costume phase 3

halloween: the good news is that costume construction is on schedule. as one of my former coworkers would say, "everything's ship-shape!" like i said in the previous post, if i show you pics of the whole thing you'll be able to tell what it is, so here are photos of some parts and some close-ups:


  




freecycle update: previous post mentioned a guy who sent odd text messages. he came for the stuff- no eye patch, no suspicious vehicle. just some middle-age guy and his wife in an old pickup. completely unremarkable.

football: maybe you saw the broncos/dolphins game last sunday. i was never a tim tebow fan - mainly b/c i dislike almost all SEC teams and got sick of the media hype while he was at UF. i wouldn't call myself a broncos fan yet, but i'm getting there (i know the names of four players now, instead of two!) it seems like all the hopes and dreams of the city of denver are on tim tebow. people go absoutely bananas over the guy. it's so bizarre.

radio: my friends know that i love morning radio shows, but denver's stuff just doesn't do it for me. sorry bj, howie, & erica. i gave it a good, solid 2 months but i just had to switch back to atlanta's "the bert show." i mean, you never forget your first love...   unfortunately during my listening gap i missed out on getting to know the new host (kristen). she's ok, but i'm surprised the company didn't hire someone with a drastically different perspective, because in my opinion she's a blend of jen hobby & wendy adams.  i still miss melissa carter, but at least i've still got jeff.  fortunately there's a good afternoon show here so it almost makes up for the pain.

weather: a winter storm is forecast for tonight, continuing into tomorrow afternoon (i think i just heard...thunder snow?). denver may get up to 8 inches of snow, which apparently is a lot for this time of year. my mom (mary ellen) is flying in tomorrow, so i would really like it if she didn't experience horrendous delays; although she's so cool i doubt it would mess her up too bad. i love the way she's always down for whatever these days.

hockey: the good news is that i'm actually playing. the facilities are nice, and they're close to my apartment. the bad news is that i think i'm playing in what's known as the "old man league." there's very little team camraderie, and i think there is only one other female player in the division. if you were to take a team poll, i'm sure i'd be voted worst player. that never feels good. if i were to compare it to playing in the AAHL, i'd say the division is equivalent to playing in middle A. some guys have real skillz but play kinda lazy. i lack skill, but play really hard, so sometimes it evens out.

books: i've been reading like a fiend since the denver library has ebooks you can check out on your digital reader. the checkout period is 21 days and if you don't finish the book it just disappears from your shelf. can't renew. aww. most newer books have a lengthy wait list, so a lot of times i'll put myself on the wait list for several books...and then for some reason they all become available at the same time and then i have to read 3 books in 21 days. so far i've read twenties girl, smokin' seventeen, outliers, and now i'm on the help (i swear i was on the wait list for months). it's pretty nice not to have to visit the library to get your hands on "free" books.

stuffed animals: i have two that hang out on/in my bed. one is a wild turkey. the other is the yellow angry bird.

that last one was really random, but gives you a deeper insight to the girl behind the blog.

some denver stuff, and an anecdote about why i hate going to the movies

the day of my first blog post in denver, 7.11, i actually did get around to taking the train into downtown & locating a chickfila.  took me about 15 minutes to walk to the rail station, and the train takes 30 minutes to get to downtown. a round trip ticket is a little more expensive than i would like - $8.00, since i have to travel in 3 zones. anyway, i got off at the 16th & california stop, right in the middle of the outdoor mall area.  it was about 1pm so the place was still bustling from all the business peeps lunching in the area.  i found the chickfila in the bottom of a food court area, but it was a chickfila express where everything's hanging out under the heat lamps. i mean come on, even some of the crappiest malls have full service chickfilas...the fare was good as expected, but i was a little forlorn since i was alone. it was weird so i ate really fast. then after lunch i walked a few blocks, turned around, went in a few stores then took the train home. it was an uneventful outing, but figured i'd report on it anyway.

so the big event everyone's waiting for around here is the grand opening of the IKEA in centennial. it's about 5 miles from our apartment and of course there are people camping out to get free stuff, and the news reports on it every night.  people talk about it, totally jazzed, and i'm like "been there, done that." but honestly, we kinda need some stuff so we'll probably go anyway.

here's an observation about denver in general: people here drive at or under the speed limit. it's a little weird. every now and then you'll see a few people in a hurry, but they are few and far between (or it's us going 4 or 5 mph over). coming from a land where 55 mph means 75 mph, i've really never seen anything like it. in addition, drivers seem to be a much more courteous bunch out here. they obey the markings on the road, they let you merge, and they actually yield to pedestrians.

as to what i've been up to these days: job hunting. job researching. interviewing. trying not to spend money or eat too much. not playing hockey (but sent in our free-agent forms!), but doing a fair amount of jogging since it's a free activity. haven't seen the new harry potter movie yet, mainly because i hate going to the theater. if it's not the kid pushing on my seat back with his feet it's somebody texting during the movie, or some whiny toddler who shouldn't be there anyway. andy and i went to see some movie one sunday morning (pretty much the only time i'll go) and the place was empty; we sat in the exact center of the room. two people came in after us, just after the lights dimmed, and i shit you not, they entered the row we were sitting on, walked in front of us, kindly left one empty seat, and sat down. really?! i get that you want to sit in the middle, but seriously, why?  who does that? and then of course i looked like the crazy bitch for gathering up all out stuff and moving down. sheesh.  so yeah, i usually go once a year (for the harry potter / twilight movies), and even if the movie is ok the experience has me exclaiming afterward, "see, THAT is why i never go to the movies!!"  but if theatergoers here are half as courteous as the drivers, i might just be able to tolerate it.

i'm in Denver now & finally getting around to posting something

We won't have internet & tv in our apartment until thursday.  it really sucks. i blame andy.  i wanted to order comcast the week before we moved so we could have the cable guy come asap, but andy hates comcast (something about it monopolizing the market...yadda, yadda). he was considering another provider and just never got around to making a decision. so i can't decide what's worse: missing the start of the new season of MTV's "teen mom" or not being able to check facebook every few hours. luckily i found my antenna that goes with my hd receiver for my computer so andy hooked it up to the big screen, and now we can get a few channels over the air in hd.  it's definitely better than nothing.  and since i'm sitting here in my apartment complex's business center i'm going to make this a short post.  it's cold, random people look at what you're doing online, the mouse doesn't work well, and worst of all i'm being forced to use a pc.  ugh, such an injustice.

so i had a thought this morning as i was getting dressed, trying to pick out a t-shirt to wear: i've got a ton of shirts that say stuff like "aspen" and "durango, colorado" and "winter x games," you know, cool stuff.  they're some of my favorite shirts.  would wearing one of these now that i live in colorado kinda be like wearing a 311 t-shirt to a 311 concert? nobody wants to be that guy.

btw, i'm jonesing for chickfila right now and i don't have a car...i might take the train to downtown and walk.  it's a 15+ minute walk to the light rail station near my apartment which is a little further than i'd like.  oh well.  i'll let you know how that goes.

the big news

last week i posted a somewhat cryptic photo of my boyfriend andy & me on facebook, with the caption "um...we've got some news...."  actually, here it is again:

since this is only a photo of ourselves and not of an
engagement ring or a baby bump, one should realize that
the graphic on the shirts is the only clue to what the "news" is.   

now, understand that i was being purposefully ambiguous, ya know, just to jack with people.  family, close friends, & coworkers had already heard the news, and people from our hockey league kinda got it because they recognized the logos on our shirts.  i didn't expect the majority of the facebook audience to get it, only because this is not a familiar logo, but at least one of my previous room mates was on the right track when she said "are you moving to canada?"

anyway, we're moving to denver, colorado. i guess i'll have a lot more stuff to blog about when i get out there. here are my priorities for the next few weeks:

• finding a place to live
• finding someone to take over my lease here
• figuring out logistics of a cross-country move
• hanging out with my best buds one last time
• finding a job
• selling my car
• organizing my stuff

ugh. i've already started organizing all my stuff, like, junk thats been in boxes in my mom's attic for years.  i have a bunch of notebooks full of old school crap and even though its pretty organized already i'd rather not have four notebooks full of it. so i've been scanning some stuff & tossing the papers.  i started with the georgia tech stuff. obviously i didn't hang on to all of it after i completed the courses, but i held onto most of my test & quizzes. and then i came across my degree petition & started looking at my transcript.  even though i managed to graduate with honor i didn't do that well in some of my major courses (remember cs 2130?  yeah, i had to repeat that one.  cs 2200?  you betcha, took that one twice as well). performed poorly on tests at the beginning and lost all motivation. didn't do any more work & just went to the lake instead. i used to think it'd be hard fail a class.  like, even if you turned in some work you could manage a D. well, actually, it's pretty damn easy to fail a class, you just don't do anything.  amazing how that works. one semester i actually had a 0.0 GPA, granted, i only took one course. but i'm sure the square root club would let me in.

just a general update

i hate facebook ads.  they're stupid, un-funny, and probably ineffective.  here's the ad that keeps showing up in my facebook sidebar:

yikes.  i bet a ton of girls click on this.  but i already know what andy's dna + my dna would look like: a baby. probably pink and wrinkly. i mean, they all look the same.  

here is what's up with me these days:

• went to the dentist this afternoon and had three cavities filled.  4 hours later i am no longer drooling out of the side of my mouth.

• andy's condo has been on the market for almost 8 months and today he had his first showing.  i realize there is not a lot of interest in 1-bedroom condos but still, we're a little disappointed more people haven't come by to see it.  yes, he has a realtor and it's listed in the MLS.  and no, we don't need to paint or redecorate or hire "stagers."  see, the problem is getting people interested in the condo - not what it looks like on the inside.  perhaps if we had ten people look with no offers we would make some changes.

• gearing up for the 3rd annual gurley trot - 5k race/walk/fun-run on thanksgiving morning at my mom's house in dalton.  if you wanna know the story click here.

• i lost the race for boiled custard.  john beat me to it. i received photo via text message for proof. so far i've consumed less than a gallon of boiled custard.  i anticipate reaching the gallon mark by the week's end.

• my team "nasty nest" is in first place in our hockey league.  i'm about to throw down here in a bit, our game is at 9:10.  so i best be headin' out...

on an unrelated note: remember the cruise ship disaster from last week?  passengers aboard the carnival splendor were without power/working toilets/etc.  i was on that ship exactly one year ago, and we too had an interesting event, although it was unrelated to the workings of the ship. i bet some people were freaking out hard core.  apparently they gave everyone a full refund and a huge discount on a future cruise.  although something tells me these people won't be cruising on carnival, like, ever again.

weird shit in my condo

i've been in my current residence for over a year and a half.  there is an odd assortment of stuff that is occupying some cabinet/closet space.  some of it belongs to the owner who doesn't live here, some of it belongs to the owner's half brother who was my room mate for a while but now has a home with his lady friend, and some of it is probably left over from various room mates.  since i've got the place entirely to myself now, i'm slowly going through everything and making room for the rest of the crap that i'm stashing in mary ellen's attic.  

i have given away/donated/thrown out some items (aquarium supplies, old medicines, OLD food), but a few small things remain.  sadly, the worst and weirdest stuff is still here.  have a look:

an innocent metal canister.  what's inside?

oh.  OH.  ew.  and yes, i opened it.  it's exactly what you think.

i found this in the hvac closet when i had to clear the entire thing out due to a clogged ac drain.  wtf?

view from the back.  it's a stick.  hot glued to the case. no idea, folks.

i see this every day upon entering my condo.  it's so dumb. i kinda forget it's there since i never have to look at it for more than a second. you know what, i think i'll go take it down. *done.* 

jim "ices" my brother

a bunch of us went to the beach last week. chad had two smirnoff ices in his cooler and we all know those are good for one thing and one thing only.  i can't remember whose idea it was to ice my brother, but seeing as though he was the one to introduce it to me, it seemed only fitting that i'd get him at his own game.

i only have photos of the setup:

it was jim's idea to make an elephant out of towels. we spent a few minutes watching instructional videos on youtube and after a few crappy elephants we ended up with a good one.

john & marissa got to the house later that evening and after chatting for a few minutes walked right into the trap.  i'm pissed i didn't get photos but he grabbed the ice and chugged it so fast i didn't even have time to reach for my camera. john iced jim later in the week with the one remaining smirnoff. he even waited until jim had gone to the grocery store, basically giving him a chance to defend himself.

if you haven't heard of "icing a bro," it appears that you're too late to check out the original website.  i didn't know what it was either until john told me about it several months ago.  go ahead and look it up on you tube.  but don't spend too much time looking at the videos - you'll never get that time back.

best day ever

i usually stay away from writing about work stuff, but this event is totally blogworthy. for those of you who don't already know, i participated in this american idol type contest at my office building and freakin' took everyone to school. won an iPad. i'm going to keep bragging about this, so if you're sick of hearing about it... too bad.

my entourage. it seems as though champ is having difficulty with his poster. and yes i spent way too much time making paper fans with my face on them.

lots of props.

we got bonus points for wearing green/sustainable clothing. those are recycling logos pinned to my pants. in less professional situations i would outfit myself in ridiculous materials, like aluminum foil or newspaper. but since i was at work, i figured i should stick to traditional items. like pants. and a shirt. i was expecting my competitors to go all-out, since some of them went bananas with the gingerbread house competition back in december, but no, these people made me look like frickin' captain planet.

randy, paul, & simon impersonators.

these guys did a great job and were way funnier than i expected them to be. simon was ruthless, although there was always a shred of truth in what he was saying (we were all given advance notice that simon was going to be mean as part of the act).

just call me ol' yarn hair

friday is the first game of the summer ice hockey rec league. i'm glad, because i'm getting sick of jogging at 6:30am just to stay in reasonable shape. andy & i are on the stars again, which is great because the captain (matt asher) always drafts people who are fun, sociable, and not a-holes. asher also likes chicks on his team - this season half the roster is female. i'm cool with that, because girls usually don't smell as bad as dudes. the team doesn't usually have a winning record. there are many conclusions you can draw from these facts, but let's not go there.

i always look forward to the draft, mainly so i can see if asher gave me a ridiculous nickname. here's the screen shot from last season, followed by this season:

so as you see, last season i was "yarn hair," i'm guessing because my name is anne, my boyfriend's name is andy, so we're like raggedy ann & andy...who both have yarn for hair? got it. and then watergirl: i always fill my water bottle with filtered water instead of cooler water and i don't like other people drinking out of my bottle. asher always brings a bunch of water bottles filled with grody water and i tend to complain about it. it's true.

here's what's up:

1. thanks to laura (& james), i'm now another step closer to getting a black belt in tae kwon do, however, i think our club has completely dissovled. i'm very sad. can't really afford to continue at another studio, and the odds of having an instructor like the guy in "the foot fist way" seem much too high.

2. my brother has a girlfriend. andy's already facebook-stalked her but didn't come up with much. (marissa: if you're reading this, welcome to the blog. you're gonna want to go ahead & bookmark this page. but don't check it more than once a week. i've gotten lazy and don't post very often.)

3. still addicted to snood. actually, i'm more addicted to knocking andy off the high score list on the evil setting. he's got the #3 spot on his computer, but i've got all of the nine remaining high scores. recently our friday nights have consisted of a cheap dinner out, a few beers at home, some catching up on tv, then we play video games until 3am. life's good.

4. anyone wanna buy a 1-bedroom condo in "the river west" complex? andy's selling. it's off northside parkway near mount paran. ground floor with huge patio overlooking bunch of trees. nice pool & gym.

5. celebrating chad's 28th birthday this weekend. we're all going to dress up like harry potter characters and watch all the movies back to back, and every time a character says "brilliant" or "rubbish" we're going to take a shot!!! ... actually, this is not what we're doing at all. chad, sorry if i got you excited.

6. lots of interesting goings-on at work today. here are the highlights:

transport the dummy, "sandy." all i gotta say is it's a good thing he's wearing pants.

like a glove

whose idea was it to move this thing

just making sure this thing works properly after the software upgrade

lots of information

dudes. sorry it's been so long since i last posted. really...uh, i've been busy. i hope everyone's Christmas was excellent and i hope everyone had as much fun ringing in 2010 as i did. here are some photo highlights from the past three weeks:

got suckered into singing with mary ellen's
choir group. it was a lovely service of lessons & carols.

santa brought me a rack to display my
belts. kinda makes me want to train
for a black belt so i can fill that empty slot.

that's mary ann, andy's sis-in-law. andy's dad
gave us belvedere gift sets. the boys got scotch.

granne received a snuggie, just like every other person in america.

john sampled the brussel sprouts. i rather enjoyed them.

cathy, me, naomi (sari i am sorry you didn't make the pic!!)

i got a new digital camera for Christmas. it's waterproof.
i showed it to my friends, and the next thing i know my
camera's in the sink.

christmas gift?

it's not a party without rock band -
andy on the drums, jim on mike, chad on guitar.

here's what i am doing these days:

making my way through the stephanie plum series by janet evanovich. i guess you could classify them as suspense/mystery. and they make me laugh out loud. my friend liz jurick was always pushing me to read them, so i picked up "one for the money" a few years ago, then continued with "two for the dough." both were pretty good but i couldn't find books 3, 4, etc. in any of the thrift stores i frequented so i kinda gave up with the series and went back to harry potter [again]. and then the whole twilight thing happened... anyway, i decided i could finally afford used copies from amazon so i filled in my collection. right now i'm putting these things away at a rate of about one per week. currently on "to the nines." and even though they were written by a female with a female main character i'd say that guys would like them too since there's murder and drugs and weapons and explosions.

new iMac. ok, this is great- i can listen to music, backup my stuff with time machine, edit images, & blog all at the same time. vast improvement from my ibook g4. now i am trying to organize all my photos & mp3s and it's slow-going. didn't get a digital camera until 2003 so all the photos that i scanned don't have the correct date/time stamp. and i'm a freak so everything has to be in the right order of course. i'm looking to buy a video capture device for my new iMac so get ready for some freaking awesome highlights from the crap i watch on tv.

a few good things, for once

since my last post was just me bitching about stuff, let me counter with some positives:

1. free lunch today from panera bread. w00t.

2. scored a goal during last sunday's hockey game. a backhand goal, at that.

3. i have a job, a place to live, and food. and willy's is right up the street.

4. going on vacation for a week, leaving sunday

5. my boyfriend andy is the shit

and if you haven't seen the halloween costume, here it is:

flu shots are for the weak

i haven't gotten a flu shot, nor do i plan to get one. here's why: pride. plain and simple. i know it sounds ridiculous, but that's my deal. i take damned good care of myself. i usually get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, i exercise 3 times per week, i wash my hands very frequently, my job isn't extremely stressful, i don't spend much time around small children, and i eat healthy meals, most of which do not come from a fast food restaurant. some of these practices require more effort than i would like, but it's totally worth it, and a lot of them are actually enjoyable. try it sometime. if my immune system can't handle the flu assault, well, then i guess i deserve to get sick. i'll keep you posted.

and now i shall get off my high-horse. good night.

friends with benefits

so my friends and i went to hilton head this past week for vacation. if you're wondering, it ruled. so just as my buddies got to reap the benefits of my grandma's oceanfront home i also got some of my own good stuff from my friend - v.i.p. passes to a pre-screening of harry potter #6. chad's uncle works for warner bros. and chad's always getting free movie passes. chad's probably - no - *definitely* the biggest harry potter fan i know and thank goodness his uncle delivered on this one. so the best part about this pre-screening deal is that the show was at 6pm, there were no small children, the theater was only half-full, and no one was in the chair next to me. oh, and the movie was fantastic. and did i mention free shirts?!

cathy & me wearing awesome free shirts

continuing the morbid posts...

i'll go ahead and tell you that if i drop dead today or die in the next 48 hours, a certain barista at starbucks is to blame. location on cobb pkwy next to steak 'n shake, just outside 285. tall white guy with a beard/goatee. if only i had gotten his name.... not that i'm expecting to keel over any time soon, but if i do, at least there will be some kind of explanation. also, this post ties in to my friend matt's post about death. if you have a spare minute, and i know you do, read it here.

moving on. here's the story:

before you judge me, i just want to say that i *never* go to starbucks. for many reasons, number one being i'm poor. i'll supplement this with the fact that i don't like to indulge in stuff that a)makes me fat b)leaves a weird taste in my mouth c)makes me cranky at the end of the day d)is overpriced. granted, i'll buy a bag of candy and eat the whole thing in one sitting, an activity that fulfills a,b, and c, but candy doesn't usually doesn't run me over $2, and thank goodness i can afford that. but all bets are off if someone gives me this stuff free of charge. then i just go nuts. absolutely buck wild. so today i went nuts because i had a $5 gift card and found myself very near starbucks with a few minutes to spare. how i acquired this gift card deserves it's own post, so i'll get around to that. but right now i should probably get to the point about dying.

i pulled up to the drive thru and announced that i wasn't sure what i wanted. mentioned something along the lines of a chai latte, something non-fat. sensing my unfamiliarity with the menu through the speaker, the guy was like, hey, do you like mocha? i said sure. then he said he'd been on this kick where he put a few pumps of mocha into his chai and that i should try it. i was like ok, bring it, i'm up for an adventure. in hindsight, probably shouldn't have said "i'm up for an adventure," as it's rather vague and can invite all sorts of trouble. anyway i got to the window, grabbed my concoction but told him he better not be trying to poison me. i wasn't even joking but kinda played it like i was. he was cool about it, and the drink tasted pretty good. like an oatmeal cookie with some chocolate chips. but that was at first. i'm actually sitting here right now sipping the very same drink and it tastes really weird. i'm still getting the oatmeal cookie taste, but now i'm getting a very weird aftertaste. like...arsenic? yak anus surprise? yeesh. think i'll go eat lunch.

not everyone thinks i'm a bitch

andy & i went to bainbridge, ga last weekend to attend this huge surprise birthday party for one of the town's elite business owners, vic pemberton. mr. p has a vending and catering business and andy used to work for him while he was in high school. andy's parents are friends with vic & his wife. anyway, the party was awesome. i actually bought a dress for the event. i rarely do that. i was gonna wear what was already in my closet but these days i'm starting to exhaust my options, and those options are looking kinda crappy. anyway, i was excited to have scored this particular dress and bragged to my mom that i got a rad dress at tjmaxx (as if i'd shop anywhere else), and that i'd get someone at the party to take my photo so she could see. here it is:

andy & me gettin' our drink on in bainbridge

anyone see a problem with this photo? you can't see the whole dress. and you can't see my shoes, which were totally cute thank you very much. i was very careful on who i grabbed to take this, as in, i didn't pick someone who was 50+ years old. perhaps i expect too much of the bainbridge crowd. sorry. i might add that this was the 2nd of two photos: the first was taken horizontally. when she wanted to take another, i advised her to hold the camera vertically to get a full body shot. then she handed the camera back to me and said "here make sure these are good." and so i wouldn't make myself out to be a total a-hole, i was like "oh they're fine," and i didn't even check them. i totally should have checked.

someone tied balloons to andy's pants

so the party was great and there were tons of people there. the rest of the weekend we ate the remainder of the finger foods (i call them that since i can't spell hors d'oveurs? eh? that doesn't look right...) at the pemberton's house and hung out with andy's friends josh & lane. i've been hearing about these guys for 3+ years so i kinda felt like i knew them already, but it was good to finally meet them both. josh is possibly the nicest person i've ever met. lane is very entertaining and perhaps a little psycho. i mean that in the nicest way possible. check this out - he was on wheel of fortune last fall and completely dominated, won like $45k or something ridiculous.

daniel, lane, andy, & josh. ugh i really need to clean my camera lens.

so, one thing that made me feel good is that everyone seemed to like me. granted, i behaved myself, didn't break anything, and kept the cursing to a minimum. andy kept telling me how much everyone liked me, which wasn't really that shocking, because i am pretty cool. although i i'm sure a select few think i'm crazy and overbearing since i begged andy not to eat a burger king cheeseburger at 1am that was apparently calling his name. but it's always nice to hear that people don't think you're a total bitch.

ps - more pics from bainbridge here

i'm still on vacation

for those of you who have only seen snow in the southeast and think that flakes look like giant blobs of ice, here is what i'm dealing with out here in utah:

awesome flakes on my glove

lovely!!!

so i'm sitting in the condo right now blogging because the hot tub is no worky. apparently some technician guy came a few hours ago, drained the thing, then filled it back up. and now the water is at 50 degrees. i dunno who owns this joint, but they should have scheduled that for *tomorrow* when we're all on our way outta here. anyway, i've seen a crazy amount of snow in the past few days. i'm a little bummed we didn't get any sunny days - it snowed every day we were out - but the skiing has been delicious. yesterday we were at snowbird after they got like 20 inches of snow. it was nuts. snow up to your waist. i'll post pics soon.

national signing day

uh-oh, been a while since i posted. my b. i've got a lot of stuff i've been meaning to post and i'm totally running out of time because i'm going to utah early tomorrow morning and my stuff is kinda all over the place and not in my suitcase where it should be...so i'm typing this while catching up on "double shot at love." this show is insane. remember tila tequila from the original? well, this season featured the "ikki twins," rikki and vikki - bisexual identical twins. ridiculous. soft-core porn. too much girl-on-girl action. i feel, well, icky when i'm watching it. the twins date from the same collection of girls & guys, and then have to agree on who to eliminate. once they got down to the final two, you would think that one twin would pick one contestant, and the other twin would pick the other. but noooo...both twins picked the same guy and then *he* had to choose. poor bastard.

anyway.

one thing i've completely neglected to blog about is my uncle's sorta-stepson donovan. donovan tate. check it:

yeah, he's kind of a big deal.

he's a senior at cartersville high (georgia) and is my uncle's ex-wife's son. i've only hung out with him a few times, but he and my uncle (lee) are pretty tight. this kid is so good at baseball and football that he beat out other awesome high school athletes for the cover of this magazine. he was being recruited by some big-time football programs (usc, michigan, alabama) but went with unc. interesting selection. word on the street is that he'll be a top-10 pick in the baseball draft this spring. not even kidding.

since today was national signing day i met him & his mom at fox sports grill at atlantic station for some interviews and celebration. here are some pics.

donovan & his mom tracy looking tar heel-ish

"i'm a total badass"

i totally had a blue sweater. no white & gold today.

looking studly with some of his cartersville team mates

as i mentioned, i'm leaving for vacation tomorrow morning. andy & i are going snowboarding in utah. i fricking love utah, except for the low-gravity beer. we'll be at the canyons for 2 days and then we are meeting up with some buddies for more craziness down-valley. peace out dudes.

home improvement projects

andy upgraded from plastic el cheapo blinds to the premium faux wood blinds. yeah, not a huge deal, but much better. you like?

might i mention that these were totally free. many thanks go out to the person who left them in the trash chute closet, along with the original box and extra slats. and of course to the lady at home depot who provided the hardware...at no charge. and like the situation with the vacuum cleaner (refer to post from 12.07.08), andy had plans to purchase the item. he took all the measurements and got prices and everything. and then the next day when he went to throw his trash down the chute, lo and behold, some blinds. they are even custom-cut for the funky door handle. and they totally work and aren't grody.

also, check out the newly painted stools:

these used to be a light wooden color (is there even a name for that besides "yellow?"). now, i know what you're thinking - "there's no way they scored these for free," and you're right, we had to buy paint, about $15 tax included. but yeah the stools were free, complements of some people i work for who have too much stuff.

i got your "first post of '09" *right here*

andy & i went to costco last night to look at an entertainment center. as usual we [andy] got distracted by other merchandise. merchandise that looks suspiciously like a part of the male anatomy. see for yourselves - and make sure the volume on your computer speakers is at a comfortable listening volume.

for the record, andy saw it first, got real excited, and then showed it to me. and of course i had to turn it into an awesome video. click here and here to see other photos. sorry about the blurry. i was starting to draw a crowd so i had to hurry it up, plus i was laughing so hard i couldn't hold the camera steady.