May 2006 Archives

« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »

May 31, 2006

Happy June

Twenty-eight minutes from the time I started this entry, it will be June for those of us in the eastern time zone. Indiana? Welcome to your first concurrent-with-Ohio's arrival into the month of June since 1960-something, and welcome to the 21st Century. Funny thing is, I've got quasi-regular readers of this blog situated in all four of the time zones that contain the continental United States.

Read "Happy June" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:32 PM | | Comments (0)

May 28, 2006

Update

Back in Akron. Situation improving. More later.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:58 AM | | Comments (0)

May 23, 2006

Bag the Cat!

Greetings from the beautiful accomodations of the Super 8 Motel in Bloomington, Indiana!

Read "Bag the Cat!" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 09:45 AM | | Comments (0)

May 19, 2006

The Usual Pointless Rambling (and Random Thoughts Volume Nine)

So tomorrow, we're jumping in a car (whenever Amy's off of work) and going to Indiana. It will be good to have a change, and I'm really hoping this change eases some mental ailments I've had lately. Ever since schoolwork abruptly halted, I've been in the dumps. I still think that distraction is the key to avoiding depression.

Read "The Usual Pointless Rambling (and Random Thoughts Volume Nine)" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:49 PM | | Comments (0)

Interior Decorating

The last few days, I've been doing organizing and decorating and such that we've been putting off, well... ever since we moved to Ohio. The house suddenly feels much more like a home, just by hanging some shit on the walls. We made a conscious decision a while back to make up the living room with travel things. Now, we've got a huge world map (courtesy of some geography fair my mom attended) and old-school travel posters. I think it's cool, but then again, I am a nerd. Unapologetically.

Read "Interior Decorating" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:17 AM | | Comments (0)

May 18, 2006

A Day of Muncie in Akron

Today has been a strange day. In some ways, I feel like I've been living today in Muncie because I've been hearing about things happening there throughout the day.

Read "A Day of Muncie in Akron" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:18 AM | | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

Quasimodo

The rain did actually stop for a while today. It ended about 5:00. At 7:00, I went outside and started mowing. I got the yard completely mowed, though the mower was pissed about the wet grass. It's a mulching mower, which means the wet grass clumps up in the blade easily and messes things up. A nuisance, but the yard is mowed.

Read "Quasimodo" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:04 AM | | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

No, uh...

I think I get it. 

Read "No, uh..." »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 10:04 AM | | Comments (0)

May 15, 2006

Pay Day is Always a Bad Mental Health Day?

For the only time ever, Amy and I got paid on the same day because school is over. Normally, I get paid on the 26th. This would be good, except that it serves as a reminder for how quickly our money disappears each month. I don't care about money, but I'm sick of struggling. With the school loan debt load I'll be carrying by the time I graduate, we're going to be struggling for quite some time.

Read "Pay Day is Always a Bad Mental Health Day?" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:48 PM | | Comments (0)

The Loneliness of Quirky-ness

I think it's a good thing to be quirky. Admittedly, I am. By her admission, so is Amy. Unfortunately, this closes a lot of doors for us socially. Beyond post-colloquium visits to bars, we've spent about two or three evenings with other people since we got here. That's it.

Read "The Loneliness of Quirky-ness" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:13 AM | | Comments (0)

May 14, 2006

If Only I Could Sleep...

Saturday nights are always hard to sleep, because I get worried about going to church the next day. I really don't like going to church because Amy's church has way too many things I don't agree with. See, she's into the Church of Christ thing. That's not my path. While I was raised Lutheran (and fell from that pedestal a long time ago), Quakerism is about as close as you can get to defining my faith. So, here I've spent the past hour or so researching Akron-area Quaker churches, trying to get the guts to say, "no, I'm going somewhere else" tomorrow. Of course, I won't... because I'm a big pussy.

Read "If Only I Could Sleep..." »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 01:04 AM | | Comments (0)

Rain Rain Rain

I'm getting kind of sick of the rain. I know I was spoiled by an unusually sunny spring thus far, but four days of rain has sucked. We got used to doing things outside, like cooking, hiking, biking, going to the park, etc. With this rain, much of our cheap entertainment is completely gone. Tomorrow is predicted to be more of the same. Too bad, because I wanted to go biking in the national park again. That was great fun last Sunday.

Read "Rain Rain Rain" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:18 AM | | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006

The Annals of a Househusband

Being off work is great... for about 2 hours.  It's so fucking boring around here without Amy.  I've succumbed to working on cleaning the house, which is desperately needs.  I like to think that we split the household chores fairly evenly... sometimes she does more, sometimes I do, but usually it evens out.  Sometimes we specialize a bit -- she does the laundry and starts the dishwasher more... and I cook, mow and take out the trash more.


Read "The Annals of a Househusband" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:52 PM | | Comments (0)

Exciting Sandwich on Boring, Hold the Mayo

Today was a sandwich. Boring, with a time of excitement scrunched in there, followed by more boredom. I spent the day at home by myself. I did some cleaning, some laundry, and I managed to flood our kitchen with soap suds when I tried using regular dish soap in our dishwasher because we were out of detergent.

Read "Exciting Sandwich on Boring, Hold the Mayo" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:36 PM | | Comments (0)

Woot.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 10:31 AM | | Comments (0)

May 11, 2006

Just Make Like a Tree, and Get Out of Here!!!!

The odd thing about the intensity of the last few weeks in grad school is how it ends. Once you're done with things, you're done. I went from going 5,000 mph to fully stopped. That makes my mind go insane. My thoughts have been absolutely crazy the past day or so, now that my mind has recovered a little. It's strange.

Read "Just Make Like a Tree, and Get Out of Here!!!!" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:12 AM | | Comments (0)

May 09, 2006

Fin.

I've turned in my terrorism paper. It sucked, but it's in... and Jim knows I plan to work more on it. That should seal my 4.0.

Read "Fin." »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:46 PM | | Comments (0)

May 08, 2006

Everyone Needs a Fallback Career.

Being a doctoral student is a little different. I've found that, for one thing, points and averages mean absolutely nothing when it comes to grades. Basically, the ability of your prof to like you and the level to which he/she thinks you've got a grasp of the material, that's the grade you'll get. My "B" in statistics last semester was certainly a gift considering my grasp, though it should be noted that a "B" at this level is like a "C-" in an undergrad. The "A-" in Global Economy and the "A" in Thought were about right in terms of my effort and ability.

Read "Everyone Needs a Fallback Career." »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:56 PM | | Comments (0)

Stephen Colbert is My Hero

On the news a few nights ago, the big story was the White House Correspondent Dinner, at which Bush joked around by talking to an impersonator who made fun of him. Somewhere, hushed by the media, was Stephen Colbert's speech, which as I understand was made directly in front of Bush. For those of you who don't know, Colbert works brilliantly in satire and sarcasm.

Read "Stephen Colbert is My Hero" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 01:50 AM | | Comments (0)

Why is it named Peninsula if it's not a piece of land sticking out into a body of water?

I write this in a full sleeping-wife-strangle-hold. You've been warned.

Read "Why is it named Peninsula if it's not a piece of land sticking out into a body of water?" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:52 AM | | Comments (0)

May 07, 2006

Recalling the World's Best Summer Job

I remember when I had the World's Best Summer Job. It was the projectionist of a drive-in movie theater. The pay was crap, and usually the paychecks even bounced. The customers were scary, the owner was a dick and the situation was generally hopeless. I never knew from one weekend to the next whether or not the place would be open. If the projector malfunctioned, it was a long night. But it was the best, something I'll tell my kids about. It was great, hanging out under the stars (or the rain), getting friends in for free, smoking cigarettes and watching Erin Brockovich 500 times while sitting on the trunk of a Dodge Shadow.

Read "Recalling the World's Best Summer Job" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 01:46 AM | | Comments (0)

May 05, 2006

Lucky Catch

We decided to suck it up and spend money we didn't really have on some Mexican food tonight, being that it is Cinco de Mayo and everything. Actually, Mariachi Loco's just sounded really good.

Read "Lucky Catch" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:39 PM | | Comments (0)

May 04, 2006

May 4, 2006

First of all, my article for Seeds of Change, a local activist mag, came out yesterday. I know I already posted a bulletin about this... but you should go read it anyway.

Read "May 4, 2006" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:49 PM | | Comments (0)

To Wait

It seems like lately, as busy as I've been, I've been engaged in a great deal of waiting. It's not your typical waiting like waiting in line to check out your groceries or whatever. It's big waiting.

Read "To Wait" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:56 AM | | Comments (0)

May 03, 2006

One Hurdle Down

I've now presented both my hazards and terrorism presentations.  Both went quite well.  Now, all I have to do is turn the information I presented there into reasonably legible and understandable papers.

Read "One Hurdle Down" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 03:03 PM | | Comments (0)

May 02, 2006

Jeff Just Mentioned West Philadelphia, and This Has Been In My Head Ever Since...

Now this is the story all about how
my life got flipped, turned upside down.
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there,
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air.

Read "Jeff Just Mentioned West Philadelphia, and This Has Been In My Head Ever Since..." »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 04:29 PM | | Comments (0)

Three... Three Impossible Deadlines.... Ma-ha-ha-ha!

The Count was always the Sesame Street hero of young goths-to-be. He always counted bolts of lightning, bats, castles and ominous shit like that. Now he has stupid fairy shit like tie-dye and happy dancing songs. No joke... I saw this a couple weeks ago. How the mighty have fallen. Sesame Street has become a pile of shit with the invention of Elmo, the phasing out of Grover and the metrosexualizing of The Count.

Read "Three... Three Impossible Deadlines.... Ma-ha-ha-ha!" »

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 02:05 AM | | Comments (0)