"What's the difference between jam and jelly? I can't jelly my cock up your ass!" --Justin Powell

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November 2006 News Archives

November 01    November 02    November 03    November 06    November 07    November 08    November 09    November 10    November 14    November 15    November 16    November 17    November 20    November 21    November 22    November 27    November 28    November 29    November 30

What I am listening to as I type this:  Prong - Pointless
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 30, 2006

Don't you just love it when payday comes around, you pay all your bills, and you suddenly have $200 in your checking account for the next two weeks -- and it's only Tuesday.

Now I've driven in some treacherous driving conditions before, but this takes the cake.  I'm just waiting for the uproar of Denverites on this one.  I will say with utmost confidence that this morning is the worst driving conditions I've ever seen with the fact that it stopped snowing 15 hours prior to the morning drive.  There must have been an inch of ice on Wadsworth (a very major road) and HWY 58 this morning, and on top of that there was very dense fog on 58 ... I can honestly say I was 68% confident I was going to wreck my car this morning, and I consider myself an excellent driver.  I was honestly scared to drive on Wads and 58 ... just terrible.

I love Laetitia (both the female and the Accord, but here I speak of my Honda).  I fully intend on keeping her until she dies, and hope that is after at least 250K (currently at 212K).  Regardless, I am growing to be obsessed with the Toyota FJ Cruiser.  I must own this car, and I think it'll be my post-grad-school gift to myself (even though I already promised myself a post-grad-school gift of a trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro coupled with an African safari ... I better start saving!).  I want this car badly ... if I wait a year or two they will have worked out hundreds of kinks in its design and engineering that it's sure to have.  Ahhhh, the 2009 FJ Cruiser ... I cannot wait until your conception.

I almost bit the bullet and paid for a haircut last night, haven't done that in 6 months ... then I realized I don't want to break the streak, maybe I'll cut it myself again tonight.

Here are this week's NFL picks, I went 10-6 last week with a total of 99 points (out of 136) ... I'm now 24 out of first place at Old C's ....

What I am listening to as I type this:  Prong - Hell if I Could
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 29, 2006

Before starting my job at CSM, I had never called in sick to a job.  Ever.  That changed dramatically after starting this job, and so to get back on par to reinforce my work ethic I used to have, I set a goal in early July to use no sick days this fiscal year.  I got a wicked infection in my throat right before RAGBRAI so I took the morning off to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics so I could be healthy to ride.  Other than that four hours, I will meet this goal of not missing any work (obviously not counting vacation time.)

18" at Beaver Creek in the last 2 days.  10" at Keystone.  And it's snowing all day today again.

That being said, why can't it fucking snow like this on a weekend?!  There is absolutely NO reason I shouldn't be in the mountains today, none.

Obviously, tomorrow-Saturday it's supposed to no longer snow.

Frustration, arrrrgh.  If there were some device that could make a little pissed-off looking dark cloud float around my head all day today and warned people to not talk to me about how good the conditions in the mountains must be, I'd buy it.

What I am listening to as I type this:  Deftones - Rx Queen
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 28, 2006

That was quite the interesting game.  Hasselbeck looked very shaky to start the game (understatement!) but then returned to his old form in the second half, thankfully.  Alexander played his ass off and I must admit, he was the difference in the game.  Jerramy Stevens needs to be a Seahawk for no longer, I am sick of his inconsistency.  Josh Brown's consistency and reliability are nothing short of phenomenal and I'm thrilled he's on the Seahawks.  D.J. Hackett impresses me more each week, he had a hell of a game.  But the thing that impressed me the most last night went virtually unnoticed ... my favorite player, Ken Hamlin, had one of the best defended passes I've seen in some time, and saved a potential touchdown that could have severely altered the course of the game.  All in all, I'm thrilled Hasselbeck is back, and strongly wish I could see B-O-B-B-Y play again sometime soon, he's such a reliable player who I hope will be able to return to the field.

If anyone knows where I can get some neon green receiver's gloves (like Deion Branch's), I'd appreciate it.  I'd like to get a pair to wear to the game on Sunday.

I really haven't kept you all up to date with my life right now, so here goes ... what am I up to these days?  I'm keeping busy ...
--I've been snowboarding 5 times this season already, going to do 36 hours of Keystone this Friday night and Saturday, will have 180s and rails 100% mastered by Christmas
--been running a lot ... 15 miles a week or so, going to run the Colder Boulder 5K on Sunday with Ryan (I'll likely finish last, honestly, as I can only run a 25 minute 5K right now, pathetic)
--going to the Broncos/Seahawks night game on Sunday, tailgating all day with Ryan, Eyan, Duane, Colby, and a bunch of other friends & family of those mentioned
--working on fm2 quite a bit, most major hurdles have been cleared, now it's just busy work. CSS, PHP, and RSS (via XML) are mostly implemented, the Gallery2 conversion is an enormous pain in my ass, as is converting the news archives to CSS and PHP
--been reading a lot ... still working on Into Thin Air and am reading The New Testament again
--booked a trip to Switzerland, will be snowboarding in Zermatt from Feb. 17-24
--going to Iowa from December 22 - January 1.  Staying in Carroll, going to see Grandma in New Hampton, and going to a wedding on NYE
--still haven't completed my grad school application, but will by this weekend, then I have an interview to see if I get in
--I am in fifth place in the Old Chicago NFL pool, 2nd place in Iowa FF, and 1st in my division in Denver FF (Trophy League)
--considering running a Marathon in Vancouver in May with my sister
--not dating anyone right now, and am thrilled as I have time to do all of the above things with absolutely no guilt, and have thus decided I will not date a girl in the future unless she runs as much as I, and snowboards (or skis) as much as I, and is as busy as I am

So there's your update in my life, and with that, I present to you the Week 13 NFL Power Rankings:

1. Mooooooooovers	9.   Carson to 85 is working	17. Again, no clue	25. Finally won a game
2. Shoulda won by 40	10. How'd that happen?!?!?!	18. Vick can run	26. Can't play in the cold??
3. Almost put them #1	11. Next week will tell us a lot	19. Eli isn't very good	27. I didn't see that coming
4. Romo's lookin' good	12. Winning streak	20. Young is playing well	28. Playing horribly
5. No clue	13. Brees is playing insanely	21. I didn't see this game	29. Tough effort at least
6. Rex needs some Rx	14. This team, I tell ya.	22. Needs Chunky soup	30. Ouch, very ouch
7. LJ is still playing well	15. Again, no clue	23. Nice win	31. Bye bye, Millen
8. Cutler vs Seahawks?	16. Gore is still a beast	24. Nice win (against AZ)	32. Fugly, fugly, fugly

What I am listening to as I type this:  Deftones - Battle Axe
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 27, 2006

Cori and I ran the Turkey Trot on Thursday morning, we won.  Bob can cook turkey quite well, and I can cook side dishes quite well.  Cori is quite excellent at pouring beer and bread mix into a pan.  Thanksgiving was wonderful, and the Broncos lost, which made it all the better.  Keystone was pretty good early in the day on Friday, but was awful in the afternoon.  There is a cute bartender at Parrot Eyes in Keystone who likes lame jokes and serves $2 Tecate.  Beaver Creek was excellent on Saturday -- no crowd, decent snow (key word: Decent).  Saturday night we just relaxed, I'm surprised you didn't know that.  Chubby's has excellent breakfast burritos.  I beat Duane in beer-football-poker with a full house (you get one card after each beer you drink, best hand at the end of the games, wins).  Point of this paragraph:  Thanksgiving weekend was excellent.

It's official, I'm going to Switzerland.  My plane ticket has been purchased, and I will be snowboarding in the Alps from February 17-24.  Denver to Dallas, Dallas to Zurich, and Zurich to Zermatt via train.  If you don't know what Zermatt is, I suggest you look it up and allow your jealousy to consume your every thought.

Seahawks are on MNF this fine evening, I sure hope we win, as a loss could be detrimental to our confidence.

What I am listening to as I type this:  AC/DC - Shot of Love
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 22, 2006

A guy from my class who I went to high school with Freshman year (he transferred after that) left this world yesterday, please pray for his friends and family.

Visit my MySpace page if you'd like to hear a special song.  It's a "private" page so you can't see it if you aren't my friend.

Let's just say I'm now insanely happy and eternally in debt to Nick for this one!! An email from yesterday:

It appears I am officially going to the Seahawks/Broncos nationally televised night game in Denver next Sunday (Dec. 3).  I was going to hold up a B-Lock sign (with the "lock" being a padlock, like in the commercials), but just this very second, I came up with an insanely awesome idea for a sign ... wow, I'm excited!

Cori lands late tonight.  We run the Turkey Trot tomorrow morning, then are eating and watching football.  Skiing/Snowboarding on Friday, staying in Silverthorne Friday night, skiing/snowboarding again Saturday, back to Denver Saturday night and playing it by ear.  She leaves Sunday morning ... after which you could bet the farm I'll be watching football.

I bet you'd like to know who I think will win the NFL games this weekend.  These are subject to change as I haven't turned them in yet, will do that tonight.  I was 13-3 last week (but I lost my 16 and 15 point games, oops):

What I am listening to as I type this:  Stone Sour - Idle Hands
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 21, 2006

The Broncos/Seahawks game just got moved to the night game here in Denver.  Tickets went on sale when I was on RAGBRAI so they sold out before I could get them, and I can't find tickets anywhere -- I am beyond frustrated right now.

Quickly, and email exchange between Matthew Renze and myself this morning:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: OJ Axed...
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 08:57:12 -0500
From: Matthew Renze
To: Bryan Mack

Looks like we’re not going to “hell in a handbag” after all *: )*
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/20/oj.cancel.ap/index.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: OJ Axed...
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 08:43:02 -0700
From: Bryan Mack
To: Matthew Renze

Wow -- I heard some subsidiaries were going to cancel the interview, but
i had no idea they'd go so far as to cancel the entire show and recall &
destroy the books. This is excellent, I now have some form of faith in
the media as people as opposed to money-hungry shock artists.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: OJ Axed...
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:16:02 -0500
From: Matthew Renze
To: Bryan Mack

Interesting how a free market economy allows for both money hungry
capitalists to profit off of the masses by exploiting our susceptibility
to "shock value" products, and also for consumers to ultimately decide
what products the market will tolerate. Yeah capitalism! :)

Now if only our legal system were only that resilient... Yeah OJ Simpson
& trial by jury! :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In high school, we had a substitute teacher named Ms. Fish.  For some reason while I was doing my power rankings I thought of this and just burst out in extreme laughter for roughly three minutes.  Ms. Fish, *wiping a tear from my eye*, man that's good stuff.

So I've got a crush on this girl who runs on the treadmill in my apartment complex.  We appear to be on the same schedule for going over there as I see her pretty much every day.  You can imagine my frustration when I walked over there 4 times last night, she was there the entire time, and all the treadmills were occupied every time.  I now think everyone in my apartment complex has a crush on her and are trying to go there while she's there.  Frustrating.

Last night something amazing happened.  This shocked me to the point where I had to second-guess who I am as a person.  Tony Kornheiser said something ... and I agreed with him.  Hell, I immediately lost 80lbs, shrunk 8", put on a suit, and created a horrible comb over just so I could be like him.  After I awoke from a nap that involved a dream that Jay-Z was helping the MNF trio in the announcing booth discuss football (what a nightmare, glad it was only a dream) Mr. Theismann (being the awesome analyst he is) said, "Eli Manning just hasn't been his normal self tonight."  Tony Kornheiser, in some insane stroke of genius, immediately fired back with, "What is 'himself'?  He hasn't thrown over 50% for the past 5 games!"  Astounding, I'll give him a break by not bitching about him until 2007 just for that one comment.

Tonight we're going bowling with our students, so I think I'll just go to the gym after work for awhile then come back in here and work on fm2 (what I'm now calling "fleetmack.com version 2.0) and finish my grad school application... wait, if I do that I can't go see my imaginary girlfriend at my apartment complex's gym.  Decisions, decisions.

Power rankings:

1. LT = Best NFL Player	9.    Holy shit, I just ....	17. What's "Destiny"?	25. Hump is hard to get over
2. You knew they'd lose	10. ...typed "Who Dey?"	18. Nice comeback	26.  These guys suck
3. NFC Champs	11. Ocho Cinco is playing well	19. Vick is his old self	27. So do these guys
4. Air McNair... hahaha	12. Where's the D???	20. Boom! (Cannon)	28. These guys are worse
5. Rex is slippin' lately	13. Ms. Fish. Hahahaha	21. Season Over	29. Gallery needs a haircut
6. Great D!  Oh... wait ...	14. Gore is dominating	22. Nice win again	30. Yikes
7. DOMINATED the Pack	15. Eli is like the 'P' in receipt	23. Martz ... hahaha	31. Outta the cellar
8. The Colts? Who Dey?	16. Played well against Bears	24. Favre who	32. 3-13, I'm tellin' ya

What I am listening to as I type this:  Stone Sour - Hell & Consequences
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 20, 2006

Good weekend.  Went for a 4 mile run Friday night, then hung out at Red's and Old Chicago for a short while.  Saturday went snowboarding at Keystone, went and watched the OSU/Michigan game at Red's, then chilled at home. Yesterday I watched football, weird, I know.

Two notable things from this weekend:
1) Chubby's puts Viva Burrito to absolute shame when it comes to breakfast burritos.  Wow!
2) Saw is a pretty cool movie, I will watch the second one this week.  I was thrilled that "Henry Gale" was in the movie!  I was upset, however, as I thought this was supposed to be a scary movie and that's the mood I was in, but it was more like Seven (only it was good, I fucking hate that movie).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a very short work week, nothing whatsoever.  So yes, I will work through Wednesday at 3:00, Cori arrives Wednesday night, run the Turkey Trot on Thursday morning, followed by food & football for the day.  Friday & Saturday, Cori & I will go skiing/snowboarding, come back Saturday night, and she flies out on Sunday morning.

Frank Gore is a beast.  Really, a beast.

I crave chips & salsa, this shouldn't surprise anybody.

November 17, 2006

Yes, site was down.  As was email.  Not sure why.

I've sworn for the past year I was going to write this article ... last night I finally did.

Going running and to Old C's tonight.  Going snowboarding tomorrow.  Watching OSU/Michigan tomorrow afternoon.  Chillin' Saturday night.  Watching football Sunday.  Ahhhhh, weekends in the fall return.

I went 11-5 last week, this week could be ugly, but here are my NFL picks for Week 11

What I am listening to as I type this:  GZA - Crash Your Crew
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 16, 2006

You couldn't possibly realize how happy this makes me.

Financial pessimism is in the air.  Is it possible I'm the only one who is getting pissed off that the DOW is at 12250?!  I realize I'm supposed to contribute a little each month, but I've got my 2006 max sitting in my savings account right now just waiting to get dumped into my ROTH, but I just can't justify throwing it in there right now.  Unfortunately, I couldn't save that much by mid-July or things would be different!! But yes, I think I'm the only one in the United States praying for a bear to come roaring in.... I guess I have until April to decide what to do.

This has been an insanely low-key, yet gratefully satisfying week for me thus far.  I'm realizing that I sure as hell get twenty trillion times more stuff done when I don't have a girlfriend, I'm less stressed out when I have no girlfriend, I make better decisions when I have no girlfriend, my finances are better when I have no girlfriend, and I'm in much better physical shape when I have no girlfriend.  Take last night, for instance.  I got home from work around 5:45 and immediately went for a 5K run.  From here, I came home and did a full body workout with my dumbbells while doing my laundry (which I got all done) all while watching Inside the NFL.  From here, I decided to watch Arlington Road as it was on HDNET and is one of my favorite movies.  After this I cooked and showered.  Next it was time to work on my Regis application, which I nearly completed.  And lastly, I read for awhile, and by now, it was roughly 9:30.  With a girlfriend I'd still have all this shit to get done, wouldn't have worked out, and I'd have a headache.

Work calls, well, doesn't call, but ... uhm, I have to work now.

What I am listening to as I type this:  silence
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 15, 2006

When we were little, Hornick and I often played baseball and hung out with our friend Luke.  Whenever we did something that upset him, he'd say in a very serious voice, "I'll sue you!".  Little did I know that in this day and age he would win most of the time.

In the year 2006 and several years prior, I have seen our legal system do some stupid things.  A man has won a court case after he was hurt by an object in the home of the person which he was robbing.  A lady spilled coffee on herself and blamed McDonalds, for the coffee was too hot.  People ignore the labels on cigarettes and tobacco, then sue the tobacco companies when they get cancer.  People sue barbers for giving them bad haircuts.  Hell, in 1999 a trucker ran over a woman and killed her -- the trucking company sued the family of the deceased woman for damages done to the truck!

Now if all the above mentioned people are punishable, can somebody please explain to me how O.J. Simpson is found guilty in a Civil court of murdering two people, found innocent in a federal court ... yet can write a book entitled "If I Did It".  What is this book?  It's a book where O.J. discusses how, hypothetically (of course) he would have killed them if given the chance.  Allegedly the book discusses things that weren't released to the public about the actual case.  I can't even put into words how ridiculous this is.  It reminds me of "Henry Gale" on Lost telling Jack & Locke, "Now, if I was one of those 'other people' you talk about, wouldn't I have drawn a fake map and lead them to those people, where a trap would be set up for them?"   Well, it turned out "Henry" is evil ... (and so is his twin brother who wears glasses?  you decide) ... back to the topic at hand.

Our legal system is fucked up beyond repair when a man who is obviously guilty can write a book, do an interview on TV about the book, and get paid for it -- all while he hasn't paid his settlement from the lawsuit he was found guilty of ... and continues to receive NFL pension checks (which are not subject to wage-garnishing to pay off his lawsuit, why? I have no idea).

Say by some chance in a cold hell that O.J. didn't do this crime, why would he write this book?  Put yourself in Nordberg's shoes for a second ... an ex-girlfriend is brutally murdered, you are accused, you are proven guilty in (Civil) court but don't do jail time and won't admit you did the crime.  Now you write a book saying "I didn't do it, but if I had done it, this is how I would have done it."  Then you'd cite all of the exact same evidence against you.

Someone just please, please explain to me how something this insane can happen, for I am as confused as George W. Bush is when he tries to tie his shoelaces every morning (that's why he always wears Velcro shoes, I'm surprised you didn't know that).

What I am listening to as I type this:  silence
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 14, 2006

Excellent weekend, pictures will somewhat tell the tale. (I don't think I like my new camera, FYI, shit.) I'm recovering.

Went 11-5 in my NFL picks last week, it's about time.

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Very busy today, so here's your power rankings and that's about it:

1. Squeezing 'em out	9.   They FINALLY return	17. Houston's bitch	25. Take a boat trip
2. Rex played well on road	10. Is Romo the real deal?	18. Pats' bitch	26.  A win's a win
3. Turnovers are amounting	11. Destiny is wearing thin	19. Looking tough	27. Played tough?  Maybe?
4. AWESOME comeback	12. Injury plague is almost over	20. Turnovers, insane	28. OWN the Jags
5. AWESOME comeback	13. Back to back wins	21. Martz, 'nuff said	29. VY is playing well
6. 4 losses? Really?	14. What was that?!	22. Nice win	30. 3-13, I'm tellin' ya
7. Lost 3 at home? Really?	15. D needs to step it up	23. Pace is hurt	31. Drop, drop, drop
8. I dislike their QB	16. I didn't see this game at all	24. Favre in '07?!?!	32. *Yawn*  Lonely down here

What I am listening to as I type this:  NIN - Happiness in Slavery
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 10, 2006

This has been the longest week in history.  I'm only working a half day today, taking my first vacation time since early August this afternoon, I'm getting burnt out.

My meeting at Regis went very well last night, they answered all of my questions and concerns I have.  The next step is applying, which I will take care of early next week.  I'll get in.  Then I need to figure out all kinds of stuff.  I was curious about missing a class for my Switzerland trip in February, and missing a class for my conference in Vegas in March ... but the recruiter just told me to take the first two classes online instead of in the classroom, he said 80% of the students do all their classes online anyways, so this would actually be recommended.  So yes, I am still at a 99.9% chance that I'll be going back to school the week of January 8.  I can get this Master's degree wrapped up by the time I'm 30, get two certificates, and two areas of specialization.

The clan flies in this afternoon, this weekend will be ridiculously fun, I cannot wait for it to begin.  Tick tock tick tock tick tock....

And with that, here's my picks.  I went 4-10 last week:

What I am listening to as I type this:  Nirvana - Love Buzz
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 9, 2006

Congrats to Brad & Keri, who had a son last night.  Although I'll admit, Renze having a kid scares the living shit out of me!  Also need to publically wish my sister, Cori, a very happy birthday!

Met Ed Viesturs last night, that was pretty slick.  He had a fantastic slide show followed by a book signing downtown.  I was quite impressed, he just ran the NYC marathon on Sunday in 3:15 and he didn't even look at all sore!  For those of you who don't know this guy's amazing conquests in life, well, they're just too many to list.  We'll just say he was one of the main people involved with the production of the 1996 IMax film Everest, helped save lives in the 1996 Everest tragedy, climbed all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks in the world without supplemental oxygen (he's the only American to have done that).  He's climbed Mt. Rainier 198 times, has run the NYC marathon, and most importantly -- is a VIP in the Seahawks community, has done motivational speeches for the Seahawks, and has raised the 12th Man flag twice before Seahawks games (once on top of the Space Needle before the NFC Championship game!)

The guy was pretty funny, I liked a comment he made ... paraphrased: "Lance finished in just under 3 hours, but I have a guy who calculates speed based on age, and he compared us.  I'm 47, Lance is 35, and the way he figured it, I beat Lance by 10 seconds."  Classic.  After the show/signing, seven of us from 14ers.com went to The Bank for a few delicious 90 Shilling's.  Nothing like having a beer in the ghetto ;-) I'm Bryan Mack, and I approve of last evening.

If you at all care for Nirvana, I highly recommend you purchase this new DVD of theirs.  I am amazed by the editing crew's job, those guys deserve some kind of award.  The video scenes from the concerts themselves aren't the best footage, but the editing is just spectacular.  The small-club performance of Love Buzz is just so awesome, it has footage of Kurt hitting a bouncer in the head with his guitar ... blood is everywhere, the bouncer jacks Kurt, and the concert ends ... it's pretty funny.  Also, the performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit over in Europe somewhere had me in tears, hysterical.  They were just sick of that song and decided to play it in a very bizarre manner, and not even play their instruments, classic, just classic!

Tonight is my enrollment meeting at Regis, I get my questions answered, and have to make a definite decision in the next week or so as to if I'm going to attend grad school starting in January.  I think without the meeting, I'm pretty-much already sold on the idea.

Busy ... did I really just type that much?!

What I am listening to as I type this:  Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 8, 2006

Ahhhhh, what a great day.  I had to just put that song on as today rules so much.  It started off bad with no electricity and me getting up very late as a result, then showering and getting dressed in the dark and not getting to make any breakfast.  But now ... ahhhh.

Democratic Governor in Colorado.  Democrats take the House.  Rumsfeld resigns.  Democrats at least evened out the Senate. Ahhhh .... politics are kind to me this day.

Britney Spears dumped that dipshit she was married to because she's secretly in love with me.  Ahhhhh ... my love life is now excellent.

One of my students told me he saw me on the Discovery channel last week, so I guess my special aired.  Apparently none of you saw it, I'll try to get information on this from the producer.  Ahhhhhh ... life is good to me this day.

It's burrito day.  Ahhhh ... my meals are good to me today.

Meeting Ed Viesturs tonight and having him sign my copy of his book.  Watched my new Nirvana DVD today (techincally as it was past midnight when it got over).  Listened to the new Deftones cd today.  Ahhhh ... media is good to me today.

Took Laetitia off of full-coverage yesterday and cut my insurance costs in half.  Ahhhhh, finances and my car are good to me today.

I bet Eli Manning is having a shitty day though, well, he would if he lived here, because they outlawed gay marriage and domestic partnerships yesterday.  There goes your chances of living here, Eli.

What I am listening to as I type this:  The Dust Brothers - Stealing Fat
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 7, 2006

Election day, I voted, did you?  If not, get off your lazy ass and do so.  If you don't vote, you lose the right to complain about how things are done.  Sure, the people you vote for may not win, the referendums you wish to veto may pass, and the amendments you choose may or may not have anything become of them, but at the very least you are giving the government your official say on how you wish things to be run.  You get to say what is important to you and what you could care less about.  You can tell them where you want your money to go.  Again, if you don't vote, don't ever complain about how things are run as you're too damn lazy to even try to do anything about it, other than complain.

Seahawks shut out the Raiders last night (16-0).  Seahawks shut out the Eagles in 2005 (42-0). Seahawks shut out the 49ers in 2004 (34-0). Seahawks shut out the Cardinals in 2003 (38-0).  That's impressive, four years in a row with a shutout.  I thought it was five and that we shut out the Cowboys in 2002, but I was wrong - had to look it up, that was 2001 I was thinking of, and the Cowboys actually scored 3, not sure why that was stuck in my head.  But the 'Hawks have back-to-back Monday Night Football shutouts, they are the first team who has ever done that.  Also, they had 9 sacks last night.  Did you read that correctly?  Yes, we sacked him niiiiine tiiiimes.   Nine times?   Niiiiiiiiiiiiine Tiiiiiiiiiiiiimes.

New Nirvana DVD comes out today, I will buy it immediately.  I still can't believe I haven't yet bought the new Deftones CD (which they are comparing to White Pony in its sound ... which makes me immediately want it!).  I will likely purchase both this evening.

I bet you are all interested in seeing some NFL Week 10 Power Rankings, aren't you?  There is so much fluctuation at the bottom these days with all the damn 2-6 teams, it's just crazy! Several teams are bouncing up and down ten spots each week, it's insane!  My picks were again atrocious this week, I went 4-10 (would have been 5-9 if I officially picked the 49ers on my bet sheet like I wanted to, and predicted in writing, on Friday).  Regardless, here are your fleetmack Power Rankings for week 10:

1. Finally Won In Foxboro	9.   No idea, none ... no idea	17. Downhill	25. McGay Hehehe
2. Too many turnovers	10. Played well against BYE	18. Not using Holt enuff	26. Turnover Bret returns
3. Defensive Injuries	11. LJ is destroying Ds	19. I was wrong, 3-13	27. Gettin' really ugly
4. Rex is hit or miss	12. Donovon McPuke	20. Galloway returns	28. ...as is this
5. LT is a beast	13. TO drops balls	21. Nice win!!!	29. Gave up 9 sacks
6. Impressive Week 9	14. Inconsistent Vick returns	22. Nicer win!!!	30. Tough loss in NY
7. Eli=Co.Springs minister	15. Seneca's looking good	23. Nicest win of all!!!	31. "YIKES" -Horatio Sanz
8. Colston = ROY	16. Seahawks want rematch	24. Did BYE beat them?	32. Larry returns this week

What I am listening to as I type this:  Rammstein - Du Hast
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 6, 2006

Ever since I started posting my NFL picks online, they've gotten worse each week.  They're downright terrible now.  Ah well, just so I get one of them right (tonight!).

Had a good weekend.  Went out around here for a short while on Friday night, went up to Keystone on Saturday morning, cleaned the shit out of my apartment on Saturday afternoon (I'm seriously getting borderline OCD anymore, literally, I'm getting a bit scared for myself).  Saturday night Adrian came down ... er ... came up, we went to a buddy's place and watched the A&M game, then went to Old C's for awhile.  Yesterday ... this may shock you so hold on tight ... watched football from the minute I woke up until the minute I went to bed, it was very out of the ordinary.

It's been a difficult choice for me with regards to who to vote for in the upcoming election (Gubernatorial), but I think I finally made my choice.  Ritter (D) is for all the gay marriage and domestic partnership items, which I am against.  Beauprez (R) is against stem-cell research and is pro-life.  Unfortunately, both are for capital punishment, so that doesn't play into factor.  They pretty much agree on everything else that matters to me.  I really want someone who is pro-choice, for stem-cell research, and against the domestic partnerships and such ... but there is no choice available to me.  I've always been told to keep my voting selection private -- never understood why, so I'll just tell you that I'm voting for Ritter.  The marriage & domestic partnership things are mere financial things that I am against, but pro-stem-cell research and being pro-choice are two things I am a very avid supporter of ... coupling those with the fact that I really want this to become a Democratic state, I see no reason for me to not vote for Ritter.

With regards to the amendments and such ... although I'm no pothead, I am voting for the "Legalize ownership and private usage of less than 1 ounce of marijuana."  I really don't see anything wrong with this at all.  It's still illegal to buy and sell, so if/when they legalize that part of it, it'll be taxed and regulated like any other item.  It's just a stepping stone, and you have to start somewhere.  It won't change my actions, but it'll change the hypocrisy that the laws promote with regards to alcohol vs. marijuana usage.

Gay marriage and domestic partnerships?  Well, yes, I realize there is a separation of church & state ... and I could care less if two guys & two girls want to be together.   Look at it this way, my stance is against currently married couples (male & female) getting any government benefits just for being legally joined.  Same goes for that bullshit "Common Law Marriage". Why should you get a benefit just because you're "married"?  This is so biased against single people or people living with roommates it's ridiculous.  I want to be single -- so I get taxed more?!  What the fuck?!  I save on all the same things married couples do by living with a roommate don't I?  So I get punished because I prefer to be alone most of the time?  If you want to get married, that's great, but that's a moral decision -- not a financial decision.  And if you get married or "common law married" or get a "domestic partnership", that cheapens the entire reason for marriage in the first place ... to benefit yourself.  Stupid.  Just fucking stupid.

Ok, back to reality.  Going to Potts up in Flatirons tonight to watch the Seahawks game.  Tuesday morning I get to go vote.  Wednesday I am going to the Ed Viesturs thing downtown then hanging with the 14ers.com people.  Thursday I have my Regis enrollment meeting and get to meet the faculty to ask them any questions I may have (which I will have several).  Friday the guys get to town for the weekend from KC/Omaha/Carroll.  Saturday is the ISU game.  Sunday I'll watch football.  Ladies & gentlemen, we have an action-packed week!

What I am listening to as I type this:  Alice in Chains - Over Now
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 3, 2006

Lost Spoiler from last week:  I'm still fucking pissed off that Mr. Eko died.  This really pisses me off.  How did his brother's plane crash there?  How did he get told to go investigate a miracle in Australia while he was working at a church in Nigeria after they boarded off that church?  How did the polar bear get him?  What will become of the glass eye he found in the tailies' hatch that likely belongs to the guy they found from the Pearl station this week?  Why did the guy in the polar bear cave have a Pearl station t-shirt on?!  If they leave all these mysteries open because they killed off Mr. Eko (the best character on the show) just because he also got a DUI (they killed off Libby and Ana Lucia right after they got DUI's in real life, too) ... I'll not like this.

My new website is making more progress, and this pleases me.
Keystone opens today, and I will ride there tomorrow.  This pleases me more.
The Seahawks are on MNF this weekend against the Raiders with Seneca Wallas as QB.  Hopefully this will please me most of all.

Weekend plans?  Tonight I'll likely lay low.  Tomorrow I'm going to go to Keystone for the morning, then Dan is going to help me with a very minor electrical issue my car is having (I'm not comfortable doing electric work myself).  Adrian is coming down Saturday night, likely hang at Old C's or Woody's.  Sunday I am considering watching football from 10am until I go to bed, but we'll see.  I haven't done that for 5 days so I can't remember if I enjoy doing that or not.

With that, here's my picks for this week ... (by the way, a new NFL page is under construction.  I was going to launch it with fleetmack 2.0, but would like to get it up before the playoffs, so look for it mid-week next week, hopefully.)

What I am listening to as I type this:  Nirvana - Breed
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 2, 2006

Last night, I was reading at around 8:30 and fell asleep, next thing I new, I was awake and it was 3:00am.  I was going to watch Lost (I taped it so I wouldn't have to watch commercials ... new theory, I can read for an hour, and watch Lost in 42 minutes, it's like 18 extra minutes of reading!), however, I was disturbed from the horrendous dreams I was having.  The first one involved the Seahawks losing to the Raiders on a last second TD, and the other one was actually a serious type of disturbing.  I'd write about it, but I have a lot to do.  Instead, I woke up at 6 this morning and watched it.  Humph, that show is actually starting to piss me off.  They have so many damn mysteries right now that they're either never going to answer, or this show will go on for 70 seasons.  Regardless, whoever the new chick is who went to the Pearl station with Locke, Sayid, and Eko ... ooooo, I like her a LOT, that girl is beautiful.  That's why I think it's time for Kate to die (I don't want to, I just think it'll happen).

I need to hit the gym hard tonight as I've been slacking all week, I've only been there for 30 minutes all week - horrendous.  Cori is running a marathon in Vancouver in May and I'm trying to decide if I should join her.  I'd love to, but my weekend runs would mean less snowboarding.  There'll always be an excuse, I just need to make a sacrifice if running a marathon is really that important to me.

It's time to re-stock my media collection.  Deftones CD came out on Tuesday.  Next Tuesday is the Nirvana DVD (HIGHLY anticipated for years by me!).  Killswitch Engage comes out with a CD on November 21, and Slipknot's new DVD is out December 5th.  Wow, that is just an onslaught of new awesomeness!

What I am listening to as I type this:  Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea (unplugged)
Most Recent DVD Burned: Lost - Season 1: Disc 6 (for my brother)

November 1, 2006

After 2 1/2 days, I think I have the fleetmack.com issue resolved.  For once, this wasn't me tooling around with anything, it was actually something on the VPS (Virtual Private Server, thanks Beej!) which my host maintains.  Apache was set up in a manner that couldn't handle as many simultaneous connections to the site as necessary, so that setting was simply adjusted by my host.  Translation: My traffic is increasing substantially as of late.  If we had a line chart for how many visitors this site has had over the years, it'd look like Crestone Needle & Crestone Peak as seen from the summit of Humboldt Peak if you put Cho Oyo (which would resemble the main-page Maddox link I got in October 2002 when I co-hosted his page) just to the right of the Needle. Not sure why traffic is picking up, but it's at its highest since 2003 right now, back up to about 2000 daily unique visitors ... was down to 600ish for a year or so.  *Yawn*  Sorry for the bore.

Despite the site's crash the past two days, I do not blame my host in the least.  Westhost is still, by far, the best web hosting company I've been with, I'm considering planting a 2-year commitment with them to lower my hosting costs, I'm just that confident in them.  Also despite the past two days crashes, there was news the past two days, you'll have to read it in the archives.  I have some hidden code on the news page now that generates some things in fleetmack.com 2.0, and for reasons I won't get into, I can't do multiple days' news on the same page anymore unless I want it to screw up 2.0's index page (which I finally got to pull a substring of a certain portion of my news page last week, without using a database!! How fucking cool is that?!)  I'm still undecided if I'll share any of my PHP code with the public once the new site is done, I'm pretty proud of a lot of it so would like to show some things off, but would also like to keep the simplicity of it hidden.  Some of the most amazing things I've figured out in 2.0 can be done with 5-7 lines of code!  That is such an amazingly powerful language.  It does have one thing I cannot figure out, however.  I can't for the life of me get PHP to run a clock which pulls from the users' time zone, as opposed to my web servers.  I'm just doing this so far:

$hourdiff = "0"; //i can change this to alter the time from MST if I want to (in case I ever move)
$timeadjust = ($hourdiff * 3600);
$melbdate = date("l, F d, Y h:i a",time() + $timeadjust);
print ("$melbdate");

Am I boring you, yet?  Well, if you made it this far, I shall reward you ... here is a note John (my boss) found on the floor at Chipotle last week.  Oh the joys of high school.

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