Guess Where I am! Hint: Not Elkhart.

Long story short, yesterday reminded me why I hate air travel. I was booked on a 5:15 flight out of Baltimore that would get me to Cincinnati at 6:55, and then an 8:55 to South Bend. To me, this was perfect, because that's plenty of time to cover the approximately 5 linear miles from the regular terminal to the regional terminal and still stop for some Gold Star chili (it's not as good as Skyline, but what is? Too bad there's no Skyline in the airport). Also, I always call "Gold Star" chili "Red Star." Like I think they're some sort of communists. Seriously- I typed "Red Star" then had to go back and fix it.

Well, the first thing I noticed was that the Delta ticket counter was mobbed. Their departure board was pretty much solid delays, and my own flight had been pushed back to 6:00. Whatever, I can get my chili 3-way and go, still making my second flight. It takes a good half hour to check myself in then get my bag tags, then I head through security. By the time I emerge, the boards list my flight as 6:30. Okay, might have to skip the chili. I find my gate, and it is just flooded with people. It's beautiful in Baltimore, but apparently the weather is prohibitive at every other Delta hub. So, the tarmac is littered with planes, but they aren't allowed to take off. Every once in a while, one of the planes would load up, sit there for an hour, then let everyone to come back in the airport because they knew they weren't going anywhere for a while. Oddly enough, we could see plenty of Southwest and American planes taking off and landing- apparently the weather was only affecting good old Delta.

By the time they announced that my flight had been pushed back to 7:00 I had made some single serving friends in the airport (because nothing brings people together like shared suffering). They were even making announcements I had never heard before: they were announcing that there were delays in the updates to the delays. Things like "We were supposed to have an update on the departure time for flight xxxx at 6:30, but that update has been pushed back to 7:15. At 7:15 we should be able to tell you when flight xxxx will be departing." Take a minute to process that: the airport was in such a sad state that they couldn't reliably predict when they could reliably predict how delayed a flight would be.

So around 6:45 I'm starting to be legitimately concerned that I wouldn't make my connection. On the PA they announced that the flight to Cinci that was scheduled for 4:00 is now boarding, and that there was no information whatsoever about my flight. Yes- they announced that they now knew less than ever about my flight. One of my new friends was waiting to fly standby to Cinci (which was home for her). She was supposed to fly tomorrow, but her meeting finished early so checked out of her hotel and headed for the airport, and was now thoroughly regretting her decision. Anyway, at the last minute they called her name for the flight. She jumped up and cheered, we all clapped for her (I'm serious), and off she went. But then I thought, "Wait, she's just going to Cincinnati. Let me take this flight so I can make my connection, and she can fly later tonight!" But whatever. All's fair in air travel.

A quick call home confirmed that that 8:55 is the last flight from Cinci to South Bend, so if I ever do get out of Baltimore, I'll probably get stuck in Ohio for the night. I took the plunge and got in line for the ticket counter, making me customer number 26 waiting for the one agent. After about 15 minutes in the line (around 7:15), they announced that my plane would be leaving Cincinnati "soon." No times, just "soon." About 20 minutes later they posted my flight for an 8:20 departure, confirming once and for all that I was not leaving tonight.

I stepped up to the agent right at 8:00. After 2 or 3 minutes of furious key strokes, he confirmed that there was no way I was getting home tonight. Keep in mind that because the delays were due to "weather," the airline doesn't owe you anything. No meals, no hotels, just a fake smile and a "sucks to be you." As a bonus, he also pointed out that there was no way I was getting there tomorrow (Friday). The best they could do is Saturday morning, departing at 6:45 a.m., arriving in South Bend at 1:30 p.m. For those keeping score at home, that means I get to leave my house at 4 a.m. at the latest, and I'll have like 3 hours to go home, shower and change, then get back to the reunion (which is also in South Bend). That's a recipe to look my best, especially on a likely 5 hours of sleep.

And here's the kicker: God knows where my bags are. I had the option of letting the airline hold on to them, then check them on my flight Saturday (uggghhhh) or go to the baggage desk and try to get them back tonight. Remember, it's 8:15 at this point. I had this conversation with the guy:

Me: How long will it take to get my bags back tonight?
Guy: They're pretty swamped down there. We have a lot of delays.
Me: So what, like an hour?
Guy: Um, it could be a while.
Me: Are you talking more like two hours?
Guy: Uh...yeah...it could be a while.
Me: [nearly choking on the words] Just check 'em through for Saturday.

We are now taking bets on whether or not I will ever see those bags again. But, I just wanted to get home, and I made a snap decision. I'm sure I'll pay for it later. I called home to let them know the deal, and Jim says "Why didn't you have them send you to Chicago, then take the train to South Bend?" Yeah, wrap that idea up and mail it to 8 hours ago. I'm adding that to my mental tally of future plans: Just fly to Chicago and take the South Shore Line. It's probably cheaper, as well. Oh, and never fly Delta again.

So here's hoping I make the reunion! This puts a minor dent in my vacation, but I've had worse. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Reunion Time

Picture: 1997...

• Titanic is #1 at the box office
• Michigan is the NCAA Football national champion
• The Hale-Bopp Comet prompts the Heaven's Gate cult to commit mass suicide
• The Detroit Red Wings defeat Philadelphia to win the Stanley Cup
• Brett Favre win his first and only Super Bowl
• O.J. Simpson is found liable in a civil suit
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is released in the UK (it comes here a year later)
• Celine Dion and her smooth grooves take home the album of the year with Falling Into You
• Tony Blair becomes the Prime Minister of the UK (ironically, yesterday was his last day)
• I graduated from Concord Community High School

Yes, this Saturday is my 10-year high school reunion, and I'll admit that I'm approaching it with a little apprehension. My biggest fear is that no one's going to show up, and it will be like 10 losers and me. You know what that would make me, right? Oddly enough, it's being held at Covaleski Stadium (aka The Cove), home of the South Bend Silverhawks. We get to take over the meeting plaza thing and watch the epic showdown with the West Michigan Whitecaps, but all in all I think it would have been fun to hold it in the school gym, all decorated with streamers and stuff like a standard high school dance. I hope they'll at least play some good 1997-era music!

In all seriousness, I am looking forward to it. There are a lot of people I would like to catch up with, especially some of my friends that I haven't seen in years. Through the magic of MySpace I've been put in touch with a lot of folks, but there's nothing like getting everyone in one spot! It'll be fun to learn where everyone lives, interesting to hear what they do for a living, and terrifying to see pictures of their 8-year-old children. 10 years is a pretty long time!

But what about the main thing you go to a reunion for: to see what everyone looks like. I mean, I look in the mirror and think "I basically look the same, right?" But then I see a picture of myself from the late 90's and I think "Who's that kid?" Conversely, the other day I was looking at pictures from Carly's wedding, and I saw myself and thought "Who's that old man?" I have wrinkles around my eyes, for God's sake! Plus, back in high school I had hair, so that may throw people off. In a related note, as I was standing in the bathroom cutting my hair on Sunday about to finish up, I thought "Wait- this may be one of those times I should've sprung for an actual haircut."

Anyway, I'm going to keep a mental tally of the goods and bads from the reunion so I can recount them here. It should be a regular hootenanny! Then, since I'm going to be back in the Northern Indiana area, I'm going to take some time off work and head up to the cottage for a few days. Maybe if I take a week off now I won't have three weeks of vacation I have to burn at the holidays again! So you might not see anything from me for a while, but I'll be back eventually.

Good God

I've had a few discussions about those God ads on billboards along the highway. You know what I'm talking about- these things:
Yeah- don't care for 'em. It's not that I disagree with the sentiment, it's just that I have a hard time with some ad exec hired by a church who writes a little quip and signs it "God." Like, "What I wrote is so brilliant and pure that I can claim it came from God himself and no one will question it." If they were directly from the bible, that would be one thing. But there's all the ones that are like "Keep using my name in vain and I'll make rush hour longer" which I'm pretty sure isn't a quote from scripture.

And then, if we step away from merely annoying, there's the one that makes my blood boil: "Big bang theory- you've got to be kidding." As if God can simply not believe that people would be so stupid as to attain an understanding of geology and astrophysics, do years of exhaustive research, and formulate a plausible theory for the creation of the universe that's a little more in-depth than "God made it." What really grinds my gears is that some chump sat down to think up a catchy billboard, and thought "You don't believe what I believe, so I think you're stupid, and since I know I'm right, therefore God thinks you're stupid, so I'm going to put up a billboard mocking what you believe and sign it 'God.'" Who does that? Again, I'm not down on religion- it's the way some people interpret/express it that gets to me. Especially when they think being a true believer of one theory means you have to be intolerant of all others. I've touched on this before.

In any case, this tirade was brought to you by the new Victory Family Church billboard:
That's right, they kicked it up a notch. They aren't just writing on behalf of God, they're apparently certified to speak for Satan as well. They're thinking "We are sooo good, Satan must hate us. Let's get the word out there." Really? Do you even think you're on his radar? You can tell they really got into the devil's mindset, they way they capitalized "hate," didn't use punctuation and signed his name in telltale red. Give me a break! You can see the whole article about it here- be sure to vote! I just don't understand this thought process: "If we say Satan hates us, people will like us!" It's the old "An enemy of my enemy is my friend" theorem, which is usually met with shaky results. I would much rather see something about what makes this particular church good, but that's just me.

To summarize- Religion: Good. God Billboards: Lame. Satan Billboards: Really lame.

Friday Minutia!

It's Friday, so I'm going to do another one of those "Summary of interesting things I stumbled upon this week that don't deserve their own post" posts. So here are some more fun links for you to check out:

• Failure is not an Option. Schools are trying to lower their student failure rates with ridiculous measures like ignoring abscences and doing away with deadlines. This is something that really brings my inner-crotchety old man out to say that the world is going to hell in a handbasket- Especially when I see quotes like this:
  
  "It's good because it doesn't confuse your work habits with your knowledge," says the Grade 12 student at North Toronto Collegiate. "School isn't there to teach you all life's lessons."
  
  School is there to teach you work habits! If all that matters is what you know, we should just pass out crib sheets instead of attending class. If you think you can go through life without anyone caring about your work habits, you've got another thing coming, junior. Actually, I probably could make a whole post out of this.



• Speaking of which, how about homework bans? I'm conflicted about this, because on one hand, we are being too soft on kids. But on the other, I swear there were days in high school when I had had more work than I could handle. If we complained about it, the teachers would say "You're supposed to have an hour of homework a night." I think they all thought they were only ones giving it to us.
  
  Both of those articles deal with schools in Canada, but I'm sure the phenomenon has already crossed the border like so much frigid air.



• A New Zealand couple wants to name their baby "4real." With a number. This is a collision of how much I hate numbers being used as letters or words (are you listening, Numb3rs?), and how I hate, hate stupid made-up names for kids. Think about it: his initials would have a number! Ugh.



• Go Teal or Go Home! Between 1988 and 1997 the major sports leagues added 15 new teams, and 12 of them started with teal or purple as their main color (presumably trying to be "different" and those were the only colors not taken by an established team- I wonder why?). This is a phenomenon I have noticed and discussed, but I've never seen it summed up as well as this article does it.



• Purdue gets a shout-out in USA Today for World Trade Center research. It's worth mentioning.



• Man files $3 million lawsuit over red light cameras. Here's an idea: Stop running red lights, jerkwad!



• Check out how movie roles may have been cast differently. I've heard all about how Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix. Don't get me wrong- I like the Fresh Prince, but that would have been a disaster! Be sure to check out the horribly photoshopped slideshow- seriously, did they let a kindergartener do this?



• This is just funny (courtesy of The Onion):

Have a great weekend!

Must Love Dogs

I've been at this eHarmony thing for a while now, but I just had a match interaction like no other. I'll start off with her profile- I've copied in a handful of the sections that I thought stood out. See if you can tell why! This is probably bad eKarma, but I'm not trying to be mean. There isn't anything identifying in here, and I'm posting it for information only.

The eHarmony questions/headers are in green, and her answers verbatim in red (as you can see, I've color-coded the words red and green in case that was unclear). Oh yeah, and my smart-ass comments remain in black.

The one thing [name] is most passionate about:
my family, friends and my animals

The most important thing [name] is looking for in a person is:
Honesty and MUST love animals

[name] typically spends her leisure time:
reading, walking my dogs, on the computer, watching a movie, hanging out with friends

The things [name] can't live without are:

• family


• friends


• my pets


• music


• food (and come on- Food? That's just glib. I've had several people list water and air as well, and they might as well just shout "I'm lazy and uncreative")

The last book [name] read and enjoyed:
any mystery I can find that I have not read yet
(Okay, that's not about dogs- but the last book you read is any one you haven't read yet? Was that question too tricky?)

The Crown Jewel:
Some additional information [name] wanted you to know is:
Whoever I am with MUST love my animals. I would NEVER move anywhere where I could not have my animals with me. My cats sleep on the bed with me and the dogs do get up on the couches. The cats also get up on the counters. If you can not live or deal with that then we will NOT work.

So that's her introductory information. We did the first questions (which are multiple choice), and then she sent me the second questions. This is the stage where you actually learn something about people- round two is open-ended questions, and you can write your own if you don't want to use the pre-made ones. So here's the question she wrote for me:
Do you have any pets? What kinds? Would you ever move somewhere where your pets could not come with you? How do you feel about pets on furniture/counters?

At this point, I figured it was a little much. I honestly answered the question, and then I got ballsy and used the rest of the space to try and help her out. I wrote:

"Honestly though [name], I'm going to give you some unsolicited advice: You might be better off if you weren't so concerned about people's pets- especially whether or not they're allowed on the furniture. It would be okay to say "must love dogs" or something, but mentioning pets in 5 different places on your profile could be overkill. Maybe just say you're looking for a fellow pet lover, and worry about the specifics once you hit open communication. I'm guessing that your 'additional info' section turns a lot of guys off."

Her reply? I got closed with my first triple play of reasons (and these are multiple choice selections):

• I don't feel that the chemistry is there.


• I think the difference in our values is too great.


• Other

I didn't even know you could select more than one. Woo! Plus, since she closed me apparently now I can see her pictures. They were 1) Her at a wedding. 2) Her with a dog. 3) Her dog. Not her with her dog, just her dog. Seen here (with her caption). I'm not too upset about the loss of this match, because I wasn't all that interested to begin with, and she lives in that weird part of Virginia that only touches Maryland. Mapquest rates it at like a 6-hour drive. But, like I said, I don't fully form an opinion until the open-ended questions.

Honestly though, I hope she takes my advice. I think I'm going to periodically check her profile to see if anything changes.

Hallmark / Reason I'm a Nerd #32

I hope that we're in a "judgment-free" zone, and we can overlook what a giant band dork I am, and appreciate this little insight into the human mind. A few days ago I was talking to my good buddy Eric, and we were discussing making the pilgrimage back to Purdue for the Alumni Band. Last night I was sitting there drumming on my practice pad, trying to see if I remembered how to play the various school songs (yes- this is how I spend my evenings). Well, I had most of Hail Purdue, but I couldn't remember how the little tag on the end went. I tried for a while, then I finally gave up, thinking "Oh well, I'll figure it out when they mail me the music."

This morning I was back at it, tapping away, when my friend Shelley sent me a text message. My ringer for txts just happens to be the Hail Purdue tag (jeeze- maybe this should be reasons I'm a nerd #32-35), and as it was playing, my brain was like "Oh yeah!" and I played right along with it. I thought that was pretty neat, but then I tried to play it again without the music, and couldn't. I had to make my phone do the ringer again 2 or 3 times before I could play it solo! Let's hear it for context-specific memory.

Totally unrelated story:
I just got back from Hallmark, where I had to go buy some cards for the perfect storm of birthdays, father's days, and weddings that's brewing. Those of you that know me know that in my world, I am planning way ahead. Except the wedding- that was last weekend. Sue me.

What I want to know is, who's big idea were those greeting cards that blast the most repetitive part of a song at top volume when you open them? There had to be at least 20 kids in that store, and they were absolutely fascinated with these things. And they weren't all songs- some were sounds effects like laughter, or they said "Happy Birthday!" and the Father's day ones made (I kid you not) engine and power tool noises.

If you've heard how annoying these cards are one at a time, try picturing the constant cacophony of tinny music and obnoxious sound effects that filled the entire store for the duration of the time I was in there. I narrowly escaped with my sanity, but I swear I was almost knocking people down on my way out. I actually made a fairly daring move to get in line before one mom with her three kids, each of whom had selected one of these cards, and had progressed to what I like to call the "rap" stage of messing with them- where you open and close it repeatedly to make it go "Hap...hap...ha-ha-happy father's day!" I totally cut them off, but I think the mom understood. She was saying things like "C'mon kids, let's save some of the batteries for Daddy" and had a look on her face like "Good Lord, what have I done?"

As a side note, I didn't even stop to look at the 99 cent cards, because those always stink. It's like how you can buy the little bag of Twizzlers for cheap, but you understand that you're getting less. In this case, we all know that the cheap cards are less laugh and tear-producing. I figure this is probably a great backhanded compliment in the Hallmark writer's room: Someone pitches an idea, and the boss says "Hey, that's good! It'll make a great 99 cent card." Getting picked for a "value" card is probably like winning a Juno award.

I guess my point is if you receive a card from me in the next few days and it seems hastily chosen, know that there were extenuating circumstances!

Company Picnic/$5 Afternoon Off

This year's company picnic was the opposite of last year, at least weather-wise. Whereas last year it was 100 degrees and sunny, this year was cloudy, windy and right about 60 degrees. I should've seen that coming when I was getting dressed this morning and thought "Oh! Picnic day! Better wear shorts and a t-shirt!" Or perhaps I could've checked the weather before getting dressed. Whatever. Hindsight.

No one was really playing games this year, because half of the attendees stayed inside the "Beach house" (which is just kind of a shack with a kitchen) and those of us out on the pavilion were just kind of chilly. Of course, that didn't stop me from raiding the ice cream cart for an awesome Spiderman popsicle (his eyes are gumballs, in addition to being creepy). It was a sherberty thing, and was fat-free, which is good considering the hamburger, hot dogs, cookies and cake I ate. On my return trip to the cart I fully intended to get one of the delicious eclair bars or something, but went with the new Shots. Meh. They're no Spiderman pop. I guess they're Popsicle's answer to dippin' dots- why copy something nobody likes anyway?

I once again stayed for the raffle, and am happy to report that I once again received a 500% return on my investment by winning a $25 Target gift card. A-boo, a-yah.

After the picnic I headed to the drill hall, which was pretty vacant (considering it was like 3:30). I grabbed an elliptical runner that was between two of the TVs with no one else near it. I tuned the closer TV to the History Channel (my drill hall standby) and immediately became engrossed in a show about counterfeiting money. By the way, did you know that at any given time, 2/3 of all US currency is outside of the US? Crazy. Anyway, I get my learn and my sweat on.

About 10 minutes in, a kid (about 11 or 12) comes by pushing an older woman in a wheelchair. He helps her onto an exercise bike, and goes to change the channel on my TV- he pauses, looks at me and asks "Are you watching this?" What am I gonna say? I told him "Sort of, but you can go ahead and change it." He starts flipping the channels until he finds what he was looking for, and turns it toward the woman on the bike. Can you guess what he chose? The Weather Channel! Who works out to the Weather Channel?

But never fear, I just went down to the further TV on the other side of me, and tuned in my show. Also, did you know that Australia's money is printed on plastic, so it can have clear sections? A few minutes later, an old dude strolls by, stops at the TV, and not only changes the channel, but spins the TV 90 degrees so I can't even see it anymore! I was like "Hey...ah..." but he was wearing headphones, and that was clearly the TV for the section he was in. He must have figured I was enjoying the weather loop over on my side.

Since I wasn't, I walked over to the lady on the bike (the kid had left). We had this exchange:

Me: "Are you watching the Weather Channel here?"
Lady: "It's alright."
Me: "Do you mind if I change it?"
Lady: "It's alright."
Me: "...It's alright if I change it, or are you watching this?"
Lady: "No, it's alright."
Me: "...I'll just leave it."

So there I was, sweatin' to the weather channel. If I'd have done that this morning, I would have been better prepared for the picnic. Still though, way better than the average Thursday. If there was a new Earl or Office tonight, that would just seal the deal.

Cars/Gas/Hybrids

This article got me riled up for 3 reasons:

1. “It is a fundamental change,” Mr. Spinella said. “People are willing to buy small cars because they are more sophisticated." "They aren’t econoboxes, they’re just smaller cars,” Mr. Shapiro added.

Thank you! This is something I've been waiting for Americans to realize for years: Small cars can still be nice. Europe has plenty of luxury cars that are the size of a Civic. But here in America, we think that if you want a sunroof and leather you better buy some Buick landbarge. I'm glad people are coming around.

2. Pierre Tremblay, 67, of Howell, Mich., bought a Toyota Prius this month because driving his Dodge Ram pickup 40 miles round-trip to work was costing so much. So far the Prius is getting 55 miles per gallon, compared with 13 for the truck.

I'm sorry, you were driving 40 miles a day in a pickup truck that gets 13 mpg? You, sir, deserve to be smacked, but are pardoned for seeing the error of your ways. I have a problem with the whole "giant gas-guzzler as primary transportation" concept- there's actually a guy in my building who commutes to work in a Hummer. Not an H3, not an H2, a full-on Canyonero Hummer. Why would you do that? The true tragedy is that I'm sure if gas prices were to come down, Pierre would go right back to driving his eco-nightmare because "it's more comfortable" or some such nonsense.

3. Americans have spent $20 billion more on gasoline so far this year compared with 2006, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. That works out to about $146 a person, a fraction of what a new car costs.“From a dollars-and-cents point of view, it doesn’t make sense,” said Jesse Toprak, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com, a Web site that offers car-buying advice. “There’s no way you’re going to drive it enough to justify the purchase, so it’s more of a psychological decision.”

No, it's an environmental decision. This is what boils my blood about the whole hybrid car debate: when people say "It doesn't make sense. You're never going to save money by driving a hybrid." For the last time morons: it's not about saving money!

[Up on the soapbox]
It's about conservation. It is not okay to waste gas because you can afford it! This is the American me-first mentality at it's worst. The world has a finite amount of fossil fuels, and we have to make them last as long as we can. I think it's everyone's responsibility to reduce their energy usage, which will decrease pollution and our dependence on foreign oil. People need to look at the big picture, and not cop-out and go with the whole "Der-te-der, this is America I can drive what I want" excuse. Plus, hybrid cars aren't even like electric cars that just let the power company make the pollution- they get their electricity by reclaiming kinetic energy that would otherwise just be burned off as heat in the brakes. It's free electricity and reduced fuel usage and you don't have to do a thing to get it! Who wouldn't want that?"
[Off the soapbox]

Okay, that's all.

Crashin' Update

I arrived at the wedding right as dinner was wrapping up, which was actually just in time for cake. It must have been about 9:30 when Carly called to give me the OK, and I actually considered bailing on it. I haven't left for an activity at 9:30 pm since college! But I went over, and boy am I glad I did. I had a freakin' blast!

I talked with a few folks for a while, heard about Carly and Daniel's toast (it wasn't really a toast, but a joint speech about the couple during the ceremony), and it looked like everything was great. As frantic as the setting was beforehand, now everyone was relaxed and saying things like "Oh, you should've come for the whole thing! It was great!" Well, wrap that idea up and mail it to 3 hours ago. But, the best part was when one of the bridesmaids came over to our table and told us they were trying to get the dance floor started, and asked us if we would head on over.

I am no dancer. But, Carly, Daniel and I made a pact that we would stick together out there, no matter how dumb we looked. We started bopping around a little, and within the first song I had an epiphany: I don't know a darn person at this wedding, and will most likely never see any of them again (well, other than Carly, Daniel, Sean and Jenny, but who's counting). So I started just bustin' moves. It was fantastic.

They played all the hits: Shout, Twist and Shout, and even some without shout in the title. They asked for requests, and we were debating either putting in for Ice Ice Baby or The Humpty Dance. Near the end of the night they played them both- I figure the DJ must have heard us. Those songs totally aren't popular enough for that to be a coincidence. I even got to dance with an extremely cute bridesmaid during a couple slow songs. Turns out she's a marathon-running mechanical engineer who works for NASA, specifically on the treadmill for the international space station. Be still my beating heart! It's unfortunate that she lives in Houston, but I was still pretty fortunate that I was the only single guy at the wedding.

The best dancer there was undoubtedly the flower girl- she really brought her A game! At one point she got into a little dance-off with one of the groomsmen, and totally schooled him. After he ceded defeat, I said "Dude, you got served!" but no one heard me. Then, 10 seconds later he says "I got served!" and riotous laughter erupts. Jerk- those laughs were rightfully mine. Like when I said the limoncello shot they passed out for the final toast tasted like a wetnap, and Carly totally bogarted the joke later. FYI, I drank about a half teaspoon just to see- I still don't drink. It reminded me why.

We left the premises sweaty and dishevelled around 12:30, but only because the DJ pulled up stakes and left. We went back to the hotel, but we were still pretty wound up so we played some Tetris DS before crashing around 1:30. Inevitably followed by me being completely awake at 6:30. Which is why I need to go to bed pretty quickly here.

All in all, great weekend. I've done more social activities in the last few weeks than I had in months, so it's been fun. I don't think I can keep up this pace in my old age though, so I might have to take it easy for a little while. Have a great week everyone!

Update: For the record, Carly's comment was totally true- after the cute bridesmaid laughed at the wetnap comment she totally gave me credit. And the college-era dress shirt was waaay too big. You can kind of tell in the picture. By the way, we were totally giving the camera the eye to be funny- we don't usually walk around like that.

Crashin' a Wedding

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while- after visiting Carly and Daniel in Connecticut, I flew straight to Jacksonville (FL) for our Navair national 4.3 (Air Vehicle Engineering- my division) Conference. That's right, three straight days of various presentations about all aspects of naval aircraft engineering. It's okay to be jealous- it's a pretty exclusive event. All jokes aside, I actually do enjoy it. I can get in to the technical stuff, but the first day is always a lot of the political/organizational talk that makes me drowsy. It was okay this year, but last year was truly spectacular: the current trend was an effort to make the agency smaller, so we were all a little concerned about losing people. The first keynote speaker's theme was "We are not getting smaller, we are simply re-focusing our efforts." He was immediately followed by the other speaker whose theme was "How to keep up with work while we continue to get smaller." You'd think they would have talked it over beforehand, or at least sensed the irony. I love working for the government!

So on my way home from the airport Friday, I got a call from Carly. She and Daniel were in Bowie for their friends Sean and Jenny's wedding, and they just realized how close that was to me. So they said "Why don't you come on up?" And I thought "Well, I'm not doing anything else. Why not?" I know Sean and Jenny well enough, but really only through Carly and Daniel, and it's a pretty small wedding. So, there isn't any room for extras at the ceremony or dinner, but I helped set up and I'm going to head back over later for the reception. This is extremely me in two ways: 1. I'll go to a wedding, help set up tables, chairs, flowers, etc but not stay for the actual ceremony, and 2. I have so little to do on a weekend that I'll drive an hour to not go to a wedding. But really, the main reason I came is to hang out with Carly and Daniel a little more. I know I just saw them last weekend, but once Carly starts her residency Tuesday, her free time is going to be pretty scarce.

So anyway, I better get changed. Here's another Marc fun-fact: I'm going to wear the exact same shirt, pants and tie that I wore for my college graduation five years ago. I haven't accumulated any new dress clothes since then. Thank you, business casual!

Random Minutia Post

Last night I was talking to Carly on the phone, and I was explaining that I have a three day weekend, and absolutely nothing to do with it. She commented that this is her last free weekend before going back to work, and before you knew it, I was buying a ticket to Connecticut. What are we going to do there? Who knows, but it should be better than sitting around here!

So here's a bunch of thoughts/links that i stumbled across throughout the week that I wanted to share, yet none of them merit their own post.

• Last weekend I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean, and I liked it. But you know what? It was confusing. Every character has deals with every other character, some they plan on keeping, some they're just lying about, people are constantly double-crossing each other- by halfway through the movie (which is about 90 minutes) I was totally lost. Plus, it has that loopy Mummy Returns quality of "Oh, now that this obscure spell is activated we must counter it with this obscure spell" which is a little too arbitrary for my tastes. As we were walking out of the theatre I said "Was anyone else totally lost by the end?" and my friends were like "Oh good, I thought I was the only one." I still recommend seeing it, but be prepared.



• As a side note, what exactly does Orlando Bloom bring to the table? Granted he was in two of the biggest trilogies of modern cinema, and he did a passable job, but was he really that good in anything? I know the ladies like him, but I just don't see what makes him stand out from the crowd.



• Check out the awesome Vader project.



• I bought the new Linkin Park CD, which I have been dying to get because their first two albums were so good. This one? Meh. What I love the most about their music is the complexity and structure, but this one kind of phones it in. For example, here's the chorus of one of my favorite songs ever, Numb:
  
  I've become so numb / I can't feel you there
  Become so tired / so much more aware
  I'm becoming this / all I want to do
  Is be more like me / and be less like you
  
  Now here's The Shadow of the Day, off the new album:
  
  And the sun will set for you,
  The sun will set for you.
  And the shadow of the day,
  Will embrace the world in grey,
  And the sun will set for you.
  
  Do you see the difference? You can hear it.



• MSN messenger keeps giving me a link to the story "Who's to Blame for Lindsay Lohan's Behavior?" Uh, how about Lindsay Lohan? Damn generation E and their lack of accountability.



• Jesse Jackson's peeved because the Martin Luther King memorial will have two sculptures done by a Chinese sculptor- even though he was chosen by the 90% African-American design committee and referred to them by an African-American artist.



• Here's a video about the top 10 video game weapons. You don't necessarily have to watch it, but they ranked the red shell in Mario Kart #2, and they are so right.

Okay, that's it. Have a great weekend everyone!