Promulgator

Hows my little old fogie?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Dear Diary,
How do I know when I've grown up?
Sincerely,
Twenty Something...

Dear Twenty Something,
I've decided to take this opportunity to answer your question for a change rather than existing a rhetorical question muse. First off, you signed your question with "Twenty Something", dear lord you aren't old, now when you hit the post 50 mark, you might want to start considering yourself older, maybe not quite old yet, but get used to the idea for the following ten years.

Next.

Why do you ask? Is it you've been shopping for and have purchased a new refrigerator for your home? If that's the case than yes, you are getting old, no more do you live under those carefree days of buying whatever you needed and wanted in the same trip. Now it seems like you could be looking for a single product that will eventually SAVE *gasp* you money as well as something you can imagine yourself having for more than 10 years in a row. Yes, you are old when you can imagine 10 years into the future, this is a fact.
Just hypothetically speaking of course since you never mentioned anything about a new refrigerator. I would recommend a Black Kenmore Elite brand with a bottom freezer because you are a tall glass of water and that will really make you happy to just peer straight into your newest food cooling apparatus to see the things you might be in search for. Also I happen to be very fond of French Doors above that freezer and black is not only sexy but it matches the rest of your appliances in your kitchen. Not to mention stainless steel really only costs more, you can't even stick a magnet (go figure, right?) to it, so why waste your time AND money.
So if you were to have purchased said fridge I'm certain you would be absolutely thrilled about such an every day item, thus solidifying your 'agedness' in fact I bet you would be so excited you would make the 20 minute drive home on your lunch break just to check out this device for a few minutes. Not only would you be considered old but a dork who gets off checking out inanimate objects as well.
In short I would say that there are certain things in life that will make you look and feel old especially considering your perspective on things in your day to day life. A new refrigerator could be one of these things so I will answer, approach with caution, this may make you very excited and give you that youthful feeling in your loins, but a new large kitchen appliance signals that you are in fact in it for the long haul, and if you're not already old you're getting there.

Enjoy this new product because in less than two years something wont work right and you will call this newest device of yours a piece of shit and wonder what you were thinking when you bought it, just like everything else you own. Appreciate the value it brings to you and over the years with a little less worry and hate on your mind you will feel younger than your peers and appreciate the leg up on your early maturity.
That is of course if you bought a refrigerator.
Love your rambling diary.

PS
In hindsight, a single door model would probably fit your space better....oops!

Hows my little laxidasical blogger?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Holy shit I skipped the ENTIRE!! month of October in blogging? O. M. G. I'm sorry.

Dear loyal fans who for some reason continued checking,
I love you.
Love, (is that too much love?)
Tony

Anyway, things have been great around here. Laura and I are still happily betrothed and have a really big chunk of the wedding planning out of the way, which is pretty great really.

I've gotten a lot of new trinkets lately and after I got the last one I went, wow, I didn't really need any of this, I totally went against my life statement earlier in the year about simplifying things. On one hand I did get rid of a lot of Playstation things (thus unpacking our FINAL box from the move!!!) in order to upgrade to the new one GTA5 is pretty sweet, but I'm still not too good at it. But still.

We have recently come into a projector which now projects said PS3 onto a wall and the screen is about 7 feet tall. HEART!!!

I've brewed two batches of beer in the past month, a nut brown we are calling the brown nut and my first recipe from scratch, a pumpkin wheat! Which I am pretty excited to try, although I'm not sure it will have much pumpkin flavor. But if it does I will definitely post the process online since I don't think there are enough pumpkin wheat recipes on the interwebs.

We also started a wine for consumption in honor of our wedding, which should be really awesome. But its a sauvignon blanc so it might not be a crowd pleaser.

My sister got married! holy shit! the wedding was really great it was fun to be there and dance and see my brothers and their families and meet the Harvey family (who are all wonderful) and ahh, yes it was great. I'm extra excited to have all the people important to me for mine now.

I've also begun to work on ideas for the honeymoon, the world is SO big, oh my goodness I don't know where to start. I think Laura wants warm and I just want to cross an ocean.

I don't even watch baseball but f you yankees.

I've been trying to sleep more lately and I feel a lot more chipper in my day to day, imagine that.

I've pretty much given up on pandora and moved entirely to Slacker, no music stopping after 40 minutes of inactivity, yes please!

Last weekend Laura and I ventured up to the Wisconsin Dells for our annual rock out with the Austin family and boy does that never get old. I LOVE water sliding. Love it.

Who thought the "design" for the craigslist webpage was a good idea, my lord it is impossible to find information on there without using the ctrl+f function.

I really like the owl city track fireflies. A lot.

The not so new anymore Dave Matthews Album continues to steal a bit more of my love with each listening. For example, funny the way it is, the lyrics? wow! very very meaningful if you need some thought inspired.

Living in the south (most would argue this is the midwest, I would just say its the south without the confederate flag) does have its perks. You can find a republican to argue with whenever you want. But its hard to win said arguments because most of them believe every chain E-mail sent to them.

I'm halfway through War and Peace! And it actually doesn't suck. I just learned that it has the most characters than any novel, ever?. I would say that is the biggest challenge is keeping all these russian names straight. And there are quite a few names to keep straight. Especially when you thought they were dead.

I learned how to stain and varnish wood, I've seen my Dad do it a whole bunch through my life but I never bothered to ask how before. I helped Laura's dad put in a new little thing on the floor into our bathroom and it looks SO much better and it doesn't hurt when you slam your heel into it. Which is nice.

Is it bad to say I might like most of Lady Gaga's singles? Miz Fullah can probably guess what my next comment would be, considering her looks so ask her. But wow, she wears some very interesting outfits. If only there was less... =)

I still don't get twitter. Does that make me out of touch, old fashioned? Would any of you read my tweets.
"had corn floating in my poop today, wow!"
I wouldn't either.

A few days after we got back from vacation we had someone steal our ENTIRE pepper crop. Up to and including my red hot chili peppers. I still get really angry when I talk about it, and there is nothing I can do except be angry. I don't believe them when they say revenge isn't worth it.

I'm pretty sure meals taste 10 times better after working out, rendering it impossible to eat a sensible amount afterwords. Thus my lack of weight loss. Since moving here.

I've been slowly buying Reebok boxer briefs lately and my goodness do I feel sexy when I wear them. So I keep buying more because honestly how often do you not want to feel sexy.

I turned 25 and my insurance dropped $12 a month. Wait, I was excited for that starting the day I turned 22? Fuck that.

Hows my little colorado adventurer?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Ok This is going to be a HUGE! Post, because I want to tell you all about our Colorado adventure.

**Also, I stopped writing this halfway so please forgive the lack of photos and description.**

First off. The state is awesome. I love it. I would move there and live there and retire there and play there and love it the entire time. They have mountains, and hills and rivers and fake lakes that you can't swim in and all sorts of other excellent things that I love. It is a very Blue state which kind of sucks though. But on the other hand it is also a very dark green state, where fitness is almost a snobbish part of the daily life, which is awesome compared the the glut of fatties here in Central Illinois.

I'll try to keep this as brief as I can I promise, but there is a lot to cover in 10 days, hopefully the photos speak more than the words do.

First off we headed off into the sunset from IL to Lincoln NE. We made several pit stops to find some Geocaches the most notable one came in the town of west branch where we found a pink toilet (outdoors) a lot of bugs and a couple of geocaches. Naturally when I was looking for caches along our drive I could not pass this stop up. Between the bugs and the realization that it was a long ass walk, we decided to call this one quits long before the middle, let alone the end.

I should clarify we had very few if any plans before going into this trip, so if you are a fellow shoot from the hipper I would recommend to pay attention to the books everyone ignores at rest stops because they are full of some pretty awesome deals for walk in hotel reservations. We stayed in Lincolin for $35, which included breakfast, which if you think about it, at Perkins or something is a $15 value for two people. Not bad.

The next day was a good learning adventure, I was craving random cool side stops since we were taking a road tirp. We didn't find any Dr. Satan stops but we decided that learning a little more about Wild Bill Cody would be pretty cool. Afterall he was a big hit and the Colombian Exposition in Chicago. (Thank you Devil in the White City) So we stopped in North Platte Nebraska for some learning. We decided his ranch would be a fun whole day adventure complete with camping, so we decided to visit his park instead, which was closed. Lame. So the visitor center lady said we ought to check out the "Golden Spike" since it was in the same town we said why not it would be cool to see the worlds largest train yard from up high. Can you believe they charge $6 a person to take an elevator up three stories to look at the top side of a bunch of trains? Me neither. I bought a Post Card and sent it to my sister to tell her not to go.

So Nebraska sucks. If you can find a way to avoid it go right ahead and do it. Fun facts about Nebraska: There are more cows in Nebraska than people (holy shit!) The ratio of cows to people 3:1 (holy shit!). Another fun fact. When the Corn Huskers(!) play a home football the stadium becomes the 3rd largest city in the lame state. There is a reason the mid-west states are called flyover states, Nebraska ruins it for the cool States, like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Chicago ;)

We got into Colorado and did some excellent hanging out and catching up with old Pal Rich and newer pal Ali. We attempted to reach the summit of our first fourteener (a mountain over 14k feet above sea level) and Due to harsh weather conditions and the snow! we didn't make it to the top, but we did find a cool geocache nearby. They also have a really great little one called Adrianne, she is a hoot and when she cries she makes baby Chewbacca noises, I love it.

After our adventures with Rich and Ali Laura and I headed up toe Estes Park Co. Probably the coolest city I've ever been to. A little tourist town nestled in the mountains with two gorgeous (and natural?) lakes! My goodness I feel in love with that cute little town. And the donut shop! mmmmm.

(ok I started writing this post ages ago and I've been holding back on posting other blogs until I finished this one. I just really hate the blogger picture loader and I wanted to post bunches of photos and tell even more, but now I'm like a month overdue so here is a quick summary of the rest of the trip)

As a list from here on out:

* Camped in Rocky Mountain National Park.
* Heard a funny quote about that time of year, "The only people who come here are the nearly wed and the nearly dead" so true!
* It was elk mating season, the noises they make are CRAZY!
* We hiked a mountain and began our engagement to marry.
* We drove around the park and took a ton of landscape photos.
* Saw a Marmot
* Drove to Colorado Springs
* Visited the garden of the Gods, next time I would like to go climbing there
* Took a driving tour of the city.
* Decided CO Springs is a great place for a family adventure. Not nearly weds
* Took the Cog railway to the summit of Pikes Peak, found a Geocache there
* Saw Mountain sheep.
* Spent another excellent night with the Keller Family
* Drove back in one long grueling 16 hour trek.
* Listened to Stephanie Meyer's Newish book, The Host, Will not recommend that to anyone looking for a book as satisfying entertainment. Good concept, poorly finished.
* Reflected and loved the whole adventure.

Hows my little reDirect?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Life is full of changes and surprises. Meeting someone you love and feel like you can spend the rest of your days with tirelessly is one of those changes and surprises. My love happens to have taken the form of Laura Davis. Quite a catch I would say, and many (at this point I'm pretty sure all of) my friends would agree. So from the beginning of my relationship with Laura I knew we had something unique that I hadn't experienced before, I thought gosh I could probably marry this woman, never before had I seriously thought that about anyone I spent time with. So that was a big step for me.
Several months ago I was talking to Laura's brother on the tele and he was telling me all sorts of "fun" baby things and I said, gosh I'm not jealous of you at all, and he came back with something along the lines of well we decided after waiting for so long, if we're not ready now we never will be, and that is when they started growing their family. And that was my *Aha* moment. If I'm not ready to marry her now I never will be(of course there was a lot more thought before I reached that conclusion). So fast forward a month or two, I built up the courage to ask Mr. Davis if he would mind if I asked Laura to marry me. He said no, I like you, and a bunch of other things. That was pretty great, I was crazy nervous for some reason, but now that I think that part is out of the way I won't be nervous for the actual moment(future tense because I haven't asked yet) We'll see though.
Fast forward another month or two and Laura heads out of town, a perfect chance to go ring shopping! Hurray! For those of you fellas looking for rings, let me tell you, do your homework first. All jewelers are willing to train you and teach you all about the qualities of diamonds. I also encourage you to use bluenile.com to learn more about settings and you can build your own rings, this way you have an idea of what you like and you can cut your in-store shopping time down to sometimes just a few minutes. The first store I walked into by myself I had a lady say, how can I help you and I said confidently I'm looking for an engagement ring! I was expecting to be all timid and shy but no, not at all, it turned out I was excited to go shopping for this.
Back when I first got my job down here in Illinois I left a "secret" bank account open with Wells Fargo to save for this very purchase. I initially decided if I save a little bit from each paycheck I would have enough for the ring I wanted by this coming October. [My thoughts about the timing were: well if we get engaged in October we wont marry until 2011 maybe, sweet!(I wasn't ready yet) I've changed my thinking on this route for various reasons now.] Anyway of course this savings account has my mom's name still on it, and I'm pretty sure I told her what this account was for. So a few weeks ago when I made my first withdraw of the account my surprise, was lost, I'm pretty sure.[9-20-09 Not So! Apparently my mom had forgotten about this account and had no idea how much money was in or going out of it...or so she claims...:)] Which was kind of a bummer to me since I wanted everyone but me to be surprised, now I know I have one person actually expecting it. And when she sees the rest of the account drained this week sometime she will know its coming. Of course I can't get her name off the account either, lame!
Back to shopping!
After walking around in the malls in the area I realized something, most of the sales people treat me like I want the biggest diamond for my money and that I don't know what I want. Also there are a hell of a lot of nasty looking rings at the big (kay, Halzberg, zales ect) chain stores. So I opted for a local shop, thinking two things, yay help the local economy and yay I'll get treated better. Sure enough, both happened. I found the ring I wanted at Christoper's Fine Jewelers in Champaign and was like wow cool AND you can do custom work, fantastic. So I picked out something I like, (after all its my ring for Laura to wear) and the guy said that will be... and I went HOLY SHIT! I wasn't ready for that part despite my savings.
A month or so later I came to my senses and said, that isn't so bad, and called them up, sent a check and had the work started. About a week after that I realized I have officially overstayed my welcome as Laura's BF and sensed she is officially antsy about moving forward with our relationship. The following 5 weeks couldn't have moved slower in that sense.
About two weeks after that we were looking at rings in a catalog or online or something, and Laura points to a ring I very similar to what I have already paid over half on and said, I'm not too sure I like these. FUUUUUUCK Fuck fuck fuck. Is what I said, at that point I decided, F that I bet she will like just about anything (within reason) as long as I'm the one giving it to her. I really like it, and I'm sure it will grow on her. The one part I'm a little wishy washy about is if she will like the emerald cut or not. I like the shape but they aren't sparkly diamonds like most are.
On Friday I got a call from the jeweler, The ring is ready! Still not sure how I'm going to ask her. Or how I'm going to pick it up for that matter.
I want to ask her in a place that we can never ever be again, to make the moment unique, but those are hard to come by. I thought about doing it in an airplane but I'm afraid the TSA will out the ring since its metal, I'm not sure I want some fat lady inspecting a ring pulled from my belongings with Laura's eyes lighting up. So nix that. I don't know we will see, but before the end of the month, I should be beginning my engagement to marry Laura Davis.
(9/8/09) I've had the ring for over a week now! Hahaha! Little does she know... Well the plan for the Airplane is officially out, since I don't know the next time I'll be on one. Right now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to smuggle this thing into a tiny car in my luggage that Laura could potentially be digging around through or in my clothes or our camping gear. But I've decided it needs to be able to be accessed quickly in case I see that I can propose on top of a giant ball of twine or something. I have a couple of pants that have a stash pocket that might work, but I want to bring the box around just in case the ring doesn't fit or she doesn't want to wear it for what ever reason. I think when I get home from work tomorrow I'll try and figure that out before she gets home.
OH! I forgot, I'm so clever, I picked the ring up on the first, I worked through my lunch and drove to Champaign to pick it up. I got to the store with like 10 minutes to loiter around and chit chat and drove back to Oakwood. I thought that Laura would have beat me home, which would have raised problems since I didn't hide the ring before I drove home, but conveniently she had to work late that night. Nice, lucky me.
I spent the first couple of days really upset with what I got thinking everything was too small and weird looking from the side (which I still think) but after a couple of days in anguish over purchasing something for so much that I didn't like, I snuck another look at it again expecting to nothing but hate and I realized, wow! I like this a lot! Sure the side looks goofy but I've decided that is ok, I just hope Laura likes it. After all the top view looks gorgeous. A pretty ring for a pretty lady! Maybe my next post will actually get published and I will say I did it!
(9-9-9) I got the ring out today and its in my pants that have the PERFECT stash pocket. I walked all around with it within touching distance of Laura tonight to get used to carrying it so I'm not all "weird" before I pop the question! The ring is growing on me. Still not sure about how I'm going to get the box there, that will be a challenge to hide now that we are packed. Wish me luck! I'm excited for our trip!
(9-20-09) Back from Colorado! We're Engaged!
How did you do it? Well the road trip didn't give me any giant balls of strings to ask her on top of but it did give me a mountain! ok Mushy nerd spot ahead but half of this blog is for me the other half you so read it and like it...First off Driving through Nebraska & Kansas Sucks to drive though there is a reason they are called flyover states. We spent the first part of our trip with Pals Rich and Ali Keller, and then we headed off to Rocky Mountain National Park. When we got there we pitched our tent and Laura said lets go for a hike before we get all of our stuff set up and I was like hey, that sounds great! I stashed the ring box in my ground mat and I wasn't ready to unroll that and have a box give away the surprise I had worked so hard at keeping for the last year. The weather wasn't really the greatest and so we hiked most of the trail under our rain coats. I had conveniently been wearing my shorts with ring stashed in them that day for just such a hike. After talking to the ranger and hearing him say it was probably a little too late to leave for a summit I lost a little bit of heart but since we are two young, mildly in shape people we decided to go for a hike anyway. We found a trail that was going to be a warm up for our big hike the next day, Longs peak (a 7.5 mile hike one way with over 5k feet in elevation gain) it was a 4.4 mile trek one way to the Summit of Flattop mountain. No Problem...right?
Holy shit were we wrong. We got about a quarter of the way up when we ran into a guy who had just come down from the summit and said yeah it just keeps going up. We had the choice of going to a pretty lake about the same distance or the mountain's Summit. I was like, well I can ask her at a secluded mountain lake that will be ok. But when Laura decided to head left and up to the Summit I went YES! good choice. So far things were going like I had wanted them to, and I didn't have to be pushy at all.
Little did I know we were only a Quarter of the way up at that point. After another hour of hiking we ran into some lady and I jokingly said we are halfway there right?! haha...She said not quite... I was like huh? Oh, haha she is just joking with me too. Silly mountain people. Turns out she was right.
After hiking the rest of the mountain and more and more frequent stops (hiking at altitude is tough stuff) I may as well have had a whip and gun to get Laura to the top. (in all fairness I was exhausted but I knew what was waiting for us at the top and I didn't need as much motivation) I only promised her it would be worth it once so that she wouldn't get any ideas.
About 100 yards from the summit the clouds and rain cleared and the most brilliant and vibrant rainbow materialized behind us and with one end on the trail we had just walked on! We encountered another couple who was on their way down who took our photo and we hiked the rest in awe.
Before then I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to say but the rain clearing and the rainbow and the glory of reaching the top changed all of that. I got a little teary eyed thinking of what I was going to say as I pulled the ring out to ask her. but after a few more paces I 'manned up' just in time for Laura to turn around and give me a big hug and say We made it!
"Its moments like these that I am excited to share with you for the rest of our lives, Will you spend the rest of your life with me?"
After I flashed her the ring Laura screamed and I nearly pooped myself it was so unexpected. After I thought she had cried long enough I decided to ask her if that was a yes, and she agreed it was.
After hanging out with her for the rest of the week I was just about ready to call her Gollum because she looks at the ring so often, but thats AOK because it makes me feel good that I got her something she liked, and most importantly (in the end) Something that I liked and thought would look good on her.
And that is the story of the ring and the beginning of our engagement to marry...

Hows my little world traveler?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0000

For some reason many of the people I know in our new neck of the woods think that Laura and I are world travelers. I think its because we leave the state more than once a year. I wish I could say I leave the country that often, but I guess I have to take baby steps.

This weekend Laura and I had a rockin good time at her Brother's family's new diggs just south of the ATL in Peachtree city, which has no peach trees. It justsohappens to be the 8th best place to live in the country according to the internet Whoddthunk it?

Anyway, they do live in a pretty cool town, and if you're a walker the golf carts can be annoying, but if you're a fat southerner, I'm sure the walkers are annoying. But I'm not sure if the guy who walked his dog while driving the golf cart can think anything other than actually lifting his arm to hold his steering wheel could be more annoying.

Aside from ogling golf carts and swanky abodes we did happen to enjoy ourselves. It was nice to see Scott and Brandee's house, ;) and we definitely got a good taste of the outdoors. I would also like to commend little Alia for raising my standards of baby hate because she hardly made a peep. But I would like to mention all of her hard work at impressing me was quickly wiped out with the baby who sat next to us on the plane ride home. After what seemed like an eternity of crying (probably more like 20 minutes(which seems like the coming of the 4 horsemen)) I have once again reaffirmed myself babies that are not anywhere in my planned future. Dear lord I was considering murder before our plane even left the ground. Thank goodness for The Used('s ?) new album I was able to mask the screaming a bit with another kind of screaming.

I've decided I need to realize my personal legend, I think I'm currently polishing crystal. Someday maybe I will be inspired to write a blog about some of the things/event that have inspired me in the past. I'm chalking the Alchemist (book i just finished) up as one of those things today. A must read for people who have an idea for a direction in life but just need a guiding hand to help with some motivation.

My next post will be about my road trip to Colorado with Laura! I'm pretty excited for it! I'm sure Laura is too but she, like me, doesn't know whats going on yet. Should be Supergreat!!

Hows my little moaner?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:18:00 +0000

I know i've been on the fritz with my blogging frequency as of late but gosh I've just been devoid of insight and excitement....I guess. Meh, anyway life is good here in Oakwood. Yay! I made business cards for a feller at work, anyone know where I can get some cards printed that are NOT the standard size? thats my current hang-up.

Rants:

I listen to Pandora (streaming music) at work, religiously. I love it. So much in fact I've pretty much stopped acquiring new tunes because I have a roll of fresh songs from work on the daily. Heart. So imagine my surprise when last month on about the 15thish I get a notice from Pandora saying, We are bitches and you use our service much, enjoy your new 40 hour listening cap. They say it is to keep the service free and commercial free. HAAAAAAATE! I used to feel bad that I was running Adblock + while listening to my legitimate free tunes, now those suckers are losing revenue from me twice! Ha. Jerks. To make ammends though they did send me an apology letter saying, Tony, you can use pandora again at the beginning of August. Aww thanks. Here I am at the end of the month awaiting another of those letters. Grrr...

So with that I've tried out LastFM and would say I love it if it didn't cause me so many problems, I think I listened to one song and probably spent 30min troubleshooting it over the course of a day. So that lead me to...datdaadaaaaaa!

Slacker, I only heard of this source from engadget and the slacker branded gadgets. Turns out Slacker radio rocks my socks just as hard as Pandora did! Only complaint is the one audio commercial I'm forced to wait through is always for walmart. Why do they still advertise? One would think that everyone knows who walmart is and what they sell? Whatever

Best Buy,
I have a camera purchased from there and a extended warranty, turns out it doesn't cover everything like it says it does. 104$ later I will be getting my newish camera back. Fuck you best buy, and you stupid geek squad, I liked your customer service 10 times more before they took over. Should be, we assume you're stupid and treat you that way squad.

Know what else really grinds my gears?
Powdery mildew. This fungus said Hey we happened to be floating in the air near your squash and cucumbers a couple of weeks ago lets eat! So our squash and cucumbers are now in shambles and nearly dead in every way. Sad. We have one sad acorn squash clinging to ripen on the vine and a few cucumbers vying for a life of their own. Lesson learned? none, because I have no idea how to spot it before it attacks. Maybe I will install a vacuum shield thing around our garden so no spores float by. I'm going to go ahead and blame the corn farmers, for no good reason.

My phone is being a DICK! In places I used to brag to Laura about have 'full bars!' I get none and she is skipping along while talking to her peeps. So next time you call me be patient I'm walking to our front porch because that's the only place I get reliable-ish reception now.

Hows my little Finth finger?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:52:00 +0000

Hey folks! Sorry its been ages, I've been busy with stuff, not sure what stuff or how busy I've really been but not too much to report today.

I want to get a side project started doing some design and photography. I have the tools to do both I just need to get my name out there and do it!

The name of my business would be FinFour. Hurray for made up numbers!

I thought I had told just about everyone the history behind my number, but I guess not. So here it is; When I was but just a wee pup I was sitting in my room contemplating many deep ideas and I began thinking gosh, I think that the numbers three and four sound much too far apart. I think I ought to add a number in there and fill in that gap a bit. And here Fin was born. You can imagine how that would mess up society today, for example I would have 9 fingers (4 on each hand), 5 would be an even number, and 8 would be the largest number on a standard keyboard. At one point I had an idea of what the numeral fin would look like, I think it looked like a circle with two lines coming out of the edges upwards, but I could be wrong, that can be changed still.

With that I need some help with my logo This is a preliminary version, I would like some criticism if you're willing to offer it.
Merci

Hows my little DMB show?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:12:00 +0000

Little? No. Dave Matthews Band is anything but little. Anything but. Yesterday Laura gave me the opportunity to catch a spectacle that is known as a Dave Matthews Band live outdoor concert. We went with our friend Nathan who like many of the other people at one of these shows is a Dave Matthews connoisseur this was his 21st show and our Cherry popping experience. He was a good guide.

I was told before the show that a DMB concert has a really good chance at not being good for a casual listener like myself because he has such a huge catalog of music there wouldn't be too many song to sing along with. Which is true, if it weren't for me knowing a lot of the songs off the new album I would have only known a few other songs. But!

The great thing about DMB is they are really truly excellent at the instruments that they play. The whole band is really a pleasure to listen to. Hearing the full sound while being able to pick out the combined nuances of the other individuals made me really appreciate the excellent quality of these musicians.
Would I recommend to see them? Absolutely but only if you're the kind of person who can appreciate good quality music you can boogie to, or a DMB superfan. Otherwise the price of admission might really piss you off.

I thought I should post the set list on here because to someone it might mean something, maybe my future self might appreciate it.

You Might Die Trying
Seven
You And Me
Dancing Nancies
Lying In The Hands Of God
Shotgun
Say Goodbye
Funny The Way It Is
Dive In
Crush
The Stone
Shake Me Like A Monkey
Alligator Pie
Burning Down The House
Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel

Encore:
Don't Drink the Water
Two Step

Anyway enough of my sucking up. Since High School I've had a list of bands that I need to see before I die, and an outdoor Dave show has been on it for quite a while. So naturally since I've been 21 the idea of how I experience the concert has changed. So we did this concert the right way. A 12 pack per person. Most people wouldn't survive such an undertaking, the three of us included. So we scaled it back and ended up thoroughly enjoying ourselves responsibly, not sure I know what to do with all this leftover Corona.

Hows my little essence?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Check it out, its been awhile, more photos less words today.

From Promulgator

Started Pickling!

From Promulgator

Went to the indianapolis Zoo, Laura likes goats...only sort of.

From Promulgator

Got bit by a pokey tree

From Promulgator

Giraffes are awesome.

From Promulgator

Check out all those carrots we grew! thats only half! That big honker is in our shepherds pie tonight.

From Promulgator

Went canoeing and rocked the Sugar Creek in Indiana

From Promulgator

...Lots of people were there. :(

From Promulgator

Rope Swings rock.

Went to the BWCA with this bunch, forgot my rain jacket, but I didn't need it!

Did some exploring in a bog.

Practiced the Rule of thirds.

Fire!

This is what I slept in! I couldn't figure out how come I kept leaning to the right at night. I figured out my problem on the last night and my shoulder is still bothering me. Hammock tent 1 Tony .5

I miss you.

Hows my little Parade?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Happy Independence Day!
Don't forget to be thankful for the liberties you take for granted daily, like choosing where you work and what you can eat!

Yesterday Laura and I hit up the Oakwood Parade in the morning. boy was it great, our candy dish was pretty much empty and we took care of that thanks to the paraders. Here are some pictures of a small town parade. Also note, I've never seen that many people in Oakwood to date.

The head of the procession, Laura liked this part the best can you tell?

Of course a community nestled in a bunch of corn fields needs to have a mini parade of these:

We had mom and dad over for dinner last night and we were pretty ecstatic that we were going to be able to watch fireworks from the front porch, but after 45 minutes of no explosions I walked to the park to find it deserted, all the people we heard and saw were at a party in front of it. Screw you Fourth of July rain!

Of course I told everyone when the garden looked acceptable I would take a picture of it, here it is! It looks great! Laura is going to pick a cucumber soon and I bet tomatoes will be ready for pickin in the next weekish. Fresh onions taste outstanding!

Hows my little day to day?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:45:00 +0000

[Edit UPDATE!] I can't believe I forgot this one! The bank I used to bank at (just a couple of short months ago) failed! Thank goodness for the FDIC because Laura would be many dollars fewer, I'm sure my parents would be as well. The recession has hit home!
Scary?

Lately:

Visited Laura's Family in Milwakuee, Wonderful. Her family is full of great people, just like mine!

Garden is currently kicking ass, If you call me to chat on the phone expect to hear about it. Cucumbers are weird looking as runts.

We have a pepper thief.

Our green beans are delicious.

I have recently acquired the missing parts to my old PC, a lost love has been brought back to life...much to Laura's dismay.

Twister is a pretty good movie still.

Started Reading The Return of the King, Forgot that it left off with ridiculous amounts of potential excitement. Very excited.

Using two mouses on the same desk for two computers gets confusing.

Today the word Whim was redefined for me.

An echo will do it's thing not before 56.5 feet. Unless in a space with parallel walls.
Last week I learned all about echos.
Consider this statement:

Myth makes Echo the subject of longing and desire. Physics makes Echo the subject of distance and design. Where emotion and reason are concerned both claims are accurate.
And where there is no Echo there is no description of space or love.
There is only silence.

Hows my little informant?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:17:00 +0000

As many of you know I would consider going gay for this man. This photo is the only hint I've seen of Tim Burton's Alice in wonderland. God I'm excited, I'll have to reread the book because I remember it being a little weird, a tricky read, and not at all like the animated movie we have all grown to know and love.

Our garden rocks!
Last night we had our biggest meal from it yet we picked some small onions, beans and basil it was great! We have tiny little tomatoes, Some peppers that will be pickable soon, small onions, nearly ready green onions, who knows about the potatoes or carrots, the eggplants have suffered a major infestation setback but thanks to my opposable thumb I've managed to keep the pests under control, its a shame my public bug executions do not scare them away. Altogether I'm pretty stoked for our garden. Its been ridicoulsy hot lately since I got back and Laura the gem on her day off weeded a big chunk of the garden, we were a month or two overdue. She is pretty great. Also! I built a trellis for our cucumbers! its made of bamboo and rope, thank you boy scouts! Check it out:Its actually in the garden right now with the Cucumbers growing all up its business. The half it rests in is the part Laura didn't weed, so when we get that done I'll take a picture of our super sexy garden and show yall.

Books!
My parents and I road tripped up and halfway back to MN so we listened to James Patterson's Honeymoon. Really good, it was exciting the main character was a nympho and I imagined her to be pretty foxy. It got kind of awkward at times because mom and dad were sitting there listening to the reader describe his prodigal sundial on the bed. eeehh.. Rollerskates. I just finished the last book in the twilight series, breaking dawn. I loved ..... all but the end. The book was filled with really exciting and interesting twists and unexpected surprises. WTF is how I described part of it at one point. All until the end. It was like The author ran out of creativity and realized it was already pretty long and took the easy way out. Very expected. I keep reminding myself that I truly did like the book, yet wasn't impressed with the finish. Book 3 was my favorite in the series.
I've also begun a book that is pretty hard to describe called The House of Leaves. It begins by saying on the dedication page "This book is not for you" Obviously it is. So far what I can gather it is a Story about a book, the "story" as it were is a guy's reaction (and clearly plotted story) within footnotes of a book which he has found. Now that book was written by a strange man about a movie about a house which is larger on the inside than the outside, interesting. Also worth noting this movie may not have actually existed yet the book within the book is a extremely detailed account. In reading the synopsis on the book beforehand I still don't think I had a grasp on what it was truly about. I'll let you know how it plays out. It sounds promising. Every time the word house is printed it is blue not black like most of the other words in the book.

This was much longer than I had anticipated.

Hows my little moviegoer?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:52:00 +0000

Up!
Two Thumbs Up!
The end?! Oh my gosh! He did what? To who? And then that thing! Oh my goodness. I would say tragic, but then some other stuff happened...wait, yeah that would still be when you think about it. I liked the camping museum (wall-e anyone?). Anyway...

I liked Up, personally I read far too many headlines from reviewers exulting Pixar on another job well done to actually encourage me to see this one in theaters (why does my brain work that way?). That was until I thought to myself, I wonder if our local multiplex will have it showing in 3D? Sure enough! Reason to see it on the big screen materialized.

First off. I'm writing this with the hopes that the interwebs are still around in the future when we have 3D ads driving down the road so that I can laugh at my old (not blue and red) 3D glasses wearing self. [HA! - Future Tony]

3D movies are the shit. Let me tell you. First off, those ridiculously (apparently sort of) stylish glasses (circa 1991) we purchased. They were pretty hard to keep off on the drive home =). Next the 3D previews were AWESOME! they made the screen look like I could reach out and help scrat grab his acorn and the far off things were actually way out out of reach. My only complaint, fast moving things looked extra blurry like my eyeballs couldn't quite fill in the blanks or something.

Back to Up, as I was sitting there enamored by the increasingly amazing amount of detail animators are putting into these films I would gawk at things that looked as if they were actually right there in front of me as if I were a part of it (even though it was animated). I couldn't believe it. After the movie I realized I was getting excited about a fake reality. I was getting excited about my everymoment perception of the world, only this time it was in a movie theater! Which also had depth. Hm. Either way. 3D movie = Awesome. You must experience this fake reality while it is still fresh.

Probably my favorite experience from the whole deal was forgetting that we were wearing these ridiculous glasses and looking over at Laura during a funny part and laughing even harder because this is what I saw:

Hows my little round-up?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:25:00 +0000

Wow I have lots to fill everyone in on so Bullets are going to be the form today.

* Last week Laura and I saw Wicked. Holy cow it was great! I wasn't sure what to expect but it exceeded it for sure.

* I got Green Day's New album 21st Century Breakdown - I was genuinely disappointed with it on my first round of listening, but after I gave it a break and tried again I found that I really liked a lot of the tracks. They could have probably left out like 4 or 5 songs and still had a good lineup at 13ish tracks.

* Unrelated - I really hate secret tracks on albums now. I hate even more when they are stuck onto a really good song that happens to be last. So to that I want to give a big Fuck You to The Black Eyed Peas for that shit at the end of My Humps, Velvet Revolver for the twangy bullshit at the end of Gravedancer, and Dave Matthews for Tacking on that nice yet unrelated little jazzy thing at the end of You & Me. Ugh.

* Related I also got the New Dave Matthews Band Album, I'm a fan, I think. I haven't given it that break and listen again yet so I'll do that soon and get back to those who care.

* My headstone I made a while back apparently was a big hit and they cut it and it's in Colorado! There is a certain someone I know who lives nearby who should check it out.

* On Friday night I hosted my very first intro to wine/tasting! I rocked! Lots of people said they enjoyed it and it made me pretty happy to hear that. Though the most rewarding thing was later at dinner one of the tasters ordered his favorite flavor from the tasting to drink with his meal! Yeah!

* Port is still not my favorite.

* This weekend Laura and I headed up to Mad-Town for some rockin' good times with some good folks up there. I climbed a tree. It was also kind of weird to see people out running around since it is such an active city. Pretty sure there are only 2 runners here in Oakwood.

* The garden Looks Great!

* My Rain Barrel is complete and it rocks!

* I feel old because I'm trying to tend my lawn.

* There are no peach trees in Peach Tree City.

* Tonight I fixed our toilet, I kid you not these were the instructions for Installing the new flusher valve thing: Insert the Ballcock into the hole after you have fitted it with the rubber seal and Screw. This was before I chained up the flapper to properly cover the exit hole.

Hows my little busy bee?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Life?
Grand.
No Complaints.
The lady in my life is excellent.
The things in my life are excellent.
If all we need is love, than consider me all set.

Last weekend I did the traditional memorial weekend with my excellent pals from the glory days. There seemed to be more shenanigans than usual. For example...I still can't get over this one. One of my best friends pushed me off his deck into a bush just for laughs:

I know its weird to say, my best friend pushed me off his deck into a bush. Many people would say, are you sure he is a friend? I can only answer with, 'it's a weird friendship...' crazy huh? (if he was here he would be playing an imaginary fiddle)

I played paintball yesterday for the first time, that is a great time! I've always loved FPS games but putting those skills into real life where you STILL don't die. Even better. Laura for some reason opted out for some reason I couldn't imagine her in the mask/gun regalia, it must be because she is such a sweetheart, so I understood. I was going to post pictures of my "kills" but I'm a bit vain and think I look farther out of shape than I am (which is saying something) so just imagine 6 nice round little welts on one side of your body and go wow neat ouch!

Books:
I want everyone to know that if you are ever on a 6 hour+ drive, audio books are probably the absolute best form of entertainment next to peeing into a bottle. (which you can simultaneously do.....if you're good), I managed to survive a 9 hour drive (533 miles) to Justin's cabin with the book called Stardust by Neil Gaiman (a phenomenal movie by the by 9 [Hear that Twilight!?!]) and another called The Book of Lies. Which was also pretty exciting and recommended. For you twilight folks, New Moon was about 30 pages away from me folding shut and giving up. Thank god for some real live excitement and plot advancement. If you decide to read the Twilight series I will strongly advise you to skip the entire second book pass go get your $200 and dive into the significantly better third one. No time wasted and 100% love for the series upheld. I have now started on Stephenie Meyer's 4th edition of what Laura and I have affectionately begun to call Edward, because really, who cares about anyone else? So far my interest level has been maintained, in all fairness I'm not too far into it though.

I found corn (High Fructose Corn Syrup) in my ketchup today and nearly shat a brick. WTF corn, Ketchup?

I bought Pepsi throwback today only because it is made with real live sugar, I'll bring one to work tomorrow to tell you it tastes the same.

As a US citizen I do not want any stake in owning the shitty automobile manufacturer GM especially since they are the masterminds behind such successful brands such as Hummer and...uhh GM? Wait, does that mean since my EARNED money taken from me via taxes will be deducted from a new GM (government motors) vehicle? Who is to say that the president in power will NOT be able to hold restraint in the vehicles being produced? Imagine if a new bush was elected, I bet cars would be cross shaped and throw Jews at imports that cut you off. Fuck that.

Hows my little looker?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:14:00 +0000

It rained like crazy last night, I thought it would be a great time to test my new rain jacket I picked up off of SAC a month or two ago. Word to those who are in the market, if you find GoreTex on sale, its worth all of the pennies. My shorts Dried out sometime this afternoon, but my head and shirt were dry all night long!

A new look for the template! Its about time!

Hows my little diet?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:09:00 +0000

I've been trying this crazy new fad diet since last October and its just like all of the others, I still weigh like 205ish...so for all of you folks in cyberspace stay away from the "eat less and exercise" more diet. Its impossible to eat less when you get home from exercising and all you want is food! Food. Fooood, hm...That leads me to something else.

I hate corn.
I really hate corn.
Corn Tony?
Yes, corn, its a stupid food slut that gets around like its hot shit or something.
OK Go on...

Well...I've had a minor vendetta against corn for awhile, starting with the ethanol in my gas tank. When I first heard of this idea I was like, corn can be made into gas? Holy shit thats awesome to the Nth power! Turns out corn in your gas tank is probably the worst idea that happened to the driver since Ray Crock got rid of his silverware. Ethanol is a less fuel efficient form of gas, AKA more corn is needed to go farther. It also takes more energy to make corn into gas than oil into gas...hmm? (we should all switch to battery operated cars, powered by coal fired power plants! Go Earth!!...wait...I'm still on pins and needles for a fuel cell station here in Oakwood.)

Anyway so now that you know corn is is your gas tank, did you know corn is one of the most nutrient hungry crops we humans can grow? It requires an insane amount of nitrogen (derived from fossil fuels [mostly]) to grow and then all sorts of pesticides and other fun stuff to keep it standing. Since farmers almost always over fertilize much of this nitrogen is leaked into local waterways, ponds lakes and the gulf of mexico. (Lookup farm runoff for more information). This is bad for the environment we live in.

And that is why I used to have a tiff with corn.
I've started reading an eye opening book called, The Omnivore's Dilemma lately and its going to change the way I eat until I'm too old to care.

Corn is a food slut. Kind of like cranberry juice is in the juice isle, only corn works the whole grocery store and beyond. Next time you pick up something that has an ingredient list (try that can of pop) look for dextrose, crystalline fructose, maltodextrin, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, corn starch, and Xanthum Gum and you are looking at several different names for corn mashed and split into a new substance invading your food.

I hate corn because it still is an inefficient crop to grow and now its in EVERYTHING! I picked up the summer sausage I bought expecting the ingredients to read like 5 different meats and seasing but saw, High fructose corn syrup high on the list. WTF? Reading a Soda label is like reading the different flavors corn can be broken down into. What sucks the most about corn is that although its in everything there is still a surplus of the stuff. This is because our government pays the farmers to grow it, and grow it they do. Corn farmers ignore the simple law of supply and demand, everyone knows this one, for example Gas is more expensive in the summer mainly because more people are diving and people selling oil can get more money by selling it at a higher rate because consumers still need the stuff. Farmers on the other had go SHIT! corn cost less, I better plant more to turn a profit this year. Since they are guaranteed some government moolah all the better, more corn gets planted.

Which gets me to think, eating pretty much strictly corn in my food can't be all that good for me can it? [this isn't entirely true most of my meals need chopping not slicing open packaging] I need a well balanced diet of meat, cookies, and other stuff. So eating all this corn probably isn't that good right? High Fructose Corn Syrup has its risks and it is the number one culprit of invading any sweetened beverage in North America. Consuming HFCS can lead to higher caloric intake, increase in bodyweight, it fools your body into thinking it’s hungry thereby increasing the amount of processed foods you eat, thereby decreasing your intake of nutrient-dense foods,
and for you diabetics it may increase insulin resistance and triglycerides. Studies are also coming out linking all of this corn to heart desiease, the number one killer in America.

What has all of this knowledge meant for me? I'm seriously considering giving up cereal for breakfast, I've been reading packing ingredients a little more closely so that I am more likely to buy something that resembles the product I'm trying to get, (I really hate the idea of imitation crab 'meat'). I also am going to try purchasing things that have a smaller ingredient list. I really like when we buy sauerkraut and it's ingredients say, cabbage, water, salt. Knowledge like this has had a profound impact on me in the past, after I read Fast Food Nation I didn't eat fast food for over three months and even now I eat it only when my options are limited. The Supersize Me movie helped too.

When I buy food from now on I will be noting it's ingredients and consider if I were going to make something like it myself it should have ingredients I can find in my cupbord, not in a science class. I truly believe I can live a long healthier than normal life if I just pay closer attention to my grocery list.

Hows my little accident?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:37:00 +0000

My actual log posted on the Geocaching Webpage:

TMI ALERT!...

In a weird afternoon of stomach churning I had been holding back some flatulence I was weary of being more than just that. While doing some bushwhacking to find this cache the rest of my team found some stinging nettles and abdicated the hunt through the forest to the groomer but I bravely pressed on. Of course on my own I decided to do as any solo worried farter would do, I emitted a Test fart. FOUND IT! I shouted, no response. All by myself I let loose a quick string of quick sharp bangs. While I was worried about catching up to my team I quickly signed the log , which was soaked (foreshadowing perhaps?) replaced the cache, and scampered off only to realize my underpants were not as comfy as they had been before. Not good.

I promise to give thanks for boxer briefs and convenient public restrooms. It was an embarrassing uncomfortable mess. After a donation to the trash and some more humiliation from the soap-less facilities, we decided to make a commando march back to our vehicle to head home for a shower. TFTC it won't be one I'll forget soon.

Hows my little landscaper?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:08:00 +0000

This weekend Laura Chip and I made a landscaping adventure for ourselves. And it was great. It started by going to a park down here and getting beyond disappointed by its selection. The sale was held in a garage and it looked like some sticks were in buckets on a table. I was ready to cry because I had been excited for it for the past few weeks. So we went to the local nursery dropped some cash and said YO! plants, come live in our yard! and they said sure why not.

We bought two Lilacs a Dogwood and a Tulip Tree. They are all small but we will nurse them into mighty shrubs and tree. For most of you this will be the first image you see of the outside of our house. I hope you enjoy it!

Laura digging a hole for the tree.

The two Lilacs are on the lower right and the dogwood is next to the garage. That is our alley on the far side. We drive there sometimes.

Chip was very helpful. Notice my sunburn starting. My back is still tender.

We planted the garden on Sunday. Laura supervised me because she wasn't feeling the best. Last night at about 9:30pm I ran outside and planted a bunch of tomatoes that I had started inside and some damn critter ate a whole bunch of them! We planted Beans, Tomatoes, Onions, Cucumbers, Peppers, Potatoes, Squash, Carrots and some herb I can't pronounce nor do I know what to cook it into.

Hows my little guy?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:41:00 +0000

Reading:
The Watchmen Graphic Novel - So far pretty good and a very different reading experience
The Omnivore's Dilemma - Only a few pages into it but I think I'll be ready to quit eating food purchased outside of a farmer's market.

Unrelated fun food fact: The average food Item travels 1500 miles to reach the mouth it feeds. Obese people are causing global warming.

I recently finished reading The Two Towers and Laura and I just watched the movie, holy cow they are different! But the movie was still really good. (hear that twilight!?!)

Its supposed to be 80 this weekend, We are going to buy bushes and go hunting for some mushrooms! I'm pumped! Bring it on garden!

Now that I'm a homeowner watching HGTV is actually interesting.

I'm building a rain barrel.

One of my coworkers consistently has bad breath, it really grosses me out.

Anyone know some good cooking with beer recipes?

Hows my litte survivor?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:28:00 +0000

I died yesterday!

I didn't really. Now, I know that I posted this on facebook so don't get all frustrated with my double posting but, I like using this blog as a record of my life and since this was my first (of hopefully many!) headstones I thought I would plop it on here to look back at fondly.

We are planting a garden soon! Hurray!

Hows my little digger?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:13:00 +0000

This weekend I decided, Hey, I have a shovel, potential garden space, grass covering it and a chunk of lawn without grass. Hmmmm I think.

Oooh! I'm going to dig up the grass and place it on the dirt patch and have a new grassy spot and a new dirt spot for my soon to be garden! Sweet! After about 3 hours of back destroying labor I moved approximately 3 square feet of grass and threw in the towel.

Nature: 1
Tony's bright money saving Ideas: 0
Bag of grass seed: $7

I got my farmers tan started on Saturday and this morning this is what I saw!?

Now I know I can't complaing, but we have little leafs on many trees down here, you can understand I'm sure.

Note: the sad and lonely patch of dirt in the back. Also note my neighbor's shitty ugly car on a trailer...grr.

Hows my little preemptive?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Death.

My income is earned by dealing with arguably the most emotionally trying times in any person's life, death.
This opening statement should probably be used in a future blog, but it gets you in the mood...

Since I deal with the death care industry significantly more now than I have ever in my life, I've begun to think about when I'm dead how I want to be disposed of and remembered. So, these following words in the event of my untimely death are to be carried out to whatever measure a person in charge of my corpse can in their own right. Until of course i have a will or some other more official thing lined up past my blog.

How does one dispose of themselves?
Ask any of your friends and family, according to the funeral industry about 30% of them will say they want to be cremated and scattered somewhere. The funeral industry has changed little in the past 100 years, I bet their survey taking hasn't either. I'm guessing most <60% folks my age want to be burned. Me included, there is no romanticism about it, I'll be dead, the heat won't bug me.

After a lot of thought and some open debate, I've decided that when my body decides its done listening to my mind I want a few things done. Yes, even in death.

First. I'm starting to really take up this whole recycle your shit idea in my daily life; with what I consume to what I don't. So if someone can use my bits and pieces when I'm done with them, good. Doctors, sick people (who aren't smokers, nothing would piss me off more than for some sack of shit smoking themselves to death getting my nice healthy clean lungs, fucking greedy bastards, may they live an awful rest life with shitty lungs if that is the case[i hope that curse works!]) or just some people in need, you never know who could save the world, if I helped the person who ends up saving it, sweet. All of it too, don't skimp whatever can be foraged do it.

Next after my body has been harvested of its stuff worth taking plop me right in the crematory. Or freezer I suppose I can be patient. I don't want a dash of preservative in me. Why? That stuff is awful for the environment, and ....

I don't want a wake, visitation or funeral...in the traditional sense. Family, friends or whoever, throw a party in honor of me, if you think my ghost will be wandering around with you having a jovial time than sweet, more power to ya. I sure as hell won't be looking down from the fluorescent lights smiling, if I'm anywhere I'll be enjoying my newfangled walking through walls abilities. Make sure there is lots of booze. Nothing like celebrating remorse with some depressants! Seriously though, at least have beer, and some yummy foods.

After I'm done being ground up and burned, take my ashes put them in a rubbermaid container from target (don't waste my/your money on an urn!) so that you can dump them around in some places that I had a good time at, if you need ideas you can start with outside any bar on Superior street in Duluth, somewhere in the BWCA, down here at Sleepy Creek, or at Justin's cabin. Just don't bury me, especially in one spot. As I was told once, you never know where they will build the next Wal-Mart.

So after you've sprinkled me around the midwest (I had fun in Ireland when I was there hint hint) Plant some tree that will look nice somewhere, maybe in a park or something, not in a cemetery though (or a memorial park/garden for you tricksters) and put some sort of remembrance to me in front of it. If it read Tony was here (sprinkle ashes if I wasn't) I would be fine with that. I want a place where if someone wanted to stop somewhere in particular and think, gosh what a guy, remember that time he peed in my shoe?, they could find it. If it somehow included a riddle or some cool alignment with the sun to reveal buried treasure, even better. I want some sort of marker for people to stop by and mull over or lay flowers on if thats their thing.

Most of all, I want to be celebrated for the life I've lived and have yet to live (this is not a suicide note dear lord stop thinking it is) which is why I don't want my friends and family to stop and look at me while I am not alive, that is not the last thing I want anyone to remember me as. Whatever you find to be the characteristic you think worth savoring I want it to be that, not with my eyes peacefully glued shut and make-up swabbed all over my face. I want my friends and family to be able to enjoy what memories they had with me around the world, yet to be able to know of one physical place still devoted to just me.

Many people can argue I'm thinking about this too early but judging from the dates I type in each day, its never too soon to have an idea.

Our grass is becoming brilliantly green today I'm excited for our extra long crappy fall season to go ahead and skip winter and spring and move on to summer!

Hows my little Escape?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Since seeing my first Flogging Molly concert I have always thought man, wouldn't it be sweet to see them play on St. Patricks Day? Sure enough, it was. Granted I can't compare it to the last time I saw them where I got to meet the band afterwards but it was still really great. Easily they put on one of the most fun live shows around. Beer can aid the weary. I (foolishly) didn't Bring my camera, so this was the only photo I grabbed worth keeping from the concert.

I'm not all about just running up to Chicago and back for a few hours though. So this trip Laura and I decided we would do it right, and boy was it great to be getting paid to walk around and eat mussels.

On Tuesday we took a half day headed up to Chicago to meet up with pal Justin and his wonderful lady. We found out that Chicago celebrates St. Patrick's day the nearest Saturday to the actual day, so that was a huge disappointment because I wanted to see the greenest of green rivers and hang out at a parade before our concert. This was all we got:

Sure its green but I'm willing to bet that is a natural color of the Chicago River.

Here are some other photos from walking around that day:

Worlds largest working cell phone.

Justin was excited about the river.

Sadly Justin and Allison couldn't hang out with us for the following day, after we parted ways, Laura and I walked on over to the Shedd Aquarium. on the way we took some nice photos around town, I decided if they can dye an entire river I'm sure they covertly dye the lake this ridiculous blue color. I wouldn't put it past the Illinois/Chicago government.

The Shedd was pretty awesome, I love looking at fish and other animals, such as overly concerned parents and obscenely large children. Listening to the southerners talk was fun too. I swear I liked the fish, there were tons of really cool ones, like the fish that was older than my parents, and possibly rivals my Grandpa in age, he was brought into captivity in 1933! Neat.

Here are some fun ones from the Aquarium:

These guys were a riot.

I like all the rays in this picture.

After the Aquarium we had a genuine Chicago Dog and took off for home. I can't say I would do the any different. Next time though I will be prepared for heaps of delicious food, since we didn't get to it this time. I will recommend the Congress Hotel to folks looking for a comfy place to lay their head.

Ohio State and UCLA really F'd up my bracket. Not that I had a clue to begin with.

Hows my little Attraction?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony!) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:50:00 +0000

Danville, Illinois.
The name alone sounds pretty boring, many would argue that the town is pretty boring. But, just like everywhere else in the world, it is what you make of it. So far I've been having a grand old time around here. Danville is not where I live. Laura and I live in Oakwood, I try to not associate myself with Danville as much as possible. But it does have its charm and quirkiness to it that I can't help but to love.
Laura and I went cruising around yesterday to bring some of these exciting little bits of our new locale to you:

A random train we drive by on the way to work every morning. Its no longer on rails.

Here are some of the Eatery's around.

Haven't been here yet but will soon.

This place is pink, no idea what kind of food is inside, one of my coworkers thinks its run by a greek mob.

We have eaten here, Laura and I go to lunch here about once a month. The Wednesday special is killer.

This might be the most poorly worded sign in town. I don't get it, do you drop your parents off there with a suitcase full of sex toys and tell them to play nice with the other adults?

I don't have a chimney but if I did I wouldn't rest until I had one of these poking out of it.

ART!

Laura found this on her lunch break one day, we are going to donate to it as soon as we can.