It is about 30 minutes until 2006, so I will reflect on 2005...

F**K YOU 2005

Let's see what happened in 2005...
-Beavers lost to the Ducks in football
-Beavers lost to the Ducks in basketball (twice)

BRING IN '06!

Well, Christmas Day was slightly less interesting than Christmas Eve. I'll try not to write another novel for this post.

I woke up at 11am on Christmas Day (not exactly like when we were kids) and we ate breakfast before opening presents. We started to open about noon and finished in an hour or so. I got clothes, a Fry's gift certificate, Star Wars Episode III DVD, and a few other things. Nothing special, but that's fine.

Some relatives came over at one. My aunt, her husband Bill, my cousin Ashley, the Woodruff grandma. Yup. We talked and stuff, then decided to play some Jenga. We had a really awesome game going between myself, my cousin, my aunt and my dad. This is a picture about three moves before it fell:

And this picture has the only shot of my Dad and my aunt of Christmas, so enjoy. My aunt finally toppled it right as we started dinner.

Speaking of dinner, it was capino (probably spelled that wrong) an Italian seafood dish. It's basically a bunch of random seafood thrown into a tomato soup base. It has been a tradition on Christmas Day for about six years or so, and was good as usual. A little bit after dinner, all the company left.

My sister and my cousin.



The Graf fam-bamily.

I think that was about it.... yeah. Some good basketball games were on. And Da Bears won. So all in all, it was a sucessful day.

Last night we left around 4:30 to pick my sister up to go out to cocktails before dinner. This was a tradition started last year by my sister because she was 21. Anywho, we ended up going to the Sapphire Hotel and it was really nice. I had a rasberry Italian Soda, so yeah, it was all good.

Enjoying our drinks at the Sapphire Hotel.

We had a reservation at Il Piatto for dinner at 6:00, just like last year. What happened on the way over there was something I shall never forget.

Our car was driving merrily along at 27th & Broadway (I think, Sis correct me if I'm wrong). All of a sudden, some guy rear-ends us really hard. Like snap your head forward with a large bang hard. So we're like... wtf. We look around and the car has stopped and looks like they're kinda shocked too. So we pull over to the side of the road, assuming they would do the same. So this car kinda slowly trails us, acting like they were going to comply. As soon as we turn down a less busy street to stop, the car swerves wildly into the left lane and steps on the gas. Roars past us.

My sister was yelling "Fuck you! Fuck YOU!" and banging on the window to no avail. So I jump out of the moving car (like 3mph) and start running down the busy sidewalk trying to catch the car (haha yeah right). Mind you I'm in fancy clunky business shoes or whatever that weren't very comfortable but that didn't matter. I ran about six blocks before giving up. I saw the car at a stoplight about three blocks ahead, was hoping it would stay red, but no, it turned green and hope faded. So I stopped running. And I wasn't tired... I tells you this adrenaline thing is nice.

Anyways, the car was a newer dark grey sedan. Looked like a fancy car. Wish Kenny was with us because he could probably tell us the exact make and model. My sister did get a license plate on it, but she was unsure with the last letter. So here are the probable suspect license plates:

Remember, large dark grey sedan.
So, if you knew who this is, kick their ass for us.

Maybe they'll search the internet for their license plate to see if we or the police picked it up. So here it goes:

Oregon License Plate 773 BVL or Oregon License Plate 773 BVI

Incase you're wondering driver, yes we told the police. Me thinks hit and run is a felony. We called the police once we reached the restaurant. They said an officer would be over, but we were there two hours and none ever came. Serving and proetecting the people huh? They were probably busy with something more important. They got all the important stuff over the phone... plate number, car description, time/place, etc. So anyways we'll see how that works out.

Funny thing is, we couldn't see any damage on our back bumper. And this was a very violent hit... we kinda swerved from the impact and everything... but nothing... visible at least. My dad kept telling us there could be damage we can't see and stuff, so I guess that is true. Maybe that's why the police didn't come. If I broke my back or something I'd hope they would have been there.

Anyways, that really startled me. I mean it's friggin Christmas Eve and that shit happens. What happened to peace and joy? We came to the conclusion they were drunk by the way they drove/reacted, so hopefully they didn't kill anyone that night. We were minding our own business though and that happens. So I kinda got into that "life is fragile" mood and that's no good. Oh well, the evening went on.

Dinner was good. I had some sausage pasta dish with a Caesar salad. It was good. The bill with tip was in the $130 range, just like last year. We finally got out of there around 8:20pm, so we were there for over two hours. Pretty intense.

Mom and Dad enjoying their dessert.


Do we have to go to church?

So next we went to church at 9:00. It was the First Presbyterian Church just like last year (and the previous what? Eight years?)

The church.

The service was much longer than last year's. Ninety minutes total. I was not in the mood and really didn't enjoy myself. My sister was going absolutely crazy as well. Anywho, finally it was over and we went home and went to bed. Another Christmas Eve was in the books. Tomorrow I will post about what happened today.

Had a good Cristmas Eve with the family. I'll post more later and probably some pictures, but it's 11:00 and my sister needs to sleep in this room.

Well the finals week report is a few days late because I wanted to wait to get my finals grades in. And well, here they are:

So yeah a 4.0 with a "P" (pass) for my freshman orientation course. I'm not exactly sure how I pulled off the A in astronomy, but I'll take it.

My Writing 214 final was the Thursday before last (it was a night class so we didn't have a time during finals week). It was just a group presentation on the probably of putting a business in Corvallis (our choice was Olive Garden). We got an A- on the final, which was pretty good. I got an "A" on my portfolio (all the work we did during the course of the class) and coupled with whatever I got for participation I managed to get an A. So wohoo.

Families in Modern America was my first final during finals week... Monday at 2:00pm. I didn't really study all that much, pulled of a 90% and a 96% for the class. My test scores went from 96 to 92 to 90 for the final. Basically I figured out I could use my ass for my brain during the tests and still pass. So with minimal effort I got an A, which you gotta love.

Next was Astronomy. I figured I had a low A/high B in the class at the time. I studied probably like four hours or so for the final. I was confident on 32/40 of my answers, which I figured was enough to secure a B. But, apparently I did well enough to get an A. Not even an A-, which doesn't even count as 4 points, so that was a bit of a surprise.

Next was Math 241, which I was pretty scared about. But the test ended up being so ridiculously easy. I got 114/120 points, or 95%. That wrapped up an A in math, which was an accomplishment considering I was lost all term.

And that was it. Finals week was over. I went home the next day with my friend Stephen. Brought my desktop home, because there was no way in hell I was using the 5 year-old Dell Dimension for a month.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving, thanks to my dad actually developing the film in a timely fashion and getting a Photo CD.

MoeMoe looking throughly un-amused.

Just chilling.

Finals week report tomorrow.

Last night I went to the Beavers basketball game against UNLV. It was the big highlight out of conference game of the season, so it was pretty important, especially if the Beavers wanted to prove themselves as a tournament worthy team. I arrived with about thirty minutes until tipoff, with most of the 6500 some odd people arriving after that. It was on national TV and I can actually see myself a couple of times in the replay (the back of my head... oh boy!).

Well needless to say, the first half blew. The Beavers couldn't hit shit and fell behind 44-25 going into the break. Things looked bleaked. Kenny and Phil left (hahah you suckers, missed the game of the year).

Then the second half rolls around. Talk about a role reversal. Now UNLV can't hit shit and the Beavers are rolling. Gill is roarin' like back in the days of Ralph Miller and the Orange Express. Beavers pull within 47-43 before UNLV finally wakes up a little. They extend the lead back to 11 at 55-44. Kinda looked like the run was over, UNLV would finally wake up and put us away. Nope. Oregon State goes on another roll and before you know it, we have a tied ballgame at 57. A couple of possesions later Chris Stephens hits a three and the Beavers are ahead.

Holy shit. All the students are jumping up and down all over each other yelling. I almost lost my voice, it was pretty gravely and sore afterward. But it was worth it. This is basically why I went to college (that and the whole needing a future thing). Anywho, it was a crazy scene in the studen section during this comeback, much like the Boise State and Washington State football games this year.

After taking the lead with that three, the Beavers never looked back. They went on to win 69-63 after outscoring UNLV 44-19 in the 2nd half. 44-19... after being outscored 44-25 in the first half. So yeah, hopefully the Beavers play more like they did in the 2nd half the rest of the season. Their next game is next Saturday at Portland in the Chiles Center... I might go.

Last Friday I spent the day with my sister in Portland. I was supposed to get there at one o'clock so we could go see some movie, but unfortunately I didn't even wake up until 1:55pm (all that eating really takes it out of you). So I got there just before three I think... I was able to find her house without panicking like I always do, so that was nice.

Let's see, what happened when I got there? Oh yes, I said hi to my mouse, Butterscotch (did I mention in a post about giving her to my sister?). I held her for a while after finally getting her out of the kitchen hot-glove my sister put in there for her. It makes a really good nest, but once she pees and poops in there... oh god, look out.

I then met the famous Jack the Rat. I've heard so much about him but I've never been able to see him. He's my sister's roommate's rat. Very cute, very friendly, very big. I'm use to mice, so it was like holding a huge-ass mouse. Unlike my mouse, he seemed to enjoy the attention.

We then left for her roommate's work (a cafe) to get a drink (I'd try to spell her name, but I suck at that sort of thing. Kernin? Sounds like KERR-NIN). The Red and Black Cafe I think it was called... probably not but oh well. We went back and saw her, she was mixing up some granola. I helped someone with their computer... we had a drink... and then we left.

Next was to Kinko's so my sister could pick up her paycheck. I got to see her office and meet some of her co-workers so that was cool. We then went to the bank so she could cash it.

Next stop was Mier and Franks and "Santaland." To those of you unfamiliar with Santaland, it is on the 10th floor (very top of the store... the whole building is this store). Anyways, during the Holiday Season the top of this place turns into Santaland. The main highlights are Santa visits and the monorail. Oh yes, the suspended monorail from the ceiling. The thing goes in a big loop around the top of the ceiling and you even get to go through this dark tunnel with glow in the dark stars and planets. So very awesome.

Unfortunately you have to be 4'3" or shorter to ride it. So yeah, I haven't been in it for a LONG time. But I still remember it pretty well, it used to be one of the highlights of Christmas time. Of course, I remembered it being much bigger and more extrvagant, so when I visited it this time for the first time in many years, I was surprised how small it was. That going back to the whole thing everything seems cooler when you're a kid. Actually, I take that back. This is still cool, and I'm fucking jealous of those six year olds that get to ride it. Why should they have all the fun?

After that... we checked out a few stores. We went into the Apple store, but they had employees everywhere looking over your shoulder and buging you. So fuck that.

What else? Oh yeah, then we went to eat some Thai food. Let me mention that it's pitch ass dark outside and raining. And the streets are packed with cars and people since it's the day after Thanksgiving. My suburban heritage didn't prepare me for this type of driving. So that was bad, but my sister fed me Peachios to revitalize me and we survived.

Thai Thai was a very good restaurant and well priced. I was saddened by the lack of customers in the building, so hopefully their business picks up. My sister and I split orders of Pad Thai and Red Curry, both with tofu. We got them pretty spicy too and it turned out to be just perfect. So I really enjoyed it. My mouth is actually watering right now thinking about that meal. Dorm food sucks.

After that we went back to her house, petted Jack some more, watched a little bit of Star Wars on TV, and then I left. It was fun to be able to spend the whole afternoon with her... I literally think it's been four years since the last time I did that (maybe not... even was that time my parents picked me up in Starbacks downtown... I couldn't drive... so... yeah freshman year, four years).

This week is dead week, the week before finals. So nothing is going on... and I'm not really studying all that much. Oh well.

So yesterday was Thanksgiving (incase you didn't know). I forgot to bring my camera from Corvallis so unfortunately I don't have any pictures. My dad will develop the pictures he took in about 2009 so it might be a while for those. The only hope really is if my Aunt figures out how to put the pictures she took with her phone onto the computer. Then you might get some. Oh well, I shall try to describe it to the best of my abilities.

Anyways so I woke up around 1:00 feeling refreshed after my eleven hours of sleep. What seems to be happening is on the weekdays I get like six hours of sleep, but weekends I make up for the lost sleep by sleeping at least ten. So yeah, I guess it all kind of evens out. I took a shower, got my clothes on, and watched a little football. Before you know it, everyone arrived.

First my mom came with her mom (aka Grandma), then just about five minutes later my Aunt Lena rolled up with MoeMoe and my sister Adrienne. Hmm what happened next? After saying hello and everything I think I started smack-talking the Blazers with my aunt. Well, not all the Blazers really, just the dumbass Ruben Patterson. We both like the current team, they have a lot of young talent and should be good maybe next year, or in a couple of years. Martel Webster looks like the real deal, hopefully Nate will play him more.

Soon, the food came. It was good, what else can I say? Then dessert came, which was interesting. My mom, in typical mom fashion, spaced putting the sugar into the pumpkin pie. So I am sitting there eating it thinking, "something is different about this pie. I can't put my finger on it... but it tastes weird." It was still edible by all means, it just wasn't your traditional pumpkin pie. Then somehow we came to the conclusion that my mom forgot the sugar, and then she was like "oh yeah, I did forget."

What else? Time seemed to be going really slow, I remember that. We were talking, but in typical Graf fashion nobody was really listening to one another. A lot of disjointed chatter, with my dad picking up one word from someone else's conversation and going, "Umbrella? Who?". MoeMoe was looking annoyed, mostly because I think she wasn't the center of attention. I just wanted to lay down and take a nap, but I didn't.

After a while, it was decided everyone should get going, and BAM they were gone. Another Thanksgiving done, the 19th of my life. I have much fonder memories of Thanksgivings of yore, like when I was 9 or 10. Everything seemed so much cooler back then (see tomorrows'(or Sunday, or Monday's) post).

All in all it was good to see both my grandmas, my aunt, and my sister. Hopefully I'll get to see them some more when I have four weeks after after finals week in early December. Kill me.

So what happened this weekend? Ohhhhhhh, nothing to note. Very uneventful.

Anyways, last night I went to the OSU Basketball game against Prarie View A&M, which is a historical black college somewhere in the South. It was pretty close all game until a run late in the second half put the Beavers ahead for good and they cruised to a 88-71 win.

I then played basketball from 10pm-midnight at Dixon. That's always fun.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Both of my grandmas are coming over, along with my sister and my aunt. We are going to eat the turkey I got from work for Thanksgiving last year, so hopefully its still good. Yeah. This weekend I hope to play football with Max, but Sid is gone (Navy) and Stephen is gone too, so I don't know who the fourth person will be, maybe Max will have someone.

Anywho, have a safe holiday weekend everyone.

Oh yeah, Blazers won last night! On the road! Wohoo!

So what did I do today? Glad you asked:

Notice the total "editing time." That isn't editing time... that's how long I took to write the damn paper (still have to edit). 517 minutes is just over eight hours... six of which were today. Basically I worked from about 4pm to midnight on this, taking a two hour break to eat dinner and watch the Blazers (they actually won, beating the Chicago Bulls!).

So yeah, basically it was hell. I had to write a report on Business Casual Dress and the feasibility of implementing it at my imaginary company. As you can see, it took 13 pages to do. I went slightly overboard in some areas, so hopefully I can get a good grade.

On Monday I went to the Beavers basketball game against Lewis and Clark. They ran them out of the gym 110-63, but the highlight of the night was Lamar Hurd's 3/4 court bomb to end the first half. The crowd absolutely exploded when the ball went in, and it got much louder than any of the recent football games (because we blow so very, very badly).

This weekend was "Dad's Weekend" at OSU. My dad came down on Saturday morning to go to the game with me which started at 3:30.

We went and tailgated at a friend of my dad's friends RV. It was fun, I got fed for free and we were able to stay dry under a canopy type thing on the RV. It was overcast and drizzly all day, but fortunately for the football game is stayed pretty dry.

Speaking of the game, it blew. The Beavers lost AGAIN and we were way up high in the bleachers with our tickets. Anywho so that was disappointing and the Beavers are going to get blown out of the water next week in the Civil War. Oh boy, can't wait.

After that we went out to dinner at El Sol de Mexico... that was good despite the 30 minute wait to get a table because of all the dads and their kids. I did get the see the Beavers punter there, so that was nice. I bet was on the only person in the whole restaurant who knew what our punter looked like. So yeah.

Today I woke up at 2pm and have done nothing. Right now I'm just sort of waiting for dinner to come, then I might work on my math homework or something. I don't feel very with it today. How are you?

Saw that on a website and found it kind of funny, being a Survivor fan and all.

I just found out that I got...

90

on my math test. I thought I got 78. So wohoooooo. Makes up for the Astronomy 77.5% bomb (will be raised to 86.5 with corrections)

In conclusion midterms are as follows:

Families in Modern America: 96.0
Astronomy: 86.5
Math: 90.0

So all in all, I'd say a sucessful week.

That's about all that needs to be said for this weekend. Matt Moore threw 6 interceptions and fumbled the ball with a minute to go while we were in field goal range. So fuck you Matt Moore... redeem yourself at Washington.

Meanwhile, I just took my Astronomy midterm. I'm thinking a B... maybe A. I made some educated guesses on a few, so we'll see how those pan out. Overall it was harder than I anticipated.

Tomorrow I have my math midterm from 6:00pm to 7:20pm. It's going to suck. According to various people, this professor's midterms are incredibly hard... so that will be a party.

Looks like President Bush nominated another douchebag to the Supreme Court. The next few weeks should be interesting.

Today is Halloween. I don't care anymore because I don't get free candy.

Last weekend the Beavers beat #18 California on the road, so that was good.

But then this weekend they got stomped 51-28 by #8 UCLA, so that wasn't so good. It was to be expected though, so that's okay. They still have four wins and only need to win two of the next four to become bowl eligible for the fourth straight year.

College has been going good. I had my first midterm last week and scored 96/100... but it was "Families in Modern America" not Calculus or anything. That will own me. I can feel it.

Today I went and saw both Grandmas (went back to Tualatin for the weekend). They both enjoyed the company and it was good to actually drive again. Especially when the gas is free.

Great Kenny Experiment: Day IV

He actually did the bottle recycling and cardboard about two hours after I posted the first day's report. Yesterday, after I got trash bags the night before and handily set them next to the trash, he took out the trash. So, the result of my experiment: four days. Not bad. I now shall commence trying to get the trash out before it overflows so much you can't even tie the bag shut.

The Great Kenny Experiment: Day I

Well so far I've been the only one to take out the trash, recycle bottles, etc. So I'm going to let the shit pile up and see how long it takes Kenny to do anything about it.

Also notice the three shoebox sized cardboard boxes piled near the trash can. All his. Did I mention I had to empty the trash last time and couldn't even close the plastic bag it was so packed? Oh, and I had to get a new plastic bag four days later after nothing happened. Watch for day two, this could get interesting.

Last Saturday I went to the Oregon State football game against the Washington State Cougars. The first half was shaping up a lot like the Arizona State game. We were getting lit up like no other in the secondary, the offense couldn't punch it in the endzone, and the Cougs looked like they were going to embarrass us.

Then came the second half. Something happened... the CBs started looking for the ball, the offense started to roll.. and the Cougs couldn't handle the pressure. Playing cupcakes (games that are essentially over at halftime) does not prepare you for Pac-10 play.

When Sabby picked off that pass and took it to the house for a TD, the Beavers were back. We were going to win. I could feel it. The crowd came alive, and the once lifeless Beavers were jumping up and down on the sideline.

The Hass 63 yard touchdown bomb. Wow. I thought Moore was going to be sacked and you could almost hear the collective groan of Beaver Nation. But no, Moore jukes Derting and LAUNCHES the ball downfield. Everyone takes a breath... silence. The ball falls into Hass' hands and all hell breaks loose. Holy crapola, the Beavers lead 37-33. Just watching the crowd in the background of that replay... wow. The place exploded.

The Beaver defense then clamps down and stops the Cougs with a few INTs. Reser was rocking ala Boise State towards the end and with the 10 yard QB sneak, the game is offically over. The east side gives the "croc chomp" right back to the Cougar crowd as time runs out.

Another great come from behind win. It looked so dim at halftime, but what an electric second half. The most exciting half of football I've seen since the 98 Civil War. Great game to attend, once that I will never forget.

Oregon State 44, Washington State 33

http://oregonstate.edu/~graft/

Well, it's been over a week since I've posted. I decided to get off the whole "every Monday" thing... yeah. I'll try to post more, it's just that I've been pretty busy.

Last weekend was the football game versus Arizona State. Oregon State got beat pretty bad, but it was still fun. This weekend's game against Washington State should be a big one, and I expect it to be pretty close like Boise State. Should be fun. And it's almost here!

Classes so far have been good. I'm really happy I took Astronomy, not only does it appear to be very easy (no homework), but it's something that actually interests me. So when the professor announces we're going to spend a whole lecture on each planet, lots of people moan, but I'm like "yay!". Anywho, I'm also in MTH241, or "Calculus for Business." So far it's just review and has been easy. I expect it to get harder, but nothing that will blow my brains. I know a few people in there so we can study together and whatnot.

I also have "Modern American Families" class. It's very easy, and pretty interesting. You basically have to show up and have a tenth of your brain working. The professor is very blunt and to the point, so it's excellent. Upsets the more sheltered in the class, which is fun to watch. Anywho, that class also has minimal homework. I'm also in a "college adjustment" class worth 1 credit with that same teacher. Basically you show up and get an A, so yay.

There is still one class I have not been to. WR214, or better understood as "Writing for Business." It only meets once a week, but for 2 hours and 50 minutes. It starts at 7pm and goes to 9:50pm. So that will be a marathon. But with the quarter system, that means I only have to go to it 10 times and then I'm done. Probably will be my hardest class in terms of homework/actually having to apply myself, but it will be fine. I tested out of all freshman required writing/literature classes by taking the AP English test this last spring. So basically I'm getting my sophomore writing stuff out of the way and will have only one more writing class after this one.

College has been good and I've been enjoying it. The dorm life is good as well, it's not that bad once you get settled in and adjusted to not living in 2200 square feet. We also discovered the West Dining Center, which is a really nice place to eat, albeit a bit of a hike (10 minutes).

Decided to just do a quick post. I've been busy moving into the dorm and stuff.

http://www.oregonstate.edu/~graft/DSCN1906.JPG

Still have some work to do... lofting the beds and such. So far its been fun. School offically starts next Monday, so until then, we don't have much to do except hang out.

Since I'm lazy, I'll just transplant a post from a message board I wrote up about Saturday's game:

http://oregonstate.edu/~graft/

Well, things certainly looked bad to start as BSU jumped ahead 14-0 and visions of last year were in the minds of many Beaver fans. But, OSU fought back and won it in the final minutes, something that has not happened since that magical 2000 season.

The hail was wacky.. so big it almost hurt. Biggest hail I think I've seen. It, along with the massive downpour, only seemed to encourage the crowd more.

Speaking of the crowd, boy did it get loud. Especially late in the fourth after OSU had tied it 27-27 and was ahead 30-27. The new east grandstand can really roar and it was a big homefield advantage.

As for the running game, the negative yard plays had disappeared. Last year it seemed every other play was stopped for a loss of two. This year, it seems the Beavers are getting 2-3 years regularly, with a big gain every once in a while. Should get that up to 4-5 yards, but IT IS better. Riley just knows the pass is more effective at this point.

Okay, back to non-copied post Thomas. It was a really fun game, the most fun game I've ever been too. Civil War is still my favorite, but this game was an absolute blast. Being in the student section is so much more fun, you can be rowdy and loud, jump up and down, scream obsenities at the refs... oh man, it's great. The new Reser can get REALLY loud too, and it showed it teeth in the fourth quarter as the Broncos looked helpless to move the ball.

I would make fun of Mike for the Broncos losing, but since he's no longer a BSU student *cough*ahem*cough* I'll refrain.

Me and Stephen pimped out the car, take a look:

http://www.oregonstate.edu/~graft/DSCN1870.JPG

http://www.oregonstate.edu/~graft/DSCN1872.JPG

Anyways, it was a fun time.

I'll try to get off this streak of once-a-week blog postings, and I'm sure the start of my college life will aide in that.

On Saturday I went down to the season opener for Oregon State football against Portland State. It was the first game in the new look Reser Stadium, which was pretty impressive.

We got there around 11:00 so we could watch the opening ceremony, which included Dennis Erickson and Ken Simonton. That was sort of neat, seeing a bunch of former players and everything. We then headed to Stephen's apartment to get his keys then wandered back towards the stadium. I crissoned a tiolet with it's first offical job, then we watched the players warm up. We met Jeremey Weis' drunk sister at the game as well.

As for the game itself, it was fun, but not highly entertaining. Portland State is 1-AA so Oregon State was expected to win big and did. Can't really tell much from the game, so we'll see this week against Boise State. It should be a good game and I think Oregon State will pull it out.

PICTURES FROM THE GAME

I got off work at 11:00am Friday after going in at 8:00am to get ready for Roseburg. Basically I had to pack my bag, find the tent, etc. Max got to my house around noon and then we went shopping at Fred Meyers. We wanted to buy food so we wouldn't eat Shirley's, the former caregiver to my grandma. Now she just lives in the house and looks over it while my grandma is in Portland at the care facility. After buying some hot dogs, sandwich stuff, lettuce for salad and some candy, we were off down I-5 towards good ole' Roseburg.

We took the Sutherlin exit, bought some milk at a mini-mart, and then headed towards Garden Valley road. I hadn't been since last summer, but I seemingly remembered every bend in the road on the 10 minute journey from the freeway to the farm.

Shirley wasn't there when we arrived, but thankfully my mom gave us a key so we got in okay. After unpacking, we headed towards the lagoon to swim. We also brought along an inflatable raft and tried to fill it up, but unfortunately one of the air nozzles was messed up and therefore we couldn't really use it. So we gave up on that, and went to the diving rock instead.

You have to cross the lagoon (a little bay or inlet) to the other side, in which you find the normal Umpqua, just starting to pick up speed for the rapids ahead. It's not very fast though, easily crossed to the other side, which is protected from the current by large slabs of rock stacked vertical. Anyways, we found this one rock which is really high, and the water is practically right below, far deep enough to be safe. So we launched off that a couple of times, then headed back, swam a little in the lagoon, and called it a night once the sun fell below Woodruff Mountain.

For dinner that night I made Penne Alfredo, which is your typical Afredo sauce, except on penne pasta. Many people think the dish is always called "Fettuccine Alfredo," but Fettuccine simply denotes the pasta (often used for this dish), while Alfredo denotes the type of sauce. Anywho, it was good and Shirley enjoyed it too.

We then decided to sleep on the porch for the night (one, to avoid using linens so Shirley didn't have to do wash, and two, because the upstairs was hella hot). The view of the stars was spectacular, and we went a good hour or so on the roof just gazing up at them. There is hardly any light pollution over there, so the sky was amazing to look at. Reminded me of houseboating on Lake Shasta, during which time we spent every night just starting at the sky. A couple shooting stars and satelittes kept us occupied while looking.

The next morning we woke up early, very cold. It had dewed on our sleeping bags, faces, pillows, everything. So we crawled inside and fell asleep on the beds for another four hours or so. We then went downstairs, ate some bagels we bought, and headed down to the river.

There we found our normal campsite overrun with grass. The grass had been creeping up the area for years, we always had ample sand space though. Well, in the two year absense of Max and I, the place had almost completely grown over. Only a little corner let someone know the place was once sandy and soft. Anyways, we got a shovel and a rake and started clearing. Under the grass it was still sandy, as a majority of that area is, so we had to dig up the chuncks of grass and then rake them out. We worked for two hard hours or so to clear a space we found exceptable for camping. We basically turned the clock back in that area three years, so yay.

We then had to spiff the place up as usual, so Max found big old logs to lay around the perimeter of the site. It made it look really nice and seperated the sandy oasis from the grassy area. We then put up a "fence" of sticks, every half foot or so. This is mainly for looks, and to further distinguish the area as our camp site. I then had the idea of putting a rock against each stick to make it look even better, so we did that. We then made a staircase, leading to a "gate" (basically a hole in the fence with a stick across it). Max lined the staircase with two sticks to better distinguish it, and viola, there you go. A sexy campsite from nothing in no more than three hours.

The rest of the day we spent swimming and hanging out at the river. Around six we headed up for dinner, which was Caesar salad made from scratch. I threw the dressing together as usual, and it turned out really, really yummy. After inhaling that and becoming garlic breathing dragons, we headed back down to the river and our campsite. We built a fire and spent the rest of the night just hanging out and again admiring the stars.

We woke up the next morning refreshed and energized, not waking up due to severe coldness. So that was nice. We headed up to the house, ate breakfast, and then decided to try and fix the raft again. Well, our idea didn't work, air still leaked out, but we were kinda far downriver after deciding to bail. So we had to walk along the rocky shoreline with no shoes lugging a big, heavy inflatable raft. After awhile, I said "fuck it" and decided to just get wet and swim it back to the lagoon (we were in street clothes). So after that, it was about time for lunch. We had sandwiches and soup, then headed back down the river.

It was hot that day, probably got to about 95 degrees, so the water felt great. We explored the other side of the river, finding a pond with lots of little cute, chubby tadpoles. I hoped they became frogs before their water source dried out. Anywho, once we were done with that we floated down river back to our normal swimming site. We then decided to play our little game, which consists of trying to hit a little island near the other size of the river with rocks. It's a lot harder than it looks, and after at least twenty minutes or so, Max finally hit it. Mind you, we had probably chucked about eighty rocks by then. Anyways, after hitting it and celebrating, my very next throw also found the target. So it was a bam-bam type of play.

We then cooked hot dogs over the fire for dinner, three each, and ate some Hot Tamales and pretzels. Good campin' food I'm telling you. Another night spent by the fire, just hanging out. Enjoying the roar of the rapids and the great night sky. Both of us were exhausted and we went to bed at about 10 (didn't really have a clock, just a guess) which was the earliest for me in months.

The next morning we woke up and went golfing at Stewart Park Golf Course. It's the local municipal and pretty charming. The course design is interesting, as well as the clientelle. Anyways, I was able to win by 5 shots, after being tied with 2 to play. Max had a little breakdown at the end that aided in that happening. After him kicking my ass the last two times, it was nice to play well again.

After golf, we headed back, ate lunch, and then went to take down the campsite. After a sad farewell, back up to the house where we packed up and then said goodbye to Shirley. We rolled out around 3:30 in the afternoon, stopped for gas in Cottage Grove, and we home at exactly 6:05 (which I called right after leaving the gas station... "we're going to get home at 6:05").

In conclusion, it was really fun. I was glad to get back, as we had missed the last two summers. I had been, but Max wasn't able to go, so it was good to get the tradition going again. Thus ends the longest blog entry ever.

PICTURES

I'm off to Roseburg until late Monday night, so ta-ta until then. I'll try to take some pictures and will do a write-up of course when I get back.

Back in Feburary when we booked a week in Lake Chelan, I didn't even know where it was. Well, it's in Eastern Washington and a six hour drive. Six hours that was completely worth it. It was one of the better vacations I've taken in recent years.

We arrived about 40 minutes before Kenny's family, during which time I took the first swim in the lake. It was the clearest natural body of water I've ever seen, and the perfect temperature. It ranged between 71-74 degrees, which was perfect to cool you down but not be too chilly.

We really didn't do anything the whole week... sure we went on a few cocktail cruises, went tubing, but most of the time was spent lounging around on the swim deck, swimming, eating, etc. Normal vacation stuff. The house had a deck that extended into the water (see pictures) so you sit on that and then dive right in. It was nice. The dock also had a diving board, and I took some time lapse pictures of people going off which are included in the pictures.

On Thursday we woke up at 7am to go to Stehekin, a city at the very end of the northern side of the lake. It is only acessible by water plane or boat, so it was very remote. It was a choppy ride up, the wind was blowing and everything, but we arrived. They are known for their bakery, which is 1.7 miles from the public dock, so we started to walk there. Then a woman offered us a ride their in her old pickup, so that was nice. After eating a scone, it was a short hike back to the boat.

Later that day we rented a JetSki, and rode that around. So that was fun. Hmmm, what else? Not much I don't think. Oh yeah. They had an HDTV and I watched ESPN in HD. So that was nice. Anywho, here are the pictures which are in a 58MB zip:

Chelan Pictures

Not much to report... okay one thing, but I'll save that until the end. I was sorting through my old ClarisWorks files last night when I stumbled upon a vocab assignment from sophomore year. Observe:

sacrilegious
SACR- holy
My friend Kevin freaks out if you do or say anything sacrilegious.
sacred- of great importance, holy

A lot of the sentences I made up were really odd. Most try to relate football to totally unrelated vocabulary. Can you relate "manacle" to football? I can.

I'm going to Lake Chelan this Saturday till next Saturday with Kenny's family. Should be a rip-roarin' good time. Hopefully someone else has the balls to actually intertube over the speed of 5mph this time. The six hour drive is going to suck... will bring my laptop and hopefully the battery will last long enough to get me throught most of it.

Guess I'll throw a little update at you:

Wisdom Teeth:

All is well. The incisions in my gum have healed up and they are back to normal. The only thing now is my face is still a little puffy/bruised from the procedure. It should go away in a day or two and I'll be back to normal. I have a follow-up appointment with the doctor tomorrow.

Work:

Everything is going fine. The days are dragging on, but I'm dealing with it. We had a big audit today so I had to vacuum all around our "cage" but that wasn't too bad. I'm just counting the wire... we had a party for Kevin on Wednesday. It was a going away surprise luncheon. We got free food. That is always a good thing.

Bowling:

I went bowling and shot the following scores... 124, 110, 172. That's right. One hundred, seventy frickin' two. I think I only had two open frames... about three strikes, the rest spares. I was knocking down 8-9 pins on the first bowl constantly, and then for some reason I was able to convert many of the spares. So yay for me! I won some money off that game, so that is always a good thing.

Other Stuff:

The last couple of days I've been working pretty hard on my annual Beaver football video. I make a video every year with highlights from last year/previous years games... the OSU message boards always enjoy it and now call me "video guy" most the time. Pinnacle Studio has been acting up a little, but thank goodness for the freeware app "AudioDub," which is able to convert the files to a more manageable video and extract the audio to .wav files.

Well, let's give the wisdom teeth report. It wasn't very bad at all. I went in at 8:00am, got the debriefing from the doc, then had the surgery.

He basically said I came in at a perfect time, my wisdom teeth were in great position and hadn't created roots yet. Once you hit 22-25 years old your wisdom teeth lay big roots like molars and surface. Most people don't have room and this cause a lot of pain. Also if you take them out at this stage, you're playing very close to a nerve and often times it's bruised during the procedure and then it feels like your face is asleep for a week or two while it heals.

I was worried about big holes where the teeth were, but since mine hadn't really surfaced yet, they stitched me up and there will be no holes. On older people, including my friend who isn't older, they just came faster, they have these holes back there that take a month or two to heal. So I won't be having those.

I then went to the operating room thing and got my first IV ever. It just felt like a little shot, then nothing, as I watched fluid flow into me. It was the sleepy stuff... I was waiting for it to take effect, noticing that I really didn't feel any effect from it. They then put this mask thing over my nose, I remember the nurse tying down my left arm, then it was all over.

Next thing I know I'm in the car crying my head off.

"I don't remember going into the car." I said, bursting into laughter.

Hahahahahahha, that was hailarious. Soo.... damn... sad. I burst into tears, only to realize how funny it was and started to laugh hyserically. I had no control over my body. That was kinda sad, so I cried. Then I burst into laughter at the absurdness of the situation.

I went back and forth between crying and laughing all the way home. Apparently, that is a common side effect coming out of the anethesia. I wasn't crying out of pain or anything, so don't worry.

In fact, I haven't really been in any pain yet. The fact I'm hopped up on Vicodin might be a cause of that. I can't eat very hard foods, that does tend to hurt, but I can eat mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, jello, and stuff that doesn't require much chewing.

Today I am very swollen and look like John McCain... take a look:

With Flash
Without Flash

Oh wow, I need to clean the mirror. So anyways, hopefully I will be less swollen tomorrow and back to normal by mid-week. It wasn't all I cracked it up to be, I was very alert and watching TV/reading all Friday after having the surgery. I've hear of people who were just pain knocked out and slept for two days. I think I just went in at the right time and got really lucky.

Tomorrow I get my wisdom teeth out at 8:00 in the morning. I'm getting totally knocked out, won't be concious, so it will be a party. Then I'm pretty much couch-ridden for two days, eating nothing but liquidy foods and taking pain meds. Hopefully I'll feel okay pretty quickly, then I'm done with it for the rest of my life.

So Saturday I was scrambling to get people to go to the Timbers soccer game against Sunderland AFC. They are part of the English Premier League, the best soccer league in the whole world. And they were coming to play the little A-League Portland Timbers. Anyways, it was quite the game, people were very excited and it drew the largest crowd in Portland Timbers history...

15,376

...came to watch at PGE Park. Anyways, my dad had planned to go it seemed and didn't tell me, so we ended up going as a family. We got some decent seats in the second "level" to watch the Portland Timbers battle it out:

Crowd settles in for a wonderful match of footy.


The hell kind of call is that!??!


The Timbers Army was out in full force and very loud. Created a great environment, as always. Timber Jim was absent unfortunately.


No game is complete without passing around an inflatable doll dressed in your team's colors.

It ended in a 0-0 draw (yay soccer!... it was entertaining though) and both teams got a huge cheer for their efforts. After the game the Timbers ran around the field and saluted all the fans. Good times.

Guess I should give a little bit of an update.

I took off work Thursday to go down to Oregon State for their START program, which is basically orientation.



Kenny drove us, and parents were encouraged to come so my mom and his mom came along too. We got there, checked in, and then went up to our dorm for the night (it's an overnight thing). It was really small... and looked like it was ported out of the 70s or something. Kinda scared both of us a little, thinking of staying in such a small space.

After that we all went to an opening session. We sung the fight song, listened to speakers, the usual crap. We then broke into individual groups and played little team building games. Woooooo fun. I should mention that it was about 95 degrees out and high humidity. Almost reminded me of Florida, but not quite as bad. Still, it was pretty hot and none of the buildings had or turned on A/C.

We then all gathered for dinner, which was chicken, pasta salad, normal salad, bread, and brownies. It was pretty good, so after filling our bellies up on that we went to a building to take the math placement test. Everyone was packed into this little auditorium, it was about 80 in there, people were sweating, BO smell was in the air... and we had to take a math test. I thought I bombed it but ended up doing pretty good, good enough to skip the first level of math required for my business degree.

After that we looked for this other guy's apartment off campus. We couldn't find it and ended up walking a really long ways and almost being late for dorm tours. This is where we actually got to tour the dorm we'd be staying in. And that intial fear after seeing Callahan faded because Bloss is much nicer. It's newer (so new Virtual Earth doesn't even have it) and three feet longer that your standard dorm room! Yay! We also share a bath with the adjacent room, so its not a bathroom at the end of the hall thing. We plan to loft both our beds, put a couch under one, put computers and the TV under the other.

http://oregonstate.edu/uhds/halls_coops/overview/building.php?bldg=bloss

After that we headed back to our crappier dorm and slept for the night. We actually had three people in there, we let another person we know stay there so he didn't have to sleep with a stanger. So yeah, it was hot and I didn't get very good sleep. But that's allright.

We had appointments that afternoon to see advisors and set our schedule, but they weren't until about 1:00. So we went over and hung out at the parent's hotel room, watching TV and taking a little nap. Pretty soon we headed back to campus and met our advisors. I was surprised that I placed into MTH241, which is Calculus. Wohoo, that should be fun. I'm also taking: Astronomy, Writing in Business, Families in Modern America, and a "transition class." All in all 15 credits, so it should be interesting.

We then rode home and that was all. Should be fun this fall.

I'll write about last night tomorrow for the sake of spreading things out and making it look like I'm updating more than I am.

http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=157096

"Carolis also announced that Hayden’s Lakefront Grill of Tualatin will serve as the primary caterer for the Loge section. Hayden’s is located in the Century Hotel, which is owned by former Beaver All-American basketball player Charlie Sitton. Hayden's features award-winning Chef Mark Bernetich’s special blend of Northwest cuisine and International flair."


Chef Mark also has a knack for burning the butter during a cooking demonstration in my home-ec class and sending the whole middle school into a fire evacuation.

He was actually pretty cool though, come in every week to show us something new, glad to hear his restaurant is doing well. We never eat there because it freaking expensive.

Good weather today. Good weather yesterday. Good weather for a while it looks like. Yay, finally summer-like temperatures! Need to get out and play some golf or tennis now.

Went out to dinner last night with my mom and my sister. It was a celebration because my sister got a job at Kinko's. Now that she's graduated, my dad's insurance no longer covers her, so she needed a job with benefiets. Her other job didn't have them, but this does. So she's going to work there while she attends graduate school and pays for that. We'll see how she does. It's only $9.00 to start, but hopefully she'll move up. Hopefully her Bachelors can get her a decent job somewhere too, but you really need a Masters to go anywhere in her field.

I've actually worked all five hours all this week. I'm going to get my first full paycheck one month into summer. Wohooo. That is of course assuming that I work all of tomorrow. I think I will, for some reason it's not dragging on as long as it used to.

Hmmm, I think that's all. We should get the TV back from the repair shop tomorrow so MCE can stop freezing trying to be the TV.

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a while. That's partly due to the fact nothing has happened. I've played tennis, went to a Portland Beavers game, went to my friend's soccer game at the MJCC Indoor Court (looked like fun) and watched them score a 7-6 upset. Other than that... ummm, nothing really. I've been working, then coming home and playing tennis or trying to get a home run derby or something together. Not much. So yes, how are you?

Yesterday for the fourth I went over to Kenny's house. We watched people in his neighborhood set off fireworks then went to Juergen's Park and watched the Tigard (Cook Park?) display. It was pretty cool but I think they had some wiring issues or something because it stopped... then a few randomly went off in the next few minutes. No big finale or anything. Anywho, we had s'mores and stuff so it was good. That's about it.

I find that I don't really care about the 4th anymore. It used to be so fun, my dad would allot me $20 for fireworks, and I'd go out and shop and get them. Lighting them was a thrill... oh yes. Now, I wouldn't want to waste my money on them, and frankly, they are annoying. I find the big displays cool, but the "Killer Bees" and the "Picolo Pete's" don't do it for me. They are loud and annoying and not that spectacular *puts down cane*. But seriously, talk about needless pollution and waste. Yikes, when I was driving home I felt like I was in a fog in some neighborhoods. I also maybe don't care because I'm not particularily found of the direction of my country either, but I won't start on that one.

On Father's Day, we went on a hike to Pittock Mansion via Forest Park (okay, yes, this is over a week old, but still, you know you want to hear about it).

We parked and hiked down to the trial head. We didn't look at which trial we took (always a good idea). So we wander around trying to find Pittock Mansion (if those of you who don't know, it's this big house on top of a hill overlooking Portland). We end up getting slightly lost, wandering around in neighborhood, climbing up Division Street where there's no sidewalk, etc. Finally we find it, and we're pretty tired.

So we took some pictures and enjoyed the scenery. Then we started back down. Well, we didn't remember what trail we took so we got lost. My dad was sure it was one way, but it was obviously the exact oppisite way. He was being stubborn so we went along with him, my mom and I cracking up as we followed him. He knew he was wrong after a while but kept walking because he didn't want to admit it. Finally we mentioned it to him, he got pissed but quickly turned around because he knew we were right. We finally found ourselves on a street and had to hike a dozen or so blocks to the car.

Picture One- Mt. Hood & Portland

Picture Two- Overlooking Downtown

Picture Three- Pittock Mansion

Well, I got back Tuesday morning around 11:00am. I was running on no sleep (I went two days without sleep!) so I was understandably tired. I went to bed at 6:00pm and didn't wake up until 7:00 the next morning. Then Wednesday night I was exhausted from the return to work and still recuperating from the whole trip so I didn't feel like posting. You all are lucky I'm doing this right now, as I could sleep in an instant.

The flight left the Tuesday before last at like six in the morning. We were all supposed to meet up at the curb at 4:45am. Well, we woke up at 4:15am. My mom's alarm clock didn't work and I didn't set mine. So we got sorta of lucky by waking up randomly. We rushed to get to the airport, but my mom drove like a maniac and we were only five minutes late. No biggie. I wasn't even the worst. At the time I arrived, one kid was just waking up. He essentially ran onto the plane right as they were closing the door.

I didn't really know anyone there, a few sorta, but nobody real well. I got paired with cool roommates though and got along real good with them. I'm glad I wasn't in the other boy's room... not that I don't like them personally, I just don't get along with those types of personalties well. Funny how they seem to pair people alike even though they don't try.

That Tuesday we arrived in Orlando at like five something, so we all settled in and went out to eat at Bahama Breeze. It was decent, we went there on my trip to Las Vegas as well, but not worth the twenty bucks. Very spendy. Also, the server spilled my "Lemon Breeze" and then proceeded to spill two people's cokes all over them while trying to clean up my spill which I was able to avoid. Quite the fun time.

Wednesday we just spent all day going around to the various theme parks. We hit MGM first, not really doing anything, then Animal Kindgom, hitting their rapids ride. It was fun and I got a little wet but not too bad. We then went on a really lame ass roller coaster. One of those mouse track ones, but with a spinny cart. It was pretty jerky but still sorta fun. We then went to Epcot, not finding much there (at this point we weren't willing to wait for more than about two minutes). We then went to the Magic Kingdom and rode the Indy Speedway. It's a bunch of cars with a top speed of about 10mph on a track. Weeeeee... anyways that was lame so we went to Space Mountain. The line was out of the building so we got FastPasses, thinking we would return but never did.

We got back to the hotel room and ordered pizza from Sal's. We had been in the hotel room when all of a sudden a piece of paper flies from under the door. Sal's seemed to know we were hungry. Anyways, we got two large pizzas and some hot wings. It was good. We'd tap the Sal's faucet two more times before the trip was up.

The next day was spent entirely in the Magic Kingdom. We left at about eleven in the morning, myself sleeping in, the other's going to some Chinese food buffet across the street. At the Magic Kindgom we got some FastPasses, waited in some lines, and accepted that DisneyWorld isn't a thrill ride type of place. We did have to wait about two hours for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as thunderstorms shut it down. I convinced everybody to wait it out though, and I guess it was worth it.

We also rode on Space Mountain three times. Our last time took too long and we missed the Western Regional Meeting. Oh no! We were happy to get out of that one.

Friday we all spent the day in the hotel, watching HBO and consuming cans of pop. We basically did nothing. Seriously. Dale did build a tower of pop cans that was quite impressive. You can see that in the pictures.

Saturday was competition day. We all left our hotel at eleven (we were in the "overflow hotel") to get to the official hotel to take our test. I took Accounting II, and I thought it was pretty easy. Not that I was going to place or anything, but I felt pretty good with the way I did. The rest of the day we didn't do much, checked out a few campaign booths of people running for office, etc.

Sunday we layed around again. I slept in quite a while. Nothing exciting happened. I was going to go swimming but it started to thunder and they had to close the pool down. I think we ordered Sal's again, quite delicious once more.

Monday we were originally going to go to Universal Studios. I had to talk them out of this, it would be about eighty bucks per person (transportation included) for just a few rides we really cared about. We had a freakin Disney Park pass that could get us into all four of their parks for free. So after some convincin' it was decided we stay at DisneyWorld. We went to Epcot for the whole day and discovered it had a lot to offer. TestTrack, Mission: Space, and one other thing I forgot. It was fun anywho.

We had to leave at 4:00 because we had the award's ceremony at seven. We got all dressed up and went as a group. Two people in my room got awards. Dan got 10th place in Accounting I, while Dale ("Date" according to the announcer/graphics) got a remarkable 2nd in Technology Concepts. With all his ramblings about computers/technology throughout the week it wasn't a surprise. Jessica Ice from Oregon won the position as National Treasuer, so Oregon has another officer again (Hilary Neidermeyer, the National President for this year was from Oregon).

The ceremony lasted three hours and was pretty boring. We cheered for Oregon people but that was about all you could do. Bradford Williams, a black kid from Chicago, was running for President. He should have won, his qualifications were out of this world and the competition wasn't very good. I met him at his booth and he seemed down to earth. He's been active in getting the public schools funded in Chicago, got a $11,000 grant for FBLA in Chicago, was on Obama's election team, etc. Somehow another guy won and it was a disgrace. I think the bloody South had a hand in that one.

Anyways after the Awards Ceremony we went back to the hotel. Our plane left at 5:00am so we had to leave the hotel at 3:00am. It was already 11:00pm, so there was no point in sleeping. We stayed up until the bus came and I didn't get to sleep on the plane (thus the two days without sleep).

All in all, the trip was really fun and much better than I expected. DisneyWorld was a blast and the experience was really cool.

Florida was too humid though. It's really disgusting. You're covered with moisture when you first step outside and it's like breathing in a suana. I don't know why anybody would want to live there.

HERE ARE THE PICTURES

Well, I'm having a good time here at FBLA Nationals in Orlando. The first two days we just explored the theme parks, the third we kinda sat around and just went to the opening ceremony. Today I took my test, Accounting II, and I think I did okay. Not top 10 material, but good for me. Tomorrow is another free day, so I dunno what I'll do. Monday is the closing ceremony, and then Tuesday at the crack of dawn we leave.

Well, I'm off to FBLA Nationals in Orlando for a week. I'll be back next Tuesday with a full report.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20050618/tc_pcworld/121416

Is it me or should cities be able to provide internet service? Sounds good to me. It's absolutly ridiculous that you have to pay mega-giant Comcast Corportation $49.95/mo to get cable internet (plus the "modem rent" charge). Although DSL has gotten cheaper, down to about $29.95/mo, it should still probably be lower. Broadband in Canada is the price of normal dial-up here in the United States (about twenty a month). I don't know what they are doing different, but I have to think lack of huge mega-corporations controlling everything has something to do with it. Let the city compete. Maybe they're ten bucks a month cheaper, but they don't have as good as customer service (Comcast has quite possibly the worst customer service I've ever seen despite those commercials). Let the consumer decide. The city would SUCK at a lot of services, but this... this I think is something they could do pretty well.

BEAVERS WIN SUPER REGIONAL!
Advance to College World Series for the first time since 1952.

The Beavers beat USC 10-8 this afternoon to win the third and final game of the super regional in Corvallis. They won 10-4 on Saturday, but blew a 8-3 lead yesterday in a 9-8 loss. That set up today's third game, with the winner advancing to Omaha. Oregon State lead this game 7-3 only to give up 4 runs in the sixth and be tied at 7. Kinda looked like a repeat of yesterday until they scored three more to make it 10-7 and were able to hold on. They'll play tournament #1 seed Tulane Saturday.

In other news, I started working longer today. I only stayed three hours today, mostly because I wanted to watch the baseball game, and the fact it was already nearly 3 since I got in late (sleep is good). Tomorrow I hope to get in there at 8 and stay until 1. That worked good last summer (see blog archives for desperate posts of boredom from work).

Well, I just got back and I'm soaked. It was a true Oregonian's graduation, thunder rumbling in the background, huge rain drops slamming down on everyone except those few hundred lucky to be under the stadium roof. But, let's start with Thursday.

It was my last day of school. It really felt like any other, I went to accounting, worked on the simulation and turned it in. In English we watched a groups final presentation on their book. In Physics we had a slidehow and awards to recap our two years in there. When I left the school to begin that final trek down the hill, I was happy, but I wasn't freaking out. It was more of a "yaymeh."

Friday we had the Senior Breakfast at 8:15am. There they present the senior awards (most likely to... that bullshit) and you get a free breakfast. Then they trap us and make us go through a rehersal of the graduation. We went ALL the way through, all the names, and it took probably 90 minutes. After that we were free for the day. I went to work and then a big graduation party that was for like five people.

I woke up this morning, ate some food, then headed off to my graduation. I had to be there at noon, but it didn't start until one. We, as a class, decided we were going to do it outside no matter what. Well, about 10 minutes before it starts we are told it is raining hard and that our chairs are soaked. Great. We get outside and it's only a light drizzle but our chairs are pretty wet. We shake them off and then sit down.

This year 412 people graduated, by far a record. Looking at how many damn freshmen there are, I'm sure that will probably be broken, if not next year, the year or so after. The principal spoke, the NINE valevictorians spoke, the chior sang, a person played the piano, yada yada yada. Some people smuggled beach balls in their robes and were trying to blow them up without calling attention to themselves. So we were hitting the balls around before security came and took them away.

Then they started reading names. On and on they went. Finally they got to the G's and my row stood up and approached the podium. Luckily it was under a tent, and the very moment I crossed into the dryness it started to pour like I've never seen it. We had a five minute delay were people were ducking for cover and the sound of the rain was defeaning. All the graduates, except me and about ten other people, soaked that all up. I was already soaked from head to toe though, so I don't think it would matter. Finally they read my name, I got my diploma, I didn't trip going down the stairs and went back to my seat.

Anywho, after a while everyone received their diploma and we stood up and went through the "gauntlet of teachers." After that we roamed around the field until we found our families, mingled a little, then left.

Some pictures for your enjoyment:



I'm somewhere in there.


No more high school. Wohoo!

Well, in 70 minutes my graduation ceremony will commence. I'll have a report Sunday Night, because I have the all-night Grad Party then my own party on Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050609/ap_on_re_us/army_recruiting_woes

I wonder why? :

In other news, tonight was the Senior Awards and Desert presentation. Basically they tempt you with a piece of cake and then lock you in the gym for two hours. I got the National Merit Scholar Candiate Award, Honors School Award, and the Presidential Education Award. I loved the applause after reading the letter from the President. Many people abstaining and a bunch of half-assed claps.

Anywho, that was fun and all. Tomorrow is my last day of school. The high school era will end... yay. Can't wait to get into summer and eventually, OSU.

BEAVERS ROUT ST. JOHN'S 19-3; ADVANCE TO SUPER REGIONAL.

The Beavers put on a hitting exhibition Sunday against the hapless St. John's Red Storm in a 19-3 pounding. It was 19-0 before Beavers manager Pat Casey decided to put in the reserves. With the win, the Beavers advance to the super regional against either Pepperdine or USC. They should host, since they are a higher seed than either one of those schools.

In other news, I went to Max's graduation party thing today. It was fun, they had some good food, and I brought old movies. So we yucked it up, watching such masterpieces as Home Alone 4, Trust Your Eyes, and Survivor 2: The Umpqua Wild (mind you this is before the second Survivor even came out).

This is my last week of high school. Thursday will be my last day, then on Friday we have the senior breakfast and graduation practice. I can't wait for it all to be over and start my four month summer. I'm going to be working 5 hours a day starting next week, so I will be rolling in the bling once more. With all the money I'm spending on going to FBLA Nationals in Orlando and this new computer and stuff, it will be good to bring that account balance back up.

Hmmmm, what else? I think that's it. Yeah, I should go to bed anyways. It's after 1:00am and I have school tommorrow. Not that it really matters, I could probably not show up all of next week and still graduate, but meh.

BEAVERS WIN AGAIN!

The Oregon State Beavers defeated St. John's University 11-1 Saturday night. They now move into the championship game, where if they win, they advance to the Super Regionals. If they lose, there will be one more game played to decide it, since Oregon State would have only one loss.

In other news, I went to a friend's graduation party today. It was fun... there was lots of food and lots of people I knew. Tomorrow I'm going to Max's party, but its really early in the morning (aka 11:30am) so I should get to bed.

BEAVERS BEAT OHIO STATE IN REGIONAL FIRST ROUND!

Shane McFeely hits a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning as the #2 Oregon State Beavers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes 4-3. Beavers will now play St. John's University in the winners bracket of the double elimination tournament. Gametime is set for 6:00pm tomorrow (Saturday June 4th).

Well today at work my department (Inventory) won the "Clean Sweep" award, which is giving to the cleanest department. I think the company is just trying to cut back on expenses (winning department gets a free lunch) because we only have two people. When someone like coiling wins it, that's 40 people to feed. Our department is pretty messy and hasn't had a wet mop to it in years probably, so I dunno.

Wish I had more to post, but my life is boring right now. Should pick up next week when I finally graduate.

As previously mentioned, it was been ultra hot here the last few days. 92 on Thursday and I think just about the same yesterday. Today is overcast and a bit cooler, but kind of muggy. I like things around 80, not much hotter.

Hmmm, what has been going on? Basically senioritis has taken over my life and I no longer care about anything. Even non-school related things... I don't care. Had a homerun derby today at school... jacked two out of the softball field. Oh yeah.

But seriously, that's all that's happened in the past week or so. I'm just counting down the days not until till summer starts, but I can leave Tualatin.

Too hot to blog. I'll post something this weekend.

Well, something interesting happened tonight. I was going about on my merry way, when all of a sudden Kevin mentions waffles. "Who invented waffles?" he asked. I don't know; and frankly I don't care. Little did he know, that one phrase got me a hankerin' for some good ol' fashioned waffles.

I go downstairs at about ten (at night.. fifty minutes ago) to look for the waffle mix. We don't have any; blast. I'm craving waffles now, I can't live without them. Must.... have.... waffles. So finally I decide I'm going to make them from scratch. I get out our cookbook (circa 1960) and look up waffles. It has something in it we don't have. D'oh. Oh well, some good ol' flapjacks will do. We have everything! Wohoo! So I start mixing the batter from scratch, and before you know it, I'm done.

The results:

(Click to enlarge)

Anyways, it was completely worth it and they turned out REALLY good. The instructions called for one beaten egg... I has making a "half-batch" so I just wasn't going to waste the other half of the egg. I put it all in and it made it extra fluffy and delicious. Yummmm. Anyways it was completely worth it and it stopped that craving. Thanks Kevin. >:(

Last night was fun. Let's set the stage with a few pictures:


I arrived at 7:00, but one person in my group got there at 12:30.


We ended up being the third group in line for our theater so we got really good seats. The lobby was packed, as five seperate theaters would be playing it at 12:01am.


Giggity giggity alright.


There was a costume contest, complete with six stroomtroopers. A few people dressed up for our show, but not as many as I thought. Lots of people in Star Wars T-Shirts.

Now onto the movie...

Star Wars Episode III
Revenge of the Sith

Caution: SPOILERS

Finally the movie starts after the previews. The 20th Century Fox logo comes up and everybody lets out a huge roar. Then the LucasFlim logo comes, and everybody lets out a huge roar. Then the "A long time ago..." comes up and everybody lets out a huge roar. Then the "Star Wars" logo comes up and everybody shits their pants. Then the scroll starts and everybody flips out once more. There was this kid next to me, couldn't have been more than 8 years old, who was seriously hyperventilating when the scroll started.

The scroll thing starts out with "War!" which I thought was interesting, since no other Star Wars movie scroll started with a one word sentence. Anywho, once that is done, the camera pans down to a huge battle in space between the Trade Federation (droids) and the Republic (clones). Obi-Wan and Anakin are in little X-Wing things on a mission to go to the control ship to save Palpatine (he was captured).

To me, this whole sequence (they get attacked by other fighters and little droid things that fuck up their ship) looked like a video game. Everything was too smooth and looked like it was made out of plastic rather than metal. Oh well.

So they get to the control ship and make their way to where Palpatine is being held. They have a surprising easy time getting there, but it's because a trap was set. One thing that really bugged me in this episode was R2D2. All of a sudden, the thing can jump out of his little driod hole in a ship and he looks like he's on speed or something. He moves about three times as fast as any other movie, prequel or original. With some of the moves he put on display he could play in the NBA.

So they get to Palpatine and then Dooku and two droid soldier things show up. Obi and Anakin take care of the driods and then start fighting Dooku. The Count owns Obi, he gets knocked out, but Anakin is able to beat Dooku. He decapitates him at Palpatine's command in the first of many head/limb chop scenes. You can tell even then Palpatine is manipulating Anakin and everything that is going down.

Then, back down to Coruscant, where Anakin and Padme hook up for some forbidden love. Padme tells Anakin that she's pregant, and Anakin seems happy. He doesn't really seem to care if people find out about them, even though it would mean being expelled from the Jedi. Anyways, a crappy love scene ensues, further proving George Lucas can't write such scenes with crap. It goes something like this.

"You're beautiful" -Anakin randomly

"I love you." -Padme

"OMFGROFLMAO I love you too" -Anakin

Anywho, things start getting foggy at this point because the pace really picks up and it was like 1:00am and I don't remember too well. Next, they go to Kashyyyk, the Wookie planet, where the driod armies are trying to take over. The clones are there fighting with the Wookies to protect it. On the planet is General Grevious, a driod that can fight with four light sabers at one time. One thing that's really strange is the mofo coughs... a driod coughing. Sounds like a forty year smoker or something. He's really creepy, all hunched over and evil looking. At first you're kinda like "wtf," but he becomes believable.

Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent there to kill the driod leader, Grevious. Obi and Anakin take him on, but this time it is Obi-Wan who steps up to the plate. The manner in which he dies is really lame. They start fighting, him with like four lightsabers, and its really crazy. How Obi-Wan is able to fend him off I don't know. Anyways they're fighting and just randomly two of his lightsaber hands are cut off. I really didn't see Obi-Wan do much to deserve that, but I guess it made things easier for the animators. Grevious pins Obi-Wan, but he manages to get a laser pistol and shoot Grevious. He just kinda stands there looking surprised and lets Obi-Wan shoot him. Kinda lame, like Darth Maul's death in Episode I.

Anakin starts having all these dreams about Padme dying during childbirth and he's really upset. Palpatine senses this and tells Anakin that the Dark Side of the force can be used to save people's lives. He could be powerful enough to save Padme, but never being just a Jedi. It is here we learn Palpatine is really Dath Sidious, and controlling the Senate. He's been plotting for this since Episode I and some 15 years later, hey, it's all going to plan.

Anyways Anakin debates whether to go to the Dark Side or not. The Jedi want him to spy on the Chancellor (Palpy) and he won't do it. The Emperor convinces Anakin that the Jedi are just trying to take control of the Senate and fear he might stop them from doing it. Anakin bites on this, along with the fact Padme can be saved.

This convincing process actually probably takes like an hour, but I don't remember much detail. Pretty soon Anakin is on the Dark Side and Palpatine orders all Jedis dead. All the clones, which the Emperor actually created and made sure they were programmed to know this certain order, turn on the Jedi and kill them. "Order 66" it is called (how ironic).

Anywho, so Anakin helps with the Jedi killing spree. In probably the most disturbing scene in a Star Wars film, he walks into a room in the Jedi Temple with a bunch of younglings (Jedis in training... like 6 years old).

"What is happening Master Skywalker?" -little kid says, scared at what is happening and thinking Anakin is here to save them.

Then Anakin turns his lightsaber on and all the kid's eyes open real wide. The scene then wipes to something else, but you are like "wtf". And later on, Yoda and Obi-Wan observe all the dead kids on the floor, and see a security tape where it shows Anakin slaughtering them. At this point I didn't even feel bad for him, he was totally consumed with evil.

Anyways, somewhere in here is a shot with Yoda crawling along a duct and it looks really friggin' fake. Especially when he pulls the lever.

Anyways, then the final scene comes up, Obi-Wan and Anakin duking it out on Mustafar, a lava planet. Obi-Wan gets the best of his former apprentice, chopping off both of his legs and his other arm. So, limbless Anakin is squirming near the lava and then his clothes catch on fire. And he burns. Obi-Wan leaves, distraught at everything. Pretty soon Palpatine rolls up and finds Anakin still alive. He is completely disfigured and burned, so they attach artifical legs and arms on him and put a mask on. Dun dun dun, Darth Vader. Oh, and he needs help breathing, thus the "iconic breathing" noise he makes.

And thus ends the movie. It was easily the best of the new series, but I'm going to have to see it again when I'm not tired as hell. There are some cheezy scenes, cheezy acting, but overall it is fun and a pretty good movie. At this point, my rating is:

B

After reading a few reviews, maybe I got my hopes up a little bit, but it was still pretty awesome. I would recommend it, but you have to know what's going on. Watch the first two movies or you will be helplessly lost. If you understand all the politics and relationships, and how Palpy has been playing them all this time... it just makes it that much better.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050518/ap_on_en_mo/film_star_wars_opens_3

That's meeeeee. Actually, hopefully it won't be. A group of us all bought the midnight showing tickets... but I think one is staying the entire time so I won't have to wait. We were going to do "shifts," but if he stays the entire time, that frees up my evening from 6:15-8:30.

I should have a review up tomorrow. I definetly won't post it right after the movie, considering it will end at like 2:45am and I have school in the morning. So yeah.

Fuck Microsoft.

Well, the past few days I've just been trying to get this computer to function properly, get everything installed I needed installed. I was going to hook my other hard drive up and transfer all my music and stuff... but with the problems I had just hooking this main hard drive up I've abandoned that idea. So about 6GB need to be transferred on 650MB CDs... you do the math. It's not THAT much but each CD takes about 20 minutes to burn and then you have to transfer it... oh well, it will get done.



There is a picture... it isn't working right now becaues it appears ZN might be down, but it'll come up. A nice mix of five year old beige parts with the new stuff.

Well, got to go to work soon. My goal is to be watching Survivor on MyTV by 8:00. So, that gives me just under three hours to figure out what the hell is up. Hopefully Kevin will be online. :)

Okay, well the video issue has been resolved with the new drivers. The program will still not recognize my antenna which is plugged into the appropriate spot on the tuner card. What was this about the "E-Home Wonder" being the best for MCE when it doesn't even work?

More troubleshooting and program set up tomorrow. Oh boy, I can't wait!

Well, it took nearly six hours but I built my computer. It was way over my head... hopefully if I ever try that again I know what I'm doing. A big headache that caused about two hours of confusion was the fact a bad IDE cord was included with my motherboard. Once I transplanted an old IDE cord from my 1994 computer, everything started to work. So whatever Asus.

Right now I'm not enjoying myself because I'm just trying to get everything set up. Download Firefox, download MSN Messenger, AIM, blah blah blah. The Flash server is down right now so I don't even have the flash plugin. Things like Paint Shop Pro... Painter 8... all gone.

Furthermore MCE isn't impressive so far. The TV won't work and it won't play videos properly. I thought maybe because of codecs or something, but the videos play fine in the normal media player. I plugged in my antenna and told MCE that I was using an antenna.... it can't find the signal or anything. I have the latest drivers and my TV Tuner card is installed properly.

I'm currently downloading the latest drivers for my video card. Don't know if that has anything to do with it, but it's worth a shot. So far I have just been using the "Plug-in-Play" drivers from Microsoft, but it recognized the card and set it up for it. So I dunno. I should have gotten a Mac it seems.

The computer is a comin'. Of the three packages, two have arrived at the Portland sort facility and are ready for delivery tomorrow. One package is still at the Los Angeles sort facility. It arrived there at 9:21 last night and it has yet to leave, some 26 hours later. Weird eh? Meanwhile the other two made the journey today and are here. Bah FedEx. The missing package is either the case or the monitor... since all it tells me is that's it is a single item shipment. I hope its the monitor, so I can assemble and test out the beast with my current monitor and use it until the new LCD display arrives. If it's the case that is stuck, well then I can't really do anything until it arrives.

Well, I've decided to finally take the step and get a new computer. I was going to buy one for college anyways, but decided might as well do it now and get out of the way. My intial budget of $600 was smashed, I kinda realized to get what I wanted I'd have to spend more.

Thanks to the help of my good friend Kevin, a design was hacked out and ready to be built. I decided to go to Fry's Electronics to compare the prices against those on the web at NewEgg. Everything was cheaper at NewEgg and they had a much better selection (despite Fry's being a huge ass warehouse with everything imaginable). My orignal plan called for buying the keyboard and mouse locally, but I didn't like what they had to offer so I just decided to buy everything online.

Really the only thing left was the case. I had orignally thought I'd buy that at Fry's too, to avoid the $15 dollarish charge for shipping. I didn't really see any that I liked very much there, and when I compared a similar one on NewEgg, it was $25 cheaper. So I went home and spent about two hours on NewEgg (the shit people will buy) looking through one fugly case after another until I found one I liked.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It was all over except for the purchase. I added all the items to my shopping cart and calculated the shipping. Twenty eight bucks. Not bad considering how much I'd be saving on all the parts. I put in for a bank transfer online to my checking account so I can purchase it, but that won't go through until Monday. So, I'll probably be ordering it tomorrow night and hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week.

I present to you, Thomas' new computer:

Also, my new keyboard and mouse (my first ever optical... heh):

Detailed Description:
-EVER CASE 4292B-M35 Silver/Black Metal ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 350W Power Supply | link
-ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard | link
-Intel Pentium 4 520 Prescott 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor | link
-CORSAIR ValueSelect 512 (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM PC3200 | link
-Sony Black DVD-R/CD-R Combo Drive (4-in-1) | link
-Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 | link
-ATI PCI TV/FM Tuner "E-HOME WONDER" | link
-Samsung SyncMaster 715v Black 17" 25ms LCD Monitor | link
-Microsoft CA9-00001 black keyboard/mouse | link
-AMC AICR-01-BK 6-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader | link

General Overview:
-P4 520 2.8GHz
-512MB DDR SDRAM
-160GB Hard Drive
-GeForce 4 Ti4200
-Sony DVD/CD Combo Burner
-17" LCD Display
-TV Tuner Card
-6-in-1 Memory Card Reader
-Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Normal Person Overview:
-Decently good!

If you didn't notice, I'm transplanted a few things from the current computer. The 160GB hard drive I bought a few months ago will be the main hard drive for this computer (parents will have old 20GB from original) and my graphics card, GF4 Ti4200 will also be transplanted. Parents will be stuck with the old TNT2, but they won't notice obviously.

Also, I'll just be using the current speakers even though they don't really mesh with the current design. When I go to college, I'll be on a "quiet floor" so there'd be no point in loud speakers anyways. Headphones look to be the main source of audio.

Furthermore, I'll be taking my video capture card I got along with Pinnacle Studio. The new TV Tuner card will probably do the same job though, I could just route my camera through the TV. We'll see.

The main reason I'm spending an extra $110 for Media Center Edition and a TV Tuner card is so I can watch/record live TV on the computer. Kenny and I are going to split the cable, so my TV will essentially be the computer. The possibility of recording live TV (aka football games) then burning them onto DVD in near broadcast quality is what lured me.

Overall, I hope it's worth the $920 dollars (you've been dying for that, eh?). I also hope it will last until about junior year in college before I start having to make any major upgrades/replacements. The current computer is four and a half years old, we'll see how long my parents will clutch onto it before they decide it's time to replace it.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/church_politics

That is so pathetic I'm not even going to get into it. WWJD? Certainly not that I would think. What a prick.

Anywho, yesterday I had my AP English test. If I passed it, I get to skip Freshman English in college and another class, forgot what it was. Anyways, it started at 7:40 in the morning so I was very tired. It lasted four and half hours, but the first 45 minutes or so what just bubbling in ridiculous forms. It had a multiple choice section... 55 questions in 60 minutes that was really hard. Then we had to write three essays in two hours. So yeah, it sucked. But, I think I did well enough to pass so I saved myself a lot of work in college.

Not much happening at school... our softball team looks good again. Last year they made it all the way to the finals... me and Kenny drove down to OSU to watch but they lost in extra innings.

We had a follow up to the "Kevin" talk today at work. They basically said we could ask questions or voice concerns. Nobody said anything.

I'm feeling much better, basically all well.

Spring football is over... Beavers are looking okay but they have to solve their running woes. I'm thinking Gunderson will start against PSU but Moore might take over by season's end.

Well, somehow I caught a cold on Friday and so this whole weekend I've been kinda stuffy and sick. That sucks because, for once, it was actually sunny outside. I did play tennis, but I didn't do very good or enjoy it very much because I didn't feel good.

Family Guy finally came back on the air tonight and it was good as always. It was amazing how they just picked it up after three years and you can't even tell. They also seemed to go back to the first season formula of random flashbacks and allusions (Bed Bath and Beyond, when he forgot how to sit) which was good to see. Towards the end of the third season they started losing that and it wasn't as good.

I read a bunch of my English book and am almost done. Four hundred and thirty pages of small print takes a toll on you. It was a good book, but in today's short attention span society, it should have been a 20 page picture book. Oh well.