fueling

Man, the day greets me in strange ways. Sometimes it will greet me by playing a little joke on me by preventing the alarm from going off (this past Wednesday & Thursday). Other times it will greet me by being unseasonably cold in my kitchen. More frequently, my mornings have been riddled with climbing gas prices.

On my drive to work the first thing I see just before I get on the highway is the giant sign for Pilot, a gas station in Bentleyville. I always look to it just before I get on route 70 because its one of the cheaper gas stations in the area as it takes about a day or so longer for them to raise gas prices. Lately, though, they've been right on the ball. Within this week I've seen the price of gas jump from $3.75 to $3.99. That's a real bummer for everyone, especially those of us who are comically underpaid. Watching a Today interview with Jim Cramer (you know, the "Mad Money!" guy) he speculates that only when gas climbs to $6.00 per gallon will we see any kind of drastic change that could alter the demand for gas - and thusly drive price downward again.

(Later in my trip to work, I managed to find a station that was still @ $3.89, so I filled up there this morning. $44.00! And I drive a Caliber!)

I definitely remember the days where I would call my mom from the Crossroads in Richeyville and tell her to get there ASAP because fuel was only $1.34/gallon. I know this is stating the obvious, but man, we're never gonna see those days again. One thing is certain: I've never envied Prius owners more.

inhaling

For whatever reason, I'm more dependent on my inhaler this year than I have been in recent years. My asthma usually grips me pretty well about halfway through a run. Its typically very manageable, albeit very uncomfortable. As is the status quo of summertime, I gradually increase my cardio workload and ultimately deal with more breathing complications. I've never had a bona fide "attack" (I thank my lucky stars) so I'm not particularly worried that increasing my workout duration also ups my risk . Sure, I'll use my inhaler after I'm done running - that's just the way its been for me. It wasn't until a week or so ago that I noticed that compared to last year, I'm hitting the thing like a water bottle. Every single time I'm at Rotary, I'm sucking gas (say it fast enough and it sounds like I'm sucking ass... heh...)

I've decided that in order to turn this thing back into a manageable condition, I've gotta find ways to lay off the aerosol. A few years ago, when I ran into this problem on a much smaller level, I just forgot about the inhaler altogether. I found other ways to work through it. I'd increase my cool down times, do some "inhaler-like" exercises and try my best to control it. Granted, that was a much lesser instance, but it still worked. I'll try to manage it on my own.

Now, the biggest question of all is "why?" Why, all of a sudden, am I succumbing to asthma more and more often? I'm in pretty good shape. Not like I was a few years ago, but still I'm definitely not lethargic and lardy. So it can't be anything physical, right? I'm not allergic to anything, so that's definitely not an issue. Is the pollen count up? (Will somebody PLEASE TELL ME IF THE DAMN POLLEN COUNT IS UP!?!?) Even if it is, that's never really been a flare factor. Ozone action days are at least another month-and-a-half away. The weather has been pretty nice, besides. My only other thought involves my living quarters. I live in a basement where a dehumidifier has been running since about 7th grade. When we got central A/C a few summers ago, there was no need to run the dehumidifier because the A/C acts as its own dehumidifier. (Lucky me! a two-fer!) When winter rolls around, the air in the house is so dry that the dehumidifier's effort is wasted when left running. So I stowed it away in a corner. My mom's a sharp lass. At the first sign of spring she's usually the first one to dehumidify anything (I'm looking at you, dryer). So for about a month now, I've been living in a rain forest equivalent. Maybe that's whats affecting my breathing. I figured this much out a few nights ago and victoriously switched the dehumidifier ON. I fully believe my breathing problem will be corrected soon.

wishing

One last thing before I conclude my blog about the Atlanta sessions. I really wish I had stayed until Saturday evening. I had every option to do so before I scheduled this training course, but I figured I'd rather be home on Friday than stuck in the south for another day. Saturday was Atlanta's "Beerfest". Over 240 beers on tap, $20 admission, courtesy shuttle service to anywhere in the Atlanta area (for DD concerns) and the proceeds go to charity. So not only did I miss out on sampling some fine brews, I could have destroyed my liver while helping out the less fortunate.

I'm trying to go back in a couple of weeks, though I won't expect to do any Beerfesting. Maybe something just as cool will crop up.

remaining

I've finally reached a point in my day where I can sit down and collect some thoughts. Time to further document my Atlanta trip.

On the first day I showed copious amounts of confidence in my Garmin, that I left my suite five minutes before class started. According to my GPS, I was three minutes away from the training building. I was never one to turn down fashionably late entrance either. Fifteen minutes later and I'm still searching for the training center. How on earth can this building be so difficult to find!?! Well, the address on the training sheet didn't specify that I'd be at the Wells-Fargo building (after all, I was training with KDC - NOT Wells-Fargo). When I put it all together, I figured that the Wells-Fargo building probably houses several other businesses (it did) and joined the class fifteen minutes into the formalities. It truly wasn't a big deal, but for a while there I thought I'd never find this place.

As the days went on, I made some good friends. Martin was the "wifi guy" from Haascnc in Oxnard, CA. Funny guy! He and I developed quite a knack for solving exercises during the class. I also met some homebodys. Sergio and Mike were from Pittsburgh, working for Bayer. Two good guys. Sergio was actually on my flight back to the 'Burgh. We were delayed well over two hours for our return flight. It was good to have a friend to talk to then.

The shopping in Atlanta was pretty good too. Nothing was too far away from where you were at any given moment. The only real gripe I had was when I needed to kill some time, I couldn't find a nearby theatre. Everything was 5+ miles away, with a trip on the toll road necessary. Sorry, but I had to pass. I had already stretched my expense account as it was, so I didn't need additional expenses even if it was only fifty cents.

I also came to some frightening (and relieving) conclusions about my career in Atlanta, which I'll disclose in a later blog.

enjoying

I really should have blogged more while in Atlanta. First off, I thoroughly enjoyed my flight both there and back. I couldn't believe how beautiful things look when you're 30,000+ feet in the air. Incredible.

While in Atlanta I stayed quite busy. Training took over my entire day. Shopping took over most of my nights. On the first night there, I went to the Perimeter Mall and hit up a sports shoppe for a few gifts for Reese. I got her a Braves shot glass (for the collection) and a Braves jersey with her favorite player, Brian McCann, on the back. She wore it all day yesterday.

Some other things I liked about Atlanta: Roads were abundant and went where you thought they would go. With 12-lane highways damn near everwhere you looked, traffic wasn't bad either. The city was beautiful, with few "older looking" constructions. In fact, while driving on route 400 I noticed a ton of cranes putting up new buildings. You just don't see that around here.

Argh. It's kind of hard to put my thoughts together while I have a cat meowing in my ear... I'll be back later.

flying

First, I'd like to congratulate my fiancee - Reese - for graduating college yesterday. Well done!

In a few short hours I'll be taking my first flight ever. I'm not exactly sure what to expect. Obviously when it comes to this whole process, I'm a little green. The whole check-in / security process seems a bit much. I certainly understand why there's a need for it, I just can't seem to get directions as to where I need to be and how I have to do these things. What goes in the little bins while I'm going through security? I can carry what on? What goes through the x-ray thing? I expect a baptism by fire coupled with frustratingly long wait times for those unfortunate enough to get in line behind me.

I wonder if I've got a window seat. I wonder what the heck I'm gonna do for damn near two hours on the plane. I wonder how chaotic it will be when I arrive in Atlanta. I wonder how accurate my itinerary is.

I'll follow up at some point in Atlanta. Peace outtttttttt!

rocking

I love wikipedia and rock bands from Switzerland.

I think if I were to describe my life, to this point, using only the titles of rock albums - I would use every album ever made by Krokus. Just the titles! Also included in my thinking are their EP's and live compilations.

I can identify a point in my life where I can relate an album title to what I was doing or how I was feeling. For instance, "Round 13" could have been the time where I lived life as if I was on a drinking binge and it was Round 13. (Ah, the college years...) Another good example would be my current train of thought - "To Rock or Not to Be" - which to me means you either rock or you cease to exist. That's good enough for me. Hell, "Metal Rendez-vous" describes how I spend each and every Wednesday. (Metallica Wednesdays) I've got one more for ya, then I'll stop. Their single "Let the Love Begin" can represent my impending marriage. I'm sure that will rock as much as Krokus does.

deterring

Yep. Yesterday's house hunting adventure was over well before it started.

I thought I had found a hell of a bargain - a twenty year old, split-level entry in the McDonald area for around 90 G's. It turned out that I wasn't the only potential buyer who thought so! In a matter of a single day, the house went from available to contingent. That means, somebody slapped a fat offer on it and now the home has to merely pass an inspection before its off the market. To captain fat-wallet, I say "good form". You've beaten me to what looked like a heck of a deal. I only wish I had seen that property sooner, then maybe the tables would be turned! Enjoy your new house, ya louse.

But all isn't lost right? After all, I mentioned that there were two houses to see this week right? Guess again! The only other house within a twenty mile radius that interested me also got scooped up that very same yesterday. What kind of crap luck is this? Not that I'd had my heart set on either of these homes, but sheesh! Those two homes must have been awfully nice to get yanked right out from under my embryonic interest.

This leads us back to our original interest, the Cape Cod style home in Blainsburg. I'm becoming more and more accepting of its few flaws as the hours pass, but I've also come up with a few questions. Is there any township ordinance that would prevent me from having a bonfire there? If I were to need surgery on my knee at some point, would I be able to climb the stairs each time nature called? Which part of the house would I focus on when I decided to renovate/add-on? I guess I'd be a lot more comfortable with this place if it just had a bathroom on the main level. (Did I just answer my last question?)

Now that we've just about exhausted our options for the immediate area, does anybody have any recommendations when it comes to a good living area? We only have one more home on our radar, and could use some suggestions. We're looking for an area where the property taxes are low, public water is available and where children can grow up in a safe neighborhood. (I'd prefer something with a relatively private yard) While we're at it, does anybody have any dirt on Blainsburg? I've known several close friends who've grown up there, and they seem to be alright, so I can't immediately discount it as our new home.

Any suggestions, about anything at all are warmly welcomed.

househunting

I think for the rest of the month, I'm going to title my posts ending in "-ing". A few years ago, the band Boys Night Out did this kinda thing on their (awesome) album Trainwreck. I figure that following in their footsteps will help me become a more awesome album.

Reese and I saw three houses on Sunday, for two reasons: first and foremost, we NEED A FRIGGIN HOUSE. Secondly, we needed to avoid the Pens game in order for them to win. Whatever our hunch, it just felt like if we did that, we'd be sitting in the Eastern Conference Finals a week from now. Well, ho HO! Look where the Pens are! GO PENS.

Uhhhhhh, oh yeah, the houses. This might start to shift into the "three little pigs" --- just a warning. The first house - made of hay - sure seemed as much. It was a big, old country farmhouse that had a few (more like VERY few) renovations done in 2001. I quite clearly remember driving by this house back in high school and wondering what they were adding on, so at very least this placated my curiosity. The house is nice enough from the outside, it was big and white and could stand to have some siding re-done, but nothing major. The inside is another story, though. When you enter the place, you walk through a sun-room that's pointing directly at a huge hillside; receiving absolutely no sun whatsoever at any point during the day. There is a small hallway leading from that sun room into the kitchen with what looks like a closet directly to the right in the hallway. This "closet" turned out to be a full bathroom. It kind of made me chuckle. "A full bathroom between the kitchen and the back door. HEH!" The kitchen was a definite Rollo-slayer. The ceiling was little over a foot taller than myself, not totally uncomfortable, but you could definitely tell that somebody paid a handyman poorly to convert an old porch into a large kitchen. Poor Rollo would end up wedged in there somehow and we'd never see him again. I can't live in a house that outright refuses my friends due to height. There was a fairly sized dining room and living room off of the kitchen that were nice enough, but the real kicker happened when you walked upstairs. This house was marketed as a three-bedroom home. The master bedroom was okay, just big enough to fit my crap and it had its own private full bath. We found another bedroom not far away, but locked down tight by some distrustful fourth-grader who apparently thought I was out to get his "Ameri-thon" trophies. I never had an opportunity to swipe any... But the home owner tried to pass off a common area upstairs as a third bedroom. There was no privacy, no wall, just large, open, un-carpeted area. Particle board flooring and all. That was the deal breaker right there. It was a real bummer too, as the yard was huge, the acreage was massive and the two-car garage reminded me of the times when Ted, Rollo and I would just chill in his garage and drink til we couldn't see anymore. On to house #2!

House #2 was in the middle of Cal, something I thought was cool. It was a true three-bedroom house with a large, flat yard, a garage and off street parking. The front door opens into an absolutely MASSIVE living room that had Reese and I drooling from the time we stepped into the place. The dining room was huge too. Each had 12 foot ceilings and had plenty of sunlight due to well placed windows. The kitchen was an anomaly. It had "floating counters" that you could move around the room as you saw fit to arrange. The fridge stuck out like a boner in spandex. The oven didn't have a vent, instead relied on a 1950's style vent fan that was built into the wall. The weirdest part was the only full bath in the place was built right onto the kitchen. Much like the last house, I found this strange but I could probably deal with it. After all, up until here the house was wonderful. Going upstairs changed everything. The floors were the original linoleum tile covered distastefully by pieces of loose carpeting. The tile was peeling in many places, and the walls were all original. The rooms were sickeningly small and the whole "look & feel" reminded me of a lifetime movie set in the 1970s where a redhead kid would be abused by his stepfather. There was also a small bathroom up there too, but the toilet was smack in the corner and left NO room for your right leg if you had to drop a deuce. The house also came with a dilapidated, flat-roof garage that really didn't have a roof as it was busy caving in on itself. On the bright side, the yard was my favorite part of this house. Big, flat and easily maintained. Unfortunately, I'm not a buffalo and I won't be living on a plain. Onto house #3.

Reese loved this house from the minute she walked in it. Its a nice cape-code style home with a ton of updates. The living room reminds me of the one I had when I lived in my old house in Cal, which immediately won me over. It has a huge, open foyer which leads to a revolving staircase. Also on the main level is a large master bedroom (bonus for me!). There's an incredibly large dining room that's just off the kitchen. Now, speaking of the kitchen, here's where the house bums me out. The kitchen is small. Quite possibly one of the smallest I've ever seen. This really isn't a problem (I'd just knock out the wall separating the dining room, add some counter space and a breakfast bar and combine the two rooms) but it IS additional work and I'll have to save - quite possibly for years - before I could do any of this. Another bummer was the bathroom setup. Going upstairs, the bathroom greets you as the first door on the left. Its got a tub and a crapper, but no shower (again which is fine) but as I'm doing my thorough inspection of the bathroom - I notice that there's NO electrical outlets in there. That won't sit so well with Reese, who I know won't want to blow dry her hair in another room (and really, she shouldn't have to). So, if there's no shower here, and no shower on the main level, you can guess where its at. That's right, its in the basement - right next to the washer & dryer. Yessss... Finally something I'm not keen on. So, add another full bathroom needing added onto this house at some point as well (more money... ugh...). The upstairs bedrooms are well sized, and if my genes cooperated, it could easily house a boy and two girls (or vice versa). Back to the basement, it is rather nice with high ceilings and with the potential to be finished eventually. The basement extends into a single car garage, which I'd probably seal off and make a bar or family room. I can build a better garage... I have the technology... The power... wait... back to the house... The yard is a postage-stamp equivalent. This is a corner lot, so its pretty large with a private alley in the back for additional parking. The house also has an incredible view of beautiful, downtown Brownsville. (That's supposed to be a feature?) It is the only house to have electric heat (both baseboard and heat-pump) which will help us save an incredible amount of money. So yes, we like this house and we're prepared to make an offer on it.

We've got two more houses to see, one tonight and one later in the week. My big beef with these houses (aside from the obvious) is the lack of yards. I'd like to be able to have a fire-pit or bonfire area at my house. Of course that won't be a deal breaker, but I'm so sick of always having to set my mom at ease before I can invite people a bonfire.

Crossing my fingers.

goodbye ultimate, hello hockey

As yet another semester winds down (and I've seen my fair share of semesters winding down) I'll close another successful chapter of Cal U Ultimate and begin my preparations for a summer filled with roller hockey. During my lunch break, I made the smooth transition into hockey season by buying some much needed hockey equipment. It's been a few years since I've needed to completely re-equip myself, so I'm happy that I'm only shelling out hockey equipment money on a semi-annual basis. Long story short, the last time I made a major equipment purchase was 2002/03 when I bought some nice composite sticks and a pair of rollerblades. Towards the end of last season, my sticks splintered at the base, rendering them useless. I also tore an eye-hole right out of the leather in my left boot, but managed to skate around it (heh).

So I got new blades and a couple of sticks. I sort of feel like Jordan Staal due to the magnitude of stick that I now wield. Its MUCH taller than my last few sticks. What's more, is that I'm going to need to get used to my new rollerblades quickly. I've got about a ten minute warm up before the game starts on Saturday, and I'll need every minute of it. New skates are awesome, but they take some getting used to.

I've also made some preliminary decisions as to how I'm going to train this summer. I think I'm going to go back to doing a lot of wind sprints rather than doing distance running like I did last year. I'm also going to incorporate some cardio on the stairs outside of the student union. It worked for Curtis Martin in 2004. I've been doing sets of lunges across Rotary, and they've helped incredibly with my short-term stamina - I'm definitely keeping those! Maybe I'll finally own up and get a bicycle too, so I can vary my cardio a little more. Man... I can't wait til it gets unbearably hot out. Thats' what I live for!

van halen

Last night I had the pleasure of witnessing the best concert I've ever seen before in my life. Van Halen more than put on a show, they ran a clinic. From Eddie's fantastic guitar to DLR's wild outfits to Wolfgang's youthful antics - this concert found the proper balance between showmanship and music. What made it even better was that the whole band just let loose, goofed around and looked like they were having an amazing time. It was exactly what I had pictured. That's how bands are supposed to perform. This was, quite honestly, the first concert I've seen where each member of the band was there to perform first, have fun second and just cut loose. Each member had a pretty good idea as to what the other was thinking / going to do next, but not because of rehearsal. You could tell that the obvious bond they all shared was driving the show more than mere camaraderie. They didn't pause frequently to tell meaningless, made-up stories and try to force feed us bad comedy. (Although, the two tales that DLR told were hilarious.)

The biggest part of the night, at least for me, was when they played Panama. If you know me well, you'll know that during "Crock's Bullshit Minute" (a part of the Crock & Murph in the Morning podcast) I play Panama in the background to let you know I mean business. Well, last night, EVH and company too meant business. They brought down the house by jumping straight from the already incredible Panama to a wild guitar solo by Eddie that led directly into Ain't Talkin' Bout Love. The order of these songs couldn't have been more perfect for my crew as (obviously) I was there to hear Panama and Rollo was there to hear Ain't Talkin' Bout Love.

Yeah man, it was an incredible night.

I'll get around to recapping April eventually (I think), but until I do - go wild with the very Spanish, very loco, Cinco-de-Mayo blog headliner!