Otay, I tell you everyting.....

English 101 was really productive today because my substitute teacher couldn't speak english. Luckily, we got dismissed early so I was able to grab some lunch. Our XC practice was mad crazy. The course was so muddy and once we started our hill repeats my shoes weighed at least 2 pounds more than when we started. We were so muddy when we got back into the PAC.

January's gonna be a great month. I'm gonna be in the best shape of my life, I'll be running for the first time in a USI uniform, and I'm going to see Something Corporate at the Metro with the coolest people I know. In fact, I have my first track meet in the morning of the 22nd and then the concert later that night. Two of my favorite events, track meets and concerts, all in one day. Seriously folks, does it get any better? I think not. ~ Rich

"Nobody ever mentions weather to make or break your day"

So I think I've got this thing figured out. Because Evansville has nothing but sunny, humid, 80 degree days throughout summer and autumn there must be nothing but rainy and 50 degree days throughout November and probably December. Can you guess what the weather is like right now?

We've got a workout on Strueh Hill today. When I found out that we were doing a workout yesterday I was pretty pissed off, but now I want to do it. I actually like hill repeats, especially up Strueh. For those of you not in the know, Strueh Hill is the longest hill we have on our course. Although it's a fairly steady climb, it's a quarter-mile long. So by the time you wind around to see the top your starting to hurt.

Speaking of hurting, I've got english class at 12; now that's painful. Later~ Rich

Today's Music: "What's the Story (Morning Glory)" by Oasis

Thanksgiving break was great, even though Hebron lost to Kouts. It was good to hang out with Matt, Henry, Joe, Ricky, and Emiltag again. I've got history now, so I might elaborate on my break later.

An excellent article on what's really happening in Fallujah

One of Hollywood's own has died, and they apparently don't care

The ocean breathes salty....

Day-After Thanksgiving sales are absolutely crazy. People are choking each other over who gets the last blender for 50% off retail, clothes are strewn about the floors, and the lines are 45 minutes long. Why the hell was I in Merriville on such a crazy day? Because my good friend Matthew needed a vacuum, actually his mom need the vacuum. We braved the crazy people and long lines to get $100 off this particular vacuum, so it ended up being a good day. Hurrah.

Lasagna is cooking in the oven; it's so nice to eat real food again. After I demolish the lasagna I'll be heading over to Hebron High for THE game. I hear we're playing Kouts which means that it's gonna be loud and packed, the way I like it. That's about it for now. Oh, I'm getting a new bass. Pretty sweet, huh? Peace~ Rich

E-ville was soooo much nicer......

It was almost 60 degrees in Evansville when I left. I come back home and it's 35 and snowing. Seriously, what the fuck? Oh well, that's the Region for ya. I'm about 20 minutes from going out on a run; 3 PM is supposed to be the warmest time of they day, so I'll try and brave the wind and snow then. My plans for tonight are yet to be decided. I heard there's a game tonight, so I might go tonight. Bleh, time to throw on some clothes. Later folks. ~ Rich

Often immitated, never duplicated...

Well I got totally screwed out of goin' back home this weekend because of my CIS class; the server failed yesterday when I was taking my Access test. Now I have to take it tomorrow and then retake it Tuesday so I can improve upon what I know is gonna be a shitty grade. Microsoft Access is like Excel on drugs and, as far as I'm concerned, it can go to hell and die.

So what else is new? Well I currently cannot stop listening to Death Cab For Cutie's Transatlanticism. The CD is unlike anything else in my collection. Three songs on the CD that totally blow me away are We Looked Like Giants, Title and Registration, and Passenger Seat. All of the songs mentioned have great lyrics, the most creative I've heard in awhile.

I'll leave you with the first verse of Title and Registration

The glove compartment is inaccurately named
and everybody knows it
So I'm proposing a swift, orderly change
'cause behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm
and all I find are souvenirs from better times
before the gleam of your tail lights fading eastto find yourself a better life

running and snow

Just got my math done a half hour before class, so I thought I'd make a quick post. I'm looking forward to running today because it's absolutely beautiful. I think I'll do a 10-miler out to the small town of St. Philips and back to campus. Thanksgiving vacation is still up in the air as I do not know when I'm coming back home or how I'm geting there, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. It got down to 38 degrees last night, crazy. Now if only we could get some snow, then I'd really be happy. Speaking of snow, I hear it's dusted a few times up in NH. Hopefully there'll be some excellent conditions when I, my dad, and Jake get out there in March. This concludes my random post of the day. ~ Rich

Get high on life, not drugs.....

Sorry, the title has absolutely nothing to do with this post; I just felt the need for inserting something totally random. Anyway, I really don't want to type a very long post right now, so I'll try to keep this fairly brief. The girl's v-ball team won conference yesterday by defeating SIUE in the 4th game. My vocal chords have gone through pure hell the past 2 days after attending both games and screaming my ass off. But, it was awesome to seem them win; nice job, ladies.

Jesse's birthday party made the day the best I've had this year, by far. I finally got most of the business hall over to the track house. I'm pretty sure they had fun.

Today is going to pass by ever so slowly. Well I need to get going. Peace to your hearts. ~ Rich

Good day, I hope?

Tonight we are celebrating Jesse's birthday as well as what I hope will be a Screamin' Eagles volleyball conference championship. Gotta love posts that are only 3 sentences long and don't really tell ya much, right? I'm already late, so I need to get going folks. ~ Rich

"Another lonely night in Amsterdam"

Today was a miserable kinda day with nothing but rain and 50-something for the high. To make matters worse I was not able to enjoy the weather with a run because I had a really bad calf cramp after my run yesterday which left my really sore today. Walking in the rain to class was really fun though because once I got to the door of the building I needed to be in I had to shake the water off my hair or it would have been dripping all over the place. I learned that the hard way when I went to my meeting with Coach this morning.

Speaking of the meeting, I think that it went pretty well. We figured out what times I want to hit for the indoor and outdoor track seasons. I'll be running the mile and maybe one or two 5k's for indoor, and I'll run the 1500 and another 5k for outdoor. This season I'm not going to post my goals on here because I seem to have more difficulty at hitting them when I do so. What I will say is that these times are ridiculously faster than anything I ran in high school; and I'm confident in my ability to run them.

Top 10 Ways to Create Drama On A Team

10.) Distort the truth when telling a dramatic occurence to make yourself look like a better person.

9.) Be sure to criticize other people of their shortcomings often, and always remember to disregard the fact that you have your own problems and are not secure enough to deal with them.

8.) Create away messages or weblog posts that are open to interpretation in an effort to piss off other people (shit that sounds hypocritical, wait, I invoke #9).

7.) If anyone looks at you or says anything in a manner that you don't like, remember to tell everyone on a daily basis just how much you hate them.

6.) If a member of your team hooks up with a member of the opposite sex, try to flirt or have relations with their partner.

5.) Get pissed off at other people based on hearsay.

4.) In the words of Tool: "Wear the grudge like a crown."

3.) If you feel the urge to bitch someone out, do it when they are drunk. That way they are completely defenseless to what you say; moreover, it'll make you look like a total badass.

2.) Logic and reason usually kill drama: never use either.

1.) Sleep with as many people on your team as possible.

A disclaimer to save my ass: There are many people on the team who are sick of unnecessary drama; it's bullshit, and it's tearing our team apart. For that reason I have created this post. If some people find it absolutely necessary to create drama, then those of us not involved should at least get a good laugh from their stupidity.

Bleh

So I started running again yesterday. My lungs felt as if I had not even taken a week off. I have also started lifted again and I feel absolutely great. Life has been fairly monotonous the past week or so. A lot of drama has been occuring throughout the team, but I'm trying to stay out of it, I don't like bad karma. That's all for now. ~ Rich

Ouch, that hurts.

Poor shitty "economist," the higher voter turnout favored Bush. Are you still misty eyed? And if so, is it for other reasons?

11/8/04 8:29: I would like to make a correction regarding many of the statements I have previously made regarding the election. Indeed, I have no right to criticize anything that a liberal from the East or West Coast says because I am but a simpleton, apparently living in "Jesusland," and unfortunately I do not reside in a big house to isolate me from the pulse of all the other "stupid people." Moreover, I seem to have forgotten that having a Ph.D. with one's name on it automatically justifies their opinion as always being the right one.

Okay, I'm done with that little addition to this post which, by the way, is dripping with sarcasm. These are all reasons why the left lost this election. The liberal elite has gotten so out of touch with the American people that they can't even accept defeat when it's swiftly handed to them (by 3.5 million votes, I may add). In 2000, many of them whined that a great voter turnout would have handed the election to Gore. Now, in the face of one of the largest voter turnouts in years, they find themselves screaming that the election was won because of extremist right-wing Evangelical whackos hell bent on, God (oh shit, did just say mention that Guy?) forbid, preserving the basic principles and moral foundation that was used in the creation of this great nation. Apparently, 2.5 million square miles of America is infested wrong-minded, gay bashing, gun toting, beer chugging idiots. Or, maybe that is just what people such as Michael Moore and Paul Krugman want to believe. The elite left is not in touch with the majority of Americans' values, and this is precisely why they have lost, again.

I'm watching Bill Maher's show on HBO, again. This is such an interesting show because people such as Maher accuse Fox News for not being "fair and balanced." Yet as I watch his show, I see Mahr and two other liberals attack a lone conservative. Very fair and balanced Bill, nice job.

Under God, America Will Achieve Victory

The American people have spoken, and they said John Kerry's staying in Massholechussetts. It was my belief that God and our nation's people would not let our nation fold under the current international chaos, yet I still was very nervous while watching the returns last night on TV. Victor Davis Hanson describes the situation best:

"All of our past presidents were, at the moments of their crises, deeply unpopular precisely because they chose the difficult, long-term sacrifice for victory over the expedient and convenient pleas for accommodation (if not outright capitulation). We are faced with just such an option today: a choice between a president whose call for patience and sacrifice promises victory, and a pessimist stirring the people with the assurances that we should not have fought, and now cannot win, the present war in Iraq."

President Bush has been faced with a public mindset towards war that is comparable to that in the Civil War and World War II. During the onset of the Civil War, Union soldiers lost a number of major battles to the Confederates; during WWII, the Americans lost many battles to the Japanese in the opening year. Public opinion was extremely critical of both wars. Many had no qualms over Southern secession. A number of Americans were outraged at America's abandonment of isolationism from what was considered to be "Europe's war." Bush finds himself in a hybrid of the two situations because

a.) he has faced a preemptive attack (9/11) comparable to Pearl Harbor in WWII
b.) he has had as much, if not more, hatred directed towards his unwavering stance on the war than Lincoln in the Civil War

Mr. Bush also finds himself sharing similar situations with the presidents who served during these conflicts: he was reelected. Reading about war history, I have learned of some recurring themes for consideration. If you go to war with Russia, get the fuck out of there before winter sets in; appeasement always fails to stop a determined enemy; France is never a good ally; and Americans are always victorious when they stay the course. When Americans are willing to endure the hardships of war, they win (the Revolutionary, Civil War, Cold War, and World Wars I & II come to mind). Likewise, in the Vietnam War and Somolia, when America failed to push onward, we did not succeed.

If this trend continues, and I believe it will, America will be victorious in the worldwide conflict it now faces. Critics argue that the United States is only intensifying the problems in the Middle East by attempting to bring democracy to the region. Our nation has waged war against Germany, England, Italy, Russia, and Japan. All of these nations have now established some form of democracy; we have not warred with any of them since. Democracy allows for all sides to voice their opinions, making it much more difficult for meaningless conflict to arise. That is why it is crucial for America to exit this conflict victoriously. With the right man for the job in power for another term, I believe that we will do just that.

An election party?

Yes folks, an election party. Are we weird? No, but we do give a shit about who becomes our nation's next leader. Plus, the 2004 election is definately more exciting than an NBA game because the candidates are actually trying to win. Though the majority of us are cheering on Bush, there are a few that are hoping Kerry will win. Right now Florida is looking good for Bush; Ohio ain't lookin' bad either. At the same time, Kerry will probably take NH and has most likely taken Pennsylvania. Four more years. ~ Rich