Arrrr!

Ahoy! Well 't seems that September 19 be upon us an' that means one thin'. `Tis "Talk Like a Pirate Day!" T' celebrate this occasion, last night, Nick an' I recorded a traditional sea dog song. I tried postin' 't on here, but be unsuccesful. If ye`re interested in hearin' 't, but haven`t yet, IM me or email me at me chriswilson@tamu.edu address an' I`ll get 't t' ye fer yer listenin' enjoyment. If ye dasn't want t' hear 't in celebration o' this grand day, then ye`re a lily-livered bilge rat that dasn't deserve t' be here. Onward with me bloggin'!

This was a grand football weekend with the Aggies winning big against those poor ponies and the Panthers with a big win at New England! The first home football game was great. Good seats, good friends and after some first quarter nonsense, Reggie and the rest of our team just started clicking. Reggie was in the zone the 2nd half, I'd like to see him stay in that zone, especially when the Longhorns come to town for Reggie's last game at Kyle. Our offense looked unstoppable at times, even considering it was SMU that we were playing... Reggie earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors for his record breaking 449 yards of total offense (349 passing, 100 rushing) 5 Passing TDs (breaking his personal best of 4 that he threw, beating #1 OU in 2002) and 1 Rushing TD. This is Reggie's 2nd straight game with exactly 100 yards rushing. As for the Panthers, look for them in the NFC championship! In other football news, Brett Favre actually stepped up and played a decent game, leading my fantasy football team to a sure victory this week. But more importantly, he threw several balls TMurph's way yesterday as he played in his first NFL game! Whoop!

After the game Saturday, we enjoyed some good fun and food at Peyton's parent's tailgate. We played some dominoes, ate some jambalaya, it was delightful. Friday night was a good time too. It started off with a nice Rumours dinner (the only decent place left to eat on campus, the other dining facilities sold out and they have been getting plenty of feedback from me on their comment cards..) and then it was time for volleyball. We got to sit in the special "Party on the Patio" section. It was a lot of fun, but I sadly we lost and I had to leave early to make it over to first yell. First Yell was fun, not as good as last year whn Bill Cosby was here, but who can compete with Cosby? Then it was time for Midnight Yell. Now I'm not sure if I've ever missed one...well before Friday night that is. We got there at 11:30 and waited in line for the next 30 minutes and our gate still wasn't open. Now I've never had a problem getting in this gate, but for some reason they decided to lock us out. We were still standing outside after midnight yell started. Finally at about 12:20 we got up to the first deck, where Robert and his E2 buddies had some seats saved for us. However, all the dummies on first deck decided to stand in the aisle, preventing anyone from exiting or entering the section. Then...someone dropped the ball and turned the lights out, so I figured it was time to mug down, signaling the end of midnight yell, but it wasn't yet, someone had just jumped the gun. So there I was, standing by the stairs to go up to the seats, behind the big concrete wall, unable to hear anything and pretty fed up with things. So I decided to go home. So that's what we did.

Skipping back ahead to Sunday, we went to early service so we could go and support our other volleyball team, Tulane at 1. It was a good time, we modified some yells to fit them, Roll Wave! Again, sadly we had to leave early and we lost. After growth groups, I followed suit of the rest of my weekend and was a complete bum. I had a plan at the beginning of Friday to do some major reading this weekend. That didn't happen...but I did get to watch Mean Girls. As Sunday night wore on, we were reminded that today was Talk Like a Pirate Day, so Kevin, Nick and I sang together to celebrate and then sang our song to Chelsea. Nick and I soon decided that we were going to need to record this song together as C4 to share with the world. Since we'd been bothering our sleeping roommate Clinton for the past hour, we decided to take my laptop to our recording studio in Nick's 4 Runner. "I'm a pirate, that's for real. My recording studio is an automobile!" If you listen to our song, you'll notice parts where there's a slight chuckle in my voice. The reason? Our neighbor pulled up in their car, noticed the 4 Runner's lights were on and were waiting for us to leave so they could have our parking place. I guess they then saw we were sitting in the backseat and backed up and found a spot on the other side of the full parking lot. I'm sure they know what cool guys they live above... And if they don't, I'm sure Penny brags about what a stinkin' awesome boyfriend she has to everyone that lives up there.

I did my part at work to spread the pirate cheer. Nick asked me upon leaving for work today if I was going to talk like a pirate at work since it would be unacceptable for him to do so at Bennigans. "Aye," I answered, "Do ye be knowing where I work or the scurvy dogs I work with? It won't be seen as weird behavior...I promise." What a grand holiday. Big Ups To Tiffany for following in my footsteps and being published in mail call. She wrote about having quizzes or tests on Ring Day, maybe my tsip prof will read it and change her mind about my test...doubtful. Check it Out: Professors Shouldn't Give Quizzes On Ring Day.

Pulled tickets this morning, 2nd deck, row 26 or so...50 yard line, decent seats. But we couldn't sit with Gimpy Gage since there's a limit of how many people can accompany her to the handicap section. Poor Gage... Then it was the first Monday FMBWC. Peyton joined Clinton, Matt, and I. Matt earned honors for most improved on the grill, I was told I needed improvement in my attitude. It's pirate day, there's no time for manners.

Arrr...that be the end of the post today. Let me know if you would like to hear our pirate tune, it's gotten grea....well it's gotten feedback. And most of that feedback is simply, "Oh wow..."

3 Days till I get my ring...Whoop!!

Smells Like Aggie Spirit

The tent sales are going strong, the traffic on Texas is unbearable, an abundance of old folks are bustling around campus, and there's a sense of anticipation in the air. That can only mean one thing, Football in Aggieland. The first home game is less than 24 hours away, it's going to be nice getting back into Kyle (especially in my nice 2nd-deck-45-yard-line-under-the-overhang seat) and joining with all the other Aggies in yelling for our team. SMU should provide a nice rebound for us since that disappointing Clemson game. But first thing's first. There's plenty going on tonight. First, a 5:15 dinner at Rumours before the volleyball game. Then we'll head over to G Rollie and get our special "Party on the Patio" seats above the masses. Sadly I won't be able to stay for the whole game because it overlaps with First Yell. This year First Yell features Bill Engvall, it should be decent. He's no Bill Cosby though. I'll probably end up being a little late to that, which means I'll most likely miss the choirs and percussion studio...as if I haven't seen them 88 times anyway. Then afterwards, it's midnight yell. My favorite tradition of all. Then after a short night of sleep, it's Aggie Football time! I love gameday weekends! Whoop!

But before the weekend begins, I must endure work. It's just me and Justin today, so it shouldnt be bad. But before today came, I had to endure another day of classes, and another day with my tsip prof. Tuesday, we had an arguement...debate I suppose in class about whether or not Bush was at fault for the situation in New Orleans. According to my prof and the hippie in my class, America is Bush's company and he should know everything that's going on and take care of every aspect. He didn't instill enough sense of emergency in New Orleans before the evacuation... They compared this to the Enron situation being the CEO's fault. I argued that the CEO of Enron only had Enron to focus on, he should have been aware, but America is a big company for Bush to be in control of all aspects, that's why we have more government than just president and the evacuation problems were the fault of someone lower like Governor or Mayor. They just wouldn't agree, but time expired in class. Anyway, yesterday I returned to class and the hippie boy in my class was given the floor by t sip prof. He told the class that he went home Tuesday and was watching the news and I quote, "George Bush took full responsibility for Hurricane Katrina." I told the kid that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard, Bush is not at fault for the natural disaster. Another girl across the class began arguing with him too, but he wouldn't have it and my prof squashed our efforts and began into class. So I had to turn to my friend Jason and ask him if that guy was serious, "Yeah...that whole hurricane thing. That's my bad." He replies in his W voice, "My bad, that low system front was my doing. Sorry guys." But that is honestly what this dude was trying to convince us. I did realize though that since most people here thing W is God, he may actually be at fault for the hurricane...

In other news, FMBWC is in its trial state of FMBWCEFPWWIIM (Friday Morning Breakfast With Chris Except For Pull Week When It Is Monday). An overwhelming majority passed a 2 week trial starting Monday for FMBWC to be after we pull tickets at 7 on Monday mornings the week of a home game. We'll see how it goes for the next 2 weeks when we have Texas State and Baylor at home. FMBWC went on today though and it was delightful, we welcomed Mary Beth, one of the few girls that have ever attended.

Photographic Friday! I made this the other night with some pictures of Nick because I'd never used some Animation program I had and wanted to. So here you go, though I'm sure most of you have already seen this. It was ugly because of the black background, so I couldn't post it on here, so you have to click here to see it: Cheer Nick, Cheer!

Class Complaints

Yes, I was well recognized from the Batt yesterday, many people commented to me. And there was no argument published today. Peyton had his response ready for anyone who disagreed with my opinion, but it was unneccesary. Not a whole lot happened today. Robin is the best boss ever and got us pizza for lunch. She loves us. Tiffany talked all day about her cute new puppy, Maggie. She loves her.

Yesterday was the first small group in growth groups. I had 4 guys show up, they seem to be awesome guys. I'm very excited about this semester and getting to know them. Today I have my first test...and probably the first test on the entire A&M campus. Who has a test this early in the semester? Ah well. the prof I'm really fed up with is my other MGMT prof, the t sip... You cant imply anything good about George W in her class... I called her out yesterday after she gave us some wrong info, another girl agreed with me, but she still wouldn't believe that she was wrong about anything, even after I read it straight from the book, the response I got is, "moving on..." The woman didn't know what Ring Day was and wasnt too concerned that our test was scheduled on the day I get my Aggie Ring. Stupid sip... Well, I'm going to put some more time into studying for this test...

Fish Spurs and Mail Call

A short entry for today. I am very pro-fish spurs for the SMU game. For those of you that have been asking about the fish spurs on campus, let me explain. In recent days, the fish in corps have made their bottle cap "fish spurs" and worn them the week before the Texas Tech (ugh) game. But the reason they're wearing them this week goes back to old army days. Back in SWC days, when SMU was in our conference, the yearly tradition was to wear the fish spurs the week before our matchup with them to show we were going to "spur those Mustangs." Since the SWC disolved, we rarely play SMU, so we swapped the tradition for a new in state competitor, Texas Tech, since we play them every year. Since we're playing SMU this year, I like the throw back and was excited to see the old, good-bull tradition resurected.

Next business. Who is this very knowledgable guy published in the mail call? I like the way he thinks. Soccer Atmosphere Must Be Kept Unique. It seems they edited out "Aggie Soccer Hooligan" from under my name. If the SBP writes in, they include his position in the mail call(Jim Carlson, Student Body President, Class of 2005). But they don't include my position...officiall Aggie Soccer Hooligan... Disappointing. they also failed to include, "Kick '08ers in the face." Ah well, I hope I got my point across. Time for brunch.

Bartok the Fish

It was good to be back in the Aggie Soccer Complex, aside from a few 08ers who don't know anything about Aggie Soccer... Hopefully the Batt will publish my mail call tomorrow. But we won, 3-0, another shut out. After the game, I sat Keaton down and had a talk to him about reinstituting "Dance Party" at Soccer Games, he wasn't as supportive as I hoped. We also got an audience with Coach Blair and Jonathan Lusk, then of course we talked to all soccer players and collected their autographs on the new soccer poster. I never realized how many of them are Marketing majors, whoop!

The rest of my weekend pretty much focused primarily around Football. Several good games, way to go Clemson, make us look better... Sunday came around and I had no idea the Panthers' game was going to be televised, so I got home from lunch at the beginning of the 4th quarter, kind of upset that I missed probably the one Carolina game a year that Fox televises. I realized it was televised because their opponent was the New Orleans Saints. So pretty much the whole country was united behind the Saints, except for me. And then FOX ruined my day by taking the Panthers game off with 30 seconds left, as New Orleans was about to set up for the game winning Field Goal to put on the stupid Cowboys... Thanks a lot. New Orleans went on to win, making everyone in the nation happy...

Nick and I went and studied in my study place, the skywalk in the MSC. There were a lot of band nerds having a meeting up there, not even the FTAB, some lame, non-reg band group. We wanted to infiltrate and take their ice cream, but we were definately too cool looking and lacking the instruments neccesary to fit in. So we just studied until they left at which point it was time for a study break. A race across the skywalk was in order I decided. We lined up, said, "Go" and began the race. It was a dead heat heading into the midpoint of the race, but then I saw a shoe fly out in front of me. It had come off of Nick's foot, I quickly jumped it and continued down the hall. I turned back just in time to watch Nick collapse to the ground. I finished the race before turning around to laugh at my fallen roommate. We went back to studying and soon some more people decided ot have a race down part of the hall, except this race was a log rolling race. The rolled down the ramp into the hallway. They seemed embarassed when they saw us, but I told them that we had just raced and assured them that, "There is a lot of physical activity that goes on in this hall."

And Merriam has a fish named Bartok... She wanted to announce it to the world. Merriam comes to hang out with us at work, the Teague building is becoming the cool place to be. Come by and visit, we'll give you a cookie.

In Full Swing

School is officially in full swing with the first "Friday Morning Breakfast With Chris" of the year! 8AM, Friday Mornings at Sbisa, I know it's early, that's a big hinderence against more people showing up. Today it was three, but we are the most loyal FMBWCers around. The second thing that today should mark is the reuniting of all the Aggie Soccer Hooligans for tonight's game. But Clinton decided to go camping instead. Still, the remaining Hooligans will be assembling at 6PM at the soccer field. The game starts at 7, but we are Hooligans after all, getting there an hour early is a must. Especially with the recent crowds... If anyone wants to join us, you know where we'll be. It's the East Carolina Pirates that we are hosting tonight by the way and the pirate is ASH's official mascot. Thirdly, Clinton pointed out that I'm a senior now and have to pull football tickets on Monday morning! So whoever wants to pull with us, let us know. The first home game is fast approaching! Whoop!

I'm glad A&M stepped up to house so many students displaced by Katrina and now 4 of the sports teams from Tulane (Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, Women's Swimming and Diving, and Men's Basketball). With the shortage of home soccer game's this year, I'm definately looking forward to supporting Tulane there, as well as the other sports. The Hooligans will definately give them some sort of homefield advantage, even here in Aggieland. Roll Wave.

That's all I got, not a whole lot else to say unless you want to hear my rant about Ms. Talksalot in my MGMT class. But I won't do that, I'm trying to keep these things shorter, it's fall yall have enough reading to do for school and such.

Pop Quiz

I'm not enjoying most of my classes. Two quizzes, two poor grades. They're a lot rougher than I thought they'd be. Aside from my Teachers Pet class, I'm still liking that one. I'm also very disappointed with the lack of comments on here. Slackers.

Well, I went to my new class for the first time Monday afternoon and I was introduced to the class by the following scene:
The professor asks someone to summarize what was discussed in the previous class on Wednesday. No hands go up. "Ok then, does anyone have any questions?" The hands remain down. "Alright," he says, "everyone put your notebooks away and clear off your desk..." Groans fill the class room. I look over at Nick and Janette who are also in this class for the very first time. Finally I raise my hand. Without waiting for him to call on me, I say, "Hey...this is a quiz isn't it?" The class breaks into laughter and is joined by the professor, "Yeah...I can tell you're going to do very well in this class." Perhaps I'd chosen the wrong words. I delicately word my next phrase, "I sincerely hope that I do not have to take this quiz as this is my first time in the class..." The professor tellsme that I could have looked at the sylabus on the internet and known to read Chapter One. Pretty impossible sinceI don't even have the book. Again I choose my words carefully, "Well...that sucks." He agrees. I go on to fail the quiz. After class I ask the other students about it and they said it was questions straight out of last week's lecture. I cry unfair. No one seems to care. Why should they, I'm the class joke. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to that class, but at least it's interesting. My 8AM Marketing class is vrey dry, my professor says a lot, but really says nothing. The next class is nobody's favorite. The professor says a lot, and really says a lot. And any class participation is taken over by Ms. Talks A Lot who everyone grumbles about after class.

Jimi the Llama was stolen from my house Monday night. The thief wrote her ransom demands on the dry erase board. She wanted 2 orders of fried pickles delivered to an address which so happened to be MB's residence. We identified her as the culprit and sprang into action. We reminded her that we do not make deals with terrorists, we terrorize them. Many threats were made and she was ready to give the llama back before I even left work. We turned the tables on her and gave her a deadline of 9PM and told her she'd better arrive with some pickle chips and the llama. But for some reason, the llama disappeared from her house. Through some scheming of our own, the llama was returned safely to our house. MB did not know about the disappearance and therefore thought she lost the llama. So, as the 9PM hour approached, we maintained our threats and deadline as she tore her house apart looking for Jimi. A scheme was crafted as a forerunner of a first attack. We were going to do a minor attack to remind her of the wrath that was to come for stealing Jimi. With a little bit of expired food from the fridge and some creativity I made the following threat which was stuck to the door. On a sausage link I wrote, "Hey you little weenies" followed by "you DONUT want to mess with Jimi," tacked to some bagels. The next note was written on an old hamburger patty, "unless you want beef with us," then on some Kiwi, "you will reap the fruits of your actions" which was attached to some kiwi. The last note that was taped on the door read, "This is not even our first attack. Just letting you know what's to come." Another hamburger was adhered to the door by some cheese and a kiwi was smashed onto the door handle. All in all it was a pretty big mess. After having to clean this up (sorry Audra, Kelly, and Lisa), MB went into a complete panic. I told her brownies and Jimi would suffice, so she baked the brownies and delivered them. We asked her where Jimi was and her lip quivered as she lied and said she'd go get him. I told her that Clinton was in her house right now looking for him. Mary Beth told us that we were being mean, so I reminded her that she started it and we had not even begun yet. Nick and I ate the brownies as we "waited for the call." Clinton was of course in bed, we gave her quite a bit more grief until finally, Karen made me tell her the truth. MB learned that she should not mess with us, I encourage y'all to realize the same.

My days are getting more busy. I was home only for a very brief time yesterday between the hours of 730AM- 1130PM. And the time I was home was spent napping. Tuesdays are going to be hectic with Class all day, Growth Groups, Breakaway and the monthly Silvertaps. I recieved more information about the Katrina Student Mentor program. If anyone is interested in helping out some of the students that are here from Louisiana (I have 2 in one of my classes from Tulane. And I saw the Tulane Volleyball team wandering around the MSC today) go to this website: arc.tamu.edu. ARC is sponsoring this program, I was part of ARC my freshman year, so that's cool. Tiffany and I have already applied, I encourage you to do the same if you have the desire and time to.

Alright, now I'm going to read so I don't look like a big dummy in class again.

"Hurricane People"

Not a whole lot to be said about this past weekend. At least volleyball team is good. We get to sit up in the Party Patio for this next game thanks to Matthew "Love" Rackar. I haven't lost all hope in football and soccer, although I didn't get to see the loss and the tie the girls had in Michigan this weekend. I'm still confident that Reggie and the Ags can finish with a successful year and a possible Big XII championship. It just wasn't too fun watching the poorly executed game at Clemson this weekend.

Anyway, Mrs. C came in last night and took all of her kids (Nick, MB, Audra and I) out ot IHOP at like midnight. We figured it was a good time to grab some grub. So I didn't get the homework I would have liked to get done finished, but that's what work time is for (and yet I'm blogging...). I did get to spend all morning at Beutal with Gage though (actually not with Gage, they mainly confined me to the hallway), so I got some good time in with my Marketing Research textbook that I haven't paid attention to. Not much else going on except I hate what they've done to the Commons.

Upon walking into the SCC this morning, we saw some girls approach a worker and tell her that they were "hurricane people" and needed to register. Them calling themselves hurricane people made us sad. So we talked to our friend Cynthia, the lab supervisor and after telling us some of the sad stories she'd heard, she sent us upstairs. We wanted to give everyone hugs, but instead we watched all the students register, sign up for financial aid, find housing, basically the whole process of enrolling at A&M. We asked some students where they were from. There were a lot of colleges represented up there, very sad that they were displaced from their lives and now have to go here for at least a year. We need to get some students over to them to explain to them all the "weird Aggie stuff." I know they're gonna be frightened by the corps boys and all of our traditions. We're accepting 1000 students and I heard about a program that's buddying Aggies up with a hurricane student. I tried to find more information out upstairs, but no one knew about it. I'm sure by tomorrow, I'll have some kind of information. Both Tiffany and I are very interested in doing that program and at least trying to make them feel a little more at home. Well, I guess I'm going to go write my paper now. I work till 5, then I'll be going to our brand new MGMT 466 class. I hope it's all it's supposed to be.

Go For Two

If you get a touchdown putting you up by a point in the last minutes of a game, you go for two. If you get it, you'll be ahead by a FG, if you miss, you'll still be up by 1. If you make an extra point, you'll be up by 2, which does you no more good at this point than being up by 1. Go for 2, get the tie. Go for 1, lose to Clemson...

A Story from LSU

I found this tonight. Quite a read. That's all...
Behind the Scenes: Katrina aftermath hits LSU hard

Warrick "dunn" good

"Happy Birthday Tiffany!" That's what the sign above my desk says. That's why there are 2 types of cake on the table. Seems like she's having a pretty good birthday. I'd hope so. After the celebration at Harry's, I went home to sleep. I've had bouts with my insomnia again recently. Not too fun. Last night it was after 4:30 before I finally fell asleep. A call at 8 this morning woke me back up and kept me from ever falling back asleep. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty drowsy this morning. I got no time to nap though. I'm working till 5 this evening, then it's time for some volleyball. And also, Penny and my 2 Monthaversary, I hope she's up for some Aggie Sports...

Mainly though, I am pumped that our first football game is Tomorrow! Finally! I can't wait, A&M - Clemson is going to be one of the best games of this first week of College Football. We're going to surprise some people this year. I know it. The party's going to be at Justin's house tomorrow. After a couple of volleyball games, we're heading over there. I can't wait. I don't imagine sleeping is going to be any easier tonight...

And I can't close out this week without mentioning Hurricane Katrina. I can't believe some of the stuff I'm seeing on tv. In the time people should be uniting, they're fighting. Some of the pictures I've seen makes New Orleans look like a third world country. With the disease and hunger and violence their facing, it's just unimaginable. This is the worst disaster in my life time. They're our neighbors, if you can find a way to help, do it. Some guys on campus are trying to organize some efforts to get donations at the SMU game. It may be similar to the Red, White, and Blue Out from 2001. I'll let you know as information surfaces, there's a meeting on Monday night about it, I'm going to try to make it if my late class doesn't interfere. And I'd like to salute Warrick Dunn, runningback for the Atlanta Falcons. He has a foundation for building houses for single mothers in Baton Rouge. Well, he is so distraught by the situation in Louisiana, he's stepped up and challenged every NFL player (except the Saints) to donate at least $5000 to relief efforts. He said the Flacons had already committed to $260,000. If his goal is met, the NFL players will be able to get together $8.2 million. With so many NFL "role models" making the news because of their negative on and off field behavior, it's good that there are still guys like Warrick Dunn in the spotlight. I say take TO's $50 million contract and donate it all...

No photographs for Photograph Friday, I was trying to get pictures from someone of the snow the other day, but they never got sent to me. I'll see what I can do about that, they may be up later. Hope everyone has a terrific weekend, Gig 'Em Aggies, and keep coastal Louisiana in your prayers.

The Horror of MGMT 466

So it's Thursday and I'm posting. Yeah, I'm at home, but what else am I going to do? I don't have class again till Monday evening, so studying's out of the question. So before it's time for the super slammin birthday bash for Tiffany and Gage, I decided I'll blog a little.

I went to MGMT 466 yesterday, expecting the class to prove itself not as hard as I imagined it to be. But alas, I was not imagining. Class began and the professor went into a crazy lecture, spouting off random facts and definitions. I could not find any sort of connection between each sentence he said. The professor seems very smart and it seems his supply of knowledge is never ending. But for some reason, he picked yesterday to be the day he shared all of his knowledge with us. So as he jumped from topic to topic, I stopped trying to take notes and scribbled on my paper to pretend I knew what was going on. I was not alone. Nick was sitting to the left of me, he had finished playing some sort of invented solitaire Connect Four in his notes and was now staring blankly, with his jaw slightly open, at his notebook. The rest of the class also resembled some sort of Wehner High zombie. After class, I asked some girls in the hall if they knew what was going on in that class. "No," the agreed, "I tried to take notes, but he jumped around, so it was impossible." I told them that I had been in classes before that I hadn't understood the concepts or known how to do something, but this was the first time I've ever been in a class and not understood at all what was going on. We all agreed. I had talked to, Janette and Claudio, a couple of coworkers who had MGMT 466 with different professors and they both said it was going to be a piece of cake. Claudio said his prof played music in class and was going to focus his lessons around the music industry (sweet!) and he let them out of class early so he could go do his Fantasy Football draft (my kind of guy). So as we trekked back to the West Campus Garage, Nick and I agreed to check for openings in the 5:45-7:00PM MW class and if there were 2, we'd take them. Well, we arrived home and there were 3, so we took them. I found out today that the third slot was actually taken by Janette.

After that, itw as time for some fun in the snow. Gage, Tiffany, my roomies and I went out to Mt. Aggie where several inches of snow had accumulated (thanks to a snow machine) and we sled down several times. I must admit that it was the first time I've sweated while sledding in the snow. After the fun, we proceeded to Rumours for dinner. The guy in line in front of me looked very familiar and I tried to figure out where I had seen him. "Who is this guy? I know I've seen him in the past two days. I feel like I should know him," I mouthed to Nick. He just shrugged. Finally I looked at the guy who had turned in my direction and began, "Hey, you look famil...."
"Chris, right?" He interupted.
"Yeah..." I said. Crap, he knows my name, I always feel so bad when I forget people's names.
"Yeah, you're in my Marketing class. Dr. Busch called on you enough in class, everyone knows your name," he admitted.
Ah, my reputation as teacher's pet proceeds me. I laughed and began chatting with him. He told me he was the guy in class that during introductions, said he wanted to grow his beard out all semester and have the longest beard in class. I remembered him now. He told me that he was having second thoughts though, he rubbed the hair on his face. (I saw him in class today, he shaved it all off. He used to be "beard guy" to me, now he had nothing. At least I was still "teachers pet.") Our topic of conversation strayed from facial hair and I learned that he was just coming from the MGMT 466 class that Nick and I would be in now. He agreed that it was an easy class and he winced as I spoke about our unpleasant experiences in the 4:10 class. I got my food and told him I'd see him later. I'm looking forward to this new class. These kids better appreciate how good they have it. I've seen the other side and it's not pretty...

Teacher's Pet

So I just typed this thing and this computer decided to erase it... So here goes again.
It seems I'm not going to be blogging too much on Tuesdays or Thursdays since I don't work and refuse to blog on my own time. Oh well, it's Wednesday now, so here you go. Nick and Gage have joined me in the blogging world, although it's only because they're required to in their Tech Writing class. Alright, let's talk about classes!

My first class was after work Monday afternoon. I didn't really know what to expect from MGMT 466. It's supposed to be one of the hardest MGMT classes, it is an exit level class after all. Oh well, I'm taking it with my roommate, so it should be at least minimally entertaining. I went into class, saved a seat for Nick and watched as the other kids filed in. I didn't know anyone that came into the class other than Nick. I began to worry that my other classes would be the same way. 3 out of 4 of my classes are less than 30 people and I was worried that I wouldn't find anyone I knew in the other classes. A jittery guy in a suit entered the room and Nick started to make a joke about him. I held up my finger telling him to wait. The guy set his briefcase down at the front of the room and I nodded, "It's the professor..." He was a quirky grad student looking kid, kind of jittery, maybe his first time teaching. As class began, we had to introduce ourselves. I told the class "I liked to feed the ducks," Nick told the story of the time birds invaded his house through the chimney. The professor seemed to like the both of us, so that was a good sign. As he began lecturing, I realized he was good at articulating things, but I had trouble keeping up with him and the business nerds. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's the business nerds. They're the kids over at Wehner that you can tell woke up early this morning for the sole purpose of reading the Wall Street Journal wither for pleasure or to make the rest of us look bad. Whatever the case, we had a couple in our class. They threw out answers containing words that neither Nick nor I understood. During the first lecture, our professor decided to throw in the fact that, he is "not the easiest grader." Delightful. He then went into random non-connected sentences with no real central theme or idea and called it his lecture. Folks, I'd like to introduce you to Jonathan Brookfield. My professor for MGMT 466: Strategic Management. At least I got to end the day at Sbisa, oh how I love eating all that I can eat. But while at Sbisa, a kid dropped his plate and fork on the ground making a loud clamor. I turned and in the good bull Aggie tradition, yelled, "Pick it up!" Upon yelling this, I realized that I was alone in the yelling and now, everyone was staring at me. I sat downand muttered about the fish and the lost traditions of Sbisa. New Army's gone to hell. On the way back to the garage, Nick and I saw a mode of transportation that neither of us had ever seen on campus before. We had seen kids riding their bikes, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, but this was a new one. We saw a guy riding towards West Campus on his unicycle! It made my day. He peddled, arms flailing by his side down the sidewalk and around the corner out of sight. We returned home, where I was met with a big hug by Clinton, "I missed you!"

The next day was Tuesday, I woke up bright and early for 8AM class. I got ready, loaded Clinton up and drove to school. The drive did not take as long as I anticipated, I arrived to class 20 minutes early like a big nerd. I love academics... Since I was the the first one there, I staked out a place of my own and waited...hoping to see a familiar face walk through the door. And soon enough, it happened. Last semester, I was reunited with a girl that had been in my Accounting class freshman year. She joined me near the back of the classroom and all worries were soothed. I recognized another face across the small class. I was happy. Soon, professor Zimmer joined us. She was a nice woman, but she admitted getting her degree at that school over in Austin. A kid in front of me held up his pointer and pinky in the "hook 'em" symbol and nodded to her. Hey t sip, you didn't go to that school, this woman did. He irritated me already. We then had to introduce ourselves, which was a breeze. Other than the class being early, I think it'll be alright. I got out of class and had a couple hours till the next, so I headed home for a short nap.

After the nap, I returned to campus. My next class was MGMT 372. I arrived to class and as the students filed in, I realized I recognized zero of them. That's alright, a girl sat down next to me, so I began talking to her. She asked what I heard about this class and I admitted I didn't even know what the course 372 was. She pointed at the overhead projector and read it aloud. "It's organizational behavior." She told me that she was a Marketing major too and that our advisor said it was an easy class. Good, I'm glad. After class began, a guy walked in late and sat down in front of me. I hit him in the back of the head with my Battalion, "Why are you late?" The guy slowly turned around and his stunned expression turned into a smile. "Oh hey Chris!" It was my MKTG friend Jason, I did know somebody after all. He told me the same story of the reason he was in the class, the advisor said it was an easy business elective. We introduced ourselves once again to the prof, Mrs. Simmons. One of the questions we were asked is why we took the class, I made a story up that did not relect the fact that I just picked a random elective. As class progressed, we all realized it was going to be a long semester and this wasn't the easy class we had been promised. After class, Jason told me his next class was the same as mine and he introduced me to a girl that would be joining us in the next class. We went to Ag Cafe to grab a quick bite to eat, but found out that Ag Cafe was more packed then we had ever seen before. My disdain for the little freshmen grew more. After finally finding the right line, getting my chicken and eating it, it was time for class. Now this was my big class for the semester, 100 people MKTG 345. My professor was Dr. Busch who I had last semester. He loves me because I danced like an iPod in class. MKTG Majors rule. I knew several people in this class (including my iPod dance partner) and Dr. Busch went around class introducing himself to each person and smiled as he came to me and welcomed me back to his class. I knew several people in the class including the professor, this was by far my favorite. As class began, Dr. Busch began speaking to us and then paused and asked, "Chris, is there anything else I need to add?" I told him I didn't think so. He then asked me to introduce a book about your strengths that I had read in his previous class, which I did. He soon came back to me and asked me my specific strength. "Competition," I said. "What does that mean?" he asked. "Well, I'm a self motivator, I strive to be the best..." I began. The t sip guy that got on my nerves in my 8AM class decided to alert me of his presence by saying, "He's a winner..." "I Am A Winner!" I replied. Instead of introducing ourselves in class, we were asked to introduce a partner. We also made name tags to prop up on our desk to let everyone know our names. Mine says "Chris Wilson" with a penguin drawn out in the extra space on the side. No doubt everyonein that class already knew my name though, Dr. Busch made sure of that and promised the class that he would bring the DVD to class to show everyone the time I danced in my iPod costume. Class ended and I headed home.

Now here I am at work, waiting for MGMT 466 to start, hopefully it won't be as bad as we thought. We'll see. But most importantly, after class we're going to go to Mt. Aggie and sled in the snow! Whoop! I was rushed to type this, sorry if the quality is below par.

School's Back From The Summer! School's Back Forever!

It's Monday, August 29th, the first day of school! I am sitting at work waiting for my first class, which begins at 4:10. Nick managed to get into the class, so it shouldn't be too bad. I work with Tiffany again on Mondays and Wednesdays, so that's exciting too. I'm sure we'll have many adventures and exploits. All the little fish are out in full force, as Tiffany and I were walking to Rumours for lunch, I was able to devise a way to determine who was a Freshman. I noticed that the Freshman had too much going on up in their heads, while everyone else seemed to just be walking around. Most of the fish were dead giveaways with their campus map clinched in their right hand making sudden stops and turns. Other fish were identified by their attire. One girl was wearing a nice black dress, way too dressy for the first day of school. Silly fish. Most of the upperclassmen don't wear much more than their pajama bottoms or jeans and a t shirt to class. If you see these little fish, give 'em a "Howdy!" They'll most certainly break into a big, silly grin and return the howdy. I hope everyone had an outstanding first day of school and since I have not had class yet, I'll talk about my weekend.

First, my time spent at Grace this weekend was awesome. I got to meet a bunch of great people and I'm excited about Growth Groups that are upcoming. Clinton moved in on Saturday, once again making our house a home. His dad helped him move in. On my way back outside to get another load, I saw his father admiring Jimi the Llama. "Where did you get this llama?" he asked. I told him that we got it at a garage sale. "I love it. It's gorgeous..." He replied. Yes it is! I went on to tell him how unappreciated Jimi is by most of our friends. What a great guy!

I was able to make it to the second half of the soccer game Friday night (Whoop!). I got to see all 3 goals we scored on our shutout against SFA. As I waited to get into the packed crowd of almost 5500 people, the woman at the gate was checking everyone's sports pass. She'd stop everyone with, "Do you have your sports pass?" Reggie McNeal happened to be entering in front of me. When confronted with this woman's question, he said, "Naw I don't have it..." She looked at him, nodded and smiled, "Go on in," she said. And then turned to me, "Let me see your sports pass." I gave her mine, she scanned me in. If only I had some Heisman hype...then I'd get free sports tickets. What crap.

The University Police Department parked in our 24 Hour Reserved spot, so I wrote them a ticket and left it under their windshield wiper. That's stickin it to the man. What now UPD?
A special shout out to Mrs. C who was cleaning our house top to bottom when I returned home Saturday afternoon. Thanks! Well, I'm off to class with Nick then it's Sbisa time! Can't wait. Sbisa Cookies are the real deal.

Normal Day

When I have what most people call a "normal day," it just seems so boring. Today, unfortunately was an uneventful day, I'm very sorry for that. I tried to find excitement for y'all, but in the end I must admit I failed. So I'll share the mundane with you instead.

I love my friend Karen, she's a great, fun girl and she has so many endearing qualities...and a Hastings discount. I found a copy of the old Audioslave cd and only had to shell out $3.70 for it. The CD is pretty rockin. Aside from that, I didn't really do much. Just a lazy summer day. Probably the last. I have a retreat with Grace this weekend, so I'm gonna miss work tomorrow and the first official women's soccer game. I'm kind of bummed about that one, there are very few home games this year. Oh well. Clinton's moving in this Saturday and school will be starting back up. Everything is set up for my senior year.

This summer has been great, as I've said before. I said the same thing about last summer, but looking back there were quite different circumstances. It's amazing how much things can change in a year without you even realizing it. People that you didn't even know a year ago can work their way into your life and become some of your closest friends. And likewise, those who were at the center of your core group of friends let themselves out. You don't expect it. Despite change in circumstances and people, it's still the decisions that you and others make that most directly impact and facilitate change in your life. People that once spoke vehemently against another person, now adore them. People that steadfastly objected to someone's lifestyle or choices now condone or even embrace it themselves. Maybe they were put on the other side of a situation, maybe they just finally gave in to something or gave something up. Whatever the case, this change was a direct effect of a decision they made. And likewise, through this decision, others were affected. Because of this, life is not the same one day to the next. So enjoy what you have now, don't worry about the things you don't. Don't stress yourself out about every thing, problems will pass. And in making decisions, stay true to your beliefs, don't compromise and beware of hypocracy. Because the decisions you make today will form your future. It's very hard to go back and earn a redo. That being said, my life has changed in the past year, but I love how it looks. I know that in this next year, especially at the end of it, my life will be changing immensely. I don't know what the future holds, so I continue to pray for guidance. It's hard to make a regretable decision when you discuss it with the Lord. So, since this is probably my last post for the week, I guess it's time for my senior year to start. I'm ready for it. All you Aggies enjoy your first week of school. And this concludes the seemingly required Somewhat Serious Post of the Week. Hey...at least it's short.

Reasons to Hate PTTS

I touched on PTTS briefly in yesterdays entry. Let me tell you now how they briefly touched on me...or more specifically, how they touched on my van yesterday. After my long and hectic Tuesday morning of working by myself, I hoped the afternoon shift would be a breeze. But it wasn't the case. Our first task was to head over to the SCC to drop some things off. I drove the university van down the street, parked on the curb as we normally do and went inside. As we were exiting the SCC, Claudio's attention turned to a Nissan Altima which had just backed into our van. "Outstanding," I said as I walked down the steps and towards our vehicles. The woman exited her car. She was dressed in the traditional blue attire which the PTTS employees wear. She however was in her own car, most likely on her way home. I sent Tiffany a text message immediately as we walked over to the woman. "PTTS just backed into the van." I told Claudio to get a hold of someone from our building and when he couldn't reach them by phone, he walked down the sidewalk back to our building. The woman was busy talking on her walkie talkie and pacing around, so I sat back in the van leaving the door open. Maybe the semi-working AC would provide some protection from the blistering Texas heat. I watched as the lady wandered off. Not too sure where she went, I was not worried as her car was still parked in front of us. I closed the door to trap some of the cool air and sat and waited. Soon Claudio called back down to me and I told him I'd lost the lady. He told me he'd be back down in a bit. So I continued waiting. A short time later, the woman sauntered back down the sidewalk towards me. I jumped out of the van to hurry and get this mess taken care of.
"Did you call the cops?" She asked.
"No, I was waiting for you to get back to see if you had..." I replied.
"Why not?"
"You were on your walkie talkie, I figured you were calling someone."
"Oh me?" She said, "I'm not a cop."
"Oh I know.." I said as I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
"You should have called the police," She said again.
"I was waiting to see if you had done so," I talked as slowly as I could and added "I figured you had."
"Well I did," she said, "They should be here anytime now."
"Then what's the problem?"
The woman came at me with a bad attitude which I did not appreciate. I had come up to her with a smile and an understanding nature. Her automatic defensiveness irritated me. When the cop arrived, her defense became more and more offending.
"They snuck in behind me, I didn't even see them park," she claimed.
"We were actually inside the SCC when she backed into the van." I told the officer and smiled.
"Well...they were in my blind spot. I couldn't even see the van." She said, nodding to convince herself. I chuckled as this situation reminded me of a scene from Snatch. ("It was a funny angle." "It was behind you Tyrone... When you reverse, things come from behind you!")
This was classic, quite entertaining, "We were behind you..." I said. Seriously, it's a big maroon van, how can you miss it? Her Altima must have terrible blind spots in order to miss it. Let's insert a diagram.



















It's drawn to scale the best I could. Let's compare this to an illustration I found on the internet showing where actual blind spots are located:














It seems the pink area does not overlap the blue area at all. In fact, I think if you add in the pink region to the blue region, you find out that this woman has a blind spot which consists of at least 50% of her car. Perhaps this is what happens when you don't look behind you. My conclusion from these diagrams is If you don't look behind you, you can't see behind you. Now, this doesn't make what's behind you your blind spot, this makes you an idiot.
She obviously hadn't looked behind her before going in reverse. One of the first things they'll probably tell you in driver's ed. Or maybe they don't, it's pretty much common sense. As essential as looking out the front windshield when the car is in drive. Her "blind spot" argument was definately a contributing factor to the ticket for Unsafe Backing she ended up recieving. The officer copied down her information as she approached me and asked why I hadn't parked in spaces where she was parked.

"They're 24 Hour reserved," I said.
"Well, looking at your parking sticker, you can park in 24 hour reserved," she said very smugly.
"Not in numbered spaces," I replied. Come on you're PTTS, you should know this.
"Well, why didn't you park down there?" She pointed toward the loading dock.
I pointed at the sign by the loading dock and read it aloud, "Do not block loading zone." I continued, "This is where we were told to park, this is where Physical Plant and everyone else parks." I pointed at the other cars along the curb, none of them had been backed into. If I had parked in these other spaces, she no doubt would be the one to ticket me and yet she's telling me to do this trying to pass the blame on me. It's not gonna happen.
"Well this isn't the first time you've blocked me in, you're lucky this didn't happen sooner." She finally said.
How am I lucky? I'd prefer if it happened earlier, the weather probably wouldn't be this hot if it was in the winter time. It's not my car, it's not my problem, I don't really care if it happened. It was an inconvenience standing out in this now sweat drenched shirt talking to your rude face, and for that I do not consider myself lucky. And how did I block you in? How is it neccesary for you to back across the entire road in order to get your little Altima out of the space. Whatever... "Ok," was the only word I said as I walked off. I took down the insurance information as the cop talked to the woman. He sent her off and then came over to me. Told me I was not at fault since she did back into my parked vehicle. He seemed very irritated with the woman as well. I shook his hand, took his card with case number and walked back to the van.

By the time I had returned to our building, everyone knew about the situation. "Demolition Crew" was one of the many names we'd been tagged with. The number 0 had been written in the space before "Days w/o An Accident" on my dry erase board in the office. I took the information down to my boss, Myron. I handed him the case number and reached into my pocket and pulled out the sheet I'd written her insurance information on.
"I didn't know what to write, so I copied down everything on...." I began, but was interupted.
"This is all wet..." Myron said.
"Yeah, I had to stand outside for a long time, so I'm all sweaty." I told him, then decided to add,"And that actually came out of my back pocket. So that's butt sweat.."
"That's Disgusting!" Myron yelled, "Take this down the hall to John, get out of here."
I copied the information down on a different sheet of paper and left it with him.

When told about the accident, I was asked by a woman in the office, "Was it a short, kinda wide lady with a blank stare..?"
"Well...yes," I replied, "but that describes just about everyone that works for PTTS."
She laughed and then appologized, "I'm sorry...you're right."

Greg, the lab supervisor at Blocker said the best story about PTTS that he knows is the time they ticketed an emergency vehicle. He said he witnessed them writing a ticket and placing it under the windshield wiper of an ambulance with its emergency lights on. He told me he would have liked to see the appeal on that one and wishes he had a camera at the time.

So all in all, PTTS is pretty worthless (aside from my buddy Christopher Wade Wilson). That is something everyone can agree on. So, as the new school year starts and all the little fish are moving in, I want to welcome the Class of 2009 and tell them that PTTS actually stands for Primarily To Torment Students.

I received the diagnosis for my computer from the nerds today. Apparently the RAM is damaged and that is causing the computer to shut off randomly. New RAM would cost $91.80. I think I can deal with the random shutdowns and I'll keep the $91.80 in my bank account. Actually...I don't have $91.80 in my bank account. Which is the main problem. I plan on picking the computer up after work and I should return back to the 21st Century, once again having internet in my house. And since my profile is the only way most people know how to get to my blog (including me), y'all can once again read this. I've been alright without the internet the past couple of days. Luckily Dooley's vacant room served very well as a Rec Room and allows plenty of space for Nick and I to play various sports, including our new favorite, Pro Kadima. Come over sometime, we'll teach you how to play.

Summer Vacation

Well, I'm back from my 3.5 Day summer vacation to Corpus and all day it's been work, work, work. Penny and I had a great time in CC actually. Saturday we hit up the beach, it was surprisingly a very nice day there. The next couple of days I took her to all the sights. Selena, Whataburger by the Bay, Portland...and of course Krispy Kreme and Fermins! We ate like kings...or probably more like gluttons. We ate constantly. Finally some home cooking for a change and actual good Mexican food. My family loved Penny as much as I do. It was good to see my family again, I hope they can finally make it up here for a football game this year. 11 Days till Clemson!

We arrived safely back last night, no speeding tickets. My apartment was quiet and empty. Dooley's room was completely vacant aside from the note on the closet. "Sorry about the bullet hole. My Bad." And his fan conveniently placed covering the hole in the carpet. Clinton will appreciate it I'm sure. I also found a couple of presents by the dumpster I left for Clinton in his room. 2 crutches were leaning against the dumpster. I took them and convinced Nick they were mine, until I had to give up the story due to Nick's mom's honesty. We ate at Freebirds and the rest of my night was devoted to fountain hopping. We hit the 5 major ones. At Fish Pond, everyone was scared to jump in on account of PTTS' presense. PTTS stands for something like Parking Transportation Services. They're the guys that harass you about parking violations and that nonsense. They're, for the most part, pretty worthless. I'll have more about their worthlessness tomorrow. Anyway, I stepped up and jumped in. Gage dangled her feet in beside me, earning her the "Not as brave as Chris, but more brave than the others" award. PTTS immediately reprimanded me and told me I couldn't be in there. Despite my argument that Yell Leaders get to play in it and I should too, I got out. Appparently PTTS thinks they're in charge of the fountains as well. Oh well, as I got out I said, "Alright...let's head over to the MSC Hotel fountain." Which we did.

I had very little time today where I wasn't working and my computer has been with the nerds since Friday getting fixed. They have it mostly done, they just can't figure out why it's shutting off randomly. It should be ready tomorrow they say. So no time, no computer for now. Thus the short entry.

Claire's House: From the inside

I was in Claire's house last night! After hanging out with the kids from Cal-town, Zach, Kevin and I went back to my apartment where we met Penny. As we were walking into my apartment, my nose caught the odor of fresh paint, upon touching Claire's door I realized that it had a fresh coat of paint on it. I then decided to turn Claire's doorknob to see if it was unlocked. I pushed it open slightly and stopped because we weren't sure if anyone was in there. Kevin suggested that I ring the doorbell. I decided to take his advice, I pulled her door closed, rang the bell and we immediately ran in my apartment pulling the door closed behind us. I waited at the peephole and waited for someone to come to the door, no one did. Kevin then ran out and proceeded to ring the door bell over and over. I shut the door behind him as he ran in. It was then I realized that they also have a peephole and someone could be standing at theirs watching our antics without us even realizing. But Kevin reported from the peephole that all was quiet from across the hall. So we slowly creeped out, I shoved the door open and looked around the dark living room. It was empty. We filed in the dark house and dispersed. It was empty aside from some paint cans and a plastic tarp. I called Nick to let him know where we were and that our dream had been fulfilled. I walked through the dark, eerie apartment, using my cell phone as a source of light searching high and low for a souvenier for Nick. But alas, my search was fruitless. He'll have to just be satisfied with the picture of us that Penny took. Being in the empty rooms was creepy. If those walls could talk...Claire probably wouldn't have talked back...

In other news for the night, I kicked Zach's butt in NCAA 2006, the boys beat the girls in Friends trivia game, and Tiffany definately needs to get a duck to solve her caterpillar problem.
I was awakened this morning around 9:30 by the sound of a ladder being thrown against the wall right by my window and then the CLANK CLANK CLANK of the man climbing it. He then began beating on my roof. I tried the burying my head with the pillow again, but it was useless. I finally decided to crawl out of bed when they started beating on my wall. Why are the roofers beating on my wall? Perhaps they moonlight as Wallers... Anyway, hopefully after today they won't be hanging around Apartment 19 anymore. I left my apartment a little early and carried my computer into the nerds to fix. Hopefully they'll be able to get rid of the viruses and spyware and whatnot while I'm in Corpus.

I came into work and ate my "Authentic Mexican Food" microwave dinner. Authentic...right. Shortly after finishing up the beef enchiladas, my office phone rang. I answered. Now, I work in Production Control here at CIS. Apparently someone forgot to inform me of my new responsibilities in Aircraft Control. The guy on the phone wanted me to give him clearance to fly over Easterwood Airport's airspace. According to Thomas, College Station is a pretty secure place and you need high clearance to fly over. I figured meddling would probably end up getting me on the news, so I gave the guy Easterwood's number and told them they could direct his call. It appears I have a lot of work to do already without these new responsibilities. It's time for another raise.

I packed most of my stuff this morning for Corpus. We'll be leaving around 5 this evening, putting us in Corpus around 930 if we stop and eat. Penny's been to Corpus before, she's even seen the Selena Statue. Why would a white girl already know about that? Oh well, I'll take her to the Whataburger by the Bay, she's thrilled about that one. I guess I'll be back in CS Monday evening. Have a safe weekend!

Photograph Friday!
















Penny's dressed up in grandma clothes. She doesn't normally dress like this I promise...


















This is my canoe crew in our own Tunnel of Love. I miss the farm. This picture kinda reminds me of my favorite Chilli Peppers' song.

Number Sickness

I feel like I'm going to throw up. And when I do, I'm not going to be surprised when a bunch of numbers come out. Claudio and I had to do a tape audit today. That consists of going through all 4000 of the tapes and reading off their Serial Numbers and making sure they were in the correct slot. You have no idea how nauseating reading out thousands of numbers can be. My brain hurts. Numerical Warfare would probably have similar effects on the enemy as that of Chemical Warfare. I feel incapable of typing out an intelligent entry and I surely don't feel like thinking hard enough to do so.

Bingo last night was fun, we didn't win, but I didn't expect to. I did come out smelling like smoke though. All my Calallen dawgs are coming up here tonight, we'll hang out just like old times. But then tomorrow after work, I am outta here, headed back to Corpus. Glad everyone from Corpus decided to come up here right before I leave to head down there... At least I get to take my Penny with me.

Kitten pretty much hates Nick now. Anytime he opens his door, she runs into my room and jumps onto my desk or my lap. I think she's just using me to get back at him for leaving her all last weekend. Nick left town again today, I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm sure she'll hate us both after this weekend. Tiffany is taking care of her, so I'm sure they'll be best friends now. Fine with me, that cat's affection is somewhat of a curse. Maybe I'll be able to type on my computer without her "helping." More importantly though, maybe my Little Homies will finally be safe from the reign of terror that Kitten has recently brought to all of the residents of my desk.

Life from my Chair

I am lounging in one of the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. It's actually a pretty ugly color. Somewhere between green and grey. It stands out amongst the black and maroon chairs that we along with the other offices were issued. But in comfort, it's unmatched. A couple of months ago I found this baby at surplus and brought it back across campus to my desk. I can't even remember how life was without the comfort of this thing. My boss says it looks very unprofessional, but look at me. I'm sitting at my desk barefoot, drinking tea from the same plastic cup I drink from everyday. This cup was left to me by my former boss, something to remember Eva by. She also left me a 7 pound ball of plastic wrap which I proudly display in our Inbox below the dry erase board we found. A colorful assortment of markers that we comendeered from the front office reside in the tray below. An encouraging reminder is printed in blue at the top "Let's be careful out there!" There are few times that we take the advice. Nonetheless, according to the board it's been "Eleventy Billion!! Days W/O An Accident." A reminder of the August 12th potluck is written at the top of the board, but as of yet, no one's cared to erase it. That would take too much work. Behind me, the other guys are flirting with the girl from downstairs. I'm sitting at my desk singing along with whatever song Launchcast picks for me, right now it's You by Candlebox. And of course I'm typing in my blog. I decided to take a brief break from the typing to join the conversation behind me...I had to refill my tea anyway. The topics of conversation were various, but ended with who in CIS is gay. Hardly a productivity meeting. Our friend leaves and we all return to our stations. Justin plays his computer game, Claudio browses the internet, Zoe Jane is the current song playing at my computer. Thomas sees that it is 2:15, he gets off at 2:00, he's not too concerned about the quarter of an hour he "worked" for no pay. The UPS man enters, it's a different guy today. I can't lie to him when he asks "Y'all busy today?" I feel kind of guilty as sweat drips off of his forehead. I could have offered the guy some tea at least... But I'm sure the short break here in the below freezing print room was enough for him. Don't get me wrong, there is time to do work in here. There have been a few trips across the room today that were for work and not just for more tea, I've filled out some forms, wrote some emails and made some calls. But for the most part, this last hour has been nearly work-free. Apparently though, it's not that I am being lazy, there's just nothing to do in CIS today. Evident by the girl from downstairs coming up here for 30 minutes and then revealing she's the only one working down there today. Meanwhile I see Janette in the front office looking at eBay. I don't feel as lazy.

Last night, most of our friends went to Houston for an Astros game. I gathered up those that remained to go see Four Brothers. Nick, Jules, Kevin and I assembled together. It was a pretty good movie. Last week I told Karen I'd go with them to play Bingo on half price Wednesday, so I guess that's the plan for the evening. Thakfully the guys finally finished my roof at 6:30 last night. I awoke to my alarm this morning and not to the banging. As I left my house for work, I saw the guys walking around on the building next to ours. Enjoy that, my neighbors...

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