Tony’s Journal

So here it is, Friday, the best time to talk about last weekend.

Bo on Friday night was good. We were down Billymander but up Adam, Justin, Melissa and KTaff. All sorts of things were discussed, chief among them that Melissa went to a mechanic that told her that expensive imaginary parts of her car needed to be replaced. Went back to our place and watched I <3 the 80s Strikes back for a bit.

Let's see, Saturday we went to Durham to see a football game. We got to Dayo's and then decided to go get beer and food. We got beer at Kroger, where Dayo was detained for a bit. We then went to Bo, which was great because we all love the Bo. Dayo got lost on the way out. (Meanwhile, Jim is wandering confusedly around the Duke campus.) We went back to Dayo's to eat our Bo and drink our beer. Did so, and watched football as well. Eventually we decided to go to the football game. We took a quick tour of the law school (I had been there before) and of Cameron (I had not been there before) and then we went to Will Call, where we found Jimbo. Luckily for him, Justin had brought two more longnecks in his pockets, and gave Jim one. In doing so, Justin went from looking like the world's most terrifyingly endowed man to the world's most terrifyingly lopsided endowed man. The other beer went to the game with us. Duke doesn't care apparently.

Fair was great as usual. Gluttony and livestock abounded.

Game was okay, but scary again. At least we won. Our seats were good, and I got many pictures of the action.

This week has been all right. We ate at the new Zaxby’s on Monday night. It’s a lot of money for a lot of food, basically. I had a salad, since I wasn’t that hungry, and I was impressed that the grilled chicken atop it was actually hot off the grill. As a matter of fact, all food is cooked fresh to order, which is nice. Was not impressed that drinks don’t come with what look like combos. It was $6.67 for a sizeable salad and a drink. Billy paid $8.50 for a meal fit for all 4 hungry hungry hippos. The decor is somewhat strange, like a half-assed TGI Friday’s sort of deal. I don’t think it competes much with Bo, I think it is more of a Chick-Fil-A competitor. Chick-Fil-A prices are kind of high also, and I bet Zaxby’s is open on Sundays. I think I would choose Zax. Plus it’s right by our house.

Yesterday was Billy’s birthday. We carved pumpkins to celebrate. Pictures are up. I made the ghoulish Juice; Billy made the Thunder Thunder Thundercats Ho; Mandy made the very intricate Batman; and Chris made the terrifying O’Cain era NC State logo.

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the Thriller.

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off

What a fine day. I can’t believe I just found out about this a day late, but here is some fine news: “I Love the 80s Strikes Back” started last night! And they’re new episodes, too. The new 1980 episode came on at 1 am last night and I had to force myself to go to sleep. Wanted so desperately to watch it, but I knew I’d be groggy as all hell toiday if I didn’t go to sleep. I did get one of those wavy shaped foam pillows last night at Target, and I did notice a minor improvement this morning. It certainly is comfortable.

Speaking of which, this is a fine station for 80s music. Click me and enjoy (assuming you have Winamp installed).

Getting my new camera today. It’s a good $100 cheaper than what I sold my last one for. Add a memory card to that, though, and it comes out a bit closer. I think I’ll like it. I am a little worried about the fact that my new camera does not offer much in the way of manual functions. Who knows if I’ll care. I might trade up again in the spring, but I don’t know. I’m gonna wait for the Panasonic DMC-FZ10 to 1) be released, 2) be reviewed, and 3) drop in price.

Here’s a fine website that Dayo showed me. You can see who gave how much money to whom for political reasons. Puffy gave $1000 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, apparently. Get on the phone, Bridget!

Duke game and fair this weekend! But first, 3.6 days of work.

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off

So the penguin here shows you I’m relaxed, and there is a reason for that. Yes, I am here at work, but it’s okay. No one else is here. They’re all playing golf. Aaron went home because the wife’s car won’t start. So basically it’s me, Diane, Troy, and the Help Desk. Me would be leaving too, just for the hell of it, if not for two things: 1) Justin W. would be confused when he arrived to find no one here and 2) there is a girl coming by to have me fix a virus on her laptop at 4:30. Of course, I’m really leaning towards switching “me” to “Justin.” He can handle this issue. And besides, 4:30 on a Friday afternoon! She expects us to be here, working, during working hours? Doesn’t she know we work for the state?

Game last night was scary but we did win, 17-15 over the team from Clem & Son University and Scrapyard. I hate Tommy Bowden. I spent the last minute of the game standing on a bleacher screaming at “Tammy,” saying his dad should have done numerous things to him which, if true, would have resulted in child services being summoned to the Bowden household about 1960. Not that Bobby would have been arrested, he just would have said “well, dadgum it, i just don’t want m’boy to grow up into a bitch of a football coach,” and he would have been left alone by the law. And maybe Tommy wouldn’t have grown up into Tammy, a bitch of a football coach. His brother Terry had the misfortune of having a girly name from the start, and ended up being a bad coach and getting fired, which led to him having plenty of time to be an ABC commentator and eat lots of ham, cake, and country-fried ham cake. But I still hate Tammy most of all.

I can’t complain too much when the athletic department gives the fans free stuff, but last night was bad. There were signs which made good paper airplanes, resulting in one landing on the line of scrimmage as the teams huddled. The funny part was the official who grabbed it and tried to throw it off to the sideline. This official somehow missed out on the basic skill of paper aerodynamics. He picked it up in his meaty paw and tried to throw it as if it was an orange. An underhanded paper airplane toss does no good. It went about 18 inches and fell straight down. We all had a good laugh. Apparently those dumb “thunder sticks” were handed out as well, and no one cared. That was good. I think I saw maybe 6 of them the entire game.

Speaking of ham and cake and fried ham, the fair starts today. Last night we did get to see the lights and all. I don’t know if we’ll go this weekend. I do plan to go next weekend, when the people who appreciate the fair return from their high-falutin’ city life (ha! blacksburg) and come slum with me and the mulleteers in the front row of the Pig Races. The Pig Races are brought to you by Texas Pete&trade; Hot Sauce. Yes, friends, “Texas Pete&trade; Hot Sauce – The Sauce That Will Taste Good On These Here Piglets One Day.”

So this weekend confuses me. Whaaa? No football? What shall I do?

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off

Oh no. CNN reports that Saddam may have changed his appearance. I would think that’s a no-brainer. But Saddam may be masquerading as Dr. Huxtable’s dad on The Cosby Show! Here’s a link to what he may look like.

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off

My neck hates me. Not as much as it used to, but close. My back hurts too.

Aaron’s out sick again. I don’t know what his deal is. I mean, except that he takes more sick days than I can fathom. A headache or a paper cut is enough to keep him home I guess. And don’t even get me started on “inclement weather.” I’m waiting for the day that he calls in and says “I was gonna come in, but I turned the shower on and it was POURING in there. So I better stay home, because, you know, blah sick blah rain blah kids wife better just stay home kids blah.”

The game went well this weekend, as did Bacon-and-Eggs Tailgate II. Ben joined us for the pre-game festivities. Here’s a helpful hint from Heloise for resurrecting a fire from hot coals that have lost the flames:

Okay, well, first you need to have previously been cooking bacon, which eliminates about 99.9999995% of people cooking out. But anyway, if you continually pour the hot grease on a pile of leaves nearby — even wet leaves! — they will be saturated after a little while. Then when the fire dies down, and you’re wondering how you’re going to cook your eggs and toast because poor planning has left you without more Match Light, pick up those dripping leaves and put them on the fire. Within seconds you’ll have a blazing inferno again, one that will stay lit surprisingly long.

Yeah, and the game was ugly. Yet again we had a late lead, yet again we blew it, and luckily Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay had a big day with a fumble return for a TD and then an interception return for a TD with 5 seconds left. It was real exciting, I tell you that. I nearly hugged Dr. Sanii. Best quote is from Chuck:

“I said, ‘If you get tackled before you score and that clock runs out, Three First Name and Charlie Chest are going to go at it.’” — Amato on watching linebacker Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay’s meandering interception return for the winning touchdown with five seconds left against Connecticut.

Had breakfast with my dad at Carolina Cafe yesterday. It was great. The conversation was also pretty good. He came up with a couple of ideas for me. We also went to the Cameron Village News Place Store Or Whatever It’s Called because I told him that they sell the Sunday Washington Post. Sure enough, there it was, and he got one for himself and one for me, which was nice. He was very excited about it and said my brother would like it as well. We also went to the Farmer’s Market but it wasn’t too impressive yesterday. Nothing really caught the eye, though we did see some damn big grapes. Scuppernongs I guess, and the other ones that start with an M.

Redskins lost AGAIN, Steelers lost AGAIN. Ohio U did pitch a shutout against a really decent team, UCF. Remember VT played UCF in the first game of the season and UCF looked pretty okay. But this weekend, they went to Peden Stadium and got throttled to the tune of 28-0. I will be seeing Ohio play Kent State in a month. That game may end up being the hottest ticket in all of Athens County, if you can believe it!

---

Oh, and Justin, if this is your doing, we need to talk. You’re supposed to use your powers for good.

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off

Poppa Chronicles: Ehh. This was going to be a great story, Pulitzer material, a profile of The Man Who Was Errybody’s Daddy. But I am not in the best of moods. Maybe I’ll write about it later.

---

What’s really on my mind is the horrendous football weekend.

State lost at Georgia Tech. Their quarterback is a freshman. We should have murdered them. But, defense wins championships, and the lack of defense wins, uh, losses.

Skins lost. They mounted a mighty comeback, but it was for naught, as they lost 27-25 at the Eagles. Memo to Jansen, Samuels and Dockery: you are paid millions of dollars a year to block people. You are not allowed to move until the ball does. You seem to screw up both of these things all the time. Please fix them. One or both.

Steelers got manhandled at home by the Browns. I repeat: the Browns.

Ohio U lost, but it put up the best show by far. They actually led at Northern Illinois by 7 with less than 2 minutes left, but NIU scored a TD, then another in OT to win it.

---

I don’t want to work.

---

My boy Marco got arrested for dealing in drugs. Okay, he’s not really my boy, I just knew him in high school and saw him again at the reunion. But anyway, good job, guy.

---

Bought the new OutKast on Friday. It’s. . . interesting. I like it. It’s not the OutKast of old, though Big Boi is closer to that then Andre is.

---

Yesterday I took a walk to Cameron Village because the weather was nice. I went to Fresh Market. I noticed some people speaking German, so that was cool. Even cooler that I completely understood what they were saying. I like not forgetting all my German comprehesion. Now, composition, that’s different. Anyhow, people do not know how to shop at the Fresh Market. They’re just inconsiderate to other shoppers and the employees. I bet I can get a witness from the congregation on that one, and by “the congregation” I mean “Bridget.”

I guess they were pissed that they had to go shopping themselves on the butler’s day off.

Anyhow, I got some lunch there, went and picked up the Sunday Washington Post, and went to the Rose Garden. Had a pleasant lunch there, though the wrap I got was not so great. I did enjoy reading about the sniper case. (That was the point of the article, as the Post conveniently has published a book about it.) And after that was when I went home and watched my football teams go all to hell.

---

Time for more work.

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off

Long time no update.

Saturday morning Billy and I wanted to cook breakfast while tailgating for the game. Mandy and Chris did not like the idea. Well, we did it anyhow, holding a griddle over the grill. Cooked eggs, bacon, and toast. It worked wonderfully. Pics of this adventure will be up soon. Anyhow, this was immediately followed by the game, in which the good, America-loving NC State football team slaughtered the communist bastards from UNC. The game was closer than we would have liked, but in the end, good triumphed over evil.

At Bo on Saturday night, we had special guests Adam and Justin. I was introduced to the concept of the sweet potato pie by Adam. I had never tasted one before. Boy oh boy, they are good.

Let’s see, on Sunday I tried to go look at some records at Nice Price Books, but the store was closed. This was interesting because the store was supposed to be open. My guess is that the emo kid who was supposed to open the store overslept or something. So I moseyed on up to the Reader’s Coroner to find lower-quality records and books, and couldn’t find anything to my liking. Came home and turned on CBS, which was showing a football game between my beloved Skins and Jim’s beloved Patriots. Skins won, sucka! Barely. They tried to lose but screwed that up.

Last night, we had girls over. That’s new. Mandy brought home a couple of ladies from work and cooked lasagna and garlic bread and apple pie for them. Oh yes, and tea, both sweet and unsweet. The meal was scrumptious, Shannon’s car is wonderful with bugs painted all over it, the entertainment was great, and a good time was had by all. I haven’t had that much fun in a while. Oh, and Mandy made the garlic bread with the right amount of garlic (thanks Tony) this time. The difference between a bulb and a clove is something to keep track of.

It’s getting cold out. This is normal for the fall, and fall is my favorite season, but the change of the seasons makes evident the march of time, and that means i’m getting ever closer to deciding what in the hell i am gonna do next August. This is gonna take some thinking. Mandy really wants me to move up to DC, mainly because she knows how much I want me to move up there. It’s still scary, though, because I would have to line up a job and a place to live. And I’d have to make sure that I can see my friends too. Not that that is particularly hard, but the last thing i want to be is alone, whether in Raleigh or DC or Hawaii or Luxembourg.

Tags: General Thoughts by Tony
Comments Off