You'd think it'd be enough for me to have what is essentially a high-powered digital VCR, replete with cool features like season scheduling, a decent content management system, episode info--the list goes on. I'm afraid though that it isn't. I've discovered the glory of On Demand programming.

Side note: I don't really have a Tivo. No cute little bubble noises as I push remote buttons, no funny little anthropomorphic TV set, no cutesy names for the recording functions... Nope, I've got the Time Warner/Scientific Atlanta equivalent. But "Tivo" is like "Band-Aid" or "Kleenex". And since I don't feel like referring to my cable box as a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 Personal Video Recorder, TiVo Inc. can suck it up just like Johnson & Johnson and Kimberly-Clark and accept that its brand name has gone generic. Although I should note that I refuse to capitalize the v. Anyway, that was just a whole waste of a paragraph.

Sure, Tivo is nice, but you've got to plan for it. You've got to know what you want to record, when it's on, etc. And sometimes, I either don't know what I'm in the mood for or too lazy to queue something up. Also, sometimes I end up ending sentences in prepositions and don't care. Given all of that, it's obvious my fat American ass needs something more simple and convenient. Enter On Demand.

I was watching TV at Lyssa's sister's place in Madison this weekend (more on the weekend below) and she told me to check out her On Demand stuff. Until now, I've pictured VOD technology as being severely limited. I thought you could only get certain movies at certain time windows, with the little gimmick of being able to pause it. Maybe that's how it was, but anyway, the reality of it is much cooler. Depending on the channel, you can get all sorts of cool stuff. Adult Swim On Demand has the latest episodes of their original programming, and a bunch of anime, if you're into that sort of thing (I'm not). Comedy Central On Demand has a bunch of stand-up that you don't get to see anymore. And Oxygen On Demand (catching the creative renaming of the networks yet?) has karaoke, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask me why I know that. Coolest part? It's all free.

Kinda. I don't know how the Charter packages work, but for Time Warner, it'll work for any channel that you can get in your programming package, as long as it actually has an On Demand cousin (some don't--noticably SciFi, USA, and FX).

But, damnit, I wanted to watch Sex and the City and actually hear the swearing. And Curb Your Enthusiasm is cool. And I wanted to check out the big fuss over The Sopranos and Six Feet Under for myself. So I had no choice but to order HBO. Mind you, getting HBO ain't what it used to be. We had it way back when I was 6, and all I remember was being kicked out of the room whenever naughty parts came on the screen. That was when it was only one channel that was being pumped through a cable box that looked like little more than a cheap digital alarm clock. Now you get 12 channels worth of God-knows-what, and it's awesome. Still, never would have gotten this stuff were it not for the On Demand aspect. Even with 12 channels, the odds of me finding something I like at any given time are less than I'd like. And HBO On Demand (compared to the free network On Demands) is huge! Tons of movies, at least 10 episodes at a time of each of their original series, stand up specials (with no censoring!!!)--it's good stuff. Well worth the money.

Madison

It was a good time. I'm not going to go into a play-by-play, because it won't be as cool to anyone who wasn't there, and if you were there with me, you should remember it. (Except for Travis, who's damn lucky he can even remember his name anymore after his drunken Saturday night meltdown.)
A couple of highlights, though:
- I really love it when Christine and Christopher fight. Anything that makes me look better by comparison is a good thing. And besides, it's usually very entertaining. She actually Springer-slapped him!
- Yes, I puked. In my defense, it was 8am, after a night of hard drinking and sleeping on a hard floor. And I took it like a man. Just ask Mike.
- Mike and I got a picture taken with Cloud and Squall! Excellent costumes; hooray for cosplay!
- Mike found Lyssa's tickle spot. Oddly, seeing another man make my girlfriend squirm and moan didn't piss me off; it made me chuckle.
- And finally, Lyssa looks great in a dress.

Well, that's all that's new and worth mentioning, I suppose. Maybe I'll actually rant about some area drama one of these days; it's building up and I'm getting tired of it. See ya on the flipside, people.

Yeah, that title doesn't make sense... I just like the song. Anyway, I haven't much to say, but I've been rather lax in my postings so I figured one was about due.

Last night I went to Wal Mart with Tuck and noticed that Oshkosh has been blessed with an Xbox 360 kiosk. Well, I picked up the familiar controller, played through the menus, and, while it's pretty and shiny, I was kind of disappointed. I'm sure the system's potential is still mostly untapped, but the demo of Call of Duty: Insert Sequel Title Here looked like it could have run on my PC. And that's not too impressive. I've got a GeForce 3 Ti500, and while it's quite the trooper for a 5 year old card (it handles Quake 4 at 1280x1024 decently), it certainly isn't the pinnacle of graphics achievement. Here's hoping that by the PS3 launch next summer, some developers actually figure out what to do with all that hardware. (and bunnie hacks the newer, tougher security)

Well, soon I'll be in Madison for some Halloween interestingness. Mike and I just got done compiling the Time Life Drunken Music Celebration Collection. That's right, folks. This 3 CD set contains such classics as Chumbawamab's "Tubthumping", the RBF classic, "Beer", and many more fun numbers to belt out off-key. Now available for the low, low price of Free! (Thanks, MP3 collection.)
So yeah, we've got almost 60 songs to keep us company. Should be a good time. I'll likely have a long post full of memory holes and digital photos come Monday.

Peace out, readers.

Now that I actually have an active blog, I get to use these fun little buggers. Enjoy my faux-clever answers and feel free to fill this out for yourself as a comment, or let me know if you've got one going.

The Basics . . .
  Gender: 100% Man
  Sexual Preference: As often as I can physically handle.
  Single: Try "engaged".
  Birthday: Once a year on October 6, every day since 1984.
  Age: 21
  Age I act: When I'm tired: 70. When in public: 4. Anything else ranges.
  Age I wish I was: My age, but in the 50s, in a Tiki bar.
  Height: 6'3"
  Eye Color: Dark brown
  Happy with it?: If you can be upset with your eye color, you need more to worry about.
  Lefty/Righty/Ambidextrous: I lean right in most situations.
  Family: Mommy and daddy. And cool people who have become my relatives by choice.
  Pets: Hannah, my big, fluffy German Shepherd/Collie
  Piercings?: I put a knife through my hand once, but that was just an embarrasing accident. From now on I'm just going to buy coconut shavings and save myself the time, effort, and potential danger.
  Tattoos?: I had some cool press on ones in middle school.
  Do you speak another language?: Qapla', bitches.
  Have a favorite quote?: "Welcome to heaven; here's your harp. Welcome to hell; here're your bagpipes."
  Deep thoughts about life and you in it?: I don't much matter.
  Do you live in the moment?: Only, it seems, when it can embarrass me the most.
  Do you have any secrets?: I don't think there's anything that I keep completely to myself, but there are certainly things that I'm selective in divulging.
  Do you hate yourself?: Fuck, no. I rock.
  Do you like your handwriting?: Yeah, because no one else can read it.
  If a movie was made about your life, what would it be called?: I don't know, but it'd probably be a straight-to-DVD release.
  Can you sing?: Yes, but just because I can doesn't mean I should.
  Do you ever pretend to be someone else just to look cool?: I can't look cool no matter what. I've pretened to be someone else to scare the crap out of someone, though.
  If you were another person, would you be friends with you?: Yeah, but I'd complain about me to my other friends.
  Are you passive or aggressive?: I prefer "direct". Agressive sounds like I could hurt someone; all I really am is upfront.
  Do you have a journal?: You're lookin' at it.
  Do you think you are emotionally strong?: Stronger now than before, because I know what makes me weak.
  Is there anything you regret doing/not doing in life?: There are things I wish I hadn't done, but I wouldn't go back and change them.
  Do you think life has been good so far?: All in all, yes.
  What is the most important lesson you've learned from life?: Don't dwell.
  What do you like the most about your body?: I can cover it with clothes so no one can see it.
  Do you smoke?: Only when I'm soldering.
  Drink?: Only when I'm not soldering.
  Read the newspaper?: I would, but who wants to go out and get a newspaper when my electronics catalogs are right here?
  Pray?: Yes, but not usually for myself.
  Go to church?: It's been quite a while. Please direct me to one that's not corrupt.
  Talk to strangers who IM you?: That doesn't happen much, but I would.
  Sleep with stuffed animals?: No, but I should.
  Take walks in the rain?: I don't take walks that much in general. But rain wouldn't stop me if I was motivated.
  Drive?: Would if I could.
  Like to drive fast?: Not since the whole ticket/insurance thing really hit home.

Have you ever . . .
  Been out of the country?: Not yet.
  Eaten something that made other people sick?: I seem to do this often. Ask Mike about the bar pickle.
  Been in love?: I am right now. :)
  Done drugs?: Outside of my Zyrtec, nope.
  Had a medical emergency?: Broke and dislocated my arm at school when I was 10. Crazy stuff.
  Had surgery?: Quite a few times, the biggest being open-heart surgery, the coolest being when they dug a piece of steel out of my hand.
  Ran away from home?: Nah. Where the hell would I have gone?
  Played strip poker?: I don't even know how to play regular poker.
  Got beaten up?: Not bad, but I've taken a few hits in my time.
  Beaten someone up?: That was just plain fun.
  Been picked on?: Who the hell would be able to answer no to this?
  Gone one day without food?: Get a stomach flu. Ugh.
  Talked on the phone all night?: A couple of times.
  Slept together with the opposite sex?: Indeed.
  Slept all day?: Hell, I do that now.
  Killed someone?: Only a methane probe at Puckaway will tell you for sure.
  Made out with a stranger?: I was told I shouldn't even talk to strangers.
  Had sex with a stranger?: See above response.
  Thought you were going crazy?: Not really. I have an unhealthy habit of accepting myself as normal.
  Done anything sexual with the same sex?: Nothing serious, but I had my testicle bitten once.
  Had a dream that came true?: (I expect "aww"s and/or groans) I'm marrying her.
  Broken the law?: Intellectual property law: daily. Traffic tickets: several. And there's other minor ugliness.
  Met a famous person?: Not really.
  Have you ever killed an animal by accident?: Damn rabbit came out of nowhere. And right after I swerved to avoid a family of ducks.
  Told a secret you swore you wouldn't tell?: When someone tells you they're huritng themself and thinking of suicide, you're a bastard if you keep it to yourself.
  Stolen anything?: Yeah, that's the "minor ugliness" mentioned above.
  Been on radio/TV?: Called in to Belling once and he didn't yell at me. That was cool. And Ryan's documentary was on PBS. That was awesome.
  Had a nervous breakdown?: A few times.
  Had a dream that kept coming back?: Ok, I'm going to go out and explain this one. I'm back in high school because they find out I'm missing a credit for something or other. Anyway, it's just impossible. It's not the kids, not like most high school dreams you'd think of, it's the faculty. They're all evil because they know they have inappropriate amounts of power over me again. Those dreams suck.

My beliefs . . .
  Miracles?: I've seen enough in my day.
  Magic?: It'd be damn cool, but no.
  God?: You bet. Throw in Christ and the Holy Spirit, too.
  Santa?: Invented by parents to shut their kids the hell up for the entire month of December.
  Ghosts?: I want to believe. But I'd need to see one.
  Luck?: Nah, and karma neither.
  Love at first sight?: That's a big yes.
  Do you wish on stars?: No, but they're cool things to see.

Deep theological questions . . .
  Do you believe in the traditional view of heaven and hell?: Clouds and fire? That's too tangible and Earth-like. And our general view of hell actually comes from Pagan imagery. I think hell is cold, dark, and lonely. It's the only place that doesn't know the presence of God.
  Do you think god has a gender?: Again, that's just projecting what we know on what we don't. What would God Almightly need with genitals? Or if you're just asking psychologically, whether God thinks like a guy or a girl, I say you're a fool if you pretend to know the mind of God.
  Where do you think we go when we die?: Depends on the person.

The friends . . .
  Do you have any gay/lesbian friends?: Not any really close ones, but yeah.
  Who is your best friend?: Lyssa. Don't know how it would rank among my man-friends.
  Who's the one person that knows most about you?: Lyssa, maybe Red.
  Who's your longest known friend?: That's a tie: Petey and Travis.
  Newest?: Tucker. I mean, I knew of this god-among-men for a while now, but didn't really get to know him 'til this year.
  Shyest?: Shelby wins this one, though she does have her moments of boldness.
  Funniest?: Any of my roommates, collectively or combined.
  Sweetest?: Tuck Man. That kid's an angel.
  Closest?: Lyssa, of course, but then Petey.
  Weirdest?: Petey, now and forever.
  Smartest?: That's a hard one to narrow down. Depends on what kind of smart. I'd definately have a good selection of phone-a-friends on Millionare.
  Friend you miss being close to the most?: Joe and Red. :P
  Last person you talked to online?: Lyssa, Shelby, Jeremy and Joe. SIMULTANEOUSLY. Because I rock like that.
  Who do you talk to most online?: Kaj, Shelby, and Red.
  Who are you on the phone with most?: My mom. :)
  Who do you trust most?: Lyssa, hands down.
  Who listens to your problems?: Lyssa, Petey, and/or Mike.
  Who do you fight most with?: I don't fight much. But most arguements are in-house.
  Who's the nicest?: See "Sweetest".
  Who's the best singer?: Tuck can belt 'em out something fierce, but Lyssa's my Angel of Music. :)
  Do you always feel understood?: I'm clear, but not easy to figure out.
  Who's the loudest friend?: Petey Boy, coming in clear.
  Do you trust others easily?: Once I get to know them well enough, generally.
  Who's house were you last at?: Lyssa's.
  Do your friends know you?: I'd like to think so. If they don't, it's their own damn fault.
  Friend that lives farthest away?: Bob's way up in the U.P., that's quite a drive.

Love and all that . . .
  Do you consider love a mistake?: That's stupid. No.
  What do you find romantic?: Knowing me well enough to be able to answer that yourself.
  First kiss?: Way back in junior high. Ugh.
  Do you prefer knowing someone before dating them or going out?: It only seems logical.
  Have you ever wished it was more socially acceptable for a girl to ask a guy out?: Every time I've had to ask someone out.

Who was the last person . . .
  You wanted to kill?: I don't really want to kill anyone... But there are a few I'd hurt.
  That you laughed at?: Mike.
  That laughed at you?: Mike. It's our thing.
  You went shopping with?: Mike, Lyssa, and Jenny.
  That broke your heart?: Sarah. That was a while ago.
  To make you cry?: All I've got to do is think about my grandpa for a while, and tears are guaranteed.
  That you thought about?: Lyssa's usually on the brain.
  You talked to on the phone?: Some lady from my bank.
  You saw?: Petey Boy.

Right this moment . . .
  Who are you going out with?: I'm engaged to Alyssa Gail Molter. :D
  What are you wearing right now?: I'm actually wearing my personal clothing stereotype. Solid-color hooded sweatshirt, nondescript blue jeans from Kohls, and my best pair of Vans. The only thing that stands out is my kick-ass new watch.
  What are you worried about right now?: School and my financial future. I'm accepting donations.
  What book are you reading?: Turn of the Screw for class, and some Star Trek paperback for myself.
  Use 5 words to describe how you're feeling: I want to get married.
  Are you bored?: Too anxious to be bored.
  Are you tired?: Perpetually.
  Are you talking to anyone online?: Lyssa.
  Are you talking to anyone on the phone?: Nuh-uh.
  Are you lonely or content?: I'm feelin' good.
  Are you listening to music?: Yeah, actually. I just busted out some old school Semisonic.

It's good to be back.

I've been ignoring my blog for months now, and that's nobody's fault but my own. Between server problems and a lack of motivation towards coding, my attempt to make my own blog system got axed. So here I am on Blogger, and hoping for the best.

If you know even a bit about HTML or CSS coding, I'd suggest moving your Xanga, LiveJournal, or what-have-you to Blogger. Complete coding freedom and an ad-less environment are some nice selling points.

Anyway, I've had all my old blog entries from the PTV/DataTiki forums on Blogger for some time now, but I haven't done anything to create a blog layout. This thing just kind of sat here all summer looking ugly and unfinished. After seeing that some people actually read this--thanks Andi and Amanda for the comments--I decided to whip up a layout. It's far from perfect or finished, like most of my design projects, but at least it's navigable now, and the cross-browser opacity effects make me a big, happy nerd.

Enough about the blog, let's get caught up on my life.

I left off in March. Good lord, that's a lot of ground to cover. But I'll try anyway.

March/April/May:
School, school, blah, blah, blah. But when spring semester was finally over with, Petey and I made haste for Wausau where we met up with Tom, Matz, Mike, their respective lady-friends, Domo, Mike's little brother, and hundreds of hardcore Star Wars fans to see Episode III and celebrate Mike's 21. Well, the army of nerds was probably more concerned with the movie than the birthday, but they at least had the decency to do a Happy Birthday Sing-a-Long with us while we waited for the flick.

Hanging out with Wausau people rocked. Tom and I dueled with our Wal-Mart lightsabers in the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant. The battle ended with Tom facing the harsh reality that skinny smokers should not run. Ever. I got to meet Silent Dave, and that kid's damn cool. Too bad he's going to school in Godknowswhere, MN, but I wish him the best of luck.

The movie... Well, Episode III itself was decent. Not the movie of the year, but an ultimately satisfying ending to the saga. Wanna know what's not decent? Marcus "Give us your money and go to hell" Theatres suck. During the big Grievous fight in the middle of the movie, the soundtrack decides it's going to duck out early. The center channel came back shortly in a series of fits and spurts, but the surround sound was never the same for the rest of the movie. I hate Marcus Theatres with a passion, and every time I'm forced to go to one now, I die a little inside.

Moving on...


June/July/August (Summer):
Work.

Well, this summer I was up to $9.75/hour at the good ol' tire warehouse. Wasn't a bad gig except that halfway though summer my boss snapped. Larry fired Tony, a cool guy who's been there for 7+ years. He also started yelling at all of us at random for small, stupid reasons. This prompted Shawn to leave for another company, and before I knew it, I was the Senior Service Technician at Wingfoot Commercial Tire.

That's a head trip, but it definitely has its down sides. The other two guys in the shop didn't really know anything about the job, and even though one of them was an Army Reservist, neither of them had the strength to lift or stack truck tires worth a damn. At least I got to feel strong and powerful as I did the job of three people. :P I'm not going back there next year.

Play!

Made another Wausau run, this time for Batman Begins and with the added company of Travis. Another fun time, another daydream for fall and apartment life. A few weeks afterwards, I found out Mike broke up with Michelle and I was damn proud of him. Based on my own experiences with co-dependency, as far as leaving is concerned, the sooner, the better. I'll bet the situation is still kind of messy, but I think he did the right thing.

Lyssa and I got in our one camping trip at the end of July. I wish we would have had more chances for that kind of thing this summer, but it was still a whole lot of fun. We went to Governor Dodge State Park and just had a nice, lazy weekend. We also grilled some mighty fine steaks over the fire.Lyssa brought her dad's old Nikon and we played around with landscape and macro shots. They turned out pretty good for two people who didn't really know what they were doing. It kinda makes me want to dust off my old Yashica and learn how to use it. I just don't feel like buying and wasting film, and if I have to wait until the film is developed to see how shots turn out, then I won't remember what I did to take them in the first place. Maybe I should just beat up Ryan and steal his Digital Rebel.

The rest of summer is just kind of a work-shaped blob with Lyssa-colored sprinkles. I'd spend as many weekends with Lyssa as I could, and that was fun. We got to see Festa Italiana fireworks, played with her two little cousins, relaxed in the pool, worked and chilled at Puckaway; it was fun. Outside of my weekends with her, I didn't really do much. I don't know what I think of my Mayville friends anymore. Once again, I took the role of forgotten-until-needed. Kinda sucks, but I'm used to it from them. It just made me want the whole apartment thing sooner.

Speaking of the apartment, that's our next stop chronologically.
I love it! My room is basically my old bedroom with more windows. I moved in on the 27th of August and just kind of waited around for roommates. Mike was there that day, but just to drop stuff off. Petey was off on a west coast adventure, and Tuck was still toiling away in Tomahawk. Travis came over the first night and got me sickeningly drunk on poorly mixed combinations of Skyy Vodka and Diet Dew. It didn't really hit me until I was wiring my stereo. Ugh. I couldn't look at a Dew can for days without wanting to puke.

I did eventually wire everything up, including my new favorite toy, a TiVo! Well, it's not a TiVo, per se, but a generic equivalent. Either way, it's so nice to have something to watch all the time. I've got it snatching every episode it sees of That 70s Show, Quantum Leap, X-Files, Venture Brothers, and 7 Days. And you know what? I really don't miss watching commercials anymore.

September/October:
It feels good to be back in Oshkosh, though classes this semester suck. I sure hope I don't fail accounting. Who would have thought adding and subtracting could be such a complicated mess?

Well, there's more to life than class. I think we've got a pretty kick-ass arrangement here. Aside from the off-and-on filth, living with Petey, Mike and Tuck rocks. I mean, we could be a sitcom. And if we were, and no one fucked with our timeslot, we'd get great ratings. The apartment's starting to look good, too. Petey keeps finding abandoned furniture, and I found a big construction cone. Add to that Tuck's art and Mike's.... well Mike and I clean a lot, and that counts for something. Anyway, it rules.

We throw some decent parties, too. It feels damn good to be around people I like and with whom I'm comfortable enough to actually just sit back and enjoy myself. So hooray for Tom Collins on the rocks, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and cool roomies.

To backtrack a bit, on September 8th I took Lyssa on a surprise trip. She knew I was planning something all summer, but didn't know any details. Anyway, we spent the weekend in upper-Upper Michigan, in a lakeside cabin on the Keweenaw Peninsula. It was beautiful, and had a special significance to me since our cabin was only a mile down the shore of Lake Superior from my grandparents' cottage. It's owned by my aunt now, so I never expect to be able to stay there any more, but it was nice to see the area again. Lyssa and I walked the beach late Saturday after a really fun day in Copper Harbor when I sat her down and told her I had something important to say. Then I got down on one knee and asked the woman of my dreams to marry me.

Thankfully, her yes was immediate and sincere. :) But she was kind of in shock about the whole thing. Once she got to talk to her sister--Christine's response was an enthusiastic "I knew it! I fucking knew it!"--and her parents, she calmed down again. We walked back to the cabin and had a great meal (courtesy of my mom, who couldn't be happier for us) of shrimp, chocolates, strawberries, and champagne. That night, for whatever reason, I got up and felt compelled to go outside. I checked my clock, it was about 4 am, but I decided to go out anyway. I looked up at the sky and saw the most intense northern lights I've ever seen in my life. I've seen more colorful ones, these were mostly white, but never this huge and active. It was absolutely beautiful. I woke Alyssa and brought her out to see them.

Now I'm not usually much for seeing "signs", but I couldn't help but feel something from my grandparents as I stared at the spectacle above us. Standing out there, with Lyssa wrapped in my arms, I confessed this to my new fiancee. She just reassured me and told me she thought it meant they approved. We both cried a little, but I think it's the happiest we've ever been.

Now to jump forward to the next big thing, my birthday.
I turned 21 last Thursday. Here I am, a true adult in the eyes of all parts of society (except my damn car insurance company) and I just feel like a bigger kid. Oh well. I got some good presents out of the deal. Mike gave me a Zippo so I'd stop playing with his, I got a whole bunch of money that's going toward an HDTV, and Lyssa really outdid herself. She got me a tiki fountain! It's so damn cool... It's like a totem pole, with the tiki faces having their eyes and mouths cut out like jack-o-lanterns. The center of the pole is just a clear pvc tube with a bubble column in it, lit from the base. When it's put all together, it looks mondo exotica. :) That girl can read me like a book.

Friday night, Tuck, Mike and I wandered around Oshkosh. We went over to Lyssa's and played The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with her roommates. Mike rode my birthday bus.After spending some time there, we went and filled up on good food at Glass Nickel, and then Tuck and Mike took me to The Reptile Palace, a cool little bar on south High Street. Mike got me a beer and a birthday shot and got some good tunes goin', the cute bartender bought me another beer (and I don't think she knew it was my birthday), there was a cool Jazz trio playing, and the one of bar TVs was showing an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Just before we left, I had the bartender mix me a bloody mary with gin. It took her a while to get over her confusion, but she ended up mixing me a very good glass of grandpa's Puckaway specialty.

Yesterday, after waking up at 8am feeling just fine, Lyssa and I spent the day in Green Lake County. We had a good lunch at a cafe on Water Street and dediced to check out the shops. It seems 50's kitsch is starting to come back into vogue, and I have absolutely no problem with that. I found all sorts of cool home decor that's way out of my budget right now. But it's awesome knowing that Lyssa loves the same stuff that I was drooling over. When we get married, our place is gonna look amazing. All I ended up buying was Nihilist gum because I thought it was clever, and a cool set of waterproof playing cards with drink recipes.

After shopping, we went to Puckaway. Lyssa studied while I scavenged for countertops and 2x4s to build a bar. I took her out on the 4 wheeler, always fun, and we just chilled out for a while. Towards dark, I packed up her car, tied down her trunk, and we were off. Lyssa went back home to study, and I hung out with Tuck, Mike, Megan and Tom. I was going to get right on top of building the bar, but ended up twisting my ankle outside. I drank a fair amount of Megan-supplied German birthday wine to dull the pain, and watched her color Mike's hair. It turned out pretty decent, so next time you see Mike, congratulate him on his blue head.

I started this entry last night and fell asleep. So here it is, 6pm on a Sunday, my life for the past 6 months.

Enjoy.