"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."
-Mahatma Ghandi

I'd say that we have a long way to go before we achieve greatness.

A Politically Correct Christmas Carole

So since Christmas is right around the corner I've started listening to Christmas music. YAY! Anyways, it got me to thinking about how our country has become so annoyingly politically correct. I wonder what Christmas songs might be like in a completely PC country . . .

White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a Caucasian holiday just like the ones I used to know
Where the tree tops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow
I'm dreaming of a Caucasian holiday with every holdiay card I right
May your days be merry and bright and may all your holidays be Caucasion

Hmmm . . . not quite the same affect as the original.

Research Baby!

Okay so way, super, exciting news!! Well, it is for me at least. One of my professors has invited me to do research with him for research credit. He's writing a book and he said that he thought that I do really well in class and that he likes my energy. I'm so stoked. I never thought that I would ever get to do something like this.

Added bonus: looks great on resume and application for graduate school!

So I just blew about an hour an a half playing with Google Earth. It's really quite fascinating. You should try it some time. Just go to www.earth.google.com and download Google Earth, you'll be amazed at how little you accomplish, and how much time you spend doing it!

5 Taverns, 4 Pawn Shops and a Strip Club

It is such a beautiful day! Okay so its probably about 60 degrees and foggy but I love it! I've been waiting for this weather for quite some time now and I know that the fog can be dangerous but it just makes everything around us look so cool (e.g., the trees and mountains).

Anyways, its been about a month 0r so since I last posted and I didn't want to leave everyone hanging as to what I've been up to ('cause I've been bombarded with e-mails inquiring about this . . . not).

So I'm finally out at SOU which I absolutely love! Finally I feel like I'm at a real college. Not that RCC isn't but there is something about getting run down by cars walking between classes in the middle of town near 5 taverns, 4 pawn shops and a strip club that doesn't exactly scream out college campus.

I'm taking 13 credits this term and learning that upper division classes really are tougher and that I still hate reading but now I hate it even more! Fun classes though: Social Psychology, Learning and Memory, Abnormal Psychology, and The Psychology Major (that's right, it's called "The Psychology Major"). Notice a small trend here? Actually I'm quite excited because I've been waiting soo long to be able to take all the classes that I want to take instead of just required classes. Granted, some of these are required for my major but they aren't boring basic level classes.

Well, I think I've written enough to keep me covered for at least another month (just kidding I'll try and post more frequently). I should probably get off and do some studying since I have two exams next week.

I think that I must be some kind of freak or something. I mean I'm the only person I know of that wants school to start a good month and a half before the summer is over, I love to go shopping for new school supplies, and to top it off, I just added all of my Christmas music to my iPod . . . I am a strange, strange man.

BRITT 2007

So originally I was planning on going to one concert this year but I ended up going to two in three days! Mandy and I got to go see Chris Botti last year at Britt and had so much fun that we decided to go this year and make Britt an annual event.

On Thursday Chris Botti was back at Britt and Bryan had an extra ticket so that was a real treat. Botti is an exceptional jazz trumpet player and he happens to hail from Corvallis, Oregon. Unfortunately our concert was called off a little early because of the thunder storm that was brewing, though I'm not so sure half the people realized it because they were so tossed. Nothing like the smell of alcohol and B/O to liven up a concert under the stars.


This is Chris Botti and me after the concert. I felt kinda retarded at first but that didn't last too long because it's not every day that you get a photo with a famous musician . . . plus if he becomes a legend like Davis and Armstrong (which I'm sure he will) then I will have a photo with him . . . go me!

The second concert was none other than the CMA Award nominee Josh Turner. Now this guy can sing and I'm pretty sure that if he would have come into the crowd he would have been mauled by every women in the place. Wish he would have stuck around for a meet and great but I'm sure he has somewhere else more important to be than Jacksonville, Oregon.

Okay so it's been a while since I last blogged so let me get all of you up to speed on what I've been doing . . .

• Finished my last term at RCC with straight A's
• Graduated from RCC with an Associate of Arts Transfer Degree
  
• Started work for the Medford School District cleaning off all of the school roofs (40 hours a week with temperatures usually in the high 90's to low 100's).
• Turned 22
• Took a week off to go to Camp Meeting
• Went to midnight release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, got two hours of sleep, then worked for 8 hours the next day.
• Got a new toy . . . 30 GB Video iPod!!
  
• Saw Transformers.

Yeah that's about it.

Starving Little Children

Okay so it's 3:00 in the morning and I can't really sleep right now and one of those annoying infomercials just came on saying, "for only pennies a day you can feed this child and put shoes on her feet." So does anybody else find it just a little disturbing that they go over to which ever impoverished country it is, and instead of helping the children, they pull out their fancy shmancy cameras and FILM THEM WALKING BARE FOOT AND STARVING!! Is that not just the slightest bit cruel! And then they have the nerve to ask ME for money. Please!

How Many Laptops Can You Fit on a Patio Table?

So before today I didn't have wireless connection and I was piggy-backing off of some lady upstairs. I shouldn't complain because I wasn't paying for it but lately it has been WORTHLESS! So today Mandy brought over a wireless router to hook up and now I can be on the internet anywhere in the house! Even the bathroom! Yesssss!!

The Verdict

So after an exhausting first day of jury duty, day two was actually non-existent as they didn't require my presence which frankly, was more than okay with me. Although part of me wouldn't have minded showing up so I had a valid reason to ditch class. However today was a different story.

I was to arrive at the Justice Building at 9:00 this morning so I got there at 8:45, no way I'd make Tuesday's mistake. Yeah so this time I found a parking spot right away, things are looking up a little. Security, oh I'm ready for you! I had everything ready to put in the little bucket as I walked in, things continue to look up until . . .

So somehow my limbs didn't want to listen to m brain this morning 'cause I set my coffee on the table with all of the little plastic buckets as I was emptying my pockets when my right arm decided to take a swing at my coffee! And it connected sending my "morning medicine" all over the ground in front of me and a few others who were waiting to get through security.

Okay so after "clean up on isle one" I headed on up to the jury assembly room. From there the bailiff escorted us into the court room. Once assigned where we were to sit the defense attorney gave to dumbest spiel ever! I think she asked us the same question five times but in different forms!!

Alas we get to decide who shall serve and who shall leave. "Please don't pick me, please don't pick me, please don't pick me." So each attorney gets six preemptive challenges which is just some big fancy word for saying "get out!" Now either they didn't like those who were seated in the jurors box or they wanted one of us in the benches behind the box but they sure knew how boot people off the jury. And finally it came down to me . . . I would be the next in line to fill a seat on the jury . . . and the verdict is I got to enjoy the rest of my day NOT sitting in a cramped little box with eleven other losers! Yessssss!

So those of us who were left made haste and got in that elevator as fast as we could before the court realized they just might need a few more of us. I am now free for the next two years!!

Jury Duty: Day 1

So today was day one of my three days of jury duty. According to the summons I had to be at the Justice Building at 8:00am. Yeah that barely happened. I set my alarm to go off at 7:00 this morning and guess what . . . it did. But I on the other hand thought it wise to just lay in bed for five more minutes, then I would get up and begin my presumed long day. Everyone knows that a)this is plain stupid and b)no one ever gets up after just "five more minutes." So forty-five minutes later I shot out of bed and proceeded to put on whatever clothes were within arms reach (this is wear a messing room comes in very handy)and drove at break neck speeds to get downtown.

As if running late for jury duty wasn't bad enough I encountered yet another dilemma . . . the ever illusive parking spot. Finding a parking space downtown is no easy feat to begin with. Then there's the fact that it's eight in the morning which means everyone that works downtown is still showing up and nearly all the parking spots have already been taken. Finally, I guess I'm not the only prospective juror which means that there are about 80 other people taking up spots that would not normally be filled.

Okay so I found a spot. But wait! There's more! "Please remove everything from your pockets." CRAP! I just want to get up to the 2nd floor so I'm not even more late! Once upstairs it became a "'xcuse me, pardon me . . . ooh! Is that seat taken?" Yeah I was probably one the last to walk in.

After about an hour long orientation/presentation they finally listed off those who had to stay. My very hectic morning finally come to a screeching halt as I exited the Justice Building, having not been called, and headed home to find something to occupy the time that would normally be spent enjoying a very peaceful sleep.

If only the story ended here. Unfortunately I have to call back tonight to find out whether or not I must go in tomorrow morning.

Okay so I have two words for this coming Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday . . .

JURY DUTY! BUMMER!

Okay so maybe three words.

Chiquita Banana Theme Song . . . as performed by Evan Burchfield

mmm . . . Chipotle

So tonight after Mandy left the Niantic Youth Center, we wanted something to eat since neither of us had eaten yet. Rarely do we ever actually know what we want to eat so we usually drive around for a while until we see something.

Well this time I suggested that we should get Chipotle but as anyone who lives here knows, we don't have one. BUMMER! So Mandy said that we would just have to go down to Sacramento. I said that was a perfect idea . . . we'd be back in time for class tomorrow. But then we realized that Chipotle probably wouldn't be open by the time we got there. So we decided that we would just call Stacy and have her pick some up for us and we could just re-heat it when we got down there.

Yeah, that would be cool.

So why is "The Cosby Show" called "The Cosby Show"? I know that it is Bill Cosby's show but on the show their last name isn't Cosby, it's Huxtable.

Three Lettrs . . . PB & J

It's definitely been a while since I blogged last so I thought that I would throw something down real quick just so that I'm all caught up.

Since this is one craaaazzy term and my brain is exhausted, and for lack of anything deep to write about, here's what I've got.

As I was making my lunch this afternoon (a most wonderfully delicious PB & J) the thought occurred, does peanut butter go on both sides of the bread or just one?

How do you make your PB & J?

5 Reasons Why Seat Belts are Worthless on Airplanes.

As Mandy and I sat eating our McDonald's yesterday the thought arose, how is it that when we hop into one of the church's economy sized van's for a trip, we must wear our seat belt but yet, you get on a school bus or public transit and no seat belt is required, nor do they provide one for you if you wanted to "buckle of for safety". This led to another thought, why must we buckle up on an airplane?

• When taking off, the sheer force is more than enough to keep you in your seat.

• It's not like we're going to crash into another plane in mid-air.

• If we do crash, a seat belt is the last thing you're gonna need to hope to walk away from it.

• It's not actually possible to fall out of your seat, there's hardly any room to sit down in the first place.

• It won't keep you from hitting the seat in front of you either 'cause the seat in front of you is actually in your lap.

This isn't to say that I would have ever wanted a seat belt on the school bus. Let's face it, if you do that then you might as well hand every student a helmet and chinstrap as well.

I can breathe. . .

for a few more days at least. I am anxiously awaiting the end of a very long and (at many times) frustrating term. I know the end is in sight but I still have one more mountain to climb. . . okay maybe a couple. I just gave a presentation of my so called "term paper". Yeah it doesn't really look like one at the moment and it is has to be 10 pages by next Wednesday. I have an HTML test and project due next Tuesday and Thursday. Oh and somewhere in there is a Chemistry final. So yeah, maybe I don't have a few days to breathe. :(

On the upside though is that on my drive to class this morning I caught the oh so beautiful aroma of freshly cut grass which can mean only one thing. . . spring is just around the corner!!

It's been one year...

since I first picked Mandy up for our very first date!! On that Friday night one year ago I took her to see "Failure To Launch". I was soooo nervous! You gotta understand, I'd never done something like that before. . . I was never the guy who asked out a girl. But it would appear that it worked in my favor that night because we are still very much together.

Now one year later, we celebrated by going to Hot Pots! this afternoon and started painting a coffee mug for one another. After we worked on those for about three hours, we went back to my place and I made her dinner. On the menu was a roast, garlic mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli, and blueberry muffins.

After dinner we watched a movie and it was only fitting that we watch the same movie we watched just one year ago, "Failure To Launch". We now sit her at her place playing "Sorry" and I must say I am getting my butt kicked.

SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW!

We should maybe think about a WARNING label.

So the other night Cindi came over to Mandy's and brought some popsicles with her. While I was eating mine I was reminded of A Christmas Story when the kid sticks his tongue on the light poll. (Insert popscicle for light pole and my lips for tongue and you have Zach stuck to popscicle.) I found myself sitting on the couch with both my lips stuck around the Popsicle (and not just kind of stuck, but to the point that if I pulled on the frozen treat, it would begin to remove the skin!) I tried getting Mandy's attention but all that came out were a bunch of groans, as my mouth was sufficiently frozen shut by the popscicle. I have found that it is not as easy as one might think to get unstuck. Yeah, it kinda hurts actually!

Note: In my time of distress and personal anguish, Mandy found it in her heart to make light of my situation and have a laugh. Though I must say, it was quite amusing.

Dear Mandy,

I hope that this day is really special for you! I love you so much!

So the following is actually from the card that I got you but I thought it was so fitting. I mean, this is the one time that I don't think I could say it any better than the card.

"No one else understands me so perfectly, no one knows me like you do. I can be myself around you -- and I love that!"

Thanks for being so AMAZING!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

SMILES

So I was sifting through my pictures and came across this picture of Stacy and Dakota from Thanksgiving. It put a smile on my face. Enjoy!

Ummm... yeah.

So a couple nights ago Mandy and I went to taking random pictures and well, they were less than flattering (most of them at least). After uploading them onto Bebo, I was talking to Stacy and she absolutely died of laughter. She noticed that my hair was getting rather long and was wondering just how long it was... this is what I came up with.

Not that many of you care...

but GO DUCKS!! Okay so maybe our football team was less than steller(talking about how we took a 6-0 start and flushed it down the toilet!!) But now we turn from the field to the court. Mac Court to be specific.

The Oregon Ducks basketball team is off to its best start in 80 years - since McArthur Court was first built - with a very impressive 17-1 record after last nights very tough win over the Stanford Cardinals (66-59).

What may possibly be more impressive is that in an eight day period, the Ducks defeated then #1 UCLA(@ home) and #8 Arizona(on the road). Each game was decided by only two points and Senior Aaron Brooks delivered both game winning shots.

The Ducks started the season unranked but have quickly catapulted themselves into a very nice position and went into last nights game ranked 10th in the nation... we can only get better from here!

My Favorite Smells

Okay so many of you will find this to be a really odd post but for some reason I was thinking about what my favorite smells were (my thought process is odd like that).

1) The smell of rain during a thunderstorm
2) The smell of the pages in an old book
3) The smell of a roast on a Sunday afternoon
4) The smell of coffee brewing in the morning
5) The smell of clean clothes... okay so maybe just
the dryer sheets

See if you can come up with any of your own favorite fragrances.

Oh back to school, back to school...

So Christmas break is officially over for me now and it's time to hit the books once more. But I must say I am actually looking forward to this. Although it was quite nice to have an entire month off from school, I have gotten into this mode where I know that I'm almost done with RCC so now I just want to finish as soon as possible. This is not to mention the fact that I think my class load will be easier this term, each of which is completely different from the rest... Chemistry, Writing, HTML, and Drawing.

Well, off I go. Must continue getting ready.