A Little Bit of Everything

This post will fluctuate and cover many different topics and themes. Try and stay with me.

• My phone is really messed up. I need to get a new one. On Tuesday I drove forty-five minutes to the nearest store with a phone technician with the understanding that a simple part needed to be replaced to restore my phone to full working capacity. After the man replaced said part, he immediately noticed the continuing malfunctions. Thankfully, I was not charged for the services of the phone technician. The fact remains, however, that my phone is nearly useless. This upsets me.
• The Green Bay Packers football game is not on television for the second week in a row. This is bad for a few reasons. I really enjoy watching the Packers on Sundays. When their games are not shown, I want to stay abreast of what is happening, which means I usually watch other games and pay attention to the scores from around the league for updates. This actually keeps me from being productive and studying until the Packers game is over.
• I received the DVDs of the first season of a television program on DVD in the mail this week. The release date for these DVDs is not until the thirteenth of October, but I received mine on Friday. I am supposed to watch the program and write a review for a website. After my review is posted, the DVDs are mine to keep. I think this is a fantastic deal and I'm really happy about this agreement. The show is really entertaining, and the fact that I now have a fifty dollar DVD set that I didn't have to pay for really speaks for itself. Hopefully as the semester progresses I can get more good DVDs and books to review.

Have a good week!

High School Pal Shines

This has been a fantastic sports weekend. Yesterday the University of Oklahoma beat the oddly singular named Golden Hurricane of the University of Tulsa. The game ended up being an absolute blowout.

I enjoyed Saturday's game for a different reason than just the victorious efforts by Oklahoma. A boy from my high school is on the Tulsa football team. Now, many of my friends went to giant football powerhouse high schools in Texas. To these people, the idea of watching a high school classmate play college football is standard fare. The high school I graduated from, on the other hand, has had a notoriously incompetent football program for quite some time.

This football player graduated from high school the year after me, and he was red-shirted last year. In high school he was a quarterback, but at the collegiate level he has converted to defensive back.

Although he didn't start, my high school classmate saw limited playing time on punt and other special teams during the first half. During the second half, both teams began putting in backup players to give them some experience and to get the starters off the field and reduce their risk of injury.

Everyone within earshot of me had heard me talk about how I attended high school with one of Tulsa's defensive backs, so whenever he came onto the field to play I was very excited. He was involved with several tackles, much to my delight. Little did I know something even more exciting was about to happen.

Late in the game, my high school comrade caught an interception. It was a very poorly thrown pass by the quarterback that hit my friend right in the hands, but that in no way takes away from the accomplishment. At this point I had left the game and was watching the remainder of the game on television. I was very excited for my friend, and even though his team was losing by 40 points he was visibly elated. Good for him.

9-11

Today serves as a melancholy reminder of the worst tragedy that has taken place in my lifetime.

Dwelling on the events of September 11, 2001 for any extended amount of time only serves as an all-too-sobering reminder of how quickly things can change and how fragile lives can be. I promise this won't be a melodramatic bleeding heart post, but I'll just offer some food for thought before I change subjects. Be appreciative and don't take anything for granted because the people who went to work and boarded those plans that fateful Tuesday morning didn't plan on never seeing their loved ones again.

In other news, Thursday I saw Jerry Seinfeld perform stand-up comedy at the Oklahoma City Convention Center Music Hall. I have been a fan of his for years, but in December of 2008 I acquired the complete series of his television program on DVD. So in recent months I have gone from a casual fan to a more hardcore Jerry Seinfeld fanatic.

My father purchased tickets several months ago for my 21st birthday present, as the performance took place four days after my birthday. So my dad took the afternoon off and picked me up in Norman on the way to Oklahoma City for the show. We had a fantastic time eating and drinking before the show, and the stand-up act was the most entertaining I had ever seen. If ever I get the chance to see him again, I absolutely will travel a great distance and pay a large amount of money to make it happen.

Upon my return to Norman, the fun was just beginning. I went to The Deli and watched a band perform with some friends! I ended up staying up entirely too late, but I still made it to work on time at 8:30 the next morning. Sweet Victory.

Birthday Post!

Today, I turn 21 years old. At this time in 1988, I was not quite 12 hours old.

As previously mentioned, I have been desperately staving off illness the last few days. With the long Labor Day weekend coupled with my birthday, my mother recommended I come home to both heal and celebrate. Although I was at first reluctant, I did in fact return to my home town Friday afternoon.

My mother ended up being correct, as mothers are wont to do. I had a fantastically refreshing visit, and I have returned to Norman feeling as though I may not fall into the germ-infested clutches of all-out sickness.

I still have to talk about my first radio show, but today is my birthday. I can write a blog post any day of the week, but a birthday only comes once a year. So I'm off to celebrate for the evening!

Potentially Swine-Flu Laden? Yes.

All day I have struggled with a stopped-up nose, mildly sore throat, and that extremely annoying feeling of having to sneeze even though no sneeze ever occurs. Seeing as how my twenty-first birthday is Sunday, I can scarcely think of a worse time I could fall ill.

Having said that, this week has not been all bad. Tomorrow is my first day to host a radio show on The Wire, the campus radio station. I am taking a Journalism Practicum this semester for an upper division elective, so two hours a week I'll have my own radio show all semester long. Thursdays from 11-1, check out wire.ou.edu.

I have grandiose plans of what I want my time on the air to eventually become, but right now I'm planning on starting slowly. Operating the radio board all by myself is quite a tall order. I am definitely intimidated. So tomorrow I plan to mostly play music, with brief, intermittent periods of talking throughout the two hours. I've got some really cool ideas for my show in the future though, so stay tuned for more details once I get my radio comfort level up.

Expect a post-radio show later this week!