Time of my Life

I guess all my stress paid off in the end. The design for the condo building I've been working on is mostly complete and it seems to have passed all critique with flying colors. I've heard the phrases, "It looks really good!", "The massing feels great", "You guys have done a great job with it" thrown around the last few days. I think the best compliment was given by an experienced landscape architect who said we've done a really great job on the entry (the part I had the largest part in designing). I can't take credit completely for the design. I've been working on a team with two others and while I may have decided what the massing and components of the entry may have looked like they provided the critical critiques to my work that made it successful. Thank you Paul and Alex for all the help and encouragement you've provided me.

I've been really happy with work this last week (and sleeping well) which makes the stress almost seem worth it.

So, to celebrate my success I purchased another pricey gym membership so I can feel good in mind and body. Here's to happiness!

To follow in the great financial footsteps of my friend Leslie I decided to take a gander at my students loans and see how much of my monthly payment was actually going towards my principle balance...

I pay $112.58 (the absolute minimum) each month to Federal Student Aid. $95.58 of that goes towards interest, leaving $17.00 going towards my principle balance. At that rate it will only take me 79 years and a few months to pay off my student loans.

I'm home free!

I've always thought global warming was a scam. I don't have time to elaborate on my thoughts but I did find the article below. It was written by a meteorologist and founder of The Weather Channel.

John Coleman article on Global Warming

I haven't felt like posting lately. Well, that's not true. I feel like posting during business hours when my time is owned by my employer and I've had two cups of coffee. To be fair to them I usually don't do it plus I've been real busy at work.

I'm posting now to say I actually did something worth while on my new laptop this evening. I've been sitting here so long my tail bone hurts but my new device is so cool I can't pull myself away. The only thing I don't like about it is that Gateway decided to replace my beloved Ctrl key with a new Fn key and move the Ctrl key to the right. It's been hell trying to use the Undo command.

With that, I leave you with a link to see what it's like to be inside a glass of sparkling water.

Anyone tried to watch Saturday Night Live lately? The last few times I've tried to watch it I had to change the channel because I couldn't stand the commercials after every single skit. What happened? SNL used to be the funniest show on television and now it's just advertising.

Yesterday I was flipping between SNL and Mad TV watching the Thanksgiving specials and was shocked to see that SNL didn't even bother to produce a live show! Instead they had the "best of" previous Thanksgiving specials. They should just cancel SNL now. It sucks.

When Mad TV first aired I thought, "Finally! An SNL for my generation!" but was thoroughly disappointed. I just couldn't get into it. A few weeks ago some of the cast members were guests on Loveline and they made me laugh so hard I figured I'd give it another try. I feel like they've finally got a good cast and some great writers. I'm glad to see it taking off.

Move over SNL. There's a new show full of extremely talented people to make fun of current events.

I caught a centipede a few weeks ago on a sticky mouse trap with peanut butter. They're supposed to be carnivorous.

Maybe this one just had a thing for peanut butter.

A couple nights ago I kept talking to my wife while she was trying to study which resulted in her going to be early and scolding me for interrupting her. I apologized and said I wouldn't bother her again.

Last night while I was playing on my new laptop and letting her study she would look up from her reading and tell me something about every 15 minutes. I thought it was incredibly cute and I know exactly how she feels.

I ran a rode the bike at the gym like a madman last night covering a total of something like 10 miles in an hour. Unfortunately, I wore one of the oldest and most worn out pairs of underwear I own under my shorts resulting in a nasty case of chafing. I think it's time to let those underwear go. I think 10 years or so is a good long run for a pair of underwear.

Last night Nicole and I went to see Kris Roe from The Ataris perform an acoustic set of their entire Blue Skies, broken hearts... Next 12 exits album at the Marquis Theater.

I discovered the album when I was 18 and horribly depressed. I hadn't given any of the songs considerable thought since then and seeing him perform them live was a throwback to a different time in my life.

I'm an adult now and haven't been able to identify with any of the early Ataris music in a very long time but last night I was reminded of how passionate I used to be about the band. I found myself singing my little heart out right along with Kris. It felt good to be able to sing along and realize that even though I knew every word to every song they no longer mean anything to me and are just songs.

I guess I realized how much I've really grown up...

After the show Nicole and I met Kris and like I've read in many interviews he really is a down-to-earth, awesome guy. He talked with us and answered any questions I had while he was burning me a CD of his latest stuff from his laptop. I even got him to do a "stupid face" picture with me.

He was truly a one man show packing up his own equipment and loading it into his Neon before taking off for Salt Lake City alone. He had said that if he didn't have to immediately leave for SLC he would have liked to grab something to eat with us.

What a rad guy. I can't wait to see Kris Roe when he returns with The Ataris for a real rock show.