Narnia

Book...kicked...butt
Movie...kicked...butt

So does my family. I'm in St. Louis visiting with them for the Christmas season. It's been great just hanging. My cousin Kathy got engaged! She's marrying a man from Portland named Hubert. Very cool stuff. So that's the biggest news. Tomorrow we're going to have a carriage ride through a Christmas light park. It's gonna be fun. Nothing much more to say...

SOTD - 8 - Tonight Nebraska beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl or something like that. They won 32-28 in an exciting controversial contest. Michigan gave themselves a chance to win at the end of the game and they had an amazing series of 8 pitches trying to get themselves into the endzone but ending up about 15 yards short. It was nothing short of spectacular.

O FOGGY NIGHT

the stars are hardly shining
this is the night that the fog makes it hard to see

I took some picture in the fog and true to my word, I decided to waste some time posting them...

post moves

I like post moves in basketball. Just a random thought.

As I sit here playing with my dog after one more day of my break has gone by, I sit and ponder. I've been taking fun pictures as of late with my new camera and hanging with friends basically. Dean came over and I got to talk to him for a while. I felt bad because I was seriously falling asleep. I'm glad my parents were there or it could've been EXTRA rude. I just posted some more pictures on my facebook album and I think I'll put some of my favorites on here so I cover all bases.

So the biggest news in my life right now is that there is a STRONG possibility that I will be going to NYC with friends for New Year's Eve. That's so intensely awesome. I really hope it goes through. As for other things...I'm tired and reading the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrode. So I need to get back to that so I can finish it before I watch the movie.


SOTD - 13100 - my family computer when all said and done ended up with 13000+ viruses on it. I'm glad I ran that scan.


I get the impression that I'm going to be having a lot more photo posts now that I have a digital camera of my own...

2600+

When this post is finished, the computer will be at the 2600 range of viruses/trojans found within it...WOW

I ran across these pictures on my family pc. They are from senior year and there abouts....


The ever elusive Hamy finally caught on photo...

The party we had in Spanish class for Mrs. Fry as she was retiring at the end of the year.


Caleb drinking a drink very intently at Dairy Queen after some event. I'm not sure what it was after. Give me any help if you've got an idea.

Myself and Olive chillin' at the family reunion in the summer of '04.
Tucker and I taking random pictures in my room. Boy are we crazy boys. I look awfully different there too...what the heck is up with that.

Random babbling

I'm hitting up the random babble as I sit here on the family computer running a virus scan. We haven't had anti-virus software ever and I finally got some for my family for Christmas. So far, as I run the scan, slightly less than 10% of the files are viruses. I'm glad this is finally getting taken care of. My new camera still rocks and I've gotten a better hang of it, taking sweeter and sweeter pictures with it. I can't wait to take some normal pictures!!! I've started up some talk of possibly traveling somewhere for New Years. It's still hush hush, but I just thought I'd post about it because I'm excited. Clinton beat Lovington in basketball today and Justin was there to see it. It was great. Go Maroons!! We don't seem to be that good of a team, but we beat the Panthers, and that's all that matters as of today. One more thing....

SOTD - 59.7 - The Chicago Bears won the NFC North last night by beating the Green Bay Packers. Congratulations Bears fans. I'll let you have 1 division title every four years :) This team has primarily won with defense and that's all they've needed. In the games that they've lost though, their lack of offense has shone through. Now with Rex Grossman under center, the talk is that the offense is fixed. Just so it's known though, Grossman currently has a QB rating of 59.7...not exactly Super Bowl calibur numbers. We'll have to wait this one out to see the final verdict...

Christmas loot

I got my Christmas loot that I asked for :) I got a digital camera that I've been wanting for a long time. I'm so stoked about it. I took a bunch of random photos with it. There are some cool color features that allow me to create the optimum conditions for pictures. So that's how it rolls. My sister also got a camera and my mom got a sweet curio cabinet to hold all of her junk and trinkets. I also got her some picture frames with some old pictures of the family mounted in them. I think she really appreciated them.

MEERRRRRYYYYY CCCCHHHHHRRRRIIIIIIIISSSSSTTTTMMMMMMAAAAASSSSS

Well, December 25, 2005 is here, and I don't feel a day older...or something like that. Last night we had midnight mass and it was beautiful as always. Although this year seemed more Hable-esque as my mom and I were a couple minutes late to the carols, my dad couldn't find his regular glasses, so he had to wear his nerdy safety glasses, and Father Don completely skipped the Christmas Gloria. We also didn't get to sing Good King Wenceslaus, as the guy we sing with wasn't there.
But in all honesty, this Christmas crept up on me. I didn't even realize it was here by the time it started. But now it is here and I'm going to make the most of it. Last night in mass I was just thinking about the fact that this baby, as much as we rejoice his birth, was born to die. That was his lot in life. To die for us all. That's a pretty big burden for an infant. There's a really cool Relient K song about that called "I Celebrate the Day." One of the lyrics goes as follows.

The first time that you opened your eyes, did you realize you would be my savior. The first breath that left your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever.

It's a pretty cool tune just thinking that. I really enjoy the idea that we celebrate the birth of our savior. The only problem I even have with it is the cliche problem that people have; The commercialism taking the season over. Now, I can't deny that I enjoy gift-giving and recieving. Now I'm sitting here waiting for my women (sister and mom) to wake as I couldn't sleep past 9. I'm still a kid and I'm excited about my gifts :) I'm also excited about the gift the NFL is giving me in the form of a Bears-Packers football game today. And I'm excited about calling friends and hanging with my family.

My mom JUST woke up. One more person to go....

On a more serious note, I think one reason this Christmas is different, is I've been struggling a bit with my own humanity, trying to remember why I love God so much. It's something you have to remind yourself of and plug into again and again. Why do I do it? I have to remember why the life lived for Christ is the life gained! It's beautiful, but I have to believe it, not just say it.

Now that this is officially a pretty in depth, rambling post, I'm going to end it....pretty soon. At least I'll think about it.

SOTD - IMPROVEMENT - Dee Brown, the point guard for Illinois basketball didn't start this season as a point guard. He had finally smoothed himself out a bit in that roll. He started the season with an assist/turnover ratio of less than 1...That just isn't good. Now he's at 1.8/1, meaning in the last half a dozen games or so, his ratio has been signifigantly higher than that to bring his season average up. It's good to see that kind of improvement.

Another note on my fanhood to sports teams. I've been told I'm very negative about my teams, especially Illinois basketball, which is undefeated. We'll see how it goes. I'm still holding my ground, which is theoretically realistic ground. I've tried to keep an eye on changes and trends, and incorporate those into my adjusted views. So is Dee Brown a point guard...I'd say he's a lot closer to it now than he was.....

equation sheet

Christmas presents = done
room ~ clean
Mr. & Mrs. Smith = awesome
Soul Calibur III = more awesome
many hats from my room = found
there's just not a lot on my mind = my thoughts right now

SOTD - 6: Samkon Gado, the Packers starting running back went down with a season ending knee injury. To replace him, the Packers must start their 6th different running back of the season.

New Facebook things and other musings

• The Facebook (www.facebook.com for those of you that have lived in a cave or aren't in college) has added some new features as of late and I must say that they are awfully time consuming. The first feature is a 'pulse' keeping track of the trends amongst students. The other is a way to display your connections to people. That is very time consuming trying to do it for all the people you know.
• As of yesterday, our roadtrip to Florida was rapidly and harshly cancelled. I'm ok with it though, as it will free up my money and time. But soon we shall make the trek...soon.
• Ross bought a house in Normal and it is g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s. It's so cool what he's done with it in such a short time. I went and stayed the night with him last night and we had a blast doing all sorts of things in his sweet hanging pad.
• He beat me in everything we played, but it was ok, because we got to play darts, ping pong, and madden. It was great just to have that fun like that.
• Ross bought most of his stuff at thrift stores for his house. We decided to keep looking and we went to the thrift stores.
• I happened upon a pair of snowboard boots at the thrift store. It was a perfect blessing as they were in my size and it saved me a good chunk of money.
• I've not read in quite a few days. I really need to get back into that.
• Tomorrow is a day of work, as I have much cleaning as well as other odd tasks to complete.
• I got a couple more hats as of late and they're all fun. I'm a big fan of hats.
• Time for bed...

SOTD: DUMB - Johnny Damon, now a member of the New York Yankees signed a deal with them recently after being released from duty to hated rival Boston. Damon completely dishonored the code of not playing for the other team as well as allowed himself to get sucked into the pretty boy image of the Yankees and cut his long mane. That is so dumb!

I just woke up after 9 and a half hours of sleep OR I'm almost done with Christmas shopping OR I finally bought that Illini hat that I've been wanting

SOTD - 136.8 - The Packers lost their 11th game of the season on Monday night and they finally lost in a most convincing fashion. They established themselves officially as one of the worst teams in the NFL. They were officially trounced by the mediocre Ravens. The Ravens squad, led by Kyle Boller, put up 48 points on an over matched Pack. Not only did Boller eek out a fairly rare win for the Ravens, he also did it with a career day, throwing for 253 yards, 3 TD, and a new career best passer rating of 136.8, which tops his previous best by over 20 points.

Janie's got a gun

• Christmas shopping = almost done. I've got a couple more folks to put something together for.
• Jeff and I are frantically trying to organize this roadtrip and figure out the best way to get there and back again in realistic timing.
• Ryan wants to come home from Montana and I'm trying to figure out the best way to organize it and see if he can get there.
• Packers suck.
• The Illini are 11-0.
• I finally bought this sweet Illini hat that I've been wanting for a while. It's white and it's got an old english font I on the front and then the block I on the back. It's very cool in my opinion...that's why I bought it.
• I'm really hungry right now.
• My sister has her last day of school today, while I have been done for some time now. I love college schedules.
• I want to put together a slideshow of the scenery from Colorado sometime...I just have to make the time commitment.

I will leave you with Spence's current away message....

a common conversation with my good friend: [22:37] hable54: I think I'm in love [22:37] Cheffrey1: with... [22:37] hable54: i dunno [22:37] Cheffrey1: steak? [22:38] hable54: yeah...steak or girls...I think it's one of those [22:38] Cheffrey1: both are formidable [22:38] hable54: tis true...both supply men with a basic need [22:38] hable54: both look good when hot [22:38] Cheffrey1: he he he

The Time I Went Home and Found Out My Friends Were Still Cool or The Time I Left School for A Month and Couldn't Wait to Get Back or My Family Rocks

I thought I'd go with the recent trend in song titles which is naming them with multiple titles that are very long and descriptive.

SOTD: .500 - The 1972 Dolphins went 17-0. The 2005 Colts had much speculation surrounding them about a 19-0 season. The Colts lost today to a team with a winning record and that is in the playoff race. The '72 Dolphins only beat 2 teams all season with a +.500 winning percentage.

Loaded gun complex

• Last night I had one of those talks with Spence that just goes forever. You just discuss everything from your lives and address some brokeness and have a pleasant time.
• The kids were great this weekend. They pretty much watch themselves at times, although it was time being the jungle gym I enjoyed most.
• I got to talk to Fred, the guy that really pushed me along last year and I'm very excited about the role he has in my life right now.
• Fred challenged me and Mike in my opinion to be very bold this coming semester. I hope that we can meet that challenge with our own fire and passion.
• I got to sleep in the car....twas glorious.
• Tonight I got to hang with old high school friends and it was quite the contrast from what I was used to for a while. I see certain things that have changed, and then I realize how much I changed.
• I got to talk to Nathan a bit about what God's teaching him, which is powerful to me.
• Josh told me about this like 3 day day camp thing that I would love to do if possible to rake in a bit more dough.
• I'm soooooo tired. I'm falling asleep here on the cpu.
  

I kind of want to go into a big exam that I'm not in the class for and like 10 minutes into it stand up, yell "I HATE THIS CLASS!!", and storm out.

Thanks Justin. That is an idea that will come to bear fruit someday. I feel bad for those not done with finals, but I know they shall feel awfully gloriously when they are done. It's weird for me to be done. I don't know what to do now. It's just a matter of packing up my stuff and basically hauling out. It's kinda sad, leaving this place. I love it here. Home will be fun though, and I plan on staying awfully busy this break, so it's all good. I got done with my physics exam tonight and was sort of just done. That was a good feeling. Now I'm packing, and I'll be off to Memphis, Indiana for the weekend to watch children...that is ALWAYS fun. I don't have much else to think or say right now as my mind is fried.

SOTD: 1 - the number of months I have a break from school for

Listen up homies

SOTD: 2 - # of exams left for me

Worth

Nothing like school to shoot down the feeling of worth that I thought I had in God's eyes. Downward spiral coming quickly and it's scaring the crap out of me. I can't do this right now. I can't believe I did that horribly. Ack!!!!

Don't despair Alan...Don't despair...Don't despair.

Stumble

Wow, didn't expect that. Stumbling over that is not what I expected. Any prayers would be most graciously accepted. Just so that I may not stumble and instead stand strong.

A Very Badger Christmas

This is the true meaning of Christmas. It's in there, I promise.

SOTD: 84-81 - The score of the Depaul-Wake Forest basketball game. Depaul pulled the big upset over Wake off in North Carolina....most impressive

Final counter: 1 down 3 to go

A most insightful evening

Tonight twas, how did they say it in the 90s...THE BOMB. It played out in three acts and I shall tell it as so

1. It all started out with children and Biaggi's. At the same time!!! Spence, Rachel, Julianne, and I totally watched the iLife staff's children tonight for a few hours. It was great. We got to play silly games and I got to settle disputes and totally rock out with them. And we got Biaggi's out of the deal, which is quite the bonus. The only thing I feel bad about is that due to unfortunate circumstances, I had to leave Rachel and Julianne alone with all of those kids. Especially since they each had an infant to watch and unfortunately had to leave the rest of them to run amok. But it was enjoyable and I especially liked running around with an army helmet and a toy gun in front of all of these adults that I respect. I'm such a kid still. I love it.
2. After driving the girls home, I watched Braveheart with Spence and his friend Jenna. I got to get to know her just a tad and that was good. I enjoyed their company as well as the movie. It's just a very well done film. I'd never seen it before (oh horror of horrors) so it was great to get to enjoy it. I also am excited to hear that my friend Bryce is going to Manchu Picchu. That will be a trip to talk about for years to come.
3. Nearing the most intense heart wrenching part of a play is exactly what happened in this act of my evening. I got to hang at Brothers, which is a bar, with my friends celebrating Mike's birthday. I learned a ton there. I thought it was finals week and I'm only supposed to regurgitate info I already know, but it was great to learn something real and raw. I got to learn about respect, people's stances on drinking, people's stances on relationships, people's stances on me. I was very encouraged that people wwanted my respect and my opinion. And when I gave it I feel people really enjoyed having it. That is SOOOO encouraging. I also won at darts. Granted, I beat two people who were slightly buzzed, but it was still awesome. My whole problem with bars stems from the fact that I'm not meeting a person for who they really are. I am meeting them in a controlled setting where their inhibitions are slightly gone. I want a person to tell me what they want to tell me. So I learned a bit about how to act in those situations. I also realized something that I knew already, but it was a powerful revelation. I Love my friends. I really do care about them and would lay myself down for them. I cry inside when they deal with trouble and pain. Whether it be guy, girl, sin, lies, etc, whatever they're dealing with, I want to help them in the slightest way. I want to love as Christ loves. I want someday to be exactly there. It's going to take work, but I hope to be there. The saddest part of the evening is when somebody got a bit too sick for his own good. Twas sad, I'm not going to lie, but I really hope he's ok. That's my first concern.
4. The post-script to the plot goes here. I talked to another friend of mine and things are going better for him. Blessed be God for that. I also told Chris a bedtime story through IM. and it went like this:
5. ME: now here's a bedtime story for ya as well
   (02:14:11) ME: there once was a man named George
   (02:14:17) ME: and he was a great man
   (02:14:22) ME: he was a firefighter
   (02:14:48) ME: and he fought every fire the city could throw at him. Until there was a fire in his own house
   (02:15:55) ME: he didn't know what to do, it all happened so suddenly. George was lost without a home and his family had no money left. So the community came together for George. They gave him a check for a lot of money. They even got a mascot for the campaign to raise him money
   (02:16:05) ME: this mascot was "Stumpy" the three legged dog
   (02:16:14) Paolinetti: awww
   (02:16:24) ME: and Stumpy became a friend of George's family
   (02:16:33) ME: he was the kid's favorite animal ever
   (02:16:42) ME: and then he got run over by a car
   (02:16:52) ME: a really big car
   (02:16:57) ME: with HUGE tires
   (02:16:59) Paolinetti: sad
   (02:17:03) ME: but he lived
   (02:17:07) Paolinetti: good
   (02:17:24) ME: because he had only three legs he was safe. If he had a fourth leg, he would've lost too much blood
   (02:18:03) ME: so in an effort to get stumpy into a home and George's family into one too, the town raised 150,000 dollars by selling Krispy kremes
   (02:18:13) Paolinetti: wow
   (02:18:20) ME: yeah...it was a miracle
   (02:18:30) Paolinetti: that's an awesome story

So basically that's my LONG thoughtful evening in a most incoherent fashion. If any of my friends read this, let it be known that I love you and care a lot for you.

The innevitable low after the high

So today I've had a few talks and I few like I've overstepped my bounds on a few things. I've probably offered too much on too many things. So I still need to work on the balance of letting God work through me and God work directly in people I'm helping. This is so tough!! I guess I am a person though and not a diety. So I guess that's just how it goes. I'll work on fixing my attitudes and my roles. Hopefully I can find the happy place God has for me someday. I've also had good talks, so it's all gravy and God is still good. That's part of growing in your faith...praising God in the difficult times...it's tough at times, Lord knows I get that.

So tonight I've got a completely busy time watching the pastor's kids, watching Braveheart with friends, and then celebrating a birthday with friends. It's awfully exciting to have all of that. So I've been attempting to study throughout the day. It's been working a bit here and there. So I've got to get back to that.

SOTD:

21

Today is Mike's 21st birthday. Happy Birthday Mike!!

God is aweXome + SOTD

SOTD:

15

The amount of yards on an unnecessary roughness call on Shaun Rodgers that put Green Bay into scoring position in overtime versus Detroit.


void main (void){

So God is great. I decided that. He really has lifted me up to a place of euphoric excitement at just the utterance of his name as of late. I've just been so excited about little things with God. I'm also excited about my friends that he's put into my life. Just in the sense of I pray that they can see the joy offered in him. Also the love that he offers. I love that I've gotten an opportunity to encourage a bunch of different friends these last few weeks. It feels so good to be able to encourage different folks. In so many ways God has worked through me, at least I hope I've got him flowing throughout me. And that's how I feel. Now comes finals week and I must do well, but I'm not going to freak out either. We talked in iteam about how stress is going to happen, but it's how we deal with that stress that is important. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day, especially what with sort of scheduling my own activities such as studying, working out, hanging out, etc. It'll be good to work it out.

OOO OOO OOOOOOOO....Tonight at Mass we sung O Come Emmanuel, and it was glorious. I love that song soooooooo much. It's so powerful and amazing. The context is what makes it such a powerful song. It's speaking to Isreal, a down to the end of it's rope nation. These guys had nothing going for them at the time. And this song is speaking to them saying REJOICE!! Emmanuel (God on the earth) is coming!!! They knew the prophecies and they believed. Imagine the buzz around the holy land in the time Jesus lived. The changes that occured were earth-shattering. It is soooooo amazing. I get chills thinking about it.

}

MACHINE GUNNED (what with more bullets)

• Had SNG last night. I didn't go to SNG though. I was helping with the kids in the church. Sort of a "sunday school" thing. It was fun helping them out with all their crazy fun.
• I was told I should go to LT again this summer as a GCM intern. That was a very intriguing thing said to me.
• We played Christmas Pictionary last night at the guy's apartment. My team won, but it was totally fun for everybody.
• This morning we played basketball at IMPE. That's good fun.
• The finals are approaching and I'm not too worried. Gotta study these few subjects as the time approaches. Gotta push through to the end.
• Reggie Bush won the Heisman hands down. No huge surprise. Now the focus can go away from that towards the national championship game.
• The official passoff from the college football season to college basketball season was this weekend. There were no football games and bball dominated the tv schedule. The Illini won by 30 and moved to 10-0. Most of the games were blowouts too with the exception that I can think of...Gonzaga-Ok. State.
• NFL week 14 is in progress and important games are Colts-Jags, Bears-Steelers, Bucs-Panters, and others. It's good to be watching some quality football.

stat of the day yesterday, today, and more extravaganza

stat for yesterday:
12-0
The Colts are 12-0 when they score more points than the other team.

stat for today:
9/16
JJ Reddick shot 16 3-pointers and made 9 en route to 41 points in a 97-66 trouncing of Texas. Duke has clearly established themselves as the #1 team early this year.

more:
bullet format...GO

• Classes are done for the semester.
• I took my last hour exam on Friday. It went pretty well, but I'm still kind of unsure about it.
• Finals start next week but my first isn't until Tuesday night. I have one final per day from Tuesday through Friday, so it's nice to have them spread out, but it'll still kind of be stressful.
  
• There is still snow on the ground. It is the 10th of December and we've had snow since the 1st...just incredible. And it's snowing again now!!!
• We played snow football today. I'm disappointed at the lack of numbers for people that showed up. But those of us that showed (which is equal to 5) played some fun football I enjoyed it.
• The Cubs made a big offseason pickup in the form of Juan Pierre from the Marlins. I'm excited about that.
• I played basketball yesterday and tore it up. With no small thanks to my team. They did a great job. Justin fed the ball well to me and I was a bit too aggressive even. I still gotta work on letting everybody into the game, or something knowledgable like that.
• I also ran with Imig yesterday. That was lots of fun.
• I've been playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault a lot lately. Although I've played it before, that was a long time ago, so It's fun to play it again, especially all the way through.
• Where did this semester go???
• I'm not a huge fan of soccer players as they took our basketball court away from us to play soccer. What a huge ripoff. But I forgive them, it's not the end of the world.
• I'm gonna go shopping this afternoon methinks as I've got to get stuff for the fam for Christmas.
• I hope I get the camera I want for Christmas. I know it's completely supperficial sounding, but you know how it goes....boys and their toys. Plus there is a lot of cool stuff that I can do with it that would be artsy etc.
• DONE
  

Chemistry and Hell - together at last

I can't take credit for this, although I've heard it before. Just take the time to read the majesty of it all.

Is Hell exothermic or endothermic?

basquetbol

The Illini stretched their newly minted winning streak to 9 games as we beat Georgetown today. I was going to go to the game, but I had mass to go to as today is the feast of the immaculate conception. Basically we celebrated that Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of God. So I gave my ticket to somebody that doesn't get to go to games often and I hope they thoroughly enjoyed it. I know I enjoyed the games I got to go to last year. Being in Krush last year I got to be at a lot of amazing moments in Illinois basketball history, so I'm glad other people get to experience the team this year. I hope we continue the winning ways though.


Finals are next week???? OH SNAP. Who's ready. I think I will be. I've got one more hour exam tomorrow, and then the semester is basically done. Time to get back to my prep for that.

stat of the day

144

The most points scored in the nation this year scored in college football by a single player. This was performed by a junior running back named Bush.

But it wasn't Reggie. It was Michael Bush of Louisville off of 25 touchdowns.

stat of the day

20.2-19.9 = .3

The average points per game Green Bay is being outscored by. It took until week 13 so that the 2-10 Pack finally has been outscored for the season.

Stat of the Day

7

barring an intense heat wave tonight, tomorrow morning will be the 7th morning in a row to wake up with snow outside. That's amazing for this part of the country at this time of year.

Ice Sculpting

Ok, so tonight I was definitely looking for anything to do for a goof off session. So as I walked back to my dorm from a meeting I saw the remains of the Santa ice sculpture we had for Christmas dinner tonight shattered around the ground. I knew I had to take advantage of this. So I grabbed a chunk and took it inside. This was much to the chagrin of most people. However, Chris saw this as a glorious opportunity so we headed back outside with screwdrivers, a saw, and a hammer and we set out to sculpt beautiful things. This is the only picture that would post unfortunately, but you get the idea. It was so fun and so much better than doing work....not that I was going to do any tonight anyway. Plus I got to talk to Chris getting to know him more in a deeper level, which is something I always love to do. He's a great guy.

In this picture: the top ice thing is my hovercraft that I sculpted and the rest is the carnage we created. Chris' Pride Rock from the Lion King is on the far right side.

Simpsons football fun

This blog post took a lot of time. This guy planned things out well. He's obviously an SEC guy and that's most of the references he has, but he's got some other schools in there such as ND and UofI. Very entertaining and awfully true. Take the time to read it. Now...without further adeiu....The College Football Simpsons roster.

My favorite line in there is "Then STFU whippersnapper"



OH... more Chuck Norris

we playin' bas-ket-balllll

well, the Illini have improved to 8-0 on the season and Jamar Smith is amazing. Granted we beat Arkansas Little Rock, so it's not very impressive. But they are a team that lost a close one to Michigan State. But we decimated them by 26, so I'd say it's a good showing for us. And Dee Brown got 10 assists. That's also impressive, considering he's not a traditional point guard.

on another note....

I had my last physics exam tonight, except for the final. I think it went pretty well. I'm not sure about a couple problems, but other than that, I think it went ok. Now I'm off to relax for the evening.

stat of the day:

10-1

The record of the Oregon Ducks, whose only loss came to Rose Bowl goer USC. They got passed up by the BCS for 2 loss Notre Dame and 2 loss Ohio State. Ohio State had to be selected because it was in the top four in the BCS poll, but Notre Dame's selection shows a clear east coast money grubbing bias in college sports.

Stat of the Day

Chris Chambers - Miami Dolphins:

15 catches for 238 yards and a TD. That's SICK. Plus the TD was the game winner. He's a PTP

I loathe Chicago

The city is becoming Boston. It's a creepy parallel. The football team does great at the same time as each city's respective Sox. It's just completely crushing me and making me not want to be a fan of them. Especially the fans. Chicago fans are bothersome more often than not. I'll try to be gracious though. Even though I'd rather not leave my room in an effort to stay away from hearing about "Green Bay sucks" again and again. Of course Green Bay doesn't give themselves a chance...just pathetic............................

Loaded Gun

This gun is loaded with bullets

• I woke up late today. I really wanted to help my dad with Sunday school, but apparently I needed the sleep.
• I was up until 2 working on my CS MP. I did finish it.
• I slept only 4.5 hours the previous night.
• I drove for 5-6 hours yesterday.
• Those factors should explain my need for sleep.
• Texas and USC were so dominant this week. They didn't want to leave any question as to who were the best two teams in the country. They came out gunning in tune-up games for the Rose Bowl in a month.
• My family rocks. I love them to death.
• It was great to see people that I haven't seen for 2 years this weekend. Seeing cousins, aunts, and uncles was great. It's gotten easier to talk to them as I've gotten older, which is very cool. Plus they're just very interesting people.
• A friend of mine could use your prayers. I really can't say much more than he/she is lost and really needs God's hand to guide him/her.
• I drove in some wicked snow last night. It took us 5+ hours to do a 4- hours trip.
• I love this snow!!! It's been around for 4 days now. That is so unlike central Illinois, especially for early December. But it really has been glorious and I hope it continues.
• Reggie Bush is a certified stud. He could breed with horses and probably have a Triple Crown winner, he's that amazing.
• I know the last point is disturbing, but ignore the disturbingness and see the awesomeness of it.
• Vince Young is a stud as well. Those two should probably be the top two in Heisman voting.
• My Heisman ballot:

1. Reggie Bush - USC: The guy is amazing and such a catalyst for his team. AND a 10+ ypc average = sick
   
2. Vince Young - Texas: This man has single-handedly killed Texas's reputation of choking in the big game. He also has done more with less.
   
3. Matt Leinart - USC: IMPROVED on last season when he won the Heisman himself. And truth be told, he might deserve it more than anybody else, but it's that whole, "he's won it once" thing
   
4. Brian Robinson - PSU: Quietly had a year nearly as big as Vince's en route to a Big Ten title.
5. Brady Quinn - ND: SICK numbers and a BCS berth. Granted, I probably put him lower because of the love that Charlie Weis gets. I have a feeling Quinn would've been this good under Ty Willingham, and I don't want a former New England coach to get the credit
   

HONORABLE MENTION: Jerome Harrison - WSU: Quietly led the nation with gaudy numbers.

Another Christian athlete

David Pollack - Cincinnati Bengals rookie

former UGA defensive end...sorry Florida fans, no hard feelings

Stat of the Day: Dec 3

This stat of the day thing is something I'd like to start doing. We'll see how long it lasts. This one sticks out like a sore thumb to me.

"I have been listening to all of the talk about Chicago's Defense and the comparisons to the great Bears defense in '86. So I decided to take a closer look at it. They have played only three teams ranked better than 21st in total offense (second, 14th & 17th) and only two teams ranked better than 20th in scoring offense (fifth and 10th) and they lost one of those games by 17 points (the Bengals). So although they are without doubt a very good defense, please stop calling them a great defense with all of the comparisons to the greatest defenses of all time."
-- Bill G., Indianapolis


source(NFL.com)

Big Government?

Does this qualify as big government. I think the role our government takes and the power they think they deserve to use is getting ridiculous. They have a succesful run in 'exposing' the steroids controversy in baseball, and now they think they can fix EVERY issue that some people have a problem with. As much as I dislike the BCS and wish there was an NCAA tournament instead, I'm not going to go to congress to fix my problems. I'm going to convince people of the way to do things in the right way. It's silly. Speaking of BCS, if USC and Texas win this weekend, than we get the BCS matchup we want. And the BCS did it's job. SO...if big haters of the BCS really want more heat on the current system, they are gonna hope USC or Texas loses this week. Then who deserves to be in the game. The reason the computer polls are there is to determine who deserves to go. Many people have biases, and that affects their votes. Of course the computers are programmed by people with biases. Enough of my rant. I'm going home tonight....laters.

subject:

I just wanted to post while I'm in class. It's great to just be able to sit on a laptop in psych lecture. We're talking about depression right now, and it's depressing. I've got so much to do this afternoon. Silly CS MP. ADIOS!!

Do this with your life

I told one of my friends that this is what I would do with her life if I owned it

ME: and then I'll make you do backflips with your life.
that's just to start...after that you'll be riding giraffes, and then proposing to a bushman from the heart of africa where you two will ride off into the sunset with your three asian children and your broken down Lexus being dragged behind. Once the giraffe reaches the sea, you'll part with him and ride the lexus with your family to the galapagos islands where hence to forth you will find you have toe ability to talk to turtles. You will learn of their evil scheme to take over the world and will stop them in the nick of time with your quick wit and your fast trigger finger. After that, you'll come back to New York to a ticker tape parade where everyone will praise you and deem you a lower case god and then you will decide that you don't really love your family anymore and leave them to join the Muslims to destroy them from the inside and then finally go to the only starbucks in Madagascar for a frappacino with a croisant

my friends rock

I love people. I just spent the entire evening hanging out, talking, discussing, advising, rebuking, taking advice, hearing stories, sharing jokes, doing stupid things, and all around just hanging out with a multitude of friends. That means they rock.


Post Script Thing: I love hearing about athletes that are Christians. This is probably because it strikes a chord with me because I have a parallel to them in my life. It's even cooler when these guys are on my favorite teams. Such as Roger Powell, J Leman, and now a bunch of the Green Bay Packers that I know of. VERY COOL!!!

SNOW BUDDY

bullet points rock

• It's snowing (or at least it did last night). What a perfect way to start my December than to a blanket of white outside my window :)
• Tuesday night, the defending national champion North Carolina Tarheels lost to the Fighting Illini. Too bad both rosters were dramatically different from the title game. We could've made a case for taking the trophy to our house.
• Wednesday night, for iTeam, we went to The Catholic Worker House in Champaign on Randolph Street. It's amazing what they do. It's a non-denominational (despite the name) house of in house volunteers that houses homeless women and feeds 75+ homeless people each day.
• A friend of mine's dad has a death ray in his backyard. How friggin' cool is that. He's got a ton of mirrors focused on one point and he can ignite logs and melt metals. Very cool.
• God is showing me some cool things as of late through reading. The first being, that I really do enjoy reading, it can just be a struggle to get into. I'm reading my second book of the semester, The Screwtape Letters. CS Lewis does a great job of portraying the plans of Satan's minions.
• The best song EVER on a Tony Hawk skateboarding video game is "Superman" by Goldfinger. I'm listening to it's majesty as I type.
• We signed a lease for an apartment. I don't remember if I wrote that down before or not. But there is new news anyway, as we got it resigned when they messed up our initial lease. We got a discount rate and Justin in his infinite wisdom saved us $2.03 per month. That kid is pinching pennies like that. Most awesome.
  

wowzerz

I continue the bullet approach

• I'm going to Madison for Saturday for a memorial service for my uncle. That will be intense.
• The one good thing I see coming out of this situation is that I'll get to see a lot of my family I don't normally see.
• The bad thing about going out of town is that I've got some serious work to get done.
  
• This includes, CS MP due Monday night at 7, Physics Exam at 7 on Monday night, D.E. homework due Friday, D.E. exam to study for next Friday. THEN finals...ew, ewww, ewwwwwwwww.
• It's friggin' hot in my room right now. haha
• My dad made a great pumpkin pie.
• Time to get to work.................
  

Cue that cheesy song by Staind about it's been a while

Well, it has been a while since I've posted about my life, so I'll start with just the facts.

-I'm back in Champaign for three more weeks of the semester.
-The Packers keep managing to lose in the NFL on stupidly close games.
-Justin, Andrew, and I signed a lease today for a 3 bedroom apartment in Champaign.
-Thanksgiving break rocked my socks.
-I ate way too much during all of Thanksgiving week...not just on Turkey Day.
-I saw the Harry Potter movie this week. It was far better than I'd had thought it would be.
-The Illini Basketball team is 4-0, winners of the South Padre Island Invitational.
-That doesn't mean much. We're still playing basketball worse than we should be.
-My future roommates have spent too much time already discussing who gets which room.
-My friends really do rock. Whether they be ones at home or school.
-I'm really excited about this week's iTeam.
-Ron Zook's recruiting has moved our recruiting class rank from 45 to 25.
-I finished reading the book Blue Like Jazz this week (finally).
-A point that struck me most from that book is dying to myself every day.
-Reggie Bush is a bonafide lower case god.
-Justin is offering to do the dishes for the whole time we're in our apartment.
-He's offering to do that to have the upstairs bedroom.
-Vince Young is on the cover of ESPN The Mag.
-Vince Young is a stud and one of my current favorite college players.
-Charles Bailey, cornerback for the Illini, is my least favorite college player.
-I don't have much homework to do this week.
-WOOT!! We've got an apartment for next year. I'm most excited.
-I just found out former Illini cornerback Kelvin Hayden is on the Colts roster.
-The Colts are 10-0 and are playing tonight to go 11-0...if they can get past the Steelers.
-I'm just rambling now.

On a more serious note...

I just found out not 15 minutes ago that my Uncle MZ passed away today. I don't know what to think to be honest. It's definitely sad, but it hasn't struck me yet. I more feel for my Aunt who was his wife. She is a very good woman and I pray that she may have the best made of this situation.

midget clowns

Home is quite the change, but it's a change I've welcomed with open arms. Enjoying the company of my family and my friends is always a good thing. My friends and I definitely sat and watched muted Friends episodes while dubbing them...pathetic...YES...awesome....YES.

slow nagging screw ups

Green Bay blows. We are the worst good team in the NFL. I am convinced of this because we CANNOT win the close games. We always end up folding towards the end of the game like a house of cards. It ticks me off to no end. They play very well and just end up blowing it at the end. I can't handle being a fan of this crap that they put themselves through. At least Texans fans know what they're getting into. WE'VE OUTSCORED OUR OPPONENTS FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON AND YET WE'RE 2-8...2 and friggin' 8. Brett Favre needs to stop forcing throws and everything of that manner. He just needs to friggin' let the game come to him like it used to. I'm tired of the Packers, I'm tired of the Packers.....we once again lost to the friggin' joke of the NFL, the Vikings.

More time used...in this case, it was not wasted

Chuck Norris

Nuff said

Sitting at home, it's pretty easy to post a lot of stuff when you have nothing to do

So, I was looking around ESPN.com...as I always do, and I came upon a question asking, "Why should everyone know who Brandon Lloyd is." It's awesome!! He is the man basically. Not many, if any, of you know who Brandon Lloyd is. He is in fact, one of the greatest recievers ever to come out of the University of Illinois. He was a threat any time he touched the ball. Since then, he was drafted by the San Fran 49ers in the fifth round. I honestly couldn't believe he dropped that far. Since then, he's quietly been showing the world why they should pay attention to #85 in red. One answer to the question, which was from an ESPN analyst, said, "Because when Reggie Bush (or Matt Leinart) gets there, he's going to continue Jerry Rice/Terrell Owens legacy in S.F.". That's exciting.

AND..I just copied and pasted that quote so my font changed and I'm too lazy to change it back.

cue the DC Talk "How do they do that?"

This is awesome. It's what everybody needs so they can know how to do stuff. My favorite is about stopping being emo. It's hilarious. I'll just put it here so you don't HAVE to go to the link.

How To Rehabilitate Yourself From Being Emo:

1) Burn all of your CDs, they suck.

2) Get rid of your plastic jewelry.

3) Get rid of your clothes.

4) Buy new clothes, two sizes bigger than your old clothes, and not all black. (FROM THE RIGHT SECTION! NOT CLOTHES DESIGNED FOR THE OPPOSITE SEX!)

5) Dye your hair back to its original color.

6) If you don't need glasses, stop wearing them. If you need glasses, get contacts.

7) Get rid of any hair gel, hairspray, or hair straightener that you have been using to hold your hair in your face.

8) Get some scar removal cream and put it on your wrists.

9) Stop talking to your other emo friends.

10) Tear down posters, peel off stickers, burn magazines, and give away anything else that reminds you of your old life.

11) Get rid of all of the crappy poems you wrote.

12) Make some new friends.

13) Stop crying so much.

14) Throw away your Converse All-Stars. You have at least five pairs, get rid of all of them.

15) Enjoy not being emo.

Nintendo Fusion

Nintendo Fusion Tour. That was the name of the concert I went to on Saturday in what was supposed to be one of the most rockin' days I've ever had. It turned out less rockin' than would've been hoped for.

The day was going to be glorious...football, apartments, concert. Football turned out as usual this season. Beat by Northwestern and steeped in pathetic football for the entire season. At least basketball has started and we are 2-0. That is a plus, despite the wins over small programs. Michigan State lost too, which is a huge surprise. Anyway...

After football I watched the band finish up, which is always impressive, and I got to stare in wonder as the band parents showed their dedication. It's awfully impressive what they do. After that we were supposed to look at an apartment. We is Justin, Andrew, and myself. They told us that they had a 3 bedroom we could look at as of Friday. When we went there, they told us that they thought we wanted to look at a 2 bedroom place. Meanwhile, they told us that all the 3 bedroom apartments were already leased, which is utter crap considering the info they'd just given us the day prior. So now we still need to find a place for next year, despite the fact that it's only November. I don't understand why they all lease places sooooooo soon. It's stupid. On to other things...

So after that frustrating ordeal, the concert was upon us. OH CRAP...I just realized that I have more people coming than I have tickets. WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!! I was scrambling to make sure I had enough tickets, and wondering where I went wrong. Somehow I ended up with less than I started. I had to give 4 tickets to people I didn't even know because I promised them to a friend. She backed out though and gave them to people SHE DIDN'T even know. So I was giving tickets to a friend of a friend of a friend. Ridiculous. But I had to deal with it. Next time I ask people if they want tickets for their friends, I want for their direct friends. So, in my hecticness, I had to meet people, collect money, and direct others around the C-U area. It worked out great, except for the fact that 2 people didn't have tickets. As the organizer of the whole thing, I said I wouldn't go. I messed up, I would eat the crap that came from it. But gol darn it, wouldn't you know, I have some AMAZING friends. They are such great people for stepping up and making the sacrifice they did. Andrew and Megan said they would go home instead, which was such a great friend thing to do. I'm not sure how I'll pay them back, but let it be known...they have something coming to them. So finally, after the hecticness of it all, we went to the show....

I didn't even watch the first two bands. Instead, I played a demo for the new Legend of Zelda game. It was AWESOME. It alone was worth the money to get into the concert. After the crappy bands, I got to see Motion City Soundtrack, The Starting Line, and Fall Out Boy. It was a pretty good show. Not my favorite, but it was good. Fall Out Boy put on a good show, one that was better than that of the other bands. Then we did the whole go to IHOP thing, and finally I ended up in Clinton for my week of break and rest....

Goodnight...it's late.

Breaker Breaker one niner

Well, first off, this is my 100th post, which is inconsequential, but we decided that multipes of ten are important numbers, so yea! for me.

Now, Thanksgiving break has started for me, and I am most excited. Tomorrow is going to rock much. I'm going to be going to the Illinois football game, looking at an apartment, then going to the Nintendo Fusion Tour concert that I've been looking forward to for months. It's going to be great with Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Panic! At the Disco, and Boys Night Out. I don't know the last two groups well at all, but I'm excited to hear them nonetheless. It's going to be a great day. Then I'm going home!! Rock, Rock On!

Ronnie Brewer

Okay, so for those of you that don't know (which isn't many people, because nobody seems to read this), I took a roadtrip with some friends to an Illinois basketball game in Arkansas last year. We drove down at midnight on one day and got back to Champaign before the next midnight. We won (which was a theme of last season), but we witnessed greatness, and we realized it. Arkansas has a player on their team named Ronnie Brewer. We watched that kid kick our butts single-handedly. We knew the kid would be good. He had the body type, the skills, and the moxy. And now he's ESPN's #7 preseason prospect for the NBA draft next year. That's awesome.

Miscommunication

Miscommunication is a dangerous tool of Satan. We must remember that. But we must also learn to laugh at it come time to. I just participated in one of the funniest miscommunications in a long time. I hope those involved are not hurt in any way. It sounds like everyone is ok. I'll write about it here if I get a vibe of okayness from those involved, because it's definitely a story worth telling.

All Campus

What a great idea that is. All Campus Worship. It is a time when the Christian ministries on campus get together under one roof to praise our Lord and hear an inspiring teaching. Let me just say, when you get that many people together, it is a moving experience. I loved it so much. But I think I've realized that I'm not yet conditioned to praise God for all time. Well duh!! you might say, but that doesn't change the fact that I would love to be able to praise him longer than I seem capable of right now, what with my short human attention span. Basically though, it was awesome!! The talk we had was challenging, and interesting. It mentioned Muslims...A LOT. The speaker, who is a missionary from Sudan, spoke about how we are to love Muslims and to tell them the Gospel, because it is the saving grace of all the world. Very challenging words for complacent college students.

Another point...I think I can completely rely on God a lot more than in the past. People really do fade away when he is around, whether is be girls, guys, or dogs, people fade away and I really am about him. Worship is so great in that way.

Another another point...Fall/Thanksgiving break is nearly upon us. I've got a football game and a concert to attend on Saturday. It will be soooooo great. I'm gonna love it. I hope I can just keep God throughout it all, every minute of every day. Adios y'alls

A pathetic being

That is what I am. Completely unworthy of my Lord. I go and spend a glorious time with him and then let myself go forsake it by getting WAYYYYY to pissed off because I got beat by Ty again at Madden. I mae a couple mistakes and they came back to haunt me. It kinda pissed me off, I won't lie. I did everything in my power to win, and then he was gay and ran the clock out. Which is completely his right, but still frustrating to no end. LOOK AT ME...I'm complaining about it now, even though I know it's completely wrong and pathetic to complain about it. I'm such a bad person in that case. I really need to simmer myself down or something. As for the rest of my life, things are good, other than once again, I get angry way too quickly...which isn't something I've done recently, but is definitely part of my past. I'm really trying to keep myself calmer. I need to work EXTRA hard at that. But there are good things going on. I'm OFFICIALLY done with TAM 210 as I just took the final exam tonight. I got to talk to some crazy quad preachers that were some pretty condemning folks. It really sadened me to know that they thought I wasn't a follower of Christ and was only paying him lip service. Another point in my sporadic post...I bought the new Relient K EP, Apathetic. And it's awesome. It comes highly recommended. And at that note, I will clear my head and go to sleep.

Sweeping Bewtea

I got to see my family today…..always exciting stuff.  I went home to see the high school’s production of Sleeping Beauty.  This is the darker, less Disney-fied version.  It was very cool.  My sister was a fairy and she did a fine job of being mean in her role (as she was supposed to be).  My cousin Joel (who happens to be my sister’s Godfather) was there too and it was good to see him as well.  I got to visit with my family and have Monical’s Pizza, which is also always a plus.  After all of that, I rode home with my mom and dad, which was a pleasant experience.  They asked me how I was doing at school and when I tried to answer with how classes were, they told me they wanted to know how EVERYTHING was going.  That was very encouraging.  They realized that school isn’t the only important thing to me too.  Very exciting.

On another note, which is a pretty big one for me, I talked to my old high school principal about how college was going.  I told him things were well and I was working towards my ultimate goal of being a football coach.  He told me that they were always looking for coaches.  Especially smart ones.  I was very intrigued by that, and I would be lying if I said that didn’t excite all of my being.  He also told me that he could get me free tickets to the state finals games two weeks from now if I wanted them for free.  That was very exciting.  It was also encouraging to know that I might have somewhere I can help a football program out this summer.

OH YEAH…and to go back further in time.  On Saturday, we played the most killer game of football in a while.  We had enough people for 11 on 11 football with a line and everything.  I was really stoked that I’d get to play some line.  That is something I haven’t done for two years.  So we had full contact along the line and touch everywhere else.  I’ll be honest, I wish it were tackle everywhere, but it was still fun.  I really enjoyed the camaraderie we shared while playing.  But I’ve ranted for some time, so it’s off to bed because it’s late and I tire.

More thoughts

Well, I realized I had more thoughts right after I posted, so here goes.

The evolution/creationism/intelligent design argument has come back into the limelight in the world. I really don't care I've decided. It's stupid for me as a Christian to argue how the world began when that part doesn't matter to my salvation. I think it's an opportunity for me to change the argument and bring light upon Jesus. I'm glad we can discuss intellectual issues such as how the world began, but I think it's gonna take a lot more than a human effort to understand that. As far as I'm concerned, the arguments against intelligent design say that there is nothing that it backs up, but it uses science to confirm things in the Bible. They don't mention that...it's just interesting. Look at me though, I'm turning the conversation right back to that stupid point instead of pointing out that salvation in the important thing. I dunno, just a thought.

The other thought of mine is about the good ole NCAA. Today, they offically rejected the Universtiy of Illinois' appeal to the previous NCAA ruling on banning 'hostile' mascots. They did however allow us to keep the name Illini and Fighting Illini. They said we could keep those because they derive from the state. However, they said the tradition of Chief Illiniwek is one that we cannot keep. The logo and the portrayal of the Chief are deemed in appropriate. So it will be interesting to see how the UofI deals with this ruling and how the NCAA proceeds as well. The interesting thing about the Chief is that a famous Native American donated the current uniform to the University for the use of the Chief. The point is, I think ALL the information needs to be pointed out before we jump to conclusions.

That's it

recap of some crap

Wellllllllll I had me a fine Friday night. It was quite the intense day. First I was scrambling around for somebody that could cut my hair into my very special new haircut. Let me just say, IT IS AWESOME!!!! Check out my facebook profile for a picture of it. Maybe I'll post on here a bit later. Then I went to the Illini Life barn dance!!!! That was awesome. Everybody was all over me because of my hair. And Chad and I were probably the coolest people ever to enter a barn. Chad had his overalls without a shirt and I had my haircut (and yes, I'm trying to be mysterious). Then we commenced to square dance and it was awesome. We danced three different times, so naturally, I danced with three different girls. I danced with Megan, Amber from ISU, and Sydney. It was a lot of fun. Ross was also in town for the dance, which was a blast. I really enjoyed seeing him around. After then dance, we went back and played some cards and just hung out. Always a good time.

As for school stuff, because apparently I don't write about it (why would I when I can talk about fun things and remember those), I've been doing well. I got an 88% on my latest TAM exam and an 89% on my CS one. It's funny that I probably wouldn't mention the grades unless I was happy with them, but nonetheless, I did well and I'm awfully excited. This past week has been really lazy since I don't have TAM work to do anymore. I have my TAM final on Tuesday night, but other than that...I'm free from that class. So believe it or not, I do attend my classes...YEAH!!!!

Registration

Why does registering for classes have to become competative? Since I have less credit hours than my crazy over achieving counterparts from the suburbs, I am unable to register as early as them. So while they get they glorious schedule with the cushy time slots...I have a schedule with no less than four hours of class in any day. I just don't like that I have a schedule planned out and because I register so late that I can't get what I want. Shouldn't I get that chance once? Not that I'm deserving of it, but I'd really like it. Well, here is my schedule as of right now right after registering. I think I'll keep trying to get what I want, but looking at how things are going, there is no way it's happening. I guess God's just gonna have to get me through the most ridiculous semester of my life. So I hope that whatever happens, I don't die because of school. I really need to have my Lord be the center of my life too...not heat transfer or differential equations.

Rants-r-Us

So here are a few rants for the day.

First: TO....what a jerkwad. And yet the players association thinks the Eagles can't stop him from playing. They can do whatever they please. If he sits on the bench, he sits on the bench...it's that simple.

Second: Closed minded science people. My Physics TA was talking about Science vs. Belief and saying "Science wins...woo!!!" Isn't science a belief? And knocking intelligent design because it's 'ignorant'? That really threw me off right before I took my quiz. They talk about sensetivity in the schools and yet it seems to go one direction and not the other. It frankly pisses me off that it's that way.

Third: Evolution....how is that the only PROVEN thing. It's still called a theory, and yet it clearly is the only answer according to most people it seems. Yet, they can't explain it beyond maybe it happened. There is no rhyme or reason, and yet it has to be that way. Secondly, they say the big bang conflicts belief, but God had to make the universe somehow.

whatev...I'm out

The fruits of a slacker's labors

So I've been quite the slacker this week, and yet I don't really care. It's been a fine change of pace, although I feel somewhat guilty about it. So I figured I would pass on some of the fruits of my labors instead of just wasting them on myself and my laziness.

Woogle - type a sentence and see it in pictures BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT YOU TYPE...NOT THE FRIENDLIEST WEBSITE!!!

More Tedy Bruschi saving the world

Oh, and by the way, the facebook has some killer photo album features on it now and there are some seriously incriminating pictures of me on it. I suggest you check it out sometime. I'm out like a paraplegic in a game of tag.

nicknames

I decided to do this at some point recently. So here it goes. I'm going to list names and variations of them that I've been called. Please feel free to fill in if I've missed something.

Cap'n A-Hab
Cap'n
A-Hab
Hables
Hable
Habs
Hablach
Hibble to the Hop and you know you can't stop
Al
Alan

ok, it turns out that's a lot more lame than I thought it would be, but since it's already typed up, I'll post it. Please add any you can think of.

some weekend action

This weekend rocks my socks. I'm being awfully lazy. I'm not going to lie. But it has been a good change of pace from the previous week. I'll have to get back into school stuff later today, but it's been great while it's lasted. Saturday I didn't do much. I woke up to play football, but we didn't play because nobody showed up. Then I went back to watch football, and I napped. Then I got up and played lots of Madden 06. It was totally rockin'. I watched the Illinois game. We played pretty well all things considered. Finally, I went to church. SNG was good fun as Alison Smith talked about EVERYBODY'S favorite book, Habbakuk. I was actually excited that that was the book she talked on, because I've actually read it recently, despite it's obscurity. After tear down, Ty, Mike, Hulk and I walked around. We stayed out until it rained and decided to walk back in the rain. I may have looked stupid carrying my rain jacket for the few hours before, but I looked pretty darn smart when it came time to get rained on. We went back to their apartment and invited some of the girls over. Then they commenced to box eachother. Ty has some boxing gloves down here and the girls decided to fight eachother. Then Mike and Ken fought and finally Ty and I boxed. I've never boxed before, but it friggin' rocked. It was AMAZING. I got the crap beat out of me and I beat the crap out of him. My face is sore, but it was totally worth it. I can't wait to box again. Then I watched 10 Things I Hate About You with them. It was pretty good, but too chick flicky for me. Then I stayed up way to late and played more Madden.....bad idea. But I woke up just fine to play basketball in the morning. Lost every time, but it was still fun. Now it's back to school stuff. ick!! But Colts-Patriots is the Monday Night game and I'm stoked.

Man, I really loved boxing. So much fun. (Can you tell I liked it?)

saw Saw II

Tonight was a guys going to the movies night. We were going to see Jarhead, which I wasn't extremely excited about, but was more and more excited about as the week went on. We got to the movie theater and the movie was sold out?? (Intentional question marks) I couldn't believe it. That was such a foreign concept to me. Going to the theater in Decatur the movies were rarely 3/4 full, let alone sold out. I was honestly devastated. So as you might have well guessed, I saw Saw II instead. Let me just say...twisted as heck. So therefore, it was awesome. I've decided I really like that kind of movie. I couldn't take my eyes or ears off of it the whole time. There was some very gross and demented stuff going on. So, while highly recommended, it's highly cautioned to look into what it's about before you go, as to not be scared stiff. After that, I went back to Mike's apartment where I hung out. I'm awfully alone this weekend, other than the other usual suspects. But my dormmates, Justin and Andrew (and Megan, since she's connected to Shmim) are all gone. So it's me playing Madden 06 into the late night hours...I can't wait for the weekend to keep bringing it's glory.

I'm blogging that

What an interesting last hour I had. I totally ditched some quality studying time to go have a war out on the quad. I was swayed by Julianne, Kaylin, and Megan (they need a girl with an L name to complete that part of the alphabet) to go wrestle and have a tickle war on the quad. It was fun. Although I didn't get in to much on it, I definitely tackled them a few times. It friggin' rocked how hardcore they got taken down. We climbed around on Foellinger for a while and then got into the war. People looked at us kind of funny, but I was okay with that. It was a definitely worthwhile experience. But now it's back to studying for a late night. I can't wait for this exam to be done.!!!

Exams etcs

So I took two of my three exams for the week tonight. They were interesting. Physics was a bit tougher than I would've liked. We'll see how it goes. The CS exam though, I'm confident I pretty much kicked it's butt. I hope all my studying over the last couple of days payed off.

At iteam we talked about the different names used for God in the new testament. It was interesting to see all sorts of different titles that we can give to our Lord. Very cool. I thought the one that struck me most was Lord of All. It obviously struck me because of the implications that he is the lord of everything in my life. But it also got me because it suggests to me that he really is lord of EVERYTHING. He's the Lord of those that don't even know him, so wouldn't we want to tell them about their ruler? Just an interesting thought I had.

Caleb sent me this awesome link to a hilarious audio byte. It makes me happy to know that others think the attention the Patriots get on ESPN is too much. Silly Tedy Bruschi getting more tv time than any single football player deserves. CHECK IT OUT.

Now I've got to start studying for my Diff. Eq. exam. It's just a matter of refreshing my brain through sleep first though. So I'll be sleeping a good sleep tonight.

Halloweekend

We had ourselves a little shindig down at the old van down by the river. Or I guess it was at a guy's house off of campus. The point is, we had a halloween party. I went as the Burger King. I find that to be the most entertaining and awesome advertising campaign in a long time. So I stood there with my paper crown and my creepy smile offering my 'sandwich' to people. I think it was a big hit. I got many 'you're creepy' comments, so that was a plus. It was good fun hanging out with people that I wouldn't normally see around because they're not in my iTeam. There were very unique costumes there...and there were some sweet food items as well. Spence went as a frat boy. Very funny carrying around his beer bottle filled with cream soda. He 'passed out' at one point and we wrote all over him. Rachel and another girl went as nuns, JK, Chuck, and Chad went as Control, Alt, and Delete keys respectively. It was good ole fun. Now I've got to buckle down and study as the rest of the week will kick me if I don't.

God works

God works in HUGE ways. That's what I can say right now. He works hardcore. And never let anybody tell you that prayer doesn't work.

Break Fest - the meat

So the meat of the Break Fest reveals itself.

The ironic part to that statement is that there was in fact no meat at the thing. We fasted for the night (not that that's a long time) and got kinda hungry. The idea was to deny ourselves through that spiritual discipline. Once it got dark and we had set up our tents, we got together for a time of worship together. After that, we broke off and went into silence. Each man went to his own place and did his own thing with the Lord. My place was a spot in the grass near the creek in the back yard. I layed there and honestly couldn't quiet my mind. I found it somewhat hard to praise God with my mouth shut, but it was a welcome change. I read the good book for a time and stared at the stars and thought. I also realized how cold it was. So I got up and walked around some more. I found a near hole in the ground to go to next. It was between a concrete wall and a couple of dirt hills. THere I sat and just sort of admired God is all his little things. The fact that when I breathed I could see it and I could see how the path of the air I breathe is slightly manipulated by the currents in the air arounnd it. It created a really interesting and beautiful effect. After the time I spent there, I got cold again, so I got up and walked my way around the property. I ended up in a small patch of woods. There I found a perfectly hollowed out 'cave' of trees. there I layed myself down. It was sharp! The ground had twigs and branches on it as well as these broken off twigs that had sharp nearly knife like tips. So after clearing those out from under my back and bottom, I settled in. I looked up only to find an intertwined canopy of tree branches and sky. It was a vey beautiful site. It really offered my a slight amount of warmth and protection from the cold, but not a lot. In that spot, I found a spot to place my flashlight and have it shine down on me as I read through the book of Joel. I'll be honest, I read through it all in that one sitting, and I read it because it was short. But, it worked out well because I got to learn about something I've never read before. How many people know that Joel is about God's people coming back to him through a plague of locusts? I sure didn't. After I read through that, I got myself my sleeping bag from the tent I was gonna stay in and took it with me back to my site. I then fell asleep quite peacably, although I woke up many times throughout the night because it was ridiculously cold. I finally got myself up early though for a wonderful sunrise and a test I had to take. It was a basic skills test for entering an education program if I end up doing so. So I will be using it if I go to grad school. Finally, I came home to watch the Illini game. My dad then came by because he was across town for the day. I got to hang with him for a while and then had SNG. Now I'm chillin' in my room thinking I'll be going to bed early, despite the fact that we get an extra night of sleep tonight. I hope you all had a blessed a Friday/Saturday as I had.

Break Fest prelude thingy

I went to a somewhat men's mini retreat called the Break Fest this Friday night. It was really good. The whole concept of the night is solitude. So we started off with a few worship songs and then broke off to spend time with our Lord alone in the country outside of Champaign. Not that it's out in the wild and crazy outdoors (in somebody's backyard), but it was still a very enjoyable experience. I will write more on this later, but it is Dad's Day here on campus, and while my dad isn't here for that particular reason, but he is here in town for a couple hours, so I'll be hanging with him for the second Saturday in a row

Official congratulations to the White Sox

Congratulations White Sox. I'm not too happy for it, but I'm happy for my friends that are true Sox fans. NOW, since I've mentioned the fact that I congratulate the Sox, I don't expect to hear crap from their fans about how awesome the Sox are and how sucky the Cubs are. I'm really not in the mood for that. At least it's NFL season now. Of course the Packers suck...maybe my teams are sucking is gonna give me a chance to do better in my classes. Whatev though.

I did 3 hours of Psych 100 subject pool stuff today. It was intense, but at least it's done. Long day. Now I've got to get some homework done and some bed gotten to. Just thought I'd drop those facts. And this one...I left my dorm at 10:55 today, and was home for 2 hours between that time and 11:45 pm. It was well worth the business and awesomeness though. Nighty night y'alls

NO Stros

The Stros' lost. After 5:40 of baseball and 14 innings...the White Sox somehow pulled a win out of their butts. What an amazing game that was. My head hurt so bad at the end of it. I was going to give blood today, but either I copped out or found other things to do. I guess I'm gonna try to use this hour and a half to relax...because the rest of my day is jam packed. I won't be back until 12ish after I leave at 5:30...then I've got to do homework...fun fun fun....keep it real y'all

a post because I can

So I don't know if I've posted this yet, but I've decided that I'm not going to download music anymore unless I've payed for it. So I deleted a ton of songs off of my computer and am now committed to buying cds that I have and don't really 'have'. Watching game 3 of the world series right now. 5-5 going into the 9th. Here's hoping the Stros pull it off. Updates to come...

third frustrated post in a row

The Illini lost 63-10 (56-3) at halftime

The Packers lost 23-20 to the biggest joke in the NFL (the Vikings)

The White Sox won World Series game 1

BUT...........

God is good. My dad and best friend from high school were in town this weekend for the game. So it was fun to hang with them and go to church with my dad and such. So I did have something good going on my my life. I guess God is helping to teach me that sports just don't matter that much. Trust me, it's not fun. But I'm ready to try to emotionally detatch myself from sports so much.

I guess the Packers aren't that bad...even though they are 1-5. Records are the only thing that matter in the NFL, but looking deeper to make myself feel better about the Packers, I see a pretty good team. Making excuses, I say that we've had a ton of injuries. It looks like we only have 1 reciever on our roster that should be a starter in the NFL and our all star running back isn't an all star anymore. He's also hurt. Then our cornerbacks are pathetic. I think even the Illini could pass all over the Green Bay secondary. Now, for numbers justifying my complaints. We've actually outscored our opponents total this season. our losses have been by 14, 2, 1, 3, 3. Our win was by almost 50. We need to fix little mistakes for next year. This sucks. Good things I've got other things to worry about.

WHAT THE FJKLEDJTEWTOIRWUE*()%RU$#W*U*$()#@()

I am SOOOO pissed of right now...because of a video game...yes a video game. Turns out playing with people takes up my time too much too. Justin beat me at Madden and friggin' Imig beat me at NFL Street2. I AM FRIGGIN' ANGRY...why? Because I'm a bad person? No, because I just am a bad sport and I really am not perfect in the eyes of God, or in the eyes of anybody else. I am so bad at getting pissed when I'm being beat instead of just accepting somebody being good. FKLERJEIOWU%@)*U$()@#*$()#*@!()*$)#@!(*()%^*#@)$%*EWILgfa. I'm actually really concerned about this. I shouldn't be this angry from a football game. I shouldn't be yelling and screaming. I need to respect other people. I think I need to not play for a bit or something because it's just ending up uglier and uglier. I really am angry inside right now. I'm kind of scared by it right now. It's not good. Pray that I let that anger subside from me.


On a different note. Justin played very well...he really has gotten better. He straight beat the crap out of me. He ran for more yards against me in one game than many people have in 5-6 games. He had phenominal blocking somehow and somehow T.J. Houshmanzadeh had more yards than somebody with TO could have against me. It sucks. But he beat me fair and very square. So, whatever

Imig beat me

I'm secure enough in my manhood to say this...Imig beat me fair and square at NFL Street2 36-34. It was an impressive showing. But I still killed Ty at Madden, so it's all good. Fun night. Good, lazy, and refreshing hopefully. Although it convicted me that homework needs to be getting done. And it doesn't look too promising for the weekend. I've got so much going on with homecoming and Psych subject pool and friends coming in and apartment searching. It's kind of ridiculous. I hope I can find some time for work. I'm off to bed. Gotta be up way earlier than I want to be.

New fangled look

Instead of plugging away at my homework, I've decided that I needed to change the look of my blog. I hope the new look is satisfying. I'm also in the process of combining my knowledge of C programming to help me with HTML and maybe get some new cool stuff going on with my blog templace...customizing it and really making it my own. We'll see how it goes...

This is a test

Now I’m testing out Blogger for Word.  There are so many ways to post on this thing.  I love it.  I can always seem to get connected whatever I’m using.  BTW…Cardinals lost.  WOOT!!! Now I just hope they can beat the White Sox in the World Series.

Some U2 song about a beautiful day

It was a beautiful day today. Very beautiful outside. I found out facebook has new image hosting features. Just great, another distraction for me. Check it out though if you have the facebook. I got my registration packet for next semester...gonna hit up some hardcore techno classes. Looks like I'll be taking ME300, ECE205, TAM251, TAM 212, Physics213/214, and either Math415 or maybe Econ 103. I've decided right now that I'm going to finish my engineering undergrad work. I'm very excited about where I am with it, and it'd be cool to have an engineering degree from here. Plus, God has put me in some situations where I've got good opportunities to make great friends in engineering. After graduation, I'll either hit up grad school for education, or maybe try to hit up a program called Teach for America. It's where I'd get to teach in a low income school district and get my teaching certification at the same time. That's sort of where I'm at right now. Have a good night you guys...........

SON OF A...

Stupid Cardinals and their fans....the only saving grace is that they still have to beat Oswalt and Clemens to get to the World Series

ILL - INI (the aftermath)

The Illini Basketball Madness was an exciting evening of basketball and was a great way to kick off the season. I got to see the new players on our roster play a bit of basketball and some random other stuff. We also got to relive some old memories from last season such as the comeback of the century against Arizona. They had some sweet highlight montages. Here are some pictures from the evening

Here is THE COACH...Sir Bruce Weber. When they did the player and staff intros, Dee Brown, James Augustine and Coach Weber came from out of the crowd. Weber came right by where I was sitting. Notice the sweet championship ring on his finger.

This is a mass of people. I love Illinois!!! All these people lined up outside the Assembly Hall at 8 o'clock at night for a basketball team. There was an excitement about the night that not many things can generate.
NOW!!! This is an exciting picture. It is the team huddled up with the 2005 FINAL FOUR banner being raised in the background. It was a proud moment as we got to look back at the achievements of the previous year. Plus, I got reminded that I was actually at the Final Four and I attended the national championship game.
This is a blurry picture, but it actually looks kind of cool blurry. It is Brian Randle, one of our more athletic players dunking in the Slam Dunk contest. He ended up winning the contest on a between the legs throwdown that was awfully sick if you ask me.
And these are your 2005-2006 Fighting Illini!!! This is the whole team huddled up after introductions. This team is ranked 23rd preseason by ESPN.com. We'll have to see if we end up higher than that in the end. My inkling is that yes we will. We've got the talent to do so, especially if our young ones step it up. It's gonna be fun!!!