i learned the hard way

if any of you chaps is having a shindig and wants to throw down some soul crunching soul moving music, check out sharon jones and the dap kings. love their style man.

astros lose the opener. somehow, i knew.

i wonder how long i could get by on four hours sleep. probably two/three days. then i would collapse. it's something i would like to try at some point. i bet i could get a lot done.

the last days of disco

it's good friday. last day of eating fish on friday. i'm sure i'll eat fish again on fridays, but with a side of chicken and beef for dessert.

there's a top fed official who wants to break up the banks. this guy is something. i totally dig his style. he's the lone voice of reason amongst the federal reserve officials.

here's his story.

paul krugman disagrees.

here is the history of the toothbrush and toothpaste. of course it was the chinese who invented it. love those chinese.

i passed the audit section of the cpa exam. this weekend i'll be studying endlessly for the business section, which i take at the end of april. i really hope i pass that one too. to have 50% of the test done, with still basically 14 months to accomplish the other two section is a big deal. that would put me in a really good spot. but either way, i feel really good about passing. it gives me a lot of confidence and i'm going to need it because each section gets harder and harder. i wish i could pass each one the first time. man, that would be great.

"but here i go again, wishin' never solved a problem. if you wanna get it big time, you better get it, get it big time."

not a great quote, but i really dig the song by yeasayer.

i'll come running

i went running yesterday and my entire body feels like goo. gelatinalized goo.

i got my business cds in the mail. time to hang up the tunes and hang down(?) the monotanized female business voice that feeds me endless amounts of information. yes!

actually this weekend i have a ton of studying to do. i think i'll do it. and i think i'll eat some eggs too.

another day

"it's just another day."

paul said it best. it's just another day. another day.

i passed the audit section of the cpa exam.

white rabbits and dr. dog coming to houston in april. am i excited? yes. am i going? yes. will i continue to ask and answer questions from myself? probably. no, definitely.

hey joe

well said mr. vice president. well said.

on down the line

health care has passed people. let us rejoice. now let's get out of iraq, get out of afghanistan, close down wall street and give us all candy.

alex chilton. the dude invented power pop. if power pop sounds lame, that's because no one does it like alex chilton. he took rock and added life and soul to it and with chris bell made it beautiful and touch and shady. he deserves a place on the rock history mount rockmore with bob dylan, john lennon and mickey dolenz. i love mickey dolenz.

uh-oh, love comes to town

"if you were really smart, you'd know what to do."

it's about to come a gully-washer here in houston.

i ate two chicken biscuits for breakfast and lunch. brunch. lunkfest. either one is a wonderful new word. born of laziness.

this weekend has its promises.

crystalized

this is the first week i have felt good in about a month. that sickness took me down hard for like the whole month of february and some of march. i feel strong again. i've been getting up early and going to the gym. i'm dying at like 3 in the afternoon, but it's worth it because i have tons of energy in the morning.

i saw a concert last weekend in austin: legs against arms. they kicked raw ass. man that was fun. full of energy. the next day we stumbled across a kite festival in zilker park. we walked the greenbelt until we came to the park and then just walked around the kites. i've never seen so many kites. it was incredible. we had a blast. i was still feeling a little crappy, but that was the last day. it was the sunshine burned it out of me. i love the warmth.

did anybody else see jon stewart doing his glenn beck impersonation for the entire 1st half of the show last night? it was brilliant. totally f-in' brilliant. check it here.

has anybody heard of vertical farms? these pictures are amazing. check them out.

centerfield

the 2010 baseball season is upon us and it's time for my predictions. this is going to be easy because i don't see anything changing. the cardinals will win the NL Central, the phillies will win the NL East and the rockies will win the NL West. the wild card from the NL will be the dodgers. same as last year but with the rockies and dodgers flip-flopping.

in the AL, the yankees will win the AL East, the twins will win the AL Central and the rangers will win the AL west. the tampa bay rays will win the AL wild card. that is a little different than last year. i think the rangers will be the surprise team this year, but mostly everything will be the same as last year. not a lot has changed to make anything different. the tigers will be a little worse without curtis granderson, the angels will be a little worse witout john lackey, plus they're getting a little old. the mariners will be a little better with cliff lee. the reds should be a little better with some seasoning. the NL Central promises to be comedicly bad. the most excitement will probably come from the possibility of another phillies-yankees world series. the same two teams have never, ever met in the world series in back-to-back years in my lifetime. it's never happened. so that will the biggest storyline.

i can't wait. as for the home team, they're going to be a little better i think this year. the rotation is younger and should be stronger. the bullpen is a little tighter. our offense is still pretty pathetic, but our defense has improved enough that i think we'll win 80 games. that's my prediction: 80-82. another losing year, but we're moving in the right direction.

while you wait for the others

so....who's watching the watchers?

we have major accounting firms not doing their job (i'm looking right at you ernst and young!)

we have credit agencies giving bogus credit scores to garbage assets (i'm looking right at you moodys!)

these are the agencies we depend on for their adherence to rules and compliance. we cannot trust them. therefore, we cannot trust anyone. it's all made of fiction and gorilla dust. all of it. something doesn't look right, move it off the balance sheet. the audit firm won't mind, we pay them millions. they'll do what we say.

i hesitate to link this article, but i have to. some of you (actually the only guy who reads this agrees with me) don't want to believe what's really going on. that everything you know and rely on is made of crumbs and it won't take more than a collective sneeze to blow it away. really. the game is rigged. do your best as a person. have as much fun as you can. nothing is going with you in the next life. don't be greedy. let it go. but realize what you're up against and who you're playing with.

republicans=democrats=republicans=democrats and on and on and on and on.... no one has your best interest in mind except you.

someday i will treat you good

mark linkous killed himself the other day. he was basically sparklehorse. apparently he walked down a street, pulled out a shotgun and shot himself in the heart. must have been in a lot of pain.

i remember being young. i remember listening to "someday i will treat you good." that made me buy vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. i bought it. i listened to it. to this day, i still am blown away by the feeling the album generates. it's beautiful. it's haunting. it's sad. it's hopeful. it's disjointed. i love it.

i'm sorry he was in such great pain. i hope he's feeling better now.

something

man, i had something hilarious to post about something. now i can't remember. it was going to be groundbreaking.

i'm almost 80% after my battle with whatever took me down this week. this was the worst i've felt since i had the flu, which i was certain i had the flu but didn't. still tons of coughing and lots of just tiredness, but trust me, it's way better than where i was monday/tuesday. i think i shaved my head too soon. i usually do it in march or april. this year i did it january, when it was still freakin' cold. that's my theory. i needed hair.

giving up the gun

every picture i see of jim bunning, the man looks insane. especially walking into his "senator's only elevator." that was so crazy, it was brilliant.

niall ferguson, who is obsessed with the current/potential long decline of america, likens it to thomas cole's paintings known as "the course of the empire."

neil degrasse tyson is everywhere. i saw him on the daily show last night. i saw him rachel maddow last night. he's the guy who took down pluto from planet to dwarf. pbs is actually airing a special tonight about that same thing. i suggest it.

the acts of man

the new midlake album is so bad. it pains me to say it, but it totally sucks. it sits on one feel the entire time and it never leaves it. every song sounds the same and each new one brings about new levels of crap. don't waste your time. move along people. nothing to see here.

going the distance

the test is over. this part, for now. i'm taking the weekend off from studying. i'm going to lay it all out there at the chili cookoff with my best friend and my wife. i honestly cannot wait. i'm literally sitting still, not waiting.

there was a sign on the desk where you check in before the test. it read: "you only fail when you stop trying." totally lame, but man, oh man, is it true. i could fail this thing and be upset and get bent out of shape, but that doesn't get me anywhere. i have to keep studying. keep trying. and finally, it will happen. i know it will.

"gonna fly now, gonna fly now...." everything comes back to rocky.

wednesday morning

i take the audit section. wish me luck!!

i also had my ticket dismissed today. so it's the start of a good week. i plan on keeping it going.

benjamin in china

all of the people who read this blog know my cat. his name is benjamin and before he started to go crazy, he was the coolest cat ever. he's still cool, but the annoying level is growing. anyway, all of you know him and love him and recognize him from this picture. the only thing is, that's not him. i found this picture on a website i frequent and freaked out because this cat looks exactly like benjamin. i mean exactly. it has to be him. i guess it doesn't have to be him.

so either there is another cat who looks exactly like my cat or benjamin got out of the house one night, caught a flight to china and found someone to take this picture of him and got back in bed with me and my wife before we woke up in the morning. the latter does seem more likely when you spell it out. i just love the fact he was enjoying his trip enough to have someone take a picture of him while he was there. great thinking bear.

the courage of others

i pray i have the courage to face the evil that will come my way.

st. valentine's day

what a weekend people. friday night, saw avatar. it was the most visually stunning event i have ever participated in. the colors, the scenes, the action is all in your face and vivid and beautiful. i highly recommend it.

saturday we had dinner at reef and saw wonderful at the alley. dinner was great. the play was stupid and terrible and possibly the worst play ever. possibly and likely.

sunday i studied and then the wife and i put together this epic dinner that took like three and a half hours. the dinner was pretty good, but it was most fun making it together.

now i'm studying all week and night and all week again. all weekend. all the time. i'm passing that bastard this time. i'm doing it!!!

the horizon is a beltway

"the horizon is a beltway that we may never cross
the tops of buildings tremble like children lorn and lost
the stain runs deep it's deeper than the blood upon the cross
the horizon is a beltway that we may never cross."

- the low anthem