it gets so old to hear someone bitch and moan at you how they can't find anyone decent and they get lonely and blah blah blah, especially when the spent almost ALL FUCKING WEEKEND with you. Don't look for sympathy from someone that wants to be with you. What the fuck is that?!?!

Ok, end of rant.

And with that I've used up my emotional/emo quota for this week...probably next.

Inconcievable!

For the first time in a few years, I did not attend a 24 hour game day.

It 's not that I didn't want to go, but I woke up Saturday morning and decided that I wanted to clean up the apartment. It's nowhere near done, but I did get a lot done. I also made plans with Heather for the night time, so by the time I was worn out on the cleaning, it was time to get ready and go to her place.

I've decided that her and I can't watch movies unless it's in the theatre. Everytime we've tried to watch one at her place or mine, we just end up talking through the whole damn thing. I was trying hard not to talk this time, as it was a Woody Allen movie I hadn't seen. It just didn't work though.

Then after that, it was mindless TV. The show "Next" on MTV. All friggin' night. If you've never seen this show, they take a man or woman, and then five potential dates for said contestant. The five potentials sit on a bus. I have guessed that they have a gas leak in said bus, because the people act so stupid while on the bus. So, one at a time the potentials come out of the bus, and do some sort of crazy thing with the contestant. At anytime the contestant can say "Next" for them to go away. For any reason. Usually, this leads to some witty banter between the two people. Such as "You're ugly anyway!" Now the potential gets a dollar for every minute they were on the date. If the contestant decides they like one of the potentials, they can give them an option. They say "We've been on this date for (insert amount of time) minutes. Now you can take the money equal to the amount of time, or you can go on a second date with me." Now here is the part that drives me insane. We've been watching this date, for the past ten minutes or even less. When the question is postulated, they give us a flashback of the date! I've been watching for the past five minutes, I don't need to be reminded. Is this how bad the memories of America has become.

But this show is like a train wreck of stupidity. It's so dumb, you can't help but watch. Plus, you can almost tell that the whole damn thing is scripted. I'm not sure on that, but I've got a hunch. Also everyone that is on the show is so damn arrogant. I want to be on the show so I can say "Honey, I'm slightly overweight, and not that attractive, plus I snore...oh, and I...um...drink...a lot."

Anyway, watched that for a good three hours or more. Yes, it sucks you in. Beware the show "Next".

No 24 hours of games for this kid though. Maybe next time.

A question asked, and a long winded answer.

First, I wish that Blogger had some sort of feature where when someone comments, you can respond to it, that way they know you responded to what you said, instead of always looking at the comments. LiveJournal has such a feature, but I like the Blogger interface much better.

But, this post is in response to what Jennifer had asked about music.

You shouldn't feel old. All those bands hardly hardly ever get air play. Stephin Merritt's bands especially. Public Radio seems to dig him. He doesn't perform under his own name(ok, he has two albums under his own name) and he has I think, five bands. But they are just him, with help from his friends. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

How do I find out about these bands if they aren't on the radio you ask? I'll start by saying that music is an obsession for me.

At first, I was much like a casual listener. Music was on at work, or on in the car when you went from place to place. Strangely enough, my first CD I bought was a country music CD. I got into country music for a few months. After a few months I found that there wasn't much different at all in country. I had outgrown it and wanted more. So I went to other radio stations. I started getting into Top 40 stuff. I grew out of that as well in a few months. But since I was so into music I was picking up magazines and voraciously reading what my favourite artists were saying. They'd mention these tiny independent bands that they were really digging. So I'd go out and get a CD of that band. Then it would just become reading reviews and if the reviews of said CD sounded very interesting, I'd get it. I remember my first blind purchase not hearing a single note from the band, but almost every music magazine out there was saying "this is THE album!". I bit and bought "OK Computer" from the band Radiohead. I was so paranoid that I'd thrown away money by buying a CD that was going to just be horrible. By the second track, "Paranoid Android", I was absolutly in love. THIS was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. As I said, I was getting tired of what was "popular" on the radio and wanted something different. Here it was. Three guitars playing completely different things, yet sounding so great together. Thom Yorke's signiture british whine, which seemed so much more sincere than anything the pretty boys on the radio were singing, and if you'd ever seen Yorke, you'd know he's not one of those guys either. Horrid teeth, one of the biggest lazy eyes you've ever seen and he always looks like he just got out of bed. THIS was what I had been looking for.

I, of course, ran right out and bought anything that Radiohead had put out. Since then, this is how it's been for me. If someone in a band I liked, played guitar on some other bands CD for one song, I go get it. I've downloaded a ton of live shows off the interet, because I'll read that live a certain band played one of their songs different than it is on the album.

I've went to all sorts of genre's too. I've listened to them all. I've become disgusted with them all, just to come back to them. When I was in college I was really digging punk music, and then got tired of it, just to come back to it now. (and not the "punk" that seems to be on the radio now. Green Day is a hybrid of true punk and this punk crap that is labeled that now. Give me my NOFX, or Rancid...hell, go classic, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys...now that's punk!)

But that's my obsession. Ask anyone about theirs. I'm sure if you ask Bryan about board games, the story would be very simular to this. He played one, and had to try more, and then there was just one that blew it open for him. Same with Carmen, I bet there is some mini painting story where he said "Oh My God, this is just the greatest thing in the world!"

Heck, my obsession has went as far as I'm contemplating getting myself a guitar for Christmas. I'll probably be crap, but I want to mess around on a guitar.

Ok, that was fun.

Until later.

Oh, to clear something up.

On the Heather thing...

She didn't ask me to stop playing WoW. I stopped playing it because I was spending a lot of time with her. We'll see what she says when I start playing again here soon. It wasn't because of WoW or anything like that that made her come to her decision. I really have no idea what her decision was based on or anything like that.

I just know that before I went to Indy, we had discussed some things about her and I. Something happened that I thought threw that out the window, but came back home to find that it wasn't true. She was more adamant about the "just friends" thing.

The only thing that gets on my nerves is her telling me about how she can't find a nice guy that will date her. I don't know if she WANTS a reaction out of me or what. She's gotten it a few times. We'll see. If this friendship becomes more trouble than it's worth, than I shall have to end it.

Good day to you.

In which I talk about music.

I found a most wonderful artist, his name is Jonathan Coulton. You may of read about him in the Penny Arcade blog. The song I recommend most of all is this one right here.

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/lyrics/the-presidents

Click "Play song" at the top of the page to hear it, and the lyrics are on this page so you can sing along!.

Also on this page...

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songs

are a ton of songs from him. I recommend "Skullcrusher Mountain", "Todd the T1000", "Millionaire Girlfriend" and "Re Your Brains". All the songs on there are great, so listen to them all.

Every other musician that Tycho had on the Penny Arcade blog I've been into for quite some time, but I recommend them as well...(for the record, Stephin Merritt, Colin Meloy from the Decemberists, and another I can't remember...)

In other news...

*crickets chirp*

That's right, nothing. Work could become more interesting, or more stressful, I'll have to wait and see. Perhaps if I have more to do, it won't be as dull. But I doubt it.

Couple of shows coming up at the M-Shop I'm looking forward to. That will be exciting and something different. I might go to some shows that I don't know the bands, just for a new thing to do.

That's it for today, have a good week.

The drugs don't work, they just make you worse.

For those wanting to know, Heather expressed that she has no interest in dating me. Though we are remaining friends. Friends that talk...all the damn time!

It sucks going from spending almost everyday together, to barely seeing her at all now. Though She's usually the first person I talk to in the morning, and always the last person I talk to at night.

Probably something I shouldn't share, but she had a date. Said date stood her up to play World of Warcraft. To which I told her, "I haven't played in about two months." Which she responded with a resounding "Good for you!". I replied with "I stopped playing about the time I met you, I'm just saying." Her response was "oh." and then a sad face.

So the lesson here. Don't ever even kinda sorta date me. I'm an asshole.

The Virtues of Being Too Nice.

So I thought I'd post, as I hadn't in awhile. I've got nothing I really want to say though.

I got reviewed at work. They said that I was one of two people that know how to do every process that the company has. So that was nice I suppose. But of course, I thought to myself, "Damn it, I didn't want to be here THAT long." But I suppose it isn't that bad of a thing.

Can't remember if I wrote about GenCon or not. It was pretty fun. The crap thing is, both times I've went, I've had some personal issues going on, so I'm thinking more about that than enjoying myself at the convention. I think that since it's the status quo for me, I think the slogan for the 40th GenCon should be "GenCon: A Sure Fire Way to Mess Things Up For Rob and Any Woman He's Interested In." But I tease GenCon.

Cutting my hair wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I thought for sure I'd instantly feel regret for having gotten rid of it. But the opposite was true. I thought, "I should of done this awhile ago." Oh well, no big deal, it's done now.

Ok, that's it for now I guess. I'm dull and boring. But you knew that already.

A long delayed entry.

So, Gencon was fun. When I first got there, I didn't know if I wanted to go back. But at the end of it all, I decided I ultimately had fun and shall return.

One thing needs to change when I go to Gencon. I've been to the convention twice. Both times, I had something going on where I just wanted to get away from Ames and certain people that lived in Ames. Hopefully next year I got no drama going on and can actually just focus on the convention, and not be thinking about what's going on back at home.

Tomorrow is back to work time. I don't really want to. I'm not sure how I feel about work really. I think I need something new and different in my life or something. I've felt very bored lately. Perhaps running across the highway during rush hour will get me the excitement I crave.

Ok, I really got nothing else to write about. Sorry to be so boring.

Thoughts and Gripes.

First off, comics have become way more expensive than they are worth in my opinion. There are only a few titles out there right now that I think are worth the money. Sadly, trades are worth the money in my opinion. You get the whole story at once, and they actually work out to be a bit cheaper than the individual issues. As much as I hate to say it, I think that's where the industry is going to be heading. Actually, in my opinion, is pretty much there. There aren't many individual stories anymore. There are always these huge arcs. Why? That way it can go into a trade. I really think they are going for the bookstore market. A trade is going to sell much better in Borders than an individual issue.

(can you tell I bought comics yesterday, and paid way more than I wanted to, and that was AFTER weeding out the crap!)

I'm just really slow at getting things done. The second series of Doctor Who has been done for almost a month now. 13 episodes total. I think I have watched six of these episodes. You'd think that they are broadcast once a week on Saturday nights, I could find the 45 minutes to watch it at some point in the week, and stay relativily up to date with it, but alas, I can't do that. Venture Brothers is the same way, I've only seen the first episode of this season. It's not that these shows bore me, they are some of the best there is out there right now. But, I just always put it off to do something else.

Heather went home to visit her parents this week. Whilst there, she got shingles. She is on her way back to Ames as I write this, deathly afraid of me thinking she will look "not cute" with Shingles. She can be kind of paranoid sometimes, but that can be for the best I suppose. She also has reason to be, which I won't get into.

Um...Kinda sorta looking forward to Gencon. I always feel just, "meh" to leaving and not sleeping at home. Plus I think I want a vacation where I'm not doing ANYTHING. I've never had one of those. I guess when I worked at the radio station, I'd take a week off and just play video games the whole time. They would tell me I wasted my vacation at the station. I said I wasn't there and didn't have to see people, so I was happy. I'm sure when I get there though, I'll have a ton of fun.

All right, started this post hours ago, so I think I'll just end it now. Bye.

Come in, she said, I'll give you shelter from the storm.

Hello all.

Yeah the week in review thing didn't last very long. Mainly because the weeks became mirror images of themselves. Each one only vaugely different than the one that came before it. Nothing at all wrong with that. It means things are going well.

This Thursday I felt bad. Heather's power cord for her Apple laptop shorted out and burnt through the insulation. So she asked me if I'd go down with her to the Apple store and then to Hu Hot. Well, when we left I wasn't feeling very great, and it just got worse as the afternoon progressed. The Apple store lived up to the pretentious tone I expected it to have. (Don't get me wrong, I liked it a lot.) The only thing that was a little much for me was the "genius bar". Mainly because the overuse of the word genius is one of the things that really get to me. If I remember right, the employee had the title of "genius" too. If I were feeling better, I would of probably mocked it a lot more.

She got her cord replaced and we were off. She then asked if I was feeling good enough to go to Hu Hot. I said that I wasn't all that hungry because of how I felt. She then said that we didn't have to go. I told her it was her birthday so we should go. She then said that if I wasn't feeling good we didn't have to go. So we didn't go. She was in an extremely good mood on the way down, and on the way back she didn't talk at all. When she dropped me off, she just said "I'll see you later." Which isn't how things usually go.

She then told me later that night that she was upset that we didn't go. I then told her that I felt extremely horrible that we didn't go, since she really wanted to. She then seemed very touched that I felt horrible because of this. She then said something about ex boyfriends never caring if she was unhappy or something like that. So I think I scored some major points by just not being a jerk. Which is something I do normally. (well, ok, to people I like).

I just downloaded a program called CleverKeys. It's suppose to allow me to look up words from any program I'm using. It is the nerdiest thing ever. But if I can figure out how it's used, I am going to absolutely love it.

It looks as if Heather is going to be around Ames for awhile. Which is good. She's moving out of where she is living now, and that is an EXTREMELY wonderful thing. She's a great girl, but has some trust issues due to some recent events in her life. Living by herself I think will help that a lot. For those who haven't met her, you shouldn't feel too bad. She is extremely shy, so anytime there is a possiblility of new people she hasn't met being somewhere she'll try to get out of going. But once she meets people she is more comfortable with being around them.

Um, nothing much else. That's about it. Many books and albums coming out that I'm excited about, but no one is probably that interested in that.

Oh, the other thing that has been on my mind for a few months now is actually cutting the hair. This means it would be the end of an era I know, but sometimes change is good. If this happens it will probably happen when I do a massive clothing shopping excursion. I haven't bought new clothes, except for a shirt or pair of pants here and there, for a long time. My thought on the clothing was to go for a little nicer, dressier look. I just have to go and do this, as I've been thinking about doing this since about March. The haircut thing has actually been for awhile, but have only recently thought more about it in recent months. I was thinking of going with the Weaver or Garvey look. Ok, not really. I will probably still keep it kind of longish. Not super long. I feel comfortable when it's longer. But then again, I'm horrible with going in and getting it cut as regular as some people. That is how it got long in the first place.

All right, I've droned on long enough. Nothing like killing time by blogging. Fun times!

Until another time.

Good Morning!

Haven't posted in awhile. But things have been boring.

Here is a song I discovered. The artist is Michael Leviton, and the song is called "Summer is the Worst". I like it a lot, and going to check out more of his stuff. He has a shirt that says "You will pay for your day on Pleasure Island". I might have to get that one. Here is the song.

http://www.acefu.com/MP3s/MichaelLeviton-SummerstheWorst.mp3

I know some was probably wanting a post about Heather here. All I have to say is she's taking away from WoW time and I haven't mailed a Netflix movie back in a long time. Well, one is Ice Pirates and waiting to watch it with Carmen and Charlie. But still.

That is all you get for now.

Know all of your enemies.

I've been lax(i think that's with an x, let me check...yup) in doing the Week in Review or just updating in general. Why? Nothing at all has happened. I get up, I go to work, and I come home or go do something. Nothing out of the ordinary. I'm not complaining. Sometimes boring is just wonderful.

I have been wondering about work though. I'm not sure if I should stick it out or go somewhere else. I got about a year or so on the student loans and then I plan on going back to school. Kingland would be a great job for during school. But I also plan to try to get a job at WOI, since that's the only job I ever had that I absolutely loved. It's the only job I've had where if I didn't get paid, I wouldn't of cared(that is to say, if bills and food and what not was all taken care of.)

Oh well, right now I don't think about it too much. No reason to cause worry.

Also over the past couple of months I've had a few dates and wondered if I was ready or not. Pondering if I still wanted time to myself or not. Or maybe if I just wanted to stay single for awhile longer. A lot of questions really. But, talking to a friend at work, she pointed outthat I always asked her if I knew what someone's name was(always female) and then my next question is always if they are single. She said that if that's my second question, that must mean I'm ready. I think I agree with that.

OK, enough Lonely Hearts Club. Time to go do something else other than sit at the computer. I spend all day at work at a computer, and spend a lot of time at home at the computer. Better than sitting in front of the TV, which is hardly on anymore. Mainly to watch movies.

The King of Carrot Flowers

I didn't do a Week in Review on Sunday. I'd like to say I feel bad, but I don't.

For those keeping track, the Title of this post is a song title from the band Nuetral Milk Hotel. This is some of the best music I've heard in a long time. I've listened pretty much to just this band all day today.

At Frank's behest...yes, I had a date last week. Her name was MJ. How cool is it to say you had a date with someone named MJ? Especially for a comic nerd.

I honestly don't know what I thought of her. She's very nice. I haven't decided if I should ask her out again or not. The person that had us meet hasn't said anything to me about it since the date, and kind of just ignores it if I bring it up. Since I wasn't bored to death by her and she was very nice, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad thing to see if she wants to do something sometime.

The date also made me think of how I pretty much just kind of let things die with Valerie. I haven't called her or anything since the "I don't know if I want to date right now" conversation. I have no idea what to do in that kind of situation. Do I just forget about it like i have the past month or so? Or do I still try to be her friend? I'm looking at it from my point of view, as in I would think it odd if someone wanted to keep trying to be friends after I said no to dating them. But then again, as I was telling someone this week, when someone flirts with me, my reaction is usually "Why are you being annoying?" I don't really catch on to those kind of things, and I'm just an odd person.

There is someone at work who I think is very attractive. I'm trying to find out what her status is. I should also actually try to talk to her too.

That's it right now. Mainly posting for Frank since he asked about the date and said I should of blogged about it.

Good night.

She ain't fancy, she ain't fine, and her fingers number only nine

I've been reading an essay a night before bed from the book "Naked" by David Sedaris. A lot of these essays are about him hitchhiking, or mention his hitchhiking that he did whilst in college. It reminded me of a hitchhiking story or sorts that I have.

I grew up in a small town called Barnum. It's about eight miles west of Fort Dodge. Coming home one morning from class or somesuch, I turn off the highway onto the stretch of road that leads to Barnum.

On that mile stretch of road, there was a woman walking along the side of the road. She flagged me down. I figure she either wanted to ask a question or a ride into town. So I pull off to the side of the road, and roll down the window. She tells me she wants a ride into town. Sure, it's only about half a mile into town.

She opens the door and sits on the passenger side. Along with herself, she brings the smell of the Budwiser Brewery. Her breath smelled as if she licked a barroom floor, and then went back for seconds.

She tells me to just take her up to the bar, because she's going to use the phone. This is followed by some nonsense and jibberish. Then she asked if I knew John Smith(I can't remember the actual name, so this will have to do). I told her that I did not. She then tells me how she is related to this John Smith, and how it used to be that you did not fuck with him or anyone in his family. If I did, I would come to regret it.

We get to the bar, and it's closed, she can't get in. I put the car in reverse and tried to slowly eek out of there before she could think of how I could give her a ride elsewhere. It didn't work she ran up to the passenger side and remembered that I said I lived in Barnum, and she could use my phone. What could I say, you don't fuck with John Smith or his family. Which I heard about four more times in the three block drive to my house.

We get to the house. Drunk Woman gets out of the car, and goes into the house before I do. My Mom was there and was in shock. I made a "drinky drinky" motion, and said that Drunk Woman wanted to use the phone. The woman used the phone, couldn't get ahold of anyone. She then says to Mom that I must be a very nice husband. Mom says that I'm her son. Drunk Woman was shocked for some reason. Then she tells Mom about John Smith and how he's not one to fuck with. Then she asked if we had a beer in the house. Mom went to the fridge, and we indeed did have a beer. The woman grabbed it, reached in her purse, and pulled out a ten dollar bill. She hands it to Mom and says, I have to pay for the beer. She then asks if she could have a ride back to the bar until it opened. I said sure. I never saw Drunk Woman again, and John Smith never came to get revenge.

This week went very quick, and was extremely busy. Even though it was only a four day work week. Not much at all happened. Very dull, but busy none the less.

I can't remember what I did in my free time this week. I think just watched movies and read mostly. I finished "A Long Way Down". Very very good. I think my next book will be another Nick Hornby book. The only two fiction ones I haven't read are "How to be Good" and "Fever Pitch" which isn't really fiction. It's a sort of an autobiography of himself, and how much he's addicted to football(or, to us stupid Americans, soccer).

There is something else I could talk about here, but am going to wait for a bit. To see how things go. Plus it's something for readers to look forward to.

Until next time.

Three day weekend. (Week in review..kind of...nothing happened)

Are always nice, but seem to go quicker than the actual two day weekends.

When I was younger, I used to carry around four or five books with me around the house. Out of those four or five books, I would be reading one of them, MAYBE two. Mom would always want to know WHY I was carrying around all those books. My answer was always because I was looking at them, or trying to decide what I was going to read next. Which was at not at all true. I honestly don't know why I carried them around with me all the time.

I was remind of that because over the past decade or so, I've tried to keep myself to reading just one book. Here is a list of the books in my apartment that have been started...

1. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
2. Naked by David Sedaris
3. The Complete Bone by Jeff Smith
4. Cerebus, Vol 1.: Cerebus by Dave Sim
5. V For Vendetta by Alan Moore
6. Watchmen by Alan Moore
7. Pure Drivel by Steve Martin
8. Longest Day byMichael Collier(an abysmal Doctor Who novel, I can usually read these in a day, and am at least entertained. This one has plodded along as if it has the next decade to get where it's going. I should just abandon all hope, but haven't)
9. The Pythons by The Pythons

The past month or so I haven't done well at the "one book at a time" thing. 5 of the books on the list have been read previously. One should just be burned, and then burn the ashes. Three I've never read before.

The Pythons is a coffee table book. An autobiography of the Monty Python troupe. It's a big book and hard to hold to read.

Naked is a book of essays, so I read one a night before bed. It is excused from my "one book at a time" rule. It's a very good book. David Sedaris has a very sarcastic take on growing up, and just in general, from the pieces of his I've read on "The New Yorker" website. I like it a lot, and find myself laughing out loud at parts. Which I don't do often when reading a book.

A Long Way Down is excellent, as I figured it would be. I think Nick Hornby is probably my second favourite author. Mainly because he's got a huge love of music, and music plays a huge part in most of his books. This book is about four different people that decide to commit suicide on the same building on New Years Eve. They all decide to stick together. The author tells both a sad and funny story, and doesn't take the cheap shots or plot devices you'd think he would from a story dealing with such a touchy issue. I'm about half way through it. Very good stuff.

A sad Week in Review. Nothing at all happened. Nothing. Nada. Work and then home, or out doing things. Nothing huge happened at all. Dullest week ever. Except Bryan was in town for the weekend, which it was nice to see him again as usual.

I'd like to say I'm going to go out and shake things up this week to have an interesting week. But I'm not. I'll be happy with dull and slow. Maybe I can finish one of those nine books up there. One can only hope.

How can you not love me?! (Week in review)

Sorry, no story or diatribe this week, just right into it.

Things accomplished this week: Finished the tenth book in A Series of Unfortanate Events. The Slippery Slope. I like how there are jokes in there for adults. Sunny, the baby of the three siblings in the book, speaks in one word sentences. Then the author translates it into what Sunny meant to say. My favourite jokes with this device in this book was "Godot!" and Sunny meant something along the lines about waiting for someone you never know when they will get there or who they actually are. How many kids are going to get that is a Waiting for Godot reference. Actually, how many kids know what Waiting for Godot is? My other favourite Sunny joke was when she said "Rosebud!". She was talking about something that was symobolic and didn't actually represent what it actually was. You'll always get my respect with a Citizen Kane reference. Daniel Handler(oops...I mean Lemony Snicket) is a great author. I should find one of Mr. Handler's adult books and see how well of a writer he is.

I also finished Scrubs: Season 3 this afternoon. I think Scrubs is my favourite TV show. This season had the Micheal J. Fox episodes. Which are two of the best episodes. Also this season featured my two favourite jokes. The pancake in the silverware drawer joke, and the double prizer cereal box flashback. Wonderful stuff. Will probably watch it again.

Wednesday I went down to Welch for Jeff's last Wed. as a bartender. I only planned to have a beer or two and come home. I started playing pool with some people, and we eventually went to Paddy's. While there, and still pretty sober, we(this being a friend of Jeff's who's name is Dave, and another guy named Will, and myself) discovered the best way to break the ice when trying to meet girls. We'd walk up to them with Will and he's ask them if he went to high school with them. They'd start talking about high school and whatnot, and then after that, Dave and I would start talking to them. The most interesting of these was one of the girls we went up to and started talking to, it was her birthday. So Dave and I took her to the bar to buy her a birthday drink. So while we were sitting there, her and I started talking your typical small talk type things. She was pretty drunk though and would talk nonsense every once in awhile. But at one point while I was talking to her, she was acting very sad. I asked her what was wrong and she just casually tells me that she isn't cute. She was very wrong in this assumption. I then told her that she was very wrong, and she was very cute and gave her a hug and kissed her forehead. At this point, I started thinking how a jerk would of taken full of advantage of that. Not me, I'm one of the nicest guys to ever grace God's Green Earth, so I walked her back to her friends, gave her another hug and told her to enjoy her birthday. Then went back to using our method of meeting girls. Eventually went back to Welch until close and then came home. Made a drunken post on Blogger. It was deleted, but not before Charlie read it. Maybe some others did, I don't know. But Charlie made sure to give me much sass over it. I actually don't rememeber at all what the post was about. Whenever I drink, I come home and take asprin and drink two big glasses of water, to make sure I don't get a hangover. I got to do something while I'm drinking the water. It usually is to sit at the computer.

Another thing that happened this week was I helped Frank put in flooring at his house. I'm always willing to help people if they ask me. I also always forget that my back isn't the greatest, and that I'm stupid when it comes to stuff like that, but I'm always willing to help. It was pretty interesting and something different to do, which is something I always welcome.

Came home from Frank's at about one in the morning. Sat and talked to people online for quiet some time. About two AM I went to Perkins with Lori, until about 5:30 this morning. Alas, since I believe there should always be a bit of mystery around someone, I think I'll end this Week in Review now.

(But, for the record, I'm still very much single...before any rumors start circulating.)

My Problem.

Everyone that reads this knows that music is a huge part of who I am. Usually at any point in the day, you could ask me what song I have in my head, and I will probably have an answer. Tonight, at Frank's game, I had a song in my head and couldn't wait to get home to hear it. But the crap thing is, I can't remember which song, and can't find one of the CD's it might be on. The song was from the now defunct band, Tarkio. It's a two CD set called Omnibus, collecting all the EP's and one album they put out. This said compilation was put out by the the label Kill Rock Stars. (Sadly, all that info was from memory. I looked up none of it.)

Anyway, I can't find the first disc of this set, and I'm sure said song that was in my head is on that first disc. I can't even remember what song it was, since it was just two lines that were in my head. I don't even remember the lines. Knowing me, it was probably cleverly written depressing lines.

You don't know how much it's bothering me to not find it. I thought writing a short blog entry would help put it to rest, but it didn't. Guess I'll just go to bed. It is midnight.

Sing me to sleep, second disc of Tarkio: Omnibus.

Week in Review...yeah.

Really quick this week. I remember that I didn't get one in last week either. Perhaps I'll catch up, perhaps I won't.

Nothing too eventful this week. Officially got my promotion at Kingland. But also on a sad note, a friend of mine was let go from Kingland too. Hutch and I had a good time and made each other laugh. But he wouldn't show up a lot for work, or leave early. His quality wasn't the greatest either. Hutch is a good guy, a great guy, but Kingland just wasn't his thing. He will be missed.

Something else this week I realized about myself is that I want to do something creative. I see Charlie (trying) to do Awsomen, or Alter Egos now. I see Gabstur talking about and working on his Mickey and Joe stuff. Hell, even Frank with his GURPS game. I want to create something. I really loved that in college. The things I'd do for audio and video classes, were some of the most fun I've had. I loved sitting around thinking of stuff for Sofa Kings with Chad, and then writing them down. (For those wondering at home, we called it Sofa Kings for a reason. A very clever way of being juvenile. If you can't figure it out, say the next sentence out loud. Rob Dietz is sofa king awesome. ) Thinking up visuals to go with prerecorded PSA's was a lot of fun too. Anyway, I think I'm going to try to start writing things. Just try to build on ideas I have for stories and whatnot. I don't know if I could use them in a role playing setting. I'm too controlling over what would be going on story wise. Role playing should be able to flex with what the characters do. I'd want to tell a story and have happen in it what I want to happen.

Something else I've been working on this week is eye contact. I'm really bad with looking at people when they are talking to me. It's not that I'm nervous around people or whatnot, it's just that I've always been a person that looks around at everything. I'm sure it's wierded some people out as I try to stay focused on them when talking to me, instead of looking around, like I'm disinterested.

Also, to go along with the eye contact thing, I've been trying to be a little more outgoing. Stupid stuff like doing the small talk thing with people I buy my candy bar at the store from. Even just being a little friendlier to people I interact with. I feel that I've gotten into a comfortable rut, and just doing these small things to shake things up a bit.

What the hell, we'll cover last week right now too. It was nice to see Bryan again, and to actually play some board games again. We've played games since he left, but just not as focused as when he's around. I think with Bryan leaving, I've found out that I'm a little picky when it comes to board games or perhaps I'm just not as interested in them as I used to be. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy playing games. Just not like I did a couple of years ago. Could also just be a phase I'm going through. That happens to me from time to time.

An example of such a phase is that I recently thought about cutting my hair. This happens about once a year, at around this time. This time it was a little more serious and almost happened. It was kind of like the article Carmen wrote about cutting his hair. I felt like I wanted a change. To leave a part of my life and step into something new. I then eventually decided, if I did cut it, I'd probably just let it go long again. I don't feel comfortable with short hair. I don't understand it, but I don't. Everytime I did get my hair cut when I was younger, I felt uncomfortable until it got longish. With curly hair though, when it would get so long, it would look pretty stupid, and so it would get cut. I was finally able to get it this long by being way to busy to find time to get it cut, and it went out of the stupid phase, into being long. Now, it's seven years later.

Someday though, I will probably go through with getting it cut. This time while going through my "should I cut it" phase, I decided when I do get it cut, I'm going to still keep it longish, and go for the messy, not combed look. Like Jeff Tweedy. Not that anyone that reads this knows who that is.

Ok, that's two weeks rolled into one. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there(So...Jennifer).

Fun with Robots.

So, ocassionally you run into bots on the net that are just selling stuff. The most fun ones for this are the bots that are on IM. Here is a recent conversation I had with one of these bots. I knew full well the whole time it was a bot. So I went in with smart ass intentions.

RobGDietz3: Hola.
Natty4u212: Hey, Who is this? :-)

Auto response from RobGDietz3: Am I actually going to take a nap?!?!?

RobGDietz3: Rob...you messaged me on MySpace.
Natty4u212: Oh hey babe i loved your myspace profile. I was hoping you would message me. Was not sure if you had AIM though.
RobGDietz3: Nope, I do.
Natty4u212: Listen hun, I'm just about to start my webcam show with my roomate Tiffany, it's eaiser for me to chat ya in my chat room if u wanna log in? can u cum watch and chat me there?
RobGDietz3: I don't know...
RobGDietz3: I'm not sure about "bad" things.
Natty4u212: I can show u how to watch for free if u promise not to tell anyone else how to do it???PLEASE:-RobGDietz3: But I barely know you.
RobGDietz3: Think I'm going to go take a nap.
Natty4u212: well since its the law that u gotta be 18 (nudity involved), u have to sign up with a credit card for age verification! BUT.. Once you are inside, just clikc on "Webcams" and that section is 100% free... let me know what name you use to sign in with so I know it's you babe! natalielove.slickcams.com fill out the bottom of the page then fill out the next page as well and u can see me live!
RobGDietz3: What about my nap?
Natty4u212: Please dont mention anything about that in the chatroom once u get in ok?:-X
RobGDietz3: What my nap?
RobGDietz3: Why would anyone care.
RobGDietz3: ?
RobGDietz3: If they want to take a nap, no one is stopping them.
Natty4u212: OH SHIT.. k I'm late to start my show, I gotta get off AIM...I'll see ya inside my chatroom babe.. remember to just click on the "webcams" button, thats FREE... You can use your msn name to sign in so i know it's you
RobGDietz3: But this is AIM. You won't know my MSN name.
Natty4u212: Auto Response: I am SOOO wet oh my god! Just in my cam show now with Beth and Melissa.. Click the link to come watch natalielove.slickcams.com :-)
RobGDietz3: I'm going to cry.

We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.

Week in Review time.

The quote is from "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead." A very good movie, with some very good quotes.

Sorry, no Pat story this week Jennifer. I should tell a Glen story though. But there are a lot about him too. One involves him getting beat up on air. Now you know that has to be a good story.

This week's story actually pertains to me, and actually happened to me this week.

I hate when buisness calls pretend like they know you on a personal level. At work, there is a program I use called Bloomberg. It's this huge financial THING. There is a magazine, they have Bloomberg Telivision, and Bloomberg Radio, and then this program. It's even got a special keyboard, with a thumbprint dealy on it. I've yet to actually use the thumbprint dealy. Which is saddening.

Anyway, so ocassionally they call you to tell you of "the great new features on Bloomberg". So, I didn't recognize the number so I let the call go to voicemail. Even in the voicemail, she was acting as if we had a connection on a personal level.

"Hey Rob, this is Ah-lease.'(this is how she pronounced it, though I have a sneaking suspicion that her name is just Alice, and she's trying to be more cosmopolitian) We haven't talked in awhile, and I thought I'd just check in with you. I'm with Bloomberg and want to tell you of the great new features so if you could call me back at 555-555-5555, and we can chat, that would be great. Hope to talk to you soon Rob!. Bye."

When I hear "haven't talked in awhile" I start racking my brain trying to remember the person. My first clue was that I don't think I'd ever actually talk to someone if their name was "Ah-lease". I wouldn't talk to them on the principal that their name is "Ah-lease".

Next time, I hope to actually take the call. I'd love to just mess with that familiarity that they try to make.

"Hello is this Rob?"

"Yes, this is."

"Hi, this is Ah-lease, how are you?"

"Well, my wife left me this morning, taking everything but the coffee table. So I'll have to eat a microwave dinner that I'll heat up with a lighter and sit on the floor, using the coffee table as my dinner table, while I hum Beatles tunes to myself for entertainment. I also have just been told that I will either have to quit my job or pay them to allow me to continue working here. Also, my dog committed suicide this morning. He even left a note. All it said was "Rut Row." But other than that I'm doing great. Also, just admit, your name is Alice...like, the chick in Wonderland. C'mon."

"...yes...um....well...Bloomberg has many new features.."

Please, buisness people. You don't know me. If you did, you'd probably not want to "hang" with me. Stop it. Just tell me what you need to, and we'll call it good.

As for the week. It was a typical week. Ate out for lunch much more than I usually do. But Thursday was Charlie's birthday, so that is excuseable. Jeff also has an every Friday thing at Carlos O' Kelley's. I'll try to do that every other week or something like that.

The "promotion" thing at work is turning out to be pretty cool. I'm getting to do different things. Which is making me less bored with it. I'm still not sure if Kingland is something I'd want to do for a career. There just isn't enough creativity in it to keep me entertained. But it's a job I don't mind when I get bored with it. I don't want to be hopping around from job to job, just because I want a creative outlet. There is always going back to school as well. I still haven't been given the full blown duties of this new job either, so we'll see what happens there.

Yesterday a lot of WoW was played. I'm starting to enjoy it more in a group atmosphere. Solo is fun don't get me wrong. But much more fun with a few more people.

Finished the book "High Fidelity". Better than the movie, and I like the movie a lot. It's about a guy named Rob who just loves music(you can see why I probably like it so much). I thought the characters were switched around a bit in the movie to fit the people that played them. But the Jack Black character was exactly the same in the book. That was nice. Good book. I'm not sure if I like "High Fidelity" better or "About a Boy", bookwise. Movie wise, it's "High Fidelity". "About a Boy" I think might of gotten a bum rap, since it had Hugh Grant in it, so it got played as a romantic comedy, when it really isn't at all.

Nothing much else really. The Valerie thing was a bust, but thank you anyway Jennifer. Not sure what to do on that dating front. I'm not in a HUGE rush to get into a relationship really, but it would be nice. As harsh as it sounds, the five years with Rebecca were my early 20's and mid 20's. As a guy in his late 20's, I have no idea how to go about this meeting girls thing. I wish Rebecca and I would of decided to end things the first time things were bad. Oh well, you can't change the past. I'll just know to break up with girls at the first sign of trouble. (That's a joke.)

Ok...I've went on long enough. Until later this week or until the next Week in Review, were I'll promise not to talk about music, and try to remember a Pat story. Glen stories are golden too. I just remembered the time he put his coffee in the microwave, and told me to bring it to him when it was done heating up. There wasn't a lot of coffee in that cup. In fact, I think I got drunk smelling it.

Everything I try to do, nothing ever seems to turn out right.

(for those keeping track...the subject line is a song from the Decemberists)

Talked to Valerie tonight. She's not really interested in dating anyone. Which is very cool. It was one date, and some phone calls. She said it wasn't me, I'm fun to talk to.

I try.

The thing I hate about a situation like this, is the oddness it presents. For myself it would just seem odd to hang out as friends. Am I the only person that is this way? I mean, even after one date, it seems odd to me. The point of a date is to see if you can develop a relationship that is something more than a friendship. Once you cross that line, it's hard to see it differently. Am I making sense here? I've had many dating experiences where either myself or the girl decide that it shouldn't go on. But we'll be friends. Then it just kind of dies. I always feel bad too. They are nice people, really nice people. But, it just ends. Maybe I'm the wierd one.

Anyway, I'm going to spend the rest of the night feeling a little down, a little sorry for myself. Start tomorrow as my usual chipper self. At least I met a really cool, intelligent person from this. Maybe I'll actually try to stay friends with her. Make an effort.

Crazy, fire chick at Welch Ave. Station, here I come!

(That above is just a joke...it's funny. Laugh.)

How can I get closer and be further away/ When the truth/ Proves it's beautiful to lie (Week in Review)

Hello,

The subject line is from one of the greatest albums ever "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco, the song is called "Reservations".

This week was "meh".

Found out at work they are going to put me in charge of the Quality Control team. That is pretty cool. I was thinking of quitting there. But the pain of trying to find another job is just...well, a pain. I make all right money there. Not great, but not bad either. Sadly, the most I've ever got paid at a job I've had. I've had some pretty shit pay jobs. Anyway, I think I'll stick it out, and get back to school. I just hope I don't get George Bailey syndrome(It's A Wonderful Life). Everytime I think about leaving, they move me to something a little bit better there.

Tuesday resulted in some "Asia Plum" sass for Ben. Then at work they had me doing work I usually don't do, so I was bored beyond belief. So I started coming up with ideas for Asia Plum. They were first things to just give Ben crap. Funny ideas. But then I actually started having some (I thought) good ideas for it. Frank keeps saying I should run a campaign, maybe I'll base it on the Asia Plum stuff I thought up.

VIESHA was pretty cool. I was going to go down on Friday and see Valerie down there since she was working security or something. But the movie had gotten out at midnight, and she hadn't called yet. I was really tired so I figured I'd just go home. She called me just as I was falling asleep. She told me where she was, and I had to say that I was at home. I felt like such a jerk, since I said I would be there.

Saturday I was there all day, spent the morning with the Huebner's and then right when I was going to go home, Charlie called and so I stayed on campus. Ran into Carmen there. We hung out the rest of the afternoon. Highlights include...

The little kid that ran over to the fence, dropped his drawers to presumably go to the bathroom. An adult tried to stop him from public nudity, but he was too late.

Trying to avoid two sets of people. Carmen's reaction to seeing one of them was priceless.

Mocking Pete and Tas.

Jeff nailing Charlie straight in the head with the little balsa wood airplane.

We then went to Welch Ave, which was a lot of fun too. Maybe I drank a little too much. But I don't do that too often.

Writing this and listening to music, I just realized I listen to some really depressing and downer music. The lyrics I used as the subject line are pretty depressing, and I was just listening to The Beatles "Yer Blues". Which features such uplifting lyrics as "Yes, I'm lonely, wanna die" and of course this uplifting discourse "Feel so suicidal, even hate my Rock and Roll". Why do I listen to the depressing stuff so much. I think I'm an upbeat kind of guy. Oh well, best not to think of it too much.

That's it this week. Looks like I wrote another novella. Oh well.

I went to school with 27 Jennifers...16 Jens, 10 Jennies and then there was her. (Week in Review)

I was going to kick off this Week in Review with thoughts on a band called The Decemberists. Instead the subject line goes to a song by Mike Doughty, called...27 Jennifers. I came home and his music was in my head, and now I'm listening.

Doughty is probably best known for his band Soul Coughing, which called it quits after three albums. All three of which are pure genius. On the band's website, he would post explinations to his songs. Most usually involved how he thought something sounded wierd while high on herion. He kicked the herion habit around the time of Soul Coughing's last album. The question was, would his song writing go downhill, or better since there was no drug addled brain.

The songs he produces now, sans band, are quality. Some of the wierd word play and just general oddness are gone(which I really liked). Soul Coughing's sound was a jazz/rock type fusion...if it were on drugs. Which makes sense, after knowing what Doughty was doing during those years.

Right now, I'm partaking in Mike Doughty's second EP "Rockity Roll". Very good, stand out songs being "27 Jennifers", "40 Grand in the Whole", "Ossining" and finally "Move On(Bloom Like the Sunshine in My Song). The latter being written for the political awareness group Move On. Which you can check out at www.moveon.org.

As for the week...It was a great week. Spent most of the begining of the week here at home when not at work. Watched the Mel Gibson Hamlet, and then Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead...which was very good. Kind of pretentious, but good.

Thursday was yet ANOTHER change on how things are done at work. Which always involves me somehow. They combined two teams at work, and gave us a new assistant manager. When we finished the meeting about that, the new assistant manager then told me she was excited to work with me again, and that she had lots of ideas for me. Since I'm such an asset to Kingland and I could be used more...or something. When someone starts singing my praises, I kind of stop paying attention. So I didn't ask anymore about it.

Thursday was also "The Big Date" as it has so been dubbed by others. I think that things went well. Though I've been trying to work up the courage to call her again. It's a little more intimadating when you kind of know the person now. Jennifer said that she seemed to like me though, and thought I was "witty". Once again, good things were said about me, so I didn't bother to ask anymore.

I got Sim City 4. We'll see if that takes away from me playing WoW. I was hoping for something else to play so my brother and Charlie can catch up, and I'd only play it when they were playing too, or just a little less than I have been.

Saw Syriana. I don't know what I thought. It was kind of dull. It seemed to me they were trying hard to make it look like they weren't making a political statement, but didn't do a good job of that. It was okay, I suppose.

That's it for this week. It's raining and a nice breeze equals some nice sleeping.

So long.

On Matters of Thursday Night

Things went extremely well I thought. We'll see what happens.

and that's all you're getting.

Since I'm the only one who updates anymore. (Mini week in review)

Ha Ha. Zing!

First, the date didn't happen this weekend. She got called into work, for something that sounded like a hellish time for her. She sounded pretty upset that it was called off, but I told her I understand things happen. Thats just the way things are.

Though there was still a little insecure part of me that thought this was an out for her. But I've had a lot of practice ignoring that insecure voice for the most part.

Also, I know I was going to try and do a Week in Review every week. But this week, I don't think it's going to get done. Here's a short one for you anyway.

Spent a lot of time not at home. Don't remember what a lot of that was that I was doing. I know Tuesday was Frank's game. Thursday night I think I was actually at home. Hmm.

Friday saw Glory Road. Good movie.

Saturday night, saw Lucky Number Slevin. Very good movie.

Also, got a headset, with mic and headphones. Charlie and I tried that out. Makes the World of Warcraft experience even more amazing. Look Mom, no hands! No more typing. We can react quickly to our enviroment but talking to each other. Plus, it's a whole new way to deliver sass!

But this week, I hope to reshedule with Valerie. Maybe I can convince her to not do the double date thing. Though that would be fun, it would mean another two weeks of waiting. Maybe just going somewhere to meet. Like Sante Fe coffee shop. It's new and I want to check it out.

Ok, now off to kill time someway else.

Bye for now.

Week in Review!

At the radio station I worked at in Webster City, our news guy did a Week in Review. Kind of a cool idea. But his news stories consisted of church Bake Sales and city council meetings. Where he would interview the people on the most asinine things covered at the meeting. Such as approving to buy a pop machine for outside City Hall.

One of my favourite moments of working there, and of working with this guy is the time that something actually happened in Webster City. A woman was shot in her home. Her husband came in from the field to find her on the floor, bleeding. It was eventually found out that the person that shot her, had broken into the house to steal some things, and make off with one of the vehicles at the farm. Though, Webster City being the gossipy town it is, most of the residients believed that the husband shot her.

Anyway, I veered from my main point. This woman was shot, and I heard it on the police scanner. At first I dismissed it, figuring that Pat(the news guy) would be covering this if it were anything. Darren, one of the sales guys, came into the studio and asked if I had heard anything. I told him about the scanner, and we both came to the conclusion, that Pat would be covering it if this were true.

A lot of calls start to come in and then our Program Director called me and asked why we weren't covering it. I told him, I don't know, you need to talk to Pat. I was then told to do everything I could to find him.

Five minutes later, Pat comes strolling in. I then said, "Hey, Tony is looking for you?" He then says, "Oh, really? I wonder what he wants?" I tell him, "I'm sure it has to do with this shooting Pat, that doesn't really happen everyday in Webster City, and we've got nothing on the air about it." Pat's response, and it's a classic..."Well, I didn't want to worry people about a shooter on the loose, I was just going to let this one blow by."

Good idea Pat. We don't want to tell the people about a real news story, that every news station in the state has a story on. But we better tell them about the five for a dollar Lemon Bars at the First Presbyterian Church. Oh, and if you buy something before 5 PM, you get a free Rice Krispie square.

There is actually a lot more to this story, but I got really side tracked. I just was going to tell you that Pat did these Week in Review things, and I was thinking about doing them here on Friday night or Saturday.

Sorry, a bit more of a sidetrack. he also did a Year in Review in December. Each month was about forty minutes long. This thing ran for six hours. KQWC had a lot of programming problems. From what I know, it's gotten a lot better.

Anyway, my Week in Review...

Bad things...
My sleeping was really off, waking up quite a bit earlier than I usually get up. Thursday I went to bed at about one in the morning, only to awake three and a half hours later.

Monday, the person usually in charge of my team at work was gone. It was the day we had to get everything done for delivery. I was put in charge of making sure it all got done. I don't mind being put in charge, but in the twelve or so years I've worked at various places, this kind of thing happens. I prove time and time again, that I could be in a leadership role, and nothing ever happens. I'm given some "corporate babble" why I they don't want me there. This happened to my dad a lot too. Maybe it's a Dietz curse.

Good things...

Saw the newest Harry Potter, which was very good. The children have become much better actors since the first film. They were horrid in that movie. The first movie was great, despite them not having their "acting chops" yet.

Goblet of Fire had David Tennant in it as Barty Crouch Junior, which was really cool for me, because he is playing the Doctor in the next season of Doctor Who(starts April 15, I can't wait...and thats on the BBC, Sci-Fi channel is still showing the first season. But I'm a nerd, and have been downloading them.)

Oh, also, the band that played at the dance, some of the people in the band are in the real life band Radiohead. Which was pretty sweet.

All in all, I liked the movie. I need to read the books I think.

Saw "Inside Man" last night. A Spike Lee Joint. He didn't disapoint again. I don't think I've seen a bad movie from him. Really good, I recommend it.

Getting confirmation that the blind date for next weekend is go. I'm a little nervous. I have always had the feeling that I leave an overwhelming first impression. I don't mean that as an arrogant statement either.

Wierd occurances, or things I didn't expect to happen...

Playing pool at the MU with Frank and Charlie, that was pretty enjoyable. A lot of fun. Also, losing a bet and having to play Dance Dance Revolution...EXTREME! That thing flashes at you so much. I think I have epilepsy now.

Jeff Sorensen singing Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps" in the back seat of Charlie's car. It was quite surreal.

Having Charlie look for the CD in Best Buy the next day. That just added to the surrealness.

Also, once again, playing Dance Dance Revolution.

All right, the Pat story took up a lot of this, but I hadn't told a Pat story in forever. Anyway, that's my Week in Review. Maybe I'll keep these up.

Oh, don't forget. Brownies are two for a dollar down at St. John's Luthran Church. Today only.