1. One week until the Big Wedding!
2. Happy birthday self.

I am getting married on December 27th, which is fast approaching.  I'm really excited, slightly nervous, and at least a little stressed.  I am certain, though, of one thing that will inevitably pass through my mind: something's missing.  One year ago, my roommate and friend James died.  We had been friends since the first week of college.  I knew he would be standing with me the day Kelly and I got married.  It makes me sad that he didn't know I was getting engaged just a week after he died.

Ada.Text_Io.Put(Item => "I miss James.");

From the time that I got to know James, I wanted to be like him.  He did what he wanted to do and about 90% of the time it was something I wanted to do but was sometimes afraid to.  Together we did really awesome things like signing up to perform at Truman's Gong Show and just laying on the floor while a super annoying cd played in the background, or the time we had Bum Night and played guitar on the street corner (banking about $2.83) and then spending the night on some cardboard in an alley.  From James I learned a lot about myself and even his passing has given me a deeper sense of compassion.  I wish I could put into words how much I miss him and how much I want to smash another computer with him on write another song with him. 

Go and check out something that our friend Jared put together last year, and you will have an awesome laugh remembering (or meeting) James.

James

I have never seen a Poopathon, in person or through any other medium, be it photographs, video, or even audio recordings.  But, on Sunday, November 23, 2003, I was privy evidence of this rare phenomenon of nature. My good friend Jared and I had just been to see Kill Bill.  I had not paid much attention, but my car was parked beneath a tree.  I approached my car in the darkness and noticed a lot of spots.  It had just turned really cold, so those are leaves from the tree, right? WRONG!  My car was victim to a concentrated poop attack by, from the looks of it, about 100,000 birds.  Or more.  Honestly, I was a little mad because this means that I really have to wash my car and it's cold now and I secretly took pride in the fact that my car had been without a wash for 1+ years.  But still, I had to laugh a little.  If I were a bird there wouldn't be just one car covered in poop.

Yesterday, TIME magazine made my day, threefold.  First, in the Numbers section, this fact:

"1.000 Mathematical value of perfect flatness
.957 Flatness of a pancake
1.000 Flatness of Kansas, as published in a recent scientific study proving that the state is indeed flatter than a pancake"

Second, in the same section:

25% Percentage of dogs and cats in the U.S. that are overweight
50% Portion of those pet owners who don't admit their pet has a weight problem"

Thirdly, the article "Hey, Look! Manimation".  I actually laughed outloud at work while reading this.  The culprit?  The line "It would never occur to Meatwad to change into something besides a hot dog."   There is some other stuff in there that makes me sad that no one has ever paid me to come up with a cartoon about talking fast food.  *sigh*

James and I used to say that if we won the lottery we would buy a small plot of land, a trailer, and some sort of fighter jet.  Maybe some one would have a cheap stealth on eBay.  The jet would be docked in The Hangar, which is what we might call the front yard.  If there were kids around, maybe a slide could be connected.

On Saturday, Kelly and I went to the Nebraska Cornhuskers football game.  It was crazy.  Lincoln is about 45 miles from Omaha.  The game started at 12:30 so we left Omaha around 10:15. It was stop and go traffic for the majority of the trip.  Everyone in their cars were wearing Husker red.  We finally got there, parked, walked 14 miles to the stadium, watched the players run out of the locker room, then took our seats. The game was a lot of fun and the Huskers won 30-0.  Two things happened that day that blew my mind.

1. The Nebraska field goal kicker missed two consecutive field goals by hitting the same post both times.
2. During the game I got hungry for ice cream but I also found myself wanted to eat cake batter.  Time passed, and after the game, we ended up at an ice cream shoppe (it was fancy, so the extra p and e are necessary).  Would you believe that they had cake batter ice cream?!  They stole my idea before I even had it. (insert sad looking emoticon here)  I had it with a smashed up Kit Kat, Snickers, and M&Ms - something they liked to call "Candy Land."  It was super sweet and two of my teeth fell out from eating it. 

This is the inaugural edition of this.  Sing.  Dance. Give each other high fives.  Here is my only thought right now.  Job searching = depressing.