Apartment hunting--ad nauseum

I am currently searching for a new place to live. My girlfriend and I have decided to do the whole living together thing. After much discussion and debate, we are looking to live in Cedar Rapids. Iowa City is just too expensive, espeically with the drive back and forth to CR for work everyday. I will also be organizing prom next year at school, so it will be an advantage to live close to all of that. I will miss Iowa City, but we promise to come visit and have dinner there at least once a week--especially since there are no good restaurants in CR.
So we found the perfect place yesterday. A house split into two, two bedroom apartments. Ours would be upstairs and it is HUGE!! There is a little patio area, a washer and dryer (almost new), walk-in closets (you know how great that is for me!!), central air, and amazing woodwork. The only drawback is that there is no dishwasher. I don't do dishes. I warned the g/f of this. She still agreed to this place. We'll see what happens there. We even talked the landlord (who lives in the downstairs apartment) down from $675 a month to $600. Score!
Now I just have to get out of my current living situation in IC. The roommate who owns the house is currently studying in China. I have been sharing the house with two other guys, after thinking that there would be 5 of us splitting utilities, it got a little pricey. We are also trying to rent the place out for the summer and next school year, so I have been showing the house to all comers. It appears that half the population of Hawkeye Court is now moving in with me. I have two new roommates from China and in August the place will be totally filled with Chinese students. The guy who just moved in spent an hour yesterday at 4 AM going up and down the stairs and in and out the front door. It woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. I was not happy. I am now trying to deal and negotiate my quick exit from this place. Hopefully my role as realtor will get me a deep discount on July's rent.
And as if that wasn't enough housing issues, I am also trying to find a place to live in Madrid this summer. I have it narrowed down to two places and will probably pick one today or tomorrow. Not bad, only 450 euros a month and really close to my school. It turns out that this was probably the easiest process of them all. No endless parade of viewing apartmens all over Cedar Rapids and no crazy Chinese people to deal with. I can't wait to get to Madrid. Three weeks left!

Prom and more Prom

Two weekends ago, I got to chaperone prom. At the school I work at, the seniors are the only ones who go to prom. Since I am the faculty advisor for the junior class, it was really a fact-finding mission to see how the whole thing operates for next year. Not a bad night, I went to dinner with the 4 kids who will be in charge of prom next year with me and then was up until 4am.
Last weekend, the junior class did our last big fundraiser of the year to boost the size of the prom budget. It was an outdoor games, food and music party we called "Cougapalooza". The Battle of Bands was fun and we even had a celebrity judge, Scott Schulte from Z102.9. I think we ended up making about 2000 dollars, which should help out for prom next year.
Finally, I got to spend some time with adults on Saturday. I drove in to Chicago where one of my girlfriend's friends got married on Friday night. I met all of her friends from college and then we spent Saturday afternoon/night in the city. Had tapas at Café Ibérico, which was awesome, and just strolled around downtown for awhile.
Sunday morning we met one of my friends that I worked with at my last job for breakfast. Her little one-year old boy is the cutest! The drive home was too long as usual, but we stopped in Davenport to see The DaVinci Code, which I thought was lacking in many areas. Finally got home and crashed. This week is graduation, which all faculty are required to attend in full cap and gown, and then Memorial Day weekend. I am hoping for some grilling, but we'll see what happens. I can't wait for summer to get here. I am ready to be done with these kids!!

I laughed, I cried...but mostly cried

So last weekend Kennedy was the first high school in Iowa and one of the first in the whole country to stage Broadway's longest running musical, Cats. I had never seen this show before, but was familiar with some of the music and liked what I had heard. When I was in high school, I had tickets to see Cats in Des Moines but ended up not being able to go. My mom went instead and she hated it.
So I saw it for the first time on Saturday at Kennedy. The production was very well-done, the costumes and make-up were good and it was very impressive for a high school production. The kids did a great job and the performances were excellent. My problem is that I just don't like the show. There is no real story line, it's impossible to relate to any of the characters and there is no way to get emotionally invested in what was going on. There are some good songs that stay with you after the show, but no memorable characters and the ending was just ridiculous. Again, I haven't seen a professional production, but do they really suck up the cat to the "heavyside layer" in a spaceship? Are you kidding me with this?
Anyway, I laughed , I cried it, it was better than Cats, I want to see it again and again. It wouldn't take much for that to be true.

I'm an uncle! (and I still have a place to live)

My little nephew was born on Wednesday, April 12. I got to see him and hold him on Saturday when I went home for Easter. Of course, as I was feeding him, he threw up on me. I hope that isn't a sign.
My home is still standing after Thursday's tornados that tore their way through Iowa City. There was a twister that took out a big chunk of the Honda dealersip down the street from me. The same tornado took the roof off of Menards and Wal-Mart near my place too. I drove downtown Friday afternoon, or as close as I could get, since most streets were closed to clean up the debris that was strewn all over the place. It took me almost 30 minutes to get from my house on Mormon Trek to my buddy's apartment on Johnson Street. Traffic was crazy and Burlington Street was closed, making it tough to get anywhere downtown. Iowa Avenue looked like a war zone. Houses were missing roofs, front porchs were caved in, it was the worst thing I have ever seen. I had planned on attending Good Friday services at Saint Patrick's in Iowa City, which was totally destroyed.
I missed out on the worst of the storm, since I had to stay at work in Cedar Rapids until 6:30 Thursday night. I had planned on going to mass that night in Iowa City at St. Mary's, but ended up going to mass in CR. I was on my way home when my girlfriend, who was driving behind me in her car, called me and told me to pull over because of the tornado warning. We ended up waiting out the storm at the rest area on I-380. As we were sitting there, four lesbians walked in, all carrying a can of beer they brought with them from their car. Then the truckers, complete with homemade tattoos, began to come in. It was turning into a bad episode of Seinfeld. Finally, the weather cleared enough for us to make it to Iowa City. As I turned toward my house, I saw traffic lights down and the roof of the Honda dealership was sitting on the cars in the lot. I was relieved to see my house all in one piece just a few blocks further down the road. The Press-Citizen website has some good pictures of the craziness that you can check out. http://www.press-citizen.com

Randoms

Time for another update to this--I really need to find time to do this more often!

1. Tom Brands is the new wrestling coach at Iowa. I have been waiting for Zalesky to get the boot for a couple of years now, and it has finally happened. I have met Brands on a few occasions through working at the Iowa wrestling camp. He is so intense that if you can manage to look him in the eye, you would swear that he is insane. There is something just not quite right in there. The news has been showing highlights of Gable slapping him in the face before a match--I love those highlights and I think that is the attitude and swagger that has been missing from Iowa wrestling. In short, I think a good analogy to make here is Jim Zalesky:Iowa wrestling :: Kevin Kastens:Hawkeye Marching Band.
They are still decent programs, but just not as good as they used to be and lacking the pride and attitude of the past.

2. Made a big, life-changing purchase yesterday. Can't post details now, but stay tuned.

3. I should be an uncle any day now. I'll spare you the reasons why I fear for my nephew. But suffice to say, another Nascar fan is about to enter the world. Ugh. (in other words, my sister is white trash)

4. Lots of drama at work this week. If I get time this weekend, I'll post the newest reasons why I need to find a new direction for my career.

Spontaneous Roadtrip

OK, so now that Jenniffer has yelled at me, I will update this.

Picture it--Perkins in Coralville on Wednesday March 8. I'm meeting a couple of my friends for dinner. They had run into another friend from Sports Camps and she came along. Turns out this friend had won free tickets to the entire Big Ten Tournament, a hotel room in downtown Indy for the weekend and other prizes in a big package from the Hawks Nest (other prizes which included free season tickets for next year and a 100 dollar Hawk Shop gift certificate...lucky bitch)
Anyway, my friend Jackie, whom I was meeting originally did not have to work on Friday, so she convinced me to come down with a terrible flu and drive with her to Indy for the quarterfinal game against Minnesooota, since we could stay with our friend in her free hotel room.
Friday comes and we head out for Indy. We arrive downtown, have no problems parking right next to the hotel and start walking to Conseco Fieldhouse. Our plans included buying tickets on the street (scalping is legal in Indiana) and look for cheap tickets from teams who had already been eliminated. Our back-up plan was to just buy tickets from the box office for $45 each. Our thinking in this is that on a Friday night game with a 5:30 tipoff there would be few fans from either Iowa or Minnesota and tickets would be cheap.
So we see an old guy with a big white beard selling tickets on a corner and decide to ask him how much he was selling tickets for. Santa replied, "$150--it's a hot ticket". We think, "crazy old Santa-looking homeless man", and move on. As we walk, Jackie observes that there are a helluva lot of Illinois fans wandering about and we see a crowd of them around another guy selling tickets. This guy wants 130 bucks each. We finally figure out (we're geniuses, I know) that Illinois is playing the game after us, against Michigan St, and it's the same ticket as our game. We freak out and decide to get to the Fieldhouse and buy from the box office before we are stuck with either paying an insane amount or not going to the game after driving all the way there. As we get to the Fieldhouse, I ask a guy in an Iowa shirt what he is selling tix for. He says $65 and I think "Plan B". Box office=sold out and we are freaking. We decide to go for the $65 tickets (in section two-hundred-something in the upper balcony), talk the guy down to 60 bucks and meet up with the lucky ass friend and head into the game.
Lucky ass goes into the game with her free tickets in section one-hundred-something and we are rigth behind her when the scanner makes a funny noise when the dude scans our tickets. Funny noises are not good when you just bought your ticket from a guy on the street. The usher informs us that our tickets are for TOMORROW night's game. The only way you could describe the look on our faces was "sheer terror". We just got jobbed out of $65 a piece. We look at our friend who has already gone into the gate and she looks back, says "Sorry, call me" and walks into the arena. Bitch--if only we didn't have to rely on her for a place to crash.
We immediately start planning on how to find the guy, involve the police if we need to, etc, etc. Luckily, our dude is right where we left him, still whelling and dealing tickets. I approach him very calmly and say "Hey bud--I think you gave us the wrong tickets, we need tickets for tonight, not tomorrow night." He was very cool about it, apologized profusely and said he would give us tickets for tonight.
So he digs through his stack of tix and can't find anything (I am trying not to panic too much at this time), then turns to his co-scalper who gives him two tickets and says "That's all I got". Our dude hands us the tix and says "Sorry about that, have these for the same price, even though they are much better tickets. " We look at the date (something I will always do when buying tickets for the rest of my life now) and after ensuring that they were for the correct day, went back to Conseco Fieldhouse. As we go in the doors, Jackie sees someone she knows and stops to talk, while I take a closer look at the tickets. It was then that I realize our seats are in the lower section in row 16. Holy shit! Talk about a bargain (screw you and your $150 tickets, Santa!). So we enter the gates with no funny noises this time and find our seats. It was fairly early and the arena wasn't very full, so we decide to find our friend who had abandoned us earlier. We saw her--across the court and an entire section above us! We immediately did just as she told us when ditching us with our bogus tickets--we called her ass. We waved like idiots across the arena at her and the it dawned on her-- "You have better seats than I do".
The game was good--except for the random Ohio State fan who kept telling us to sit down. Excuse me--your team isn't even playing so shut the hell up. The next day we could find ourselves on TV easily in the highlights because we were standing up, wearing yellow and everybody around us was wearing orange. Which reminds me--it was really fun cheering for Michigan State in the second game as they upset the Illini. Serves the bastards right for driving up ticket prices and screwing up our plans. Lucky friend said it was funny to watch us stand up and do the Vader arm motions, since we were the only ones on that entire side of Conseco Fieldhouse cheering for the Hawks!
We crashed at the free hotel (on the floor, of course) then the next day drove to Chicago. Jackie had to catch her flight to Madrid, since she was going there for a few days to finalize her wedding plans for this summer. We checked her in at O'Hare, then went to a sports bar near the airport to watch the semifinal against MSU. We were pretty loud in our cheering and I am sure the other 10 people in the bar thought we were crazy. After the game, we got Jackie on her flight safe and sound and I drove back to Iowa and watched us take care of the Buckeyes the next day.
So the Big Ten Tournament was interesting this year. 3 games in 3 different states in 3 days. GO HAWKS!

are you happy now Jenniffer?

The Big Ten Tournament

This should be one of the most interesting editions of the conference tournament yet. Michigan State is playing on Thursday for the first time ever, The top five teams finished so close to each other in the regular season and there were few sweeps of opposing teams during the season. Ohio State looks to top off its outright championship with a tournament victory too, which would duplicate their women's team's tourney crown from Monday night. That would make the Buckeyes only the second school to sweep both basketball tournaments in the same year, with Iowa pulling it off in 2001.
Jeff( http://jeffrey.theutechs.com/blog) posted some of his counterpoints to my earlier post about Alford and this year's team. I used to think that Alford would improve and be a very good coach someday, and maybe I do still believe that to some degree. My point is that in games like this year's loss in Evanston, he still gets outcoached on a fairly consisitent basis. There is some improvement there, and Jeff is very right about that. However, the fact remains that he has yet to really develop a player to his fullest potential and his teams suffer from a lack of motivation at times. If the improvement of Alford's coaching is on the way, next year would be a good time to show it. With a very young team that will lack the leadership and intensity of Horner and Brunner and the inside defensive presence of Hansen, Alford will need to do his best coaching job yet in order to avoid yet another sub .500 season in Big Ten play.

As if I needed another reason

So, I hate Northwestern. See earlier post about the Hawks' debacle in Evanston earlier this year. But after last night, when they had a chance at redemption, a chance to knock-off Big Ten leaders Ohio State, they blew it. With just seconds left to go, they had the game in their hands and screwed us over. If they were playing us in that game, there's no way they screw it up. But no, they had one more chance to kick us while we're down and they took it by lousing up the last possessions of the game.
It is easy to blame the 'Cats for their evil ways toward the Hawks. However, the fact remains that if we pull out the game in Evanston, which was easily within our grasp, we would be still be sitting in first place. We had another chance in Minneapolis to keep our grips on the top spot, but in that game, Alford gets outcoached and the Hawks get out-hustled and out-rebounded in a loss that sent us to Champaign needing a win in probably the second-toughest arena in the conference (Breslin Center). So, when it comes down to it, although there is still a theoretical shot at claiming a share of the title, I am not putting any hopes in the Purdue upset of OSU.Not on senior day in Columbus and not with this pansy version of the Boilermakers. Although, the scene is set for a poetic justice-type of ending. Remember last year when league leading #1 Illinois went into Columbus for the season finale? A bottom-feeding Buckeye team with a first-year coach upset the Illini on a last second three-pointer. How sweet would it be for first-year head coach Matt Painter to take Purdue into Columbus and upset the Buckeyes' chances of an outright conference championship? Keep dreamin' Hawk fans (and Illini fans).
Can Alford coach a favorite in the Big Ten Tournament, or does he save the real stuff for the underdog teams that have to play in Thursday's first round? A tournament title could give us as high as a 3 seed in the NCAA's (which is where ESPN had predicted us before the two game losing streak on the road).
Which brings me to the final thought on the Big Ten season this year. Alford has enjoyed his best year as head coach due to the effort of Horner, Brunner, Haluska, and a much improved Hansen. Their gutsy play has lifted the team to a level that Alford has never seen as Iowa's coach. Many may be tempted to say, "Let's see if Alford can keep up the improvement", but without the leadership of this year, I only see a return to the typical Alford underachievers. Here's to you, Indiana--please take our coach. We need a fresh start

Here it is...

as promised, my look at this year's Oscar race.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Will win: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Should win: Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Will win: George Clooney (Syriana)
Should win: George Clooney (Syriana)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Will win: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
Should win: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Will win: Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
Should win: Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

DIRECTOR
Will win: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
Should win: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)

MUSICAL SCORE
Will win: John Williams (Munich--also nominated for Memoirs of a Geisha)
Should win: John Williams (Munich)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will win: Brokeback Mountain
Should win: Brokeback Mountain

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will win: Crash
Should win: Good Night and Good Luck

PICTURE
Will win: Brokeback Mountain
Should win: Brokeback Mountain

I'm predicting a big night for the gay cowboys. Although I am warming up to Munich, after reading some different perspectives on it and seeing it from a different angle. I think it is Spielberg's best effort since Schindler's List. The final image and the thematic parallels to today's world situation are just haunting. I just think the movie was misunderstood by many (myself included) and the reaction to it has been polarized.
I also have cooled down on my feelings toward Crash. It is just too obvious and preachy, although it would not be surprising to see Oscar lean that way, especially if the Academy wants to support a social issue film without touching off a potential controversy by picking Brokeback Mountain.
I loved Good Night and Good Luck, but I just can't see it winning much, and in almost every category there is another nominee that I think was just a little better. George gets his catch-all reward with the supporting actor nod.
I'm looking forward to the show on Sunday, especially with Jon Stewart. Keep a notepad handy to tally all the Dick Cheney jokes.
But for now, it's a nice fish dinner (yeah, Ash Wednesday) and then off to Carver for the Iowa vs. Penn State basketball game. Penn State, you're really mean, nobody likes you, you suck.
GO HAWKS!!

Olympic observations

First of all, the American snowboarding chick is a dumbass. As if we aren't seen as showboating, arrogant assholes by the rest of the world already. Nice job....JACKASS!!

Second. I'm watching the men's speed skating (not the short track with the cheating Koreans, just the normal, Dan Jansen stuff). Did anyone else notice that it looked like a bunch of those guys had camel toe? What is up with that?
Also, the black dude who won the 1000M (Shani Davis) was a total dick in the interview on NBC after he won. There are all kinds of accusations about how he is not a team player, hates the other guys, dropped out of the team event to pursue his individual events, etc., and then he goes and grunts his way through the interview right after he won the gold medal, ignoring the poor woman who was trying to get more than one word answers out of him. Nice way to improve your PR. Jackass.
They did a human interest story on him before the event saying how he grew up in the rough, gang-infested streets of Chicago and how his life has been so hard and so on. This sob story goes on for another few minutes, then they say that he lives and trains in...Evanston. Now, I think Evanston is a hellhole and should be burned to the ground for many reasons. But rough and gang-fested it is not. Not by a long shot.
To the credit of NBC and to keep me from being blasted by comments correcting me, I do realize that later in the story, NBC said how he had moved to Evanston from the south side of Chicago. But that was tacked on much later in the story, after I spent 5 minutes in the living room laughing about Evanston's gang problems and its rough and tumble streets.
"Yeah, last time I was in Evanston I was eating lunch at this nice little corner café when some private college bastards flashing purple gang colors came up and cut me, then took off in their daddy's Jag and did a drive-by at the 3 story mansion down the street."

Last one--Ice Dancing. It's like someone looked at the sport of figure skating and decided that it wasn't gay enough, so they came up with this crap.

Wow--cynical comments for the Olympics on a Monday morning. Maybe I need some coffee--or a four-day weekend. Stupid public school that has classes on a federal holiday. But all kidding aside, I am watching a ton of Olympics and enjoying most of it. Hockey is getting interesting, the Michelle Kwan saga will rear its ugly head again this week, bobsled is getting started and speed skating is always fun to watch.
And if all that fails--there's always curling, right?

Two weeks to go...

And I have seen all the Best Picture nominees! I rounded out the group by seeing Capote on Friday night. I enjoyed the movie, although I thought the narrative didn't have much of an arc to it. It seemed to sit in the same place for awhile. Philipp Seymour Hoffman was outstanding as expected. His characterization of the author was excellent, but I just thought that, like the story, once he had established that great character he didn't change it. I didn't see much range within the character and he didn't seem to evolve or change through the course of the film.
My full Oscar picks will be fodder for a later post as the big night gets closer, but for now, if I had a vote for Best Picture, I would rank them like this:

5: Capote

4: Munich

3: Good Night and Good Luck

2: Crash

Winner: Brokeback Mountain


It is really close for me between the top two, I love Crash, but also think it gets a little obvious and preachy (same racist cop who humiliates upper-class black woman is the one who pulls her from burning car? please). I love the message, but just feel it needs to leave a little more for us to think about, instead of beating us over the head with it. Brokeback Mountain has those moments where you just don't know what exactly happened to Jack, or why the characters do what they do. Those moments that make the audience think and wonder and discuss--that's great filmmaking. (It's also why the Spanish movie Abre los ojos is a million times better than the Cameron Crowe English re-make Vanilla Sky) But I disgress.
I also want to put a big shout out to Good Night and Good Luck. No movie has more relevance to today's society than this one set in the 1950's. The words of Edward R. Murrow from the opening and closing scenes are downright haunting. They could easily be spoken by anyone today. The prevalence of the media and their role in culture and politics is frightening. The ease with which politicians can manipulate the public through the media was foreseen by broadcasting legend Murrow and the film shows his beliefs and how he fought against those politicians and that trend in our culture. Too bad we don't have any Edward R. Murrow's today. The power of television has been usurped and programming has been transformed into a voyeuristic, narcissistic wasteland instead of the great tool with the power to inform, educate and strengthen a democracy--as Murrow saw it. Anyway, the film lacks the scope, cinematography, supporting cast and emotional pull to bring home the statue for Best Picture, but if it doesn't win a screenplay award it would be a major injustice.

Happy Oscar Season!

The day after my birthday

Also known as Valentine's Day. First off, Happy Anniversary to my parents, who today celebrate 30 years of being married. I was glad to find out at their 25th that they did not get married because it was Valentine's Day. They actually wanted to get married on February 11th, which was my grandparents' anniversary, but since the closest Saturday happened to be the 14th, it just worked out that way. Then on the day before their 2nd anniversary, I came along.

I am taking my girlfriend out to dinner tonight, but rest assured that I have no intentions of buying any chocolates or flowers until after the price-gouging extravaganza that this holiday was meant to create has ended. This way the holiday is not ignored (keeping her happy), but yet is not the shallow, consumerist oriented crap that everyone sees it as. She does agree with me in that Valentine's Day is a load of commercialist crap, but I was also warned to not overlook it completely :)

Finally, tonight I enjoy the last of my birthday presents. My g/f bought us tickets to the Iowa basketball game tonight and after dinner, we'll head off to Carver to see what happens against the Spartans. GO HAWKS!!

¡Feliz cumpleaños a mí!

Hey hey hey...it's my birthday!! I'm off to Atlas for dinner.

Got to talk on Messenger today with my buddy Sergio in Madrid. Today is his birthday too. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, chaval!

Doogiepalooza 2006

Holy crap! Two days in a row with new posts!!

This weekend marks the kick-off to Doogiepalooza (or what I like to call Doogie Gras) 2006, otherwise known as my birthday celebrations. Things roll out tomorrow night with pizza at Pagliai's and then a trek through the finer drinking establishments of downtown Iowa City. Mickey's, Dublin, pretty much the same itinerary as beer band without the free drinks and the obnoxious jackasses yelling at you to play them a song.

My actual birthday is Monday the 13th, which includes a dinner with friends at Atlas in Iowa City.

The festivities come to a close on Tuesday night after Valentine's Day dinner with my girlfriend at Iowa River Power Co. as we enjoy her birthday present to me, tickets to the Iowa vs. Michigan State basketball game at CHA. Go Hawks! (or at least don't get blowout at home)

If you were left off the guest list (inadvertantly, i assure you), shoot me an email and I'll fill you in on details.

Along with the excitement of turning 28 (yippee), the Winter Olympics start tonight. So my life will be officially sucked away by the television coverage of the games.

What was that sound?

I think it was the other shoe dropping.
I was resisting writing anything about the Iowa men's basketball team because I didn't want to jump the gun or jinx them, since this is the first time since 1982 that they are in first place in the Big Ten in February. And then what happens? Of course, we go to Northwestern.
I HATE EVANSTON!! Nothing good ever comes from Hawkeye trips to that shithole. And now, as if the football team's collapse there in November wasn't enough, the basketball team has lost there for 3 consecutive times and, I think, 4 of the last 5 (or is it 5 of the last 6?--it doesn't matter, it's Northwestern and that's too many losses).
So now we no longer are in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. The good news is that we are still in a tie for first. The bad news is we go to Assembly Hall in Bloomington on Saturday. If they can't handle the crappy high school gym that is Welsh-Ryan Arena, how the hell do they expect to compete in Assembly Hall? And it only gets worse from there, with the Spartans coming to Carver on Valentine's Day. I am going to that game (as a birthday present from my girlfriend!) and I hope it isn't a 30 point blowout like the debacle in the Breslin Center. We'll be lucky to still have a shot at first place when next weekend rolls around.

On a side note, I am planning on updating this on a much more regular basis. I noticed that it's been awhile since I've written anything. I'll increase the blog fiber intake, maybe give it some bran or something, to make things more regular.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It's OSCAR TIME!!

Nominations came out today. I am in the process of making plans to see the three films nominated for Best Picture that I have yet to see (Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich). I am pleased to see Crash get the nod for Best Picture. It's a great film that boasts an original storyline that interweaves many themes and characters, portrayed by an outstanding ensemble cast featuring nominated Matt Dillon and Terence Howard (for Hustle and Flow, but he was great in this role as well). Brokeback Mountain led the nominations with eight, including the nod for Best Picture. I loved this film, because it transcends stereotypes and really is a moving love story, not just a "gay cowboy" movie as it was first described by many. However, I think its buzz is peaking too early and it may not have the legs to carry it through this month-long campaign until the votes are finished.
I'm reserving my picks for another post, but to me the race for Best Actor boils down to Heath Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I thought Ledger took Brokeback Mountain to another level, really taking over the scenes and creating a character with more layers than an onion. I need to see Capote, but I just don't like PSH. He just annoys me.
OK, it's off to read more buzz and see more movies. Woo-Hoo!!

p.s If you haven't seen it, go rent Crash--NOW! It's spectacular.

So it begins...

I am in the planning stages of my next summer in Spain. I have spent the past 3 summers in Spain, the first just on vacation. I spent time with friends and my host family as well as touring some old favorite places and showing a couple friends around who had made the trip with me. The past two summers I have been enrolled in grad school at the Madrid campus of St. Louis University. This will be my third of 4 summers in the MA program, at the end of which I will have to take comprehensive exams. Two tests, a 3-4 hour written portion dealing with the 4 page reading list (more on that later), and a 2 hour oral test over the coursework I have completed during my summers in Madrid. This week I have started tackling research for the reading list. I spent 3 hours at the UI Library last night taking notes and reading literary history and criticism books. My plan is to compile a notebook with pertinent information on each of the works from the reading list, then to read as many of the works possible. Sort of my own "Cliff's Notes" for the MA Reading List. Since I have a year and a half until the exams, I am hoping that I can actually read most, if not all, of the titles as well. The note book would then serve as my study guide for comps.
I am excited for this summer not only because I am returning to Madrid and taking some interesting classes (including one on Spanish film director, Luis Buñuel) but also for two other reasons. First, my girlfriend is coming to visit for 10-14 days in July. She is currently taking a Spanish class at Kirkwood to help refresh what she has lost from high school Spanish class. How sweet is that?
Also my friends Jackie and Roberto are getting married this summer in Madrid. Their wedding is going to be awesome. It is in the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, an enormous Neo-classical style church in the center of Madrid, down the street from the Royal Palace. Among the interior decorations it boasts several paintings by Spanish master Francisco de Goya. Roberto's dad is one of the most well-connected people in Madrid and Jackie estimates that of the 300+ people at their wedding, she and Roberto might actually know 50 of them. I stayed at Roberto's family's flat in Madrid for 2 weeks last summer and they are the nicest people imaginable. The wedding should be great! Spanish wedding are notorious for their crazy all-night celebrations--even the grandparents normally stay at the reception until the wee hours of the morning. I can't wait.
But until then, it's back to the library...

Catching up

Saturday night I had the opportunity to hang out with some folks I hadn't seen in awhile. It was a great time, just catching up with old friends and having some good food and drink, served up by the best hosts ever, The Utechs http://www.theutechs.com. Although I did realize that Frosty and I were the only single guys there, my mind was eased by the fact that I was the youngest of the group, not counting the children of the guests :)
I know I have previously made the promise to hang out more with my old friends from HMB, but lately I find myself struggling to keep in touch with people. I got an email from Bobo last week and ended up having dinner with him on Friday, which was great. It was good to see him again and hopefully we can manage to stay in touch. He is in the process of planning his wedding (actually Kim is in the process of planning it) that will take place this summer in St. Louis. The timing is perfect, since their wedding is June 24th and my classes in Madrid start on the 27th, so I should be able to attend the wedding before I head off to Spain.
I think my stuggle to keep up with people is partly due to the fact that my group of friends from work also includes my girlfriend. Since they are our only mutual friends that we both knew before we were dating, it is comfortable for both of us to stay with that group. I also find them planning my free time for me many times. And although they are mostly a good group and fun to hang out with, I would like to use some of my free time to hang out with my other friends, too. So hopefully I can manage to strike a balance between the old and new friends and get to see more of the HMBers in the future.
Speaking of the future, plans for my 28th birthday celebration are in the works. If you are interested in being on the email invite list, send me an email. Most of you who might be reading this probably will already be getting the invite, but just in case, whatever, yadda yadda. I am looking at an Iowa City based fiesta on my actual b-day, Jan 13th, as well as some late night festivities on Saturday the 11th. More details to follow.
And as a last thought, if you are one of the aforementioned friends who I haven't seen in a while, drop me an email or a call and we'll hang out. I miss you guys and sometimes just need a kick in the ass to get things rolling.

Second verse, same as the first

Trying the new URL...hopefully it will deter the unwanted lurkers. Same title though, and now there is a nice parallel between the two, as they are both allusions to my favorite film.
Speaking of great film, I saw Brokeback Mountain last night with Wendy.http://www.wendydecora.com. Fantastic movie. Ang Lee brings a great view to what is really a great love story. I went in thinking it would be about two cowboys who just got bored in the mountains and started doin' it. But I was so wrong. The story is expertly crafted and beautifully filmed. But the best part of the film is the incredible performance of Heath Ledger. He acts circles around everyone he appears on screen with, including the over-matched Jake Gyllenhaal. Michelle Williams holds her own in scenes with him, but I suspect it is due to her experience with playing another angst-ridden character in Dawson's Creek! Overall, a very gutsy performance in a heart-wrenching, emotional picture. Definitely worth the Oscar buzz it has been getting, and at this point in the game, I say that Ledger runs away with the Best Actor statue--hands down.