List-o-tron

1. I've been playing a lot of basketball recently, mostly pick-up games at the A&M rec center

2. Beth and I have been using the crockpot quite a bit, mostly using recipes from here.

3. Don't ever ask me to repair brakes on a bicycle. My current set-up is pretty ridiculous. As you can see in the picture above, if I need to stop in a pinch, my method of last resort is to grip and rip on the yellow cloth towel.

4. At the cyclotron, my tasks for the moment are as follows:

a. constructing light pipes by bundling together optical fibers

b. playing with 4-hour cure silicone rubber for the purpose of making various molds and clamps

c. testing different methods for wrapping scintillator detectors

d. gluing things together with optical cement

5. Maybe Beth and I will go to the NAHBS this weekend in Indy.

Weekly Roundup

1. Bicycle Decal of the Week!


2. Negative Anniversary Card of the Week!


3. Bicycle Frame of the Week!


4. Three Dimensional Solid of the Week!

10 things

!. I finally have a research advisor and should be ready to defend my master's thesis by this time next year.
2. I have approximately two semesters of classes left, including this one.
3. I would like a subscription to Scientific American. After reading the previous issue on obesity and undernourishment, I feel like some kind of friggin' expert.
4. Time to go puppy shopping!
5. GK: …….after a message from Bebopareebop Rhubarb Pie and frozen pie filling.
6. "I lost my contact! But it's ok because I still won the spelling bee."
7. It was good to get back to "America's Roller Coast."
8. Where's an egg?
9. I have a new cellphone and approximately one and one-third of an old cellphone.
10. Favoriddddddsssss!

Some Things

I guess I haven't written anything in quite some time. Here's a rundown of some stuff I've been up to as of late.

1. I've been watching The Venture Bros. on DVD.

2. I'm following Major League Baseball extraordinarily close and hoping to move up in the vaunted TAMU Physics Fantasy Baseball League. I'm currently mired in place 8 of 10, but I'll be sure to wheel and deal my way up to the top.

3. I was in Bloomington, IN last weekend to see Beth and got to see the Little 500 bike race. I now want a sleek, light road bike more than ever. As an aside, if you've ever seen the movie Breaking Away or are from Bloomington, you may be interested to know that the Cutters team won. Team Cinzano was there in full-force as well and had a respectable finish.

4. I've recently purchased new NIN and new Bloc Party albums. They're both hot.

5. When flying to Indiana last weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting with two drunk 40 year olds on their way back home from vacationing in Cancun. Their names are Steve and Jim, both divorced. Jim was just recently divorced and is currently staying with Steve until he gets his bearings, as it were. I suppose they took the trip to Cancun to clear their heads...or actually to do the exact opposite of that. At any rate, Jim used to work for his ex-father-in-law. As is wont to happen, after divorcing his daughter, the father-in-law summarily fired Jim and tried to stiff him of his last paycheck and some severence pay. He also tried to make him pay for the nine year old BMW he had given Jim, but instead Jim told him to fuck off. After some court dates, Jim managed to get a nice $10,000 payday from his ex-father-in-law. Good for him. But the icing on the proverbial cake is yet to come. Jim has been talking to his ex-father-in-law's brother, who owns a competing business and does not get along with his brother too well. Jim and the brother are working on an arrangement to buy out the ex-father-in-law's company.

Now how's that for some Dynasty shit for you?

The plane ride was extremely amusing because the two of them were imbibing in alcoholic drinks for the entirety of the two and a half hour plane ride. So of course, the two of them were crass, rude, and hilarious towards everyone around them. I'm fairly certain that the ladies seated around us and the various female flight attendants are still in trauma over the delightful affair.

Almost One Year of Incessant Rolling

After quite the long hiatus, I'm back in College Station for another fun-filled year of getting kicked around hard in my classes and suffering through some rather intolerable heat (of the type emanated from my loins and otherwise).

A rather simple itinerary of the past two weeks:

1. I flew to Indianapolis, got picked up by Beth, and drove with her to Cleveland.
2. Surprised my brother at the AMC theater where he works with some help from his girlfriend Nora. We then all watched Talladega Nights (Shake 'n' Bake and whatnot).
3. Three Indians games in two days: a Friday night fireworks night special against the Royals won in the final at-bat by a Grady Sizemore triple to leftfield, a Saturday day/night doubleheader (first game's promo was "pick from a random smattering of the current season's other promos" and the second game's promo was a Drew Carey bobblehead giveaway). The Indians won all three games (and swept the series the following day).
4. Went to this nice Irish pub and restaurant by the name of Nighttown in Cleveland Heights to listen to some live jazz and eat fine food out on a patio complete with outdoor waterfall.
5. Rented Movies: I *heart* Huckabees, Mannequin, Waking Ned Devine, Keeping the Faith, and Made.
6. Ate far too many of my mother's egg rolls in one sitting.
7. Pushed Beth around on an adult-sized stroller (severely sprained ankle) through the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
8. Contracted some disgusting sinus/cold thing.
9. Drove to Bloomington, Indiana with Beth so that she could be present for her random assortment of orientation functions.
10. Watched too much Sex in the City.
11. Read books one through three of the Harry Potter series.
12. Flew back to College Station.