The Week Grab-Bag: The March Madness Version

Hola mi amigos! I hope that everyone is doing just hunky-dory and that life is peachy for everyone - - 50's enough for you???

So as the PROLOGUE stated yesterday, this is gonna be a bit of everything from the past week in my life. I have been quite busy (read: lazy) recently, so it's been hard to sit down and blog. But here I am blogging away, ready to tell all 4 of you who read this what I've been up to. O, and if you would please read past this post (once you finish it of course) and read the fun essay that I wrote for one of my classes, that would be great. Comments are always appreciated! Now, on to the fun fun fun:

- I actually haven't been working that much. I only worked a little over 15 hours at JOHNNY CARINO'S this week (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday). I've only been getting scheduled 4 days and then I keep not being able to work Thursdays (you'll see why) so my hours are getting fewer and farther between. The only way to get more hours would be to cover Host shifts, and that's about the last thing that I want to do. We have a new movie theatre going up next to the Mall and I figure it will be open maybe by the time the summer rolls around, in which case I might try to get a second job doing something there. I already have customer service background, so I might be able to jump ahead of some other people. Who knows? We'll just have to see! Chelsea and I, along with Rachel, a Curbside girl, went to FAMOUS DAVE'S, the new BBQ place that opened up next to us a couple weeks ago, after work on Tuesday night. We wanted to see how it was, and it was pretty freakin' awesome. I got ribs and it came with cornbread, corn-on-the-cob, and 2 sides (I picked cinnamon apples and mashed potatoes - o so good). They've been crazy busy every night so our 5 minute wait at 2115 was quite exciting.

- I went to school like a good student on both Tuesday and Thursday. The kicker was that I had to get picked up both mornings by Chelsea (thanks again sis) because my car was at SQUIRTY'S all week. Both of us begin our school days at 0930 so that worked out quite well. HISTORY was regular this week. There is this one kid, however, in the class that is quite off-the-wall. He appears to be one of those loud-mouthed (I stress that word) conspiracy theorists/conservatives/anti-everything-not-republican kind of guys. He's not tolerant at all. Any time Jaffe says anything about any President who this guy disagrees with, this guy pulls some random historical fact out of his ass about how he was in cahoots with some communist, or how so-and-so had an affair as well, or how evil the present Democrats are, just to be spiteful. Well Jaffe makes an effort to tell him he is being completely irrelevant in his discussions, but the kid keeps coming on. Well on Thursday, Jaffe finally put the pedal to the metal. He told the class that they could complain to the Dean if they wanted to and even provided us with the Dean's phone number and e-mail address and all that jazz. Because this kid thinks that Jaffe teaches with an agenda (and whether he does or not is lost to me) he made an issue out of it. Stupid kid. After Jaffe's remarks, however, I think he'll be rather quiet. PHILOSOPHY had a test on Tuesday (I think I did ok, I guess) and not much on Thursday. COMMUNICATIONS was boring as usual on Tuesday, but I did get my midterm back (I got an A!). Thursday was spent working on the group project you can read about in the post below this one (don't skip down, unless you intend on reading the remainder of this here post :D ). ASTRONOMY only saw me once this week. Tuesday was a review day and I had to work at 1600. I didn't want to be rushed, so I had my dad pick me up early. Thursday was a test day and I think I did just marginal again. Last time I thought that I pulled off a B though. So again, who knows?

- I bought JARHEAD on Saturday and watched the first half last night and then finished it tonight. Good movie. Rough, but good. Rewatchability is quite high as well.

- All of the NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments have been going on this past week. I've watched quite a bit of college basketball because of all of the implications. All of the great games culminated in Selection Sunday (today) where the entire 65-team bracket is revealed for the NCAA Tournament, which is probably my favorite sporting event out there. I have participated in some sort of Pool every year since my freshman year of high school and I have yet to lose (no joke - I rock at the Tourney) so look out! I'll give you my tentative Final Four picks for this year: DUKE, CONNECTICUT, BOSTON COLLEGE, and KANSAS (upsets aplenty of course) - - stay tuned for updates!

- Wednesday night was fun, but Thursday night was funner (yes, I'm aware that's not a word). Cy and Justin came over on Wednesday night and after an hour of "Meh" we ended up playing MARIO KART for over an hour! It was way fun, even though Cy pretty well dominated the two of us. He did not kill us, as he continues to claim, but he did handily beat us. Thursday night was spent with my wonderful Heather because she came home for the night! She got off work a little after 1400 and then got here around 1700. We went to go to FAMOUS DAVE'S because Heather wanted to try it out (and I wanted it again!) but their wait was over an hour already. Thus, our second option was JOHNNY CARINO'S. Walking in was a bit weird. I've eaten there before on my days off, but it was a bit weirder this time around, and it was probably because I was on a date (or because people saw out-of-my-league my girlfriend is :D ). Well, because Tim was working, we got 50% off our bill (o and Chelsea was our server!) so it was quite affordable as well! From there, we went back to my house and went on to watch WALK THE LINE (my second visit to this film during the week) with my family. It ended close to midnight (everyone liked it a lot) and then everyone else went to bed. Heather and I watched a TIVO'd episode of HOUSE before hitting the hay as well. It was just a great, fun, outstanding, and quite fulfilling night through and through.

- Ok, now realize this is not a typo: It snowed! The weather has been odder than odd the last few days. Friday night was just ridiculous! Cy took me to work (thanks bud for that adventure ha ha) and it was like a daggone blizzard while we drove to Palmdale. It ended as quickly as it had begun though. Saturday night around 1800 saw the beginning of a full night of snow, hail, slush, ice, and just plain cold! When I went out to my car, (which I picked up Friday night - that story in just a bit) I had a pile of snow on both the windshield and the back window, as well as the hood. There was also a smiley face drawn on the trunk's snowpatch (no idea who did that!). I was able to get most of it off and then I headed home to the warmth of my house. I just can't get over snow in March (yes, Tom, it's wild!)!!!!

- Car Story (as short as possible - my apologies in advance for fragments): My vehicular was supposed to be completed by Friday. Friday I call and it is gonna be done at 1700. I have to work at 1600. You see my predicament. I pay via phone (thanks new-fangled credit card) so they can leave it outside their place and I can pick it up whenever. I get off early (2100) on Friday and get a ride to SQUIRTY'S, where my mom meets me with the spare key. She tells me that she had just gone by there at 1800 to see if it was done, and it was outside, apparently completed and ready. She went up to it and my key was in the driver's seat, just sitting there! I thought they'd at least put it in the glove compartment or something! Then she just tried to open it up and the front door opened! It was unlocked with the key sitting there! If she hadn't come by, it's a good bet (better than saying I'm gonna beat Emily again at March Madness again ha ha) that it would have been stolen. Either way, I get in my car and try to turn it on. I emphasize try. My car does not start. My battery is dead. I begin to guess what's wrong when I look up at my visor. A couple weeks prior to taking it in, I had noticed that my visor shield (you know, the thing that flips open to reveal a makeup-assisting mirror) had broken off. Well, a little light would not turn off because the shield was not locked into place. I tried, but the only thing that would get it to stay off was putting the shield in place and then putting a box of ORBIT gum in between the shield and the ceiling of my car. It worked! Well, in the process of fixing my car, the SQUIRTY guys must have let the shield fall off because I found it in a compartment of my car. The light was on for who-knows-how-long. So we call the ol' TRIPLE A (AAA) to get us a jump. He ends up being really quick and gets there within 15 minutes. I'm home in 10 minutes after that. End of story. The JETTA is back!

- I saw THE HILLS HAVE EYES today with Justin and his family. On the horror movie ladder, it lands above CABIN FEVER, but below THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Nowhere near SAW. Got it? Grade: (C+)

- Are you tired of listening to me yet???? Well, if you are, then be happy because this is the end of this post. What a long one at that!!! I'll try to do better this week. Only time will tell though.

- - - "It's March Madness, baby!"
- - - The eternal Dick Vitale, famous College Basketball broadcaster

Night for now, (and don't forget to scroll down a bit further. . .)

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