Falling slowly, eyes that know me, and I can't go back. Moods that take me and erase me, and I'm painted black.

Whoa! How could I not write about former press secretary Scott McClellan's new tell all book about his time in the Bush administration. As if Bushie was not hurting bad enough, now one of his longtime loyalists has a new book just completely ripping him. He basically says he is a liar, deceptive, and viewed the war as a campaign tool. He also rips the Bush administration for the Valeria Plame/CIA fiasco, and Hurricane Katrina. I actually have an interesting perspective on Scott McClellan. I have met him. One of my favorite professors, Ray Dearin, invited him in to speak to his political rhetoric course. McClellan was engaging, charismatic, and intelligent. (And yes, I felt this way even when he worked for President Bush.) What is so bothersome to me is not that someone wrote a book about Bush being a manipulative liar, but the fact that this is coming from a man who had been a loyal Bush enthusiast and employee for fifteen years. He must have really felt betrayed by Bush.

1. I have received a few emails/calls blasting me about my criticism of the movie Once. I never said it was a bad movie. I just felt it was a bit slow. Maybe because it is a chick flick? But the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant. This is the song that won the academy award for best song in a movie soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0lIdr5TsaU

2. My favorite news of the day was finding out that Clay Aiken is going to be a daddy. At first I was confused because... umm... he's gay, but then after reading the article, I see a friend of his was artificially inseminated with tiny baby Aiken sperm. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24882499/

3. All of this Sex and the City talk bores me so much!!! Apparently I don't have a "passion for fashion". I found the show completely uninteresting and I don't understand why these women were looked up to. None of them should be viewed as role models and I would NOT let my teenage daughter watch it if I had one. Here is the lead-character, Carrie Bradshaw. She is a materialistic, lazy, narcissistic smoker who cheated on her fiance and then instead of doing anything about it, she lights up another cigarette, sips another martini, and talks openly with her friends of her promiscuity while spending thousands of dollars on handbags and dresses with giant fucking flowers on them. Why is this show celebrated? The only good news is that if you are a single man, then this Friday night is your lucky night. There will be literally thousands of groups of single women floating around the United States who will be looking for some entertainment before and after the movie. I'll pass.

Stick it for Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits

I have some friends of mine who have a rather unique work schedule. Rather then working the normal 8 – 5 to get their 40 hour work week, they work ten hour days either Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday. After enjoying a three day weekend, I think I would really enjoy working the M-Th or Tu-Fri work schedule. Just to be able to sleep in for another day or get your doctor’s appointments and oil changes done during the day when everyone else is working would be awesome. One less day of rush hour would be fantastic. Oh well. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Friday night, a friend of mine came over and we just relaxed, ate good food, drank good wine, listened to good music, and then watched a comedy DVD. It was very interesting for me to go through all of my old CDs on Friday night. I had nice flashbacks to all of my old music phases. I started getting into music big time in about 8th/9th grade and it was fun for me to see the changes. There was the Radiohead phase when I bought five Radiohead CDs, there was the power-pop phase where I was big into Ash, Rooney, et cetera. Then I started meeting some friends in high school who opened my eyes to all kinds of different music and I was exposed to The Pixies, The Smiths. Other friends of mine introduced me to classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Who. I have so many phases (Queen, Ozma, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, and on and on and on) and it had been about two years since I went through all of my CDs that it was a great blast from the past. Every page in the enormous CD wallet was a page of history. Almost every CD has a history. I remember in ninth grade doing a report on the fact that Queen’s Greatest Hits was the best CD of all time (We Will Rock You, Bohemian Rhapsody, Don’t Stop me Now, Bicycle Race, We are the Champions, Killer Queen, et cetera). For some reason, at 14 I aligned myself with a homosexual British showman who died in the mid 1980s of AIDS? I remember my sister and I dancing to Rooney’s “shaking” while packing to go to Ames. I remember my final drive home to Minnesota from Iowa State after I graduated and listening to Motion City Soundtrack to cheer me up. Every single page has a memory or two attached to it.

1. I couldn’t write about this weekend without writing about my party Saturday night. Unfortunately due to it being Memorial Day Weekend, some of the people couldn’t make it, but when I did a final head count, from when the party started to when it ended, 15 people showed up. And in reality, that to me is like the perfect amount. If you have like 40 people it just becomes unbearable, but four or five people and it is lame. We listened to good music, had great conversations, drank a lot of adult beverages, and just enjoyed life. The weather was beautiful, the Robbins’ were beautiful, and life was good. I have several fond memories from Iowa State and throwing great parties. It was nice to still be able to do it. I am kind of getting bored with the whole bar scene so it was fun to be in an environment where I knew everybody, people were laid back, the price was right, and everyone had a good time. I need to do that more often.

2. I saw three movies this weekend. I first saw two indie movies. I rented Once and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Both movies won academy awards, both movies were highly rated… and I thought they were first boring. I would give them both a C. I just felt that the pace was way too drawn out and I was never captivated. Speaking of indie movies, I think I have seen every movie on my indie list. Once is about a struggling Irish song writer who falls in love with a Czech girl who is already married. Sad ending. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about a successful editor of a fashion magazine who becomes paralyzed and mute after a stroke but learns to write just through blinking. Very sad ending. Both movies are very depressing and I would pass on both. I did however see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I don’t know why everyone hated it. No, it’s not going to win any academy awards but I thought it was energetic, funny, and worth seeing in the theaters. Was it believable? Absolutely not but what action movie is? No James Bond movie is believable? No Die Hard movie or Star Wars movie is believable? “Wow! James Bond just jumped out of an airplane, flew down 300 yards, and landed right inside the door of a moving train!” Of course that stuff isn’t real. I think people had way too high of expectations for the movie. If you are looking for a movie where you can laugh, you don’t have to think, then I recommend the new Indiana Jones movie.

3. I think I am about done with Panera. The food is good and everything but the prices are becoming absolutely unbearable. Yesterday I ordered an Asiago roast beef sandwich with a medium pop. The total came out to $9.12. $9.12 for a fucking sandwich!!! You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s good but not that good.

Pork and Beans

I stumbled upon an interesting article regarding the company Zappos. (I believe they are a shoe company but I'm not a great shoe/fashion mind.) For all new employees, after the first four weeks of being there, they give you... The Offer. What the offer says is that after four weeks, Zappos will give you a $1000 bonus plus pay you for your four weeks if you quit. Basically, they are saying we want people working here who are 100% committed to the company and if you're not, here's ten Benjamins, have a good life. I think this is a great business idea. If you want to read more... http://www.savvysugar.com/1647292?ybf1=1

1. Uh oh. I was reading the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, and I read that Anthony Kiedes, the lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers has said that the band has disbanded. I would not say I love RHCP but I do very much enjoy their music and I own three of their CDs. I can't say I am all that surprised. Every single member is in their forties, they are all married, and have children. The idea of playing arenas every night probably just isn't as appealing as it was when they were single, and 25.

2. I am thrilled at the reviews of the new Weezer album. So far every review I have read have been very positive. Most of them saying they have gone back to their routes. This makes me very pleased. June 3rd... I'm ready.

3. As most of you know, about three years ago I went to Cuba and at that time I fell in love with that magical island. I also was captivated by the brilliance and uniqueness of one of The Revolution's leaders, Che Guevara. I know that their already was a movie about his early life, The Motorcycle Diaries, but I thought to myself, this man has had one of the most fascinating lives of all time. Why has their not been a major motion picture about him. When I came home from Cuba, I spent the summer in Ames, Iowa and I brought this idea up with my roommate, Jim Winstead. We both agreed that Benicio Del Toro would do the best job playing Che. Well, Variety Magazine has a big feature article on the new Benicio Del Toro, movie "Che". It is directed by legendary director Steven Soderberg, and also has Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Damon. From the looks of it, this movie will be more of an indie film, then a huge mainstream blockbuster. Which I would guess, is exactly what Senor Guevara would have wanted.
http://www.variety.com/VE1117937244.html

I feel bad for those people that don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, they know that's the best they're going to feel.

As usual, the National Basketball Association gods have not blessed the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves, who are the most unlucky team statistically in the history of the NBA draft, have the number three pick, in a draft with two top players. In the history of the draft, the Wolves have never once moved up in the draft order. I believe the draft has been around since 1984. Not one time have the wolves moved up once and several times they have moved back. Most famously in 1992 when the Wolves had the worst record in the league but they drafted #3. Who went number one and number two that year? Shaq and Alanzo Mourning. This year, the Chicago Bulls, who had the ninth worst record in the league had a 1.7% chance of drafting number one. Sure enough, apparently the basketball gods thought to themsleves that they have not won enough rings, why not give them a superstar point guard or future hall of fame power forward. Who cares that their team is already loaded with a ton of talent with former lottery picks (Kirk Heinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Drew Gooden, among others) let's throw in another top player. I am not bitter that the Bulls beat the system, I am just upset that once again, lady luck has decided to dance with another man.

1. I saw the movie I'm Not There tonight. It is a movie that is very roughly based on Bob Dylan's life. It has a huge cast including Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, David Cross, Christian Bale, among others. I really had high hopes but I would only give the movie a C-. It was choppy, very hard to follow, and the director, Steven Soderberg, I think unfairly portrayed Dylan as a self-absorbed nihilist.

2. One of the hot books to read last year was the Josh Grogan book, Marley and Me. It made it up to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. I thought the book was okay. It is a light read literally about "the world's worst dog" and all of the shenanigans the author's dog, Marley, gets into. It's not very deep or complicated. If you are a dog person, you might enjoy it.

3. My sister is on her way to New Zealand right now. I am definitely jealous. I have heard great things but I have never been there. She'll be there for the next six weeks.

The secret of love is seeking variety in your life together, and never letting routine chords dull the melody of your romance

The sermon yesterday morning was about breaking out of your routine. If you only have white friends, make black friends. If you only watch sports, go to the symphony. If you only watch comedies, rent a foreign drama. The point was that God wants us to grow as people and to do that we need to unlock ourselves from pre-judgments on people and places and see the world and grow. I thought all day yesterday about the sermon and I began to think of how routine my life is. I begin the day this morning by waking up at the same time I do every morning. I then eat cold cereal and read the Star Tribune just like every morning. I then drive the same way to work. The first thing I do when I get to work is check the same dozen or so websites and work emails while enjoying a hot, brewed, green tea. For lunch, I eat at one of seven restaurants, order a coke or pepsi, and read the day’s USA Today and Pioneer Press. At work I generally do the same things. After work, three or four times a week, I work out, and the rest of the time I drive home, eat dinner, and watch either the news, Daily Show, sports, or Conan… My point is that my life has actually become very routine and I need to find ways to shake up my life. I want to start doing and trying new things. I want to learn more, and expand my intellect. This has been on my mind today.


1. Many of you loyal readers are well aware of how USA Today has a tendency to put their logo on everything. Our national office sent us a variety of things they are considering for next fall’s roll out of the new promotional items. They won’t do all of them but they will have a few new items. My favorite was USA Today poker chips with the four colors of the paper all being different chips. I think these would be really popular. The worst item I saw was a visor/hat for your dog that has USA Today on it. I laughed when I read it.

2. I watched SNL today and I really liked the SNL digital short commercial with “Obama vs. Clinton”. It is a mock of the NBA commercials and it is pretty funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0aarMzFLjw

3. I don’t know why but I am intrigued about Mike Tyson’s autobiography. The man has led an incredibly entertaining life. The prison time, the pigeons, the biting of the ear, the championship belts, the tattoos, the cocaine issues, the conversion to Islam, his sobriety, et cetera. Maybe I will buy his book: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356584,00.html

If a man had as many good ideas during the day as he does when he has insomnia, he'd make a fortune

Despite my growing struggle with insomnia, this weekend was absolutely terrific. I worked out every single day this weekend, enjoyed the nice weather, saw some good friends, and caught a couple of movies. Friday night, a couple of friends and I did a bar hopping tour of Uptown Minneapolis. We started off with an expensive dinner at Figlio's, played darts and caroused at Williams before enjoying the beautiful night skyline of Minneapolis at the top of Stella's. It is amazing how quickly $60.00 goes down the tube when you are out and having a good time. Saturday started off with a small headache but that was quickly erased when I met Andrew early Saturday morning at Lake Calhoun. After we roller bladed around Lake Calhoun a couple of times and ate a healthy lunch, I was feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Later that day I went and saw the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I thought FSM was funny and I would probably give it a B+. I would probably wait until it comes out to DVD but go rent it when it does. Later on Saturday, some friends of mine grabbed dinner, hung out by Lake Minnetonka before settling down to watch another movie, Pi. I don't know about this one. I have some friends who absolutely love this movie but I would probably give it a C-. I thought it had the potential for greatness but failed to live up to my expectations. It's been a pretty typical Sunday for me. I went to church, worked out, ate too big of lunch, and then tapped into my domestic mode and I actually baked some cookies that turned out pretty good if I don't mind saying so myself and I don't mind saying so myself.

1. I read a really interesting story in this week's edition of Businessweek magazine. It was about the new electric car by General Motors called The Volt. To sum up the article, it can run for forty miles on just electricity before switching to a regular gas engine. It is scheduled to come out in November 2010. I think I may have found my next car. I am very excited for this. I do believe that in the next twenty or thirty years there will be a solution to automobiles and airplanes becoming completely petroleum free but I think people are completely unaware how much stuff is actually petroleum based. Everything from glasses to cologne is made out of petroleum. Anything made out of plastic is made from petroleum. How are we going to find a solution to that?

Afternoon Delight

Today was a weird day. As I woke up like any other day, I knew that for sixty of my co-workers, life would be very different. Yesterday, my company laid off sixty people. They were given forty-five minutes to say their good-byes, clean out their desks, and leave. I understand that this is a part of business but it is tough to hear when it happens to your company. Both my parents have been laid off in the past and I know that sometimes good, smart, hardworking people get laid off. There are seventeen markets around the country, and Minneapolis was one of only a handful of places to not have any positions cut. I feel very fortunate to not only have a job, but also that none of my co-workers here were let go. I think of my colleagues with young children, or people who have been with the company for literally more years then I have been alive. Unfortunately, the economy is terrible right now. Some of the biggest companies in Minneapolis have had giant layoffs (Northwest Airlines, Caribou Coffee, Best Buy, Target, Medtronic, United Health Group, et cetera.) Sometimes I get lucky.

1. It is supposed to be beautiful this week (like eight degrees!) so I planning on actually laying out and getting some sun this weekend. I haven’t done that in a very long time.

2. Okay, no more llamas. I have decided that when I become a billionaire, I am going to have my own panda. Just look at this guy: http://rowhouselogic.com/Llama/panda3.jpg

3. How many of you saw The Office season finale last night? I loved it! I had many discussions with my co-workers today about the various cliffhangers.

4. There is a new bar that I really want to check out in Minneapolis. I have heard many good things about it so if anybody is interested in going out for a bit of boozing, let me know.

"He's just not my kind of guy"

Let me preface this posting today by saying that the first part of this blog, word for word, is from J. Scheckner of americablog.com.

Jon Stewart's A block was laugh out loud funny last night. The Chris Matthews/Terry McAuliffe bit (6 minutes in) is a must-see if you missed it. But the portion that got me thinking was the part about the media coverage of the West Virginia primary results. Stewart highlights the dance-around-it dance describing why Clinton came out on top: "her working class base""working class whites""white voters earning less than $50,000""blue collar whites""white regular people""white rural Americans"Stewart's report also showed soundbites from three West Virginian women who possibly unknowingly outed themselves as racist and grossly misinformed. Why is it we can't just call it like it is? White, uneducated, poor voters in West Virginia don't identify with the suburban-raised, Wellesley and Yale Law educated former First Lady and Senator from "the big city." A majority voted for Clinton because she's white. Or to be even more blunt, because she's not black.I know anchors, reporters, and pundits can't come right out and say it - as Stewart spent 5 minutes pointing out - but I don't know why. Racism is shameful and the behavior of ignorant, close-minded people. We may be hesitant to label someone a racist, but if someone won't vote for a black man because he's black, then guess what? Here's your name-tag, Princess Bigot. I actually think pretending otherwise is a problem. Maybe if people didn't think it was acceptable to hate based on race, we'd spread a little good. Ignoring the issue isn't going to make it disappear. Euphemisms only perpetuate the myth that we're somehow past the ugly, naked truth. And the results from Tuesday's primary - where many poor, uneducated, white folks voted for the millionaire white woman because they saw no viable alternative - prove we are buried deeper in the racist muck than anyone in the media cares - or dares - to admit. Why has it become taboo to tell it like it is? Who are we afraid of offending? The offensive? I say if someone's that ignorant in the year 2008, she's earned it.

I'm not saying people that we as a country are racist. We have so many examples that mentioning them seems futile. My question is will we ever get to a point in this country where we are not racist anymore. Yes, I am a left leaning, middle class, white person, from the suburbs of Minneapolis... However, excuse my optimism, I think by the year of 2200, there will be almost no racism in America. Let's start by looking at the past of America and see how far we have come. 100 years ago, the most targeted groups for racism were probably the Irish, the Italians, and the Jews. I have never once heard a sincere racist statement pointed at the Irish or Italians and it took until I was a freshman in college until I heard my first anti-Jewish comment. That is an amazing improvement in just 100 years against several groups of people. 150 years ago, blacks were only counted as 3/5 of a person in terms of voting. Today, we have a real chance of electing a black man to be president of the United States. In the scheme of things, 150 years is not that long. It's only a half a dozen or so generations. I am very optimistic that we will eliminate racism by the time our great grandchildren are our age.

1. I hate Title IX. About twenty years ago, the NCAA decided they were going to do their part for equality. So, they came up with a rule Title IX which basically says two things - Colleges must either spend the same amount of money on men's and women's sports or have the same number of participants. Unfortunately, the result of this is still being felt today. It took a few years, but in the past twenty years, almost every college has had to cut a lot of men's sports to comply with Title IX. Yesterday, Arizona State University said they are cutting Men's swimming, men's tennis, and men's wrestling. The University of Oregon said they are cutting men's wrestling earlier this week. Why? Because sports like football cost so much money, schools would go broke if they had to pay the same amounts of money for men and women. At Iowa State, there are a lot of sports in which there are women's teams but not men's teams. Soccer, softball/baseball, tennis, swimming, volleyball, and gymnastics. At one time, Iowa State had all of those sports where men could play. In fact, Iowa State's men's swimming, and gymnastics teams had three national championships. After Title IX. They had to axe them all. At Arizona State, last year they added women's fencing and women's water polo. In the state of Arizona, there are almost 6000 official high school boys who wrestle. High school wrestling is huge in AZ. Guess how many official water polo and fencing team participants? Zero would be the correct answer. I am sorry my liberal friends, but I cannot stand for forced equality programs like Affirmative Action and Title IX.

2. In drinking news, Miller Brewing Co. is starting to see cash-strapped drinkers trading down to economy beers, the company's chief executive said. This is great news for Anay "Keystone Light" Amin, Josh "pour me another Old Milwaukee"... But don't mind me fellas, I will be enjoying the High Life.

Dude! Where's My Country?

http://www.variety.com/VR1117985577.html

Michael Moore is making a sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11… I don’t know what to think about that. I don’t know what to think about Michael Moore in general. In 2001 and 2002, few people shaped my life the way the Michael Moore did. In 2001, he had already shot the groundbreaking documentary Roger and Me and had just completed his second book, Stupid White Men. That book really opened my eyes to the business of politics, the corruption of politics, and the politics of politics. I was mesmerized and I bought copies for several of my friends. Many many discussions at Caribou Coffee’s and other assorted coffee shops dominated for about a year. My amazement in Mr. Moore was heightened even more when he released the documentary Bowling for Columbine and another book, Dude Where’s My Country? I saw him speak and was blown away by hit wit, intelligence, and passion… But then he began to change. No longer an effective speak for modern progressive thought, he regressed into a caricature, angry, liberal. Almost unable to hold intelligent conversations, he became a national embarrassment to anybody who claims to be liberal. In addition, he released his third movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 which was no longer intelligent and witty but more malevolent and cruel. He spoke less of Bush’s policies and focused more on making fun of him, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and Cheney. He took a turn for the immature. After that, I was basically done with Michael Moore. I did go see his newest documentary, Sicko, about the health care industry and to give him credit, I thought it was really moving and well done. I don’t know why it was not better received. On the other hand, he is such a caricature now, that he has very little respect from moderate Americans. Regardless, I will probably go see the sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11.
I am thinking of renting some movies this week.

On a recommendation from Emilia, I am planning on renting Once. But, what about the Denzel Washington movie, The Great Debaters? I love Denzel Washington but I have not heard much about this movie? Any thoughts?

The Lord made me hard to handle so loving me would be a long shot gamble.

Today was a good day. I got my rebate check notice from the Department of Treasury that my check was deposited into my account. I have received quite a bit of advice regarding how I should spend it. My favorite recommendation was by Cool Tieds who suggested I go to a club, and "make it rain" a la Pacman Jones. Duly noted Cool Tieds, duly noted. I got to thinking about if every working American getting this check in the mail will actually do anything. My guess is the economy will slightly improve but not greatly. There are so many factors that are weighing us down. Here are a few:

It really comes down to two things - the war and gas prices.

1. How has the war destroyed our economy? There are so many ways where do I even begin? Basically, the federal government is going broke because the war is so expensive. The state and local governments don't have as much money because the federal government isn't giving them enough money. Therefore the state has less money to give to colleges, museums, parks, et cetera so everything that relied partly on the government has to jack up their prices. State governments have to raise taxes to recoup their losses and so people have less money in their pockets and are spending less money. It's a bad cycle.

2. Every business is affected by gas prices. Every single one. The cost of shipping goods is so much higher then it was even a year ago. Therefore companies have less money to spend on their employees. That leads to lay-offs and unemployment. If people are unemployed, they are not paying taxes. If the government doesn't get enough tax revenue, they raise taxes which leaves the rest of us with less money in our pockets.

There are so many other factors, the debt, the Bush tax cuts, but it all comes back to taxes and oil.

3. I absolutely love the song Bell Bottom Blues by Eric Clapton. It is how Blues music should be. By a British white dude? Oh well, it's really awesome.

4. I am busy updating my resume. I forgot how much of a pain that is.

I'm not a vegetarian because I don't like eating animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.

It is official. Our economic stimulus checks from the government our set to arrive on Monday. Because this is basically “free” money, I have decided that nothing productive or worthwhile will be spent with this check. I have a few ideas. One, it is summer concert time. A few concerts that are coming to town are Coldplay or R.E.M. and Modest Mouse. I would be interested in going to both or one of the two if I could find someone to go with me. In addition, I am going to need to take a trip somewhere. My parents have invited me later this summer to go with them to Washington D.C. I think I will go. I really love D.C. and there are several new exhibits that I have wanted to check out. Also, I really like visiting college campuses. I don’t know why, I just always have. It would be fun to check out Georgetown or George Washington or American University. In addition, there are talks of checking out a Twins vs. Royals game in Kansas City and I doubt I will go another month or two without heading to Chicago.

1. I am excited. I am officially a columnist for USA Today. Before you start congratulating me… It will be a columnist for an inter-office newsletter. Despite there being a lot of journalists and editors that work for USA Today, we have never actually had a newsletter. I have been nominated to write a column once a month called “News of the weird”. The basic premise is there will be one state picked out each month that I will find weird and interesting facts and write about. My first state… Nebraska. I have already found all kinds of interesting things about the state and the university. Did you know that Kool-Aid was invented there? Did you know that they are the only unicameral legislature in the United States? That means they only have one legislative body and not two. Most states have a house and a senate, or a bicameral legislature. Did you know that the world’s richest man, Warren Buffett, lives in Omaha and his company, Berkshire Hathway, is headquartered there. I have about twenty written down so I could go on for a while.

2. I know I am in the minority but I absolutely love the NBA. I don’t care what anybody says, there is tremendous basketball being played right now. Chris Paul is the next superstar. The Celtics vs. Lebron James is electric. And can anyone stop Kobe Bryant? Is Dwight Howard going to be the best center of the past twenty-five years? Is he already? I am totally hooked by the NBA right now.

3. In other news, metrosexual Ryan Seacrest has signed on to do another job! He is already the hardest working man in show business. He is reportedly going to replace Larry King on CNN when King retires. The man is a force.

4. I want a doggie.

5. Is anybody doing anything fun for Mother’s Day?

6. I want to go mountain bike riding somewhere? It would be fun to get a bunch of people together and meet somewhere and go. For instance, Madison has a ton of cool places to go biking.

7. Can you notice I am bored at work? Ha! I hope everyone has a nice weekend and enjoys this beautiful weather. I know I will be. I already made my third Dairy Queen visit in the past 72 hours. I had some Dairy Queen cake yesterday. I love DQ ice cream cake, but I especially love the middle fudge section of their IC cake. Why can’t they make a cake that is just that?

The only way to beat temptation is to yield to it.

It has been a really shitty day at work so far. I am crabby because I just lost an account I have been working on since August. It’s really not about the lost commission. I am more frustrated at the amount of late hours, and nights, and early mornings that went into this account that are all for naught. Fortunately, there is much fruit to go after, just the low-hanging, easy to reach fruit has already been plucked. Now I have to get a big ladder, and see what I can do.

1. I did a little research yesterday into gas prices and what it is doing to my own bottom line. Yesterday at lunch, I filled the car up until it hit click. Today, I did the same thing. The total came out to $9.73!!!! That is for 24 hours of basic driving. I made a slight detour to get my hair cut so I will say I spend an average of $9.00 a day driving to and from work. If I include weekends, I am spending about $60.00 a week or about $250 a month on gas! That is an outrageous amount of money to be spent on just driving to and from work. These gas prices are killing the American economy. I might not be living check to check but I still feel it when I look at my credit card bills and I see I am spending that much money on gas. Plus, the $60.00 a month does not include things like trips to Ames, Chicago, or other destinations that I have been in the last couple of months. Roar!

2. A few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a group of friends about capitalism while enjoying some lunch at Staccato in Minneapolis. One of these friends, Anna, is studying to be a pastor at McCormick Seminary. McCormick is the University of Chicago’s theology school. I explained about my new interest in investing in stocks, and 401K’s, et cetera and we had a really fascinating discussion about capitalism and the modern American Christian. Here is where I figure I have no problem being a capitalist and be a Christian. I don’t want to make a lot of money so I can buy a big mansion in Edina, drive a new Lexus, and wear Armani suits. I want to have a lot of money so I don’t have to work in a “job” anymore. I am tired of dressing up to go to work, waking up too early, sitting in a cubicle, filling out Excel spreadsheets, and having a boss. And I like my job! I just don’t want to do any job. I want to retire at 30. However, to do that, I need to make some serious dough. (Yes, I realize I will not be retiring at 30.) I think that makes me okay. I don’t want to just sit on my ass either. I want to spend my days helping people, maybe do some political organizing, or whatever. I just am tired of working for the man.

3. It was hot out yesterday. Johnny had some Dairy Queen and sat near a lake and watched the water in Roseville. It is the simple things that make me happy.

Why is going to work just like Christmas? You do all the work and the fat man in the suit gets all the credit.

After being cranky after spending $84.00 at the Toyota Dealership yesterday, I just wanted to go home and relax for the evening. I turned on MSNBC and I saw that the headline story was about the cost of obesity. Oh great, as if I don't have enough reasons to be self conscious in this world, now the news is telling me how much being overweight is costing America. However, I was intrigued. After the special, I was shocked at what obesity costs America. Here are some of the numbers:

-If everyone were a healthy weight, Americans would save 5 billion dollars year on fuel costs.
-We would spend 10 billion less on clothes.

There are several other things they mentioned like estimated health care costs, lost productivity, et cetera and the bottom line was that as a country, we would save 487 billion dollars a year if all Americans were a healthy weight. I thought this was really interesting. Just think of the global warming that would be retarded if we saved 5 billion dollars worth on fuel. Amazing.

1. There are two more primaries today -- Indiana and North Carolina. I would guess like most people when I say I am ready for June 3rd to come around when the last primary happens and we can finally decide who the candidate will be. The HUGE question will be, if Hillary does well in the next few primaries, and looking at the schedule, states like Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, et cetera will all be good demographic states, then will we be forced to do a re-vote in Florida and Michigan. And if Hillary does well there, then should she legitimately be the Democratic candidate?

2. I want you read this really interesting story about this boy genius who is graduating college on Saturday at 18 years old. That's not all, he will graduate with twice the amount of necessary credits and he is triple majoring in biophysics, German, and Classical Studies and he will graduate Summa Cum Laude. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2008/may/gassman.shtml

3. In a little Will Ferrell news, it looks like they are going to make Anchorman 2. I really liked the original Anchorman so I am excited for this. Obviously if they just announced it, then it won't be until 2010 or 2011 until it comes out, but I'm ready.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I grilled outside yesterday. It feels so good to say that. After a terrible winter, this past weekend we had absolutely gorgeous weather in Minneapolis. It felt so good to eat outside and smell swordfish and burgers grilling nearby. I tried my best to enjoy the outside but I also had some fun indoors as well. On Friday, I had a bunch of people over and we watched the indie movie Death at a Funeral. I absolutely loved it and I give it an A. When was the last time I gave a movie an A? It was so funny. Normally, I don’t enjoy British humor (except for The Holy Grail) but this was also fantastic. Please go rent Death at a Funeral when you are in the mood for a fun comedy. I also borrowed the movie Lars and the Real Girl from The Rhythm of One. I don’t know about that movie. I will probably give it a C+/B-. It is not terrible and I would even recommend renting it. But, It was not a comedy, and it was quite odd. But not in the fun, quirky, kooky way… No, this was just strange. The last three movies I have seen have all been all indie movies. I guess it was time.

1. Conspiracy theory alert. To me, I have always felt that the NCAA is a corrupt organization. No, I am not one of those conspiracy theorists out there who feels that Bush planned 9/11 or Rove caused Katrina. But when I read the story that the NCAA is no longer allowing coaches to recruit high school players in the spring, it was just another sign of how corrupt the NCAA is. This rule will only help coaches from big time schools like Nebraska, Texas, USC, et cetera. Coaches at those schools don’t have to recruit that hard because they have five star recruits begging for a scholarship. I guess the coach pushing for this the most was Mack Brown, the head football coach at Texas. Here is what he said in an ESPN story, "We've done it the same way for 10 years," Brown said. "… If I go into a school [to recruit], being the head coach at the University of Texas, a lot of kids would want to talk to you and it could put you in a difficult spot because you can't talk to them. We decided it would be impossible to enforce because we couldn't do it properly.”

Basically, he’s being lazy. He doesn’t want to leave his office when he knows that the top players will just come to him. For a smaller program like Iowa State to ever get a top recruit, they would have to out recruit programs like UT. The NCAA put an end to that for one reason only. The NCAA cares about TV ratings and they want to keep the big programs doing well and the little programs doing poorly. There are a lot of good stories online about this as well. Here is one I quickly found: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/notebook?page=Big12notebook080429

2. Nimit sent me a really interesting piece from New York Times journalist, Thomas Friedman about how the future of America. The article is a quick, easy read. I normally find Friedman to be a bit pretentious but I really enjoyed this article. I feel it is an important read: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04friedman.html?_r=3&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

3. I have been praying a lot recently about the future and I really feel there will be some major changes in my life in the future. I was not given a timeline but I can just sense something. To have more doors open for me I will first have to shut some doors. That is the message I have been given and it is up to me to decipher what it means.

4. For those of you who like Family Guy and American Dad, the writer/producer of the show, Seth McFarland, has inked a huge deal to keep him with Fox through 2012. In addition to being in charge of the comedies Family Guy and American Dad, I am getting excited for the FG spin off, The Cleveland Show. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24458901/