woohoo

I'm going to be an uncle, again!

I still say this one will also be a boy.

weird

My parents are the weirdest. They're still convinced I'll marry this girl who I knew back before kindergarten (maybe earlier?) and apparently she's headed out to BYU this fall, so they want me to take her out.

Weird.

I've got a date for next Wednesday- not weird, in fact, awesome. The girl is way rad, and we're going to go on a picnic. Hoorah.

knee hurting

I hurt my knee.


It hurts a lot. A lot a lot. But I took 6 advil, so I should be alright.

Good news though, my beard is coming in nicely. I'll put a link to the facebook shared thing sometime soon.

And my back hurts. This sucks.


Work is going fine. I'm working on a big article on random stuff I've thought of. And my review of the Harry Potter book will be up next weekend. Maybe.

my beard

let me show you it. soon.



my beard.


it's going to be so cool. not like this cool, but I plan on being at least this cool.


you'll see.

i work out a lot

I work out almost every day, and generally that involves riding a stationary bike. I usually ride for about an hour, watching movies in two parts, or watching TV shows, and so forth. I go about 20-23 miles, depending on how high I set the resistance.

I like cycling. I really do. I don't have a bike of my own really, but it makes me comfortable feeling that if I get called to a bike mission I will be able to keep up. Or even a walking mission that I won't get tired as easily. Of course, the word of wisdom-keeping thing will help too.

The only problem I have cycling it that sometimes it hurts my knees, but I've mostly fixed that just on seating position. If you have the seat too low your knees to to high and it hurts. But I figured that out pretty quickly, and so I've corrected for it.

It's weird working out with a semi-beard. I like it though. I've got it for 36 more days. It will be sad when I shave it. I'll post pics soon.

i'm sick of china

I don't have a problem with chinese people, but I seriously think the chinese government needs to be destroyed. they have HUGE issues- overpopulation, devaluing their currency, trying to sue google, giving us poisoned trains, paints, toothpaste, broccoli, sending us cardboard wontons, defective tires, and so much more.

The worst part: I don't think these are accidents, especially the ones that we know aren't (devaluing currency). If these were accidents, I doubt I'd be as bugged. I have a sneaking suspicion they're doing this on purpose- and by government mandate.

but we'll never do anything. they're not like a huge trading partner or the cheapest source of labor we have. or, for that matter, ethical.

harry potter and the one bad scene in an otherwise great movie

The movie is awesome, except for what I talk about in the last paragraph. Harry Potter is great, but what freaked me out about this movie is how much it made me like Luna Lovegood. She really made a lot of the movie for me; I really liked her character And she was cute, in an odd way. I'm just scared that someone will IMDB her and she'll be like 12 (EDITShe's 15, almost 16, which is at least better than 12)and people will make fun of me, but I can't deny it: she was my favorite character in this movie, and, in my opinion, the best actor next to the guy who does Snape. You have to know he's a great actor for the kind of complicated role he has to play.

I think what really made this movie for me was the flow- it was fast, but done well enough that you didn't get lost like in Prisoner of Azkaban. Of course, Harry and Cho's kiss scene was unnecessarily cheesy, and making Fudge seem like "Big Brother," along with the marginalizing of Kreacher's role were some of the points with which I have contention; nonetheless, the movie is absolutely the best of the Harry Potter movies, which is saying something considering it comes from one of the more baseline books. The book wasn't a Chamber of Secrets, but it was no Half Blood Prince. Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie, don't read this next paragraph.
















How could they do Sirius's death like that? I mean, I laughed. Not just me, the entire theatre was laughing. It was comical. I had the image in my head of him falling back into the gate, not being lifted all "crucifixion pose" like upwards. I really am very mad about this one scene almost ruining an otherwise spectacular movie. This is almost as bad as the NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! from Darth Vader. In fact, I am going to directly compare those two scenes: they both sucked. But, Sirius at least sucked in a decent movie, and not a movie that ws already a flaming pile of poo.

recent music acquisitons

Okay, I went on a little wild the other day looking for new music. You see, I "obtained" a copy of the movie Thelonius Monk: Straight, No Chaser, and I just got a hankering for some jazz. So I went full out and got a copy of Monk In Paris: Live At the Olympia. It's so nice, especially "Epistrophy," which is just so easy to get caught up in and feel the music. I believe this is the first time I've ever used three different formats to indicate pieces of work- italicizing the movie, underlining the album, and putting the song in quotation marks. Anyone know if I got that right? I have a sneaking suspicion I could have underline the movie AND the album, or italicize both. I'm really not sure. Thank goodness for not being an English major.

Also, for my Dad's birthday, my oldest sister (the one with the terribly cute son, my awesome nephew), got my dad three Loudon Wainwright III albums- Album II, Attempted Mustache, and Strange Weirdos (which is the soundtrack for knocked up). I really, really, really like this music. Not only is it funny, well written, perfectly delivered and just a bit wacky, it's the exact music I would create were I a songwriter. The first time I listened to "The Man Who Couldn't Cry" I actually sang about half of the third verse in my head- during the first chorus. It was freaky how much I can predict these songs. Mainly it was awesome, because I've found more music in which I can delight (hah! I love grammar sometimes), and I really love falling asleep to "Grey in LA." Thanks older sister!

In other news: I'm getting ready to switch to typepad. I don't know if I will do it, but I certainly will after the mission. I just get so frustrated with Blogspot's image stuff. It's rather a hassle.

Chow.

okay, sorry

I know I'm doing the whole one post/day on each of my blogs, but, I went to San Antonio to pick up my brother. My dad and I went, that is- my mom wouldn't let me drive to San Antonio alone, much less let me go to Paris with my dad. Heaven forbid I go to the greatest city on earth for a week and have the opportunity to be culturally enriched while meeting high profile investment bankers (investment banking, for those of you who don't know, is the career path I am currently investigating). But no... I'm just 18. I can't do stuff on my own because I'm obviously not good enough to do that kind of stuff.

More posts later. I just needed to let off some steam. Hemmingway and Fitzgerald weep for what could have been, but alas, is not.

happy independence day!

Lets never forget our freedoms, or how much they mean.

topics i think about

Since my work is rather repetitive and formulaic, I am able to just set myself to auto-pilot and think. I've come up with a lot of things to think about, and so I though I'd share them with you. Some of these could go well on my personal finance blog, but don't quite fit.

-Urban finances: Their bank accounts- where they bank, how much they save, spending habits, anything they invest in, and what drives them to act. Also, the effects of advertising to urban culture and buying patterns from that advertising.
-Dilbert: it's scary how close Dilbert can come to my work life. I see it all the time, where I can almost pick out lines to put in thought bubble or word bubble. It gets really scary.
-Pokemon: I'm ashamed to say it, but I've been playing Pokemon Silver a lot lately. I'm to the final four, and will probably destroy everybody. I caught Lugia. It's so addictive.

Yeah, there's more. But I'm tired. Maybe later.

Update: I went through the final four and beat everyone, but lost to the Pokemon Master Lance. His dragon type are too much for me. But, I only had 5 pokemon, and one of them was eevee, who I'm trying to make evolve into umbreon. I'm also trying to catch Raikou, the legendary dog, because the one thing I'm lacking is a strong electric type pokemon, and I don't want to bother with raising one, I'd rather just get on that's already lvl 40. I have a master ball, and I've searched all over. Hopefully I'll catch him today. Soon... soon.

my obsession with moleskine

I have an unhealthy obsession. I cannot deny this. I love moleskine notebooks. I have, currently, three cashiers, a small sketchbook, a small notebook, a large notebook, and a small daily planner for 2007.

I use them constantly. I love taking little notes, drawing random stuff, keeping track of stuff. My most recent pickup was the large notebook- currently blank, but will soon be filled with lots of awesome things. My favorite one is the day planner- it's really thick, but it's saved my life on so many occasions. I can keep track of daily expenses, I can write down people's names who I meet and want to remember.

They're a bit on the expensive side, but I can't help myself. I have few things that I really obsess over, but moleskine notebooks are the exception. Occasionally I like really nice pens, but I buy those a lot less often than the moleskines. I plan to pick up one of the city ones for Paris, for the day when I do go to Paris. Of course I'm not picking it up right now, but whenever I do head to Paris I'm going to pick one up.

Okay, that's all.