Don't Call It a Comeback....

Hi Rascals,
I'd like to apologize for my absence.  Work has been busy.  I've been searching for another job however, which also takes time.  I just want to find a half way decent place to work that doesn't involve crazy hours or crazy kids.  In addition to that my insurance is trying to screw me over, so I've had to wait on the line quite a bit.  Last weekend I went to Madison for what was supposed to be the world's biggest block party.  Unfortunately the dean of students and police intimidated the students into not going out and celebrating.  It was sad.  Fortunately I managed to have fun in other ways with friends and the trip was both much needed and totally worth it. Also I started dating a woman who is really exceptional.  I feel like the energy I put out towards her gets returned.  We agree on a lot of things.  She interests me.  She's funny.  She's beautiful. Et cetera, et cetera.  So she takes up a lot of time.  Unfortunately, all of these excuses mean I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like.  So here I am checking in and letting you all know that your support means a lot to me.  I will begin recommenting on blogs I've missed and hopefully get back in the loop.  Smell ya later!
-Bill

Doncamatic

I've been listening to this song by The Gorillaz ft. Daley a ton lately.  It's off the Plastic Beach bonus cd.  Daley's voice is perfect.  The beat is bouncy, but driven.  The way the video fits into the imagery of Plastic Beach is awesome, while also expanding some of the concepts of the album.  I really wanna go buy a submarine now.  But I can't afford it.  I wish BF3 had submarines.  Sad face.

Under the ocean blue
the stars don't shine
The rudders chop and the missiles launch
The fish flee
Oblivious to the destruction
The eye of the bloody storm

Bulls vs. Heat

Dear Rascals,
I'm watching Da Bulls play the Heat.  I'm a Bulls fan.  The first half is over.  Things are not moving in the Bulls' favor, unfortunately.  Their bench killed it, but Rose is off point.  You gotta pass that shit clockwise ya heard me?  Anyway, I'm hoping Thibs gets Rose back on task and hopefully they can pull this one out.  Either way it's going to be a grinder towards the end.  The Bulls are going to need their 3 percent to stay high and Rose to get the team to rally around him for them to pull this one out.  What do you think?  Do you all hate the Heatles like me?
-Bill

Idle Threat by The Skabbs

Rascals,
This song is pretty cool.  I'm a fan of punk and this song is certainly that.
-Bill

The Power of Positive Thinking

Hola Rascals,
Lately I've found myself more self-aware of negative thoughts I'm having.  Whether it's a situation with money, health, family, or work, I seem to have a lot of negative "energy".  I really think it is beginning to erode my relationships with friends and mow down my love life (or lack thereof).  However, being aware of this, I am attempting to train myself to think more positively.  When I catch myself having a negative thought I force myself to process through why the negative thought was wrong and make a positive thought.  It's working so far.  I feel a lot happier and am not getting so down.  What're your experiences with this?  Have you overcame something similar?  Lemme know!
-Bill

A Relaxing Walk

Rascals,
Today my camera and I went on a little walk by the river near my house.  It was super relaxing and it gave me a great chance to think, relax, and enjoy nature.  I feel nowadays we've become too disconnected from nature and the animal part of us suffers because of it.  We're lacking something.  During my walk I imagined how fun it must've been to sleep outside, hunt for your food, and return to the state of nature.  Hobbes describes the state of nature in rather disparaging terms.  However I'd like to spend a day there once to see for myself.  As long as I could return to my modern comforts, I could handle a little nature and some part of me needs to indulge the animal that hasn't evolved out of me yet.  Here are some pics I took.
-Bill

Hinduism

Hola Rascals,
I've been doing some soul searching as of late and decided I should investigate adding some religion to my life.  I did a little research on Hinduism.  I thought it was very enlightening.  It certainly gave me a lot to think about in regards to my place here and the cycle of existence we all seem to be going through.  My thoughts seem a little clearer now, for whatever reason.  Here's where I went to start:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/hinduism-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

Yes, that is a Hinduism for dummies website.  Whatever.  I really like the free flowing nature of Hinduism and how well it fits with my observation of the universe.  It seems peaceful.  It gets my mind going on a lot of interesting tangents in the search for the one true knowledge.  My problem is also the free flowing nature of Hinduism.  I like how one needs to put in the work to acquire more knowledge.  It's not easily packed into one book like the bible; you have to look around.  However the internet, or at least the sites I've found are not helping me much in my search for more information on how one would get started in this religion.  Thus my dilemma and where you enter.  If you know a good way to get started getting involved in Hinduism, please post a comment below.  Help a brother out!  If you're looking for religion or find this topic interesting, please click the link above and investigate a little more.  I'm certainly going to keep looking!


-Bill

Here's a poem I wrote during professional development

Hiya Rascals,
Here's the poem:

The Walk to the Sun
It's a long road.
We're at mile 324
on the highway to the Sun.
There is no water to be found.
The end is far.
My steps slow.
The miles grow longer.

Respite comes in our companionship.
The road is long,
but our strength is strong.
We falter and stumble.
Our feet drag.
The heat beats down on us,
increasing intensely every step.
Mile 398


I hope you enjoyed this!
-Bill

New iPad3 information, just leaked!

Hey ya'll I just found some great information on the iPad3 below...

http://www.theonion.com/articles/this-article-generating-thousands-of-dollars-in-ad,27564/

Sweet huh!  Now where are my thousands of dollars?  Hmmm......

-Bill

PSN is down, fuuuuuuuuuu

Hello Rascals,
Playstation Network is down so I've had to waste my Sunday in a way I didn't prefer.  I cleaned up from a party yesterday, which is all well and good.  I putz around on COD:BO before the network went down.  I watched the Twilight Zone when the network did go down.  Then I played BF:3 single player.  Ugh.  I hope the single player for that game is short, because I have absolutely no interest in finishing it.  I flew more in BLOPS than I have so far in BF3, which was surprising.  I need the network back up!  Which brings me to my point.  I am losing faith in whoever is running PSN.  There was the credit card hack scandal and now this crappy scheduling. I understand it wasn't originally scheduled for this time, but they could've waited a few hours when more people weren't planning on playing.  I'm throwing out a big dislike to PSN today.  I hope you all found more fulfilling ways to spend your day, or, own an X-Box.

Cheers,

-Bill

Presidential Candidates

Rascals,
Sorry for the break.  I've been handling some shit.  Now for my views on the GOP presidential candidates.  Truth be told, I will not vote for any of these guys.  I consider myself a liberal moderate.  This group as a whole seems to have started at the far right and pushed themselves into right wing radical territory.  I think this is because the presumed, current, not-for-long front runner, Mitt Romney, was viewed as a moderate.  Everyone knows Moderates usually don't win primaries.  So Romney's opponents went as far right as they could.  This forced Romney to follow them once he started losing steam.  And now the GOP is in the position they are in, a weak field of candidates ruining their chances to get elected by distancing themselves from moderates, because the GOP's base is essentially a gang of religious zealots who feel threatened by other people's freedom.

Mitt Romney

This guy is the quintessential Republican candidate.  He ran a company, Bane Capital, that would buy businesses and tear them apart or combine them to try and form a super company.  There was a scandal that cost him the chance to win his Senate race against Ted Kennedy.  You see what had happened was his company bought a paper company.  They fired everyone and offered them the chance to rehire with a caveat.  They would have to take a 25% pay cut and work longer hours on top of changing the culture of the work place.  One worker said, "It was like working in another country." on his return.  That's the American way, right Rascals?  This guy won't get my vote, because all of the things he did as governor of Massachusetts I liked (public health for example) he has backed away from in his attempt to scurry to the far right.

Rick Santorum

I'm utterly convinced this douche nozzle is the Osama bin Laden of the American right.  He is a religious extremist (He thinks Christianity needs to be "defended" by the government), a notorious homophobe (google santorum), and a lying tool (imho).

Newt Gingrich

This dude is cray as shit son.  He opposes gay marriage, because it will destroy the "sanctity" of marriage.  Yet this grinning jack ass has been married 3 times.  His first wife was his geometry teacher 7 years his senior.  He got divorced and remarried his mistress.  Allegedly he divorced this 2nd floozy, because he wanted to bone other people and she wasn't cool with it.  He divorced this 2nd broad and married his third wife, whom he was cheating on his 2nd wife with.  See a pattern?  Oh, this last divorce happened while he was investigating Clinton for lying....about cheating on his wife.  What a piece of shit.  The fact that this dude ever had a chance speaks to the quality of shit running for the GOP nomination.

Well there you have it.  I'm not even going into Ron Paul because of time and that dude is cray.  So which piece of shit do you think is going to win the nomination?

Superbowl Thoughts

Dearest Rascals,
So the Patriots lost the Superbowl; consequently my prediction failed.  I got the margin of victory right, but for the wrong team.  I did tell some friends I went out with the day before that no matter who I picked, I was going to pick wrong, so I have a little vindication in that respect.  Congrats to the Giants and their fans.  The game capped an interesting season.  As a Bears fan I had some highs and way too many lows.  All things considered, I'm happy the owners and players could agree to a new deal and play football.  Next up, the draft!  I had a dream that the Bears picked a big receiver with the 19th pick.  Weird, cause they don't have the 19th pick.  Enjoy the offseason friends.

-Bill

Hilarious NSFW Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvgYAwDORo4

Watch this video, you may laugh.  You will need a Youtube account because the video is age restricted.  Enjoy the quick laugh!

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Hi Rascals,
I just watched Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar movie via Amazon's On Demand.  They decided to release it online, On Demand first and then theatrically release it.  I must say, it met my expectations.  No spoilers ahead.

If you've seen Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!  you know that plot is secondary to stylized content and an absurdity that leaves you either gagging or bent over laughing.  This movie has a plot that is able to sustain it for the full 90 minutes.  I was thankful they pretty much stuck to one plot line with only a few "commercials" throughout.  The movie certainly had its disgusting parts, but they were hilarious too and timed well with the emotional plot swings.  I've got the movie rented for two days and will probably watch it again tonight or tomorrow.  I highly recommend it if you are a Tim and Eric/absurdity fan.  Hail Shrim.  Great Job!

-Bill

It has been a long time since I put up a poem

Hello Rascals,
I should feel like I had an excellent day.  I accomplished a bunch of household chores after work, I hung out with a buddy, the Bulls won.  Yet I just don't feel happy about the day.  I don't know why, maybe I'm depressed or something.  Hopefully tomorrow brings rainbows and sunshine or whatever will pep me up.  Cause it's not happening tonight.  So here's a poem I wrote to celebrate (acknowledge?) my funk.

They say reach for lofty peaks.
But what if you don't make it?
What if your ship leaks?
When is it alright to quit?
Who knows what turns
a smile to a frown.
Sometimes the ladder
is used to go down.
Strong men cry,
but so do the weak.
Geniuses and fools both ask why
as life slowly drags on like a cowardly creek.

-Bill

Superbowl Prediction

Hey y'all,
I was right on with my prediction!  I've been on fire and doing pretty well if I do say so myself.  That being said, the Patriots win the Superbowl.  It's going to be a shootout.  I can definitely see the Giants winning.  It will be a close game.  I'm taking the Pats by 4.  Brady invented Tebow time and he's about to redeem himself.  Enjoy making some money off of my great prediction skills.

-Bill

Playoffs Part 2

Evening folks,
Time to revisit the NFL playoffs.  My Superbowl prediction is Patriots vs. Giants.  I'll take Brady over Flacco.  I'm not going to bet against the Giants either.  They're on a roll.  As a Bears fans I was so happy to see the Packers lose, especially the way they did.  It was my personal Superbowl.  Anyway, what do those of you that care think?

-Bill

Jersey Shore

I started off really liking Jersey Shore.  I suspended disbelief, and imagined people really could be this stupid, know it, and not be ashamed.  I've watched every episode.  That's not something I'm proud to say.  Some friends of mine turned it into a weekly group activity; this justified watching the show somehow.  However now I'm really starting to feel duped.  Every episode this show starts to feel more and more scripted.  I'll see what happens this season and then be done.  Also, since no one has voted in the current poll, I am going to change it and see what you all think or if you even care.  See you on the flip side.

-Bill

Playoffs?!

Friends,
The first game of the NFL playoffs was kind of a surprise to me.  It was between the Bengals and Texans.  The Texans were starting their 3rd string QB.  They lost the 1st two to season ending injuries.  Most teams tank when they lose their starting QB, much less the backup too (See: Chicago).  However the Texans have battled through injuries  this year and showed a lot of resolve in beating the Bengals.  The Bengals were a surprise team to make the playoffs judging from what people thought at the beginning of the year.  The game was a tale of a team in the process of rebuilding and a team flying wounded.  The Texans got the upper hand in this one, 31-10.


The other game was between the Saints and the Lions.  The Saints easily beat the Lions if you only look at the final score.  Truth be told, the Lions won the 1st half and the Saints dominated the 2nd.  This one came down to the Saints capitalizing on the Lions mistakes; and the Lions' failure to do so when they had the opportunity.  This one showed the Lions room for growth.  I'm not sure why people give Stafford so much credit.  Dude is throwing to Megatron and has a 1st round pick in TE Brandon Pettigrew.  He has the weapons and should be more successful if he is the elite QB the analysts are saying he is.  


My picks for today's games are Denver by 3 over Pittsburgh and the Giants by 7 over Atlanta.  Enjoy the games ya'll.

Some pictures I took

Here are some pictures I took around a local theme park.  It was kinda cold when I took them, but normally it is way colder and we have a lot more snow.  I was lucky to be able to walk around there this time of year without being knee deep in snow.  I hope you enjoy!

-Bill

Dancing

I might need to learn how to dance pretty soon.  Any tips?

This is the only dance video I could find :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYKupOsaJmk

-Bill

Foster the People

I'm not quite sure how I managed to overlook Foster the People.  "Pumped Up Kicks" came out and I listened to it a million times.  (The lyrics are about a little remembered mall shooting in Nebraska, check it out.)  I never really followed up on the band for some reason.  Then I got bored with my music and decided to give them a listen again and investigate.  Consequently I was blown away.  Their beat is pop/disco, their lyrics are indie and their videos are awesome.  So often you see a band make a good song and not put anything behind the video (see: "Pumped Up Kicks").  Fortunately they corrected their error (most likely because of the success of "Kicks") and made "Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)" and "Helena Beat" (below).  I'm thinking about buying this compact disc on pay day and jamming out until their next one.  "Helena Beat" definitely reminds me of Fallout, especially if the invincible children decided to start taking revenge like the ones from Fallout 3.    Anyway, don't take my word for it, check it out!  (Don't listen to it with amped up expectations though, tends to ruin things.  Remember I'm just some dude sitting behind a computer.  I may or may not have pants on.)

Enjoy,

http://youtu.be/ABzh6hTYpb8

-Bill

Good News!

The changes are happening quick dudes/dudettes.  I'm set to move into my new place in less than 2 weeks.  It's pimped out and ballin' outrageous so I will be busy with that along with work.  I quit drinking 2 days before New Year's.  It's been easier than I thought so far.  I still want to drink, but realize a) it's not worth it b) it'll only make me fat and c) it's better to call it even and get away with all of the dumb stuff I did drunk than keep on doing dumb stuff and have something really bad happen.  Speaking of which, I was the designated driver for New Years.  My buddy got wasted and I had to pull over so he could toss his cookies.  It was hilarious.  Even his fiance and work buddy were laughing.  Reason enough to quit the sauce right there.

On top of all that I met some broad who was banging hot too.  I haven't showed her how much dong I hang, she doesn't seem like that kind of girl (unfortunately).  I like her a lot bla bla bla.  We'll see how this plays out.  I'm having a hard time reading her, which means she lacks the desperation that usually gets me into relationships.   : P

Anyways, how were all of your New Years?  Anyone slay a broad?  I saw some decent fights, anyone catch one on video?
My Best,
-Bill