a conundrum

I don't think I'm really looking for advice here, rather I see this as more of an outlet through which I can let you guys know the constant struggle that has been going on in my head the past two days (and counting). Here's the deal: I want new Chacos to replace my stolen pair that I never really got to say goodbye to. I want another pair of Z/2's, much like the pair pictured above. So that part is easy. Here's the conundrum part of this particular decision making process...

Chaco is releasing a new sole for 2006 - the Unaweep, and they will be eliminating their current, well-known soles of Terrino (land sport) and Colorado (water sport). Due to this discontinuation, retailers across the country have a diminishing supply of the '05 models at extremely buyer-friendly prices (between $50 and $60... not bad folks). At this point in my explanation you are probably wondering what is so hard about making this decision. You all know that I'm frugal by nature and would normally jump at the opportunity to buy something for half price. Well this story goes on to tell that the new sole, Unaweep, claims to be the best of both the former soles, a combination of Terrino and Colorado, and it is 20% lighter. That's the kicker. Chacos are heavy ricks, and I'd love to lose 20% of the weight that my feet are carrying around daily. Who wouldn't?

The problem then is should I jump on the good prices that be, or should I wait (an unknown amount of time) for the new models to come out. I've tried to justify answering "both" to this question, but I don't think that's very ethical. So... that's that.

trip results...

I got back from Mexico today, and I figured a good way to let everyone know that I safely made my return to the Land of the Free was to post a new blog entry. I'll give you the reader's digest version of the trip here quickly: We rode a Greyhound to Mexico, where we were to spend 5 days rock climbing. The weather (and our finger pads) allowed us 3 and a half great days of climbing on some stellar Mexican limestone. The two longest routes I climbed were "Black Cat Bone" with Colby (a 9 pitch 5.10d), and "Yankee Clipper" with Todd (a 13 pitch 5.10c). The former was a solid 850 vertical feet, while the latter boasted well over 1,000. And during the many hours Colby and I spent on "Black Cat Bone," meanwhile, down at the bottom of our route, some Mexican stole my rope bag, which housed both mine and Colby's Chacos... Ergo, I had to buy these Mexican Chacos in town... I have not been that mad in as long as I can remember, but the Lord used it to show me how materialistic I am, and now I have something to ask for for Christmas. Thanks to you guys who thought about and missed me... you're great. For more pics from the trip, click here.

trip number one

If you're reading this, and it's the post at the very top of the page, then chances are I'm in Mexico. I thought I'd leave you all with one last post before I leave. I'm leaving in an hour to go to Austin, hop on a Greyhound bus, and take it to Mexico where we'll be climbing at El Portrero Chico. I'll be returning on December 21st, so feel free to leave me a message to return home to. Also, feel free to pray that we're all safe and smart on this trip, and more importantly that the Lord will open up some doors for the gospel to go out... cause that's where the party really is. Have fun doing what y'all are doing, and I'll be back with pics in about a week.

deck the halls

Thanks to the six chicks for outdoing themselves yet again. Here you see them caroling on my front porch, serenading me with "All I Want for Christmas is You." Now that is a sweet thing to do for somebody. I'd like to take the rest of this time, however, to discuss caroling, and why it doesn't really happen anymore.

In my head, I feel like caroling is something that used to be done by very talented vocalists who would either a) stand in one place in a busy square and spread Christmas cheer to passers-by or b) go door to door singing to housefulls of perfect strangers. Now, don't get me wrong... the six chicks are all very talented singers, and I love that they sang to me, albeit I'm no stranger; but I just really like the idea of going up to a random house, singing some Christmas tunes with all you've got, staring your random audience in the eyes and just seeing what comes of it.

Well, I could certainly go on with various thoughts I've had on this subject, but I can see that this is quickly becoming one of the weakest entries I've done in a while, so I'll quit.

december finally struck

You may recall the post a week or so ago in which I complained about the ridiculously hot weather here in Texas. Well pretty much the very next day it started to get cold, and this past couple of days have been amazing! The temperature has been camping out around the upper 20's to lower 40's, and there's been ice, which nearly brings life to the dead trees that it coats... so pretty.

Not only is it really cold outside, when you live in the Extreme, you get the joys of the outside weather inside too! Our heater can't make its mind up as to when it wants to work and when it wants to rest, but it seems it likes to rest most when it really ought be working. So, from the second I woke up yesterday until I went to bed, I had all these layers on, and I drank 3 or 4 cups of spiced apple cider. I had my doubts concerning the necessity of that purchase, but it turns out there was nothing that necessitated a purchase more.

superhero soirée

The activity: a party.
The theme: Superhero Soirée
Mine and Brooke's theme: little kids who are pretending to be superheros

It probably goes without saying that I had a nice time last night with my good friend and very gracious date Brooke Brandon. I mean, who wouldn't have fun wearing what we're wearing? It also goes without saying, and I believe this with all my heart, that we absolutely dominated the creativity portion of the unspoken costume contest. Unfortunately certain humans who happened to be judging said contest thought otherwise... those stupid fools. I cannot go on without giving Lauren Rouse props for thinking of this idea. You guys know her, she's the one who's homepage is this site, and she doesn't know how to change it.

Recap of the night: We arrived at the party fashionably late (I mean that in every sense of the word(s)) and quickly got a couple of necessary salutations in with the fellow patrons of the dance floor before we started dancing like nary a soul was watching. After about 3 songs (1 country, 2 hip-hop) I ran out of fresh dance moves, and after 4 songs my side stared hurting. At one point I was lucky enough to find a stool and I did arguably the best dance on the planet for those 120 seconds. After many a dances Brooke and I went back out to the car where we star-gazed and where I witnessed the first shooting star I've e'er seen. Dang wow. Then we left, and I was overly satisfied with the happenings of the evening. Thanks for joining be Brooke, and thanks for being my friend you, the reader.

I like Travis Herzog

I'm not so lofty to think that any of the readers of my blog are from out of state, which means that all of you can sympathize with what is soon to be said (or, in your case, read). Travis Herzog is a local meteorologist here in town, and a good friend of mine. He however, must have to hate his job this time of the year in College Station because he is constantly forced to be the bearer of bad news. You see, here in College Station it is not winter. I know that all of our calendars show the month to be December, and local performing artists are playing Christmas songs at their concerts, local retailers are advertising Holiday this and that... but it is not winter. The reason, friends, that winter has yet to fall on the Brazos Valley is because God has yet to allow it to be cold. I'm posting this at 11:30am, and it's already 75 degrees, with the high to top out around 83. I was born in 83, but I do not want to feel anything close to 83 degrees once December rolls around.

I'm sure you're wondering, "if it's so hot in College Station, then why are you pictured above wearing wintry clothes and ski goggles?" To this I say, valid question. Here's the other thing about Texas weather. Not only is it a state that can only offer two of the four seasons, it will also tease you like you've never been teased before with desirable weather. There have been three days this year cold enough to force me to dress in the outfit above. As anyone could tell you, that number ought to be significantly higher. Anyway... this post was going to be a funny one about how I ride my bike to school with ski goggles on, but instead I just got mad at the weather.

e-check yes or no

I learned last night that there are people (some of my favorites in the world) who actually check this blog daily for updates. Well anyone who's been around here for any significant amount of time knows that a daily update is something that the online diary for the masses has yet to see. Say all that to say, if you feel like this post came quickly after the previous one, well you're right. Not only did I decide to post an update to meet the needs of my fans - for lack of a better word - but I also did it out of necessity.

I'm sure you're wondering by now what all this has to do with the beautiful black woman pictured so stylishly above. Well here's the story. I have this date party for a little dorky club I'm in called BCA. The party is Tuesday, Dec. 6th, and as of 8:23am on Wednesday, I'm still without a date. I've already ordered a fleece for whoever my date may be, and hopefully the size (small) will work just fine. If not, they can probably have my medium, because I really don't need another fleece... but I digress! The woman pictured above is a result I found when I searched Google Images for the words "Brooke Brandon." So, this post is indeed a lame, feeble attempt to ask Brooke to a date party in a creative way. So I guess the ball is in your court now girl. Comment away.

this just in...

BREAKING NEWS: We here at "online diary for the masses" regret to inform you that our head photographer and writer, D.O., recently had a sort of fall out with his camera. Witnesses say they spotted D.O. getting out of his car upon arrival at his "home home" in Arlington, TX, when he allegedly drop kicked his camera on the cement driveway.

"I swear it was an accident" said D.O., "I have a habit of trying to catch things on my feet if I drop them, and this attempted catch went awry and I unintentionally kicked the Coolpix 4100 [camera]."

Camera engineers at the local photography shop claimed that the fate of the camera was the dreaded "cheaper to get a new one than to get it fixed." D.O. has been reported expressing his outrage with this diagnosis, seeing that the only part of the camera that broke was the little latch that keeps the batteries in place.

In conclusion, we say all that to say you readers may have to endure posts sans photographs for a while. We hear that said camera still works, but the user is forced to be gentle, and as we here at "online diary for the masses" know, D.O. is as gentle as they come.

a story from the Extreme

So the other day began just like any other: I woke up earliest of all the residents in the Extreme, and Mikey shortly followed suit. Taylor woke up some time much later, I'm sure, however I don't remember and in fact, that is not relevant to this story. I woke up and took a shower, after which I went into my room to do the things people do after a post-shower dry off session. During my time dressing I heard Mikey move from his bedroom (where he sleeps) to the bathroom (where we recently got new light bulbs). I went on with my daily routine, which includes some cereal, reading, talking to Jesus, and things of the sort. I completed said activities when straight to my mind arose a question that Mikey needed to answer. He had since moved from the bathroom back to his room, where I assumed he was partaking in his daily routine, which possesses similar qualities as mine. I opened up his door and saw this terrible display of lethargy:

... 2nd is the best

Well the day has finally come when Songfest is over, and I received my life back. In case you were unaware, Songfest is a philanthropic song and dance competition that Chi Omega, a sorority on campus, puts on. I had the privilege of being in charge of Songfest for BCA, along side my wonderful partner, Laura Brannan of Theta. What that term "being in charge" means practically is that we have forfeited a ton of free time and potential fun in order that we might gain dance moves, perfect harmonies, and ultimately this wonderful 2nd place trophy (t-shirt added for effect). Some may think that I wouldn't be excited about a mere second place finish, but those that know me and my uncompetitive nature, know that I'm more than happy with second.

I'd like to thank all the Chi-O girls who worked harder than anyone else to put this thing on, as it raises so much money for Make A Wish and the Brazos Valley Rehab Center. Thanks also to all the BCA guys and Theta girls who worked so hard on this crazy thing. Thanks to Jason the stage hand for being tight among his less-than-tight co-workers. Thanks to Mrs. Hall and Angela Kelly for being my elementary musical influences, and without whom I wouldn't be singing today. Thanks to the Beatles, Bach, and Elvis for letting us use your music royalty-free. I could go on, but they're waving the sign at me... Thanks to Jesus and all of you who came out and cheered us on!

ahh... the days of old

Before I get going on this entry, I think it's only fair to inform you of the thought process that got us to this point. I had to dress up today at school for a presentation. I thought about posting a picture of myself from earlier today, all dressed up, but no such picture exists. I then decided to settle for an older picture of me dressed up because a) all pictures of me dressed up are going to be older because it hasn't happened in a long time and b) because I figured people other than my fellow MGMT 372 classmates and Claire Borne might enjoy seeing D.O. with his shirt tucked in. As I was looking through older pictures to share with the masses, I found this one, and I thought I ought to share it.

This is a picture of me at Regionals (maybe Districts... either way) my senior year of high school. This would be my last year to ever compete in the best sport on the planet, gymnastics. I went on to compete in State that year, and finished somewhere in the very slightly above average range. My wonderful father took this picture, and while I'm on the parental subject, let it be known that my parents might have missed one of my meets though all my 4 years of competing in high school. They're tight.

I could go on and on about gymnastics, but I'm sure that a very small percentage of readers would find it worth their time, so I'll spare the majority. I have reason to believe that the online diary for the masses will be seeing some new traffic now that I've got links on both facebook and the Six Chicks blog, and when you become more famous, you've gotta cater to the needs of your constituents... or something. Ok, anyway, say all that to say, gymnastics is, in my opinion, the best sport man has ever created, and I'm looking forward to getting a copy of Bryan High's gymnastics schedule so I can actually have plans on Friday nights.

is bigger better?

As many of you wonderful people know, I recently celebrated my 22nd birthday. As is the custom in this country, I received some gifts on my birthday, not because I did anything (in reality I only aged one day on the 6th, not an entire year), but because I'm blessed with friends and family who love me.

One of the gifts that was given to me was the product they call an iPod nano. It's the mini-est rick I think I've ever seen. I thought about simply taking a picture of it and showing you how small it was, but I didn't think that would do it justice, so I placed it next to two well-known items, my cell phone and my wallet. I used to think that both my phone and wallet were very small, until the nano came to the town often known as my front pocket. It seems I couldn't have been further from correct. This mini-ditka is ridiculous. It holds like 1,000 songs, the screen is color, it weighs about 3 ounces or something... it's crazy. Thanks to my parents for getting me this luxury item. I love you.

And in case the above picture didn't give you a good enough idea as to how tiny this little nano is, here's a pic from the bottom:

the unthinkable happened...

The picture shown here is actually displayed elsewhere on the internet as of earlier this afternoon, November 8th. "Where would we, the viewers of online diary for the masses, be able to see this picture?" you ask... well it can be found on the facebook.

I know what you're thinking... you're saying, "D.O. was the ultimate anti-facebook person ever" and things of that nature. Well that was the case at one point in time. I've had a change of heart, and I'll admit... the goods of facebook certainly are able to outweigh the bads, and let's face it... I was wrong. I apologize to all of those who I've made fun of over the years regarding facebook issues. Please forgive me for my judgementality. My head is down in shame.

pictoral update with comments!

First I saw George Bush up close at the football game...










Then the Luther House got covered in Peeps (click to enlarge).







Then I saw the cutest kids EVER.











Then Allen got Kendra pregnant...













Then I dressed like a domino and sat in my trunk with Matt.

the friendship, the family, the bling

There have been many goings-on in the life of D.O. as of late that have failed to make an appearance on this blog. This event, however, was so significant in the lives of five 20-something college bachelors that it could not go unposted. I know you are living in much anticipation, and you long to know what the shiny beams of light coming from our hands are... Thursday, November 3rd, the men pictured before you (Coblerone, T-Bomb, D.O., Jerod, and Jon) received their fightin' Texas Aggie Rings. WHOOOOOOP! How good bull am I for posting two consecutive entries relating directly to Texas A&M?

Each of us have been going to Texas A&M for going on four years now. Each of us (with varying levels of success in the realm of grades) completed 95 hours of college education. Each of us bought the ring pictured below. Each of us paid $511.00 for our rings... seriously. These are the rings people use as status symbols of sorts in the "real world." People are (so they say) literally shoe-ins during job interviews, simply for having one of these rings. Aggies can recognize other Aggies regardless of their location world-wide thanks to this ring. My hand is a whole lot heavier than it ever was before, compliments of this ring.

So to wrap it all up (because my hand is weary from typing with this hunk of gold connected to it), I initially wasn't really planning on getting a ring, my folks made me, and I'll confess, it is nice to have. I am sticking to my guns on the fact that I think it is far too expensive a piece of jewelry... and I'll leave it at that. Congrats to everyone who got their rings!

aggie football and photography

Pictured before you is a panoramic shot (of sorts) of our group at the football game this past weekend. It was a glorious time in the shade below the third deck as the Aggies got raped by the Iowa State Pandas (or whatever their mascot is). I know what you're thinking... you wish that you had the photogeneaity that I do... you want to be able to make such wonderful looking panoramic collages... too bad!

As you can see (from left to right) Jillian and Claire were sweet enough to allow Mikey (look real hard) and I to go to the game with them. Continuing rightward you see that Jess (but you really won't see her) brought her little bro Ben, her friend Megan, and her sexy Brice and roommate Lauren. Good times were had by all, and as for the girl to the upper left of my huge head... I don't know her, but I'm sure she had a nice time too.

hey kitty

Remember the kitties I posted about a couple months ago? Well if not, there were three of them: Max, Nig, and Stripes. Max is dead now, and everyone has Kent Cochran to thank for that. In happier news, however, Nig and Stripes now like to come in to the house. Here you see Nig entering and looking for food. They rarely find food in the house, but we let them look nonetheless. I must say it's quite unlike me to welcome any feline into my house, but I think I just feel for these kitties having lost a close friend, so I show them a bit of hospitality.

On a completely unrelated note, I need to apologize for my inconsistancy in font sizes. I like this size, but I often forget to change it to this... give me time... it'll come.

Finally, I think it's proper in the world of blog ethics to leave a comment if someone dedicates a post to you. Just a thought.

when "thank you" isn't enough

This post is a photographic tribute to the girl whose homepage is derrickoliver.blogspot.com, albeit for lack of knowledge on how to make it anything else. If anybody deserves to have their picture on this blog, it's the people who see it every time they open up their web browser. This is the girl that you've heard all the boys talking about on campus; who rides her bike like a gypsy, who paints her finger nails black, and who is arguably weirder that Jon Tettleton. Her name: Lauren Rouse. We here at the "online diary for the masses" thought it absolutely appropriate to give Rouse the credit she's due by laboring over the above displayed work of photographic genius. Lauren, please know that you are highly esteemed by us here at ODM.

Note: in case you were wondering, the picture of the extention cord was taken at George Bush Library, where Lauren brought her own extention cord, and ran it all the way to the picnic table so she could use her laptop - which plays farting sounds everytime she turns it on.

rock on!

This past Friday Mikey and I were blessed with the wonderful privileged of taking 2/3rd's of the 6 Chicks climbing in Austin. That's 4 chicks for those of you who are mathematically deficient. Despite arriving at Reimer's Ranch around 2:30pm, we managed to get to our desired wall, set up shop and climb for a few hours. Major happenings of those few hours include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Claire coming to the realization that an eyeball is not merely the colored part of one's eye, rather it's the entire eye, white part included.
- D.O. farted.
- Hayley and Jess got real sweaty during their time on the routes.
- Mikey cleaned his first ever route.
- Sarah fell asleep on a boulder mattress.
- Baby Cooper cried, slept, and woke up.

In conclusion, it turned out to be a very successful day which was topped off by a visit to Hula Hut, which, though it could have been disastrous, was salvaged by the fact that we merely ate appetizers and left.

Click...

Just to make sure there is no confusion from the get go, the title of this post is not a link, rather it's the man's name pictured here with the white beard. (The guy with the red beard is named D.O.). I know many of you have heard about Click at one time or another, and I figured it was high time that he got a post on the ever-growing-in-popularity blog.

Click may very well be the most fascinating person I've ever met. He's certainly intriguing, if nothing else, however I believe fascination and being intrigued often go hand in hand. Click lives around the corner from me in the back yard of a house he owns. He built a hut mostly out of scrap wood he found around town over the years, and he lives in it. It's a real nice, quaint place, but I'll spare the details, but suffice it to say that he has running water and a toilet, and no air conditioning. He's been/ lived in 36 different countries, speaks various amounts of probably 6 languages, and he's chosen a life of poverty for himself. He hates injustice of EVERY kind... most of which you, I promise, have never thought of in your life. He's survived skin cancer, and still has spots of it in a couple places on his body. He's 58 years-old and in better shape that I am. He loves cooking and he's the most frugal person I've ever met in my life.

Click knows a lot about Jesus, who he calls the Blonde Hippie (no idea why), but he sure doesn't know Jesus personally... yet. The Lord has taught me SO much about what it means to love somebody through this man. Click has no idea how much growth he's brought in my life, and I'd like to think that I don't know of the impact I (and all my roommates) have made in his, but who knows man? It's hard to tell, for sure.

Now you all know Click on a very surfacy level, and he hates surfacy conversations, so I'm sure he'd hate this post. Here's to Click!

a real ninja bear

The bear you see before you was used in a classroom prank earlier this week at Texas A&M University. I'm forced to spare you any and all details at this point in time, but suffice it to say that the ever-popular stories of pirates hating ninjas, no matter how unfunny I used to think them, rang true in Civil Engineering 110. You see, I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time with a video camera at the moment when said prank was pulled. I'm in the process of finding a website on which I can host this 11.6MB video... if anyone has suggestions, send them my way. In the mean time, keep your eyes peeled for both a link to the video on this blog, and for pirates on campus.

holy hip hop

This past Friday night the first ever Fellowship of the Unashamed (FOTU) hip hop show was rocking the Lincoln Center here in College Station. We had around 800 people show up to watch some "souled out" believers spit rhymes into one of five microphones. Rappers present included: LeCrae, Json, Thi'sl, Tedashi, Trip-Lee (pictured), Future, Troops in Combat, and others. This show was seriously so krunk. Most important however, is the fact that the gospel was preached multiple times to lots of kids from Southgate, the pj's right across the street from my house. About a dozen kids said they accepted Christ as a result of this show. Praise God! For those of you who doubted that there was any hip-hop in my blood... who do you think you are? Y'all must not know.

let the circle be unbroken

Some of you may recall a post of yore which depicted the Extreme's new Circle of Conversation, and offered the title, "you could be here." The first group of people who accepted this generous invitation were half of the 6 Chicks and a close friend to the Chicks. Topics discussed included but were not limited to cookies, opossums, puppies, and other topics which one would file under the "greater questions of life" folder. Participants in the afore mentioned conversation were (from left to right) D.O., Stephanie Logan, Claire Elise Borne, Mikey Mills, Jessica Lynn Schmale, and Brooke Ashlee Teague Brandon. I know, an elite group indeed.

At some point in the conversation, things must have become extremely boring for one Claire Borne, which she had no shame in showing all of us by simply falling asleep. It looked a lot like this:

don't give up the fight

Thank you Justus for this powerful display of protest which you set up outside the MSC here at Texas A&M. The man has been trying to rid the campus of bikers for years, and it's good to see that someone else is willing to stand up for their rights. Give us liberty of give us death!

The People versus D.O.

In recent weeks, the people of Bryan/College Station and the greater area which the world wide web services, have risen up in an imaginary protest against D.O., "online diary for the masses" webmaster, outraged by his inability to keep said website updated. The main arguments from each party are as follows.

The People

• We know for a fact that D.O. has an interesting life, why else would we even have come to this site in the first place? It isn't that hard for him to just keep us updated with one of his undoubtedly endless humorous events from his daily life?
• We all set the "online diary for the masses" as our homepage. We believe we deserve a homepage that changes from time to time.
• Though we are small in number (five, tops), we believe our rights are more important than the rights of webmaster D.O.

D.O.

• I know the people enjoy seeing a picture at the top of any given blog post, and due to a lack of photographic inspiration recently, I've had nothing worth while to offer.
• I determine my site's popularity by the number of comments left, therefore, if a post about, oh... say a beautiful sunset receives zero comments, I'm less apt to post (arguably waste) any more brilliance .
• I don't see anybody else posting any lyrical beauty on their sites (save Matt Graham and Joshua Langston, who do not count themselves part of "the people").

More on this dispute to come in the near(?) future. Please stay tuned to the online diary for the masses for all your updates and downcasts.

kitten cannon

Some of you may be wondering, what is this rancid display before me? Others of you are in awe at the essentially unfathomable number before the two letters "ft." Regardless of what you're thinking, I felt it was high time for an update to this blog, and seeing that I haven't any new pictures worth posting, I thought I'd let you all know that I broke 2,000 ft in my favorite game, Kitten Cannon.

Sorry for the weak post... I'll bring the bar back up next time. Promise.

God - master painter

When I arrived at Living Hope it was it's normal self of a church. When I left 8 hours later it was a shelter for about 100 hurricane Rita evacuees. And the whole time God knew he was going to treat us to this when it was time for the sun to go down. Praise His name!

rewind

I want to start this post off by letting you guys know how excited I am about this hurricane Rita, for all the fun times that I'll have and the good post(s) that will surely come from it.

That said, I'd like to offer this filler of a post, a tweener if you will, until ol' Rita rears her ugly face. This is a picture that my boy Jamz took while we were in China. This is at a park, and these wonderful ladies were spotted off in a distance, performing their flag dance for those who cared to watch. I remembered from reading on Joshua Langston's blog that you can do things that seem taboo in China and get away with it, so I immediately went over to the dancers, made friends via hand signals and my extremely limited Chinese (I had been in the country 3 days at this point), and about 90 seconds later my new friends were teaching me their dance. Once I joined the dance team, I feel like the crowd of onlookers grew significantly in size. I'd like to think this was caused by my good looks and amazing dance skills, but I'm pretty sure it was just because everyone in China thought I was David Beckham. Oh well, I'll take that.

the bike crash heard round the world

Well today was the day that the camel's back was broken by the proverbial straw. Over the past few months, years even, I've had a growing disdain for people who ride their bikes on campus here at A&M, but who have no business riding a bike at all, anywhere. You see, A&M's campus is a very busy, congested, high-traffic place, even without a single bike rider. Add to the mix those riders who are competent, and you have a high-traffic place where order is still maintained, save a few pedestrians who forget how to walk when they see an oncoming, experienced rider who will certainly avoid them if they'll simply stay the course.

But madness ensues when those riders unworthy of bringing their bike to school, bring their bikes to school. It is an injustice that must be stopped. Why today D.O.? What happened? What was the straw that broke the two humped animals spine? I'll explain, as briefly as I possibly can.

I was riding home from class, and as I approached the breezeway of the MSC (arguably the busiest location on campus), I spotted two of my friends standing and talking, and I immediately made up my mind to stop and visit. Behind my friends, in the distance, I saw a girl riding her bike towards me and carrying a enormous notepad straight up in the air, which she seemed to be using as a sail. I thought that foolish of her, but my desire to visit with my friends exceeded (as it always does) my desire to think bad thoughts about strangers. Approximately 8 feet prior to reaching my pending conversation with peers, homegirl on the sail bike smashes into the right side of my bike, at about a 45 degree angle, and I fear neither hands on the brakes. The outcome: neither human was injured, other than a loss of pride from both parties (which is never bad), and the Ironhorse suffered the two injuries pictured in this post.

they came by the thousands

Southern Methodist University's band
Fightin' Texas Aggie Band

I personally thought the dramatic size difference between the two was one of the best parts of the football game this past weekend. My favorite part of all, however, was the fact that we were in the back of the second deck, therefore in the shade, praise God.

Every time I watch or go to a sporting event (namely Aggie football games) I'm blown away by the countless number of people who dedicate a ridiculous number of hours watching, researching, criticizing, and just freaking out about whichever team may be on the screen (or field) at the time.

I also think about a documentary I saw on a city in Columbia, South America that God has really just gotten a hold of, a city where revival has literally broken out across the land. I watched the people gather by the thousands to the local sports arena for an overnight prayer meeting. There were hundreds of people outside the arena that couldn't get in for lack of space. Are you kidding me? I can't think of many Christians in the States that would (a) do anything relating to Jesus for an entire night when they have work the next day, (b) go to a 8 hour long prayer meeting, or (c) show up to a 1 hour prayer meeting...

Don't get me wrong, I don't think liking sports is a sin, but I think we ought to make sure we like Jesus significantly more than we like sports, or any other thing that isn't our Savior. Sorry for the serious post... it was bound to happen.

a trip to the museum

Lauren Rouse (pictured above with a very significant American flag) was required, as a part of one of her classes, to visit two museums in the world. To the best of my knowledge, they could have been any two museums that exist. One of her choices, and clearly the best one given that we go to school at Texas A&M, was the George Bush Library and Museum. I was so blessed as to find out about her expected visit to the museum, and I took the liberty of inviting myself. Both Lauren and I were pleased far beyond our wildest dreams or expectations with the museums layout and content, and it even has stuff for the kiddos. I recommend that any student at A&M visit said museum, for with admission for students being free... why on the planet wouldn't you?

And let's face it, who wouldn't want to take the wonderful opportunity to take a picture with former prez and first lady Bush? Merry Christmas!

sting pong

The welts on Jon's back wouldn't be there if it weren't for the wonderful game of sting pong. Play ping pong, first person to five gets to hit the ball at their opponents bare back the number of points said opponent was short of five. For example, if I scored 5, but Jon scored 3, then I get two attempts to hit him (note: that was certainly a fictitious example, and none of those welts are from a ball that came from my paddle). In case the picture I'm describing isn't on this post... well, I'm working on it.

On a different note, I turned a thing on where you have to type in a code when posting, so as to eliminate spam (see previous post's comments). I hope this doesn't discourage anyone from posting. Post away friends.

double the pleasure, double the fun

I was torn as to which picture to post tonight, so you three viewers of the blog get a bonus picture. This first picture may seem harmless at first, but it is quite the opposite. Well, I mean, the photo is still harmless, but much harm is taking place in the photo. You see, this tree that was cut down literally seconds before the shutter opened (I was too slow getting my camera out), is no ordinary tree. This tree was one of the appx. 10 trees that A&M has on West Campus. I guess they thought it necessary to significantly decrease the amount of trees on the other side of the railroad tracks (percentage-wise). It goes without saying that I was appalled.


Thursday night marked my second night to do interviews for BCA in the Kyle Field press box. This time, however, I was on the opposite side of the interviewing system, and I was conducting the discussion while the countless potential pledges answered with, well, all they had. After three hours of interviews, a few of us actives snuck (sneak, past tense) up to the roof of said press box, where this picture was taken. Don't tell the local law enforcement (I've found this site to be a safe place, even though the entire world has access to it, very few take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity). Alright kids. I love y'all, and until next time, lata.

you could be here

Seeing that the Extreme is not your typical college boys house, it stands to reason that the Extreme's living room is far from the status quo. Say all that to say, a picture is worth [at least] a thousand words, and the picture displayed above says, among other things, than conversations need to be had by humans sitting on these furniture pieces. That is why this area of the living room / music room has been deemed the Circle of Conversation. Now for the awesome part: you and those with whom you associate need to come over and discuss the greater questions of life with the Extreme boys. If none of them are present, you should still stay and talk, discuss, and other synonyms that describe verbal communication.

the kasbah was rocked

As happens every fall, college students around the nation head back to their respective college towns/ cities for a new semester. We here on Luther street thought this an appropriate occasion to invite a few friends over to hang out. Well one thing led to another and the Back to School Dance Party happened this past Saturday night. This picture gives you a decent idea as to how many humans were there. We decided that at any given moment there were 300 people on the property (inside and out) and that the grand total of people coming and going was around 500. The second biggest party that the police officer who shut us down had ever seen in the Brazos Valley. Yes, that's right, the police came and tried to give us a noise violation (praise God we only got a warning), and abruptly ended the festivities. Thanks to all who came out, and thanks to the two people who read this blog.

In other news, if you were curious as to what my strengths were from the book I posted about below, they are as follows (and I think in this order): Developer, Adaptability, Belief, Positivity, and Woo.