counting down in Carolina

i think we are going to do a top 10 list every day for a week (until next Friday), so that explains the double post today.

back in the day when i was dating Ashley, i was introduced by her roomie to the music of a UNC acapella group called the UNC Clef Hangers. to make this review short: they're good. i am pretty sure that the group just cycles through members as people graduate and new kids enroll but regardless of the group make-up, they can sing.

so today's top ten list is going to focus on the top 10 videos that were on YouTube of the Clef Hangers. i will say that all these videos are pretty recent and the stuff they did when i first heard them were a lot better but these videos are still worth listening to.

i am disappointed the Clef Hangers aren't on iTunes. how do i buy a CD?

also, if you are wondering who Eve Carson (referenced in a lot of these videos) is, she was the UNC student body president who was murdered earlier this year. here's a link to the Wikipedia page about the case.

10. Landslide (originally done by Fleetwood Mac... also by the Dixie Chicks)
9. Don't Stop Believing (originally done by Journey)
8. Heat of the Moment (originally done by Asia)
7. Apologize (originally done by Timberland f/ OneRepublic)
6. Buy U A Drank (orginally done by T-Pain)
5. What Hurts The Most (done by Rascal Flatts, danced to by Cascada)
4. Because of You (originally done by Ne-Yo)
3. I'll Make Love To You (originally done by Boyz II Men)
2. My Love (originally done by Mr. Justin Timberlake)
1. Angel of Mine (originally done by Monica)

this armchair quarterback still loves his Rockies

it's nearly the summertime which means its time for the yearly installment of "The Colorado Rockies Are Trying To Kill Me." in this fun game, the Rockies just suck so badly that it makes me vengeful that i'm not a bandwagon Red Sox fan or something. but in the end, no matter what the Rockies do to me, they knows that i'll never leave them because i'd like to think that my love overpowers the annual abuse and anguish they slam me with.

last year, the Rocks went through a slide in July where they were blowing saves left and right but found a way to redeem themselves with a fun run through the playoffs and to the World Series.

this year, the Rockies are deciding to punish me early. yesterday, they blew a huge lead and eventually lost to the Cubs 10-9. it's bad enough that they Rockies couldn't hold a seven-run lead but it's even worse that they couldn't hold it against the Cubs, the team that Lindsay Erickson roots for. it was just a horrible loss.

the Rockies are bad this year and this sucks because i had such high expectations for the team this year. the Rockies' flop (or my overestimation of their skill set) got me to thinking about the armchair quarterback's baseball preview that i did a few months back.

to rceap here were my division winners: Colorado Rockies (NL West), Chicago Cubs (NL Central), Philadelphia Phillies (NL East), Seattle Mariners (AL West), Detroit Tigers (AL Central) and Boston Red Sox (AL East). i then picked Cleveland and the Los Angeles Dodgers to get the respective wild cards and for Detroit to beat the Rockies in six games in the World Series.

now, let's fast forward about three months and see where we stand...

Colorado Rockies: 20-35, last place in the NL West
Chicago Cubs: 34-21. first place in the NL Central
Philadelphia Phillies: 32-24, first place in the NL East
Seattle Mariners: 20-35, last place in AL West
Detroit Tigers: 23-31, fourth place in AL Central
Boston Red Sox: 33-24, second place in AL East
Cleveland Indians: 25-29, third in AL Central, seventh in the wild card
LA Dodgers: 27-27, second in NL West, fifth in the wild card

yes, so of the eight teams i predicted to make the playoffs, only two are leading their division and three have a winning record. two of my pre-season favorites are tied for the worst record in baseball. seriously, the Rockies have a worse record this season than the Kansas City Royals, who have lost 12 straight games. let me repeat that, the Rockies are worse than the Kansas city Royals... THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i need to go take some deep breathes now.

a birthday recap with a country twist

so the birthday was fun.

the Ball Bustas lost and my dad forgot to call me (this makes three straight years) but it was a good time. my teammates brought me balloons, brownies and "Happy Birthday" yard signs. and then of course there was the post-game drinks and William Oram made a guest appearance...

anyways, Birthday 2008 was an instant classic.

onto today's topic: classic country music. now i grew up on the country because my parents wouldn't let me listen to anything but country, oldies and gospel music. it wasn't until everyone was talking about this song that i started sneaking in some airtime with Hot 101.9 (wait, Hot 101.7 in those days) thus beginning a 10-year affair with apparently the devil's music (and honestly, with songs that have lyrics like this, i am beginning to have less and less of an argument with my parents).

but yea, i'm a little bit of a country boy and i am somewhat proud to admit it. so for no real good reason, here are my top 10 old school country songs. and by old school i mean before i started listening to pop music in 1998.

10. "Fishin' In The Dark" by The Nitty Dritty Dirt Band
9. "When You Say Nothing At All" by Alison Krauss & Union Station
8. "Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter
7. "My Maria" by Brooks and Dunn
6. "What Might Have Been" by Little Texas
5. "Love, Me" by Collin Raye
4. "The Dance" by Garth Brooks
3. "Callin' Baton Rouge" by Garth Brooks
2. "Don't Take The Girl" by Tim McGraw
1. "Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis

happy birthday/anniversary to me

today is not only my 23rd birthday but it is also the one-year anniversary of when i started at the American-Statesman. so yes, in order to celebrate those two monumental events today i will be taking off early from work...

i kind of wonder sometimes if my biological mother ever wonders about me on this day. granted she hasn't seen me in nearly 23 years but you'd think that she'd remember that day when she birthed me. hmmm.

but yea, while i am here in the newsroom i do have some work to do so this blog is going to be short. later in the week, we will talk about old-school country as well as check up on our favorite MTV reality TV shows.

feel free to shower the comments page with a plethora of birthday wishes. it's also Squires' birthday so if you see her around Great Falls, tell her happy birthday but remind her that my birthday is more important.

new interns = good times? survey says... yes.

so guess what?

we have interns! yes, this Tuesday the Statesman newsroom welcomed six of its seven summer interns and i believe the seventh one will get here next week when she is done with her Dow Jones stuff.

our intern in the sports department is Mr. William Oram, who you may know from his work in the classic Facebook photo albums "Chapter 6: Return of the Kaimin" and "Chapter 11: The 40 Day Drought." and since he name-dropped his blog about 13 times during his first four hours in Austin, i will give it another shout-out too.

three of the interns also know people that i know. Eric is pals with Mr. Steve "Buy You A Drank" Stein, Simmi knows my fellow '07 Chipsters Stu Woo and Nicole Dungca and Regina has previously interned at the Statesman, so she already knows the newsroom as well as some of my UT homies. it's like that "It's A Small World" song but with journalism.

i've gotten the chance to hang out with the interns a few times over the past three days (it's been decided that i'm like the college freshman who hangs out with high school seniors). needless to say, they are a bunch of cool kids and i think its going to be a good, good summer.

also, Eric owns an Indiana Jones-esque whip. after goofing around with that thing last night, i can safely say there is no way we go the entire summer without someone being lacerated... or becoming eyeless. good times await.

Davis v. Helen Keller: Point, Davis

i like to live my life by the simple ten words that Michael Jackson told Sir Paul McCartney in The Girl in Mine... "I told you Paul, I'm a lover not a fighter." so essentially, i don't like to have many enemies and i don't like to hate on too many people that i actually know.

with this being said, i do have some hate that i need to spew and so i usually choose to spew it towards famous people who have long been deceased. this trend is most notable in the surveys i do occasionally on the dreaded MySpace (which i will hate on plenty once it dies).

for most of college, the hateration was directed towards one George Washington. why? because George was a slave-owning chump and his currency can buy you nothing. but once i graduated from the ol' UM, i needed to find someone new to hate on... which brings us to Helen Keller.

why hate on Helen Keller? why not hate on Helen Keller? what did Helen Keller actually do that was worth me spending all that time in elementary school reading about her? i mean, i think Denzel Washington has done more important things for Americana but did i ever have to write a book report about Denzel Washington!?! no.

Helen Keller was the most overrated school subject ever except for maybe Anne Frank, who apparently was the only Holocaust victim worth remembering because she kept a diary. so if you think i'm being insincitive for hating on Helen Keller, do you think i should be hating on Anne Frank instead? jerk, i think the girl has been through enough as it is.

anyways, back to Helen. i saw this YouTube clip of someone portraying the Kellster in what i assume is a production of "The Miracle Worker." very funny and sickly appropriate.

Point, Davis. this brings the current score to Davis 5 Helen Keller 2.

posters inspire me to make myself a better Danny

i am sure by now, everyone has seen at least one of those touching motivation posters that are supposed to, i guess, motivate us to be a better person. hellz, growing up, i even had one of Kobe Bryant on my walls back in the big blue house.

well, Wallace sent me a forward last night with a bunch of motivational posters that i laughed pretty hard at. now, i hate forwarded messages so it has to be from someone hip for me to even read it and it has to be golden for me to enjoy it slightly. this forward was pretty awesome.

here are some of my other favorites...





want more? well, here is a good website.

Duganz at 23: January 2, 2008 - May 4, 2008

we are here to mourn the apparent death of Duganz at 23, which has had about one post in the past three weeks. where have you gone Patrick Duganz? i know you must be intimidated by my superior blogging skillz but please come back soon!

also, i think i am going to start spelling words that end in "s" in a more hip fashion. yes, we are replacing the "s" with a "z." examples: the aforementioned skillz, girlz, homiez, black jellybeanz.

this is the story of 7 strangers...

i think after tonight's episode it is safe to say that the 20th season of the Real World is full of the seven most awful human beings in the world. these people are all absolute scum. worst. season. ever.

what went wrong this season? there aren't even any attractive girls! the girls that they found are either extremely trashy (Bri), act like a 2-year-old (Sarah) or have that wonderful balance of acting like a trashy two-year-old (Kim).

and the guys aren't much better. Joey's an alcoholic and it appears Dave is too but both seem to dodge bullets left and right. Joey nearly killed the two girls, Will intentionally tried to steal Sarah from her boyfriend and Dave has slept around on Kim... but yet, it's Greg they all hate because he took Sarah's underwear and called her a naughty name. right.

i kind of like Greg (although he was out-of-control this last issue) and feel that he is just misunderstood by the four white kids and the sellout. the sellout comment takes us to Will, who has done a great job of sabatosing any chance he had at a career in the music industry, and how he has treated Greg. i get that he was upset just don't see how he can do that to Greg just so he can cozy up with a bunch of culturally ignorant people, two of which have made incredibly insensitive racial remarks over the course of the show.

luckily, the show did take a page from the Sydney (best season ever) playbook and cast a supposed Christian girl (Sarah) who acts nothing like a Christian and thus shames the religion as a whole. yay.

and yet, i'll keep watching... and just start counting down the days when this crap season is over and the next Challenge starts.

The Price is Wrong, bi... well, you know the line.

today has been pretty chill day although Blair did send me a link to this clip of a guy who initially overbids on his prize package in the showcase showdown on The Price is Right by $230,000. the guy then realizes his mistake and decides to settled for a more modest $40,000 overbid.

but this clip made me laugh even more, especially Bob Barker's reaction. you really do get the feeling that then he decided he wanted to retire.

oh and the new Price is Right is lame. Drew Carey is terrible and i doubt he would ever make a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother.

why i never want to interview one of my heroes

a few weeks ago, i wrote a post linking to a Deadspin series about sports writers and their nightmarish run-ins with athletes. today's entry was a doozy and it was written by guy who went to grad school at the U of Montana.

read it, best story of the entire series.

the story also highlighted a problem that i hope i never face: interviewing your heroes. the problem with hiring an athlete that you really admire is on the off chance that that athlete is a complete tool, it's like your entire childhood has been blindsided. i guess it's kind of like a "loss of innocence" kind of thing.

so people i never, ever want to interview: Kenny Lofton, Michael Finley, Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith and Tiger Woods. other than that, bring it on.

oh, and that shot by Tiger. best shot ever followed up by the single-worst high-five ever. trust me, i'm a professional high-fiver and that was at best, the stuff up pre-schoolers.

intramural softball is starting to become a problem

flashback note: who remembers Brandy? check out this classic video with the Donald Faison cameo. excellent. and this is a good Brandy song too... and by Brandy, i mean Monica, they're pretty much the same person right? Mekhi Phifer seemed to have thought so. oh, and we'll talk about why i hate Mekhi Phifer so much later.

(that note with four whole YouTube clips was brought to you by the complete chick in me.)

anyways, as i am sure anybody who has ever played with me will tell you, i am a teeny bit intense when it comes to the intramural softball. i just hate losing. hate it. even though i am all about the fun, meeting new people and blah blah blah, something about losing just eats at me and if i do lose, i become jaded for some reason and start to pout and/or drink. a lot. and i am kidding about the drinking the losses away... maybe.

i come up with line-ups and defensive adjustments and i don't even know why my teammates even hang out with me outside of the hour they have to every week because i am convinced they think i am the biggest loser ever.

anyways, i hit a new low last night... i dreamed about intramural softball. and not only did i dream about intramural softball, i dreamed about arguing with the umpire in a close game. i couldn't even dream about a blowout win, it had to be ridiculously competitive. i am very, very sick.

and do you know who i am blaming? God.

when i was younger (16 or 17), i didn't care that much about the wins and losses on the ol' RMCC intramural teams because i just enjoyed playing. during freshman year, losing on the Kaimin softball team didn't get to me either and trust me, we lost a lot. sans that froshie year on the Kaimin team, i have never been the best player on my respective team, not really even in the top 5 but it didn't matter, i just really liked playing a dumbed down version of the game i grew up loving.

and then i started going to church regularly...

and at church i met Noah, Megan, Adam and the rest of the crew that would make up the roster of Free North/Sandlot softball for my final three years in college. over those three years, we never lost a regular-season game, won a pre-season tournament and won the Co-Ed A championship in 2006. we lost a total of three games in three games, one of which came in the pre-season (doesn't matter, right?) and the other two were in the playoffs to the team that eventually won the championship that year.

needless to say, winning became intoxicating and it hit all of us. i would always joke with Megan that i was taking spinning class to train for softball season but the thing is i am not sure if i was joking or not. even though we were all a bunch of church-goers, we were the most competitive group of kids and boy, did we talk. it was like a nice trash-talking but boy, did it annoy and frustrate whoever we played.

those three years of winning and title t-shirts spoiled me and the change was easy to see. even with Kaimin softball, where losing was inevitable, i would get really angry about losses to the point where i would be stewing about them hours afterwards. that problem still haunts me to the day.

so yea, i am a sick little boy. somebody help me.

who needs cocaine when you can have a Wii?

commercial note: i was talking to Robyn about this commercial a few minutes ago. pretty funny stuff.

i officially mailed in my absentee ballot today (one more vote for the Hillanator) and found out that my sister is having a boy. but who the hell cares about that stuff, let's talk about what's really important...

my new Nintendo Wii.

i used my stimulus refund (go Dubya) to stimulate the economy by buying a Nintendo Wii and four games. yes folks, i am a patriot. and the good folks at UPS brought me my Wii and one of the games today so boo ya.

the bad news is my productivity level is likely to dip. i can't really stop working so i think i am just going to cut out unnecessary things such as sleep and socializing with real people. so tonight is the last night of my TV shows (g'bye How I Met Your Mother and CSI: Miami) until the fall so i will be suplimenting my abusive TV show watching with my abusive video gaming.

the only question left is what do i do with my PS2? a PS2, that's so 2003.

seriously, who dances to Journey?

i have a simple request for the thousands of club DJs out there: knock it off with the Journey.

at least once at every club/bar i've been to in the past month, the classic "Don't Stop Believing" has been played with some DJ throwing in a few riffs here and a few scratches there. it is indeed one of those songs that everybody knows the lyrics too (at least the first two lines, i actually don't know anyone who can recite the chorus without intentionally mumbling a few words) but is Journey a good song to be a bumpin' and a grindin' to?

if i wanted a sing-a-long, i would go shower or drive or do pretty much anything else, since that's how i roll. but when i am in the club and showing off my mediocre dance skills i want to hear this... or this.

so in the world of the infamous Madonna... hey mr. DJ put a record on, just not a Journey record because they're old and they suck. what? Madonna didn't say all that? meh.

more love for Syesha before the tornado kills me

oh k, there is another post about Idol this season. Syesha was booted from American Idol tonight but for someone who was in the bottom 3 for what seems like ten or 45 times, the final three isn't a bad place to end up. David Archuleta was the first contestant to make it to the finals and as soon as his name was announced, Syesha seemed to have make peace with her fate.

so that's all. good season Syesha.

Syesha's ouster of course left me with a problem... now i have to leave the "Syesha The Next American Idol" group on Facebook. what group should i join instead? something about sharks? grilled cheese sandwiches? paying homage to ol' school glow worms? maybe the Rockies (my favorite part of this group, the fact that its calling for 1,000,000 Rockies fans but only has 2,441). in the end, i decided my love for Syesha was too much as i just joined the newly created "Syesha Mercado - The Official Fan Group."

oh, and if i don't post for a while its probably because i'm dead. i've had my television interrupted about 17 times tonight because of a tornado warning. maybe i should begin getting worried.

newsflash: racism apparently still exists in Georgia!

a couple days ago, i got my absentee ballot for a primary race in Montana that actually looks like its not going to matter. i am still filling in the lil' circle for Hillary but if Obama is the nominee, i will likely vote for him in November.

that is not the case for a gentleman in Georgia who came up with this t-shirt. the dude (an apparent biker, go figure) insists it's not the teeniest bit racist although he then proceeds to explain that he thinks that Curious George physically resembles Obama. yip, not racist at all. luckily, CNN did some great reporting and found some other supporters of the shirt who don't see what the big deal is... yes, the reporter went out and found another white dude from Georgia to praise the newest addition to the Stuck in the 1950s clothing line. good job CNN.

the sad thing about this is that this coverage is benefiting this jerk. as was evident with the Pickle Barrel incident last year at UM (which i still don't believe was the least bit racist or controversial), people come out of the woodworks to support businesses when the "R" word is tossed about. see ASUM, what happened in Georgia is a good example of a local establishment being racist.

if protestors really wanted to annoy and get to these jackasses, they should grab a large stereo and stand on the sidewalk outside that bar and sing the Georgia state song... which was originally done by a white guy named Hoagy but didn't become prominent until it was recorded by an African-American. yea, how does that taste?

ugh, i am now frustrated with broadcast journalism so here is a funny clip that Wallace sent me of broadcast bloopers.

until next year American Idol, good-bye

surprisingly i did not watch American Idol tonight because i was asleep. even more surprising, i forgot to DVR it. but luckily, there are people associated with the world of YouTube who have less of a life than i do, so i have been able to find tonight's performances.

i hate to say it, but Syesha is toast. she wasn't bad and was legitimately pretty good but it just didnt seem like two of the three songs she selected/had selected for her did much to showcase her vocals. and the judges weren't doing her any favors either. it's obvious that they are incredibly in the can for the Davids but throw the girl a bone already. i mean, couldn't Randy use that "You could sing the phone book" line on Syesha tonight? he used it one everybody else.

whats more disappointing than Syesha likely getting the boot is that David Archuleta is getting a free pass to the finals. his rendition of "With You" was terrible. muy terrible. what is that like the 3rd or 4th time he's flubbed lyrics this year? but i guess the judges consider that (boring kids with no stage precense who can't remember simple lyrics) talent.

it appears we are destined for a douchetastic showdown between David Cook and David Archuleta. i will not be watching next week and it wont be because i fell asleep. but just for shits and giggles, my prediction is David Cook will win the competition, which will make me happy only in the sense that it is going to be hard for him to establish himself as a legit rocker with the American Idol tag attached to him. and that makes me happy.

assuming that Syesha does go home (Dial Idol is predicting a rout), this is the last American Idol post on TYC for the season and somewhere William Oram is rejoicing. however, if Syesha does pick up the West Coast vote and come through in the clutch, then its all Syesha, all the time next week. holla.

Syesha, play us out with this doozy. good damn, homegirl is a beauty.

the hotness of Britney returns after a long hiatus

on How I Met Your Mother last night, Britney Spears made her second guest appearance this year on my favorite on-air sitcom (a slight edge over the Office). and well, i've got to say that Brit was kind of looking hot. after a couple years of this, might we be getting back to the days of hot Britney? Britney was the only girl cute enough to kick Tyra off the top of my crush list (and make me pray that SD2 would mandate school uniforms), so i only wish her the best... in regards to her hotness.

and it appears that HIMYM is being renewed for another season so i will drink to that. but being as i don not have any beer right now in the fridge, looks like i am drinking Black Cherry Kool-Aid.

oh, and would you pay $35 million for this painting? no, i would not.

from Missoula to Austin in 12 short months

William Oram note: the countdown for William's arrival is now at 549 days. he has started a blog about the adventures he will have this summer in Austin and it is linked on the side panel under "Assignment Austin".

today is May 12, which means it is the one year anniversary of my college graduation. thrilling.

it's kind of funny to think that at this time last year, i was just a guy with a diploma holder in my hands. i had no clue about my future after August but it's been a pretty exciting last 12 months.

here's the quick recap of the things that have happened to me journalism-wise:

• i went to Nashville to the Chips Quinn program, where i met the wonderful Wallace.
  
• upon my arrival back from Nashville, i received my final grades and found out that i had failed Japanese, which meant that i had not graduated. after going through every grade i had (yay for being a packrat), it was discovered that my teacher had messed up my grade and she agreed to change it to a passing grade.
• i interned in Austin at the American-Statesman where i had just as many adventures outside of the newsroom with the fellow interns as i did inside the newsroom.
  
• in late July, my grade was finally changed, making me an official UM graduate.
• i was hired by the American-Statesman to cover prep sports in the Austin area. best thing to ever happen to me.
• in February, i picked up another beat. in addition to the prep sports scene, i also cover the Round Rock Express, the local Triple-A team.

so yea, lots of exciting things have happened. note to all the kiddos putting on that cap and gown this May: buckle up and be prepared. you never know what's going to happen.

non-champeroned pen causes some serious drama

sorry for the inactivity the past few days but i've beeen rather busy at the state track meet. but i got two good stories out of it, so it's all good. lot's of good stuff to talk about like O.J. (i'm still saying not guilty), Jenna Bush's wedding (really Austin, why do you care?) and the Texas heat (bleck) but i will get to those subjects later if i have a chance.

this post will be short but important: watch out for pens.

i am not a fan of pencils, in fact, i hate them. they feel so weird and wood-like in your hands and they make a chilling sound when they write on paper. this is one of the many reasons that i hated Japanese class because we were forced to use pencils instead on pens.

so i use pens, preferable with black ink. but those cheap ol' BIC pens aren't good enough for me. no, son i roll with the inky ones because they are inky and hip. however, sometimes having inky pens can come back and haunt you as i found out this past week.

i for some reason was writing something in bed and put down my pen without its cap on. now my brand new sheets are ruined. that ink seeps out of the pen quickly, i literally just looked down and BOOM, my sheet had a huge ink blotch. of course, not realizing the ink was still wet and in a frantic pace to make sure it didn't ruin my mattress, i rustled the sheet a few times and now my sheet has four ink blotches but the good news is the mattress received minimal damage.

then yesterday, a pen exploded on a co-worker leaving him to finish out the day with ink marks on his shirt. but sometimes you've just got to play hurt.

so kids, beware of the inky pens. they are hip but can be dangerous too.

re-runs will force me to actually talk to real girls

i've got kind of a problem here.

the season finale of Scrubs is one tonight, which will also be the last time that the show will be on NBC before it heads to ABC to finish out its series. Scrubs has tonight before its finish and shows like How I Met Your Mother and The Office have two episodes left. Idol only has two more rounds to go!

so, pretty much i am going to be very lonely in three weeks. what the hell am i going to do without my TV characters? how am i going to live vicariously through the life of Barney Stinson? How will Dwight Schrute make me laugh on a weekly basis? Who the hell is going to save all the kidnapped people in New York with the Without a Trace staff on vacation? Huh? HUH!?!?!

what am i supposed to do this summer!?! make friends? socialize with real people? lame!

oh, and i'm supposed to start a countdown to when William Oram gets to Austin. he starts at the American-Statesman on the 27th but being as i am too lazy to actually count the number of days between now and then i am putting the countdown at 60 and we'll go from there.

Aaron Neville inspires me to hit the treadmill

anybody else think that Aaron Neville looks a little ripped in this picture? it's Aaron Frickin' Neville. meh, whatever. he still sings one of my favorite saptastic lyrics of all time (at about 1:50 of this clip).

speaking of lookin' buff, time to give an update on my workout status. one of my biggest goals is to get ready for the Cap 10K next year, which will run in about late-March. so, every month i have been increasing the daily (meh, tri-weekly) run by 1/2 a mile. since i have only been doing this since February, this means that May = 1.5 miles.

now, for all you runners out there, 1.5 miles doesn't mean that much but to me it's kind of a big step. before last month, i hadn't run a mile since my senior year of high school and that was just goofing off during football season. i have never ever ran more than a mile. so 1.5 miles, kind of cool.

anyways, because of the sickness last week and some general busyness/laziness this week, this morning was the first time i did the ol' 1.5 miles. i survived and it feft awesome. it sucked while i was on the treadmill but as soon as i finished, i just felt so energized and great and nearly 5 hours later, i am still feeling good.

aside from the 10K goal, my other goal is weight-concerned and that is to get my weight down to what it was when i started classes at the University of Montana in 2003 and i want to accomplish this by Christmas. i've already lost 13 pounds from when i hit my max weight during the first week of January, so i think that i am accomplishing something.

some things are easier to do than others in regards to weight loss. overall dieting sucks and i need to seriously cut out the fast food from my life. and i also need to motivate myself to exercise daily and to also get a good amount of sleep each night. but i have been able to do things like not drink soda and take the stairs at work instead of the elevator so i guess it's a start.

so yes, there's an update on my physical state. hopefully by the time the year is over, i'll have gone from flab to fab. holla.

TYC Presents: The Case for Syesha Mercado

Random Note: comedian Ralphie May stopped by the Statesman office today for an interview and stopped by the sports department to chat it up with Cedric, one of our columnist. he also made a joke about the newsroom looking like The Wire and i laughed although i have never seen the show. hmm. one thing to know about Ralphie, he is a big dude and has to be topping the scales at at least 4 bills.

another thing to note as i watched the Ralphie May clip i linked above (if you are sensitive to well, anything, don't watch it), in part two of his lil' stand-up deal, he is whining about gas being something like $2.29 a gallon. those were the days.

enough about Ralphie, let's talk about the American Idol. first off, Jason Castro was terrible and needs to go now more than ever. butchering a classic Bob Marley song and forgetting your lyrics on the second song isn't a great way to prove that you are star material. it seems that he doesn't even care anymore and is just seeing how long he can punk America and stay on the show. it's a joke and Castro is getting a very good laugh out of it.

but let's say the Castro fans and VoteForTheWorst.com rally for Castro, don't be surprised to see someone like David Cook go home. the 4th place spot has been known to become home for some surprising names: just ask Chris Daughtry and Tamyra Gray.

as anyone knows, i love Syesha so i am biased here. i wasn't a fan of her singing "Proud Mary" because Tina and Ike did it so damn good but it was a better cover than Beyonce's so take that for what it is. Her "A Change is Gonna Come" was great and it was excellent to see Paula and Simon pretty much tell Randy that he's an idiot, which he was on his critique of this song. and her emotional outburst was a very touch and it seemed genuine, unlike Brooke who looked like she cried every other moment.

because of her ability to act (i'm guessing she ends up in the movies or on Broadway) and perform, i undoubtedly believe Syesha will have the best career out of the Idol Class of 2008, regardless of where she finishes.

but i am still predicting that Syesha wins. i would have to believe that Castro goes out tonight and i am feeling that a major upset is looming in the top 3. that would put Syesha in the final against either David Achuleta, who can sing but can't perform and is just so boring, or David Cook, who just reeks of smuggy douchebaggery and if he want to become a rocker shouldn't want to win American Idol.

if Syesha can avoid her Achilles Heel of picking songs she shouldn't and can't sing (ex. Whitney Houston, Fantasia) and continue to let America see her vulnerability and personality, i think she has enough to win the Idol crown. go Syesha go! and yes, i did spend all this time talking about Idol but you spent all this time reading it, so what now hotshot?

Montana Meth Project: yip, still pretty ridiculous

meth is funny. well, not so much the drug and the horrid things is does to its abusers but meth's relation to Montana is hilarious. see, the good folks in Montana for the past three or four years have decided that the best way to get Montanans away from the drug is to just scare the shit out of everybody. some of the ads were on TV and some ended up on billboards, which recently pissed off some of my fine statesmen.

the commercials actually started off pretty tame, just making people not want to shower, give do-it-yourself facials, go to the laundromat or become that guy. they also taught us that older sisters make for horrible role models.

those ads were scary but after you finished crapping your pants, you could maybe laugh a little bit about them. apparently sensing that, the MMP people got crazy and starting putting out ads like this and this.

i was never really a fan of these commercials, in fact, i got my first-ever hate mail at the Kaimin because of a column i wrote making fun of the Montana Meth Project. but i also guess you can say that the commercials worked because i have never tried meth and its doubtful that i ever will.

but those Danny Davis hatas should get their pens ready again. i was on Deadspin today and i was directed to this site which takes all the meth billboards and replaces "meth" with "random university." is meth funny? not really. how about sexual assault? not even. beating old people? meh. but when you combine all those things with just the ridiculousness that is college athletics and the MMP it becomes sickly hilarious. very sickly hilarious. i admit that i had a pretty good laugh... and then felt somewhat guilty afterwards. i need to go shower.

the Kool-Aid Man is possibly racist but still delicious

this was pointed out to me by someone in the Express press box today but take a look at this commercial and tell me what you think is wrong. i'm not saying that the fine folks of Kool-Aid are racist but they sure aren't doing a good job of steering away from stereotypes. and while i am a little annoyed at this, am i going to start boycotting their product? no way, Kool-Aid is frickin' great and i can't help it, us black folks love our colored drink.

Kool-Aid is in fact a very cost-cutting liquid. what does a Gatorade cost these days? $1.25 for 20 ounces of flavored water with electrolites or some crap like that. Milk is inching close to $4 a gallon. The cheap beer is like $5 for a six-pack and you can't drink beer for breakfast, at work, or before church... well, you could but you'd probably end up with weird-tasting cereal, a pink slip and an ex-communication meeting.

but Kool-Aid is cheeeeeeap. Sugar is like 89 cents for five pounds and you can get 5 Kool-Aid packs for $1. So for less than $2, you've got enough flavored yumminess to last a month. so there's your solution for the gas crisis, save money by not giving your kids healthy beverages like milk and orange juice and instead fill them up with Tropical Punch Kool-Aid.

just for kicks and giggles, here are my top five favorite Kool-Aid flavors, many of which are currently in my cabinet at home. in fact, as soon as i get home, i am throwing together a batch of the Kool-Aid. Oh Yeaah!!!

5. Strawberry
4. Black Cherry
3. Orange
2. Watermelon Cherry
1. Lemon-Lime

only 61 words but boy, they are a great 61 words

i am tired so i am not going to write much. Brooke was booted on American Idol (yay) and here is a video story on New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul, who is on the short list to replace Michael Finley as my favorite player in the Association when Finley retires. holla.

here is also a touching story about softball players.