Marley & Me

My brother, his girlfriend, and I all watched the movie “Marley & Me” tonight. It thought it was a pretty good movie, and definitely sad for those people who are dog lovers, and maybe even those who are not. The movie really made me want to become a journalist, or some sort of professional writer. I think I would really enjoy that type of work, although I’ve never really written about anything other than my life. The movie reminded me of a few christmas’ ago when my brothers dog Wrigley was still just a puppy. Watching the movie was kinda weird, considering Wrigley looks almost identical to Marley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYKL0zMzbA

I also watched “Slumdog Millionaire” last night. I thought it was definitely one of the better movies I have ever seen. It’s hard to explain why, but I think because it was just really riveting. The way it was shot made it really seem like the kids in the movie were not acting, and were just living there lives. Considering the kids were really from the slums, i guess it wasn’t much of a stretch for them. Highly suggest seeing that movie if your somebody who likes to watch movies.

I ruined more film during the development process tonight. Luckily I was able to get a few of them to turn out ok, which dissolved most of the frustration. 

Already looking forward to the weekend and a day off saturday.

Glory Days

Tonight was the Indiana Boys High School State Championship. Bloomington South beat Fort Wayne Snider in a very good game, with a lot of talented players. Coach Holmes of Bloomington South was my dad’s college roommate, and they are still friends to this day. I played some AAU basketball for Coach Holmes as well, so it was pretty cool to see him finally win a state championship….very much deserved. 

I was watching the game at a restaurant tonight in Broad Ripple that was showing the high school game as well as the Pitt/Nova game on the tv right next to it. I found myself watching every bit of the high school game, and only the college game during the commercials. I guess that tells me which one I am more into. 

On the way up to Indianapolis today, I saw one of the teams buses on the highway being given a police escort. It gave me a rush of chills and adrenaline to see the police escort. Having been a part of a final 4 team in high school (back before they went to class basketball), our team was given the police escort from our hotel to the RCA Dome. For some reason I just thought that was one of the coolest things, because it made me feel important as a 17 year old high school kid. So seeing that instantly brought back a great memory, and I’m sure the kids on that bus were pretty thrilled to have the police escorting them to the game. 

Last week i watched some of the games at my buddy ferrell’s house. He had quite a set up since he bought the march madness package. This pictures obviously shows how big of a basketball fan ferrell really is. He was really excited about the free throw shot.

Very much looking forward to seeing my nephews tomorrow, as well as my family members. Hope it’s not rainy again.  Hoping to remember to bring my film camera in the morning so i can get some good shots of the twins. I haven’t shot them on that camera yet. 

I feel like i want to start a business. I just can’t decide on what it should be.

Boiler Down

I’ve learned not to get my hopes up when it comes to big games involving teams i follow….because my teams normally lose. And I used to invest a lot of mental energy into hoping that my teams would win. But at some point i realized it ultimately didn’t matter if my team won, because i’m not really benefiting if they do. I don’t get a cash bonus if my team wins a championship. So since i’ve learned not to get too upset if my team loses, it really makes post losses much easier. I’ve come to expect the cubs, the colts, and the boilers to fail when it comes to the big game. And i’m ok with that. When the Colts won the Super Bowl, I thought it would be so awesome. But then it happened, and nothing really changed in my life. So yeah. I do wish i would have the boilers entertaining me for 3 more games though!

Sometimes i wish i was more like Michael Scott, and could just quit my job without thinking about what the outcome might be. 

I’m dog sitting the Wrig’s this weekend. It’s just me, him and Bob the cat holding it down. I just realized that Wrigatoni knows how to pull one of his towels out from his cage and lay it on the hardwood floor so he can lay on it. Very smart dog, and so very dumb at the same time. 

I just realized this office episode was a comedic version of Jerry McGuire. 

And now it’s the time of the blog when we talk about American Idol. Yes, i watch American Idol. I’m not afraid to admit it. How is it possible that Matt Giraud  was in the final 2 tonight? The dude is the only person on the show i would pay to see in concert. There are some really good people on there, but he’s fantastic.  Also, i have to say….how beautiful is Megan Joy? I think her quirkiness makes her even more attractive than just her looks. I guess maybe I would pay to see her to. Well, maybe.

bond, james bond

Just finished watching the newest Bond movie. It was pretty good….but kinda felt like it was another one of those movies that was only made to get to the third movie….similar to the 2nd pirates of the caribbean. Still worth seeing though.

Excited to see the boilers still alive in the NCAA tournament. Just hope i can actually see them play on Thursday. 

Been helping my brother build a nice dog area in the backyard, so that he can actually have a backyard. It’s been nice to be outside in the sun and getting my hands dirty. I’m ready to start growing some grass so the back yard isn’t dirt. 

I bought real groceries today at wal-mart for the first time in a long time. I suppose it will be nice not eating out every meal. Usually i buy a bunch of groceries, but then a lot of it goes to waste because i’m not a good enough cook to make good leftovers. I suppose i need to learn.

Hoping to develop another roll of film tomorrow. Hoping not to ruin it this time, because i think i have some good pictures on there. 

I guess that’s all i got.

;;;////1-2

I’ve been in good spirits lately, and i think it’s directly related to the weather.  Being able to get out and work in the yard or go for a run and seeing some sunshine has been quite nice. It definitely provides me with more energy and a sunnier outlook on things. Pun intended.

Pretty excited about March Madness, especially since my team has a decent shot at winning a few games. I’m trying to get my little brother to partake in filling out a few brackets for a few dollars, but he seems to want nothing to do with that sort of thing. I have 2 more days to change his mind. He doesn’t quite see how it can be fun, nor could he care a lick about sports. Funny that we are related and share the same house, yet have next to nothing in common. 

I cannot stop coughing. It’s as if i have 20 hairballs stuck in my throat, not wanting to come out. It’s less than splendid spending your day hoping that your not walking around with snot running out of your nose for people to look at. I should buy stock in the tissue companies in the spring and sell just as allergy season finishes. 

Watched the movie “Rockenrolla” with my brother tonight. It’s a Guy Ritchie film, much like Snatch and Lock Stock. I thought it was pretty good, and looking forward to the sequel. I think if i were to make action movies, i would want them to be similar to how he makes his…if that makes sense.

Insane

Tonight I was reading Bill Simmons article on ESPN.com about the Clippers and he mentioned Zach Randolph and his guaranteed $50 million dollar contract over the next couple of years. The thought of that almost made me sick. I’m not saying that because I don’t think he deserves it or whatever, but because it’s just insane how much professional athletes are paid. I’ve played basketball against a few pro athletes like Randolph, Shane Battier and Antwaan Randle El. It boggles my mind to think that guys who I have shared the same court with, who obviously were much better than me, but not so much that I couldn’t at least fit into the flow of the game without embarrassing myself, make millions of dollars just to play a sport. How does that really make sense. It’s not like they are saving the world. I mean, the dumb thing is that most of these guys would play their professional sport for millions less. Hell, if they were paying all the NBA players $50,00-$100,000 a year to play basketball with having all of their food and travel paid for throughout the year, I would imagine you would have a very low percentage of athletes who would turn that down for normal jobs in other professions. 

Obviously, the big name players like Lebron, Kobe and Jordan command more money because they put people in the seats. But did it really ever need to get to so many millions of dollars per player? Pay those guys a percentage of the revenue for their seat filling abilities, but it doesn’t need to be rediculous. I bet the old timer’s like Russell and West survived on what they made. It must make them sick to think how much money they would of made if they were paid like players today are paid. How did it ever get to be so crazy that a guy like Zach Randolph who is pretty good but not even an all-star, is making $14 million a year to play basketball? That’s insane.

This shows how truly obsessed we are about sports. We as fans agree to pay higher and higher ticket prices every year so that teams can pay the players these insane amounts of money. And it’s almost as if we are so brainwashed into thinking that it’s not insane to pay crazy money to watch sports in person that we don’t really question why athletes get paid so much. If i’m a college athlete helping to fill seats, i’m demanding to get paid something!

Anyway, tomorrow i’ll be joining my buddy Migrant in Indy to watch 3 Big Ten tournament games. I’m pretty excited to have something to do on my day off. Hoping for some good games and to get some good pictures. Nice to have something to shoot other than the dogs.

Saturday

It is so nice to have a weekend off. It means i actually get to hang out with other people who normally have the weekend off and do weekend stuff. Having days off in the middle of the week sucks because nobody else does and it only makes me feel unproductive.

Today was great weather and we worked out in the yard a little after running some errands. I am definitely ready for spring to stick around. A lot of yard projects to be done since the dogs have pretty much destroyed it. 

Stopped by the Bloomington South Sectional Championship game tonight. I got there at halftime which was nice because i didn’t have to pay. I saw Jordan Hulls who will probably win Mr. Basketball and the #1 ranked Bloomington South team. They are definitely a good team and Jordan Hulls is definitely good. But the way East Central played and guarded South, it was difficult to tell how good they really were. Interesting to see how they do the rest of the way.

Bloomington South vs. East Central

Tonight I also ordered 8 x 10 digital prints from Wal-Mart for the first time ever. I’ve always just left my digital pics on the computer. So i ordered about 8 of them and they all turned out really awesome I thought. So now I want to order more….but it sucks spending so much money on them. 

Steve’s friends came to visit tonight as so often happens on weekends. Of course the dogs and Bobcat provided the entertainment and I passed the time by taking a few pictures of them. 

Gracie Bear

 

Wrigatoni

Lost in Translation

I had a rough time getting to sleep last night. I think it was after 4am the last time i had looked at the clock, and i was to be up by 8. The night before messed me up. So 8am came way to early this morning and it took me a while to get going. 

I decided to skip class tonight. I was really exhausted and didn’t have any film to develop anyway. I feel bad about missing class, but i needed a break. I ended up spending the evening at Ike’s Restaurant with Steve and some others and it was a good time. Ike gave me a free birthday dinner of some ravioli they were testing as well as some mashed potatoes and ice cream. It was very good and i’m thankful for the free meal. I always enjoy spending time at the restaurant. It always makes me feel better about living in Columbus.

I’ve realized that any form of communication other than face to face or even on the phone is probably a horrible idea when discussing important things. So much can be lost without having tones or verbal cues that things written can be taken out of context. Plus what you write will always be there and it’s up to the person reading it to decide what they think you meant, without further explanation. I realized this last year while working when I would send a ton of emails on a daily basis. You can’t always tell what somebody is feeling by how they write, and a lot of times it can cause problems. You might offend somebody even when your trying to be nice about it. With all the new technology and text messaging and computers, and less and less face to face communication, our generation will probably be much worse communicators than previous generations.  Just something that came to mind.

Richard Simmons red shorts

I woke up this morning with a soar throat and not feeling so hot. I was feeling that way at work last night. I’m thankful my brother had some medicine in the house that allowed me to sleep pretty well last night.

I met up with a friend at Starbucks and got some hot tea which hit the spot. It’s the first time i’ve ordered tea at Starbucks, but at only $2 and just as tasty as the coffee i normally get, it probably won’t be the last. It was also the first time i’ve looked through the newspaper, in particular the sunday ads,  while at starbucks. In a way, it was a day of firsts.

For the first time all the way through, I listened to my new Van Morrison cd today. I didn’t realize how many good songs he put out such as “Brown Eyed Girl”. I only bought it because it was $5. But i’m glad he did because I like it and it will probably get a lot of play in my car for a long while. 

Tuesday is my birthday and of course i have no plans. Actually, i had forgotten it was until my mom reminded me tonight. Does 29 really need to be celebrated though? I think birthdays should be more of a celebration to the parents, especially mom’s, than the person who’s bday it actually is. After all, they did all the work to get you here.