Blodnick's Blog

10.31.2003

1. What was your first Halloween costume?
Oh I remember being cookie monster one year. Man did I ever love cookie monster when I was a kid. I had a cookie monster juggling game. I wish I still had that, cuz it was hard!

2. What was your best costume and why?
My best costume in my opinion would be offensive to some people who might read my blog. But it would have to be when I dressed as a missionary with lipstick all over my face and a bottle of rum in a paper sack. Oh, and I had a real good one where I dressed up as Matt Foley a couple of years back (van down by the river guy.) Also, as a kid, I tried to make a costume like the one in the karate kid where he was a shower. It failed miserably but it would have been so cool.

3. Did you ever play a trick on someone who didn't give you a treat?
Everyone gave me treats, so I rarely had to play a trick. Though on halloween I did go egging, which was a lot of fun but I felt terrible later.

4. Do you have any Halloween traditions? (ie: Family pumpkin carving, special dinner before trick or treating, etc.)
For as much as I love Halloween, I hate carving pumpkins. I suck at it and get frustrated very easily. But anyone who knows me knows about my pumpkin seeds. OH god I need to go get more today!

5. Share your favorite scary story...real or legend!
Scary? Not coming to mind. But here is a funny story in general that I was thinking about yesterday as I poured some coffee. When I was in Taiwan everywhere we went had a hot water thermos in the
room so you could make tea. For some reason one kid that went with us did not know that. So I got into an argument with him over whether the water was hot or not and ended up dumping it on him.

It was hot and he ws pissed. hahaha, I started laughing at the office when I thought of that one.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

10.30.2003

Wow it is really (finally) starting to cool down a little out here. I think the high today was 65...which is awesome. I checked out the Casper weather cam this morning though to a big surprise. Casper got a heck of a lot of snow. You wanna know the first thought that went through my mind? Thank God I do not have to drive in that. Interesting, I thought my first thought would be yearning for the snow.

10.29.2003

Remember a couple months ago when I was all goo goo ga ga over getting some extra hours? Oh how I cherished being able to work some more and make a little cash on the side. It seemed simple enough, I would just work some overtime when I wanted to. You know, do things when they are convenient for me.

Well overtime sucks when they MAKE you do it. All I wanted to do was go home today and watch the incredibly stupid horror flick WRONG TURN, starring my fav Eliza Dushku, when my boss informed me I "can put in as many extra hours this week as I want." Translation: "Put in some wicked hours or you are fired."

At least I have my launchcast by my side though. Makes the day go by.

Oh, and I found out I can fly to Orlando, or New York, or LA for $120 anytime I want. But it costs me a heck of a lot more to fly to Denver. Go fig. Maybe I will pop in on Mickey Mouse some random weekend. Tomorrow it is supposed to get cold and it is all I hear about. "Oh no, you better enjoy today Nick because tomorrow it is supposed to drop to 63! Make sure you have a warm jacket."

Oh dear oh dear, whatever shall I do?!?

10.28.2003

I decided to go see what the new guy here was up to. His place is still an absolute disaster and he looked dog tired. I totally understand that. I have not been here very long myself. He has 4 computers in his place though. Here I thought that Spence and I were a little nuts, but that was split up between the two of us. This guy is just one guy. Always nice to have someone nerdier than you around.

I have been listening to a new single from No Doubt called "It's My Life," but I can not figure out who did the song first. Anyone know? Anyway, check it out, you will not be dissapointed (maybe even you grandpa!)

As you can probably tell I am getting my second wind on this blog and just want to type type type. I wish more people I knew would make their own blog. If I can do it anyone can do it. That is a promise. Just go to Blogger and get started.

Remember to hook me up with a link though.

10.27.2003

So someone finally moved into the apartment above my neighbor. We have been without an upper floor tenant for about 3 months now. I suspected the last ones to be drug dealers, and upon talking to my neighbor today it was confirmed. Apparently the pot smoke was so heavy it got into her apartment.

Anyway the guy is from South Carolina and drove out here over the past week. He works for Intel, so I might have found my replacement Spencer. Ha. Anyway, nice enough guy and I helped him move in. I figured since no one helped me move in I may as well show someone a little Wyoming hospitality, though I did inform him I now own his soul. But he seems friend worthy and I think I will have to give it a shot. He is all alone out here so I figure that is a good start.

By the way, the really hot woman who lives across from me is more than meets the eye. First off I was incredibly disappointed to learn she is married. I found that out about a month after I got here and just around the same time I got the nerve to act. But anyway, she is only 20, was born in Brazil and grew up in Australia. Between the southerner, the Australian, and the hick we were one big hoot-n-anny. But with marriages lasting as long as they have been, I may just have to move her and her dog over to my place soon enough. And seeing how the new guy owes me one for moving him in, maybe he can give me a hand.

Boy this post seems like a big ramble. Sorry. Enjoy your Tuesday!

10.26.2003

I went out today and found the big mall I always figured that Sacramento must have. The mall near me sucks, and the one down the road is alright, but nothing much better than even Casper has. It has always just bugged me a little that I hadn't come across even one Crate and Barrel or a single Pottery Barn.

Well I found it. Way north in the Sacramento area in a gigantic shopping district. This area is laid out in small cities. You have the home interior city, a few miles away is the home improvement city, and then the mall is its own world. It is kinda cool, though it made me realize how little money I do make.

Speaking of which, I went to an open house on Saturday and toured it with a realtor. It really was a lovely little place with a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms (though really 1 bedroom and 2 medium sized closets), and a nice little backyard. And for a mere $286,000 it could be mine all mine.

Just for grins and giggles I decided to find out what my monthly payment on that would be over 30 years. I mean, I already pay a ton for my apartment, why waste that money right? Well I found out why I should waste that money. To get that house (which the realtor told me was currently the cheapest one in Folsom) would run me the small sum of $1800 per month, plus tax and insurance of course.

I think I will stay in the apartment a little longer :-)

Six o' clock and pitch black already. I love it. Hope you remembered to set your clocks back!

10.24.2003

1. What was the last TV show you watched?
As of this moment the last TV show I watched was Survivor:Pearl Islands. This has been a pretty good survivor so far. The last couple have really not caught my attention and I am really enjoying this one. Though Wednesday night's new Southpark was freaking hilarious. "Their saying we're not as gay as they are!"

2. What was the last thing you complained about?
Hmmm, any number of things. At work it had to do with the fact that I have been doing this gigantic project that is just a lot of laborious work, only to have the architect send me new plans...changing about 200 of my rooms. Yes, that is a big deal.

3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?
I guess I was pretty nice to Megan the other night when I called her wicked hot and totally do-able. Is that a compliment?

4. What was the last thing you threw away?
A PC world magazine subscriptnion and an old Victoria's Secret catalogue. (really, I swear!!!)

5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?
TVGuide.com. I just do not know what I would do without it. Right before that I went to ign.com to read some about my new game cuz I got stuck. It really is a freaking awesome game.

I think I am going to go see Kill Bill again this weekend. I will probably play my new game some and listen to the football game. I would like to get out of town some, but I just don't think this is the weekend to do it. Can anyone recommend a new book to me? I just finished my latest one and could use a new one.

10.22.2003

Got new game. It is awesome. More tomorrow.

Look at this site. It has the funniest stuff found on the internet that really happened.

10.21.2003

So how are you doing? It's been a couple weeks since I saw you last.

So I am just going to get to the point. I thought we were buddies, real pals. You gave me a good deal on a TV and I gave you my hard earned cash. I thought that we had a good thing going, ya know. I would come visit you when I had time and would spend countless time talking myself out of buying stuff from you. But then you do this, you low down disrepesctful slob.

When I call and ask if you have a certain game SSX 3, ya know the incredible sequel to my absolute favorite game, and you tell me that you have it, much to my joy. You not only tell me you are gonna hook me up, but just to make sure you are going to check to see for yourself. "You have the one for the gamecube?", I ask. To which you reply, "Yeah sure, Gamecube."

So I get in my car and drive to make the transaction only to find that you lied like a bastard to me. How could you freaking do that. You get my hopes all high like that only to tell me "Uh, well, uh the order did not come in today." WTF!!! Then why did you F-ing tell me it did?!?!

Piss off Best Buy. Some friend you are.

10.20.2003

The choir actually got a review. How cool is that? Now all of Sacramento knows we rule. Haha. You can read it here if you wanna.

10.19.2003

It really was great. I spent about a full day and a half of normal working hours doing choir rehearsals and the concert this weekend. Sadly not that many people showed up, and by not many I mean about 1300. I don't remember for sure, but I think there were more people at my highschool concerts. In any case they really missed out because the concert was fantastic. The orchestra that plays with us is really amazing. I could have just listen to them play their part all night without the choir. It really was a joy to be up there again and get applause and feel like I was contributing something to the arts again.

Nothing makes me feel like more of a country boy than having to go down into downtown Sac and have to find a place to park. Every street is oneway and the parking garages cost a fortune, if you can find them. 3 times I had to go down there to rehearse or do the concert, and 3 times I got lost. You can take the man out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the man. So true.

One guy during the concert got sick. There are 8 rows of us (200 people) and he was way in the back. Apparently he just took off his jacket, sat down and puked into it. He was kind enough to just stay down until we finished the piece though, twenty minutes later. Poor guy. Poor suit.

I hope you all had a great weekend. With the concert and the big win from the Pokes I am quite satisfied.

10.18.2003

Wyoming 13 - BYU 10. It's a beautiful thing.

You did us proud Joe Glenn. Now lets get the sheep.

10.17.2003

1. Name five things in your refrigerator.
Not much, my diet kinda forces me to shop for fresh food a lot. Currently:
(1) cheese - string cheese, little cheese wheels, shredded cheese, cheese wedges and sometimes more.
(2) half and half - I always have a good supply of half and half to make up for the fact I can't have milk
(3) beer - some things you just can't give up :)
(4) salad - lots of it. Some good, most bad.
(5) lots and lots of condiments

2. Name five things in your freezer.
(1), (2), (3) - chicken chicken chicken. Whole roasting chicken, chicken with ribs, chicken breasts, shredded chicken
(4) various frozen meats - Hell I do not even know what they are.
(5) Paint roller and paintbrush - I'll clean it up sometime!

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.
(1) Trash can
(2) Cutting boards
(3) Cleaning stuff
(4) I don't know, maybe a mouse, but I hope not.
(5) what's with all these questions??????

4. Name five things around your computer.
(1) Little IKEA lamp
(2) Pumpkin spice candle - yum
(3) Bills - darn them!
(4) Pics of my friend Meg and Keith
(5) A screwdriver, why the hell is that there?

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.
Not much of a medicine guy. I own aspirin, but I never use it. I also have some vitamins, but they sit on the counter. If you want the truth I think I have some sunflower seeds and old credit cards in the medicine cabinet. Have a killer weekend, I am gonna be wicked busy.

10.16.2003

Alright, for all you broadband people out there it is time you learned about one of the coolest features the internet has to offer now. Many people are familiar with Launch.com, formerly known as musicvideos.com. They have been hosting music videos since I was a freshman in college, probably longer. The only problem with it was that even if you had a nice connection, the videos would cut out.

Well in my search for music at work I have been visiting numerous internet radio sites, which I must admit normally suck. The sounds is normally terrible, the selection is poor, and the ads are far more annoying than the diamond store ads on normal radio. Then I happened upon Launch.com's Launchcast. It is freaking awesome. The bitrate is great, and the selection huge. But here is the best part. As you listen to the music, which never cuts out, you can rate the songs and artists, and even the album. It keeps track of how you rated things and starts building a personal radio station for you built on your tastes.

I have been doing this for about 3 days now and have created the best radio station ever, because it is mine. It sounds like a gimmick, but it really is awesome. Check it out, it is totally free. They give you a bunch of great stations to listen to that you can rate stuff in. For $3 a month you can get a hell of a lot more too. This is my best find on the internet in some time.

10.15.2003

Wicked Good Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds (Normally takes me a couple medium pumpkins, but one will do)
1tsp Worcester sauce
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt

Gut pumpkin and make sure you get all the little goo things off the seeds.
Boil seeds in salted water for 10 min
Dry seeds on paper towel
Add Worcester sauce and salt to melted butter and mix till salt dissolves.
Add seeds
Stir til coated
Bake for 1-2 hours at 225°F checking and turning every 15 minutes until the seeds are crunchy and delicious, but not burned.
Toss pumpkin before it rots.

10.14.2003

I just wanted to say thank you.

We have been buddies for a couple of years now and I just realized I had never really expressed my feelings before. You do so much for me, and yet I just do not feel I do enough in return. Think of the great gifts you have given me, Fat Tire, Blue Paddle, and of course the liquid gold 1554.

And now, after all of that you do something that absolutely takes my breath away. You deliver your cool refreshing brews directly to my California supermarket in bulk. It honestly left a tear in my eye to see you sitting on the shelf next to my morning Pepsi. Thank you. Thank you.

P.S. Matrix 2 was just about as bad on DVD as it was in the theaters. What was I thinking?

P.P.S. Just because you are obsessed with Germany does not mean that when you find a German deli you will be able to stomach bratwurst as big as your left arm.

10.13.2003

Just when I was getting down again. Just when I started thinking of getting the hell out of Sac Town again, Just when I thought this place was a big ugly dirty city, I had another choir rehearsal and am in love with this city again.

Just so you know I have a big concert on Saturday and will probably discuss choir more than once this week. Sorry, but I have to write about what I am actually doing.

If any of you are wondering the move to the new office was really good. I made it there in 6 minutes today which is just freaking awesome. The office is very nice, and it is going to be hard to not let myself drink 4 pots of the gourmet coffee everyday. Finally I am not sitting in the middle of a lobby. At lunch I wondered around watching the wild turkeys that seem to like our ponds and fountains. Very nice. Too bad we couln't have moved 3 and a half months ago like we were suppsed to.

10.12.2003

I just got back from seeing Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. This, ladies and gentlemen, was the absolute greatest film I have seen this year. Uma Thurman puts on a killer performance (hehe). Lucy Liu is awesome as always. There is just so much action in it you can not help but grin like an idiot through the whole thing. There is one awesome action sequence and you think, "There is no way they can top this", but then they do, over and over and over again. I know the final cut of the film came out to like 4 hours so they cut it into two films, but I would have happily sat there for 6 with that kind of stuff.

My advice, go see it, stop reading this blog this very instant and go see it. Still there? Why? When you finally do see it you will be regretting that you sat here for even one extra second. Skip work if you have to.

10.11.2003

Way to go on Saturday Pokes! A nice win for sure. I will take a 48-21 win any day of the week, no matter who it is against. A much more satisfying win than the Division II school we beat earlier in the season.

10.10.2003

1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
Oh yeah, I watch a lot of sports. College basketball and football, NFL, and NHL in the playoffs (it takes 2 months anyway.)

2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
Well of course I have the Pokes. They are definitley the teams I back most. I also am big on the Broncos and the Avalanche. People out here like the Kings, but I just can not get interested.

3. Are there any sports you hate?
Baseball is boring as hell, the NBA doesn't play any defense. Blech, boring stuff.

4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
Sure, been to a few Rockies game and went to a Broncos game with Keith last year and had an awesome time. They whomped on the Bills and I talked to a guy who used to bring a whole pot of chili to share at the old Mile High Stadium.

5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
HAHA. Well I did try just about every sport and sucked at every single one of them. T-Ball, wrestling and football just didn't cut it. But I am darn good at all of that on the Nintendo if that counts!

10.09.2003

Okay, this is just too funny not to post. Enjoy the beard championships.

f**king traffic

10.08.2003

Hmmm, well I guessed I watched Down with Love, which was actually pretty good. A chick flick without being to chick flicky.

Everyone but me and the other FNG are going to be gone tomorrow. I can not complain about that.

Since I don't have much to say tonight, head on over to a blog that is consistently funny and interesting. Thank you American Undershirt!

10.07.2003

So it actually happened. I now live in the absolute craziest state in the country. Not only did Arnold win, but he WON. If any of you want to know I did not vote in this election. You see, I need to register my car still, and I really don't want to yet. If I register to vote then they know I have been here...haha.

Things will really start to get interesting now though. I am really looking forward to seeing where this goes. I imagine there will be a lot of legal things going on, as well as hanging chads. Something really funny that happened with all this that did not make the national news though. Someone rented a bunch of U-Haul trucks today and just circled the Capitol building all morning. HAHA...now that is freaking funny. Though if you ask me they should have rented Budget trucks, the renter people are much easier to work with.

10.06.2003

Well it looks to be a long week. The excitement of the move to the new office combined with the excitement of my choral debut with the Sacramento Choral Society and Symphony is probably going to be too much.

Tomorrow is the big election. It will be a hell of a lot of fun to see how this one turns out. Just as long as Gray Davis gets out of office I really could care less. Just so long as it happens in a hilarious way. Night.

10.05.2003

So I went to San Francisco this weekend and had an awesome time. I now put San Francisco at the top of my list for greatest cites (that I have been to anyway.) I played on the pier, and ate some crab. I took a boat tour that took me under the bridge and around Alcatraz. I took a lot of pictures that will mean a lot more than my words, so please check them out!

The site I run that leads you to all my pics is having problems, but you can still see them all through links in various blog entries such as the one posted in this. Have a great week everyone! 5 more days of driving to downtown Sacramento for me!

10.03.2003

1. What vehicle do you drive?
I drive a green '98 Dodge Stratus.

2. How long have you had it?
Oh about a year and a half. I bought it during a particularly boring spring break.

3. What is the coolest feature on your vehicle?
Well I have an awesome stereo in it that plays MP3 discs and puts out some great sounds. Aside from something I had put in I think I have to say the air conditioning. It rocks. It worked hard this summer and always kept me cool.

4. What is the most annoying thing about your vehicle?
Well there are a lot of annying things about my car. The engine breaking off the motor mount, a slow leak on my tire, the dysfunctioanl lighter, the hood holder upper thing that has broken out, etc., etc.

5. If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now?
Okay, the most economical choice would be a really nice hybrid that could get like 80mpg. Man it would be sweet to fill up once a month. But aside from that I think I would like to have a Bentley with DUBS and a built in, gold plated DVD player!

Have a good weekend!

10.02.2003

I totally spaced and forgot to post something last night, so I will go ahead and post a couple things today. Man the weather is getting nice out here. Sacramento may become downright livable if this kind of weahter keeps up.

So you know how in Wyoming when you get a pumpkin and set it outside it freezes, thus not rotting? Well that really isn't the case out here. And there are lots of creepy crawly thing here as well. I put that pumpkin I stole the seeds from out on my porch for a nice fall scene. I was grilling last night and noticed it was looking pretty sad. I opened up the top of it and low and behold I had created a colony of the most horrible bugs ever. Lesson learned.