mr. fix-it

one thing i am very slowly and hesitantly trying to achieve is to become more handy and able to do household things that normal people probably consider easy. i don't know why i have avoided a lot of this stuff in the past. i guess i always had those fears of attempting to fix something and in the process making it worse. or the other avenue of attempting something seemingly easy, yet it becomes a much bigger production that takes a ton more time, effort and money to actually complete. i hate the idea of both. that and for the past few years brodie has been a good resource for fixing things while maybe not the best at showing me how it's done, but that's more my fault (and laziness) than his. anyways, i need to learn some of this stuff myself and just gain a little more experience and confidence in doing these types of things.




















i recently replaced a sink and it's fixtures, but then again it was aided by brodie and relatively uneventful in that it actually worked out. my current project is repainting dave's old room with josie. we chose a dark green paint, purchased some rollers and went to town on sunday. overall things went pretty well.

positives:

• the color (grapevine) looks great
• it didn't take forever
• i was able to thwart josie's attempts at starting a paint war...somebody has to be the mature one
• doing corners and edges was relatively easy

negatives:

• even though the walls were white, we apparently should have used primer first
• now we know to cover the electrical outlets with tape
• we probably should have gotten 2 gallons of paint

so at this point i believe we are just going to use the remaining third gallon of paint and give most of the room a second coat. hopefully that works out ok and gets rid of the spotting that is driving josie crazy. then we can clean up, move the furniture in and voila! we will then have a new office/den/hangout/library/music/art/makeout room. i am looking forward to this room as well as clearing out a lot of the stuff temporarily stored in my bedroom.


assuming that all works out, our next project is to recaulk the shower. i have watched a few videos on how to do this and it seems deceptively easy. i just know that i am in store for some sort of nightmarish flooding, shower-collapsing situation. i have my tools - knife, razor blades, mold-resistant caulk, caulk gun, some sort of cleaner. so we should be good to go. josie has already claimed dibs on the knifing and scraping as this is somehow appealing to her.i obliged.

la di da

oh hai there internet. it's been a while. i wrote not too long ago about my lack of blogging, but it was dumb. it served the purpose of getting me to write while itself, forever sitting on my virtual shelf, never to be published. maybe in the future i will grab some especially nonsensical sentences from it and try to pass them off as some sort of poetic, short form blogging. but really, i will just be glad that it got me back on the blog while forever feeling shame anytime i think of it's stupid face.

tonight josie and i are attending some fancy gala/event for urbanite magazine. i say "fancy" because when josie looked up last year's event they showed a picture of a guy wearing a blazer. therefore, i will now be wearing some sort of non t-shirt outfit. i know this sounds like complaining, but as long as we don't end up at some eyes wide shut style gathering, we should be good. we get to get out of the house and go to some high-brow event that will have some food and drinks (i hope?). we get to do something different and josie gets to dress up. also, it's free, which is the type of activity i am appreciating more and more.

one thing though that i am not feeling great about is the fact that when i bought my suit a few years ago, i made the unfortunate decision to get pants that were pleated. i don't actually remember making that decision and i find it hard to believe that if given the option i would not go for normal...and yet here i am...a man with annoying pleated pants. i bet those jerks at the men's warehouse had some crazy surplus of p.p.'s and decided to unload them on unsuspecting, ignorant customers like myself. hopefully i can just get some replacement pants that are of the unpleated variety that also match my suit.

with that whining over with, i am officially getting hyped about tonight, what should i expect?

fancy people
















fancy hor devours
















mingling and dancing

time to start keeping a dish towel over my shoulder

this past saturday, josie, eskay, dave, katie and i, volunteered at the american visionary art museum gala. this made for a nice night in a number of ways. it was something completely different from my normal weekend evening. it was free for us. we got to enjoy the awesome parade that included people dancing on stilts, a roller derby team, various dancers, a marching band, other weird stuff, and lewis black riding by on an elephant float. there was a fun live band that did party covers and also were dressed up as if they were amish. there were lots of crazy costumes including a life size sock monkey that josie loved. we got to drink for free. finally, and this is what i mainly want to discuss, our volunteer jobs at this event were as bartenders.

if you look closely you can see him on the elephant. he was smoking a cigarette and giving the finger to people while he was waiting to enter

various parts of all of my jobs involved some aspect of service, though never outright as a "server" and never involving food/drink. while many people who do this for a living probably don't enjoy it too much, this was an opportunity for me to give it a try. it really was an ideal situation as i was not an employee and the actual drinks we served were super easy to serve. also we got to keep any tips we made.

when we first arrived, michele had josie and i work at the wine bar. this was pretty easy as all we were doing was asking if people wanted red or white and pouring it in cups for them. easy money and it never got very crowded on our side. dave and katie on the other hand were working the first shift at the kettle one bar that involved pouring premade vodka drinks down a cpiral tube encased in an ice sculpture. that are was a lot more crowded and the act of pouring the drinks down this tube made it slow goings. they looked stressed. michele later asked us to relieve them and we did. i was excited knowing this was my real chance to play bartender.
it sounds silly and maybe privileged of me, but i really had fun being a "bartender". i enjoyed the action of running around making drinks, keeping everyone happy. i noticed how all of a sudden lots of people were striking up conversations with me and i found that fun. i learned that my go-to move is the thumbs up. i am easily swayed to dole out shots or add extra vodka to the premade drinks by having the drinker follow my eyes to the tip jar. josie was told she was beautiful a number of times and while nobody was as forthright with their admiration of my looks (though one girl told me she loved my pirate costume and brought me a cupcake...i'll count that as a win), i did see how it would be easy for a single guy bartender to keep conversations going and get to know the ladies. oh yeah...did i mention eskay and i dressed up as pirates? well we did and it was pretty silly. our shirts kept getting more and more unbuttoned as the night progressed.
at the end of it, we all had a fun night where we made a little money, though dave may have been ripped off by the kettle one rep. i offered to give him about half of the money i earned, but his scorn and anger towards the kettle one guy burns too brightly to accept. for now, that money sits on our dining room table, surely to be used to buy something ill-advised in the near future. even with that, josie and i were able to enjoy a great sage lunch and buy an amazing book from her store about inter-species friendships. a dog and a koi are bff's??? that's ridiculous! obviously it was a lot of fun and i hope to do it again next year.

bullets forever

i am writing this last minute as the wizards are planning on unveiling their new color scheme (i believe bullets rwb, but we'll see). Either way, this is a good first step towards returning to the name back to the bullets away from the awful wizards.

i have been so engrossed with nba playoffs this season as it seems like just about anything can happen. it's great and i am soaking it in. lakers got swept! again, i am maintaining my main focus on routing against the heat, though they are looking incredibly strong and it is so annoying.

chris was hyping up the grizzlies before their series with the thunder. i thought that they just took advantage of a good matchup against the old spurs, but they look real legit. i am also routing for dirk nowitzki and crazy mavs owner mark cuban. dirk looks like louis which makes me happy. whatever happens, somebody just please beat the stupid heat.

i have also picked up my nba 2k11 game after a long layoff and have been enjoying that. i am playing as the wiz. john wall is blowin up. i got rid of rashard lewis in a shrewd trade involving the final season in michael redd's contract and just generally cleaned house. that game is so much fun, though much more challenging than previous versions. it looks great on my tv. now i just need to figure out who to draft and cut john wall's turnovers to under 10 a game.

playoffs and lots of videos (make sure to watch the shaq one)

another season of the nba has concluded. playoffs start in a few days. overall this season had a lot going for it. lebron and the heat became super villains and a really fun team to root against. the wizards had a legitimate superstar rookie, only to be outshone by a superhuman rookie. derrick rose emerged as a top 5 player. carmelo got traded to the knicks and his old team improved. celtics started off great but look pretty old right now. they also made a very questionable trade. the kings are probably going to move. doug collins did a geat coaching job and have the 76ers in the playoffs. the blazers have done well even with an ailing brandon roy. my fantasy team went undefeated through the regular season, only to lose to the #5 seed in the semifinals. also, the first american born asian player made an nba team. i'm sad that it could be shaq's last season.

i know that nobody who reads this cares, but i have had a great time watching the season go by. i went to a wizards game this season with josie and her dad to see the 2 aforementioned rookies show their stuff. it was a great time and i'm glad i got to go to a game this season. the wizards were no good, but it was to be expected. john wall looks as good as advertised and for the first time i really have a sens of hope and optimism for the future direction of the team. they were able to get rid of a lot of bad contract money through trades and buyouts. they drafted well last year and got a #1 pick from last years draft. jordan crawford looks like he could have a chance to be special. mcgee and blatche appear to be heading in the right direction. mcgee won 2nd place in the dunk contest. we have 2 first round picks in the upcoming draft. we still have the stupid contract of rashard lewis. we badly need a small forward and backups in pg and c. not sure what to do about nick young.



this year, the wizards will have the 4th most lottery balls in the draft lottery. this year is looking real slim, especially it harrison barnes and jared sullenger decide to stay in school. if we can't get derrick williams, then i don't think it really matters. hopefully they can just find another piece to the puzzle. hopefully ernie will keep making smart moves and there will actually be a season next year.

anyways, since the zards are clearly not in the playoffs, it's time for me to figure out who to root for. not to toot my own horn, but i was big on derrick rose prior to the season. i predicted a breakout year for him and made him my second round pick in my fantasy draft. he is definitely one of my favorite players due to his leadership, temperament and explosiveness. with that said, the bulls ended up with the best record in the league so it's kind of whack for me to be rooting for them. nobody else in the east intrigues me. i guess i just hope for some spectacular failing from the heat.

in the west there are a few teams that could contend for my affection. dirk nowitzki looks like louis, so the mavs are in the running. i am also a fan of owner mark cuban and i had rodrigue beaubois on my fantasy team. i like how portland came together and did well even when the superstar faltered due to injury. the emergence of lamarcus aldridge was a great story. they are underdogs, so i could root for the blazers. the thunder are sneaking up on people, even though they shouldn't. back when i was playing a loot of nba 2k10, i would always play as the thunder and use westbrook and durant to straight abuse chris. they also beefed up their inside by trading for kendrick perkins. out of these 3 teams, the thunder have the best chance of emerging. so i think we have out answer. i will go with them and hope for the best.

you are wrong. i am right.

everyone is entitled to their opinions and different people's takes on things can often be different or opposing. most people have strong opinions on politics and how we should be running the country and improving aspects of people's lives. i can understand how people from different backgrounds and experiences will have different opinions on how these things should be handled. but that is serious talk left for dan or phil's blogs. being not as smart as them, i will focus on pop culture and entertainment.

the main point of this post was to highlight certain opinions, that while technically subjective, go completely beyond any semblance of reasoning that i can understand.

just to say this up front, i am a documented hater. i tend to get a little elitist and carried away with certain opinions on stuff that is pretty inconsequential. with that said, there are certain examples of opinions that just make no sense to me at all. certain opinions at least have some sort justification. an example would be how my parents like jay leno. they think he is funny. they dislike conan o'brien and think he is just childish and annoying. i say this is justifiable because we are 2 completely different demographics. the generational gap can at least explain how leno's lame and hackey jokes could appeal to an older audience who just want their jokes to be safe and obvious. i still argue with them about it all the time, but i can understand my parents' view on the late night host comparison.
now onto the opinions that seem insane to me.

family guy
oh man do i hate this show. the jokes are formulaic, obvious, lazy and obnoxious. yet many of my friends who have shared similar experiences and also enjoy other similar things seem to love this show. 80's tv reference? hahahahahaha. shut up. repetitive nonsense till everyone laughs? i will end you family guy creator. one time i was having an argument about the show vs futurama (which i love). i decided to take it to the tv critic of the washington post, who was having an online chat. i asked her which show was better. her answer: "family guy. it's more subversive." what the fuck is that shit? more subversive...ugh. when i am strongly on one side of an opinion, i can usually count on the snooty critics to align themselves with my 2 cents. apparently not this time.

radiohead

i am a big fan of radiohead. the way i view their career is basically, put out generic early 90's alt debut album with a few decent songs. the next album was a huge jump creatively. the 2 following albums were amazing masterpieces. the rest that followed took a decidedly electronic turn and were excellent, but maybe not as immediately catching or accessible. i think this opinion is so clear cut and obvious that i just assumed that everyone was on the same page. apparently not dan and chris, think the first album was the best! really? it wasn't awful, but it's so obviously inferior to the rest of their discography that i was sure they were joking when they first revealed this to me. even the band itself admitted that, pablo honey, their first album, was rushed and not very good.

nbc thursday night

i still watch sitcoms. well, pretty much only the ones on nbc thursday night. it's a great lineup consisting of the office, 30 rock, community and parks and recreation. while everyone has varying thoughts on all of these shows, i think it's pretty safe to say that these shows are good and the rest of the offerings are bad (i think paul reiser is serving up another crappy sitcom to replace nbc's last failed sitcom). right? i am personally a gigantic fan of p&r and think it's the funniest show on tv by far. it's smartly written with great characters. amy poehler: great/amazing. aziz ansari: hilarious. nick offerman: should win an oscar. chris platt: always makes me smile. aubrey plaza: top 5 celebrity crush. there is a growing list of small characters inhabiting the town that people are now making comparisons to springfield. anyways, i was enjoying my thursday night stories when jill reveals to me that p&r is her least favorite of the shows. what was her favorite? outsourced. yikes. wtf? that show is all sorts of awful. i was left speechless and have now blown up her spot on my blog.

wow, this was a long and petty post, all about me complaining that my friends have different opinions than i do. i want to reiterate that obviously people should have differing opinions and like/dislikes, but some are so obvious to me that i am left confused and astounded when people similar to me disagree.