2005 - A Year in Review

Here's to a great 2005! A ton happened this year, so here's just a recount of some highlights:

-last semester at CSU. Graduated in Mechanical Engineering, finished up with our senior design project - actually produced hydrogen from our water electrolyzer - got to teach a couple classes filling in for one of my professors

-a job in town in Mechanical Engineering, actually putting my degree to use, working a lot and really enjoying it.

-lots of nights getting together with friends playing poker

-brewery tours at New Belgium Brewery, Odell's, Fort Collins Brewery

-lots of great movies: Garden State, Sin City, Napoleon Dynamite, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Motorcycle Diaries...

-several fun graduation parties, great food, beer, music, friends, family...

-fajita parties, sushi parties, wine & cheese parties, bbqs... with friends old and new, just in town for a couple days or living here

-two incredible girls who made the year unforgettable (you know who you are)

-irish festival in Denver that I had a 'musician' pass to and got to hang out in the musicians tent and talk with a couple people who I really admire.

-countless days playing the game "Killer Bunnies" with friends

-several great books (and a couple not so hot ones) - Neal Stephenson, the Harry Potter books

-watching Nebraska football end on an up note for the year winning their last three games and beating Michigan in the Alamo Bowl

-a great week in the summer spent in Nebraska for a huge family reunion

-a lot of fun festival gigs throughout the summer playing with my dad in Second Wind

-opening up for Mission 19 at the Aggie Theatre with the Michael Waido Band

-countless gigs at Lucky Joe's, Connor O'Neill's, & Raferty's with the Michael Waido Band, having way too much fun, starting to recognize people who come out specifically because we're playing

-playing the Brewfest and New West Fest this year in Old Town

-a near win in a battle of the bands

-finally releasing our CD, "Fellowship of the Flood"

If I'm leaving anything out, well, give me a break, there's a lot that happens in a year! But overall, it was a great year, and here's to keeping them coming in 2006!

Cons vs Birks

I bought some new shoes Thursday. Which is weird for me, because I can't remember the last time I went out and actually looked for shoes for myself. All of the sudden I was thinking to myself, "I need to go out and get some Cons". Now I don't know why I suddenly thought that, I've never owned a pair of Converse in my life. And for at least 95% of the last eight years I haven't even had shoes with laces. I wear sandals pretty much up until there's snow on the ground and then I had these slip on clog type shoes. But Thursday I bought two pairs of Cons, brown and green. And they're awesome. It's rare that you put on a new pair of shoes and they're comfortable from the moment you get them. These were.

So then I got to thinking, do Cons and Birks mesh? If they met each other in a dark alley would they fight or would they go out for a beer? And if they fought who would win? You don't see a lot of hippies wearing Cons, and you don't see a lot of skaters wearing Birks, but Birks are worn not only by hippies, and Cons are worn by tons of people. So I thought I'd give it a go and see what happens. But I'll still keep them on opposite sides of the room ;)

New music

Recently a friend of mine and I have been turning each other on to different artists and different types of music, and because of that I've discovered some amazing stuff. I know that I can put all the bands that I'm into on my profile page, but there's so little room, and that's for the stuff that I've been into for quite some time. I'm not going to review any of these artists (already did that for the new John Mayer album), but thought I'd just mention some stuff if anybody wants to check them out.

KT Tunstall - just got her CD in the mail yesterday, so its been in my CD player pretty much constantly, with a short reprise of the Very Best of the Beta Band. She's a Scottish singer/songwriter with an amazing voice akin to Susan Tedeschi and a solid guitarist. Good stuff, really laid back chill music. The CD I bought is "Eye to the Telescope"

The Beta Band - Seen "High Fidelity"? There's a quote from John Cusack: "I will now sell five copies of the three EPs by The Beta Band" ... later someone in the store asks "Who is this?" "The Beta Band" "It's good" "I know."
Check them out. They're good.

Mates of State - Crazy band from San Francisco, the happiest music I've ever listened to. You just put it on and you smile.

Diegos Umbrella - Four piece group out of the bay area. The first time I heard them I described it as underground music I would expect to hear in an funky coffee house in downtown Philly (or I guess San Francisco). Really chill acoustic stuff with some spanish influence, hip-hop, and pop. Good music.

Ending the year with the Michael Waido Band

Last night we had our last gig of the year. It's crazy that we've been playing together for over a year and a half now. Lots of good memories and great gigs. I thought it only fitting that our last gig of the year was at Lucky Joe's, our hometown venue. We've had so much fun there and can't thank Joe, the rest of the people who work there, or all of our fans and family who come out to all of our shows there, enough. Last night was our sort of unofficial CD release party and I'm glad to say that we sold a lot of them. Thanks to anybody who came out and bought one to support us and what we do. We're booked throughout the next couple months with shows at Joe's (next one on Jan 27th) so check their website (www.luckyjoes.com) and keep up to date with our upcoming shows.

"Dot the I" review

This movie blew me away. I had no idea what to expect coming into it, other than a recommendation from one of my good friends who has yet to recommend to me something that I did not like. So I moved it to the top of my Netflix queue and watched it last night. Incredible.

10 out of 10.

I'm not going to say too much about it, because I enjoyed going into it really not knowing what it is about (the Netflix blurb on the case is not even the top of the iceberg, its like a penguin hanging out on the top of an iceberg) and I don't want to ruin it for you. I will say that the acting is really well done, and the characters and the story are very original. This is not your run of the mill movie, so if you're a big Rob Schneider fan or waited in line to see "The Fast and the Furious", it's probably not your type of movie. For the rest of you however, you need to check this out. The leads are played by Gael Garcia Bernal (young Che Guevara in "The Motorcycle Diaries" and Natalia Verbeke and actress from Argentina, who I hadn't seen in anything before. They both do an incredible job (Gael plays a Londoner, and pulls it off well, accent and all, and Natalia is quite attractive, which doesn't hurt) and the supporting cast is great as well.

If you're up for checking out a great original movie, put this on the top of your list.

Like avocados?

I love avocados. They make nearly every food better. Here's a little recipe type thing that I've been making recently. Credit goes to a good friend who learned of it during her stint down in Mexico.

What you will need:
1 avocado
1 can of tuna
lime juice
mayonnaise (or miracle whip)

Steps:
-Slice the avocado in half and remove the seed
-mix the tuna and mayo in a separate container (like tuna salad w/o all the other stuff)
-fill the two holes left by the seed in the avocado with the tuna and pile the rest on top
-squeeze a lime over the top of the tuna/avocado
-eat

It's pretty awesome and really quick. Makes a good unique appetizer for two people.

Michael Waido Band - Fellowship of the Flood

BIG NEWS!!!

After a long journey of hard work - but great times - our debut album, "Fellowship of the Flood" is finally done and available. The twelve song CD shows our variety of styles from high energy uplifting songs to get your toes tapping, to slower melancholy piano songs good to listen to with the lights down low in an introspective mood. For those of you who don't know, the band features Michael Waido on lead vocals and guitar, Pete Carlson on drums and myself Dave Wisbon on piano. The album also includes guest appearances from Dennis Bigelow on acoustic bass, Eddy Miller on violin, Maren Shanahan on background vocals and Marty Singer on drums for April Fool. Several tracks also feature Michael's old roommate Parker Hills on lead acoustic guitar.

So if you've been supporting us for awhile and have seen us live, you can get the CD at

www.michaelwaido.com

If you haven't heard of us, check out some sample tracks from the CD at

www.myspace.com/michaelwaido

We'd love to have your continued support, so buy the album and tell all of your friends about it!

Hope all is well,
Dave :)

John Mayer

Recently my taste of John Mayer music has increased nearly exponentially. Now I guess I've always been kind of a fan, because when he started it was the chill acoustic music that everybody was doing, and that sat well with me. Also some of his lyrics are pretty incredible and many of his songs bring good memories when hearing them (Comfortable, for example).

And then the other week I heard something that blew my mind. Eventually I was able to figure out that it was John Mayer and Herbie Hancock doing a song called Stitched Up off of Hancock's album "Possibilities". Then I remembered that John Mayer also did a sweet version of the song "I Don't Need No Doctor" with John Scofield off of his new album, neither song being the chill acoustic stuff I've been accustomed to hearing from him. So then I went out and bought the album "Try!" by the John Mayer Trio.

It is incredible.

On this album John is joined by Steve Jordan (a studio drummer who was in the Blues Brothers Band) and Pino Palladino (a bass player who has played with numerous bands on uncountable albums). These guys are tight. And John Mayer proves beyond a doubt to anybody who still thought that he was just another acoustic pop artist that he can wail along with the best of them on blues electric guitar. The song "Out of my Mind" is a long slow blues number with solos reminiscent of a Stevie Ray Vaughn or Eric Clapton laying down some slow blues riffs. Not only is his guitar right on, but the live emotion of his voice is incredible. He's putting everything into it. It's tough to come up with a favorite off the CD, but I would say that the three I like the best are the cover of Ray Charles "I Got A Woman", the Trio's song "Who Did You Think I Was" and John Mayer's song "Gravity".

If you're a fan of John Mayer, or a fan of good blues in general definitely check it out.

48 Degrees Celsius!

So I was driving by the bank today and their temperature display read 48C. Now it's been awhile since I've spent enough time in Europe to feel comfortable knowing what the centigrade temperature scale feels like, but even I know that 48C is really, really hot. And I also know that it didn't mesh with the Fahrenheit reading on the next screen that said 12.

Mitch Hedburg

So Mitch Hedburg came up in a conversation I was having the other day, and inevitability, we began to quote many of his one liners. His stuff always makes me laugh so I figured I'd share some of it as kind of a tribute to him.


"I had a stick of Carefree gum, but it didn't work. I felt pretty good while I was blowing that bubble, but as soon as the gum lost its flavor, I was back to pondering my mortality."

"I went to the park and saw this kid flying a kite. The kid was really excited. I don't know why, that's what they're supposed to do. Now if he had had a chair on the other end of that string, I would have been impressed."

"Mr. Pibb is a poor imitation of Dr. Pepper. Dude didn't even get his degree."

"I was in downtown Boise, Idaho, and I saw a duck, and I knew the duck was lost, 'cause ducks ain't supposed to be downtown. There's nothing for them there. So I went to a Subway sandwich shop, and I said, "Let me have a bun." But she wouldn't sell me just the bun, she said that I had to have something on it. She told me it's against regulations for Subway to sell just the bun. I guess the two halves ain't supposed to touch. So I said, "Alright, well, put some lettuce on it," which she did. She said, "That'll be $1.75." I said, "It's for a duck." And she said, "Alright, well, that is free." See I did not know that. Ducks eat for free at Subway! Had I known that I would have ordered a much larger sandwich. "Let me have the Steak Fajita Sub - but don't bother ringing it up, it's for a duck! There are six ducks out there, and they all want Sun Chips!"

A beekeeper, a magi, and a wind tunnel technician walk into a bar...

So what do beekeepers, magi, and wind tunnel technicians have in common?

(That's one of those odd triplets that really doesn't seem to belong together at all, isn't it?)

They all smell like frankincense!

Today we got an order of frankincense in at work (a sampler pack from India, Oman, Somalia, Estonia...) to test out how it would work in creating smoke for our wind tunnel applications. So I spent the whole morning with a little piece of charcoal dropping different samples of frankincense to see which one produced the best smoke or had the best scent to it.

For those of you who don't know, frankincense was one of the three gifts the magi brought to Bethlehem when Jesus was born (gold, frankincense, and myrrh). It is used mainly in religious rites (Picture the catholic priest walking down the aisle with the alterboys swinging the smoking gold pot behind him. That's frankincense.) but also goes by the name of bee gum. Beekeepers use it to charge their smoke guns when they smoke out the hives. The actual frankincense comes from the hardened sap (or resin) of the Boswellia tree.

So there's your nifty little tidbit of information. Whoever thought I'd be playing with frankincense in an actual engineering application? Learn something new every day.

Best usage of the word "masticate"

So I'm reading this book, Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson (also the author of Cryptonomicon), and I came across this passage that I believe is the best usage of the word "masticate" that there has ever been and will ever be. I thought I'd share it.

"The Dutch Ambassador rolled his eyes and tossed the waffle back over his shoulder - before it struck the ground, a stout, disconcertingly monkey-like dog sprang into the air and snatched it, and began to masticate it - literally - for the sound it made was like a homunculus squatting on the floor muttering, "masticate masticate masticate."
-p232, Quicksilver

You know what really grinds my gears?

Idiocy in the government.

A good friend of mine recently sent me this e-mail:

"Further evidence of how messed up our government is...

A recent Department of Commerce report regarding declining highway maintenance budget suggests, amongst other things, a specific tax for hybrid vehicles and small cars to make up for their reduced contribution in gasoline taxes due to higher gas mileage.

Besides begin totally moronic, I wonder if they considered the relative contributions to road wear made by a ~2500lb small car or hybrid vs. a mid-sized SUV at ~4500lb or a full-sized truck at 6000+lb"

Now, wait a minute. With rising gas prices, using up more and more fossil fuels, and becoming more and more aware of the impact our emissions has on the environment, isn't the whole purpose to reduce emissions, increase gas mileage, and ultimately decrease our dependence on fossil fuels? I guess some in the government would have us be punished for doing a good thing. And heck, while we're at it, how about putting a specific tax on those among us who don't even own cars and use public transportation or bicycles to get to where they need to go. They're not contributing anything in gasoline taxes, not to mention not contributing to the smog and dependency on oil we face. I think something needs to be done about them too.

And that's my rant for today.

"Crash" review

9 out of 10 stars. Really good movie.

I had heard very little about this movie when it came out and very little from friends who had seen it other than, "You should see this movie, it's really good" but I didn't even know what it was about. I knew it was one of those movies that has a big cast and follows how each person is interconnected, but I thought it about a car crash and how everyone was affected by that. There's a line at the very beginning of the film said by Don Cheadle's (another incredible acting job by him) character that says:

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

This really sets off the whole film, which is more about racism than anything else. It reminded me of a really hard hitting Spike Lee movie, but instead of just using the black/white racism found in his films, this one was racism viewed from all different cultures about all different cultures. Overall it is a really powerful film with an incredible cast that really makes you feel what the characters are feeling. There are a couple lines and scenes in the movie that are almost like a punch in the gut and leave you shocked. I also have to give props to Sandra Bullock in this film who plays a rich middle aged white woman who is an angry racist. She does an amazing job and I have to respect her for having the courage to take that part and play it up the way she did.

The movie is definitely a drama, far from the scope of comedy, and is not going to lift you up or anything, and you're not going to feel all warm and fuzzy after it's over. It's a powerful, hard hitting film and if you're in the mood for something like that, I would recommend it absolutely.

Pocky

So last night one of my good friends and I were in the mood for a movie and went to a local video store called the Village Vidiot. They have pretty much everything there in the way of independent films, foreign films, and just anything that you would be surprised to see say if you were at Blockbuster. So we had both wanted to see the movie "Crash" so we picked that up and were getting ready to check out when we noticed they had a bunch of Japanese candy, including a whole bunch of Pocky. Now for those of you who don't know, Pocky are thin breadstick like things dipped in anything from different kinds of chocolate to yogurt covered. But the best thing was- are you ready for this? Men's Pocky! We came up with some conclusions of our own before the owner told us that there's a strip on the side of the box that if you put it in the refrigerator it will reveal your fortune in love. Sadly, we did not end up getting Men's Pocky, but instead opted for the chocolate Pocky with almonds, which was - I am happy to say - a huge success.

what flavor pocky are you?

[c] sugardew

"Titus" review

Wow. 10 out of 10 stars. This movie is incredible. I saw it a couple years ago, and remembered it being good, but not this good. But then again, using Shakespeare as the script, its tough to go too wrong, although I didn't like the modern version of "Romeo & Juliet".

Titus is one of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedies and it shows in the film. Anthony Hopkins is incredible as Titus Andronicus, and the rest of the cast does an amazing job as well. Angus Macfadyen (Robert the Bruce in "Braveheart") is great as Titus' son Lucius and Jessica Lange plays the part of a revengeful, merciless queen of the goths perfectly. Apart from the acting, I also really enjoyed the production of the film, with the mix of modern and old set pieces seemed to blend all time periods together. Along with that the costume design (which was nominated for an Oscar) worked really well in the movie, especially the costume of the victorious Titus returning from war with the goths.

One other aspect of the film that deserves mentioning was the moor Aaron. All props on this go to Shakespeare and the actor Harry Lennix. Shakespeare for creating one of his most evil and baseless villains of all time and Harry Lennix for pulling it off so perfectly that you hate him so much but he becomes one of your favorite things in the film.

If you haven't seen this movie, see it. It's long, but it certainly doesn't seem long at all (except for the last 20 seconds, they could have moved a little faster). Even if you're not a huge fan of Shakespeare I think you will appreciate the quality of acting, the amazing story, and the artful approach to a classic that this film takes.

"The Day After Tomorrow" review

Alright. So I had heard this was a terrible movie from some of my friends, but I decided to watch it anyway, and I'm glad I did. Now it's not like it's one of my favorite movies, and probably not even in the top 50, but for an entertaining Saturday afternoon movie, when it's cold outside and you have nothing else to do, it hits the mark.

I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Let me also tell you that I'm kind of a sucker for big disaster - how humans cope with terrible situations - type movies. And this movie followed the formula to a tea. Similar to "Independence Day" and "Armageddon", the movie touched on several different characters in the set up (you know, so we could get a feeling of their lives and feel bad when they die) and then followed a few main characters through the entire movie. I thought everyone in the movie did a good job, but I think they could have picked just about anyone for each role. The one actor who I thought did a great job, and was actually my favorite segment of the movie was Ian Holm, but I suppose that is to be expected. Not to look down on Dennis Quaid or anything, he did a great job also, but I think that other actors could have done the same.

Anyway over all I would say it was a pretty good flick, entertaining at least if not the most plausible movie. But seriously, if you're watching "The Day After Tomorrow" and expecting some scientifically based plausible story, you've got other problems than finding a good movie to watch.

Another flat tire?!?

I am a pro at getting flat tires. If anyone has had more flat tires in a shorter period of time, I would like to meet them. And it's not like I drive through construction sites, or over hot lava, or boards with nails in them, or chase cars who throw spikes out the back to pop my tires. They just happen to go flat.

I thought this might change when I started riding bicycles, but I was wrong. I've been on a bike everyday for the past 3 months now, and I've gotten 5 flat tires! Different bikes too! I've gotten 2 on one of them and three on the other. Got my most recent one this morning on the way to work. And you know what? It used to be that there was nothing in life that got me pissed off except getting a flat tire. But today, wasn't angry at all. It was almost as if when I looked down and saw that the rear tire was flat, I had almost expected it. I wonder if now that I can deal with them civilly, I'll still get them? Let's hope not, because even if they don't bother me now as much as they did, it's still better to not get them at all.

"Rushmore" review

10 out of 10 stars! Way to go Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson!

This movie is great. The script is completely original and the characters are amazing. Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Olivia Williams are excellent in the movie along with all the rest of Wes Anderson's crew. It's hard to believe that it's Jason Schwartzman's first movie, he plays so well along side of Bill Murray, and there's a great scene when he's drunk at dinner with Bill Murray, Olivia Williams and Luke Wilson. Bill Murray also does a great job in the movie and although he's in way to many excellent movies to rank which ones I like him in the best, this is definitely up there. The quintessential scene of his character is a little ways into the movie after we've been introduced to him at his twin sons birthday party. He's sitting on the other side of the pool, smoking, drinking and wearing big read swim trunks with the Budweiser logo on them, when he gets up and stumbles up the ladder to the diving board (with drink still in hand), finishes his drink, looks around and does a cannon ball into the pool. It's great, and the music to back up the scene is perfect, as with all scenes in the movie.

Which brings me to my favorite part of the movie: the music. I've loved the music selection in all of Wes Anderson's movies and this is no exception. Featuring a lot of acoustic guitar music from mainly British invasion bands, the music fits in with every scene perfectly. My favorite two songs come from The Kinks, and The Faces song "Ooh La La" at the end of the film during the credits.

"I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger."

"Bottle Rocket" review

Alright, time for another movie review.

First of all, I want to say that I am a huge Wes Anderson fan, so I'm a bit biased. If you've seen one of his movies and you don't like it, you probably won't like this one too much. My roommate left after half of an hour.
But I loved it.

I give it 8 out of 10 stars. The first movie that Owen Wilson & Wes Anderson wrote together and already you can tell the unique writing and direction. Luke Wilson is great in it, and I love how he plays out the first scene. The so-called "escape" from the hospital really sets the scene for the entire movie. Owen Wilson does a great job as an all out go getter with a never say quit attitude who things never quite work out for. I love the scene with him in his yellow jump suit on the dirt bike.

"On the run from Johnny Law. It's no trip to Cleveland"

Dannon water?

So I'm sitting here at my computer, checking my email, friends blogs, what have you, when I pick up the bottle of water to my left and take a drink. No surprises there, it's water. But then I put it down and realize for the first time that it's Dannon Natural Spring Water. No I've heard of Dasani and Evian and all the other stuff, but doesn't Dannon make yogurt? I'm not sure how I feel about drinking yogurt water. I'm not really sure how I feel about drinking bottled water anyway seeing as how I live in Colorado, but they have it where I work and it's better than walking down the stairs to the drinking fountian every four minutes.

I love Colorado

I can't believe it's November 1st. I woke up today to a beautiful clear blue sky, and rode my bike to work at 7:30 in the morning. Looking at where the sun is you would swear that it is 10:00 or at least 9:00 and although I won't appreciate this as much when it's dark at 5:30 as I'm on my way home, I can live in the moment right now. The weather is perfect also. Not a hint of frost and the only thing that gives away the fact that summer has left us and we're full bore into the middle of fall is all of the fallen leaves on the ground. It had to be around 50 degrees, and with the sun I could have worn shorts and a t-shirt and been comfortable. Everything was there for the makings of a perfect day.

And then the back tire on my bike went flat and I had to carry the bike the last fifteen minutes to work.

"What the Bleep do we Know?" review

So there's been a lot of talk about this movie, and I finally saw it. Some of my good friends who are philosophy majors said it was complete bunk and that I shouldn't waste my time, but some other friends who I've listened to before said I need to check it out. So here's my review on it, take it or leave it.

I give it 3 out of 10 stars. Really didn't like it much at all.

First of all, what was with the whole wedding scenes? The polka dance and the animated addiction cells? Could have lived without all of that.

I thought the movie was split into three different aspects, none of the three I really cared for. The first one with seemed to me like a dialogue you would stumble across with a bunch of high, partially drunk PhD professors in philosophy and quantum physics at some party out east somewhere. It reminded me of all that I can't stand about philosophy. Now I'm always one to expand my mind and introduce myself to new ideas, but I can't stand this continuous debate on what is reality. Does it matter? I would like to see one of those philosophers who talks about this whole thing with quantum physics being able to choose your own reality actually live in his own reality. Because until then, we're all living on the same planet, with the same rules and the same reality as far as I'm concerned. And if someone does break out into some crazy new reality that they've created, odds are everybody's going to know about it the next day.

Secondly, I thought it was lame when the movie took a turn to kind of a self-help "lift up your self-confidence" type thing. Okay, so we can control our own decisions and they effect our feelings and our life. Right. Big deal. I think everybody knows that, thank you very much.

Finally I think it could have really done without the whole spiritual turn towards the end. The last thing I need to hear is a bunch of new age physicist-philosophers trying to tell me about God and faith and how we all tie in to the bigger picture.

Anyway, if you're one of those types who likes to hear all the different views on things, or is into debating what is reality and all that type of stuff, I guess you can spend a couple hours to check out this movie. If you're pretty much fine with your way of thinking, and not really into a whole bunch of new-age philosophy, I also recently saw "Bottle Rocket" and really liked that.

Homeland security

I wonder if President Bush is a big fan of Thomas Jefferson....

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences of attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
-Thomas Jefferson

Kansas state quarter

Come on Kansas.

Who voted on this? I don't mean to say anything bad about Kansas, I've got friends from Kansas and they're all very nice people. And I know there isn't a whole lot out there, but I think the quarter could have been a little more interesting. I mean, it's a buffalo and a flower. Wow. I rank it second worst after the Texas quarter. Just the big state of Texas with a star, but I didn't really expect anything else.

I guess we've still got North Dakota and Nebraska to go and they might be worse, but I don't know if it could be much worse.

confused by the fairer sex

ahh, yet another chapter in my attempts with the fairer sex...

Don't you hate it when you're friends with this girl and both of you are single and you think you like it that way - you two both being friends - but then you start going back and forth and thinking, "maybe it could be better" but then you think again that you should just stay friends and all of the sudden she's dating someone and it's not you and you realize that you blew it?

That sucks.

Harry Potter

Right. So I was a little late to jump on the whole Harry Potter bandwagon & just started reading the books a couple weeks ago. One of those "don't want to do it because it's popular" type things, and then I realized that was stupid and heard from a lot of people whose taste I trust that they were good, so I started reading them. Have to say I really enjoyed them, finished the 6th book today, and since I've been reading them basically one right after another, I find it disappointing that I'll have to wait until the 7th book comes out before finding out what happens in the end. I think the 5th book would have to be my favorite, I really like how dark it is and how quickly it starts. The 6th is a close second and then the 4th, 3rd, 2nd and finally the first book.

Anyway, guess the point is that not doing something just because it's popular is stupid, because there's probably a reason it's popular (although I have to retract that logic when it comes to pop music and reality TV....).

Hi everybody!!

Hey all you people out there!

So this is my first attempt at doing a blog. So what should you expect? Random thoughts mainly, some music, movie or book reviews and just things about everyday life.

And so it begins...