Right on

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day around these parts. Well, more exciting than usual, I guess, which doesn't really take a whole lot. Like, if I saw a firetruck going down the street with its lights on, that would qualify as an exciting day. Or if I saw a dog with a curly tail. Exciting. But yesterday was exciting in a way that makes me feel like things in this crazy world aren't so bad.

It started in the morning, as days usually do. I've been battling a cold for the past few days (quick aside: something like that happens every time when I hang out with the Minneapolis crew; regardless of where we meet up [Ames, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Cedar Rapids], someone gets sick. Last time Jimbo ended up with mono. H has had her fair share of sickness, alcohol related or no, Bill's felt under the weather once or twice, and last St. Patty's day I was a party pooper because I was coming down with a cold), but I woke up feeling better. Seeing the snow falling made me feel very relaxed, enough to fall asleep again. That was nice. I've never really been one to sleep in, I usually am up and ready to go around 9 every day. Yesterday, I slept all the way until 10:30! Very nice.

After a lunch at McDonald's (I can't resist those Shamrock Shakes. They're too good.), I had decided to read for the rest of the afternoon. But I hadn't even turned a page when my phone rang, a call from Kansas City. With a job offer. Awesome. I start the 17th, so I'll be heading west soon. I had been told that I was going to get the job offer, but didn't want to mention anything here until things had been more cemented. Now I feel like I can talk about it and not jinx it or whatever. So yeah, I'm basically rockin' out.

Later that night, my bro and I went to a friend's place and played Guitar Hero. Any time I can showoff my excellence at video games, I just at the occasion. It makes me feel like the last 20-odd years of my life weren't a total wash. It was a good time, with some good home-brewed beer. Something I need to get into, once I have the money to do so.

When I returned home and checked my email, I had a message from Lee Klein, author of the Flenky-winning "All Aboard the Bloated Boat." I was excited. He pointed out that his piece was more of an essay than a short story, which I had meant to mention, but just plain forgot. So thanks again, Lee, your prize will be on its way shortly! And, as I mentioned here before, I'll do a bigger write-up of the essay. I'll just say it was incredible. And getting that email was a good way to end my day.

*****

Now it's time to play a little catch-up with a few things. First off, Bill's Countdown to Opening day!

From two days ago, here's a special salute to those going after foul balls.

Real Men of Genius

In a slightly related story, one time, years ago, Bill and I were at an Iowa Cubs game with some friends. They have this "hot dog cannon" that comes out once or twice a game, shooting hot dogs into the stands. Well, Bill must have really wanted a hot dog, he sprinted after one that was probably 3 sections away, I swear he pushed a few kids out of the way, and grabbed it. He may have been jealous of me- I was thrown a ball by right fielder Angel Echevarria. To this very day, I think he throws his hot dogs in the air, just to get that "airborne" taste.

Here's yesterday's update, ten reasons why baseball is better than sex:

1. It is legal to play professionally.
2. You can count on it at least four times a week.
3. You have a coach to tell you when to advance.
4. When you are tired, you always get relieved.
5. When you strike out once, you always have two more chances for a hit.
6. Up to four people can score at once.
7. Pop-ups are frequent.
8. 30,000 people cheer when you score.
9. After seven innings, you get to stretch.
10. You can get a home run without any foreplay.

Thanks Bill!

Now for a quick music recommendation, I'll present to you Bishop Allen (site | myspace), with the song "Click, Click, Click, Click."



I really liked the song "Rain" when I first heard it, and was pleased to hear that the other songs are just as good. A fun band, they released a 4-song EP at the end of each month of 2006, each put out by themselves. That's productive, and a great idea.

Only 23 days to go!

I am back from Minneapolis, after a very fun weekend, full of some drinking, some Trivial Pursuit, and lots of food. There may or may not have been some karaoke, we'll wait to see if there is video evidence. Nothing too exciting happened, just some hanging out with friends, but really, what more do you need? I made it back to Iowa to be under another winter weather advisory, some more snow could be on the way. Hurrah!

Well, I'm tired and don't have too much more to say at this moment, but here is Bill's video for the Countdown to Opening Day!



Fare thee well, Irish

I live for this

It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look -- I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring -- caring deeply and passionately, really caring -- which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete -- the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball -- seems a small price to pay for such a gift.

-Roger Angell in his piece "Agincourt and After"

Spring training has started, the Royals won yesterday, beating the Padres 13-9 (I'm starting my "Hideo Nomo for Cy Young" campaign soon), after they lost their "spring opener" to the Rangers. Just seeing a baseball field on TV is enough to get me in better spirits, and almost bring a tear to my eye. My friend Bill is adding his own touch to the excitement and anticipation of Opening Day by sending out emails each day, leading up to the hallowed event, with baseball-related videos. I decided that more people need to get pumped up for this, and, with his permission, am going to share his videos. Now he's a couple of days into it, so I'll play catch-up today.

First was from 2 days ago



Then yesterday



And here's today's



I'm optimistic this year about the Royals. Of course, I am every year. But the young players are a year older, there's a new manager , Jose Guillen is a pretty big signing for them (even if he has to serve a 15-game suspension for steroid-related stuff), Luke Hochevar, a first-round pick from a few season ago, pitched two perfect innings the other day against some big-time hitters in the Rangers' lineup, and, as a Royals fan, I have to have hope. But it's not always a blind hope, this year, I have a good feeling about it!

A weekend of long goodbyes

My last weekend as a resident of Iowa was an excellent one. Between great food, great fun, and great friends, I couldn't have had a much better time. Marin made it into town on Thursday, Jim and Haley on Friday, and Bill eventually made it (after some car issues) on Saturday, as well as Jeff, who made the trip all the way from northwest Cedar Rapids. After some drinking and Wii playing at my brother's place Friday night, Saturday was spent in Iowa City, taking in some of my favorite restaurants and sites one last time before I left. And oh yeah, there was a football game. For those of you who may not have noticed, the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Syracuse Orange 35-0 in front of 70,585 (mostly gold-clad) fans in Kinnick Stadium, in only the 3rd-ever night game hosted in the historic stadium. The first couple of pictures were taken from where Marin and I sat for part of the game, the last one was where everyone else was seated. We weren't able to get 6 tickets together, but it went alright with 4 together and 2 others. (I'm pretty proud of the pics, since my camera is broken and all)




The weather was beautiful, the Hawkeyes looked great (it could be that Syracuse looked terrible, but either way, I'm happy with the result), and I think a good time was had by all.

Of course, I had to forget my phone charger at my brother's place this weekend, so my phone died midway through the day on Saturday, and I wasn't able to get in contact with a lot of the people I wanted to, and made things more difficult overall, but we pulled it off pretty well. And it may have been for the best that I wasn't able to get a hold of a lot of people, because then I would've probably been stressed with trying to get everywhere to see everyone. As it was, it was a rather relaxing time with some good friends. We ate at all of the places I needed to hit one last time: Oyama for sushi with Marin, Oasis for one last falafel, Hamburg Inn for breakfast Sunday morning with everyone, The Pit to have some excellent Iowa BBQ (before I get some Texas BBQ, which may be even more excellent), and Whitey's for some wonderful ice cream. (For those of you not from Eastern Iowa/Western Illinois, yes, there is an ice cream chain around here known as "Whitey's". It's delicious ice cream.) Then yesterday I hung out with Travis for a little while before I had to go, then dinner with my dad and step-mom.

There were a few times where I think the air was rather dusty, it made my eyes water up a little. I don't know what the deal with that was. . . But I was so glad for how things went, and for my friends that were here that read this, I hope you all know how grateful I was for you guys to come down and hang out with me on my last weekend in town. For my friends that read this that weren't able to make it, no worries, we'll have more opportunities to get together. Everyone is welcome down in Austin, any time! Just give me a little warning.

Now today is going to be spent washing clothes, packing, getting my oil changed, buying some new sandals (Kenna ate mine last night), and watching a little bit of the 49ers game tonight with KP. I promise I will post one last time before I go, and will post more pictures from this past weekend as I get them from the various people that took them.

Starting my final tour

The past couple of days in Ames were pretty fun! Bill and I basically hung out, we didn't do anything too wild. We watched Superbad, which was pretty hilarious, went to the batting cages, where I was straight-up destroying the pitches (most of the time), and having a good old time. Some delicious foods were eaten, including a tres leches cake that I made Wednesday night. I was a little nervous about how it'd turn out, as it was a little more labor-intensive than the usual boxed cake mixes, but it actually came out wonderfully! Then on my way home last night, I was able to hang out with Captain Crab for a drink or two, which is always fun! Sorry, though, no pictures were taken.

You see, I had a little mishap with my camera while I was at Wrigley Field. It was in my pocket, got jostled around, and ended up with a broken LCD screen. So while it still takes pictures, I can't preview them or actually see what it is that's in the picture while I'm taking it. It was kind of disappointing, especially since I've only had it for a couple of months, but I only spent $100 on it so it's not like it was a top-of-the-line camera. But still. I'll make do for now, like I said it still takes pictures (almost all of the pictures that I posted from the Chicago trip were taken in its current state). Eventually, however, I'll have to break down and buy a new one. Probably after I actually have a job and some sort of income.

Well this will probably be my last post for the weekend, I'll be running around trying to fit everything in and see everyone that I want to see while I'm in Iowa City this weekend. But I'll be back on Sunday and Monday, and will try to have some epic, worth-while posts. This will probably be a little bit of an emotional weekend for me, so there may be lots to report. Until then, go Hawks!!

A trip to Cedar Rapids!

I went to a Cedar Rapids Kernels game last night with Jeff, a newer friend of mine. I met him through H and Bill. They actually met each other (H and B) through Jeff. Jeff met his (now) ex-wife through H. I think Haley got the better end of the deal so far, out of that group. Overall, I got the better end, because I met them all. (Aww Chris, you're such a sweetheart, you're too nice, blah blah blah. I know. I'm awesome.)

Anyways, Jeff and I hit up CiCi's Pizza, a buffet that was cheap and pretty good. They had a macaroni and cheese pizza!! I had to get a slice. It tasted like macaroni and cheese on top of a slice of pizza (there wasn't tomato sauce, I think it was an alfredo-esque sauce). Kind of different, but worth trying. The desserts were the best thing on the buffet: cinnamon rolls, dessert pizza (always a favorite of mine), and brownies. Yum!

After stuffed myself silly, we headed to the game. There was some sort of mix-up with the tickets that Jeff had purchased ahead of time, so we had to stand at the Will-Call desk for a few minutes while the people working tried to figure it out. For those of you not in the Midwest, it's been warm here (mid- to upper-90's), with a ridiculous humidity (80-plus percent). While we were waiting, we were standing directly in the sun at the same time as being sheltered from the breeze. Nothing like sweating profusely while standing still. Eventually it all got sorted out, we found our seats, and thankfully they were in the shade. Still sheltered from the breeze, but out of the blazing sun.

The game went well, the Peoria Chiefs were in town, managed by former Chicago Cub Ryne Sandberg. To us, it seemed like the Kernels should have been getting pounded, the Chiefs were hitting pretty well and getting walked, but a few good plays defensively kept Cedar Rapids in the game. The final score ended up being 4-1 with the Chiefs winning, but it didn't feel that close. It was a fun game, the Kernels' 2nd baseman made a few really nice plays, including throwing a runner out at the plate with a perfectly-thrown ball. It was beautiful. The rest of the team, however, wasn't really making great plays. There was one inning in which two runs were scored without a hit, on a walk and a couple of errors. Single-A baseball, you gotta love it! There was a pretty solid fireworks display after the game, so that was pretty awesome.

Jeff and I had a good time, it was a bonding experience, sharing stories and whatnot. Earlier in the day we had talked about maybe hitting the town and stopping at a bar or two, but we were both too worn out from the day to do too much. I had been up since about 5:45 and worked most of the day, so I really wasn't feeling it. I know, I know, that's weak, I should've drank like a champion. I just didn't have it in me. Besides, I had to save myself for tonight, it's a friend's birthday. Nothing says summer like drinking on a Sunday night!

Picture this

I figured that no celebration is whole until pictures are broken out, so this post will be dedicated to a random collection of photos of me throughout the years. Unfortunately the site on which I had a lot of my photos went down, so I'm left with whatever is saved on my computer or other spots online. Sorry. Honestly I'm sorry.

This first set of photos I like to call "Drinking Flenker".

This is me and my friend Travis, obviously drinking in moderation.

And this is the obvious extension of said moderate drinking

Bill and I sipping wine, watching the same program on different television sets

This next set is called "The Scene Stealer"

Showing off the guns (and self-inflicted cigarette burn)
This was the first night that I met Haley. Bill and Jeff also pictured
I don't know more than 3 people in this picture, and don't really recall it being taken

And to show I'm not an alcoholic, some non-drinking photos

The "Shots from Behind"
In Minneapolis with the gang

Walkin' in Memphis with Marin


The "Jim and I Would Make a Good Gay Couple" series

The "I Just Ate an Entire Little Canister's Worth of Nutmeg" photo

Now this last photo may be a little shocking. It was taken over 10 years ago, so just be warned.











You ready for it?

I give you, "Young Flenker"

More like "Awesome Blog Advisory", amiright?

Naps are awesome. I had been up since 6 this morning, after not sleeping very well at all last night, mainly thanks to Jim calling me at 2:45 a.m. to explain to me the phenomena of cell phones, and how they work. I didn't answer, and was a little curious why my voice mail notification didn't sound right away. Then, 3 minutes later, right was I was starting to drift off again, it beeped at me. I thought something must've just gone a little screwy with the phone and caused a delay but no, it was a 3-minute long message. It was well worth being woken up to hear a message in the morning about towers and being able to walk around or even drive while you're on the phone. I love my friends.

So, as I was saying, naps are awesome. I laid down around 4 and started falling asleep, when it suddenly started raining, kind of out of the blue. I guess maybe out of the gray would be more appropriate. There was no rain in the forecast whatsoever, only the token 10% chance of precipitation. It was shocking, and made me want to lay there and watch it come down. But after a few minutes, sleepiness won out and I was in dreamland. And it was marvelous. Until I woke up and saw it was 5:30, and was totally disoriented and not sure whether it was AM or PM. I took a few moments to kind of come to my senses more, and gather my wits (not that there's really much there to gather).

We in Eastern Iowa are currently under a "Air Stagnation Advisory." I don't really know what that means, but I don't like the sounds of it at all. According to the National Weather Service (and I quote)

THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES HAS ISSUED AN AIR QUALITY ADVISORY FOR THE STATE OF IOWA. OZONE AND FINE PARTICULATE LEVELS APPROACHING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY HEALTH STANDARDS WERE PRESENT OVER MOST OF IOWA EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. WINDS ARE FORECAST TO INCREASE SUNDAY WHICH WILL CAUSE ELEVATED AIR POLLUTANT LEVELS TO DISSIPATE.

THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES RECOMMENDS THAT IOWANS WITH RESPIRATORY OR HEART DISEASE...AND ELDERLY AND CHILDREN LIMIT PROLONGED EXERTION UNTIL AIR QUALITY CONDITIONS IMPROVE.

AN AIR STAGNATION ADVISORY INDICATES THAT DUE TO LIMITED MOVEMENT OF THE ATMOSPHERE ACROSS THE ADVISORY AREA... POLLUTION WILL INCREASE TO DANGEROUS LEVELS. IF YOU HAVE A RESPIRATORY ILLNESS... FOLLOW YOUR PHYSICIANS ADVICE FOR DEALING WITH HIGH LEVELS OF AIR POLLUTION.

so that seems pretty awesome. Dangerous levels of pollutants in the air. Sweet! The only thing I've really noticed has been my allergies being a little more active today, which is always a good time. Not. This could explain why, even though it rained, it is still pretty miserably humid and hot and just uncomfortable to be outside. Oh wait no, that's the status quo for Iowa in the summer. My mistake. But what is this world coming to when there is an Air Stagnation Advisory in freakin Iowa? LA I could understand, I still have the standard-issue oxygen tank I was given by the Visitor's Bureau from when I traveled there a few years ago. But this is the heartland, the amber waves of grain (actually here it's corn, but who's counting) and all of that, we're not supposed to have pollution issues, are we? Or am I just ignorant to the situation? As far as I can remember, we haven't had such an advisory, but then again, I don't always pay attention.

One last thing, here's a link to the article my friend Bill wrote about Paul Shirley that I mentioned the other day. It's a good read, if you can make it through the crappy formatting. I don't know what the deal is with that. He emailed me a copy that was laid out very well, with paragraphs and everything, so I don't know why it's not the same on their website. Oh well, that's Ames for you.

A random hodge-podge about whatever I feel like at the moment

I feel like I haven't been a good blogger lately, my updates haven't been as frequent of late, mainly because I haven't done anything worth mentioning of late. Really, the past few days have just been spent reading (Then We Came to the End), sleeping (when I'm not sweating all the time), watching episodes of The Office (which has been great, I think episode 1 of season 3 ["Gay Witch Hunt"] was one of the funniest TV shows I've seen in a while, season 3 has been amazing this far, I'm 11 episodes deep), playing video games (SMU has gone on a streak, we've won our last 3 Big-12 games and are bowl-eligible), and avoiding the 90-plus degree heat as much as possible. Which means either sitting between two fans at home or going somewhere the air conditioning has been running. This weekend the a/c might need to be turned on here, it's supposed to get in the upper-90's, and the humidity is supposed to be on the rise. Great.

I'm getting really excited about going to Milwaukee next weekend to see the Brewers/Royals series with KP. It should be an awesome time, it turns out that a friend of mine from work is getting married in Milwaukee the Saturday that we'll be up there, so we're going to be crashing the reception and imbibing the free beer that will be available. Then, we'll find a place to stay the night and maybe hit up the game the next day, which just so happens to be Bill Hall bobble head giveaway day. Sweet! (And A, if you're reading this, I hope you liked the game tonight. That'll teach you to talk shit about a series before it's over, the Royals wiped the walls with the Cardinals tonight, 17-8, and won the series 2-1. Way to go.)

I think now, just for H, I'll list off the Hawkeyes (current and former) that I've seen out and about in the past week: Seth Gorney, Matt Roth, Nate Kaeding, Albert Young, Dace Richardson, Jake Christensen, Duez Henderson.

Speaking of former collegiate athletes, Bill interviewed former Iowa State Cyclone and current professional basketball player Paul Shirley today. Shirley's senior year at ISU was my freshman year there, and I would occasionally see him eating in my dorm's dining center. And occasionally I'd sit next to him (for lack of another seat) and strike up a conversation, just about whatever, trying to not bring up the fact that he was nearly 7-feet tall and on the basketball team. He went to Iowa State on an academic scholarship, and is extremely easy to talk to, so we had all these short snippets of small talk. Anyways, when Bill was here this week, I jokingly told him to ask Mr. Shirley if he remembered me from the Friley Hall Dining Center. Little did I know that Bill would actually ask him. Unfortunately, Paul didn't remember me, and probably won't be calling me to catch up any time soon. I don't blame him, he's probably talked to all sorts of interesting dudes, and has a hard time remembering some random redhead from nearly 9 years ago. I forgive you Paul.

Well, it's time for bed now. And since the "internet" isn't really working right now, this will probably be posted in the morning, but don't be fooled. This was really written at the time it states, 11:45 PM on Thursday night.

In which I go off on a frozen pizza tangent

So while I haven't technically had "pants" on in the past few days, I have had shorts on for part of them, which everyone knows is short for "short pants". I think, that may actually be made up. Either way, I've done more than just lounging around in my underwear for the past few days. For instance, I met Bill for dinner last night at Buffalo Wild Wings and then drank and watched the NBA Finals game (series over, by the way. Actually, the series was basically over when the Spurs beat Utah.), then I met up with him again for lunch at Pita Pit. How lucky can one guy be? After lunch, I headed to my brother's place and played my football video game, and won! That always makes me happy, especially over the 9th-ranked Baylor Bears. I know, I know, it's a video game. But it's a video game into which I've invested a lot of time, so these things mean a lot to me.

Then it was apparently nap time for Flenker. And nap I did, for a couple of hours. It was wonderful. If only it weren't so hot, it may have been a Top-5 nap. As it was, it was just a pretty solid nap.

Now I'm eating a frozen pizza and drinking some DDP, and listening to some mixes. (I'm very pleased with how the exchange worked out, and will be doing another one sometime in the future.) Of course, the whole pizza will be gone in a matter of minutes. I really should do some investigating into whether or not there are some healthier pizzas out there, because I cannot help but eat the whole thing in one sitting, especially if it's just some thin-crust pizza. There are some out there that I only eat half of in one meal, but then they never quite are as good re-heated as the first bake. Not that I would ever turn down pizza. But it got me to thinking, which is my favorite frozen pizza? When I worked at a convenience store in one of the dorms at Iowa State, we had an over and made pizzas to sell by the slice. The most popular pizzas were the Digiorno and the Tombstone Stuffed Crust. They each had their selling points, the crust on the Digiorno pizzas were (when properly cooked) nice and thick and delicious. But the crust on the Tombstones were stuffed with cheese, and I always say any way to get more cheese into a meal is a-ok by me. So it would always depend on my mood, whether I wanted to at least feel decent about what I was eating, or if I just didn't give a damn about my arteries. So one of those may be my favorite, only because of my familiarity with them. What is your favorite frozen pizza? I'm pretty sure I'll know what H is going to say, but I'm interested in what everyone else out there likes, maybe it can give me some ideas for the next time I'm feeling lazy and hungry!

H has a story for you

So this is kind of a cop-out for right now, but everyone should go over and read a classic Flenker story over on Random Mindless Ramblings. H tells the story pretty well, only she forgets to add that we were drinking for many reasons, one of which was my birthday. Bill had given me a baseball autographed by Buck O'Neil as a present, and I just felt obligated to return the favor in my own way. Also, I was wearing a sweater when I was out on the porch with H, and maybe socks. I'm not sure what my footwear was for the moment.

Anyways, I'm off to dinner with none other than Bill! I'm sure Haley is extremely jealous, I don't blame her. Jealous of Bill, that is. ha! I'll be back later, maybe even with another post! But for now, just check out what H has to say.

The weekend

My weekend started with a visit from Team Dilldahl, aka Bill and Haley (H prefers Bailey Hill, but I'm sticking with this one) on Friday night. They were heading to Chicago, so they drove about halfway and stayed with me, in order to cut down on the consecutive hours on the road. They pulled in a little after 11, and we were all pretty tired, Haley basically walked in the door and immediately sprawled out on my futon, so there were no drunken parties that night. Besides, I had to be at work at 7, and those two wanted to be on the road early, so we just sat around and chatted and eventually went to bed. It was a good time, but could have been better if A) they could've hung out for the weekend and B) if I didn't have to work at 7 the next morning. But any visit is good, I can't really complain.

Saturday was a long day, but fun. Any day that starts at 6 and ends with me passing out on a friend's couch at 2 am is long but fun. My friend Dan from work (you may remember him from this post, he's the other guy pictured with me in the last photo) and I decided that we'd play some tennis after work, then hang out as his place to play some beer pong, and then head downtown for a friend's birthday celebration. We both were at work early, he was there at 6 and I came in at 7, and both planned on taking naps (not together, we're not at that point of the relationship) before tennis. And neither of us napped, yet we still played some good tennis. I won the first set of our best-of-three match 6-3, then lost the next 4-6, but won the third 4-0 (we decided that we needed to cut the match short so the third set was only going to be to 4). We went to our respective houses and showered, then met up at his place. Something that we both forgot to eat something, so our drinks hit us pretty hard, and pretty quickly. It was a fun night. Nothing especially exciting happened, but that's not always a bad thing.

Today was mostly spent bumming around, eating McDonald's twice (which shows how absolutely lazy and disgusting I was feeling today) and not doing much else. My boy Federer lost today, so that always leaves me in a funk. One of these years, he'll win the French Open. He just may have to take out Nadal's knee first. Federer may end up being the greatest all-around players in history if he continues his dominance (this was his 8th straight Grand Slam event final, winning 6 of those, and 10 Slam titles overall), but he'll need to win the French at least once to cement that status. It's unfortunate for him that Nadal is one of the best clay-court players of all time.

That's basically my weekend. Nothing that exciting, but a fun time. Oh, before I forget, for those of you in the first Great Blogger Mix CD Exchange, Marin has sent her mix out, and Heinricy will be very soon. They both want me to thank everyone for their patience. So keep an eye on your mailboxes, there should be a few more tunes heading your way.

4th of June?

Why does the 4th of July have to fall on a Wednesday this year? Doesn't it know that having a holiday in the middle of the week just makes it that much harder to make plans with people who have "real jobs"?

You see, almost every year for the past 6 or 7 years or so, some of my friends from my days at Iowa State get together for a few days of having fun. Last year it didn't happen, because I went to DC during that week. (And let me tell you, if you ever have the chance, to go the fireworks in DC. Marin and I watched them being shot off over the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Pretty incredible scene.) We also play home run derby every year, and last time we played the Trivial Pursuit game that I referred to in the last paragraph here. (It was also when Heinricy came up with the line "We're sleeping in teams!" about our sleeping arrangements. Good times!) This year I'm going to have to figure out when we're getting together, either the weekend before or the weekend after. The weekend before has the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Both weekends have home games by the Swing of the Quad Cities. I guess we'll have to see which works out better for everyone. H has already said that she and Bill won't be able to make it the weekend before, so that may necessitate a move to the weekend after the 4th. It all depends on Jimbo and Charczuk. We'll have to start planning this now, though, since people will be traveling from all around. Hopefully it'll all come together and we'll have a good time. I'm optimistic.

Tired

It's been a long day. Last night was spent celebrating my brother's girlfriend's 21st birthday and later me inadvertently nearly destroying my desk. And somehow getting a HUGE bruise on my knee, a pain in my left hand, a scratch across my chest, and just overall soreness. I really have no idea how that happened. I wasn't that drunk, just tired. I'd been up since 8, and had taken some allergy medicine early on in the day, so that probably didn't help. But really, I could have been mistaken for drunk before I left, I was getting words wrong in phone conversations and misspelling everything in emails.

I think just my overall loopiness affected me more than anything. Bill got a couple of drunken calls, so I'll have to hear his report on those before I come to any conclusions on how I was faring. I will say that I was more coherent than anyone else at the party. Which isn't really saying much. (It was rather ominous when I was going up the stairs to this bar only to see another fellow, who had also been celebrating his birthday, being carried down the stairs by a group of his friends. Once they reached the sidewalk, the dude was promptly dropped. Nice guys.) Bill also apparently was the recipient of a text message sent by myself, asking "Why does my thumb smell like teen spirit?" I have no idea what that means, but I vaguely remember waking up and sending it. Again, that was more of an out-of-it thing than a drunken message. Like the times that I've called people in my sleep. Or when others have woken me from my slumbers, and I cannot recall a single part of the conversation. Once I saw the message I had sent, though, I was almost in tears laughing. I can be a funny guy when in a daze, I guess.

Today was mostly spent bumming around again, going to the park and finishing up the mix CD's (they will be in the mail tomorrow!) and reading. Work tonight, though, was hell. Postal rates increased today, and of course we ran out of the 2-cent stamps that make up the difference in the hike. And people were not pleased by that fact. Then I literally got a small garbage sack filled with disposable cameras and rolls of film to be developed. Doing one-hour can be fun, but when it gets boring and tedious, it can make for a long night. Especially when the pictures are from a funeral (I seriously had two separate orders that had casket photos.), it doesn't improve my outlook on the day. Although, I did have some photos of a newborn baby, taken at the hospital. This kid was bringing a strong sack, that's for sure.

Ok, I don't really know if that last paragraph really made any sense. Especially near the end. But once again, I'm having a hard time typing, and my eyelids are having a hard time staying open. I will leave you with a bedtime story that someone suggested that I write, incorporating a mustache, whipped cream, and handcuffs. So here is "Ordinary Nights." (note: this has no basis in any real-life events. This is just me rambling on about a pretty ridiculous premise. Just let me go with it, I'll be finished soon enough.)

It was a Saturday night, and I was sitting at the kitchen table when she jumped me. It was a sneak attack that I didn't see coming, made with such litheness that a cat burglar would have been green with envy. First she handcuffed my arms behind my back, and then secured my legs to those of the chair, rendering me helpless. Then came the whipped cream. She knew right where to put it to annoy the piss out of me: above my lips and below my nose. Yes, I was given a Redi-Whip mustache. Now I love dairy products as much as the next guy, but I have a little trouble when it comes to anything edible coming out of a squeeeze can. And, to add to the embarrassement, I could do nothing about it. Not that I really would have, I was kind of curious as to where this was going, and I really wanted to know what I would look like with a mustache. I gotta say, it wasn't bad. If only I could grow one as full as the whipped cream had been. That is, until it started to melt and run down my face. Once I got a taste of it, I realized that my hatred of all things aerosol may have been unfounded, the deliciousness of it was too much for me to handle. In an epic display of power, I burst through my shackles, leapt up, and grabbed the can. After applying a mustache to my assailant that would have made Magnum P.I. proud, I emptied the rest of the contents into my mouth. Ironically, the whipped cream ended up coming out my nose, giving me another mustache. With our matching mustaches, I grabbed her arm, ran to the window and said "Look at all those stars. It's a beautiful night. . . to sleep! I'm tired. goodnight." And I ran to bed, buried myself under the covers and waited for my mustachioed friend.

I may have lost my focus at the end. I'm pretty sure those are my exact thoughts entering my head, so yeah. Anyways, it's still a solid story, I'll be waiting for my bedtime story writing prize.

nighty night every body. I promise I'll try to have a normal post tomorrow.

It's anything but trivial to me

Generally, I'm a nice, laid-back, easy-going guy, I really am. Once the board comes out, and the pie pieces are lined up, however, the gloves come off, and I am a cold-blooded killer. I of course am referring to the wondrous game that is Trivial Pursuit. I will yell, I will throw things, I will make people cry. I will show no mercy. If my brother and I team up, we are a nearly unstoppable force, spewing knowledge left and right, occasionally pulling an educated guess out of our collective ass, and usually nailing it. Who's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most claps? Vanna White. On what two NBA teams did Kareem Abdul Jabbar play? Milwaukee Bucks and the LA Lakers. (oddly enough a movie question, not sports & games.) Who wrote Last of the Mohicans? Come on, anyone from Iowa should know this, especially any Hawkeye. James Fenimore Cooper. (our state nickname "The Hawkeye State" is from this book.) What rodeo even used to be called "Bull Dogging"? Steer wrestling. These are all actual questions from tonight's game, all correctly answered by the Brothers Flenker. We rule.

One thing that always seems to happen, no matter how hard I try to stop it, is a team giving hints to another team. Or people answering when it's not their turn. I cannot stand this. I don't know if there's one thing in this world that gets me as riled up as these actions. Seriously. Like tonight, there were a couple of people in the room that weren't really playing, but when they would hear a question they knew, they would either blurt out the answer or give clues to the correct answer. Oh, and people talking over the one asking the questions. I've never dropped the f-bomb so often, directed at a person. (that's not true. I swear quite often, but I've been good on here so far, I'd like to keep it that way for at least a little while longer. But I do have my moments or whole days when I say the "f word" as a noun. Or adjective. Or adverb. Or a period. I kind of like those days.)

Really, it all depends on who is playing. I've had many a game that was all good and fun. But I've also had games where I thought I was going to flip out and just totally scissor-kick someone right in the head.

The most frustrating, but also one of the funniest games I've been involved in happened a few years ago on the 4th of July. Some friends (Bill, Jim, Jody, Charczuk, and Heinricy) were all down in Muscatine for the holiday, cause that's what we did. We had all just gotten out of the hot tub and had a few Coronas, and decided we could get a game of the Pursuit in before bed. Bill and Heinricy ended up on a team together, much to Bill's chagrin. If there's one thing people should know about Adam is that he can fall asleep at any moment if he's laying down, there have been a few instances of him falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. And of course Adam is laying down during the game, only to be nudged whenever it was their turn. Then someone would read the question, Adam would come up with some answer with logic that was anything but logical to the question, and get it correct. The prime example of this involved a question asking for an American Indian tribe, I can't remember what it was exactly. Anyways, Heinricy wakes up, is told the question, and says, "well I had a 'Navajo taco' for lunch today, so let's go with Navajo." And it was correct. Bill and Adam ended up winning the game. I was displeased at the time. I think it's hilarious now.

Hot Pocket

I was reading Lollie's blog just now, and came across a post about Hot Pockets. I noticed that H had made a comment about her boyfriend, Bill, stuffing an entire Hot Pocket in his mouth to win a $5 bet. She says "He got his five dollars but hasn't touched a Hot Pocket since." That's half true, he has not touched a Hot Pocket since that fateful day, but he never received $5. In fact, he was doing this so he wouldn't have to pay me $5.

You see, in those days, Bill and I would go to Perkins late at night, just for some food and something to do. Jim, one of our other roommates, had made a statement saying he would never go to Perkins with us again, because most of the time was just spent laughing at something that was most likely inane. On one of these trips, when we were paying at the counter, Bill would give me $5 if I asked the guy at the register if he made all of the muffins, cookies, Rice Crispy treats, etc. that were in the display case. So of course I did, it was an easy $5, and Bill was instantly cursing himself. (if anyone knows me, I have no problem doing something like this. Bill knew me, and was not drunk or anything. It was a momentary lapse of judgment, and not his last of the story.) I had agreed that instead of Bill paying the $5, I would make some sort of bet for Bill to do, and we'd be even. It took a few weeks, but I came up with a good one.

One day Jim was making a Hot Pocket for lunch, when we were all sitting around the apartment. I made the bet with Bill that if he stuffed the entire Hot Pocket in his mouth, and kept it down and swallowed, we would be even. Jim made a deal, where if Bill ate his Hot Pocket, Jim would punch him. And for every piece of Hot Pocket that fell out of his mouth, Bill would receive an additional punch. For some reason, Bill agreed. And for some reason, I didn't grab my video camera to document the happenings.

Bill made a valiant effort, he got nearly all of the Hot Pocket into his mouth at once. But two little bits fell out, so Jim got off a 3-punch combo that would've made Ali proud. All in the midsection. All while Bill still had the Hot Pocket in his mouth. And much to his credit, Bill kept the Hot Pocket in his mouth and eventually swallowed. At least I think he did, I was on the ground with tears in my eyes from laughing.

So there's the full story. And now that I think about it, Haley might need to make a bet with me, since she had said she would give me something like $26 if I walked past and made some sort of contact with this woman with gigantic boobs on the dance floor of some bar in Minneapolis. It was easy, I just walked behind her like I was trying to get through the crowd, and placed my hands on her shoulders for support. She probably needed the support more than I did, she was rather top-heavy and any sort of nudge most likely would have sent her toppling. So H, next time we're together, I'll have to figure out some sort of escapade for you.

5 Burning Questions (an interview by Minty)

Well, you are now reading the blog of the newest member of the Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' Hall of Fire. At the BWW in Iowa City, you become a member by downing 18 of the Blazin' Hot Sauce wings in under 5 minutes. I got it done in just over 4, which was a little disappointing to me, but I finished, and that's all that really matters. Honestly, it wasn't that hot. I went through them so fast, it didn't have that much of an affect on me. The hardest thing was actually eating the wings in the time allotted. The wings had just come out of the fryer, so they were hot to the touch, and burned my mouth just from their temperature. So now, if you're in the area, look for my picture on the wall, and I can show you my new shirt, proclaiming my accomplishment. (Naturally, I got ice cream afterwards)

Today's post is an interview of The Flenker by Minty! She posed some thought-inducing questions, which were a pleasure to answer! If anyone out in the ether wants to be interviewed by Flenker, read the directions at the bottom of the post. Without further ado, let's get Minty on Flenker.

1. What day/event would you relive/redo if you could?

If it's just one to straight-up relive and have the same experience, it would probably be the day that the Iowa Hawkeye football team destroyed Ohio State in Kinnick a few years ago. And not just because of the Hawkeye win, but it was just overall a great fall day. The weather was almost perfect for me, I watched the game in Muscatine, sat in the hot tub, and had an excellent night back in Iowa City. All around, a good time.

As for one that I would like to redo, it gets a little trickier. There are a lot of things that I've been reflecting back on, things I think I should've handled differently. At first I thought I would redo my whole going to Iowa State University, but then I wouldn't know some of my best friends, including Bill, Heinricy, Charczuk, Jim, and others. I also, in turn, wouldn't know Haley, and may not have ended up in this here blogosphere. And, my life would've been totally different, I wouldn't have had many of the experiences that I've lived. That's not to say that one way is better than the other, I can't say that. But I don't regret what I've done and where I've been in that regard. I think the main events in my life that I would like to redo are the social events, when I've just been awkward and all-in-all a party pooper. I wish I would've been more supportive of going to different parties. And I wish I wouldn't let a negative attitude towards things (movies, bands, people, etc.) get me in such a bad mood, to the point where I can't enjoy anything, and I bring the other people around me down as well. I can think of a few instances of this happening in the past few months, and I apologize for all of them.

Also, I wish I would have gone to see the Apples in Stereo when they were in town a few months ago.

2. Is there a word that you can't spell correctly no matter how many times you try?

I know there are some, I just can't think of any right now. I'm usually a very good speller, and good grammatically, but every now and then my fingers don't want to work properly. Usually, I'll have troubles with words ending with an "-ly", not knowing if it is"-ally" or "-ely" or just simply "-ly." One of my favorite words to spell, conversely (see, I had to look that one up), is "awkward." Not only because it fits me so well, but I really like the w's being that close together.

3. You have to eat from one fine fast food establishment for every meal for the rest of your life; which is it and why?

Well, if Oasis counts, I would go there and eat falafel every day and be happy. I eat there almost every day as it is, so it wouldn't be too much of a change. But if I have to pick a more "traditional" fast food joint, I'll go with Wendy's. I could survive on Jr Bacon Cheeseburgers, fries, and a Frosty until the end of my days. (Of course, the fries would be dipped in the Frosty)

4. If you were given the chance, what famous person (dead or alive) would you want to interview you?

This is kind of a tough one for me, there are so many musicians and writers that I'd would love to find out what sort of questions they would ask of me, and how the conversation would go. But I think I'd have to go with Buck O'Neil. When he died last October, I literally cried, even though he had reached the age of 94, and had been in fairly poor health. As I've noted many times before, he's one of my heroes, and would love to have him pick my brain, and, even if he would be the one asking the questions, I would learn so much about baseball, and probably a lot about life. Of course, we'd have to toss a ball around, and catch a ballgame in Kansas City. Then we'd get some barbecue and have some iced tea.

5. Which Wilco song is your favorite from a lyrical standpoint? Which is your favorite from a musical standpoint?

Another excellent question, it's very hard to choose just one. . . Lyrically, "Pieholden Suite" is probably my favorite, while "Forget the Flowers" might be my favorite musically. Now if you ask me this again tomorrow, you may get two different answers. But I feel that both of these are solid songs.

--------------------------

Now everyone else plays along! You may have seen this done elsewhere, but now it's your turn. Just follow these simple rules.

1. Leave me a comment on this post saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

A new beer, some food, and the Flenker Bros.

I'm trying another new beer tonight, this one is Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. It's a Weiss beer with lemonade, and has a 4.2% ABV. It tastes like there is no alcohol at all, which could be dangerous. "Shandy" suggests a beer with lemonade or some sort of soft drink at about a 50/50 mix. The Leinie's shandy uses lemonade, and tastes delicious, like lemonade with a slight beer aftertaste. It goes down very smooth, and is very refreshing. I was a little leery about it, but one taste turned that around. I had gotten this last night from a friend who had just been given five bottles after one of his friends didn't like it, so it was free for me, which makes it even better! All in all, this is a wonderful summer beer, I would suggest everyone try it out on a hot summer day. (This is not the first shandy I've had. Last year, for their St. Patrick's Day mini-tour, Old Chicago had a "Shandy Gaff," which had Guinness and 7-Up. It was terrible. It just tasted like flat Guinness with a little hint of lemon. Not good times.)

For lunch today, I had some left-over jambalaya I had made late last week, wrapped up in a tortilla. The jambalaya was from a pouch-mix, adding part of a kielbasa and some spice, mostly crushed red pepper and Louisiana Hot Sauce, and turned out surprisingly well! I had added a little kick to it, and the sausage went well with the dish. I'm sure I could've probably come up with something similar without using a packaged mix, but the price was right and it was so simple, it was worth the trade-off. Plus, it was enough to last for a few meals, which is always nice. I'm hoping to grill the rest of the kielbasa in the next few days, because face it, everything tastes better when cooked outside. I should pick up some peppers and onions, and make it with all the fixin's. Damn, I'm salivating just thinking about it. It won't be tomorrow, though, Bill's coming into town to see Jimmy Carter speak, and we're planning on getting some sushi. I'm overjoyed, sushi is delicious. I don't get it, I love sushi, but I don't really like seafood. Strange. But Bill should be bringing some pictures from the weekend, which should prove to be hilarious. I'll think about posting them at some point.

Anyways, time for some reading before bed. An Evening of Long Goodbyes is going pretty well, I'm enjoying it so far, but only about 70 pages deep. We'll see how it goes. Until then, I'll leave you with another picture, this time of the Flenker Brothers. That's Travis on the right. A pair of sexy dudes, no?

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

60 years ago today, Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers for opening day, marking the first time an African-American played in the modern era of Major League Baseball. I really don't know why he and Buck O'Neil have had such a huge influence on my life; it's not like I can really relate to them that well, being some white boy from Iowa, but they're still heroes to me. Maybe it's just because they're were such big figures in the history of baseball, and therefore are big figures to me. Robinson's former team, the Dodgers, are playing in the Sunday Night game on ESPN, so I've been watching that, listening to Jackie's beautiful wife Rachel tell stories and cheer for the Dodgers in the booth. For some reason, baseball stuff can make me tear up, and tonight was no exception. It's been just a great ceremony and game.

This weekend was fun, my visitors Bill and Haley made it safely and in time for the Hawkeye's spring practice. The weather was almost perfect, only a light sweatshirt was needed when the sun was out and wind died down. The practice went about how I expected, a tense moment occurred when Dominique Douglas (Doug E Fresh or DD from now on in this blog) started limping around, but he came back a little later and made a few outstanding catches. I liked watching Arvell Nelson, as he has become my favorite quarterback, but I doubt he'll get a whole lot of playing time right away, behind Jake Christensen. We shall see what happens, though. Doug E is still my favorite Hawkeye. Todd Lickliter made an appearance and received a very nice standing ovation from the 20,000 fans that showed up to watch a practice.

After the game I introduced my guests to falafel, which was a great success. I was slightly nervous about this, since I had been building it up to them so much, but I don't think they were let down. It was a good time. Thanks Oasis! We then went to a local used bookstore, where I picked up a couple more books that I probably shouldn't have. I got Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, The Metamorphosis (and Other Stories) by Franz Kafka, and An Evening of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray. I got that last one because the blurbs on the cover compared Murray to Nick Hornby, one of my favorite writers, and because the cover reminded me of those "Old Spice" commercials with Bruce Campbell. It seems to have been well-liked by critics, so hopefully it'll be a good find. If not, I only paid half-price for it at a used place, so no big loss.

After the book store, we headed down to the Riverside Casino, because Haley really wanted to see it. And who am I to keep someone from new experiences? It turns out I should've kept her from this one, as I got my ass handed to me by a Walt Disney lookalike at the Blackjack table. With spirits and funds low, we decided to head to Buffalo Wild Wings for some food. I was tempted to try for the "Wall of Flame" by eating 18 of the Blazin' Hot wings in 5 minutes, but didn't really feel like spending that much money on the wings. I did sample the sauce, though, and am confident that I can do this. So sometime in the near future, a Polaroid of The Flenker will be on display. (The sauce is hot, I'll give them that. But not debilitating-ly so. And if my little brother can do it twice, that means it's not going to be a problem for me. The only problems I would have [and did last night] is going to the bathroom with the burning sauce on my hands. Not good times.)

We ended the night at BoJames, had a few drinks and a rather enjoyable time, stumbling (literally for H) home and getting to sleep. The morning brought us breakfast at the Hamburg Inn, and then a rushed goodbye as I was heading for work. More time would've been nice, but a great weekend either way.

Well, I'd love to stay and write more, but I'm dog/house sitting for some friends, and I don't want to leave Tucker by himself for too much longer. He's a sweet dog, a miniature dachshund, we've been hanging out most of the night, just laying around and watching baseball. But there's no internet there, and I needed to grab some things from home anyways, so I figured I'd drop a quick note on this here blog of mine. And I would like to welcome Haley's Dad to the scene, I hope he enjoys everything around. Anyone who is a Hawkeye fan is a friend of mine!

Gin, why do you treat me so good?

(I know my title's grammatically incorrect. But it's ironic! It's supposed to be that way because it's funny!)
Today's shaping up to be a Good Day. There's the spring game or practice or scrimmage or whatever they're calling it for the Hawkeyes today, the Hawk Shop is having a big sale, my dad's coming up, and Bill and Haley are on their way to Iowa City! Now if the clouds would go away and if the sun would warm things up a little bit, it would be pretty perfect.

So last night got a little out of control. . . One of my brother's roommates was celebrating his 21st birthday, making me feel like an old fart. But he supplied the alcohol, so I can't complain. He had mixed up some delicious "gin buckets" and had a keg. I stuck with the gin (if you want to win me over, feed me Tom Collinses all night long). I stayed there for a little while, then went out to meet up with some friends. In spite of my best efforts, I did not get into a fight. (I don't know what it is, but ever since New Year's Eve, I've been feeling a little punchy when I get some liquor in me. And honestly, dear reader, I haven't really been trying that hard to get into fights. I don't think I really want to fight, but it makes for a good story.) Nothing that exciting happened, just hanging out with some friends and having a few cocktails. I'm pretty sure I called Bill and Haley about 5 or 6 times throughout the night. I used to be an out of control drunk-dialer, but I've reined myself in fairly well of late. That, and I don't drink too often anymore. I'm an old man living in a kid's town. And while that may push me to drink, I wouldn't want to do it downtown, and don't really feel like being super pathetic and drinking at home alone all the time. So, I'll just stick with my blog.

Somehow, I've never been hungover. Well, that's not entirely true, I was hungover after my "drunkest night ever" and a little bit after my birthday last year. But aside from those times, the Next Day is usually fine for me. Like today, I woke up at 9 after going to bed around 4, and feel wonderful. I feel like going to a Hawkeye football practice! I think I shall. First I must shower and pick up a few things in my room before my guests arrive. Maybe tonight H and I can have a joint blog posting. That'd be intense!!! Until then, have a wonderful Saturday folks!