Fleetmack.com - January 2007 News

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January 2007 News Archives

January 02 January 03 January 04 January 05 January 08 January 09 January 10 January 11 January 16 January 17 January 18 January 19 January 22 January 23 January 24 January 25 January 26 January 29 January 30 January 31

What I am listening to as I type this: EPMD - Strictly Business

January 31, 2007

Firefox 2.0.0.1 has already trumped Microsoft's much-hyped IE7 in multiple ways. I love Mozilla. And this new ebay tracker in Firefox is f'n sweet!

All done with schoolwork except for my research paper, which will be completed this evening so I can go out with Aja on Thursday. A surprise phone call yesterday informed me she is in town with her ... get this ... fiance! Anyways, likely going to Giggz tomorrow night if I can get my paper done this fine evening.

Froggy and I went to BW3's last night after my homework was done and when she got off work. Wings are good.

Stone Sour's Through Glass came on the radio while we were at B-Dubz, so I took that as the opportunity to induce Phase1 of "The Conversion" upon FG. As you may or may not know, "The Conversion" is my method for getting people to slowly become Slipknot fans ... it is a proven method that's worked time and time again when implemented with care. It's quite the slow process, Phase1 involves getting non-metal fans to listen to Circle, Vermilion Pt. 2, Bother, Through Glass, Zzyzx Rd. and other slower songs. In PhaseII, some medium-heavy rock songs from Stone Sour are played, such as Inhale and Made of Scars. Once they have acclimated to the guitar, it is time for PhaseIII. PhaseIII is the make-or-break Phase in The Conversion. This is almost like being on a date with a girl and you're pretty sure she digs you, so you go in for the big kiss ... you either end up having a 3-hour make out session, or she slaps you and you leave. However, with all the effort put into PhasesI and II, confidence is high and there's no turning back, you must now expose them to Wait and Bleed, My Plague, and Left Behind. Next, in Phase IV, it's time show them what Slipknot looks like, and Disasterpieces (the DVD) is shown in small increments. From here, Slipknot addiction is inevitable. Phase V is a self-study section in which the convertee will welcome songs such as Spit it Out, Purity, and New Abortion onto their playlist on their own. It is vital that The Conversion is done patiently. If Disasterpieces is shown too early in The Conversion process, or should I accidentally expose the convertee to a song such as People=Shit or Surfacing too early, well, it's safe to say that person will become frightened and never, ever, EVER convert to a true Slipknot/Stone Sour fan. (Note: Playing The Heretic Anthem at any point during the conversion process is strictly forbidden, as the convertee will immediately assume he or she is going straight to hell) Timing is key. As you may know, I take immense joy in converting people to fans of my music. IMMENSE joy!

I'm humbling myself and paying Canon to fix my damn camera. I'm not at all happy about this, but I really didn't want to spend $300-$400 for a new camera right now, and I absolutely must have one by the 17th. I bitched enough on the phone with them to get a discount on the repairs, but I will still never buy another Canon product again.

Lyric Time!! I like this song because it absolutely sums up my thoughts of the current Executive Branch of the government. Is it possible for CT to miss?

Can you take away every single day we have given to another false prophet?
Can you give us all a reason not to fall before you take away another broken promise?
Show your pretty face
Hide the bitter taste
You're still the rapist of an entire nation
You wanna be the man you gotta be a man
But you were nothing but a sad insinuation

How can we ever live this down?

Keep your fingers crossed
The truth is at a lost
Big decision for an ordinary coward
The only problem is your fucking rhetoric
We're more in danger then before you took power

Now it's just a game
God you'll never change
You'd sell us out if you could only find a buyer
You don't give a shit
As long as idiots
Are in your corner you could set us all on fire

How can we ever live this down?

You never wanted to be
They only wanted a parody
You want the world to be free
But what the hell is free about it?!

Now we reached the end
Just get it over with
But this is building to an adamant conclusion
Come whatever may
There's gonna be a day
When we have figured out a possible solution
Every thing you've done
Is killing everyone
A little smile on a homicidal bastard
You wanna be a man
You gotta have a plan
Another failure is a guaranteed disaster

How can we ever live this down?

You never wanted to be
They only wanted a parody
You want the world to be free
WHAT THE FUCK IS FREE ABOUT IT?!?!

What I am listening to as I type this: Nirvana - Randy Travis - Promises

January 30, 2007

I can't think of anything to say today. I fell asleep at 9:30 last night while reading, so I didn't get nearly as much homework done as I needed to. In turn, tonight I will have to work my ass off and read a chapter, my lecture, complete a case study, and participate in a couple of online discussions. I'll postpone my research paper until later this week, and will likely be postponing my date with FG until this weekend if she's ok with that.

I discovered my flight to Switzerland isn't as long as originally thought as I didn't take the 8 hour time change into factor. It's a mere 9 hour flight there and a 12 hour flight home (to/from Dallas). Three weeks from today, I honestly can't even tell you if I'll be in Italy or Switzerland, how damn cool is that? I love playing it by ear. I haven't even left yet and I'm already trying to decide which continent to knock off next ... Asia (New Zealand) or South America (Argentina or Chile) ... as I've set a goal to ride my snowboard on all 7 continents. Not sure how Africa will work in there ... maybe I'll hit up the indoor resort in Dubai, U.A.E. (I think ... is the Middle East in Africa or Asia?) I also fully plan on climbing Kimimanjaro upon my completion of grad school in a couple of years, so maybe Africa will be two birds with one stone.

Hardcore: this is how I'm living my life until I leave. I will eat perfect. I will run a ton. I will work out a ton. I will complete 4 weeks of school work in a mere 3 weeks. I will complete my first class's final project on my flight home from Switzerland. I will find some time to possibly allow FG into my life on a limited basis. I am looking forward to the challenge the next few weeks bring my way.

What I am listening to as I type this: Nirvana - George Strait - Ace In The Hole

January 29, 2007

That weekend was filled with unexpectedness. Friday I helped Miriah get her U-Haul loaded up (after driving all over the metro area looking for a dolly for her Altima!), then Jacob and I had a few beers. Afterwards I hung out with FrogGirl (not sure if I should use her real name yet) for awhile at Davey's Locker. Saturday I was beat down and tired, so didn't do much ... I took FG out for breakfast, watched some X-Games, read a little bit, then fell asleep until 6er. Just chilled at home all night on Saturday. Sunday I was out of Denver by 6:30 and was 4th in line when the ski lifts opened at Keystone. I got 12 runs in by 11:30, talk about awesome. I made 5 runs before I saw another person, it was insanely awesome. Hey, I was on this run yesterday, weird. (I actually have a cool pic of me about 5 feet high from an INSANE pow day on that exact run back in 2002 or 2003) Upon my drive back to Denver, Murdock called with an offer to go to the Rage (minor league hockey) game with him as his wifey wasn't going and he had a spare rock* ticket, so we went to the game, which was pretty sweet I must say. I will be going back. Last night I intended on reading, but got home around 7:00 and was just beat down. Watched the X-Games and fell asleep right before Shaun White's final (and failed) attempt to capture the gold.

Am I the only one who thinks birds try to shit on the worst possible spot on my car? Por ejemplo, my door handles and right in the middle of the driver's side windshield? I remember in high school when we (I think Hav, Schau, and I?) peed in a super soaker water gun and sprayed it all over Staiert's car to get even with him for throwing an open big gulp into my car as I drove by, that ruled. We were pretty accurate that day, too. You can learn a lot from birds, I'm surprised you didn't konw that.

This week, well, I didn't get much of a jump start on school this week so that'll likely occupy my time tonight and tomorrow. I have a date with FrogGirl this week too, not sure when, though, I guess I'll call her tonight to find out. This weekend, well, I'll probably get ahead of school work as much as possible as I have to have all of my work done with the exception of my final project before I go to Zermatt, otherwise I'll have to be doing loads of homework while on vacation. Holy shit, do I really leave for Zermatt in 18+ days? Wowzers!! *dunt dunt dunt dunt dunt, In-spect-or Gadget*

What I am listening to as I type this: Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea

January 26, 2007

I realize it's been almost a year, and I still complain about this all the time, but for some reason today I just can't stop being pissed off at those stupid ass Super Bowl XL refs. That was so the Seahawks game. It's pretty much becasue I realize I'm far from alone in believing this, and every day I find more and more people on my side. Today it was this article that did me in. Here's an excerpt from the article that rated every Super Bowl team in the NFL's history:

What does it say about Seattle that it became the only team to outgain and commit fewer turnovers than its Super Bowl opponent and still lose? It means the Seahawks either (A) got screwed, or (B) easily could be ranked ahead of the Steelers.

Blah blah blah.

Canon rejected my warranty claim, I am baffled and beyond pissed off. I did nothing to that camera, it broke 100% on its own. Being as stubborn as I am, I'm not going to pay for the repairs (they want $110) and will have to buy another fucking new camera when that piece of shit broke a mere 3 months after I bought it. $300 down the tubes. I will never in my life buy a Canon product again and will never purchase anything for any company I work for if it is Canon. They are going to receive the highest level of boycott I have ever created ... this is 10x more hardcore than my Burger King boycott (which is even bigger now since the King sacked Hasselbeck). Fuck Canon.

Tonight I'm going to help Miriah pack up and move, and Jacob flies in tonight so we'll likely hang out before they officially rid their lives of Denver. Tomorrow I'm going riding, period. Sunday I may just stay home and do homework, we'll see.

Fucking refs, that Super Bowl belonged to the Seahawks.

What I am listening to as I type this: Too $hort - Cusswords

January 25, 2007

I hit myself this morning when I checked out my graded paper from Week2 of my class. I got a fucking 95% because I forgot to put page numbers on it. This is a mistake I will not make again. Regardless, here's my graded paper in case you want to see what garbage I can write up to convince a professor I know what I'm talking about.

The courthouse will be getting a visit from me this week so I can give myself a new name: Cruz. For those of you who don't know, Cruz used to fumble all the time. He had no game and every time he met a girl who was a sure thing, he'd lose her somehow. I am slowly evolving to Cruz's level of butter fingers. You wouldn't believe the primitive version of "game" I tried to spit at this girl last night. It was a disgrace to Too $hort on his holiday. (although Josh and I were able to find some Too $hort on the jukebox to play last night).

Talked to FG (which will henceforth stand for FrogGirl. As you can tell, I'm not using real names on here for girls any more. She gets her name due to a frog tattoo on her arm) for awhile last night, until roughly 1am or so. Holy cow, I just checked my phone, we talked for 77 minutes. I don't think I've been on the phone for that long consecutively since roughly 1998. Regardless, this brings me up to a ridiculous streak. I've been up past midnight every night since last Wednesday, while getting up before 7 every morning. (well, Sunday I was in bed until noon or so, but I was doing homework on the 'ol laptop). I feel like I'm in college again. Oh wait ...

Klaver had a family emergency and had to head back to Iowa. I'll keep it private for him. Regardless, I won't be going to the mountains tonight.

Duane officially wants copies of my Slipknot DVDs and all my Slipknot CDs. Another conversion, my friends, another conversion.

What I am listening to as I type this: Nothingface - Murder is Masturbation

January 24, 2007

When will it happen that today is officially a holiday recognized by the federal government? Today, my friends, is the 13th annual celebration which we call "Too $hort Day", in which we celebrate the existence of the greatest rapper of all time. Perhaps in a future year, I will explain to you how this came about ... here's a clue.

Nothingface. Why have I never listened to you? I have been thoroughly enjoying your music for the past couple of days, and I feel as though I've wasted 28 years of my life by not listening to you. I have one of their songs on my MySpace account if you'd like to listen (it's a private page). But a note to Nothingface, I must bid you adieu for the day, for it is a day on which we may only listen to Too $hort ...

Adrian's weekly NFL wrapup is on the NFL page, as are my updated power rankings. By the way, the picks are all jacked up, but I'm taking the Colts and I don't really care who wins.

Well, VerizonGirl and I apparently just weren't meant to be. She called me last night, she got back together with her ex-boyfriend. That's two girls in a row (both since mid-December) who have done that to me (a few years ago I had a streak of like 7 girls who dropped me for their ex's, I think I'm cursed). I must admit, for once, I was actually pretty disappointed about this. It's pretty hard to affect my emotions, and it does happen after I've been with someone for awhile easily, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, this is honestly the first girl in recent memory (probably in the past 4 years) that I've been genuinely excited about. It's just cool when you call a girl a few times, each time she has a new callback tone (where it plays a song instead of ringing), and they're all your type of music ... and if she has tattoos ... and if she's 5'2" or shorter ... and if she's fucking beautiful (as Josh said, "When I knew her in Greeley, she was probably one of the hottest chicks I'd ever seen"). Fuck me. I think I played it off pretty well though, I just told her, "I guess that's my loss. I hope everything works out for you." Then she said what I truly wanted to say, but I didn't feel it'd be appropriate, "If it doesn't work out between us I will give you a call sometime."

I told Colby that in a text message last night, and he replied with something I found absolutely hysterical:
it could mean a quick call to froggy

Similarly, I have absolutely no idea what is going on with the FrogGirl situation. Let me reiterate, I have no idea what the hell is going on there.

Last night I finished my research paper. This week's topic: Grid Computing and it's Effect on the Future of Database Technology. Funny how my first two research papers, well, I hated them. But I had no problems with this one last night. Why? Well, because it's actually about databases (what I'm in school for), so I was interested in it. And side note to the techies out there: Grid computing is one of the most amazing new technologies I've seen, this concept will be commonplace in 20 years, and we'll wonder how we ever got along without it.

Anyways, after writing my paper, I met Josh at Charlie's Web where we ogled at the bartender for awhile, she's mad fly. Too bad she likes hip hop and dance music. Where are all the hottie thrash-metal fans, who enjoy snowboarding, who look like cute girls and not trash? I'm holding out for one of those ...

So Heidi brought me a DVD today - Roger Waters: The Wall: Live In Berlin. One question for you: HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT?!??!?!!

My mornings are getting progressively worse lately. First they took away my Fox Trot, and now Stacey Donaldson is no longer on Fox 31 News in the morning. There are few things nicer than waking up to gaze at Stacey. Luckily she'll be back on the air in a couple of months with CBS.

And lastly ... the ball just keeps rolling, my friends. The mutherfucking ball just keeps on rolling. One more time, a tremendously large "FUCK YOU" goes out to everyone who voted for the smoking bans. Just keep taking our freedom you huge government, you. Just take it all. If you don't like it, just take it. It's yours. Cocksuckers.

What I am listening to as I type this: Phish - Birds of a Feather

January 23, 2007

Klaver and Malinda arrived last night, we watched Snakes on a Plane. Hilarity ensued. They headed up to Avon (Beaver Creek) this morning, I'll be heading up there Thursday after work, likely until Saturday afternoon. Nothing wrong with riding the freshly tuned snowboard at my favorite resort for two days now, is there?

I have to write a research paper tonight (going to have to axe the Rage game), and then I'll be done with this week's class work. I'm doing a good job staying ahead of schedule so far, hopefully I can continue this for two more years.

I bought my Swiss plug converters yesterday, already have a voltage changer. I still need to buy my Dakine High Roller, another set of Under Armour ColdGear, and I'm going to get a few new sets of lenses for my goggles. I don't want anything whatsoever to make me have a bad time over there, so I'm going equipped and will be stocked up on snowboard gear for the next several years. Too bad I want to buy another new board next season ;-) I'm becoming excellent at spending money. But you know what, I deserve it, I put 10% of my check (not including matched) into 403(b) every 15 days and I max out my Roth IRA ... this leaves me with little to no spending money most of the time ... so for once, I deserve to splurge. It's just a shame how ridiculously high my credit cards are starting to get. I'll have to limit myself hardcore when I get back.

What I am listening to as I type this: Def Squad - Check 'N Me Out

January 22, 2007

Global warming my ass. This is easily the coldest January since I've lived in Colorado, and the snow just keeps on coming!

It's snowing hard in Zermatt! I didn't go to bed until about 2am last night as I was just looking at pictures of Switzerland all night. I've gone on upwards of 100 vacations in my life, this is the first one I've been remotely close to this excited about. 3 1/2 more weeks ...

Had a pretty chill weekend. Went out with Josh on Friday night ... was supposed to be happy hour but I didn't end up getting home until around 2, funny how that happens. Woke up around 6 on Saturday and went snowboarding in Breck (we got free parking somehow, it was slick). I went over my first big kickers since I broke my ankle, I forgot how intimidating those things are (I went over the first and second ones from the top on the right) . I need to stay away from those until I get back from Switzerland, the last thing I want to do is break my leg before I go ... because on Saturday I missed the landing on the second one (I landed it, just missed the spot where you're supposed to land) and dropped about 15 feet flat onto my board... I didn't wreck it, but it felt like an atomic drop (WWF) as my entire weight dropped a good 15-20 feet and landed on flatland instead of the declined landing area. Colby said you could hear the "whack" of my board hitting flatlands from the 100 yards down the mountain where he was.

Saturday night I didn't do much, yesterday I did homework then watched football. For once, I had a perfect week (given there was only 2 games) in that both teams I wanted to win, won, and both teams I picked to win, won. It was also nice that this week Joe Buck didn't admit he doesn't know if 1/2" or 5/8" cleats are bigger. Now do you see why I hate this idiot?

This week ... well, lots of homework. I was going to go to the Rage game tomorrow (Broomfield's new minor league hockey team), but I really don't know if I'll be able to have all my homework done. I'm taking Thursday or Friday off to go to Beaver Creek with Klaver Klave, likely snowboard on Saturday, and from there we'll just play it by ear!

The Baron is getting a full tune this week. I was going to wait until immediately before I leave the country so the edges would be as sharp as possible, but my wax is completely gone and I was sliding all over the icy spots this weekend instead of cutting through them, so I've got to bite the bullet and get it tuned this week already.

Hoping to get last week's research paper returned with another 100% ... let's see if I can actually land a 4.0 in this graduate program, I think I can. I think I will. In fact, I'd put money on it. Not because it matters, but because I've never actually gotten a 4.0 before and I'd like to say I've done that. I remember senior year of high school when Klaver wanted to prove that anyone could get a 4.0 if they tried ... so he got one for a quarter then went back to normal. Grades don't matter, but I need a goal since running is on the back burner right now.

What I am listening to as I type this: Mike and the Mechanics - All I Need Is A Miracle

January 19, 2007

Last evening I mailed my camera back to Canon, went and purchased some potting soil and a pot for my plant and office tree, then proceeded to go home and finish my research paper (I have to write 8 research papers between January 8 and March 4). From here I went to Old Chicago and hung out, then went home and watched excerpts of Teen Wolf on DVD, as most normal people would do at 11:00pm on a Thursday. I'd ask what you did, but I'm pretty sure my evening was pretty commonplace across the country.

It's been roughly 6 years since I last wrote a paper to be graded, and I will now tell you about said paper, although it's quite possible I've told this story on here before. I'm very proud of this. At ISU, all graduating seniors (in the business college) are required to take Management 478 in their final semester at school. Management 478 was a pain in the ass for me because I didn't care about it. The grade scale went as follows: Attendance: 25% Group Project: 25% Tests: 25% Individual project: 25%. Well, the individual project was a 15ish page research paper, with about 20 financial charts and analytical forms to couple the paper. We were each assigned an industry, mine was Hotel & Casino Resorts. We were to pick a specific organization within this industry, obtain their current mission statement, financial documents, and corporate strategy. We were to then interpret their corporate strategy, devise two alternative strategies they could adopt, and then decide between our two proposed strategies which one they should adopt. We were to draft prospective financial documents and all the changes that would occur as a result of the change in corporate strategy.

I had been working on this paper for some time, I had fully done the analysis and design of the current company's status, and I had developed one strategy they could adopt. Then the midterm grades came out: I had perfect attendance, I had something like a 95% average on the tests, and we had a near-perfect on our group project. This meant I already had a C- in the class (as I already had roughly 72% for the class, and it was a 90/80/70/60 grading scale). I was never concerned with grades, all my other final projects were complete, and I was ready to be done with school, yet I had to complete this fucking paper, else I'd get an incomplete. I had to write another entire corporate strategy overhaul for Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts ... but I only had a week left at ISU and I really wanted to go to the bar every night and party.

Within about 20 minutes, I wrote an entire strategy on how Trump should sell out to the mafia and let them run his casino. I cited Casino and The Godfather (even though I hadn't seen it at the time) in my writing. It was awesome, I quoted Sam Rothstein and Michael Corleon (sp?). It was the best piece of writing I've ever completed, write up there with my tribute to Mr. Sexton. I met every requirement he had to offer, yet completely fudged my way through this paper as to not get an incomplete.

I'll never forget going to pick up my graded paper. My professor just glared at me when I told him my name. Looked up from his desk, staring at me while he handed my paper back to me. I didn't have the balls to say anything smartass, so I just took my paper, said thanks, and left. Walking home, I laughed my ass off as I read his comments on each page. The first 10 pages were perfect, to exact specifications, and he'd comment "good thought" or "interesting, but likely would not work". Constructive criticism. But then as he got to the mafia portion of the paper, many things would say "Poor citation, movies are not real life situations" by them. By the time he reached the last page, he must have been as frustrated as all hell, because he wrote, "Is this paper a joke??! 60%, D-". Classic. I ended up getting a C in the class even though with a 60% by my calculations, would have given me at least a B or B+. Regardless, I didn't care, who really looks at GPA? I think I've proven that point over and over again with my life ... GPA does not matter.

ANYWAYS .....

The reason I told that story is because I consider myself an excellent writer. What you see on this website is zero indication of my writing capabilities. As noted, I got the best score in my school on the AP English test in high school (and I graduated in the bottom half of my class). In college I wrote a paper about a Master P album and received the only perfect score in the class. (hell, I even had an outline for that paper! Check it out!) So you could imagine how thrilled I was today when I got back my first graded research paper of my graduate schooling, and received another perfect score.

It really makes me think I should write more, and perhaps proofread the garbage I put on this site. If I put 1/3 of the time and effort into everything as I do my scholastic writing assignments, I'd be the most successful person you've ever met.

Have a great weekend.

What I am listening to as I type this: Eric Clapton - The Core

January 18, 2007

Stone Sour is playing the Fillmore with Shadows Fall on April 28 ... guess who's going ...

Last night was again pretty chill, I've mellowed out quite a bit in the last two weeks. Remember when I was in college and I didn't have to do anything but party and skip class in order to graduate? Yeah, that's not the case anymore. Perhaps it will be after these stupid core classes are over. I read about 30 pages of jibberish last night and wrote 1/2 of my very short research paper, but I had to quit because I realized I don't even understand 2% of what I wrote. I can't wait until I get to the technical classes so I can understand, care, and actually apply what I'm learning. Positive attitude, Bryan, positive attitude. So last night I went home, did homework, did more homework ... and then decided before I got burnt out after 2 weeks of this study business, that I'd better turn on HD Net and watch an Arrested Development rerun. As usual, this did the trick. What a phenomenal TV show that was.

My tree in my office is dying, it's in grave danger of imminent death. Tomorrow is tree-awareness day for me. Heidi is going to help me replant my home plant (that Aly gave me a few years ago, thanks love!), and then we're going to attempt to save my tree, too. Hopefully it can be done!

Tonight I am going to finally go to the gym after work and do a full-body workout (I've only been getting my lunch-hour workouts in lately, pretty weak), go to home depot to buy some pots and soil, go home and eat, hit the bar for awhile, then head home. It's a "no school" night for me! This weekend will primarily be snowboarding, can't go out with VG (Verizon Girl) this weekend due to scheduling conflicts, so unfortunately we'll have to put that off. I did talk to her for awhile last night, though, that was more than plesant.

Mailing my camera back in today. My Volcom Wefts should arrive today (green). ISU lost to CU last night, why the hell can't we beat them in anything??

I've reconnected with two of my Larch friends (my dorm at ISU) in the past couple of weeks - Gizzy and Dani (as seen hugging Yort here)... this thirlls me to no end. Like my Eagles shirt and Wu-Tang chain? Yeah, I was pretty cool, be very jealous.

What I am listening to as I type this: The Firm - Affirmative Action

January 17, 2007

It's of minimal concern to me as to who you are or what your credentials are ... however, if you are not willing to admit that Penelope Cruz is one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen, we may have to bare-knuckle box sometime in the near future.

I feel like a new person these days, honestly. Everything is changing. My schedule is different (and ridiculous) now that I'm at school. I have all new snowboarding gear and clothes (I realize this doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's what I'm wearing 50% of the time I'm not at work, and has been the exact same for 6 years). I switched cell phone services and such. Date with a new girl this week(end). I'm tellin' ya, if I just had my Toyota FJ cruiser, I'd be 100% different (physically) than I was just a few weeks ago.

Like my new snow report imbed for Zermatt, Switzerland? (If you're reading this from the main page, you can't see it) The countdown continues ... I absolutely, absolutely, cannot - CANNOT - wait to be over there. I don't let myself even think about it or talk about it as it occupies 100% of my brain capacity for roughly 7 hours each time it crosses my mind. I could use some book recommendations (35+ hours of round-trip airplane time), and/or active tunes to load onto the Nano for while I'm there ....

It smells like dog food in my office today. Hopefully it's not my new cologne, if I have to smell like dog food the next year, it's going to prove to be very difficult to get a date.

Grad school is still kicking my ass (I can't wait for my core classes to be done with, 14 more weeks), as is my sickness as I'm still not feeling well. But the good thing about it is, when I'm sick, I have no choice but to do homework! I should have no worries come Friday this week, everything should be completed by then. Last night I did 2 case studies and went through my lecture. I have one case study and a research paper remaining this week, then I can get back to snowboarding.

Speaking of Verizon (or was I just thinking about it? or was I just thinking about her?), I'm getting damn sick of this tool in his glasses and 8000 people following me around all day. Sprint never did that to me.

What I am listening to as I type this: Don Henley & Johnny Cash - Desperado

January 16, 2007

Adrian's weekly NFL review is on the NFL page

Good game and good season, Seahawks, I'm proud of your overcoming all the adversity and injuries to make it as far as you did, and to play very tough on the road against the #1 seed. It was a bad week in fleetville for overtime games, with the Seahawks losing to the Bears in OT and the Cyclones losing to the Jayhawks in OT. Ah well, both teams exceeded or are exceeding my expectations for the year.

I'm sick, probably shouldn't be at work today. Started getting sick late last week, and could just feel it coming on. Running 4 miles on Saturday probably didn't help matters. I'm hoping to feel better very very soon, I want to take Friday off so I can go see Klaver in Beaver Creek .... come on health!!
(Edit: That's next weekend, phew!)

Yesterday, since I was sick, I simply read and did homework all day. I'm 80% done with this week's stuff already, which feels good. Last week kicked my ass, likely because I didn't start anything until Tuesday night. Hopefully by tonight I'll be done with everything except for my weekly research paper, which I can do on Wednesday. After reading 3 chapters and doing 2 case studies last night, I headed on over to the Verizon place (I switched my service on Friday .... finally) to see the girl who sold me my phone again, because I thought she was absolutely beautiful ... (for those of you who know me at all ... you should automatically realize this means she's very petite, has long hair with colored (red) highlights, and has tattoos)

...She's all for the idea of going out sometime. I'm pretty sure that was my first sober "cold call" date request in a couple years. I always tend to ask girls out that either A) are friends of friends B) I've been talking to at a bar all night C) I know are a sure thing D) after I've had a few cocktails. It was an excellent feeling to just see a girl, realize I wanted to take her out, and just ask her.

What I am listening to as I type this: Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down

January 11, 2007

I haven't posted about this amid the speculation for the past year, and I really thought it wasn't going to happen as of recently, but now that it's official, I'm thrilled and very excited. The 2008 Democratic National Convention is going to be held in Denver!! I will absolutely be in attendance.

Last night I did homework all night. I still have a research paper to do, after that I'm finished with this week's work. It really is quite overwhelming, but I'm sure once I get back in the swing of things it'll be better. My senior year of college I worked 32 hours a week at my internship while taking 12 credit hours, so I'm certain I can handle 3 credits every 8 weeks while working 40 hours, it's pretty similar.

It's supposed to start snowing tonight ... and we could already break the January record snowfall average by morning. I'm heading up to go snowboarding on Saturday, Sunday watching the 'Hawks game, and Monday going snowboarding if I don't have too much homework. Shit, listen to me, trying to be responsible. This is ridiculous.

What I am listening to as I type this: Alanis Morisette - Head Over Feet

January 10, 2007

There is no way possible anybody can comprehend how many damn potholes have emerged in this city since our recent blizzards, it is out of control.

You're damn right I fixed the Wil$on page, and you're even more damned right there's a new Wil$on picture of the day today!

That took all of one day for me to remember why I was so thrilled when I was finished with school at Iowa State. The impression in my mind was that I'd never have to read another textbook. Never have to write another paper. Never have to study for another test. Never have demands by a professor. You could say yesterday was a rude awakening. This grad school thing is going to kick my ass. So much is expected of me, and I hardly made a dent in it last night. For my first week, I have to do the following (all by Sunday):

1) Read 2 chapters (90 pages) of text
2) Read and write about a case study on Grid Computing (comparing Sun, Oracle, and HP)
3) Read and write about a case study on Shell Oil
4) Read and write about a case study on WorldCom's IS policies after bankruptcy
5) Read and write about a 16 page PDF, the topic of which I'm unaware
6) Prepare a 3 page research paper on the framework of IS models and how they are helpful
7) Actively participate on an online forum, with several threads posted by our facilitator

This is just the first week. This list will refresh itself after that. I work full-time. Translation: There is no way in hell I'm going to continue marathon training. I'll be lucky to be able to run 10 miles a week. I'll be lucky to not weigh 200lbs by the time I get to Switzerland. I wish school was still like this. I didn't even watch the Avs/Wings game last night. At least my priorities are in line.

I've got so much to do ... I'm behind on laundry. I need to return some wrist guards. I need to go to Circuit City to get warranty information on my camera. I have ironing to do. I'm not unpacked from Iowa yet. I finally got groceries last night. I haven't run since I've been back from Iowa. I can barely bench press sets of 190lbs any more. My friends, I am falling behind. Yet .....

... Seth wants to go to Philly or New Orleans for the NFC Championship game if the Seahawks beat the Bears this weekend. I can't afford it and I'm behind on everything ... so guess what ... I'm in. (Also going to Miami if the Seahawks make it to the Super Bowl. What's a little debt when you currently have none?)

What I am listening to as I type this: Raekwon - Incarcerated Scarfaces

January 9, 2007

Some inventions piss me off, not because of what they do, but because they allow the inventor of said item to be welcomed into a life of wealth ... while other, more valuable inventions, get passed up. A man invented the pet rock and likely retired. Somebody came up with the idea for the Ford Pinto, likely this person hasn't lifted a finger since. The new NBA ball that was discontinued was an idea sparked by somebody, somewhere, who likely is rich and lazy now. However, there are two inventions for which inventor deserves a oceanfront home in Hawaii, 17 luxury cars, and every Playmate on Earth; these people have likely not made much money from their ideas. What are these ideas, you ask? Sandwich-stacker pickles, and the yellow first-down line on televised football games. These people, at the bare minimum, need a Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercial on the radio.

Adrian's first-ever NFL week-in-review page is posted on the new NFL page. Check it out, it's a pretty good read.

So I was at the gym yesterday over lunch, did my cleans... did my pushes ... did my squats ... did my pull-ups ... then it got to deadlift. On my second lift I literally thought my back snapped in half. I dropped the bar and walked away, couldn't even bend over to get my shoes off in the locker room. I thought for sure today I'd be sore, but I'm really not ... so all I have to say about this is, I'm going to try again today, but if you find a guy with a broken back in Golden, Colorado sometime this afternoon, that'd be me.

We're supposed to get dumped on again Thursday -- this is slowly becoming the best snowboarding season ever. I've been up 10 times already, and I'll likely go both Saturday and Monday (no work due to Martin Luther King Jr. day) this weekend ... how cool is that? Answer: Very.

That game last night, wow, I did not see that coming! Did you?

Tonight I get to go to Barnes & Noble to read as my textbook for my current class hasn't yet arrived from Amazon.com ... this'll be my first school-related anything since April 2001. I'm not certain how I'm supposed to motivate myself.

January 8, 2007

So on the unofficial 5th anniversary of fleetmack.com (today), I've gone ahead and revamped the site. A lot of the content is outdated, not all of the pictures are converted to the new Gallery2, and some of the pages have CSS issues I still need to address (namely the NewsArchives and Wil$on pages), but for the most part, this is what to expect from now on. I was going to stay late tonight and fix everything that's broken, but I want to watch the OSU game so I'm going home. Feel free to sign the guestbook or post in the forums with regards to what you think of the new site.

As you can see on the new site, each time you visit a new page or refresh it, a new quote will appear on the page. This is pulled at random from a MySQL database I set up, but I've only put about 8 quotes in there as I haven't had time to collect any. If you have an amusing quote you have in recent memory, post it here and I'll put it in the database if I also think it's funny. I'll enable guest posting for this week only. (Note: I decided to disable guest posting ... 20 seconds after I enabled it I got about 4 spam messages in the forums, sorry, you have to register to post)

How 'bout them Seahawks? That game was just wicked crazy, I haven't seen a more exciting 4th quarter of a game in my life (I didn't see the Fiesta Bowl last week, but I could be talked into believing that may have topped this one). I won't discuss it too much though, as I have several topics to hit today.

Went to Breck for the weekend, the conditions were good and we were doing the double-black runs off the Imperial Superchair, which I hadn't been up before. I must say, as much as I'm anti-Breckenridge, I was thoroughly impressed by those runs.

Looks like another snowstorm is moving into Denver later this week... that means stellar snowboarding again! My new snowboard coat arrived today, it's slick as shit man ... neck vents, side vents, headphone holes, fur lining, 10,000 waterproof (pretty much the best you can get), 7,000 breathability ... and it weighs about 20% as much as my old one. I've still got to get a Dakine High Roller and another pair of pants (Volcom Tuxedo) before I head to Switzerland. I absolutely cannot wait to get there, hard to believe that in less than two months I'll be snowboarding in the Alps in up to three different countries.

I technically start Grad School today, although my first class is online so I'm just going to run, lift weights, and watch the football game tonight (in reverse order).

My new camera broke this weekend ... already, that didn't take long. Hopefully the manufacturer's warranty will cover it, otherwise I'm going for my 3rd $350 camera in 2 1/2 years ... humph. One would think I'd take better care of my possesions.

Thanks to all for the birthday emails, cards, calls, texts, etc. While I don't celebrate my birthday publicly, everyone's thoughtfulness means the world to me (even if I didn't answer my phone all day). 28 years old, wow...

What I'm Listening To: RATM - Street Fighting Man

January 5, 2007

Another 6-8" of snow on the ground this morning, more in the mountains. Laetitia is locked and loaded (that translates to: "My snowboard is on my car, my gear is in my car, and I'm leaving for the mountains immediately after I get off work."). Likely going up there tonight to party, tomorrow get up bright and early and ride all day then find a place to watch the Seahawks playoff game. Sunday I'm going snowboarding somewhere with or without someone.

The Seahawks are in extreme trouble tomorrow ... the offensive line is depleted beyond repair, D-Jack is still hurt, and the secondary couldn't be in worse shape (we're staring our 3rd and 5th string players (Jennings and Babineaux), and brought in a damn loan officer from Nebraska to back them up). When you're that low in the secondary and expected to cover Terrell Owens (who always steps it up for the playoff games) and Terry Glenn ... well, that's just ugly. Normally we'd just start rushing the passer more, but Rocky Bernard is out too ... so that doesn't help. Injuries are plentiful in the land of the Seahawks. I don't expect them to win this game and honestly won't be that upset if they do, they've been absolutely plagued by injury this year and making it this far has been a blessing.

Next time we chat, I'll be 28 and the Fleetmack.com will look much, much different. By the way, I hate HTML when it comes to tables. There's one damn tablespace edit that I can't figure out. It appears that I can do anything in PHP ... and the dynamic code of the new version, well, I've impressed myself. The coding is easy, but the thought process of it all is what was tricky. I'll likely post all the code for you (PHP is made invisible in the source code) in case you want to steal some of it.

What I'm Listening To: RATM - VietNow

January 4, 2007

First off, I just want to re-iterate that I didn't receive any email from December 29-January 1 as my mail server was down.

Last night I stayed at work pretty late, went to Target to stock up on some things, then headed home. That was my first day in ages without even touching or seeing my cell phone, it was quite lovely. I am going to consider leaving it at home every day during the day now.

We're only four days into it, but 2007 has me depressed already. I just cannot part with Fox Trot yet. It's been a morning routine of mine for as long as I can remember, to read that comic strip. It made me laugh out loud 90% of the time, and I'm fully willing to say it's better than Doonesbury or Calvin and Hobbes ever was or will be. Farewell to the greatest comic strip ever. :o(

January 3, 2007

I bought a new jacket today. I plan on buying a bag for my snowboard and gear in the next couple of days, and I'm thinking I'll also purchase a pair of these (yes, in Green). Anyone have a connection in which they can get Volcom gear cheap? If so, I'd thoroughly appreciate it if you hooked me up with a discount ;-)

I officially registered yesterday. I'm registered for MSCC 610 - Information Systems Concepts. It, along with my next class, are core classes. I'm not thrilled about them, but after I have them out of the way, the rest of the classes are going to be very interesting and I can't wait to get going. Master's degree, here I come!

Tonight I need to go to the gym, go for a run, then I'm going to just stay in Golden late tonight putting some bells and whistles on FM2 ... I may push the launch back to next Tuesday instead of Monday, as I'll be snowboarding all weekend for my birthday. I'm going to be twenty fucking eight. Wow ... this is getting ridiculous.

What I am listening to as I type this: A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation
Most Recent DVD Burned: Family Guy - Season 4, Disc 1

January 2, 2007

I'm back in Colorado safe and sound. It was great to see everyone during my time back, and I was happy to bring the snow back to Iowa with me. Pictures will be up when I re-launch the site next week. By the way, the site is going down likely on Thursday until I re-launch it. Also, my email server maxed out its capacity when I was away from email for so long, so anything sent after 12-28-06, I did not receive.

A few things to tell all the Broncos fans out there:
1) I am truly sorry to hear about Darrent Williams, he was a fantastic player and that is just a terrible, terrible thing to happen.
2) Don't go telling me how weak the Seahawks division is anymore or how hard the AFC is ... the NFC West went 3-1 against the Broncos this year, and they went 2-0 against them in Denver. The Seahawks also beat the Broncos head-to-head, and made the playoffs. And as Andy said ....

The playoff run for the 2006 Denver Broncos is ..... IN--COM--PLETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, now you see how fucking annoying and stupid that chant is? Bring on the Cowboys!!!

By the way, I won fantasy football -- that means in my Denver fantasy leagues I was 2-1 in 2006 (I didn't win Hockey) as I won baseball as well. You'd be correct if you said I'm a winner, but only in a fantasy world. Now get my name engraved on that trophy and bring it over to display for all to be jealous of!