Ok, sorry about that whole ethanol thing... I mean I'm REALLY sorry... i was pissy about the war and bush and i went on a rampage... anywho... i don't know how much I'm gonna post anymore... i lose fast-internet access when I move back home this sunday.

IMPORTANT: I've created a new xanga account/blog for when I'm in London. I could've used Boomtizzle but I thought that'd be hard for family and friends to remember. So subscribe to DPintheUK too and look forward to much better posts at a much more often.

http://www.xanga.com/DPintheUK

What I did this weekend: Chicago with the family.

-Friday:    Took off work after lunch and drove 3 hours to DBQ, picked up sisters and drove 3.25 hours to Chicago and met my parents at the hotel (they had already been there for two days with some friends). Went out to dinner at this good Italian place.

-Saturday:     Went to Cubs-Cardinals game with Dad while the girls shopped...we got scalped tix at face value because the game was already delayed an hour by the time we got down there (we weren't planning on going to the game, just to walk around wrigleyville) and they were great seats. The cubs lost but it was still awesome to be at wrigley (i wasn't planning on going to any games this summer) and to see my favorite baseball player EVER, Aramis Ramirez, hit a home run. After the game we met the girls for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which was good but the place was disappointing and not worth the wait.

-Sunday:     Met up with my cousin Ryan at his apartment and toured the city with him. He showed us his big Lakeshore/view drive project (he's a landscape architech) that he's been working on for like the past year or so...it looks awesome. He also took us to his office and Millenium park and other parts of Chicago I hadn't experienced much of. Then we drove up to Wrigley and got our tix and saw an amazing game as the Cubs beat the Cardinals in a night game. We got 4 tix from a Dubuque Bank & Trust bus trip that was coming in and had 4 tix (my mom knew a lady) and my dad managed to get a scalped ticket a resonable price that was in pretty much the same area. I sat on my own and kept score and just had an amazing time seeing Cubs-Cardinals on back-to-back days in the middle of August. Then we drove home and got back around 3. I was so tired it was like I was drunk. I went to bed having already called into work and said I wouldn't be in until lunch time. 

Today:     I ended up calling in and taking the whole day off because I was so exhausted from the weekend and the car ride home. I talked over financial aide stuff with my mom and ran some errands and left town around 2:45, arriving back at school around 5:45. Since I've done my normal summer hangout thang. I am now about to go to practice for the Goodview Days Parade Float featuring the Award Winning Oldie Moldy All-Stars of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota's Phi Mu Alpha and "Phriends" (we didn't spell friends that way, the university did)

My last entry was a little harshly worded...i'm sorry for that....

Here's what I meant...

I see the war in iraq as a war on terror yes...but more so of a war for oil. It's a lot about oil. If the middle east doesn't like us and refuses to sell us oil then our whole american way of life is threatened. I would be happier if the government stopped hiding their hidden agenda (to keep oil connections in the middle east and keep oil prices down) and focus more on the production of ethanol oil and other fuels. If we keep going at the pace we're going, not only will we ruin our environment and run out of our resources, we will eventually get fucked over by some country with plenty of oil that gets pissed off and refuses to deal with us; in which case gas prices become absurd, not to mention all the other bad things that would happen.

So yeah, that's my political hot button of the moment. And hey, I'm from Iowa. Syracuse University has recently developed an even better form of ethanol oil...Why the fuck are we not using this resource more?

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Currently Listening The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005 Original Broadway Cast) By William Finn, Rachel Sheinkin, Derrick Baskin, Dan Fogler, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Deborah Craig, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jose Llana, Jay Reiss, Sarah Saltzberg see related

HOW I'VE SPENT MY SUMMER SO FAR

--Working 40 hours a week as the electrician's assistant for the maintenance dept.  My main job has been remoddling St. Edward Hall, I took out and rewired EVERY outlet and light switch in EVERY room of that building. I am currently helping wire the fire alarm and smoke detector system as we try to finish up.

--Playing Ultimate Frisbee on Tuesday and Thursday nights. These are two of the top highlights of my week. It's an awesome workout and an even better time.

--Reading and seeing plays.  By summer's end I'll have read about 5 plays and seen about 5 plays. I've also updated my read/see log and put it into a database so I can keep track of what plays I've read and seen. I've also ushered twice at the Great River Shakespeare Festival (once for Much Ado About Nothing, once for Richard III).

--Being in the King and I. from the middle of may to to the end of June this was pretty much what I did.

--Going home a lot. It's been a big summer for graduations and family stuff so I've been home for about 7 weekends of the summer. That's a lot.

--Playing a lot of MVP Baseball 2004 on Nintendo Gamecube. This is now a thing of the past. I took my nintendo home two weekends ago because I was wasting too much time. I gave up nintendo 2nd semester of this past school year and it helped me get at 4.0 so I decided to try again. So far I've cleaned my room and begun working on all of the things I wished I'd have started or accomplished by now.

--Watching movies with friends here. In my room, in steve's room, and in the theatre (projected onto the scrim!). This was more of a common activity earlier in the summer.

--Sweating and drinking lots of water. It's freaking hot people.

--Reading Harry Potter 6. This was really only three days because it rocked so hard.

--ordering and iPod and organizing my iTunes. ipod should arrive tomorrow or monday...hopefully the former.

--Taking and unofficial seminar entitled "Getting to Know Punk and Ska: with a focus on Reel Big Fish (ska) and Blink-182 (punk)" taught by Lincoln Scully. This isn't really a seminar, it's more of me hanging around Lincoln and absorbing his vast knowledge on the subject.

--Sleeping Naked ...or close to it. As I mentioned earlier...it's really hot so pajama pants and sweatshirts aren't really the best bedtime apparal.

--Playing fantasy baseball on Yahoo. I've made it to 2nd place in my Saint Mary's league.

--Going to graduation celebrations. First it was Brian Casey's unexpected phi mu alpha reunion...tomorrow and saturday it's Dylan Walker's "My parents are out of town so I'm a throwing a huge frat and friends party in honor of myself graduating"

--doing this xanga. It was more entertaining at the beginning...

--other stuff