try to look through the gray skies

It's kind of weird when you can't remember what you were like before you had something. We had to put our dog down today, and I honestly couldn't remember a time without having him in the house. I don't want to make this too depressing, I just wanted to get my goodbye in. It'll be weird without him here.

It's been fun.

-alex

a testament to the power of public education

So the problems for my Calculus BC homework were 24-72 multiples of 3, 74, 75, 78, and 79. This doesn't seem so complicated or overwhelming. I plow through the first 3, then, in an awesome display of arithmetic, I go from 33 to 37 and continue on to 40, 43, etc. I proceed to finish the homework, close the book, then realize that 37 isn't a multiple of 3. I had to go back and erase the problems I didn't have to do and complete the ones I skipped. It was awesome.

Yes, I do understand the irony in this. I really do.

-alex

uncensored

What if you were the dog that everyone pets and adores while buying the dog next to it? What if you had the ability to find the darkness in even the most bright of moments? What if you had yourself so figured out that it confused you? What if you were a window that was only looked through, never truly looked at? What if you had no real reason to feel how you feel, but you couldn't do anything about it? What if you see people’s little superficialities, and so many times you’ve looked around and realized that no one else sees them, that you don’t even bother looking around anymore? What if you couldn't just let loose and not care? What if you just gave up on letting people try to understand you? What if you felt isolated and didn't know whether you had a legitimate reason to or if you just do it to yourself? What if no matter where you were, who you were with, or how much fun you were having, you felt alone? Maybe it goes away. Maybe it's just me.

-alex

just wondering

Isn't it disappointing when something that means a lot to you doesn't mean anything to the person you want it to mean something to?

I think the combustion engine is useful, but how smart is it to invent something that turns a finite resource into something that kills you?

Shouldn't there be a list of dating rules written so we can bring the percentage of relationships that end in disaster down to 90% from 98%? Does anyone see the foreshadowing of a future blog here?

How pretentious does a teacher have to be to claim that his/her class is the most important one?

Are $1 coins practical in any way?

What makes something so interesting when it's 20 times larger or 20 times smaller than its usual size?

What ever happend to spectacular words like 'lest' and 'alas' that provide a entertaining break from dull words like 'so' and 'but'?

How do people critcize Olympic athletes for taking a small step after doing 3 backflips off a 4-inch wide beam or for winning only 6 gold medals when they could have won 8?


-alex

real restaurant slogans

McDonalds: Bad Restaurants. Bad Service. Bad Food. The American Way.

Burger King: We're Better Than McDonald's!....Who Are We Kidding, We Still Suck.

In-N-Out: Come Try Our Delicious Cult-like Following!

Sonic: If We Made Our Parking Spaces Any Smaller, You'd All Drive Golf Carts.

Wendy's: Customers Served Worldwide: Almost 14!

Subway: We're Healthy, So Our Food Must Be Terrible.

Quizno's: Take The Family....After Taking Out A Mortgage!

Pizza Hut: More Grease Than Your Average Politician.

Pizza Factory:

DelTaco: Perfecting The Fine Art of Not Advertising.

Taco Bell: Bad Restaurants. Bad Service. Bad Mexican. The American Way.


-alex

2-7 off

I am going to preface this post with this: Two different kind of people will read this. Person A will say "Is this kid actually getting this serious and philosophical about poker?" and scroll the mouse up to the little "X" at the top right of IE or go the other way for the "BACK" button. I'd put about 75% of people in the 'A' category and that's fine, to each his/her own. Then there is person B, who will know exactly what I'm talking about. So 'B', my friend, read on. There is a dynamic to poker that is unlike anything else. There are moments of absolute ecstasy and pride almost everytime you play a serious game. A smart call, a good lay down, or a big win, and deep down you're saying "Wow, this is the greatest thing since pizza bagels." There is a disappointment unique to poker as well. When you get eliminated from the intense game you've been playing for the past few hours, you almost don't know what you feel. You're frustrated that you're out, confused about the sequence of events that just happened, angry at the person who is raking your chips, depressed you just blew 20 bucks. Defrangerfusion, if you will. All these feelings are so extreme that you just sit there, completely lost. You get this actual physical feeling that can't be described. If you doubt the ability of this feeling to drive people to the brink of insanity, read again what I just wrote. Think about it.

-alex

Smells like rat

I don't know if anyone has seen the latest ALLTEL commercial on local TV. It has a man and woman sitting at a restaurant and the man takes out his cell phone, which grinds pepper, has breath spray, and contains parmesean cheese. Now I admit this has no direct connection to my earlier cell phone post but I couldn't help suspect that some ALLTEL marketing rep. was browsing the internet, ran across my blog where I complain about excess features and was like "Hmmmmmm...this could make a good commercial." You know it's true.

Anyway, school's coming soon, so let's take a moment to reminisce about our last real summer......................And scene.

One more year people. One more.


-alex

tee'd off

So it's around my favorite time of year: school shopping time. (Insert ridiculously sarcastic tone) As most of you know, my clothing repertoire isn't anything all that impressive so I figured I'd extend my wardrobe from 3 shirts to maybe 5 or 6, and from 1 pair of shorts to 3 or 4. Shorts are simple and no problem to find. You'd think that shirts would be as easy, but alas, they are not. All I really want is a simple solid color T-shirt with whatever brand name or logo modestly placed on the front but down at the mall that does not seem to be an option. I could go with the typical Abercrombie/American Eagle horizontal striped polo and turn myself into Alex Uber-preppie. I could overpay for a T-shirt with some blatantly suggestive faux-advertisement on it, like "Alex's Hot Dog Stand: Open All Night". Always a classy choice. Another option is the T-shirt with some oversized retro advertisement on the back for some Surf Shop or (Insert brand here) Athletic Team. The shirts without such obnoxious fake advertisements usually come in the form of a shirt with a gigantic "OLD NAVY" or "ABERCROMBIE" plastered across the chest, visible to the naked eye from hundreds of yards away. As much as I'd love to pay 20 dollars to do the company's advertising for them, I'm going to have to pass. I don't want a shirt with 3 panels of some stick figure cartoon, I don't want a shirt that misspells Hooked on Phonics, I don't want a shirt that has some "clever" one liner or pick up line on it, or one that attempts to make people think I'm a sociopath with voices in my head. Maybe I'll just have to stick with my A) Red, B) Blue, and C) Gray Aeropostale shirts for another year. I don't mind.

-alex

yes, you

The only problem I've run into with the blog so far is that I know, for the most part, who all reads it. Because I know this I tend to tailor the blog to these people, and instead of writing whatever is on my mind I have to avoid anything that may be awkward or offensive to these people. It's kind of a minor thing but, on some levels, it's defeating the basic purpose of the blog. If you have to ask yourself "Is he talking about me?", the answer is yes. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop or significantly change anything but it is simply a small source of frustration for me.

Note: This is in no way an attack on the people who read the blog; you're the reason I keep writing.

-alex

gracias

I just want to thank Justin, Steve, Katie, Emily, Ben, Lauren, Lisa, my parents and grandparents, and the mystery cell phone caller at 8:09pm for making me feel good on my birthday. It means more than you think.

-alex

Annual Rambling TV Awards

Who Cares? Award: MTV. I don't care about Nick and Jessica's life, or what everyone's house looks like, or the Diary of so and so. "You think you know, but you have no idea, and you probably don't want to."

Most Played Show: The Ashlee Simpson Show. I don't even need to explain this one, you know it's true.

Late Night Award: Conan O' Brien. How can you go wrong with a show that plays Walker, Texas Ranger clips as a comedy routine? Plus Leno and Letterman just aren't funny.

Worst Commercial: YJ Stinger Energy Drink. Mmmmm, I really want to drink something that explodes with bees when I open it. Plus it's an energy drink.

You're Cool, But Not That Cool Award: People who watch The Daily Show. Granted Jon Stewart is hilarious and the show is great, but watching the show doesn't make you "unique" or "hip". It seems like a lot of people think they're "underground" because they like the show. News flash: everyone watches it, everyone likes it, you're not that cool.

Re-run the Re-runs Award: Bravo. Bravo's lineup consists of three things: The West Wing reruns, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy reruns, and Celebrity Poker Showdown reruns. Even though I love the West Wing, I can only watch the same episode once or twice a day before I'm tired of it.

I'm going to add more as I go.

-alex

Cows with Guns

This is simply the most creative thing I have ever seen on the internet. Note that the cow is referred to as a "he", yet has an udder. Hmmmm. Enjoy.

"Bad cow pun..."

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/cowswithguns.php

-alex